by Nick Harland
Eve spoke next, ‘While we’re making special requests I would really like a decent microscope. There will be a good analysing desktop electron microscope in the lab I used for my PhD work. I still know one the head technicians there from Facebook so I know the lab’s still there.’
Bill took this in his stride, but I didn’t. I’m embarrassed to say I gawped and was stunned into silence for a moment. Eve winked at me, ‘Yes I’m a Doctor, so yes, not only am I prettier and fitter than you, I’m smarter too.’
I tried to recover, ‘Why didn’t you say?’
‘There was no need until now. My ex was strictly in the market for a high-level trophy wife so beautiful was not enough. He admitted after we were married he hung around conferences he knew pretty young PhD students and fresh post-docs might go to. He favoured the hard sciences and I did microbiology. I met him in my final year and of course, like all the bad ones are, he was nice to begin with and used his money to impress me. He paid off my loans and promised to fund future work but of course that never happened. He was eight years older than me. I’m no genius, but I’d like to get a look at some samples from these bastards.’
‘I know we’ve been calling them Zombies because it fits the M.O., but I don’t think they are actually dead. Have you noticed that it’s a week and a half and they don’t seem to be rotting. They also bleed, not like we would, but they do bleed. The blood doesn’t seem to pump out like it would from our relatively high pressure systems, but it’s still liquid which it wouldn’t be if they were dead. I know it’s a funny colour now but the arterial system still seems to be there, just modified somehow.’
‘I know we only just found out that they seem to be developing, or learning or something, and that wouldn’t happen if there wasn’t some kind of brain function left. For all those Zeds to have navigated out of their individual flats, down the halls and stairs, and out into the open, they must have been able to access memories of how to do so. These things are not dead people, they are something else.’
I avoided gawping this time but not by much. I said, ‘Do you have any fucking idea how scary that is?’
Eve looked at me as seriously as she ever had, ‘Yes. If these things are learning and starting to access bits of their old brains that enable them to use skills and memories, we could be in real trouble. I think we should capture one too, for observation. If there are three out back we must be able to safely confine one of them in a smaller space.’
Bill spoke up, ‘I’m following all this but I don’t like it. If we need to capture one it should be easy. The place we keep all the gas bottles is double fenced and the gate is really strong. It has a heavy duty corrugated plastic roof and a concrete floor. If we can get one in there there’s no way it could get out.’
Bill and Eve both looked at me but I felt suddenly uncertain, both of them were smarter than I was with much more life experience. Eve smiled as I hesitated then kissed me on the cheek, ‘This is no time to doubt yourself. I have some survival skills and yes, a PhD, and Bill might be a super car geek, but you are still the best person to lead us and keep us alive. You have something different. You seem to see the big picture and can think laterally. You’ve made some really good choices that have helped both of us survive this long; even Mutt seems to see it. Tell us what to do next?’
I still wasn’t sure so I did what I had been doing all along. I went with my gut, ‘OK. The single most important need is water and I think Bill is right, we need donor vehicles to keep Frank running. Without Frank we’re screwed.’
I turned to Bill, ‘I’ve been calling the car Frank as it was the first name that occurred to me. She’s sort of your baby now and you’ve already called it a she so tell me what you want to call her, and I’ll switch to that.’
Bill looked between me and frank and said, ‘Ok, let’s use Lulu.’
I dared not imagine what might be going through Bill’s brain to make him chose such a name and I certainly didn’t want to ask. I just said, ‘Fine, Lulu it is.’
‘So as far as water is concerned hitting big shopping centres is a fucking nightmare and if Lulu is already suffering we want to minimise roadkill. There is a gastropub just down the road before you enter the more industrial part of the estate that will have some Zeds, but it’s by itself so there will only be so many Zed’s. It will have some bottled water and we can take anything else drinkable and whatever other tipples we fancy. If it’s not been disturbed yet the people inside will still have keys to the vehicles in the carpark. It’s a pretty fancy place so I’m guessing there will be at least one Range Rover there, probably more.’
