Surviving

by Kady Monroe

  After her meal Jenny used the service bay washroom, glad the window covering remained in place. When she finished her business, she flushed the toilet and went to wash her hands. The tap turned but no water came out. Then she realised the toilet cistern wasn’t filling either. Since it wasn’t completely dark yet, she ventured back into the showroom and tried the facilities in their WC. The water refused to run there too. Broken pipe maybe? Jenny wondered, or was the water turned off as well?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Jenny slept soundly and woke up refreshed with no idea of the time. She wondered if it was morning yet. Lifting and switching on the torch she’d put beside the bed, she yawned and went to the windscreen. On shining the light out, nothing appeared disturbed, but Jenny did see a weak line of daylight at the base of the service bay door.

  She headed into the showroom and inspected the area out front. The zombies had moved on. To be sure though, Jenny viewed as much of the lot as she could. The morning was overcast and a light drizzle fell but she saw nothing else of note. Knowing the corpses could return at any moment, Jenny got on with moving things to the new van. She just hoped the engine would start, and the tank contained fuel, otherwise, she might have to try other vans before she could leave.

  Jenny unlocked the showroom’s glass door, then began carrying her belongings out to the van. She decided not to start the engine until she got everything on board. Less noise, less chance of the zombies coming to investigate.

  On her first trip, she noticed the interior layout wasn’t the same as the van in the service bay. This one seemed larger and accommodated a party of four people. The kitchen and shower room were near the middle of the floor space. Behind them, in the rear were two convertible benches facing each other, and above, accessed by a ladder, hung a double bed. As well as the sliding side door, this vehicle differed from the other with the inclusion of double doors to the rear. An extra escape route was always handy.

  She worried about the length of the van being bigger, but decided she didn’t want to waste time choosing another motor home and finding the right keys to match.

  With the van loaded, Jenny became nervous at the thought of starting the engine and wondered if she was taking on too much. However, pushing the doubts aside, the moment of truth arrived whether it would start. She crossed her fingers and hoped the battery wasn’t dead.

  The engine burst to life with a quiet purr. Jenny felt a shiver of excitement as she hit the central locking and checked the fuel gauge. She clapped her hands together on seeing the petrol indicator rise, and the dealership also provided a full gas bottle for the stove with each new camper. Once she procured some food supplies, then life would be much better.

  Putting the vehicle in gear and lowering the handbrake, Jenny took her first try at controlling the monster. Guiding the motor home out of the parking space she noticed how responsive it was. Still alone, she headed for the exit. The dead appeared to be haunting some other area. Grateful for the break, she steered onto the road and drove towards the countryside.

  Being back out there felt wonderful. She loved the open view of the late autumn fields, trees, and the sight of rabbits and birds hunting for food. The complete lack of zombies made her relax a little. Having barely gotten out of town with her life she was well overdue for some dead free zones, but knew she couldn’t assume she wouldn’t run into trouble out here too.

  Jenny tried the radio while driving but the only sound she received was the familiar static. The van was more up to date than the old Mini and contained a docking station for the latest technology. Pity Jenny didn’t have her phone anymore because she’d had some music stored on there. But she did have the Christmas CD stored in her rucksack. She guessed she took it because of familiarity and maybe she was a little lonely, hearing well known artists singing made her feel better. The next time she stopped, she would get it out of her bag, but for now she wanted to get some distance covered before dark.

  Five miles down the road, she came to a small turnoff with a signpost indicating she could go straight ahead towards Blackpool and the M55. Those destinations didn’t float her boat, so she took the other route offered which led to the towns of Westby, Kirkham, Great Plumpton, and also the A585 leading north. That direction sounded like a better plan.

  The country road cut through dedicated farmland. All she could see was a patchwork of fields and fences. The sky was still murky above her and the drizzle persisted, giving the empty landscape a misty appearance. No houses, buildings, or corpses spoiled her solitude. All that changed though when she reached the tiny outskirts of the village of Westby. As she nearer, she began to see a huge amount of caravans. Their white bodywork stood out against the dull environment and she estimated there were at least one hundred of them. Worried she was getting close to a residential caravan park, she slowed down and prepared for trouble.

  By the time she reached the entrance to the park she hadn’t seen anyone, and a few seconds later she noticed a sign stating it was a storage facility. She let out a breath of relief but still maintained a slower speed. The little town was coming up, and it was sure to have its share of dead.

  The houses looked nice, all set back amongst trees and shrubs. They had damage too though, with dented or wide open doors, and shattered windows. Before everything went haywire, this must have been a nice quiet place to live.

  Further down the road she saw a small village shop. Its door was open and a few zombies milled about on what must be the place’s High Street. Jenny drew to a halt in front of the premises and tried to see inside. There was enough light for her to see some stock still on the shelves. And from what she could tell, the store was free of bodies. However, the zombies in the street posed a problem for her. She thought for a moment as the corpses staggered towards the van.

