Surviving

by Kady Monroe

  DEAD END

  SURVIVING

  KADY MONROE

  BOOK 2 IN THE DEAD END SERIES

  Copyright Kady Monroe © 2017

  All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance

  to persons alive or dead is purely coincidental.

  No part of this work may be copied, distributed by

  any means, or stored, in print or digitally

  without the author’s prior permission.

  First Edition 2017

  CHAPTER ONE

  Jenny’s heart pounded as she tried to draw in air. Each gasp led to a sharp pain in her chest as her lungs attempted to fill with oxygen. Her thighs and calves burned with the effort of exertion. But, if she wanted to survive, then she had to keep running.

  A crowd of zombies lumbered behind her. More approached from the left and right. Thankfully, she heard no howls of the infected. So at least that was something. She wouldn’t have as much chance of outrunning them.

  Jenny sprinted in an open area of flat grass; a playing field. Dense clumps of trees lined the area on three sides. She hoped on arriving at the boundary-line she’d find a safe route away from the unwanted attention of the dead. She was lost in Bamber Bridge with no idea what she would run into next.

  On reaching the edge of the field, she discovered no other choice than to enter the woods. Weeds sagged and withered grass touched knee level, threatening to trip her up. Hawthorn bushes, brambles and wild roses did their best to snag her clothes and scratch her skin. But at least the trees still held onto some of their withering autumn leaves which at least gave her warning of low hanging branches. As she ran, Jenny scanned the obscured view ahead and saw no dead. Her breath came out ragged and a stitch in her side made its presence known. Forging forward, she detected a flash of grey-bricked buildings. Spurred on, she raced towards them.

  A three-foot, strung-wire fence marked the divide between the trees and the verge of a street. Jenny climbed over, praying it would halt the zombies behind her. She spent a few moments catching her breath then noticed the road contained its share of walking corpses. Frustratingly, her arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed. Moans rose from each end of the street as decaying bodies staggered towards her.

  She frantically looked around and knew she couldn’t get past them or go back either. Jenny inspected the three-storey brick building she’d glimpsed earlier. It seemed to be one long site. A business or a factory she guessed. Jenny located no doors facing the street, and as far as she could tell, the structure didn’t have windows on the ground level. But further down the road, there was a set of recessed metal spiked gates leading to a tunnel under the second floor of the building. They probably led to some kind of loading bay for delivery and dispatch. And more importantly, there was a gap above the gates which Jenny believed she could squeeze over. She just needed to get to them, find a way up, and try not to skewer herself getting over.

  No problem, what could possibly go wrong with that plan? Apart from the fact that the zombies would reach the gate about twenty seconds after she did. Then there was the climbing; her track record of doing that wasn’t so hot… And of course, Jenny had no idea of what lurked on the other side. But with no other escape route available, she knew she was damned if she did, and damned if she didn’t.

  With a heavy sigh, she got going. Her legs protested at the movement but she ignored the pain and ran towards the approaching zombies. It felt wrong to advance on the very things she’d been avoiding for the last couple of hours. But to survive, then she needed to reach the gates before the corpses did.

  The two gates consisted of welded, one-inch diameter vertical bars and were locked. This didn’t surprise Jenny. A crossbar ran centrally across the middle of each gate. She wasted no time launching herself upwards and successfully got a foothold. The sound of the horde getting closer nearly sent her into a panic, but getting a grip on herself, she began the tricky task of trying to get higher. So gripping hold of two of the spiked bars, Jenny heaved herself up.

  The metal under her hands was freezing and her arms shook from the stress put on them. Bending her knees, she raised one foot upwards and flattened it against the bars while quickly swinging the other up to the top crossbar. She got lucky as her foot slipped into a space between spikes. Hauling herself upright and hanging on for dear life, she crouched precariously atop the gate, one leg still dangling beneath her. With limited headroom, Jenny became stuck, unsure how to get both feet up while squatting.

  A moment later, the dead swarmed into the recess. One hand grabbed her boot as the gates rattled with the force of the zombies piling up against them. She hauled her foot to no avail. Panicking, and kicking out, again and again, she expected to experience the pain of a bite. However, the jostling gates lurched and for a sickening second, Jenny determined she was about to fall back into the crowd. The next second, the gates pushed forward and finally unbalanced her. She was thrown over the gate top, scraping her stomach across the spikes as she somersaulted head first. Jenny landed hard on her back, the air knocked out of her for the second time that day.

  It felt like an eternity before her lungs filled. Meanwhile, fingers scraped the ground behind her, trying to grasp her hair. Recoiling in disgust she got to her feet and backed away from the moaning crowd. Turning her back to them, she stepped forward a few paces and peered around the corner of the tunnel wall.

  Jenny scanned her new surroundings which opened onto a large unoccupied courtyard. Slipping around the hard edge of the building, she hid out of sight from her followers and leant against the wall. It took a minute to catch her breath and steady herself. Her body shook and she noticed the buttons of her coat were ripped off. Her sweatshirt was now ruined with a frayed slash from belly to breastbone. On examining her skin, an angry looking red welt scarred her midriff. She checked the ankle the zombie grabbed and relaxed when it appeared her boot was undamaged.

