“So what do we do?”
“I am going to have a look around the back and you could see if you can find any tools next door, where they are doing the building work.” I told him.
Pat nodded and headed straight across to the empty house. He was definitely happier when he had some instructions. I wasn’t sure how well he would do if he had to think for himself. Another glance at Lily saw her gesturing as she spoke rapidly, trying to convince the old man of what was happening. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of how much easier it had been for me to believe her, considering the zombies were actually chasing her.
The back of the house had a large fenced area for a garden. Unfortunately the only plants I could see were decorative flowers. I hadn’t really been hopeful of finding an allotment sized vegetable patch but it would have been nice.
The back door was the same material as the front and also locked. The windows to either side were double glazed and resisted my attempts at opening them. It was frustrating to know that we could find a place to rest and recover from our recent ordeal and actually plan ahead, but we were blocked by a locked door.
“No tools in the empty house” said Pat as he rounded the corner.
“Just great.” I said as I looked around the garden, hoping for some inspiration. With a sigh I gestured Pat back and swung the hatchet at the smaller of the windows. The sound of the glass shattering was much louder than I had anticipated. I realised I was standing still, tense and alert for a zombie to appear, attracted by the noise.
“What the hell are you doing?” shouted Lilly as she ran around the house to join us.
“We needed to get in” I said.
“And if you had waited five minutes you would have known that the nice old man next door has a spare key.” She said glaring at me from beneath a frown.
“Oh.” I said as I looked from Lilly to the shattered glass and back again. “So you have a key then?”
Lily continued to glare while Pat wisely kept silent. “I’ll go and let the others know what’s happening. You two idiots can make sure the house is clear and then find some way to board that window up. Am I making myself clear?”
Both Pat and I had enough sense to nod our agreement without saying anything. Lily passed the key over to me and then stormed off towards the front of the house. Pat looked at me, “That was bloody scary.”
I had to agree, it seemed Lily was a force to be reckoned with when angry. That would be something to bear in mind for the future. I unlocked the door and readied my hatchet, it was unlikely anything was in there but just in case there were, I would be ready.
Inside the house all was dark. The curtains on all the windows were closed and a flick of the switch revealed the house had no power. I was standing in the kitchen of the house. A number of household appliances and cupboards filled the space along with a table and four chairs. Two doors – both closed – led from the room. I pulled back the curtains on the window and left the door open to allow some light in.
“So how do you want to do this?” asked Pat from the open doorway.
“We go slow, taking a room at a time and hope we don’t find anything in the dark.” I flashed him a grin. I was feeling a rising excitement at the prospect of more violence. “Have a quick look and see if you can find a weapon.”
While Pat rooted through the kitchen I pulled open the door set in the wall opposite the back door. I struck the frame a couple of times with the blunt edge of my hatchet and waited to see if anything stirred.
What looked to be the living room of the house was quiet and empty of people living or dead. I could see enough to make my way across to the curtains which I pulled open, flooding the room with light. I could see the girls gathered by the van, the elderly man was standing by his garden wall speaking once more with Lily.
Pat now armed with a heavy looking butcher knife had pulled open the second door and was just poking his head through the doorway as I looked back. “You see anything?” I asked.
“Hallway to the front door and some stairs that lead up,” he called back.
The living room had a door set into the same wall as the doorway Pat was looking through. I opened it cautiously and found myself looking at the entranceway to the house. “Let the others in while I check upstairs” I told Pat. He grunted and moved to the backdoor to retrieve the key as I headed up the stairs.
Three bedrooms and a bathroom were all I could find. The house was empty. I stopped in the bathroom and turned the taps at the sink. The sight of running water, even cold was a pleasure. I rejoined the group on the ground floor to let them know all was well.
In the living room, Rachel was curled up on the couch while Maggie was engulfed by a large comfortable looking armchair as she sat reading a book, with several more stacked on the floor beside her. Someone had obviously thought to bring in some of the children’s books that we had taken from the mobile library.
Pat was in the kitchen looking at the broken window, brow furrowed as he tried to think of some way to fix it. Claire and Lily were rooting through the cupboards. “The upstairs rooms are clear” I said as I joined them.
“Good” said Lily, “we have water here but no gas or power. It looks like we will be eating cold food today.”
“Anything we can use in the rooms upstairs?” asked Claire.
“Well we have some blankets and clothes in the bedrooms. Nothing Maggie’s size, but the rest of us may be able to fit in something. I think the people who lived here were a bit larger than the rest of us.”
“Well that’s something at least. Does the bathroom have a shower?” Lily asked looking over at me.
“Yes.”
“Then I suggest you go and find some clothes and get a shower.” She said, wrinkling her nose. Pat and Claire quickly agreed that I should be the first to shower. With no desire to argue I left my hatchet by the back door and headed up the stairs to search the rooms for clothes.