  A plan formed. She could either attempt to get some supplies here or she could drive on and hope to find somewhere quiet without the dead thwarting her efforts. Was there anywhere like that anymore? She wondered. No, she was going into this place to gather what she could. Therefore, she got the van moving again just as a small man with a ripped throat slapped his hand against the side of the bonnet. Jenny moved the van forward and bumped him out of the way. He staggered back into another male zombie but didn’t fall over. Ignoring them and driving slowly, Jenny continued on the road for a hundred yards, then took her time to turn the van around so it faced back into the village. Reversing and turning were something she needed to practice. It wasn’t so easy in a big vehicle.

  She waited there for the zombies to catch up. When Jenny felt they were close enough and she could avoid driving into any, or at least only one at a time, she went forward again. Once nearer the shop, she mounted the pavement and came to a stop with the van’s sliding door in front of the shop door. The gap between the van and the wall wasn’t big enough for the corpses to get through. Satisfied this plan would work, Jenny grabbed the bolt cutters and slid the side door open, then jumped out and entered the store.

  The business felt old fashioned with picturesque windows, a bell above the door and wooden plank shelves for holding stock. Even the cash register looked antique with its large mechanical press down buttons like a manual typewriter. Within seconds she determined the shop to be devoid of threats. Another door stood to the rear, but it was locked. Jenny got on with collecting supplies.

  Someone had been here before her, but there was still quite a selection of items left. It didn’t take her long to get a nice pile sorted out by the door. Looking into the van and back out the windows, she saw the zombies peering back at her, moaning as usual.

  Jenny kept her foray quick and didn’t take everything from the shop. She wondered if there was at least one survivor still in the village. Content with the amount of supplies gathered, she loaded them in the van to the sound of excited zombies. Next, she needed to get out of town safely.

  Locked back in the van, Jenny drew the front and side blinds down, then went to the back and knocked on the rear doo
r windows. The zombies around the rest of the vehicle gravitated towards the noise. When she got most of them snarling and moaning towards the back of the van, she rushed back to the driver’s seat, raised the windscreen blind and pulled away from the pavement.

  Earlier, when she entered the village she’d noticed one of the nice houses had a semi-circle drive. She needed to turn the van back around, so Jenny played Pied Piper once more, just as Matt had done back in Lillington. The dead ambled after her and she sometimes let them thump on the back of the van before speeding up a little. She turned into the house’s drive, and when she reached the midpoint, her little group of twelve or so zombies were all in pursuit. Time to go, Jenny thought and sped the van up and out of the drive, leaving her noisy crowd behind.

  The day’s journey went smoothly after Westby. She found a few roadblocks, but discovered routes around them. Travelling wasn’t like the days before the virus, she thought. From Lillington to Matt’s dad’s house would have only taken a few hours by road. Now it took days, but at least she was getting closer.

  An hour’s worth of daylight remained when she entered the town of Great Eccleston. She steered the van to dodge two zombies who tottered towards the van from opposite sides. She barely gave them a thought as she admired the quaint town and adored the attractive houses. The residents had plenty of choice for pubs, shops and cafes.

  Jenny noticed several old fashioned metal bus stop shelters with their rounded roofs and bright green paint. She hadn’t seen shelters like those in years. The next one she came to, had a car embedded around it, and an infected man in a dark blue business suit snarled and screeched in the driver’s seat. He must have been bitten and turned while driving, and now didn’t have a clue as how to undo his seatbelt and get out the door. Unless someone stupid came along and released him, then he would be forever entombed inside his vehicle. Jenny drove on.

  As she was on the outskirts of the town and coming up for the next road she wanted to join, she spotted an outdoor and camping supply shop. Jenny pulled to a stop next to it. Jumping out, she hurried to the recessed door and noticed the CLOSED sign. The door wouldn’t open, therefore, on taking a quick glance around to make sure the coast was still clear, Jenny smashed the side window with the bolt cutters. The noise seemed to echo around what few building there were. If the dead heard, then they would be on their way. She couldn’t risk going inside with the window gap being large, so she got back in the van, reversed it and moved it into the same position as she used for the last raid.

  Jenny would have to make this quick as the light would soon fade and the inside of the store was already gloomy. She grabbed whatever she thought might be useful, including a few camp stoves and canisters of gas, some sleeping bags, a new pair of walking boots in her size, plus numerous other items. The last things she picked up were two pairs of binoculars in different sizes, one small set, the other big.

  She could hear moaning. The zombies were on their way and it sounded like there were a lot of them. She was out of time to keep searching. Jenny loaded everything through the side door and got in, locking the camper door after her. When she crept over to the nearest window and looked at the street, it dismayed her to find a large crowd of dead entering the road from both ends. They must have heard the noise of the door shutting and were ambling to the van, but she didn’t think they had seen her yet. Jenny knew there were too many of them for her to pull the same stunt of leading them away this time. Hence, she kept low and climbed the ladder to the top bunk. The moaning didn’t get louder or more excited which was good, so she inched down the blinds around the bed.