I looked at Eve smiling at me and she kissed me again, ‘See, fucking brilliant. Two birds with one stone hopefully and just down the road. Right, lets empty Lulu and get on with it.’
Chapter Fourteen – Down the Pub
We emptied Lulu and Bill’s eyes were wide with some of the gear we had. We left him organising it all. Needless to say we knew he’d do a good job. We also left Mutt behind as we figured it might get hectic and we didn’t want anything happening to Bill. Mutt obviously wasn’t happy, but he did what he was told.
Bill shut the gate behind us and locked it. The base wasn’t busy on a busy industrial bit of the estate but having just found Bill we didn’t want to lose him. He’d been lucky so far. It was only five minutes to the pub, which was on a corner of two main roads on the outskirts of the estate. We could see the carpark was quite full and we could see one Range Rover from where we were. We stopped and Eve said, ‘How are we going to handle it? It could be pretty busy in there.’
I looked at her and replied, ‘Thanks for the support earlier, it means a lot.’
She smiled and put her hand on my thigh, ‘It’s ok, I meant every word.’
Then a thought crossed my mind, ‘So do I still call you mistress, or is it doctor now?’
Eve ran a finger slowly along her full lips then put it into her mouth and sucked it for a moment, it was sexy as hell. She said, ‘I still like mistress, but I’m sure the doctor could make an occasional house call if you wanted her to.’
I replied, ‘I think I’d like that, but only if mistress approves. I wouldn’t want to anger mistress. So back to a pub full of Zeds. They’re getting more dangerous over time. I know we don’t have unlimited ammo but this could get hectic and we don’t want to risk breaking Lulu. We can fuck up as many other cars as we like though. We can still outrun them easily enough on foot so why don’t we sneak up to the carpark and see if there are any sturdy looking cars that have Zeds and keys in. If there are, we can use them to kill a lot of the Zeds as they come out of the pub. If we need to ditch and run, or use the guns, we can.’
Eve nodded, ‘I know I say it a lot but that’s brilliant. I think we should stick together. If we get a car and it gets stuck or something I have a decent amount of ammo so we should be able to shoot our way out if we absolutely have to.’
The Pub was a few feet above the level of the road and there was a two foot high metal crash barrier around the carpark. We crouched low and approached slowly. As we got closer to the barrier we could see a few Zeds stood in the carpark. Eve whispered, ‘I wonder if we can get the attention of just a few and draw them here without the ones inside noticing. Getting into cars could be tricky with lose ones walking around the carpark. Also, if they have keys on them we could use the unlock buttons to find their cars.’
I looked at her and smiled, ‘Now that’s brilliant, I dare you to flash them to get their attention. If there is even a scrap of humanity left in them when they see your awesome boobs they should come running.’
Eve smiled, ‘There are definitely still things about you that are 22, I like that. What do I get for doing the dare?’
I thought about the obvious reply and it was well, too obvious. I said, ‘You can drive whatever car we get to fuck up.’
Eve slid her arms up behind her back and fiddled for a moment. Then she slide one bra strap down her arm and then the other be
fore pulling her bra out from under her top like a magician pulls out a bunch of roses from his sleeve. She held it out to me and said, ‘You get to hold on to that then, but don’t lose it or get goo on it, it’s one of my best.’ Shaking her body so her breasts wobbled back and forth she added, ‘And these puppies need good support to stay looking like this.’
I wanted to push her to the ground and do her then and there but we had other business. I tried to concentrate despite the discomfort in my trousers. When we were a little closer Eve stood up, lifted her top and swayed gently. Watching her in all her glory with the late morning sun glistening on her skin is a moment I will never forget. Nothing happened immediately so I stood behind her, cupped her breasts in my hands and squeezing them gently I said, ‘Come and get’em.’
