Davie held his hands up. “We’re looking for Edinburgh University. My name is Davie Walker. This is Rebecca Goodman. Her father was Andrew Goodman.”
“Never heard of ‘im,” said the old soldier brusquely.
“He was a great man,” said Rebecca. “There were few in the world that fought for other people’s rights as much as he did.”
The old soldier shrugged. “A girl is like to say many good things about her father. Don’t make ‘em true. Let me tell you who I am, young lady. I am Major Nielson of the Royal Scots Borderers and you are the first two survivors I have seen in many many moons. It’s a shame I am going to have to put you down.” He raised his shotgun.
Davie gasped. “No! Why? We’re innocent. We’re just looking to get to the University.”
The Major pointed his shotgun at Rebecca and then down at her bleeding ankle. “She’s been bitten. Most like, so have you.”
Davie shook his head and held his hands out for mercy. “No, no. That’s why we need to get to the University. When the dead first started walking, all of the leading scientists relocated there. We need to see them.”
The Major narrowed his eyes, suspicious. “Why?”
Rebecca stepped forward and rolled up her sleeve. “Because,” she said, pointing to the gnarled scar tissue on her arm, “I’ve been bitten before and nothing happened. I didn’t turn into a zombie. The wound healed and I was fine.”
The Major stumbled backwards, utter shock on his face. The other soldiers which backed him up began to mumble and whisper. “You’re having me on, lass,” said the Major.
“She’s not,” said Davie. “I saw her get bit. I was meant to protect her, but some bad guys broke into the safe house we were in and during our escape a dead Chinese man bit her.”
The Major guffawed. “Those bloody chinks. They’ll eat anything. Girl, answer me truthfully. Did you truly survive a bite?”
Rebecca nodded earnestly. “I swear it. I got a fever for a few days but then I was fine.”
“Then get on the bloody train, you two. We’re heading to Edinburgh right now. The eggheads will love you. They’re always on at me to get them samples, but they never expected to find anyone with immunity.”
“You’ve been to the university?” said Davie anxiously.
“Aye, I bloody well studied there, lad, but it’s still running now, if that’s what you mean. There’re two dozen eggheads there as we speak, sipping their tea and juggling their test tubes.”
Davie almost hopped with excitement. “We need to talk with them. Rebecca can help them find a cure.”
The Major smiled and his moustache twitched. “Aye, she just well might. Maybe if we’re lucky, we might just save the bloody world. Anything to stop the bloody yanks from being the ones to do it. All aboard,” he shouted. “We’re taking our new messiah to see the wise men. If she turns into a zombie en route, shoot her bloody head off. If she doesn’t then we’re all going to line up and kiss her pretty feet.”
Rebecca giggled and so did Davie. After months of being alone, the group of soldiers and the working train was surreal.
There was a brief hustle and bustle and the armed men went back inside the train. They ushered Davie and Rebecca inside, too, laughing and joking with them like old friends. Already, Davie felt safer than he had in a year. He sighed and put his arm around Rebecca as they both took a seat on the train. They eased back in their chairs and relaxed as a three-month trek through Hell itself came to a promising end. There was finally some tangible hope in sight – a way to fight back and reclaim the earth. Maybe, if he was lucky, Davie might even get that kiss he longed for. From the way Rebecca was looking at him as the stream train got underway, carrying them towards salvation, the chances looked good. Very good indeed.
BOOK 3 OF 7
ANIMAL KINGDOM
Chapter One
Joe tugged his jacket closed as the chilled autumn air sought out the unguarded crevices of his body. The gloomy sky drizzled down to earth and coated everything in dullness, to a point where it seemed that colour no longer existed in the world. But the dreary weather was not enough to dampen Joe’s spirits. Today was a good day. He was spending the day with his son.
Exuberant Danny lingered nearby, peering through the bars of the zoo’s famous Silverback exhibit. Disappointingly, the leafy enclosure was currently vacant of its illustrious inhabitant. Joe knew that his son would be upset by the animal’s absence but, as was the case with eight-year old boys, his attention span soon reset itself and it wasn’t long before he was running off in a new direction entirely.