I shivered my way through the cold shower scrubbing at the grime and blood that covered my body. I was careful to wash around the still healing gash above my ribs. A hot shower would have done so much more for my aching body, but at least I would be clean.
Whoever had previously lived in this house had kept it neat and well organised. I had found plenty of clean towels folded and stacked neatly in the airing cupboard. I rubbed myself dry and dressed in some dark blue jeans and a flannel shirt that I had taken from one of the bedrooms. I wasn’t quite ready to wear another man’s underwear so I was forced to go without.
A rummage through the medicine cabinet above the sink resulted in a pack of toothbrushes. I eagerly ripped them open and took the opportunity to use one to clean my teeth for the first time in a week.
My soiled clothing was left in a large wicker laundry basket in one corner of the bathroom and I spent a few minutes cleaning away the mess I had made. I tended to be fairly neat and orderly by nature and I disliked leaving a mess for others.
I had been cooped up with the others for so long that I wasn’t quite ready to head back downstairs. I was solitary by nature and being in close proximity with too many people for extended periods of time was unpleasant and exhausting. I decided to have a rummage through the bedrooms of this house and see what I could find.
The master bedroom was dominated by a king size bed that sat in the centre of the room with the headboard pressed against the rear wall. At each side of the bed stood a bedside table with a lamp sat atop. A number of pillows and a thick duvet implied that the previous residents had liked to be comfortable. Two wardrobes, a chest of drawers and a vanity unit completed the furniture in the room.
I started with the bedside tables, first the one and then the other. These contained little of value, just some magazines and books along with the various bits and pieces that indicated a healthy sex life. Aside from the number of spare batteries that would be useful, the rest of the items were of no use.
The wardrobes and the chest of drawers contained clothing and s
hoes which would come in useful. The vanity held a number of creams, lotions and a variety of makeup products. A jewellery box sat in front of the mirror and had some expensive looking rings and necklaces.
After an hour of searching the room, I had found little that would be useful. I couldn’t help but remember the various zombie movies I had seen where every house was a treasure trove of weapons and survival gear. It was more than a little irritating that in reality the majority of houses would likely contain plenty of things that would only be useful in a world that wasn’t undergoing an apocalypse.
A gentle tapping on the window caught my attention. I glanced over to see heavy drops of rain had started to fall against the glass. I walked across to the window and looked out at the thick black clouds that covered the sky. It looked like we were in for a storm which would mean a cold and miserable day stuck inside.
From this window that overlooked the front of the house I could see quite a distance. The small waves on the reservoir water had grown larger as the wind arrived with the rain. Just below the horizon was the faint outline of a road and I could see a car moving along at a rapid pace. I wondered briefly where they were going before deciding it didn’t matter. There were few safe places at the moment.
I looked down at the van we had arrived in. It contained the rest of the books that I had taken from the mobile library, I would need to bring them inside and start looking through them. I hoped they would provide some useful information on how to survive this crisis. Movement on the road caught my eye as I was about to turn away. I swore loudly before dashing from the room.
Chapter 3
The sound of the rest of my little group talking could be heard even above the intermittent banging that was coming from the kitchen as Pat hammered something over the broken window. I ran into the living room and pulled closed the curtains as I called for quiet.
“What’s going on?” asked Lily from where she sat in the arm chair, Maggie on her knee as they read together.
“Group of zombies coming down the road. Everyone keep quiet.” I instructed returning to my task of making sure the curtains were fully closed.
“How many are there?” asked Pat in a loud whisper as he came into the room, a hammer held casually in one hand.
“I didn’t count. Enough of them to be a problem if they know we are in here.” I told him as I risked a peek through the curtains.
A small group of the undead were walking faster than the others and had almost reached the van. The main group weren’t far behind. For the moment they didn’t look to be stopping. They stayed on the road, their heads were moving back and forth as though they were actually looking around.
They were all shapes and sizes. Male and female, dressed in suits and tie or overalls they all bore some kind of wound on their exposed flesh. Once more I could see plenty of evidence that their wounds didn’t seem to concern them overmuch. Several had missing limbs and at least one had a hole in its stomach from which its intestines hung down like slime covered streamers that trailed behind it.
I watched with bated breath as they paused alongside the van. I hoped that the rain would help hide our scent or heat or whatever the hell it was they could track us with. A sudden dread filled me as several zombies at the back looked towards us and started their dreadful moaning.
They moved with purpose towards the front gate of the houses. Then I realised, it wasn’t to the house we were in, but the old man’s house next door. I couldn’t see what he had done to catch their attention but they walked through his garden and began banging against his door.
A whimper from behind caused me to look back. In the dim light I could see Lily hugging Maggie tightly to her breast. The child had tears falling freely and her hands pressed against her mouth as she tried to stifle her own cries. Claire looked as though she wanted to go and comfort her but was afraid to move.
