Zed Days [Book 1]

by Nick Harland

  I had a hammer and tools but these fuckers were designed to be really hard to break into. As the handle and lock was between the two doors, rather than their being a single door with the lock going into some brickwork, I couldn’t even take the time and remove a few bricks to get in. I knew I could get in eventually but I would have to fuck up the doors to do so. Although it was early spring, the nights were still cold and ideally I wanted to be able to shut the doors again. Either that or I had to remove the bricks the hinges attached to, then remove both doors, which was just as bad.

  I tried to jimmy the doors apart with a sturdy screwdriver forced between the tightly overlapping seams, and a hammer to help push it further in, but all I managed to do was strain something in my left groin, grunt quite a lot, and bend the screwdriver. I looked at Mutt, that’s what I’m calling him now; imaginative I know. Mutt eagerly looked back at me and wagged his tail helpfully. I would have to beat the crap out of the doors to get in and it would be really loud and probably take a while. With all the excitement at the building site dusk was turning to dark and the temperature was dropping. My powers of Zombie survival game mastery had let me down and I knew I had no choice. For tonight at least, I would have to go back to the flat.

  I was hacked off for not having thought it out better. I was tried and my ankle hurt, but at least I had a new friend. I dumped most of the stuff I had in the pack by the building so I could bring more next time and unlocked the gates to let myself out, locking them behind me. I had the lead in my hand but it didn’t seem necessary. Mutt seemed to know I was his best chance of survival and stayed close so I ditched the lead.

  I walked back down the road this time, not through the building site, and didn’t have any trouble until I was level with the school again. I could just about hear the conglomerate groaning from the Zeds in the trenches drift over as I walked past the building site and in the rapidly dying evening light, with no other sound or movement, it was eerie and not a little scary. I could see three Zeds hanging around in the middle of the road outside the school I probably wouldn’t be able to sneak passed.

  I hadn’t done three at a time before and didn’t fancy it. I had no idea how useful Mutt would be except as a distraction and I didn’t want to lose my only company straight off. I stopped at the pickup truck and thought that with the height advantage normal Zeds it shouldn’t be a problem. I hoped in the back and called Mutt who leapt in with impressive ease. I took a shoe off the dead Zed in the back and threw it towards the Zeds hitting a car between us. They heard the sound and saw me waving at them.

  I knew these Zeds were kids up to 16 years of age but lots of them were bigger and taller than me so it wasn’t hard to ignore the uniforms and do what needed to be done. The girls were a bit harder but now it was a week post-apocalypse their skin was starting to go a funny colour and their eyes seemed to have changed too, they were pale like a cooked whole fish. The less they looked like people the easier it was. I gripped Seven and put a hand down in front of Mutt and told him to wait while they came towards me. Although they sped up at the last minute none tried to jump into the truck like the Sprinters had done so they just started banging against the side of it and reaching for me.

  It would have been pretty easy to take all three by myself but the moment I swung Seven for the first time Mutt leapt at one of them knocking it over as he closed his jaws around its neck; it was pretty scary actually. I finished the second one and went to investigate Mutts progress. I watched with a mix of revulsion and comical fascination as Mutt methodically ripped out portions of the poor guys neck. The Zed grabbed Mutt with its arms but didn’t seem to have the strength to move him and was a bit preoccupied with being slowly and very messily decapitated. By the time Mutt had removed almost everything except the cervical vertebrae, that’s neck bones to you, the Zed’s arms had dropped. Let’s face it, bones are a dog’s speciality so with a bit of vigorous shaking the decapitation was complete.

  Mutt looked up at me when he was finished and it was hard to reconcile his jaunty, ‘look what I did, do I deserve a treat’ look, with the goo covering his muzzle and dripping off his jowls, and the memory of what I had just witnessed. I didn’t have any treats so I patted him firmly on the back and said, ‘Good boy’, which seemed to satisfy him for the time being. I made a note to find him some treats and NEVER get on his bad side.