“Dad! That man over there is being attacked by a snake.”
Joe stared down at his son, amazed, as always, that his watery-blue eyes could look so much like his own. “Don’t be silly, Danny,” he said, breath turning to steam in the cold air. “That’s just the zoo’s snake handler. He’s about to do a show.”
“I want to go see!” Danny tugged at his father’s arm, deceptively strong for such a slender child wearing a Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart t-shirt and Velcro trainers. “Hurry, before we miss anything.”
Joe allowed himself to be dragged toward a three-sided lean-to shelter erected besides the zoo’s moss-covered WORLD OF VENOM building. It had been designed to look as if it were made of bamboo reeds, but the façade was unconvincing.
A uniformed man entered the structure from a rear access and began positioning plastic crates on a wooden table. Each of the containers held various species of reptiles, insects, and spiders. The man’s tanned-leather skin matched his khaki clothing and was weathered, brown and loose. He had a boa constrictor the length of a scaffold pole wrapped around his bony shoulders, but seemed completely at ease with it.
Danny jumped up and down excitedly. “Sweet! I bet that thing could squish him to death real easy!”
“Don’t be so morbid, Danny!”
“Sorry, Dad. I just think it’s cool.”
“It’s okay. I just want you to think nice things. Come on, let’s get closer.” Joe took Danny’s hand – half the size of his own – and pushed through the gathering crowd of adults and their children. It wasn’t difficult to get to the front of a group when you were as freakishly tall as Joe. People tended to get out of his way long before he had to ask them.
“Look at the size of that thing, Dad!” At the front of the growing audience – now close to a dozen people – Danny started jumping up and down again, his wispy blond hair flopping around in the musty breeze. Childish glee oozed off him in ribbons.
The snake handler turned his attention to them both. Joe cringed, waiting to get a reprimand for his son’s nuisance behaviour. Fortunately, however, the uniformed man just smiled at them instead.
“Hey there, young un,” the handler said to Danny. “You like snakes?”
“Yeah, I do. Jake the Snake used to have one called Damien.”
The snake handler wrinkled his forehead, readjusted the slithering reptile in his arms, and then said, “Isn’t that a wrestler from years back?”
Danny nodded enthusiastically. “My dad has lots of old tapes and I watch ’em every weekend when I stay over. My bestest favourite is The Undertaker. Check it out!” He spun around to show the man the design on his backpack.
“Undertaker rip?” said the handler, confused.
Danny spun back around and giggled. “No, silly! Rest in peace. It’s what The Undertaker says to everyone right before he beats them up with his tombstone.” He rolled his eyes back into his head so that only the whites were showing, and then repeated the words in his best attempt at a gravelly, adult voice. “Rest…In…Peeeaaaace.”
The crowd laughed, so did the snake handler, struggling with his giant brown reptile between each chuckle. He pulled the animal down, away from his face, and then smiled over at Joe. “Fine little lad you have there, sir.”
“Thanks. He’s a handful though. Just like your snake.”
“You can say that again! She’s really unsettled today. Won’
t keep still for a minute, bless her.”
“Sounds just like my son.”
Danny bopped him on the arm. “Hey! I’m nothing like a snake. I’m gunna tell Mum on you.”
The crowd laughed again, this time giving a collective “Oooooooo!”
Joe knew his son was just showing off, but it was nice to see him come out of his shell. After the last few years, with the divorce and everything else, it was good to see that Danny had any confidence left at all.
Joe rustled Danny’s hair, messing it up more than it already was. “We best be moving on, little dude,” he said, “or we won’t fit everything in. Say goodbye to the nice man and his snake.”
Danny twisted his face into a frown, but did as he was told. His shoulders slumped as he spoke. “See ya, Mister. Thanks for letting…Hey Mister…are you okay?”
Joe was alerted by the tone of his son’s voice before he actually saw anything was wrong. Even when he saw the problem, he wasn’t sure whether or not to be concerned.