  Rested, Jenny studied the vicinity. Four loading bays lined up on the wall opposite her. Their roller shutters unsurprisingly closed and padlocked. Dark windows lined part of the level she leaned against, but all had bars on the outside. Interestingly though, each side of the building had a door. If she proceeded to the right, she would be directly in the zombies’ sights and worried that further agitation might lead to the gates giving way. So she hugged herself, and headed the other way.

  The door, although it looked old with vertical slat panels, appeared well maintained, with a smooth coat of army green paint. Its handle and keyhole were made of brass. Jenny put her ear against the door and listened. When she heard nothing she turned the handgrip. But of course, the door didn’t budge, so bending down on one knee she put an eye to the keyhole to spy through the small opening. No key sat in the lock. Beyond the door stood a gloomy corridor with a terracotta tiled floor.

  Jenny shivered and chose to do the obvious thing. She knocked and waited. After a couple of minutes, no one alive or dead responded to the tapping. It seemed unlikely she would have better luck across the courtyard at the other door. Plus she still heard the zombies moaning. They did sound quieter than before, but still, she didn’t want to rile them up again.

  Turning back to the door, Jenny studied the keyhole. It was a pity she didn’t know how to pick locks. Not that it mattered, as she had no tools to try with anyway, and didn’t even have her shoulder bag, having left it in Matt’s van.

  Brute force then, she thought, not holding out much hope of being strong enough to break in. Taking a last glance around to make sure she was still alone, Jenny stepped back a few paces and then rushed forward, and put her shoulder to the door. It came as quite a surprise when the lock fitting bust free of its housing and went clattering to the floor, swiftly followed by Jenny. Glad no one
witnessed her clumsy, skidding fall, she got back to her feet and rubbed her shoulder. She wished the rest of the day had gone the same way, albeit without the falling and skidding part. Then, after brushing herself down, she retraced her steps and closed the door.

  Jenny perceived the floor harboured a layer of dust and the interior of the property smelled musty. An empty noticeboard hung on the magnolia painted wall and the ceiling light fixture held no bulb. Her footsteps echoed as she went forth, approaching an open doorway on her left which led to an unfurnished room; the next two doors revealed the same thing. Obviously, this part of the building hadn’t seen use in quite some time.

  At the end of the corridor, she could turn left or right. Since going right would take her further away from the zombies, she took that path. Another small room awaited and just like the others, it too was vacant apart from two blue plastic chairs. Jenny picked one up and carried it back to the entrance. She wedged it on its hind legs underneath the door handle. Not as good as having a locked door but it would have to do.

  Past the room she had last been in, she reached the first window she’d seen inside. Jenny crouched to keep out of sight and studied the quiet view of an empty road outside. Thinking it wasn’t a good idea to loiter by a street-level window, she moved on, crawling past two more and three empty rooms. The fourth and fifth doors were washrooms, with the familiar man and woman icons on the relevant doors. Jenny pushed open the ladies room. As long as the door stayed open the area would be weakly lit by light filtering in from the corridor. There were two cubicles in the room and a sink which had a bottle of liquid soap sitting on its rim. A rectangular mirror was screwed into the wall above the washbasin. A paper towel dispenser protruded next to it, and on the floor sat a waste bin. From the doorway, Jenny stretched out an arm and snagged the bin, dragged it nearer, and used it to prop open the door. It was made of plastic and wasn’t heavy enough to use as a wedge, but it stopped the door from closing completely.

  She crept forward, checking out the cubicle doors. Both were open and the stalls empty. With nowhere else for anyone to hide, Jenny went to the sink and turned on the cold water tap, quenched her thirst, then used one cubicle. Her boots, socks, and her jeans below the knee were wet and cold from having picked up moisture from the weeds in the woods. No wonder she couldn’t stop shivering. Back at the sink, she cleaned up then resumed her search of the building. She wanted somewhere to settle down for the night as it would get dark in less than an hour. Jenny hoped to find something comfortable but resigned herself to a freezing, miserable evening.

  She followed the corridor and found a stairwell. Climbing it took her to the second floor which was as quiet as the lower one. The rooms on this level were different, larger, and Jenny discovered one which had an old tatty sofa and a small coffee table. At least the seating would get her off the cold ground. There was also a small window on one wall. Looking out, she saw a few zombies shuffling aimlessly. Backing away, Jenny made a mental note of where the room was, then continued to explore.

  Further along the corridor was a small kitchen which had probably been used for work breaks. There wasn’t much in it. Hunting through the cupboards she spotted some old crockery and mugs. Then, a packet of plain crackers, well past their sell-by date. In another cupboard she discovered someone’s old Tupperware lunch-box and didn’t need to open it to see the contents had spoiled ages ago. The box was full of furry, green and yellow mould. The room was devoid of cooking facilities, but it had a sink with running water.