  We got back to the shops safely and swearing under my breath I realise I hadn’t really planned for a guest. The door to the flat was, of course, blocked by the water store. I opened the gate to the back of the bike shop yard and the back door to the bike shop. I was still using the loft hatches to get between buildings and I still didn’t have a key to the back of the pizza shop, so Mutt would be stuck in the bike shop. I didn’t have much choice, I emptied half a container of ham on the floor from stuff I’d put in the bike shop and said, ‘Stay, I’ll be back.’

  I was used to it by now so there was barely any swearing required to get back into the pizza shop. I was never that keen on Donna meat but thinking that I should use as much fresh food as I could I had cooked and removed an entire skewer of it before the electricity ran out. I had it in the fridge in a sealed container, but without much intent of ever eating it. I figured it would still be ok and that Mutt would probably love it. It still bothered me to see Lucy’s body on the floor but I didn’t have much choice, I didn’t fancy man handling her again and she was beginning to smell. I was thankful the metal shop front was down or she would have been in front of the window and in the sun all day. That could have been nasty.

  I rammed the pack full of food and some bottles of water and gathered up the duvet from my bed. Getting a full pack and a duvet through the loft hatches took a bit more swearing but I was back in the bike shop in no time. Mutt greeted me with his naively keen face and a wagging tail. I smiled back and took the container of donna meat from the pack. I opened the lid and tried a little experiment. Looking at Mutt and jiggling the container I said, ‘Sit’ and he did. I threw him some meat. We got through, ‘Lie down’, ‘Give me a paw’ and even ‘roll over’ successfully before I was bored and the meat was running low. I gave him the rest, fed myself a salad with spicy sausage meat and ham, and gave us both some water. Then I closed my eyes and said a silent thanks to Mutts old owner for bringing him up right.

  I bunged a load of clothes from the shop on the floor to make a mattress of sorts and gave Mutt a few too. It wasn’t late but in the apocalypse keeping daylight hours is best. A dark evening can be long and boring and lead to thinking you really don’t benefit from. It was too late before I realised my mistake, an enormous life-threatening mistake. I was just nodding off when I smelled something faint. Like a curious cat approaching a porcupine I sniffed, then yelled, ‘Fucking hell, what the fuck. You dirty fucking bastard.’

  Mutt looked up at me briefly with an innocent expression before resting his head back down on his paws and closing his eyes again. I pulled my top over my mouth and nose and thought that it was probably time to hit the small supermarket at the end of the strip for the canned food I would need, and some proper dog food. There was also a decent supply of alcohol in the shop and having survived a week and been sensible with myself, I figured I’d earned a few drinks. I drifted off thinking of all the crap I would have to haul to the base and made a decision. It was time to try the Range Rover.

  Chapter Five – Ram Raiding

  I woke up to find Mutt curled up next to me. Frankly I’m surprised I survived the night with his chemical disaster area arse, but I had. I checked out the road and there was only one Zed I could see. I snuck out of the back door of the yard and up the side of the cut to the road, Mutt followed. The Zed saw us immediately and came over. Mutt looked tense and ready to pounce but if we were going to work together I needed to know if I could rely on him. I put my hand down in front of him and said, ‘Stay.’ Seven and I dealt with the Zed and Mutt did what he was told.

  After dealing with the Zed I checked the door to the
supermarket. There were two dead Zeds and one blood soaked dead body inside and the doors had been locked. Someone must have had time to lock the doors when they started to feel ill, or had seen what was happening outside before they had turned. It was a shame the man inside the shop must have died from his injuries fighting the Zeds, but I guess if he’d lasted he would probably have turned anyway. I wasn’t sure which was best, dying or turning.

  I had a look around and there were about five more Zeds a hundred feet down the road but none that I could see up the road in the direction of the base. From my walk to the base I knew the road wasn’t totally blocked anywhere by cars, but of course cruise along at 50mph wouldn’t be an option. I sauntered up to the Range Rover and peeped inside, my luck was still holding because the keys were in the ignition. I said a quick prayer, opened the door, sat in the drivers’ seat, and turned the key one notch. The multitude of lights on the dash came on and the fuel gauge rose to just over half full; so far so good. From the corner of my eye I saw Mutt sniffing at a nearby car and then cocking his leg to piss on it. I swore to myself. If I had a dog I needed to remember it needed to pee and poop and had to drink regularly. After finishing he came over and looked up at me.

