Surviving

by Kady Monroe

  “You look silly,” he chirped.

  Ignoring him, she kept her eyes on the lens which remained static. Perhaps it was just the breeze after all.

  “Ok, let’s go,” she told the two boys and turned back to the van, but after a few steps, she swivelled around again, hoping to catch the camera tracking her. It hadn’t moved. Sighing, she got back in the van.

  Jenny kept her eyes on the road and her speed down as the wet road surface seemed a little slicker to her. The sleet was light and melting almost as soon as it landed but as she drove by wrecked cars, she was sure a lot of motor fuel and oil had spilled onto the tarmac and the rain was allowing it to sit on the surface.

  The other driver was right about the right-hand side of the dual carriageway. Jenny almost expected to see concrete blocks, but it was only impassable because of snarled up traffic and some zombies. It occurred to her how she used the words only wrecks and zombies. She had become used to the phenomenon is such a short time. Zombies and wrecks were everyday things now. It was sad what you could become used to when the world fell apart.

  The mess on the other carriageway went on for about a mile. Then she saw something that had been absent for a while; a concrete block on her side of the road. But only one, which wouldn’t hinder motorists from passing it by in the other lane. It certainly grabbed her attention. Why only one? She slowed down as she neared it and saw something else. The body of a man was lying on his back on the verge side of the block. What stood out to her though, was his black clothing and combat boots along with the way he appeared to have been laid out on the grass. She drew the camper to a stop.

  Again she told the youngsters to stay put, adding that she meant it. There would be trouble if they disobeyed again. What the trouble would be, Jenny left it to their imaginations as she didn’t have a clue about it either.

  She stepped down onto the road and pulled her hood up. It was freezing outside. Her face stung from the sleet and the breeze. She surveyed the environment, then walked around the front of the van towards the block and the body. The young man had been dead for a few days and his corpse showed no sign of bites or infection. However, it was obvious how he met his end. A round blackened hole sat in the middle of his forehead. There was no weapon lying nearby, and when she performed the gruesome task of searching him for ID, she came up empty handed. Jenny had hoped to find some information about whether he was military, maybe even a clue as to where he might have come from. Having gained nothing, she hurried back to the van and closed and locked the door. The guy was murdered a few days ago, but who was to say that whoever killed him wasn’t still around.

  Jenny was glad when she put some distance between the dead guy and the camper. But now, on entering a tourist area, she had other things to worry about. Holiday cottages, hotels and bed-and-breakfast establishments became more frequent, as well as tourist souvenirs and outdoors supplies stores, residential housing and various other types of businesses and shops. However, the zombies weren’t as numerous as she might have thought for such a place. It was true though, they weren’t in the heart of the District, merely on the edge, so the worst was still to come.

  She decided if she spotted a grocery store and maybe another camping shop then she would do another haul. Hayden especially needed some extra clothes and a good winter coat. They still had food supplies, but she figured it would be great to have a surplus.

  Jenny found a small petrol station near the town of Grange Over Sands. Her last foray into a station didn’t go so well, but since the road was deserted, she would see if the building was zombie free. She drove in the exit so the camper’s sliding side door would be on the same side as the station's entrance. The light inside the building wasn’t bad and she could see most of the shop floor. It was only a tiny place but still held fully stocked shelves of groceries.

  Staying in the van, she shone the torch light through the window. However, it didn’t make a great deal of difference. The good news was that nothing moved inside.

  She opened the side door and once again told the boys to wait. Jenny didn’t need to step outside of the camper to reach the station’s door and turn the handle. There was a notice saying the place stayed open till 9 pm. The business wasn’t closed, so she got easy access, although a brass bell above the door dinged loudly when the door hit it. Jenny waited, ready to slam the camper’s door shut if anything stumbled into view. After twenty seconds, all remained quiet. She jumped down and stepped in. Jenny listened once more, then moved forward. She looked down the two floor aisles, then peered over the counter.

  Back at the van, she jumped in and did another survey of the land around the station and road. Seeing nothing of note, she told the boys they could join her to gather supplies. It would do them good to have something to do and could choose the things they liked to eat. But after a few minutes, she had to reject some of their choices as they were things they couldn’t cook. One of those being Amar’s selection of a defrosted pizza.

  Jenny picked up what food staples she could find and saw a rack of magazines which included a few colouring books and pencils. She called the boys over when she also spotted some travel board games. It would be nice for them to have something more to entertain them. All in all, they managed a decent haul and Amar and Hayden seemed happy, which warmed her.

  Five miles up the road Jenny saw a large Outdoor and Camping retailer. She’d seen adverts for their brand name on TV. When the van drew closer, she noticed the doors were wide open. She dropped any thought of exploring the building. It was too big and gave an open invitation to anything dangerous lurking in the vicinity.

  She didn’t find a suitable store until they joined the A5092. The small town of Penny Bridge was such a picturesque little place and she could imagine how popular it would have been with tourists. Charming cafes and restaurants were kept company by handmade craft businesses, bakeries and a place for campers and hikers to buy supplies and wares for their adventures.

