by Watts, Russ
Glenda fainted and Rosa dragged her behind the counter. “Laurent, we have to hide, help me,” she said, kicking away the cluttered mess of bottles and newspapers on the floor.
Laurent stood watching Rosa, too shocked to move. “Did you see? Did you see Daniel, he...”
“Yes, I fucking saw!” said Rosa. “Now fucking help me or we’ll be next!”
Laurent was instantly snapped out of his awe and picked up Glenda. They carried her behind the counter and crouched down.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” said Rosa. “Fuck.” She sat on the floor and listened to the sounds from outside the station, of the dogs eating and the zombies approaching. “They know we’re in here, surely. If they can’t see us they can smell us, sense us. Fuck, Laurent, what are we going to do?” Rosa was trembling and he took her hand.
“I hope Tom hurries up with the van,” said Laurent trying to give Rosa a reassuring smile. “I don’t know how long it will take before they figure out a way in here. Tom will come soon. If he doesn’t…” Laurent didn’t want to say what he was already thinking.
“He’ll come,” said Rosa. “He has to, or we’ll be as dead as Daniel out there.”
PART FOUR: PATHOGEN
CHAPTER TEN
“I can’t believe we’ve got an ambulance,” said Tim. “Surely, there must be something better we could use, something bigger that could carry more things? What about a truck or a van? They can’t be that hard to find.”
“This is fine,” said Shane. “Not too big, not too small. Easy to drive and manoeuvre. More importantly, it’s easy to spot when you’re out on the street and need an escape. You don’t want to jump into the wrong truck and find yourself in a confined space with a hungry zombie.”
Honok was driving whilst Shane and Tim had squeezed into the passenger seat. They were driving into Longrock along the coastal road, a path that Honok and Shane had travelled together many times recently. On their last trip, they had happened upon two girls at the shopping complex. They hadn’t even had to coerce them into coming back to the Mount, they wanted to go. Honok still smiled when he thought about that now. Sometimes luck was on your side and things just fell into your lap.
“So where first?” asked Tim. He was chattering endlessly like a schoolboy on his first trip away from his parents. “Straight to Penzance or what? What do I do? Can I do any of the driving?”
“You can be quiet, Timmy,” said Honok. “I’m driving. Shane is working. While you shoot your mouth off we’re looking out for something that could be useful; supplies, weapons, maybe more recruits even. Of course, there might also be things out here we don’t want to meet. Look, there’s one now.”
Tim saw a zombie on the side of the road. It was nothing more than road-kill now. Honok had driven over it so many times that the lower half of its body had been flattened. He had been careful to avoid the head though so it still struggled to get up off the road it was stuck to. Tim felt slightly queasy.
“Gross. I hope we don’t run into any of those things today. Say, shouldn’t we have weapons or something, in case we get attacked?”
Shane sighed. “They’re in the back. Now shut up.”
“But where are we going? If I’m going to help I need to know what the plan is.”
Honok and Shane looked at each other. They were approaching Longrock and Honok slowed down. The road ahead was unusually busy. Just past the petrol station there were nearly thirty zombies.
“Holy shit,” said Tim. “Look at them all.”
Honok brought the ambulance to a standstill, but left the engine running.
“Something’s brought them out,” said Shane, scanning the fields. “They don’t normally gather in numbers like this unless they’ve found a meal.”
“A meal?” said Tim nervously.
“Hey, Tim, you’re right, we need something to defend ourselves with. Why don’t you go grab something from the back?” Shane shuffled in his seat to allow Tim out.
Tim jumped out excitedly and ran around to the back of the ambulance.
“One minute, okay?” Shane said to Honok as he slid over the seat and jumped out after Tim. “I just need to...take care of something.” Honok nodded, and waited.
Tim pulled open the back door and cast his eyes over the assortment of weapons in the back: axes, swords and spades. He picked up a sword and was impressed at how heavy it felt in his hands.
“Let me see that,” said Shane.
