Dead End (Book 2): Surviving

by Monroe, Kady

  “Right you two, it’s time to get back on the road. Buckle-up.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Bootle was the next little village they arrived at. Unfortunately, the road ran straight through Main Street, which was blocked with rubble and vehicles buried under the charred remains of whatever residences and businesses used to be on the street. Only a few skeletal walls remained upright, and at the end of the road Jenny could just make out what remained of an old church steeple.

  This was as far as they could go on the A595 for the moment. Consulting the road atlas, Jenny could see a smaller road on her left-hand side which included another turnoff that would guide them to the other end of the town. But if that didn’t work out, then she could backtrack and resume following the smaller road. It would lead them nearer to the coast and then north where they could rejoin the main road.

  The plan to get to the other side of Bootle was a bust. The lane rejoined the town before the ruined church and the debris on the road was impassable. Jenny reversed the van and found a space to turn around in. It appeared they were heading for the coast after all. Luckily the new road was free of obstructions and ran between empty fields and hedgerows. There weren’t any dead stumbling about, so Jenny relaxed for the moment; happy to be adding distance away from the block fortress and the man with the guns. At least she knew where some of the roadblocks were from, but she remained puzzled about where the mysterious vehicle went.

  They went by small dwellings on the way. Later, Jenny became surprised when she reached the small village of Hycemoor and drove over a railway bridge next to a small station which announced itself as Bootle Station. It seemed strange to her the railway station was actually in another town. Country folks are strange, she thought with a smile.

  The coast came into view and once again Amar stared at it. She slowed the motor home down. There were a couple of buildings in the distance but no corpses wandering around. The landscape was fairly flat, which was good as she could see for miles. Jenny decided it would be a good idea to let the boys out to stretch their legs and burn off some energy, not forgetting Amar’s dream to play in the sand. She parked and announced the good news. Amar whooped with delight and ran into the back of the van. He reappeared a moment later holding a plastic spade and a sandcastle shaped bucket. He’d kept that quiet as this was the first time she’d laid eyes on those items. She thought it was adorable that he lived in hope, but hadn’t mention going to the beach again.

  The breeze was freezing, yet the boys didn’t mind as they ran to the water’s edge and let the waves chase them back up the surf-line. As she stood guard watching them; it broke her heart they probably wouldn’t get enough safe freedom like this to be kids.

  With the help of Hayden, Amar got to build his masterpiece sandcastle. She watched with warmth in her eyes, as they appeared deep in discussion about where all the turrets and walls should go. Going to join the boys, Jenny missed her phone. It would have been nice to have taken some pictures of these happy fleeting moments. Her old phone didn’t have any photos stored on it.

  Back on the road, with the daylight fading, Jenny decided she would push on with driving; maybe just for an hour after dark. Hayden and Amar could help themselves to a snack before she stopped to make dinner. After the sun went down, Jenny managed to return to the main road and discovered it seemed clear. Keeping her speed down, she carried on.

  The fresh air of earlier did them all good. For the first time since she’d met them, the boys’ eyes sparkled, and they were both tired in a good way. So was Jenny. She brought the camper to a stop in a quiet layby and pulled down the blinds to settle in for the night.

  Her parking spot was a little way outside the next town of Gosforth. According to the map, they should be able to drive by on the west side of the town. Jenny didn’t hold her breath in hope of the next leg of the journey going smoothly, she’d experience too much for that now.

  It did go smoothly. They travelled on until they reached a village called Calder Bridge. It wasn’t vehicles or building rubble which blocked the way this time; walking corpses were to blame. Were there tourists in the town when the infection struck? She had to wonder as there seemed to be more zombies than a town this size should have. And unfortunately, they were singing their dirge of moaning and stumbling in unison towards her. Time to take another detour she thought, steering the van into a left-turn which led to a small country road. A signpost stated the lane went towards another town and also towards Sellafield Nuclear Power Station. On seeing this, Jenny concluded that might be where all the extra bodies turned up from.

  When the site came into view, sounds of amazement emitted from the boys as they stared bug-eyed out the windows.

  “What is it?” Amar asked mesmerized by the large cooling tower and the dome of what Jenny presumed was the reactor.

  “A nuclear power station,” Hayden answered.

  “Wow,” Amar said, then paused and frowned, “Does it still work if all the people are gone?” Then an alarming thought occurred to him,

  “What if the zombies accidentally press the wrong button like they did with that generator?”

  “It’s safe.” Hayden replied firmly.

  “Are you sure…? How do you know?” Amar asked with both wonder and scepticism.

  “Because my Dad knows someone who works in one, and he said the reactor automatically fills with cheese when nobody’s there to look after it.”

  Jenny almost burst out laughing as she peered in the rear-view mirror at the two boys. Amar was pursing his lips and frowning. Hayden had a poker face. Maybe she should worry because he was such a good liar.

  “You’re kidding me.” Amar finally stated.

  Hayden shook his head.