  At a well stocked store, Jenny did her blocking manoeuvre again, broke the ornate glass door pane and undid the lock. She waited to see what arrived after the sound of the noise. Only two zombies appeared. Both elderly and both very slow. She decided to deal with them rather than let them make a lot of noise to attract more. Therefore, leaving the boys in the van and telling them not to look, she went out swinging the bolt cutters and finished off the corpses in less than a minute. She didn’t even give the bodies a second thought as she jumped back into the van, then out the sliding door and into the shop with the boys.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The afternoon was almost gone when Jenny pulled into a parking bay which was obscured from the road by a hedgerow. She got up and joined Amar and Hayden in the back of the messy van. Items from their latest haul lay scattered on nearly every flat surface. The boys certainly enjoyed gathering god knows what. And, Hayden was finally kitted out with some decent winter clothes, plus both kids now owned their own sturdy rucksacks.

  In the next hour, Hayden and Amar cleared some space while Jenny cooked food. Later, she sat with the pair and went through all the new goodies, indicating which items should go in the backpacks. She wanted those packed and ready to go should they have to abandon the camper.

  The youngsters gained some things to amuse themselves too. Hayden showed off a DVD player that could run via the van’s electrical battery system or docking station. The outdoors store didn’t contain much in the way of discs to play on the machine, but he acquired two, A History of Cumbria’s Historic Past, and another on Camping Tips for Beginners. Well, at least they will be educational, Jenny thought. The kids’ shoulders slumped when she refused to let them plug it in to watch one of the DVD’s, explaining to them she didn’t want excess noise when they were parked. She promised they could use it the next day when they got back on the road. Thankfully, they both took the news okay and turned to other acquisitions to pass the time as Jenny allocated places for the rest of the haul.

  That evening, once Amar wa
s asleep, Hayden told Jenny about his family. He kept his eyes downcast while he spoke. His mum and dad were divorced, with the latter living in Africa with his new wife. Hayden’s mum was on a cruise with her friends, and he hadn’t heard from either of his parents since mid October. When he saw the aghast look on Jenny’s face, he said it was okay; he was used to it. He’d been packed off to boarding school at six years old and was lucky if he spent over two weeks a year with either parent. They normally paid extra for the current educational facility to house him over the holidays.

  “So how old are you?” Jenny asked, wondering how many years he’d been boarded.

  “Eleven.”

  Wow, Jenny thought. She found it hard to comprehend. In some ways, he had been just as much of an orphan before the virus struck as he might be now.

  “Well, I know Amar and me aren’t blood related to you, but we’re practically a family now. I’m glad I have both of you with me.”

  Jenny wasn’t lying either.

  The morning began with an early start and clearer weather. The sleet didn’t turn into snow and the breeze dropped. Even the roads were free of obstructions for a few miles at a time. Jenny relaxed into driving and listening to the narration of the DVD the boys watched.

  The A5092 turned into the A595. A fact which pleased Jenny as the road ran most of the way around the hills and peaks of the District and also directly to the next turnoff for Kirkland. Excitement and trepidation shivered through her as she considered what she might find when they reached the town.

  Regrettably, the roads became more clogged as she neared the small village of Whicham. It was one of those places that if you blinked, you would miss it. Most of the buildings were on the right-hand side of the road and the whole place was surrounded by fields in all directions and a view of one of the area’s beautiful hill peaks behind the buildings. However, on the run up to the one street town, vehicles of various sizes lay scattered across the road. She navigated slowly through the maze of cars, vans, and a single lonely old tractor. To Jenny’s dismay, she was the culprit now scraping paint off her beloved motor home. And added to that, a few corpses also tried to find a way through the snarl-up to reach the camper. It was a good thing the zombies weren’t bright when it came to solving problems. Their lowered intellect kept them from actually making contact with the van. By the time they figured out a way to get around one vehicle, Jenny cleared another.

  Once through the town, the traffic problems didn’t stop. For almost another mile she faced the same situation. Sometimes she could avoid them by driving on the grass verge but with the recent rain and sleet she felt the tyres losing traction and was afraid the van would become stuck. It seemed to take forever to reach a clear stretch of road again. She’d lost a lot of travelling time and wondered, why here? It’s in the middle of nowhere, so why are there so many vehicles? As usual, she guessed she would never get an answer to the question. Now, with the hour being after lunch and being stressed out, she decided it was time for a break. They continued to follow the tarmac for a while until Jenny spotted a wide farm track with barns spread around. It looked deserted, so she drove onto the gravel and parked behind the nearest metal barn which sat just off the main road. The actual farmhouse wasn’t in sight so she hoped that meant no angry farmer or property owner would show up.

  Lunch started off as a quick affair. She wanted to get back on the road and make up for lost time before the sun went down. However, as they were almost finished with their bowls of soup, all of them heard the sound of machinery.

  “What’s that?” Amar whispered.

