“What sort of car did they have?”
“A silver Renault” Eric said before turning his attention back to Cass.
I wandered back through the club house and found myself sat once more in the manager’s office. I was impatient for the sun to rise so I could get out and start looking. In the feeble light of a candle I had borrowed from the dining room, I studied the map.
It wouldn’t make sense to follow the route Lily and John had taken. I could only imagine the streets filled with the undead moving one way or another as they looked for more prey. No, my best chance was to cut across country to the place they were supposed to dump the car.
If I didn’t find their car, I would backtrack down their route. If I did find the car, I would at least have an idea of where to search. John would know the easiest way to get back here from the drop off point, so they would be somewhere between there and the golf course.
My concern for Lily was uncommon and while I waited for the darkness to lighten with the approach of day, I sat and puzzled over why I wanted to go and find her. When the time came to set off, I still had no concrete answer.
Without bothering to say goodbye to anyone else I stepped out of the club house and into the early light of morning. I did a rough calculation and realised that we were well into November now and I could feel a definite chill in the air. We would need to leave this place soon and find somewhere we could safely spend the winter.
The corpses that covered the floor along one side of the club house and further away on the once pristine grass of the golf course were being picked over by more than a few hungry birds. Whatever had animated them and stopped the bodies’ natural deterioration was no longer working and the bodies were leaking all manner of fluid onto the ground.
I picked my way through the mess, careful to avoid stepping in anything too unpleasant. I was almost at the tree line when I realised that I had seen the birds eating the remains. I turned and gazed at the feeding frenzy that was currently happening.
Dark feathered birds were flying around the area, some landing and others taking off but absolutely none of them showed any ill effects from devouring the infected remains. I had already seen that animals bitten by the zombies didn’t reanimate and now I had evidence that animals showed no ill effects from consuming the infection.
It would be interesting to see if anyone could eat one of the birds and not become infected. One of my concerns had been the infection getting into the food chain somewhere, leaving us with little in the way of protein. I resolved to do some experimentation when I finally had the chance. For now though, I had other business.
The map was safely in my jacket pocket and my hatchet was held at the ready. I had a bottle of water in another pocket and some pilfered biscuits in yet another. I had no intention of staying out overnight but Lily may have need of something to eat and drink if she had been trapped outside all night.
I had been walking for barely ten minutes when I found the first zombie. It was making its slow way along a gravel footpath and when it saw me the creature increased its speed and clacked its teeth menacingly, eager to sink them into my soft flesh.
With no intention of being eaten, I ducked beneath its clumsy attempt to grab hold of me and swung my hatchet towards the base of its skull. The blade sank deep with a pleasant crunching sound as the bone shattered. The zombie fell to the ground and lay still.
Less than five minutes had passed before another stumbled from the bushes besides the path and barrelled into me, knocking me to the ground. My hatchet flew from my hand as I landed and I lashed out with fists and feet as I struggled to get out from under it.
A lucky blow to the side of the skull dislodged it enough for me to scramble out from beneath the zombie and retrieve my hatchet from where it lay. I stood and with hatchet gripped tight I chopped down and sank the blade into the back of the zombies’ neck. Three more blows and the head dropped free.
I quickly scanned the bushes around me for any more signs of danger as I regained my breath and composure. It was foolish to think the undead that had attacked us during the night were the only ones that would be out here.
Keeping a close eye on the bushes beside the path I continued walking. I was concerned by the two zombies that I had just happened to meet. I needed to find somewhere high enough to give me a clear view of the surrounding area.
The path ended with some steps that led down to a road and a few houses. The map Eric had provided showed that this road led directly into a town. It was a couple of miles away still, but close enough that I would need to be wary.
Blood covered the stairs seemingly resistant to being washed away by the rain and a young woman lay at the bottom, her eyes open and staring sightlessly at the sky above. She had no obvious wounds that I could see, but she was in the process of decomposing and that at least told me she had been dead for a while.
I paused beside the body and peered around the corner of the wall she lay before. Aside from a few zombies in the distance the road was clear of life. A few cars sat with doors open and loaded with the myriad personal belongings that people felt the need to flee with.
A charred frame of a truck had fallen on its side across the road providing a neat barricade. I crept along the road, past the houses with their dark interiors and empty windows. Past the fallen items that littered the road, abandoned when their burden became too much or the people carrying them had to run from the ravenous dead.
The shriek of a cat froze me in place and I turned quickly, scanning the road to see what had caused the noise. A blurred streak of fur and fury ran across the road, pursued by a zombie that was managing to move at a considerable pace.
Neither the cat nor its pursuer noticed me and they vanished around a corner further up the road. I loosened my grip on my hatchet and continued across the road, to crouch behind a wall that bordered a weed choked alleyway that led between two houses and into the fields beyond.
When I was certain that I had been unobserved I set out along the alleyway and pulled open the waist high timber gate to gain entry to the playing field. A short trip across the open field and past the fenced in play area and I would be on another road that crossed over a river and headed to the petrol station where Lily was supposed to abandon the car.
I cast my gaze around for danger and seeing no one, living or dead I jogged across the field towards the stone wall at the other side.
As I approached the wall I could see two zombies straight away. They were walking along the road and hadn’t noticed me yet. I slowed to a walk and waited until they were past me before I approached the road. I looked back the way they had been coming from and saw little of note as the road turned around a corner.
The zombies were still walking almost side by side and unaware, their clothes were torn and stained. A great deal of skin and flesh was missing from the back of one while the other had lost three fingers on its left hand. Neither appeared to be any different from the countless other undead I had despatched.
I crept along behind them. They were slower than I, so I soon caught up with them. I kicked out at the one on the right and knocked it to the ground, whilst swinging my hatchet overhead and bringing it down with as much force as I could against the top of the head of the zombie on the left.
Its skull broke easily and my hatchet blade sank deeply into the zombies’ brain before sticking fast. I tugged on the handle as the lifeless body collapsed to the tarmac and kicked once again at the second zombie that was trying to rise.
With some cursing and considerable effort the hatchet came free and I swung it down against the second undead creature. My aim was true and the blade smashed through the thin bone at the temple and I was left with a second lifeless body and a much improved mood.
Killing the zombies would never be a replacement for actual living people, but it certainly made me a happier person. I wiped off the worst of the gore on some scrub grass at the side of the road and continued on my way.
This road ha
d the playing fields on one side and heavily wooded slope on the other that led down to a shallow river. Bushes and trees filled this whole area so my visibility was limited to the road and the playing field. I doubted anything would spring out on me from between the trees, but at the same time if anything appeared on the road I would have to try and vanish into those trees.
A short way along the road I encountered a weathered stone bridge that crossed the river. The bridge was old and not in the best state of repair anyway, which had undoubtedly not helped matters when the car had crashed into and then through the side.
I approached the gap in the wall and peered down at the river below. It wasn’t very far and if I had wanted to, I could have jumped from the bridge and down onto the base of the car that was lying upside down in the river.
The car could have been there for weeks for all I knew. It could also have been there since yesterday and contain the body of Lily. Rather than climb down the banking through the weeds and brambles, I elected to jump from the bridge and onto the car.
It was not my greatest idea ever. The car was not very stable and rocked alarmingly when I landed and I almost fell into the river, which considering the number of heavy looking rocks I could see from my vantage point atop the car, would not have been a good thing to do.
A short leap from the car to the bank and I was back on solid ground once more. I tried to see into the car but realised that I would have to get my feet wet if I wanted to look inside. It didn’t help that I would need to keep my shoes and socks on, in case I had to leave the area at speed.
Freezing cold water filled my shoes and drenched my socks. The cold seemed to travel slowly up my legs and seep into my very bones. It was not a good time of the year to be wading around in rivers.
The car was a silver box with four doors and the lettering on the back proclaimed it to be a Corsa. It wasn’t the car Lily was supposed to be driving, I had to check anyway. The windows were smashed and the water was deep enough that to see within, I would need to crouch down in the water and bend sideways until the swift flowing water was caressing my ear.
One lone occupant was still belted firmly in place, a large woman with a plaid skirt and thick rubber boots. It wasn’t Lily.
I climbed back onto the top of the car and from there onto the bridge. When I stood up once more I was sodden, cold and covered in muck and dust from the damaged wall. My earlier good mood was quite rapidly disappearing. I set off down the road once more.
The road had slowly descended into a valley and as I finally reached a point in the road which wasn’t bordered on each side by trees or hill I finally had an unobstructed view of the surrounding countryside. It wasn’t pleasant.
Zombies dotted the fields around me and I dropped to the ground beside the wall to hide myself from view. The undead were in groups small and large and moving in all directions as they chased the cows and sheep that were in the fields around me.
Every now and then as I sat trying to decide what to do, I would hear a new shriek as one pack or another of the zombies would catch whichever animal they were chasing, before falling on it and tearing at its flesh with hands and teeth.
For as far as I could see along the road it was clear of zombies. However I could also see plenty of gaps in the wall where the sheer weight of the undead pushing against the stone had knocked parts of the wall down.
These walls had been around for a long time and the building of them was a craft in and of itself. They were made of natural stone and were constructed without any mortar to bind them together and were instead held up by the interlocking of the stones themselves. This meant that with enough effort the walls would fall and the fragile barrier they may have provided would be gone.
It was becoming more and more apparent why Lily may not have made it back. This part of the countryside was rapidly filling with the undead and we really needed to leave this area soon if we wanted any chance of finding a place of safety.
Another shriek sounded from behind the wall I was crouched beside and I decided I would need to risk it. I crept along the road, staying close to the wall and low to the ground. When I approached the first gap, I paused and peered through to make sure nothing was close by.
