Journal of the Living
Page 22
“Be patient,” Billy snapped. “We’re going to be here sometime – until I’ve got my vengeance on this guy. Fisk, bring out the woman and the girl. I want to get started.”
Fisk was the second biker. He dragged Sadie out of the building, dumping her on the ground by Billy’s feet. She was bound and gagged. Then Fisk went back to bring out Hayley. He carried her over to the same place and dropped her hard on the ground. Hayley grunted in pain, but she did not cry. Billy walked over to Sadie, taking a knife out of his coat. “Ben, what I’m going to do to her is all your fault. Remember that when she starts screaming. Anything you’d like to say before I start hurting her?”
“Yeah, Billy, I’ve got something to say. You’re as good as dead already. You just don’t know it.”
“Oh – is that right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You’ve disarmed me – but you didn’t disarm the people with me.”
Billy laughed. “Oh, I’m supposed to believe you’ve got an invisible army out there?”
“No – not an army. Just a sniper and a girl you had imprisoned. She’s pretty keen to get some payback. Her name is Kim.”
Fisk looked worried. “Billy, if he’s not alone, what are we going to do?”
“Relax,” Billy said. “He’s lying. He’s on his own. We saw the car coming. There was nobody else in it.”
“Billy, you’re right and you’re wrong. I had passengers. I stopped and let them get out before driving up. They’ve got you surrounded. If you don’t surrendering to me, I’ll order them to start shooting.”
“Yeah, right. If there was anyone with you, why haven’t they done anything already, huh?”
“It took them some time to get into position,” I said. “But they’re ready now.”
“I love this fantasy. You couldn’t possible have known I would be here – so you didn’t bring anyone with you.”
“Billy, I saw you on a satellite image. Your bikes are behind the building. Hidden from view – but not from above. I knew my friends had company when I drove up. I came ahead of them as a distraction.”
Billy frowned. “You don’t have any satellite photos.”
“Then what’s on that piece of paper?”
Billy bent down and picked it up and unfolded it. “What the – how did you get this? HOW DID YOU GET THIS?”
“I have powerful friends now,” I said. “Guess what? I knew you were here – but I had to draw you out into the open. Maggie, have you got a bead on the guy with the two guns?”
Maggie’s voice answered in my ear. “He’s moving around too much. But I’m got his biker buddy in my sights right now. You want me to kill him?”
“Take the shot,” I said.
Fisk’s head exploded. The sound of the bullet came from the pylon on my right, where Maggie had climbed. Another shot hit a second man as Billy and the others scrambled for cover. It was from a shotgun fired through the fence. Kim had sneaked through the woods and killed the other biker. That left Billy and Mange Face.
“Kill him,” Billy ordered, then dashed towards the substation.
Mange Face faced me with a sword. I had my hands tied – but I had my feet free. I charged at Mange Face and kicked him in the groin. Then I bashed into him and knocked the sword out of his hand. He grunted and turned on me with a knife – slashing at my chest - but I dived onto the ground so Maggie could fire again, which she did, blasting a massive hole through his neck. For a moment Mange Face clutched at his neck as blood pumped down his body. Then he collapse dead. I saw Billy run into the substation, ducking a bullet that would have taken off his head. He slammed closed the door behind him. I heard the screech of a bolt locking in place.
Kim ran through the gate. She untied my hands and released the others while I kept my gun pointed at the building’s only exit. The door was solid metal. I wasn’t going to waste any shots – but if Billy poked his face out I was ready to kill him. The building had no other doors and no windows. There was only one way in. I swore.
I heard Maggie’s voice through the earpiece in my good ear. “Ben, I can see zombies. You’d better move it. They’ll be on your position in two minutes. I’m going to have to get down and meet you back at the drop off point.”
“Okay,” I said to her. “Kim, get everyone in the car.”
“What about Billy?”
“I’ll take care of him. Lend me your shotgun. Take my gun.”
I ran up to the substation. The door was locked from the inside. A shotgun blast would do nothing. It looked like Billy was going to get away again.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I raced around to the back of the building where his gang had hidden their bikes. I shot the petrol tanks and tossed a lighter on the spilled petrol. The petrol started to burn as I ran around to the front of the building. Hayley, Jason and Sadie were crammed into the rally car. They yelled at me to join them. Kim was waiting for me, shooting at some zombies getting too close for comfort. There were hundreds of zombies running and shuffling towards us, drawn by the gunshots.