The snake handler was struggling with the huge reptile around his shoulders. The animal had coiled its way around his ribcage and was tightening.
“Step away, Danny.” Joe moved in front of his son, keeping him back from the wooden barrier that separated the crowd from the lean-to shelter. The slithering reptile had begun to form a noose around the keeper’s neck and was slowly constricting with each convulsion of its muscular body. The crowd started to murmur, the first gentle stages of panic taking hold.
No one knows if this is just part of the act.
But it can’t be. This man is really struggling.
The snake handler began to choke and threw out his arms in desperation. Joe jumped the barrier and dashed toward the shelter just as the struggling man dropped to his knees on the plank-wood flooring. The fragile walls of the bamboo shelter shook beneath the impact.
“Stay calm,” Joe shouted in a voice that was the exact opposite. He reached out to grab the snake, but recoiled immediately.
Whoa! Do I really wanna put my hands on this thing? Can it bite me?
Joe allowed himself to hesitate only a moment longer then gave himself a mental shove. Come on! There’s a man’s life at stake. Do something!
He snatched at the thick reptile, fighting away revulsion as his fingers made contact with the rough, quivering flesh that was cold to the touch. Several seconds of frantic tugging made no difference at all. The snake’s grip became even tighter. The desperate handler turned a deep purple as the pressure pushed his eyeballs a half-inch out of their sockets, making them bulge. Joe felt a wave of sickness crash through his insides.
I can’t do anything. I can’t get this thing off of him. I never watched a man die before...
Joe turned to the anxious crowd and checked that his son was nearby. “Don’t just stand there!” he shouted at the group of startled strangers. “Somebody go get help! Danny, you stay where you are and close your eyes, okay? Everything is fine.” He could tell by his son’s fearful expression that he didn’t believe that things were ‘fine’.
Moving back around, Joe saw that blood trickled from both of the snake handler’s nostrils. The slithering beast, clamped around the man’s throat, glared at Joe, malevolent eyes boring into his flesh. Its forked-tongue flicked back and forth, tasting the air.
People in the crowd started backing away as if they somehow thought the snake handler’s peril was infectious. Some of them scattered immediately, crying out for help as they fled in all directions, while others backed away in silence, unable to take their eyes off the harrowing scene in front of them. Joe didn’t retreat with either group. He was rooted to the spot.
Locked in a death stare with a nine-foot Boa Constrictor.
“Dad!”
The sound of Danny’s voice allowed Joe to regain control of his senses, like being dragged out of water by an unseen hand. He spun around to find that his son had approached the wooden barrier and was about to crouch underneath it.
Joe flung out an arm and shouted. “Stay there, Danny! I’ll handle th-”
From the corner of his eye, Joe sensed movement. He turned just in time to see the snake strike. The adrenaline in his body pumped his reactions just enough that he was able to lunge aside, a mere split-second before the murderous reptile sliced its fangs through the air. The snake handler flopped face down on the boards. The boa constrictor slithered out from beneath his body. The man was dead.
Holy cow!
“Dad, I’m scared!”
Joe sprang into action, exiting the shelter and vaulting the barrier. He scooped Danny up in his arms and chased after the fleeing crowd. Help still had not arrived, but it hardly mattered anymore now that the snake handler was dead.
Someone still needs to grab that snake though.
And then destroy the effing thing!
Joe kept his lanky strides fast, yet steady, not wanting to trip and fall on the unforgiving pavement whilst carrying his son. Blood pounded in his eardrums. All around him people scattered in different directions. It was strange to see just how many people were panicking. There had been perhaps a dozen men and women at the snake handler’s hut – along with a handful of children – but as Joe looked around now, he saw at least five times that many.
Why are so many people in a hurry to get their asses out of here? What else is happening?
Joe slowed down and eventually stopped, turning to look back where he’d come from. The huge boa constrictor was still inside the lean-to shelter, slithering over the lifeless body of its ex-handler. It was reason enough to panic, for sure, but Joe was certain that only those nearby would have noticed the tragedy. Something else must have been scaring people.