The zombies were either feasting on the remains of their cornered prey or chasing down the still living creatures. None of the undead seemed to be close enough to notice me, I hoped. I made a quick dash across the gap and stopped at the other side, head cocked to listen out for the moans that would indicate I had been seen.
When no alarm was raised I crept along to the next gap and repeated the process. It was slow going and the muscles in my legs and back were screaming at me to stand upright before I had even made it halfway through the valley.
In the distance I could see that the road turned a corner and trees once more overlooked the road as it rose out of the valley. The steep hills on either side of the road would leave me with little room to manoeuvre.
With little choice I moved to the next gap in the wall and then past it. It had taken me nearly an hour to cross the fairly short valley floor and I was sweating and aching. I headed towards the corner, sure that as soon as I was around it I would be able to walk upright.
As I rounded the corner I let out a low groan and pulled myself over the wall at the side of the road. I landed in a patch of mud and browning leaves at the base of a tree and lay for a minute or two waiting.
I pulled myself to my feet and leant against the wide trunk of the tree so that I could see over the wall. Further along the road was the petrol station as expected. A silver car sat on the forecourt its doors opened wide and perhaps thirty or more zombies surrounded the place.
The car had been abandoned in haste. The glass windows that filled one side of the building from floor to ceiling had been shattered and the undead wandered freely in and out of the stations shop. I saw no sign of life.
Chapter 15
In the dark recesses of my mind I had been convinced that I would find Lily here. Now all I could see was the car she had been in and a number of zombies. It was a chilling realisation that if she had escaped the undead would have continued on. The only reason for them to stop would be because they had caught their prey.
I found myself searching the ranks of the undead as I checked each face, each form for one that I recognised. I looked at each in turn and found just the usual group of ravaged faces and empty eyes. Lily was not amongst them.
She could of course be within the petrol station itself. If she had run inside in an attempt to escape her pursuers, she could still be in there. I would need to get closer to check as I could make out little from where I stood.
If I stayed within the cover of the trees I could make my way to the station without being discovered. The problem though lay beyond the tree line which ended a good forty metres from the forecourt with a large mesh fence as a barrier.
Beyond the station were a row of terraced houses that faced onto the road and on the opposite side was a large pub with a car park of its own and a beer garden behind it. The road turned once more and I could see little further, but I would imagine it would be more houses and likely teeming with the undead.
I berated myself for not paying more attention to the planning the day before. Whoever had chosen this place to abandon the car had made a mistake and one that could have cost Lily her life. I had to take a deep breath and tell myself to concentrate on the task at hand.
The day was moving on and with the approach of winter, the evenings were getting darker. I would need to be heading back sooner rather than later. I was determined to look inside the petrol station before I left though.
Moving through the undergrowth was neither easy nor quick. The damp leaves underfoot rustled alarmingly as I walked across them and the ground was covered with twigs that snapped loudly whenever I stepped on one.
Sharp thorns on the low hanging branches of the brambles snagged my clothes and scratched my skin. Within just a short time I was bleeding and
nervous, almost afraid to move for making some noise to warn the zombies of my presence.
It was then that I realised what a fool I was being. I gave up on any pretence of stealth and approached the wall. I stood against the wall and looked over the zombies that were still standing on the forecourt or wandering aimlessly in the area. Then I raised my hatchet and banged the metal head against the wall. Once, twice and then a third time.
I certainly had their attention now. Thirty or more zombies all turned at stared at the source of the sound. I gave them a wave and a grin as they raised their mangled voices in a chorus of moans and wails before doing their best to charge straight at me.
When the leading undead were almost upon me, I stepped back from the wall and waited as the others caught up. This wall, much like the other I had seen further up the road was drywall without mortar and when enough were pushing against it, the wall would collapse and the zombies would chase me.
As soon as I was sure that the majority of zombies were pushing against the wall I backed further away, before turning and jogging through the trees. The undead moaned their frustration as they pushed against the wall in their efforts to reach me.
No doubt they were still pushing against the wall when I made a sharp turn to my left and disappeared from their view behind the trees and bushes. I jogged between the trees and jumped over fallen branches, while avoiding the exposed roots and holes in the ground. I was soon at the fence and looking at the petrol station once more.
The zombies would hopefully break down the wall and disperse amongst the trees as they sought me. I would of course be inside the petrol station looking for Lily. Once more I was grateful for the limited reasoning abilities of the undead.
I managed to clamber over the mesh fence with little trouble and I quickly crossed the forecourt and ducked inside the station through what had once been a glass door of the front entrance.
Shattered glass covered the floor and the shelves had been emptied of their stock. I intended to be cautious as I moved through the single story building but I also needed to be fast. I held my hatchet ready and swept my gaze up and down the aisles that were formed by the shelving units.
Search for Safety: Killing the Dead Book Two Page 12