Tim passed him the sword. “Cool eh? That should do us nicely, I reckon.”
Shane gripped the sword with both hands. “Tim, do you know what Lazarus told me before we left today?”
“What?” said Tim eagerly. He was looking forward to getting on with their mission, yet equally anxious about standing around in the open with the zombies so close.
“He said you were a liability and that I had to kill you.”
Tim laughed nervously. He could see that Shane was serious. Shane raised the sword so that the tip was pointed straight at Tim’s throat. “Shane, you wouldn’t? What did I do?”
“You’ve a big mouth, Tim, but don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.”
“Well, yeah, um, thanks. Look, I know I’ve a tendency to go on a bit, but...”
Shane wielded the sword above his head and brought it down on Tim’s shoulder. He cleaved off Tim’s right arm with one clean slice and blood spurted from the exposed joint. Tim screamed in agony and dropped to the ground.
“Do you ever shut up? Jesus Christ. Like I said, I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to let those things eat you.” Shane laughed and put the sword back in the ambulance before closing the back doors. He went back to the front seat, leaving Tim writhing in agony on the road, blood pouring copiously from his severed limb.
“We all good?” asked Honok as Shane got back in. He had been watching them both through the side mirror. Whatever Tim had done to deserve it, Honok was not going to lose any sleep over it.
“All good,” said Shane, closing the passenger door firmly. “Tim’s going to help us by getting their attention.” Shane pointed at the mass of zombies who were leaving the petrol station and heading toward the ambulance in the direction of Tim’s screaming. “Then we can go check out that station and see what got their attention. Could be a little bonus to take back for Lazarus.”
Honok drove forward and pulled over to the side of the road. “After Norm fucked up the entertainment last night, I hope it’s a female bonus.”
They sat quiet and still, watching the zombies lope past them to Tim. They took no notice of the ambulance and Shane was surprised when a pack of infected dogs trotted past. They looked like they had feasted recently. Their teeth were bared and blood dripped from their mouths. Shane was never less than bemused by the dead. He found it fascinating to see them now and often imagined how they used to be before they were infected.
Honok watched in the rear-view mirror as the dead leapt onto Tim who was rapidly submerged beneath a pile of rotting, biting zombies. His screams abruptly stopped as they ripped his body apart and Honok turned the engine over.
“Right, let’s check it out and be quick. Tim won’t keep them satisfied for long. If there’s someone alive there, we’ll grab them and head back to the Mount. If not, we’ll carry on.”
Honok drove the ambulance up to the petrol station. In the forecourt, amongst sticky pools of oil, lay a body. It was mangled and had been mostly eaten. They could not even recognise if it had been a man or a woman.
“Do you think that was it?” asked Shane.
“Let’s check inside, there may be others,” said Honok. He left the engine running and jumped out. The vague vapours of petrol and blood wafted up his nose and he fought the urge to sneeze. Before he got more than three feet, a man with long curly hair came running out of the station.
“Tom, thank God, you...” The man stopped and frowned when he saw the ambulance.
“Hey, are you all right, can we help?” said Shane nonc
halantly.
Honok pinched his nose and buried a sneeze. “Are you alone?”
“No, I’m with two others. Sorry, I thought you were someone else,” said Laurent. The two men facing him looked odd. One was tall and thin, and the other short and fat. They didn’t dress like officials and had obviously stolen the ambulance. “Look, we’re okay, our friend will be here soon. Any moment now, in fact. So…”
“Who else is with you?” said Shane approaching Laurent.
“Oh, just a couple of friends of mine, but we’re okay, we don’t need any help,” said Laurent. “One of my friends fainted, but she’s fine, really, thank you, but…” Laurent had a bad feeling about these two men. He would rather take his chances with the zombies than fall in with this odd couple. He was quite sure that the taller man had blood splatter on his shirt. In itself that was not unusual, fighting off zombies was a dirty job. But the blood on this man’s shirt was still fresh, and Laurent knew that you did not get such bright red blood from a dead body.