Another animal attack? Impossible.
Joe glanced around the zoo, examining the multiple animal enclosures and exhibit buildings that lined the grass-edged pathways. A racket was coming from each of them, as if the caged specimens inside were agitated by something. The hoots and howls from the monkey compounds were particularly loud and Joe could see the various primates rattling their bars with reckless fury. Joe could feel the vibrations from the steel bars in his teeth.
What is happening?
He decided he didn’t want to wait and find out. He needed to make sure his son was safe – from what exactly, he did not know. Danny was rigid in his arms, making no sound other than the wet panting of his breath.
“Everything’s going to be okay, buddy,” he said soothingly. “Let me get you someplace quiet and we can sit down and have a Coke.”
Joe started moving again, a sense of urgency seizing his internal organs and pumping them like pistons. Some deep-buried instinct told him he needed to get away from the area as quickly as possible. Up ahead was the zoo’s brand-new visitor centre, B.R. ZOOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AND ENVIROMENTAL CENTRE. The lengthy glass structure’s recent grand opening was advertised all over the park and it looked like as good a place as any to find some authority.
Joe picked up speed, his worn trainers wearing thinner against the harsh grey cement of the pathways. All around him people were still panicking, scuttling in all directions like frenzied ants. It was still unclear what was causing all of the chaos, but Joe knew it was more than just a snake attack. Something else was happening.
Something bad.
The visitor’s centre seemed to grow in size as Joe got closer to it. He could make out the large glass doors of its entrance. Several people had already begun to move inside, but a vast majority were running right past the building – likely heading towards the car park beyond. Joe wondered whether their idea was a good one.
I just want to get indoors. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I know that a load of people panicking in their cars is gonna have a bad ending.
Joe broke off from the crowd and approached the visitor centre, hopping up a set of brick steps that joined with a decorative patio at the front of the building. A middle-aged Black man with grey sideburns was standing amongst the potted trees and plants. He q
uickly moved aside when he saw he was in Joe’s way. Joe nodded a ‘thanks’ to the man before moving through the building’s wide-open double-doors.
The fluorescent lights inside were dazzling after the bleak grey of outside. The first thing Joe’s eyes managed to focus on was a large rectangular sign hanging from the ceiling. It declared the room to be THE EDUCATION HALL.
The area was full of life-like exhibits: African elephants, alligators, rhinos, and many other imposing creatures – each of the models stared at the centre of the room with their soulless glass eyes. Several other people stood inside with Joe. Each of them looked as concerned and freaked out as he was. There was only a single zoo employee amongst them all, given away by his bright-green waist-jacket against a khaki-coloured uniform. He wore the tatty, round spectacles of an intellectual man and his neatly-combed grey hair only added to that impression. He looked as dumfounded as everybody else. Joe still considered him the best person to speak to.
Nearby, several plush, cube-shaped chairs of varying colours were arranged in front of a vast LCD screen showing nature documentaries. Joe eased Danny down onto a purple cube and gave him a quick hug. “Just wait here one sec, buddy, okay?”
Danny nodded and sat still.
Joe examined his son for a few moments, saw how frightened he was, and then kissed his forehead. “I’m proud of you, son.”
The zoo employee had moved over to the far wall of the hall and was fiddling with a canary-yellow rubber-cased walkie-talkie. It didn’t seem like the man was having much success in gaining information if his wrinkled, frustrated brow was anything to go by. Joe approached the man slowly, trying to seem calm rather than agitated. It seems like rationality could be at a premium right now.
The zoo keeper looked up at Joe. “Sir, may I help you?”
“Hello,” Joe replied. “Do you know what the heck is going on?”
The man shook his head and his spectacles jittered on the bridge of his narrow nose. He readjusted them before speaking. “Not the foggiest, I’m afraid, and I can’t reach any of the zoo keepers to find out. A couple of the visitors I’ve spoken to have mentioned animal attacks, but they were too distressed to provide details. Seems very unlikely.”
The BIG Horror Pack 2 Page 64