  Jenny’s nose itched and she almost let herself panic over a sneeze that hadn’t happened. Thankfully, the itching stopped. She lay quiet and still, and listened to the corpses outside bumping against the van, jostling each other and uttering their familiar noises. Jenny resigned herself to being stuck in her parking spot overnight. But if the zombies moved away, then she would start the van and try to find somewhere quiet to stay for the night.

  She wished she’d thought to move the bedding and some snacks up to the bed area. She could have stored a few items on the small indented shelf provided on one side of the van. Her mind jumped to the thought of an alarm clock, which then made her think, Damn, I should have looked for a new watch. But she supposed the zombies would eventually wander off and give her another crack at the shop. The thought that time was still important to her almost made her laugh because there weren’t any hours and minutes anymore. There was only night, day, and survival. She still wanted a wrist watch though…

  The daylight began to dim. She knew she hadn’t been stuck up on the bed for long, but it felt like ages. Burrowing into the corner, she hated the thought of sleeping while the dead were right outside. What if she had a bad dream and screamed out? No, she decided, she would just have to stay awake until the zombies moved on.

  A few moments later, a different noise came to her attention. The sound of something breaking. It definitely hadn’t come from the street. She heard a similar noise again and thought it was coming from behind a building on the other side of the street. The crowd of corpses heard it too and lumbered in the direction of the disturbance.

  She waited for a little while before she dared lift one of the blinds a smidgen and peer out. The last of the zombies was disappearing around the corner edge of the last building in the street. Opposite where she was. The building was a residential two storey block of flats, industrial grey and without the slightest hint of curb appeal. A metal and wire balcony ran in front of the apartments on the second level.

  Jenny checked the other blinds to see if all her companions were absent. They were. She took a little more time to study the apartment building and wondered what was going on behind it that had drawn the zombies away. Then, at one of the residential windows on the second level, she saw movement. Is that a zombie? She wondered as a small boy’s face looked out at the van. Then a hand came up and waved! Oh my God, it’s a kid she thought as she raised the blind higher and waved back.

  Exiting the van and not fully closing the door as to keep the noise down. Jenny’s heart pounded as she rushed across the street and entered an open central doorway. Stairs led upwards. She took them two at a time. Half-way up, she reached a small landing where the staircase turned in the opposite direction, and came face to face with a dead teenage girl. The zombie was bloated and reeked to high heaven. It already seemed to have some damage to its head and its movements were slower than normal. Jenny had taken it by surprise. The girl was only just turning in her direction when she clouted it over the head with the bolt cutters. She barely stopped as the zombie crumpled to its knees. But then, thinking she would have to come back this way, she went back, hit it again for good measure and waited to see if it stayed down. Sure it wasn’t going to move, she carried on to the upper landing and balcony.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Counting the doors along the walkway, Jenny approached the one where she’d seen the boy. On going to the window to peer in first, she saw the kid jump back in fright as she came into sight. He quickly realised she wasn’t a stray zombie and rushed away. Moments later, the front door opened. Jenny’s eyes did a quick inspection of him. He was dressed in a thick blue padded jacket and wore a green handmade knitted hat, scarf and gloves. For what limited information she could gather, he didn’t appear bitten or sick.

  “Hello,” she said, as she invited herself inside and closed the door, then crouched down to his eye level.

  “I’m Jenny.”

  The boy was timid and unsure of his visitor but he held out a small hand and said,

  “My name’s Amar.”

  Jenny smiled and reached out to accept the handshake.

  “I’m pleased to meet you Amar. Are you alone here?”

  He nodded as his bottom lip quivered and tears welled in his dark brown eyes.

  “Where are your parents?” she asked looking over his shoulder at the line of doors on the right-hand sid
e of the gloomy hall. Amar pointed over Jenny’s shoulder, tears finally falling, as he replied,

  “They were out there with the others, but they went away.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said before asking,

  “Do you have anyone else to look after you?”

  His head drooped, and he scuffed one foot on the carpet as he replied with a shake of his head. Jenny thought best of asking him what happened to his parents. She already knew the answer. It was heartbreaking thinking of him being alone all this time. But her biggest concern, apart from the boy, was the fading light. True, they could stay in his house tonight, but with so many dead roaming around, she would rather move on.

  “If you want to,” she said, “you can come with me, but we’d have to leave quick before it gets dark.”

  Amar’s head came back up. Looking in her eyes, he nodded.

  “Do you have anything to drink?” he asked, “I’m thirsty, and the water has broken.” he rushed on, “It wasn’t me, I promise. Mrs Garthy’s water next door is broken too.”