Undead War (Dead Guns Press)

by Thompson, John

  My feeble threat was buried underneath the deafening whine of the chain saw Coffey pull-started. Ron screamed—his shouts barely audible above the din from the machine. When Coffey began to advance toward us, I fearfully backed away from the whirling chain saw.

  Ron tried to crawl away, but there was nowhere for him to hide. Coffey showed no mercy, using the chainsaw to disembowel him before my eyes. I screamed, cuffing my hands to my ears to block out the terrible sound of Ron’s evisceration.

  When it was over, Coffey pointed the blade of the chainsaw at me, warning me to keep away. Although the door to the shed stood open a dozen feet away, I was too terrified to move. I watched in horror as Coffey seized the carcass and removed his kill from the shed, slamming the door and again locking me inside.

  When he was gone, I staggered toward the spot where I’d last seen Ron. Suddenly lightheaded, I collapsed to the ground near where he’d been killed, falling into the pool of sticky crimson that was slowly being absorbed by the dirt floor

  ***

  I woke up some time later to find the left side of my face encrusted with dried blood. I felt nauseous, but couldn’t tell whether that was a function of dehydration or shock.

  The heat inside the shed caused the opposite wall of the shed to shimmer like a mirage.

  ***

  I’m so thirsty. I’m afraid to close my eyes for fear that Coffey will return while I’m asleep. No matter how hard I try to stay awake, I occasionally slip into periods of black nothingness that give me a temporary reprieve from the hell of imprisonment, even though I no longer dream.

  I surface from one such spell to discover that Coffey had been there while I was unconscious. I crawl like an animal toward the tray lying near the door, clumsily grasping the water jug with hands I can barely control anymore.

  I reach for one of the pieces of meat on the tray, devouring it without hesitation.

  ***

  I’ve lost track of time. Indistinct forms hide in the shadows, maddeningly scuttling out of view every time I try to look at them.

  I can’t let them distract me…I have to be ready when he returns.

  I can’t remember his name anymore.

  When the door opens, I crouch in the corner like a caged beast. My fear is gone, replaced by a visceral, single-minded determination to escape this prison.

  An inhuman growl wells within my throat, not unlike the sound the walkers make before they attack. I can hear them through the open door, wandering just outside the compound on the other side of the electric fence, tirelessly searching for a way inside. Their disembodied moans are swallowed by the thunderous noise of the butcher’s chain saw when it roars to life.

  Field Trip

  Chris Limb

  Mia wipes the thick glass and peers down the road. The cottage has no internal corridor; the only way from the girls' dormitory to the toilet off the main living area is by a dash along the street. The keys are rusty in her hand. She has survived so far by making sure the exterior doors are always locked.

  She's been here nearly a week.

  ***

  The first couple of days had been fun. An environmental science school trip to Snowdonia was a way to make more friends. At school she tended to be the one people forgot about; this would be a chance to change that.

  Plus Aiden was going.

  She’d been obsessed with Aiden for over a year. He was good looking but unlike the other would-be alpha males in year twelve didn't know or care. He carried himself with an easy grace that set a centrifuge spinning in her guts every time he entered the room. He hadn't noticed her, distracted as he was by the attention of girls taller, slimmer and louder than Mia. Something else this trip would give her an opportunity to change. Those girls weren't coming along - they weren't interested in science like she was.

  ***

  There is no one outside. Mia turns the key as slowly as she can, feeling the weight of the tumblers as an extension of her hand. The release comes just before she is expecting and sends a bolt of panic up her spinal column. She waits for her heart to slow down before opening the door. This is the most critical part.

  The sky is bright but the sun has yet to rise above the hills behind the cottage leaving the air cold and damp, the colors desaturated. There is an utter stillness - one of the strangest parts of what has happened is the death of the birds; the absence of birdsong was the first thing she'd noticed that day.

  The day it changed.

  ***

  Mia had been in a bad mood.

  The morning had gone well; they'd spent most of it on the sands of the estuary just across from Portmeiron. Mia had been determined that this was the day she was going to get to know Aiden properly.

  The group walked single file along the wooden boardwalks suspended over the mud. Mia contrived to be immediately in front of Aiden. Over the next ten minutes they exchanged smiles; by the time they reached the place they were going to spend the day working Mia felt bold enough to hold out a hand to steady him as he jumped over a creek.

  As they gathered specimens she spoke to him a couple of times, catching his attention and pointing things out. He started to do the same and then, when she was having trouble standing up, reached down and pulled her upright.

  His hand was smooth, strong and dry.

  Mia was dizzy with pleasure. They were about to break for lunch. This would give them more time to talk. She saw him casting about for her as she collected her packed lunch from the minibus and began to worry about what to talk about.

  Then Rebecca stood between them and said something to him before taking his arms and steering him in the other direction. Rebecca Cross with her short skirt and narrow waist.

  It was the end of the world. Mia’s hopes evaporated with a flick of Rebecca's hair. The most important thing was not to cry.

  The rest of the day passed with all the speed and grace of a wounded rhinoceros. Mia couldn't concentrate; everything she did was measured in terms of how far away Aiden was standing. She couldn't bear to look at him.

  She doubted Rebecca had even noticed her.

  By the time they arrived back at the cottage Mia really needed something to distract her, and it was Chloe that supplied it.

  Chloe was shorter than Mia but made up for it by being very loud; as a result she was one of the "main" girls in the group, the one that the teachers rebuked as a matter of course during lessons or announcements on the basis that she was probably causing trouble anyway. The boys all acted as if they didn't much like Chloe either, although Mia had spotted one or two of them - Aiden included - throwing her admiring glances when they thought no one was looking.

  Chloe had smuggled a two-liter bottle of whisky into the dormitory at the bottom of her rucksack. As she unwrapped it she described it as the "best stuff", although Mia had her doubts when she saw Asda Special Reserve on the label. Not that she would have known one whisky from another - she'd never had it before and imagined it as a kind of intoxicating liquid honey.

  It was foul. It made her shudder. It made her gag. Nevertheless after a few glasses she started to quite like it. She relaxed. She started joining in more with the conversations, throwing in jokes that the others enjoyed. Chloe kept topping up her glass and Mia lost track of how much she'd had. She then lost track of time itself and her final proper memory of the night was of vomiting into the bushes on the other side of the road.

  The next morning was the worst in her life. Normally Mr. Coombs shouting at her would have been the cause of severe upset and embarrassment, but all she wanted was for him to shut up and go away. She lay in the dormitory, blanket over her head, tossing and turning, rolling over and over through the pain and nausea until she was cast up on a shore of relative coherence. She pulled herself up on her elbows.

  "How are you feeling?" Chloe was sitting on the other bed reading a magazine. Mia thought about this.

  "A bit better. I'm just going to the loo." She swung her legs off the bunk and slipped her feet into the tr
ainers that awaited them. No need to tie her laces, she wouldn't be long.

  "Get me a coke whilst you're there will you?" Chloe didn't look up.

  Outside the light was dazzling. Mia staggered, feeling for a second as though someone had driven spikes of molten silver through her eyes. But the freshness of the air was reviving, and she took her time walking down to the main cottage entrance, taking deep breaths and telling herself that she was recovering, that things were going to be all right. Mr. Cadogan the caretaker was pottering about in the living room. Mia had been wondering about that - the teachers wouldn't have been allowed to leave her and Chloe unattended all day.

  On the way back from the toilet she popped into the kitchenette to get the coke when Mr. Cadogan poked his head around the door.

  "Just driving down to the village to get a few bits and pieces, miss. I'm sure you and your friend will be all right for half an hour?" he winked, "No need to tell anyone though, eh?"

  "No." Mia didn't care one way or another. The brief respite granted her by the fresh air was receding and all she cared about now was lying down again. Once back in the dormitory she tossed the coke can across to Chloe before crawling back under the covers.

  The flurry of activity had sparked her brain into action and she found it difficult to fall asleep. She was thinking too much. She wondered what Aiden thought about what had happened to her or whether he was too busy with Rebecca. This wasn't how she wanted him to notice her - as a troublemaker who couldn't handle her drink. But then again the way he'd been looking at Chloe... perhaps that was what he found attractive? Maybe Rebecca was too saccharine for him. Round and round the thoughts chased each other, her mood darkening even as the nausea and headache retreated. She started half dreaming, having conversations with Aiden in her head, telling him how she felt about him. Sometimes he reciprocated, other times he laughed at her.

  "Fuckin' 'ell, what was that?"

  Chloe's shout roused Mia from her fitful sleep. That was annoying. She was sure Aiden had been about to say something important.

  "What was what?"

  "Lightning." Chloe jumped off her bed and ran over to the window. "Still sunny outside though. Weird!"

  "Maybe you imagined it?"

  Chloe walked over to the door and opened it.

  There was a long low series of dull thuds. Thunder? They came from a very long distance and yet gave the impression of being loud and powerful.

  Mia joined Chloe and together they stared down the road. Nothing. The sun was high overhead, there was barely a breeze and...

  That was when the silence first registered. Where were the birds?

  ***

  Maintaining silence is the most important thing on Mia's mind. She locks the dormitory door and flattens herself against the cottage wall. Across the valley the fields start to catch the sunlight as they emerge from the shadow of the hills at her back. Nothing moves. Two days earlier she'd seen a helicopter passing over that way but hadn't wanted to risk doing anything to attract its attention.

  There are too many other forms of attention she really doesn't want to attract.

  She walks down the road, pausing before placing each foot in front of the other until she reaches the cottage door. This is the bit she hates. The lock here is stiff and it takes the strength of both her hands to turn the key. She feels vulnerable, imagining all sorts of things about to leap onto her back. The worst thing is that her imagination is no match for the terrible things she has already seen. Even now she avoids looking at where the minibus is skewed across the road a hundred meters down the hill.

  ***

  It took a while before her and Chloe started to get worried. Mia spent a lot of the time sleeping and Chloe either reading magazines or listening to her iPod. However when the light started to leach out of the sky at around seven and there was still no sign of their classmates or Mr. Cadogan, they began to get concerned. Neither of them could get their cellphones to work. Up here the reception did leave a lot to be desired, but Mia was sure she'd had at least one bar before.

