Plague Of The Revenants

by Chilvers, Edward

  I knew I had to get to the countryside. Anybody still left in the town was either dead or wandering the streets in search of flesh. But first I needed to get down from this damned roof. I walked the length and breadth but there was no way through the sea of revenants. There was nothing for me here on the roof of the stadium and I was not prepared to let the cold or the hunger get to me before the revenants. I travelled the length of the roof, looking down, searching for a break in the sea of the swarm but there was none. At least they could not climb up here to reach me. It was no use. I would have to wait until they dispersed. After eight years in jail I was more than used to waiting and besides, I got the feeling it would be foolish to try and bolt from the creatures. I was still wearing the heavy coat pilfered off one of the revenants which I had used as a blanket whilst sleeping on the waste ground, so at least I would have some protection against exposure.

  I remained on the roof for three days and night, drinking the stagnant water of the gutters when I needed hydration. Even though it was the height of summer by night it was still cold and the wind blew the rotten stench of death to chill my living bones. Throughout this time I tried to remain as quiet as possible in the hope that the revenants would soon disperse. By day I prowled as quietly as possible, waiting for my chance. The revenants wandered aimlessly in and out of the stadium, stumbled over the rubble and picked over the bloodied morsels of my fellow inmates. From the stadium I also had a good vantage point of the town but as I scanned the horizon all the way to the fields beyond not a firm sighting of life did I see. Sometimes I saw smoke which raised my spirits slightly but this almost always turned out to be an uncontrolled blaze from a factory which had started because there had been nobody left alive to stop it.

  My chance finally came on the fourth day, a slight path through to the road, a thinning of the revenants, a way out. I did not flinch, did not even stop to collect my coat. I was already half mad with hunger and knew that if I didn’t move now I would be too weak to make good my escape. I swung off the roof with my hands and slid like a fireman down the support beam, slowing myself towards the end to land silently on the stone floor. They saw me immediately, as I knew they would, but I hit the ground running, rushing through the stands and out on to the road beyond. I put my head down and charged, swinging with my fist to knock down a revenant who lurched into my path. Though weak I was still a big man from years of working out in the gym and reckoned myself a formidable force to be reckoned with despite the vast revenant numbers opposed to me.

  I hurried through the unfamiliar streets and when I tired I staggered, but I could not afford to stop. The revenants did not let up in their pursuit of me. This was the freshest meat they would have seen in days. I turned corner after corner and many times I saw a horde blocking my way. I was required to double back and try and dive down alleyways or through gardens in a constant, never-ending game of cat and mouse. If only I could find a moment to collect my thoughts, to think up a plan, and even through it all I could never quite forget how hungry I was.

  The revenant fell on to me from the doorway as I ran past, the perfect ambush. I struggled hard, tried to shake it off but it gripped my shoulder tightly and together we fell, grappling to the floor. My frantic fingers reached up and seized a hold of its head, trying desperately to keep its ravenous jaws away from my skin. From behind and in front I heard the moan of the advancing hordes. I kicked out my legs for leverage and rolled over on top of it, pinioning its neck to the ground with one hand and bringing up my other to pound its hellish face into oblivion. It was a fast, frenzied attack and I had no time to make sure of my work. As soon as its body went limp I was on my feet and running once more. I put my head down and charged through a small crowd of the creatures, their clawing hands ripping at my clothes, and yet I came through it unscathed, for now at least. I turned a corner and came into a street I recognised from before, was pursued by revenants whose rotting faces I had seen before. I was going round in circles and in the meantime my energy levels were falling and my luck was surely fast running out.