  “No, it’s true,” he paused, then after thinking for a moment, he continued,

  “You know what happens when cheese gets hot, right?”

  “It melts.”

  “Yes, exactly. And it gets all gooey, right?”

  Amar nodded, though he still looked confused about where the conversation was heading.

  “Well, that’s what they use if for,” Hayden continued, “If things go wrong, there’s this great big chunk of cheese hanging above the nuclear reactor and when it gets hot, the cheese melts and drips down,” he stopped to nod wisely before adding,

  “It clogs everything up and the reactor can’t work anymore so it shuts down.”

  Amar turned to face Jenny,

  “Is that true, Jenny?” he asked.

  Jenny was careful not to turn her head around as she replied,

  “It sounds like it would work.”

  “So, the reactor is full of cheese?”

  “It certainly could be,” Jenny answered, doing her best not to betray her amusement.

  After thinking about it for a few moments, Amar declared,

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to eat that cheese then, it might make me glow in the dark!”

  Jenny stuck to the country roads so she could miss out on having to deal with the larger town of Egremont. The turning for the A5086, which was the road that would take them towards Kirkland, was located after the town.

  However, the van was getting low on fuel and she would need to find some soon. All the zigzags and detours had run the mileage up. She was glad the van ran on a petrol engine, at least the fuel should be easy to find. Jenny really hoped the process wouldn’t take long as she was close to her destination and wanted to arrive before dark.

  She tried to stay on a straight north heading, but the small country roads had other destinations in mind. She followed meandering tarmac that headed to the coast then away again. They still edged in the right direction, it was just taking longer than she wanted. Still, finding three abandoned cars near a local beauty spot made it worthwhile. Jenny jumped out with a jug, a screwdriver and a small basin. She gave the boys instructions to stand watch and alert her if they saw anyone, or anything, coming their way.

  All the cars ran on petrol. Two of th
em gave out a decent amount but the other one had barely a trickle of fuel in its tank. She transferred the liquid to the van and was pleased when the group got back on board without incident. The petrol gauge was high enough to stop her worrying for a while.

  Eventually the junction she waited for arrived. They were north of Egremont and Jenny was relieved to have bypassed the town. Heading straight on, her goal of accessing the A5086 became a reality. They stopped for lunch at a pretty picnic spot. The outside temperature had dropped and once again, Jenny eyed the sky with a frown.

  Lunch was light and hot. With their bellies full and the dishes washed and cleared away, Jenny went to get back in the driver’s seat. A howl shattered the peace of the surrounding area. She moved towards the boys, whom she didn’t need to tell to duck down. They both recognised the sound. The rage fuelled scream came again, and this time Jenny pinpointed it to further up the road. She couldn’t see the infected person because of the tall fir trees surrounding the picnic area, but the howl sounded just far enough away for them to risk pulling the blinds down on the van. It was a joint effort to get them down on time.

  Jenny approached the front and crouched down between the seats. The windscreen blind was up a bit so she could keep watch. Within seconds the infected man came howling into view. He stumbled and screamed at a tree, and even for someone with the virus, Jenny could see he appeared to be in a bad way. His upper half bare, showing a network of scratches and wounds across his chest, some of which appeared to have bled recently. Bright red blood streaked him, like an uninfected normal human. His body looked emancipated. Each bone and rib seemed like jagged protrusions on his bruised and broken skin. The waist of his jeans hung off his hips while the leg length bunched up on his muddy trainers. His face also showed signs of sickness with blotchy red welts which stood out profoundly on his pale skin. He howled again and ran at the offending tree, punching it with already broken knuckles. She’d never seen one of them attacking anything like that before. He practically threw himself away from the tree trunk and lurched like a zombie. Jenny’s heart raced and sweat formed on her back as he got closer to the van.

  The man came to a stop in the middle of the road in front of the picnic area. Jenny tried to keep her fear at bay by telling herself he hadn’t noticed them. He screeched again, but it sounded more like a scream of pain than anger. As she watched, she saw him bring his arms up and use his fists to beat his own head. Another howl, a stumble, and then he fell to the ground, landing flat on his back, unmoving. She waited another two minutes and the thing still lay prone, and during that time a painful memory came back to her. The infected guy’s face reminded her of Mr Gates, someone from her distant past. She pushed the memory away and examined the sight of the man’s body. It still lay in the same position. Is it dead, or did he just knock himself out? Not wanting to wait around to find out, Jenny whispered to the boys to get back in their seats and put their belts on. Even if this one didn’t get back up, the noise it made could draw any nearby zombies.

  When the boys were secured, Jenny raised the windscreen blind and her heart walloped against her chest when she saw the infected man was sitting up. Only, he looked different. His silver eyes were now cloudy. Jenny confirmed her suspicion a moment later when he struggled to stand up, then looked directly at the van and moaned.