  I leant over and opened the passenger door and said, ‘Mutt, in’, in what I hoped was an authoritative voice. I suppose I had been very lucky so far with his training and strictly speaking he did do what he was told. My door was still open and he launched himself up and onto my lap before bouncing across onto the passenger seat. I might have smiled if I wasn’t bend double trying to restrain myself from yelling the list of expletives that were queuing in my head from the nut shot he’d given me. After a minute recovery time I looked over at him with my best, ‘Seriously!’ look, but his range of expressions seemed to be limited to two; naive innocence or, I’m gonna rip your fucking throat out. I was glad it was the former he met me with.

  I leant across and gently shut the passenger door and then my own. I turned the key and the engine fired up like the terraforming machine it almost was. I was pleased as hell to be mobile but in the rear view I saw the Zeds in the road immediately head towards us. I admit the thrill of being behind the wheel of a massive chick magnet I would probably never have been able to afford in my whole life made me feel unstoppable. There were two priorities, kill the Zeds and ram raid the window of the small supermarket. The engine was making a noise that would attract any nearby Zeds anyway so I thought, what the fuck, a breaking window wasn’t a big deal.

  We were parked on the road just outside the supermarket and there weren’t any cars between me and the supermarket window. I span the wheel, rammed it into reverse and put my foot on the throttle. I may have over egged it! The tyres gripped like shit to blanket and we flew backwards. Mutt ended up crumpled in the passenger foot well with a yelp and I had a minor whiplash, not having put my seatbelt on. By the time I hit the breaks we were half way through the window of the supermarket, having destroyed the low wall under the window, with debris falling all over the place.

  The Zeds were almost on us so I span the wheel again and put it in drive, but this time I was ready. We lurched forwards into the Zeds and they went flying like a rag dolls from the pram of a really pissed off child. Two smashed onto the bonnet before flying off to the sides. I suppose I was lucky none hit the windscreen but the bonnet of the Range Rover was big and high off the ground. I carried on about ten feet before slowing down to a crawl and doing a three point turn in the road so I was facing the right direction, towards the base again.

  Two of the Zeds we’d hit had got up and were heading for us, though somewhat more slowly than before because of varying degrees of mangled-ness. A quick blip of the throttle and I didn’t think they would be getting up again. I knew some or maybe even all of them might still be what counts as alive for a Zed, but if they weren’t mobile they weren’t a threat.

  I reversed up again and came to a standstill level with the supermarket. I scanned the horizon and mirrors. By some miracle there were no more Zeds so I turned the engine off and waited. Mutt looked at me from the passenger foot-well and he was obviously a quick learner because the look he gave me before he jumped back on the seat again was unmistakable, ‘Really!’ We waited and waited but no Zeds came. After about five minutes I thought it was as safe as it would ever be. Leaving the keys in the ignition, popping the boot, and leaving the door open, I got out of the car.

  The tyres were so huge that the damage to the back was mainly to the bumper, which was still attached, but not by much. The shop hadn’t fared as well. Half of the shop front was a wreck and almost all the glass from the big window lay in shards all over the place. I had also hit the counter and one till and the counter top displays were all over the floor. Thankfully the shelves of alcohol behind the counter, were the hard stuff was stored, were intact. I looked around again and it was still all clear. Realising I had been lucky and that this opportunity might not happen again I went to work.

  Using bags and shopping baskets I grabbed all the tins I could and rammed them in the back of the car. Then I hit the dry goods like cereal and of course dog food. I grabbed all the cat food too as eventually beggars wouldn’t be able to be choosers. I stocked up on toilet paper, toothpaste, sweets and anything liquid. I was just leaving with a bag full of whisky and vodka when I saw a group of Zeds coming down the road towards us. I put the bag in the back, opened the passenger door for Mutt and then got in the drivers’ seat before locking all the doors.