The three Zeds we could see heard me, looked at us, and started to shamble in our direction. Eve put her hands over mine for one last squeeze and arched her back so her round bum pressed against me. Despite the situation, I had never been happier. I leant in and kissed her on the neck and before I knew it I had whispered in her ear, ‘I love you.’
If she had done anything else it would have been an awkward moment I would probably have regretted for a very long time, but she turned around and kissed me in a way usually reserved for end stage foreplay and replied, ‘I know and I’m glad, I love you too. Now let’s fuck up some Zombies.’
We turned around with weapons at the ready to see the three Zeds from the carpark were now five and were easily climbing over the barrier around the car park before almost jogging towards us. They were spread out but five together was still risky. We backed up quickly so we were further away from the pub and Eve put Seven down and drew both her guns. I quickly exchanged the pry bar for Seven as Eve took three shots, dropping three of the Zeds. She had left me with the closest and farthest one, which was fine.
They were harder to one shot with a weapon now they moved faster but I had had a lot of practice. The first went down quickly and I front kicked the other one to stagger it before trying to hit it. I got it in the guts rather than the chest though so all it did was bend double rather than stagger backwards and it lurched forwards into me before I could raise Seven. Before I could react Eve appeared from my left and hit the bent over Zed across the back of the neck with the pry bar. It went down like a sack of potatoes and didn’t seem to move again.
Eve looked at me and said, ‘So a broken neck seems to work too, interesting.’
Still breathing deeply from the effort and adrenalin I said, ‘Thanks.’
Eve just said, ‘We’re a team remember, death or glory, together.’
We searched the five zeds and three had car keys, One ford, one BMW which had potential, and one Fiat which didn’t. We crept towards the carpark again and the plan had worked. Any Zeds inside had stayed there. We crawled up the grass bank to the edge of the carpark and slithered over the barrier behind a transit van. Peeking from behind the van we could see there had been fighting in the restaurant part of the pub but there were no broken windows. There were several bodies on the floor but at least twenty Zeds stood amongst them. We both knew there would be more than just that.
We crept from car to car along the line furthest from the windows and scoped out the carpark. There were no cars blocking the entrance or exit, which was a good start. There were two cars with Zeds in, a Mondeo and a civic. The Mondeo had some potential but neither were particularly inspiring. There were five BMW’s in the carpark one of which was an X3. There was one five series estate and the others were three series saloons. There was also two nice looking Range Rovers.
We snuck forwards into the centre of the carpark as far as we dared and praying for the X3 pressed the button on the BMW key fob. The X3 stayed silent but the estate dutifully flashed and opened out it’s wing mirrors as the doors unlocked. That was all it took, every Zed we could see turned and started to move. We ran to the car, got in, put our seat belts on, and locked the doors.
Eve turned on the ignition and the dash came to life; it had a virtually full tank of gas. It was a diesel which was a bonus. Torque is good for rolling over bodies. The engine came to life and Eve dropped the handbrake and went to reverse out of the space but the car creaked, groaned, and rocked backwards, but didn’t shift; the back brakes were seized. Eve said, ‘Hang on’, and this time built some revs and let the clutch out quickly. The car reared, clunked, then shot backwards. We scrapped the shit out of the car next to us and ended up hitting one behind us too as Eve tried to reverse out.
Eve put it into first and wheel-span out of the car park and onto the main road. I got a look behind us as we careered out of the car park and the Zeds were already streaming out of the doors. We had a few moments before they reached the road.
I said, ‘This isn’t like Lulu, if one hits the windscreen hard enough it will smash and if you hit any head on at speed the radiator might go and the engine won’t be far behind.’
Eve replied, ‘I know silly. Have your gun out in case of emergencies. Fuck the Werlod, we’re making enough noise already so use the M9, remember its kicks much more than the Werlod.’
Eve drove down the wide road a little and waited for the Zed’s. I said, ‘Aren’t you going to turn around?’