  Jenny drove around him, taking a cautious look at the floundering zombie. She’d wondered where all the infected went since she hadn’t heard or seen any for ages. It seemed they only survived so long before their bodies died of exhaustion or starvation, maybe? Whichever it was, she was pleased with this turn of events. Less danger for her to worry about.

  She took the road north and only noticed a handful of zombies in the next mile. Her thoughts turned back to Mr Gates.

  She was ten years old when he and his wife took her on as a foster child. On her second evening with them, he tried to molest her. He’d got a kick in the balls for his trouble and screamed the house down, bringing his wife running upstairs to see what happened. Of course, he lied and said Jenny lashed out at him for no reason. No one believed her side of the story and she got shipped back to the children’s home the next day. After that she gained the label of difficult, troubled and violent.

  Thankfully not all the foster families were like that. Most of the time she found herself in temporary foster care with decent people. But no one was willing to take her on long term because of the tag attached to her. The other downside that came with her reputation was that it made it easier for future predators to claim they did nothing to her. But those that tried always got more than they bargained for. Not one of them ever succeeded with their plans.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Apart from the occasional vehicle, the rest of the road to the turnoff for Kirkland was clear. Her excitement mounted when she steered onto the narrow road leading to the town.

  When she drove past the town sign, residential buildings appeared and it didn’t take long to work out that Kirkland was a village. The usual sight of zombies and haphazardly placed cars didn’t deter her. She drove on to the main street, taking a good look around. Her excitement dropped a notch when she saw no sign of living people. But she knew the idea was unrealistic, still it would have been nice to conclude the journey with an easy outcome.

  The van passed by local businesses which all appeared to be untouched by zombies or survivors. Each store had its shutters pulled down and secured on the outside by padlocks.

  Driving on, she reached a Y shaped junction. With shoulders slumped, she pulled to a stop and tried to decide which way to go. Neither direction looked more appealing than the other. It wasn’t until a corpse slapped a hand against the back of the van that she moved, choosing the street to the right.

  Terraced houses lined the road on both sides. Some were damaged with broken windows, dented or smashed doors and blood smears. But all the properties had the same thing in common. They were quiet and lifeless.

  Clive said he lived out of town, therefore, Jenny continued on the road towards open countryside. She hadn’t the foggiest idea where to search, so this road was as good as any. Where’s Google Maps when you actually need them? She thought. A satellite image would be fantastic right about now. With nothing left for it but to check each property she found, she resigned herself to driving around in circles for days. Still undeterred, she set the boys to work as look-outs.

  Daylight began to fade after the group finished checking out the third property they located. Since she didn’t know if Clive even made it home, she realised she would have to check each home for owner’s details. She sighed at the prospect of how long and dangerous this hunt might be, but then thought, hey, it’s not as if you’ve got somewhere else to be is it? The task would take as long as it took, so rather than feel depressed at the lack of instant gratification, she might as well stop feeling sorry for herself and get on with it.

  This last property of the day, like the first three, didn’t have any damage to it, so Jenny broke the back door lock to get in. It was a nice two-storey brick cottage, well maintained, with a nice homely feel to it. Once the search of the place concluded, Jenny admired the wood burning fire in the living room, imagining how cosy it would be to relax on the sofa while the fire radiated heat. But after searching through the kitchen and requisitioning more food supplies, she quietly closed the back door and retreated to the van with the boys. They would stay on the property grounds, but inside the safety of the van.

  They were lucky on day one with all the houses locked up and undamaged. But during the next two days, they discovered quite a few where zombie and infected activity was obvious. Jenny was careful to keep the boys close to her when a house looked undamaged, but for the ones that could hold hidden dangers, she insisted, much to their protests, that they stay locked in the van until she made sure the area was secure. Then she would let them look around and gather a small amount of supplies. They would have to stop doing that soon though as the van was getting pretty stuff
ed.

  Having thought about it, she considered setting up home in one of the undamaged houses for the winter, or at least using one to store whatever extra supplies they could find. The days were getting colder with frost thickening each morning. Snow flurries threatened to bring worse weather. Maybe the Kirkland area would be the end of the journey, or at least until Spring came around again.

  Day four began with frosty windows covered in a thin layer of snow. Jenny’s breath plumed before her. She regretted getting out of her nice warm sleeping bag as she shivered and longed for the days of central heating. The van was slower to start that morning, making her wonder if it needed antifreeze, she’d heard drivers mention it in the past. She wasn’t sure exactly what you did with the chemical solution but she guessed if she found a bottle then it would have instructions on the label. Jenny included it on her list of things to find, otherwise a trip back to Kirkland might be in order. She checked the house they were at, but it didn’t have a garage and there wasn’t a car in the drive. A quick scan of the kitchen cupboards and the nook under the stairs left her empty handed. It was time to move on to newer pastures.

  When the sun was as high in the sky as it would get, the snow and frost melted. Parking in the open could only get worse at this time of year, so Jenny decided to try to find residences with a garage for the end of each day. Extra walls might help with insulation both for the van and for its occupants.