  The group was pretty big, enough to call a horde, maybe twenty or so. Exercising a bit more control this time I started the engine and drove forwards at about 10mph. Mutt moved to the foot-well the moment we got moving. The horde split around a stationary car and as I hit half of them I accelerated. The bonnet was high over the massive wheels and long enough so that at the relatively low speed I hit them none hit the windscreen. A very rumbly moment later with the front of the car raised on the pile of bodies I came to a halt over spinning wheels and quickly put into reverse.

  Already the other half of the horde had come around the car next to me and were swarming behind me. Abandoning caution I floored the throttle and the gamble paid off, I went through and over them bobbing around on my seat like a nodding dog as we drove over the bodies of any that ended up under the wheels. Ramming it back into drive I span the wheel and found a route up the pavement and around the pile of bodies I had created.

  I stopped about twenty feet down the road and checked out the scene in the rear view. Several Zeds were struggling to get up with varying degrees of success but the group was mostly goo. I looked at the road ahead, we could be at the base in a few minutes, then I looked at the mess behind me again. I thought some batting practice would be a good idea so I grabbed Seven and got out of the car. I hadn’t run for a week and needed to keep limber. The remaining Zeds weren’t on their best form and they were spread out. Mutt was quickly at my side growling dangerously as a couple approached us.

  I put my hand down to hold Mutt in place but then swept it forwards and said, ‘Sick’em.’

  Mutt seemed to understand and instantly charged the closest Zed jumping straight at its neck. I ran forwards too and felled the other one closest to us with one swing. Five minutes later I was puffing for air but anything that had been moving had its skull crushed in. A few had managed to get to their feet during the slaughter, and a couple had turned up from the road to the right, but they were spread out so I used it as a good opportunity to practice some moves while Mutt was there to cover me.

  I tried shoving and even, more enthusiastically than skilfully at one point, a sweep kick, but found a good old front kick to the chest was the most effective means of staggering them or making them fall over. All in all it was a good mornings work. I figured when there were easy kills to be had I should use the opportunity. When I came back I wouldn’t have to worry about where the Zeds the car hadn’t killed were lurking. As I got back into the Range Rover Mutt took a huge sloppy dump in the midd
le of the road before jumping into the passenger side. Remembering the chemical attack of the night before I opened the windows before hastily driving off.

  We cruised back to the base only having to sideswipe one Zed on the way. Mutt sat in the foot well. I scratched his head while we cruised as quietly as a dirty great big diesel Range Rover can. We reached the turning to the dirt path that led to the base. Half way up the path to the base was a low gate that was only about a foot high, designed to stop cars and nothing else. I was buggered if I was carting all the food up the rest of the hill to the base so I found the hacksaw and cut through the padlock that held it in place. It would have been nice to trip wandering Zeds but it wasn’t practical to be separated from the car.

  There must be something about the exact pitch of my hacksaw and padlocks that attracted dogs because before I was finished a small really pissed off looking terrier came walking down the path from the park. When it saw us it growled and slowed its pace, eyeing us meaningfully and slavering as it came closer. Instinctively I bend forwards and put the back of my hand down non-aggressively so it could sniff it if it wanted to, but as I did so it launched itself at me. Mutt pretty much caught it in mid-air and there was a loud squeal of pain, some vigorous shaking, some quieter squealing mixed with gurgling, and then silence. It wasn’t nice to watch but I couldn’t fault Mutt and the last thing I needed was a nasty bite on my hand. I made a mental note, ‘Not all wild dogs are friendly… Doh…..’

  I opened the low gate and got back in the car. I did a tight turn when we got to the base and reversed up to the gates. There was fifteen feet of road wide enough for a large vehicle that led right to the doors of the building that forked to go up the slope to the radio tower. I reversed in, locked up the gates, and looked at my nemesis, the double doors between me and the inside of the building. The temptation to ram them with the Range Rover was enormous but I knew I was lucky it was still running after the shop and Zed horde, and I’d only had it an hour.