  I ran as fast as I could and as I ran the revenants turned to follow behind me until the stench of their pursuing numbers was practically unbearable. It was no use. Everywhere I turned there were more of them and it was as though the entire population of revenants was now focused upon me, determined to take me down. There was no way out and to make matters worse I had run myself down a road which put me either side of a fenced off industrial estate so could not even duck into a house for refuge. It was then I saw the car, skewered across the road, its driver side door open from where it had been quickly abandoned. I decided to seize the opportunity. Even if it wouldn’t start I would have refuge for the time being, a precious few seconds to rest up and think. I dashed up to the car as the first of the revenants reached me, diving inside and slamming the door on its inhuman fingers. I locked the doors for all the good it would be and sat back hard against the seat, my eyes closed tight, breathing heavily. But the revenants offered me no let up, converging as one on the car and slamming their hands upon the windows, rhythmically beating down upon it. The sound of a crack attracted my attention and I snapped open my eyes to be greeted with the sight of the windscreen slowly splintering against the weight of a multitude of bodies. I looked around, realising I had no chance of flight then reached desperately for the keys which were by some miracle still in the ignition. I turned the engine over and it stalled almost straight away. I tried again without success then attempted a long pull and this time, to my great relief, the vehicle spluttered to life. I pushed my foot down hard upon the accelerator and the vehicle pressed against the bodies, moved agonisingly slowly but at least it moved. At that moment a revenant lifted up its head and slammed it hard upon the windscreen, shattering the glass which remained in place but nonetheless blocked my vision ahead. I slammed the vehicle into reverse, turned the steering wheel, anything to free myself from the hellish embrace. Suddenly the car lurched forwards. There came a sickening crunch as one of the undead fell beneath the wheels and all at once I was free of the pack. As I drove I saw more vehicles jacknifed across the road, almost all of them streaked with blood, their windows smashed in and their bodywork dented from the force of the revenant attack. I realised then I was making a similar mistake in assuming I was protected by the bodywork of the vehicle. In truth there were simply too many of them. Still, at least I was free and surely on the home stretch. I threw back my head and whooped with joy, accelerated fast and spun the car around the corner, thinking myself home free and almost immediately afterwards colliding head on with a lorry which was spread out across the road. I lurched forward and pitched through the windscreen which now surrendered to my weight and flung me right through on to the bonnet beyond where I sprawled in a heap. Dazed and confused I lay there for several seconds until the advancing moan of the revenant hordes spurred me into action once more. I leapt to my feet and looked towards the car. It was no use. The vehicle’s entire front end was buried under the lorry. I was on my own once more. I turned to see the revenants converging upon me from all angles. I ran once more, heading out of the industrial state and towards the residential areas. I knew this was likely to lead me directly into more hordes but at the same time it might just offer me the shelter I so desperately needed to rest up and take stock of my shattered nerves. All the time my eyes searched around for a vehicle but although I saw many parked up there were none simply abandoned and I was hardly in a position to go rooting for the keys. I ran across the main road, now strangely deserted and completely devoid of life and to my relief spied a row of terrace houses straight ahead. I scanned the darkened windows for signs of life as I approached, for I desperately needed allies but there was nothing. If anybody was still alive up there they were keeping themselves very much to themselves.

  I ran into the residential streets, my eyes scanning for an opportunity to enter a house. All I needed was an open door or window. I turned the corner and soon realised I was in a cul de sac. Th
e revenants pursued close behind me. I was trapped. The only place to go was sideways. I headed for the nearest terraced house and dived through the window, which shattered upon contact, landing with a forward roll and coming up face to face with a revenant. In a second the creature was upon me, knocking me over the coffee table and to the floor. I grabbed a hold of its neck with both hands and tried desperately to keep its clamping jaws away from my own throat. The thing possessed a strength I would not have thought possible. Up close it moved very quickly, and I was put in mind of a snake that pounces in a lightening motion. The thing was even stronger than the one I had encountered earlier and I imagined this was because it was even more desperate for flesh having been confined to the house for the duration of its infection. The revenant slammed me against the wall and although I fought as hard as I can still the thing’s jaws gradually came forward towards me. I was losing strength fast. I buckled my legs and allowed myself to fall to the floor, bringing the revenant with me. This done I kicked out hard and propelled it across the room where it tripped over the coffee table and landed on the settee beyond. I leapt to my feet and seized hold of a porcelain ornament from the mantelpiece; doubtless it would have fetched quite a price in the old world but as the revenant came forward and I smashed the object through its skull its value to me as a weapon was plain for all to see. The revenant fell back, down but not defeated. I looked up to see other revenants climbing through the smashed in window with many more behind. I leapt up and charged out of the living room door, slamming it shut behind me, then staggered through the hallway and into the kitchen. Here I seized up a nearby plastic bag and started frantically rummaging through the cupboards, seizing what tins I could. Suddenly there came a shattering of wood as the living room door was breached. It was essential I get upstairs. I started pulling open the drawers and my hands and seized upon a medium sized cleaver which I brandished triumphantly over my head, charging forward back into the hallway and cleaving a massive gash in the face of an advancing revenant. More were filing through into the hallway but I charged these aside and dashed up the stairs, my eyes scanning the ceiling for the loft hatch which I soon found in the upper hallway. I jumped up and punched open the latch then in the same movement latched on with both hands, swung up and inside where I sat down heavily on the ledge, quickly pulling my feet up as the first of the revenants emerged up the stairs. I replaced the latch and lay still in the complete darkness with my eyes closed, breathing heavily. After a few minutes I heaved myself up and fumbled around for the emersion tank, drank heavily from it then reached into the bag for a tin of something. I ate without tasting. It was nourishment and at that moment it was all I needed. Down below came the groaning of the revenants, gnashing their teeth and patrolling around but unless the roof gave in at that point I was perfectly safe. I had never seen one climb up yet. I consumed another tin, and then another and was about to start on a fourth before I realised I needed to store up provisions for a long siege. A thought suddenly struck me. I lifted the loft hatch for a moment so I might have some light and sent the next fifteen minutes checking myself over for bites and scratches. The search was inconclusive. I was cut quite badly in places, although whether this was due to a revenant bite or down to my fall through the window I did not quite know and at that precise moment I was too tired to care. If I was to die now, here in this loft, at least I had given the bastards a damned good run. I leaned back between the beams and closed my eyes, listening to the sounds below and beyond the house. A moment later I was asleep.