  "Maybe it's an accident!" Chloe sounded rather more excited by the prospect than she should have been, "Multiple pile up on the Menai Bridge!"

  "They weren't going that far," Mia pointed out. The suggestion worried her. What if something had happened to the school minibus? How would they get home?

  They turned the TV on. The signal was appalling at the best of times but now... half the channels seemed to have disappeared and those that were still there had such a poor quality picture it was like watching through a blizzard. It was difficult to work out what was going on. There was a news bulletin with pictures of that epidemic interspersed with footage of the army and a grim faced anchorman in the studio. The sound was even worse.

  "Dust... contagion… radioactive... urged not to panic... travel unless absolutely necessary... temporary measures..."

  Over his shoulder one word could just about be made out, CRISIS, the font alarming and red.

  "What d'you think it was then?" Chloe looked excited, "Terrorists? Dirty bomb?"

  Mia sat there and shook her head, She didn't know and she felt sick. It wasn't just the hangover this time. What had happened? Part of her was saying that of course it was going to be OK and of course the minibus was going to turn up but what if they didn't? There was no way of telling whether what had happened was local, down in Cardiff, in London or elsewhere.

  At 10pm the TV lost its signal altogether. Chloe started losing her bravado and took Mia's hand when they stepped outside for the umpteenth time to see if there was any sign of the minibus.

  This time there was a noise. Since the TV had gone dark the silence had been overwhelming but now there was a grumble of an engine half a mile away. Chloe squeezed Mia’s hand and they looked at each other. The teachers were coming back. They'd sort it out. A light shone between the trees down there in the valley, a light that wound slowly towards them before winking out and then reappearing at the bottom of the road.

  There was only one headlight. The minibus shook from side to side as it approached and then turned sharply, stopping halfway across the road as it entered the pool of illumination cast by the cottage's exterior lights. Chloe made as if to approach but Mia pulled her back.

  Something was wrong.

  The engine coughed and fell silent and the driver's door sprang open to reveal Mr. Coombs. He started running straight towards them but then the dark shape on the roof rack - which Mia had at first taken for a tarpaulin - exploded into motion, leaping across the space and landing on top of him.

  It was Rebecca.

  Her clothes were torn and caked in sand - today's activities had included a return to the estuary - and there was something wrong with her hair. It was only as her and Mr. Coombs crashed to the ground that it became obvious - the left-hand side of her scalp was missing, her head red and raw. Mr. Coombs was trying to fight her off but she was intent on tearing him to pieces with her hands and mouth. He glanced towards the cottage and just for a second caught Mia's eye.

  Chloe was frozen. Mia pulled at her arm, dragging her back towards the door of the cottage, gaze fixed to the violent struggle in the road. Mr. Coombs opened his mouth and Rebecca plunged her bruised and bloody fingers into it. His shout turned to a gargle as he tried to cry out and the last thing Mia saw as she slammed the door was Rebecca yanking his mouth open and diving down to bite at his tongue.

  Mia grabbed the set of keys from the hook beside the door and secured both locks. She turned off the lights and dragged the now whimpering Chloe into the utility room at the back and into the narrow space between the washing machine and the wall. After a while Chloe fell silent and Mia was able to remove her hand from the other girl's mouth.

  They sat there for five hours.

  After a while the noises outside stopped. Chloe was asleep when Mia stood up and went back into the main room to look out of the window.

  The cottage lights were all switched off, but the road outside remained illumin
ated by the minibus's headlight. Mr. Coombs's body lay halfway between the vehicle and the door, trickles of dark liquid spreading downhill across the tarmac from his body. Nothing else moved.

  There was no way Mia was going out there, not until daylight. Besides, what would be the point? She started to creep back towards the back room when a scratching coming from the far window over by the kitchenette distracted her.

  A face was looking in. It was still just about recognizable as Rebecca. Her eyes stared sightlessly through the grimy glass, a filthy smear of blood and filth coating one half of her face. Mia backed away her hands groping behind her. It was only when her fingers closed around the poker by the fireplace that she realized what she'd been looking for. She retreated to the utility room and squeezed in beside the sleeping Chloe.

  What had happened to everyone? Why had Mr. Coombs brought Rebecca back with him on the roof rack, and what had happened to her? Why had she attacked him?

  Mia hoped Aiden was all right.

  There were no windows in the utility room and eventually Mia slept.

  ***

  Mia slips inside the cottage door and locks it behind her. Everything is as it was the day before, and the day before that. The broken glass over in the kitchenette where the bottle smashed. She hurries to the toilet.

  Half an hour later she sits on the sofa, wrapped in the grubby sleeping bag. There is no point in going back to the dormitory right now, and, as she does every day, Mia wonders why she doesn't just stay here.

  Because there are too many windows and they’re too large. Even though nothing has happened for a while now, Mia feels safer in the dormitory with its small grubby ones. She glances across at the cupboard. There are still cans of food in there, enough to last her until... How long is she expecting to wait here for rescue? She hasn't seen another soul for several days. Ever since Chloe ran off.