Lily cast a questioning look my way and I did my best to indicate that the zombies were more interested in the old man’s house rather than ours before looking back through the gap in the curtains. I had the rather unpleasant thought that I had not checked whether the front door was secured.
The zombies had filled the garden of the house next door and were spreading around the side in search of a way in. It would only be a matter of time before they turned their attention to this house I was sure. I tried to count how many were out there, but they were all pressed together in one large mass as they tried to batter their way into the house.
I crept towards the front door as quietly as I could. I kept low to the floor to avoid being seen through the frosted glass pane that was set into the top half of the door. The key was in the lock but the door was definitely unlocked. I reached up and turned the key all the while hoping the sound of the lock turning would be missed.
A thump as a body fell against the glass caused the door to vibrate in its frame. I could see a ruined face pressed up against the glass for a moment before it moved away leaving a dark stain smeared across. I released the breath I hadn’t realised I had been holding and ducked back into the living room closing the door behind me.
The door that led to the kitchen had also been closed leaving the room in darkness. The heavy curtains blocked nearly all of the light from outside coming through. We sat in silence, each lost in our own thoughts as the repeated banging and moaning filtered through from outside.
This was the sort of situation that we needed to avoid. We couldn’t keep hiding in fear every few hours as ever more zombies flooded the roads looking for food. If we wanted to be safe, we needed to keep away from anywhere close to roads. From what I had seen, the undead would just stay on the roads unless they were actively following something they tended to take the path of least resistance.
We would need somewhere that had an independent water supply, that could be defended and someplace where we could produce our own food at some time in the future when we needed to be more self sufficient. It was something to think about, though for now just keeping moving would be a good idea.
A loud scream broke through my thoughts. The zombies had made it into the house next door. The screaming continued for several long minutes as the old man slowly died. Lily did her best to cover Maggie’s ears but the child was obviously distressed by what was happening. Claire was leaning over them both and had her arms wrapped around her daughter. Pat looked near tears himself as he held Rachel close.
I stood up and peered once more through the small gap in the curtains. The zombies were all either inside or pressed together trying to get into the house at the same time. They were all distracted which was to our advantage.
“We have a chance to get upstairs now. It will be safer than all waiting down here” I told the others in as loud a whisper as I dared.
As scared as they were, they followed as I led the way out of the living room. I paused briefly by the door to ensure no zombies were staring in, before gesturing the group up the stairs. I watched them climb the stairs before risking heading into the kitchen to retrieve my hatchet and a couple of knives. It wasn’t much, but would certainly be better than nothing if I needed to defend myself.
I made it upstairs without incident and found Lily, Maggie and Claire all curled up together in the master bedroom. They were laying under the covers on the king size bed, Maggie pressed between them, her whole body shaking with silent sobs.
“Where are the others?” I asked Lily.
“Pat took Rachel to the other bedroom. She isn’t doing well with first losing Ellie and now this.” I nodded at her words as though I understood.
“Well, we are going to be here for a while so may as well get comfortable. I’ll be in one of the other rooms.” I didn’t wait for a reply. The constant emotion from these people was wearing me down. I found the remaining empty room and lay down on the bed. I was still tired from an unpleasant sleep in the van and since we couldn’t actually go anywhere, I figured it would be a good chance to have a nap.
I was awoken a short time la
ter as Patrick walked into the room. “Were you sleeping?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes. Well I was trying to anyway.” I said with a yawn.
“How can you sleep with those things out there?”
“It helps if you are tired” I replied, flashing him a grin. “It’s not like they could just walk in, they would make enough noise to wake me in plenty of time.”
Pat shook his head, “Come on, Lily wants to talk to us all” he said before leaving the room.
My body was still aching and I took a moment to stretch and gather my weaponry before heading to the master bedroom.
As I entered a furious argument was taking place, almost entirely in whispers. I paused in the doorway and listened.
“We need to go!” said Rachel her eyes were red from crying.
“Where exactly will we go to?” asked Pat in his too loud whisper.
“Anywhere is better than here.” Rachel replied a touch of anger in her voice.
“I just want somewhere safe for Maggie” said Claire quietly.
They continued like this for awhile, the same questions going unanswered yet being repeated again and again. Lily sat on the bed looking extremely frustrated. I crossed to the window to look out through the curtains.
The zombies were still out there. They weren’t doing much of anything. A few wandered aimlessly around the front of the house, but the majority just stood around. I guessed several were even still in the house along with the elderly gent who was likely already returned in un-death.
The argument was still continuing behind me. It was becoming irritating and I was more than a little bored of sitting in the house quietly. I was feeling the urge to kill something. A light touch on my arm drew my attention back to the group.
“What do you think?” Lily asked me, her hand still resting lightly against my arm.
“About what?”
“Haven’t you been listening?” Rachel asked loudly.
“Not really, no. You were all just repeating yourselves so I saw no reason to.”
Search for Safety: Killing the Dead Book Two Page 2