‘No, like you say, radiators are easily broken but the back of a car like this can take a beating before anything happens that will stop it. The tailgate might end up popping open rather than jamming shut though which could be slightly dodgy so just be ready to empty your clip into anything that ends up in the back.’
Before I could reply Eve put it into reverse and started heading towards the approaching hoard. The pub doors had thinned them out so they weren’t bunched together too much which helped. Eve didn’t go full speed backwards so she still had some control and was careful to hit the first couple with the edge of the car to minimise the chance of breaking the rear windscreen, they went flying to the side but slowed us down.
The next one went under the wheels, the one after that banging around under the centre of the car. We were almost at a standstill by the time the front wheels made it over the one that went under them. Eve rammed in into first, revved the engine and dropped the clutch. The wheels span and we barely made it over the one that had already gone under the wheels once, just as well it was already tenderised. We hit the open road and Eve accelerated a little then did a slightly unnecessary handbrake turn.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she just grinned. She said, ‘I won the dare remember, I get to drive.’ Then she added, ‘I know the theory but that backwards thing is a pain in the arse. Option two, clip them with the edge of the car, maintain your speed, and hope the wheel arch doesn’t crumple into the tyre or one smashes the windscreen.’
The hoard in front of us was still significant, it scared me to go into it in what felt like a matchbox compared to Lulu. The speed also scared me but I could see Eve was beyond talking to and knew what she was doing. We flew towards the hoard and as late as she could Eve steered off right so she clipped two or three on the outside of the pack rather than plough straight into them. They banged on the edge of the bonnet and didn’t go under the wheels. Although one hit the windscreen it wasn’t hard enough to break it and it flew off to the side after it did. Eve passed the pack and turned around for another run.
While she waited for them to bunch up on the side of the road I said, ‘Ok, that’ll work.’
Eve didn’t answer and stayed thin lipped staring at the approaching pack before punching it again. We managed two more passes before I could feel the car pulling badly and heard grinding from under the front left wheel. Eve’s eyes burnt dangerously and she said, ‘Get ready with your gun and hold onto your junk, we’re going in backwards at full speed.’
I wanted to suggest we make a run for Lulu but her expression didn’t invite response and it was too late anyway. She span the car around, jammed it into reverse and floored it. Our speed was limited by the broken suspension and the tyre blew as we
hit the pack but by the time we came to a halt, Eve’s foot still hard on the accelerator, the engine screaming, the pack was scattered on the road. Eve shouldered her door open saying, ‘I work better in the open.’ I watched as she got out and drew her guns.
There were still at least twenty left on their feet. I didn’t want to, but I got out too and stood behind and to one side of Eve. She started firing as soon as I reached her and every time I tried to line one up to shoot a hole appeared in its face and it collapsed to the ground. The silence after she had finished was deafening and she stood frozen, her guns still up, eyes unblinking. I didn’t dare move in case she shot me. Then her arms dropped and I thought she might too. I slowly stepped round to stand in front of her and put my hands carefully on her shoulders, ‘It’s ok, it’s over, you did it.’
She looked confused rather than dangerous and I carefully brought her towards me and hugged her. She holstered her guns and slowly brought her arms up to hug me back. A few seconds later she started to shudder and cry and her knees crumpled. We ended up sat in the middle of the road, Eve sobbing, her head buried in my shoulder. All I could do was hold her, try to keep an eye out for errant Zeds, and wait for it to pass.
A long couple of minutes later, long enough for me to worry she wouldn’t come out of it, she lifted her head up, looked at me with red eye’s and said, ‘I’m so sorry, I lost it there for a moment. I know it might not seem like it but people have been taking things away from me my whole life; my dreams, my independence, my self-respect. I just got scared it would happen again but this time I chose to fight and I couldn’t stop myself until it was over.’
I was slightly confused and said, ‘What was so important, what were they trying to take away?’