  With the light fading, Jenny filled two chipped mugs with water and made her way back to the sofa room. She closed the door and sat down. It felt good to be off her feet. She worried about starting to suffer from hypothermia, but there was nothing she could do about it except take off her boots and socks to let them try to dry out. Slipping her feet under her and shrugged her coat off, she draped it over the front of her body to warm up her legs.

  Settling back, she opened the crackers and nibbled one. They were stale, but her belly rumbled with hunger so she ate a few, anyway. Afterwards, lifting a mug, she washed down her dry meal. Feeling a little better, Jenny’s eyes closed.

  She woke in darkness, sweating and shivering. Jack had been in her dream, screaming as the zombies tore him apart. A silent tear ran down her cheek. She looked at her watch but couldn’t see its face. The sky was still dark, showing no sign of sunrise. Sitting still for a while listening to the surroundings, she got up and crept to the door to see if any noise came from the corridor. All was quiet. Jenny returned to the sofa and ate some more of the crackers as her mind turned back to memories of her recent companions.

  She tried not to think of Jack, and wondered how the others were doing. Did they make it out of Bamber Bridge? If they did then Jenny knew where they were heading, but how could she get there too? If they didn’t… She remembered her promise to Matt. His father could still be alive and she wanted to keep her word. Yet, being on her own, with no transport or supplies would be a huge challenge. Then too tired to think anymore, she drifted back to sleep.

  Weak daylight lit the sky when she next woke. Checking her watch she saw it was after 7 am. Jenny stretched and groaned in pain. Her whole body hurt. She collected her socks from the back of the sofa and found them dry, along with the lower half of her jeans. Her boot though remained damp inside.

  At the door, she listened, satisfying herself the area remained clear before popping it open a tad and scanning the passageway. Nothing alarming lurked there. Jenny noticed only her own footprints in the dust. Therefore, carrying what was left of the crackers, she decided to look for the main entrance to the building.

  Another staircase gained her access down to the first floor. She was sure it was another part of the same corridor from the day before. Some rooms on the right-hand side were partly furnished. However, there was nothing usable. A desk here, an empty filing cabinet there, a few more plastic seats, and some rooms had blinds and light bulbs, although the latter was useless without electricity.

  The corridor split in two. Jenny could choose to either continue forward or go right. She suspected the right-turn would take her to the loading bays, therefore she stuck to going straight ahead. Not long after that, the corridor turned a corner, then once again carried straight on.

  At a door which appeared to be the entrance to a manufacturing area, Jenny poked her head in and noticed steel braces on the floor which large pieces of long gone machinery might once have been bolted onto. Dust was the only other thing to fill the space.

  Ahead of her, further down the hallway stood another closed wooden door. As cautious as ever she focused her hearing before turning the handle and opening the door a crack. Finally she saw what she searched for. A large foyer awaited. Examining the floor and detecting no footprints, Jenny ventured onwards, hearing her own steps echo.

  At the back of the area, a grand staircase rose upwards. She guessed this place had been something special to those who had originally owned it. You didn’t put in fancy fixtures unless you hoped to impress big business.

  Ignoring the stairs, Jenny walked to the side of one of the ornate windows, barred on the outside. It was surprising that none of them was boarded up or broken. She took a peek out to the street and saw no corpses. They could still be out there though, quiet because they weren’t excited by seeing fresh meat.

  Across the street stood modern, semi-detached houses; clad in a mixture of red brick and white pebble-dashing. Each property had its own small open front garden, mainly laid to lawn, and a drive running up the side. Jenny saw a few doors standing open to the elements and cars sat idle on drives.

  Having seen enough, Jenny headed for a smaller vestibule which she assumed led to the front door. Two swing doors faced her and when she pushed one, it moved easily, giving a glimpse of another two heavier wooden doors beyond. She went to them. Round brass handles adorned the doors. Top and bottom bolts added security, along with a lock. As anticipated, there was no key to be found, so
she undid the bolts on one door and slowly tried the handle. Jenny’s shoulders slumped as she let out a long sigh as her hope of a long shot died.

  Turning around, she went to search for another way out. While walking, she decided if she couldn’t find another exit, and if the zombies had moved on, then returning to scale the gates would be the new plan.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Her search for a better exit failed and eventually she stood before the green door with the chair still wedged beneath the handle. Removing the seat with caution, Jenny opened the door and saw the courtyard was empty, so hurried to the gates.

  She hadn’t noticed it on the way in, being too distracted by zombies, but there was a small recessed unit built into the wall of the tunnel. Jenny presumed it might have been a guard or a night watchman. Before exploring it, she stood still and listened for moans or sounds of movement. As confident as she could be in the situation of nothing lurking nearby, she crossed in front of the gates to the hut.

  The guard post wasn’t locked, allowing her quick entrance to the tiny space which contained a small, two-drawer shelf desk and one barstool seat. Jenny drew open the first drawer and found nothing. But the second one, much to her surprise, held a key. Hoping it wasn’t just the key to the hut, she realised the key looked much older than the newer lock fixing on the door. With nothing else of interest to find, she stepped back outside.