“The way you came running out of there it sure seemed like you needed help,” said Honok. “Shane, we should help this man and his friend who fainted. I’ll help our friend here.” Honok drew a knife from his belt and let it hang by his side. He made sure Laurent saw it, but kept his eyes locked on Laurent as Shane made his way into the station.
Laurent noticed that Shane had drawn a large knife out too and wished he had had the forethought to take something with him. “Look, we don’t want any trouble. My name is Laurent. My friends in there...”
“I’m not really interested in your name. Listen, Laurent, this is a one-time offer. Those things that killed your friend here are going to be back very soon. Now, your two friends are coming for a ride with us. You can join them if you like, come back with us to where it’s safe. Or you can stay here and take your chances. You can have, oh, five seconds to decide.”
Laurent thought about running. He thought about trying to fight this odd, stumpy man standing before him, but Laurent was unarmed and the man had a knife. He had fought off the dead before, but none of them had been armed. He thought about staying and waiting for Tom, but he couldn’t let them take Rosa and Glenda like this.
“Oui. I will come with you,” said Laurent. “Please don’t hurt my friends, they’ve been through a lot. We won’t cause you any trouble.”
“Just get in the back,” said Honok showing Laurent to the back of the ambulance.
As Laurent was climbing in, he noticed the assortment of weapons on the floor of the vehicle.
“Don’t even think about it,” said Honok, kicking them away out of Laurent’s reach.
Shane reappeared from the station with Rosa. He was carrying Glenda who was still unconscious.
“What’s wrong with her?” said Honok. “Is she infected?”
“No, she just fainted,” said Shane smiling. “That’s her husband you’re stepping in.”
Honok looked down and realised he had walked through Daniel’s remains. Disgusted, he wiped his shoes on his trouser legs. “Fucking shit,” he said aiming a kick at what was left of Daniel’s skull.
Rosa climbed up into the back of the van next to Laurent and Glenda was bundled in beside them. Shane scooped up the assortment of weapons and took them out to keep beside him in the front.
“Sorry, Laurent. He said if we didn’t come with him, he was going to kill you,” said Rosa.
“It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have run out unprepared like that. I heard the engine and I assumed it was Tom.”
Laurent and Rosa cradled Glenda as the back doors were shut on them. Honok and Shane got back in the ambulance and pulled out of the petrol station just as the dead were returning. Tim had been devoured, only blood stains on the road marking where he had been. Even his bones were nothing but food to the dead. The ones that were too strong to break they carried and gnawed on. The pack of dogs had Tim’s pelvis and femurs between them and were fighting over them.
Honok pulled the ambulance onto the road and then suddenly stopped. Up in the road ahead was a man in pyjamas. He was walking toward them slowly, carefully following the white lines in the middle of the road.
“What the fuck is this?” said Honok winding down his window.
Shane put a hand on the door handle, ready to jump out.
Leonard stopped by the ambulance and looked up at Honok. “Have you come to pick me up and take me home? I’m afraid I got a bit lost. Have you seen my friends? Billy? Glenda?”
Honok turned to Shane. “Have we, Shane?”
So this man had been with the others, thought Shane. “He could be useful. I’ll put him in the back with his friends.” Shane jumped out and bundled Leonard into the back of the ambulance with ease. They decided it would be best to head back to the Mount now with their prize. Lazarus would be pleased. They would still have time to go out and find the guns he wanted later.
As the ambulance headed back down the road, away from Longrock, Jackson stood up. He had been crouched down in the corn field watching the whole scene. He had managed to avoid being seen by anyone, living or dead, and had been about to head over to the petrol station when the ambulance suddenly appeared. He watched one man slice off another’s arm and leave him in agony to draw the zombies away. He watched them take Laurent, Rosa and Glenda away at knife point, and then Leonard. But to where?