  “I don’t know,” Jenny replied, leaving the table and doing a round of looking out each window. She couldn’t see what made the noise, but established that whatever it was, it wasn’t moving either towards them, or away. Farm machinery? She wondered, although it seemed rather unlikely any farmer would make such noise these days.

  Jenny rolled a window part way down and listened. The sound appeared to be coming from somewhere beyond the other side of the road. Turning to face the boys and picking up her weapon, she gave them a stern look and said,

  “I’m going to investigate. Stay here and don’t open the doors, or get out.”

  “But...” Amar started,

  “No buts,” Jenny interrupted, then continued, “Hayden promise me you’ll look after Amar while I’m gone, and that you’ll stay in the van.”

  The boy seemed reluctant, but then answered,

  “I promise.”

  “But, I want to go with you,” Amar finally got out.

  Jenny knelt down in front of him,

  “I know,” she said, “but you promised you would be good, didn’t you?”

  Staring at the floor and kicking one of his feet, he agreed reluctantly,

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’ll keep your promise and stay here with Hayden?”

  With his lips pouting, he nodded.

  “Ok,” Jenny replied and gave him a little hug. “I won’t be gone long. Behave for Hayden,” she added getting to her feet and ruffling his dark curly hair.

  Next, she retrieved a pair of binoculars, and with a final warning to the boys to stay quiet and out of sight, she left the van and peered around the nearest corner of the barn. A line of trees obscured the area behind the main road. Jenny was certain that’s where the source of the noise was from. She kept low and scurried across the road.

  She waited for a few moments, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the kids weren’t following. There was no sign of them, so she made her way along the tree line to another gravel road she had thought was another part of the farm yard. When she edged down the track a little, she saw rows and rows of hay bales stacked up. Maybe it was a farmer beyond them making the noise. She went forward to a bend in the track and stopped at the edge of the trees. The noise sounded louder.

  The track split in two. One route would take her back along the tree line, and the other towards the hay bales. Jenny ignored both paths and ran across muddy ground awash with brown puddles towards the haystacks. They were too big and numerous for her to see around, so she climbed. The binding which kept the bales together made good hand holds and the toes of her boots found purchase by digging into the hay. She stopped her climb every few seconds to check the area. She saw no sightings of the boys or any corpses, but the dead were near, she could smell them.

  Within two minutes Jenny neared the top. Fewer bales lay piled on top which meant she could crouch down to get a good view of what was on the other side. She heard the dead, low moaning. Checking the area behind and below her, she saw nothing, so she peered over the line of straw. The dead were there alright. Her blood ran cold when she saw the large crowd. There were hundreds of them. But it wasn’t the zombies that got her full attention. She could hardly believe what she saw. A monumental fortress of concrete blocks stood a few hundred yards away. Each brick matched the ones she’d seen barricading the roads on her journey this far.

  The roofless building was rectangular and each of its formidable walls stood at least twenty-four feet high. The length of the place ran perhaps five hundred yards. Above the walls she saw the top structure of a crane in motion. She couldn’t tell what it was lifting, but she suspected it was moving blocks. When its arm stopped, the noise died only to be replaced with another which Jenny was sure belonged to a lorry engine. She heard the motor moving, but the sound was retreating away from her. She waited a bit more and the engine noise began fading. Jenny couldn’t see any road near the fortress, and after waiting, she wondered where the truck went? Was someone just moving it to the far side of the blocks? It hadn’t sounded like that to her.

  Jenny got out the binoculars and surveyed the giant stone walls. A movement on top caught her attention, and she honed in on it. A man dressed all in black was standing smoking a cigarette. He was similarly dressed to the body she discovered on the road, except this man also wore a beanie hat and thick padded coat and gloves. Worryingly, he also sported an automat
ic rifle over his chest, and had a pistol strapped to his leg. The other thing which stood out about him, was that he wasn’t standing on the outer blocks of the wall. He seemed to be at least twenty odd feet back from the edge.

  Having finished his smoke, he dropped the butt and ground it out with the heel of his boot. Jenny observed as he walked forward and looked over the edge at the zombies below. He seemed mesmerised for a while, but then he drew out the pistol, aimed it downwards and pulled the trigger. There was no noise, but the head of a zombie exploded in response. Black blood and brain matter splattered against the lower levels of blocks. The man appeared to be laughing as he turned his back and sauntered away from Jenny along the edge of the wall.

  She had seen enough and after making sure her way back was clear, she rushed to the van, relieved to see the boys were exactly where she’d left them.

  “What did you see?” Hayden asked.

  “Zombies,” Jenny replied.

  “What about the noise, where was that coming from?” Asked Amar.

  “It was an old generator, I think one of the dead must have stumbled against the start up button.”

  “Oh,” Hayden said, “did you switch it off, because we can’t hear it now?”

  “No, it stopped on its own. I think it ran out of fuel,” Jenny said, hoping that would be enough to satisfy their curiosity. She changed the subject,

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