  But I was not to die and turn that day. I woke up a few hours later feeling well rested. The revenants had left the house of their own accord and I dared venture quietly downstairs, cleaver at the ready. Ideally I would have made the house secure and taken it over but having demolished the window in my flight the previous night I could see this would prove difficult. And besides, I didn’t have the tools. A quick glance out at the street beyond told me the place was still infested with revenants and I knew my flight from the stadium to here would haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. Still, at least they had left the house. I was inclined to take it easy for a while. I returned to the kitchen and emptied out the drawers of everything edible I could find, also finding a torch and a few batteries, returned it to the loft then ventured back downstairs and into the shed in the back garden. Here I found a lump hammer with a long handle which would serve as a most useful weapon, although I had other intentions in mind. I returned to the loft and hammered through the wall into the loft of the adjoining property, dropped down and looted what food I could from there. I carried this on through the rest of the terrace. On several occasions I met the undead residents, none living, but I was careful and alert and when they appeared the lump hammer made short work of them. I still slept in the loft because only up here did I feel truly secure. Sometimes I would drop down into one of the bedrooms and peer outside and each time the same scene, the same revenants patrolling.

  I stayed in that darkened loft for a month, leaving only to gather up a few meagre tins of food from the kitchen cupboards downstairs. For water I drank the contents of the immersion tank. Even here in the roof I could hear the moans of the revenants on the streets beyond, but never any screaming. The plague was too far advanced for that now and there were times when I imagined I might be the only human left alive. The irony of being trapped inside the loft although to all effects a free man was not lost on me. I suppose I was fortunate in that I was used to solitude what with all my time inside.

  At the end of the fourth week I ran out of food. I had been limiting myself to one can of food per day and at the end of it I was left with nothing. The moans of the revenants never let up for a second. They did not sleep or rest. At that stage I imagined the crisis to be a temporary one, that the revenants would eventually starve to death or the government would come up with some sort of master plan, swoop in to take control. I supposed when that happened I would be taken back to jail, or perhaps I could take advantage of the confusion and pretend to be somebody else? Each day I looked out and still nobody came, still the same revenants and still no end to the crisis. It was only when I finally ran out of food that it dawned on me that perhaps nobody was coming, perhaps this was just the way it was going to be from now on. And in that case I wasn’t going to be able to stay here indefinitely. I thought long and hard about where I should go. I realised I knew nothing of this countryside, I had only been in prison here. My home, inasmuch as I had one, was in London, but there was no way I was going to go back there, because I knew full well what kind of state it would be in. I thought about my mother and the rest of my family back home there and was surprised to find I did not really care what happened to them. They had never once come to see me in jail and had sent me only the tersest letters every now and again. I did not blame them for effectively disowning me but at the same time I would not shed tears for their fate.

  I found myself yearning for the prison with its thick walls, bars and tightly locked doors. At that moment all I wanted to do was lock myself in my cell, lie down on my bunk with a supply of food and let the world go to hell as it pleased. I wondered whether I could make the house secure and go out foraging as much as possible, looting the surrounding houses. I considered this idea for a long time before eventually dismissing it. The revenants were simply too numerous and as time went on I would have to go further and further afield. In such a situation I would not be able to stay lucky. I needed isolation, to go somewhere there were no revenants. I thought of the Highlands of Scotland, but feared at the same time that a lot of others would have had the same idea and also if the roads were blocked here in the town they were likely to be even more so along the main roads. I knew the town was not too large, and that if I were only to find a vehicle and drive to the countryside I might find a farmhouse I could make secure, perhaps grow crops and raise animals. Maybe too the farmhouse might contain a shotgun.

  There was nothing for it. I had to get out of the loft. I was becoming a littl
e stir crazy spending so much time in there with nothing to do except listen to the revenants outside and barely any daylight either. Besides, with no food to speak of I was not prepared to go another few days starving myself as I had done on the roof and then undergo a repeat of last time when I had barely energy to flee the creatures. I should have saved up some provisions, should have made my flight sooner but it was always going to be too late for regrets in this new world. I had looted a few changes of clothes and also a heavy coat from the adjoining houses and these I stuffed into a bag and slung over my shoulder. Then I took up the hammer and dropped down into the next house, lump hammer at the ready. I had already looted the rooms of anything of value and had checked for revenants but you could never tell who might break in from one day to the next. I had chosen this house for a reason, for the sturdy looking works van parked in the driveway. I made a quick search of the hallway but there was nothing doing, then went upstairs to the bedroom. There was blood on the walls and signs of a struggle, a smashed window. I imagined somebody had turned, bitten the other then that other person had made their own way out. I didn’t care for stories or forensic analysis. I got down on my hands and knees and rummaged through the trouser pockets for keys, which I found without too much trouble. I smiled. Things were starting to come together at last.