Jackson watched as the vehicle rounded a bend on the road and vanished. He thought about running after them, but who knew how far they were headed, or where. How would he keep up with them and avoid the worryingly large group of zombies still out there. If only he could have stopped them. He felt so frustrated. He knew he was going to have to go back to the others and try to track the ambulance later.
Jackson recalled they had been going to an out of town shopping centre. He had found his way here through a back road and then overgrown deserted fields. He could retrace his steps and hopefully avoid the zombies. Most of them had been drawn away from him, following the ambulance to wherever it was headed. Jackson disappeared back into the abundant corn and began to head back to the others, hoping he would be able to find them quickly. That ambulance could be headed anywhere, and Jackson was worried they might lose them altogether.
As he crept through the field, one of the dogs that had killed Daniel suddenly dropped Tim’s femur it was chewing on. It could smell something, living, just a faint trace on the breeze. There was something close and tantalising out there, something fresh and meaty that would be far tastier than a stripped bone. It ran off into the field to hunt it down. The rest of the pack quickly joined it in the hunt for fresh meat.
* * * *
Tom, Heidi, Mac and Jessica were strolling around the interior of the garden centre. With Mac’s help, they wanted to look around to see if they could use anything inside to help them rescue the others and escape to Penzance. Christina had stayed behind in the restroom to look after Caterina. Jimmy was very quiet and pale and refused to talk. He settled on the sofa and curled himself up, so Christina volunteered to keep an eye on him too.
Moira and Harry decided to take a look around and keep watch on the outside. A lot of zombies followed them to the complex, but lost them when they’d gone into the garden centre. Harry found that Mac had dragged several of the plants and trees together outside so he and Moira could use them to monitor the car park without fear of being seen. The foliage provided good cover and they were there now, watching as the dead shuffled around the cars, in and out of the mall, unable to find their quarry. Moira kept Harry company and also used the time to check out what they managed to bring with them. Their supplies were next to nothing now, since they left most of them behind in the earlier panic.
Inside, Tom picked up a chainsaw and swung it about lazily. “This could be very useful.”
Heidi nudged him. “Boys and their toys, eh?”
Tom laughed and put the chainsaw down. He felt a pang of guilt about laughing when his friends were out there. Heidi somehow made him feel mo
re positive about things though. She was cute and looked at him in a way he wasn’t used to, not like the others. She treated him less like a leader and more like an individual. Sometimes, he wondered if the others even knew him at all.
“It’s not a toy, Heidi,” said Jessica. “Tom’s right actually, it could be useful. We need as many weapons as we can get.”
“Unless you have an incredibly long extension cord, then it’s useless I’m afraid,” said Mac. “Even if you did, there’s no power.”
Tom picked up a set of long-handled shears. He drew them apart and snapped them back together, the sound echoing around the room. “These could be handy. Here,” he said handing them to Heidi. He picked up a Bow Saw and handed it to Jessica. “How about this, Jess?”
“This is going to be messy,” she said, looking up and down at the sharp blade.
Mac led them down another aisle and took a pair of telescopic ratchet loppers down from the shelf. “These bad boys are what you want. Ain’t nothing going to get close to you if you got these.”
“Mac, we sure appreciate your help,” said Jessica.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad of some company for a change. Plus if you’re going after your friends, then you’re going to need all the help you can get. You really think you’re going to find them at that petrol station?”
“I hope so,” said Tom. “They should be there, locked up tight, waiting for us. I don’t want them out there too long. They weren’t supposed to stay there and we didn’t even give them anything to defend themselves with. I should’ve thought about it.”
“I hope Mum and Dad are all right. I shouldn’t have let them go.” Heidi began to well up and bit her lip.
“We’ll get them,” said Tom putting an arm around her.
“In case you’re forgetting, Heidi, Rosa’s there too. Not to mention Laurent, Jackson...but it’s all about you, isn’t it. Shit, whatever. Thanks, Mac, I’ll see you later, I’m going to see how Christina’s getting on,” said Jessica. She rolled her eyes at Heidi and then abruptly left.