“Did you get him?” Kim said. “Did you kill Billy?”
“No – but they will. Let’s get out of here.”
I turned back to the gate and shot the hinges so the gate broke. It was hanging loose as I ran to the car. The fastest zombies were thirty feet away. Kim was behind the wheel, revving the engine. I squeezed into the other side and slammed the door closed, hearing an explosion behind the substation as a bike exploded and pieces of metal flew into the trees. Kim reversed the rally car as the zombies reached us. Some zombies chased us and tried to climb onto the car – but the explosion split their attention, attracting more of them in that direction. As we accelerated backwards, I saw them forming a mob around the substation, trying to climb over the fence and get through the bars. Many pushed through the broken gate to fill the whole area around the building where Billy was locked inside. I grinned. Billy would never get out. He was completely surrounded by zombies. He would either starve to death or be eaten when he unlocked the door.
Kim drove backwards for half a mile before making a U-turn.
We waited to pick up Maggie.
Then we drove back to The Family and our new home.
FINAL ENTRY
That happened several weeks ago. I’ve been with The Family since that day. I’m at a new location free of zombies and far from the Pure Bloods. I won’t say where I am on this blog. It’s safer that way. It’s peaceful and beautiful and protected. That’s all I will say. We’ve all needed a long rest after everything that happened. It’s great to see Hayley and Jason smiling again.
I’m pleased to say Angela forgave me for leaving her behind. She was too happy to see the rest of our family alive to be angry for long.
She’s writing her own journal now.
A lot of my new friends are doing the same.
They all want to leave a record for future generations.
For any survivors out there reading this, my journal of the living, I’d like you to know we’re never going to give up fighting to take back our world.
This entry will be my last – but there are many more stories to tell.
Every one of us has a story.
A journal of the living.
Ben Smith, England - 354 days after the zombie apocalypse.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Moralee is the author of the novels Acting Dead, The House on Willow Lane and Journal of the Living. He writes crime and horror stories, often mixing the two genres together into dark suspense fiction. He lives in the UK, where his short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies including The Mammoth Book of Future Cops, Crimewave, The New Writer, Hideous Progeny: A Frankenstein Anthology, Acclaim, the British Fantasy Society’s magazine Peeping Tom, and the Fish Short Story Award book Scrap Magic and Other Stories.
Many collections of his short fiction are available as trade paperbacks and e-books. They include The Bone Yard and Other Stories, Bloodways, Edge of Crime,
Blue Ice, The Good Soldier and a science fiction collection called The Tomorrow Tower.
John Moralee © 2015
Table of Contents
EDITORIAL NOTE
ENTRY ONE
ENTRY TWO
ENTRY THREE
DAY ONE
ENTRY FOUR
ENTRY FIVE
ENTRY SIX
ENTRY SEVEN
ENTRY EIGHT
ENTRY NINE
ENTRY TEN
ENTRY ELEVEN
ENTRY TWELVE
ENTRY THIRTEEN
ENTRY FOURTEEN
ENTRY FIFTEEN
ENTRY SIXTEEN
ENTRY SEVENTEEN
ENTRY EIGHTEEN
ENTRY NINETEEN
ENTRY TWENTY
ENTRY TWENTY ONE
ENTRY TWENTY TWO
ENTRY TWENTY THREE
ENTRY TWENTY FOUR
ENTRY TWENTY FIVE
ENTRY TWENTY SIX
ENTRY TWENTY SEVEN
ENTRY TWENTY EIGHT
ENTRY TWENTY NINE
ENTRY THIRTY
ENTRY THIRTY ONE
ENTRY THIRTY TWO
ENTRY THIRTY THREE
ENTRY THIRTY FOUR
ENTRY THIRTY FIVE
ENTRY THIRTY SIX
ENTRY THIRTY SEVEN
ENTRY THIRTY EIGHT
ENTRY THIRTY NINE
ENTRY FORTY
ENTRY FORTY ONE
ENTRY FORTY TWO
ENTRY FORTY THREE
FINAL ENTRY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR