British Zombie Breakout: Part Two

by Peter Salisbury

  Rachel's face held a bitter expression. 'Yeah, just as before.'

  'They just, like, don't care,' Maisie said.

  'Criticism in the media has been levelled at the Ministry for maintaining a small zombie population in the secure facility. The purpose of this was to continue with the search for a vaccine that would combat the new variant of the disease and to develop a method of detecting infection. These are the conditions essential for the UK to meet before being permitted to re-engage in international trade.'

  'In terms of progress, it has been reported that zombie blood glows green under Ultra Violet light. This means that clean-up operations can be more thorough. The use of UV is still in the early stages of experimentation, however, we are hopeful that rapid progress will be made shortly.'

  Steve listened intently to what was being said but held back from talking until the bulletin was over.

  'In the meantime, it is absolutely essential to avoid contact with zombies. Their blood and all other bodily secretions are as lethally infectious as in the previous outbreak. Any person suspecting they have been contaminated must, without delay, hand themselves into the nearest police station, hospital or army unit.'

  'There's dad's torch from the castle,' Steve said. 'We could convert it to LEDs.'

  'Where would you get hold of those, lad?' Graham said.

  'We've used white light ones in Design Technology lessons.'

  'But they said it's got to be UV,' Rachel said.

  'I'm sure the DT teacher had some UV ones he was saving for an invisible ink project next term. He said they were safe to use because they were longer wavelength ones.'

  'What does that mean?' Alex said.

  'It means the diodes which produce invisible UV can cause eye damage but the ones which give out a bit of visible light as well are OK.'

  'Yeah, that's kind of what he said.'

  'You'd better show us the Tech room, then, lad,' Graham said.

  The door had to be forced because it was still locked. Apart from shot out windows, and a layer of dust and glass splinters over most of the surfaces, the DT room appeared to be undamaged.

  'That's a good sign,' Steve said, pointing to the fact that none of the debris had been disturbed. He went straight to the components store. It was a large, shallow cabinet fastened to one of the walls, with compartments for an array of small, plastic drawers containing all manner of electronic spare parts. Steve ran his fingers along the rows of labels, pulling out first one drawer and then another. Alex found the classroom broom and swept off one of the benches, so that Steve could put down the two boxes he had obtained.

  'They look the same,' Janet said, peering at two trays full of small, clear plastic beads, each with two wires at one end.

  'But they're not,' Steve said, smiling. Then his face changed and he smacked the heel of his hand against his forehead. 'Oh no! I left the torch by the entrance to the tunnel under the castle.'

  'There must be others in the school, surely?'

  'There might have been in the caretaker's room in the Admin Block.'

  'The bit that's completely burnt out?'

  'I'll have to go back for it,' Steve said, heading for the door.

  'Not so fast, young man,' Janet said. 'The army are still roaming around out there, not to mention any zombies they've missed.'

  Chapter 5: Something Moved

  After obtaining precise directions from Steve and Janet, Bill and Graham set off on a circumspect route to retrieve the torch. Rather than taking the road, they left the school grounds behind the canteen and made their way through the woods and from there into the field at the top of which were the brambles and bushes concealing the entrance to the tunnel.

  'Here it is,' Bill said, holding up the heavy duty torch. 'Looks like a good 'un. Thought it'd be one of those weedy cylinder ones with the batteries in the handle,' he said, 'but it's got a separate handle with the battery compartment underneath.'

  Graham felt the weight of it. 'Yeah, it's one of those with a big square battery,' he said, 'Should last a good while.'

  'Do we have to go back through the woods again? The road's much quicker.'

  'Yeah, shorter and chancier.'

  'Well, I'm going back by the road, you can take the long way round if you want.'

  'Alright, I've not heard any army trucks for a while. And it's nearly dark.'

  Bill glanced at his watch. 'Six thirty, 'bout right for this time of year.'

  Graham nodded towards the road and they set off to the gate through the hedge at the top of the field. He carefully lifted the catch and the two of them crept out onto the road in the gathering dusk. They were halfway to the school when they passed a side road off Academy Row, leading off into the centre of the town. It was the road taken by some zombies after leaving the castle earlier in the day. They'd been rounded up or shot by the army. Bill thought he saw a shadowy figure in a doorway but didn't want to hang about to look any closer. In his haste, he trod on a dry twig which broke with a snap.

  Graham shoved him down into the ditch beside the road just as a shot whined past into the hedge.

  'Oi! Who goes there?' Another shot whistled past and a torch lit up the hedge. For a few seconds the beam swept to and fro. Then the torch went out and a voice spoke into a radio.

  'Sarge, you still down by the 'arbour?'

  'Yeah, what's going on up there?'

  'Dunno, I 'eard summat.'

  'Yeah, we can all hear things. Was it you or someone else firing off rounds? Sounded like it was by the castle.'

  'Yeah, it was me sarge. I 'eard summat. Summat made a noise in the 'edge opposite.'

  'Did anything scream?'

  'No, sarge,'

  'Well, it's probably not zombies, then. Animal most likely. Go and have a proper look.'

  Graham felt his hair stand on end. He pushed Bill forward, pointing to a gap in the hedge, relieved the soldier hadn't kept the torch switched on.

  'Quick, through there,' he said in whisper, 'be quiet.' He picked up a pebble and threw it as far as he could back the way they'd come.

  A volley of shots followed the sound of the stone landing in the hedge, sparks flew up from the road and the torch beam swooped to the gate.

  'There's a gate, sarge, I 'eard summat, like movin'.'

  'Was that you shooting again? What can you see?'

  'Nothin' yet.' The soldier's heavy boots crunched across the road and the torch beam bobbed as he ran towards the gate fifty yards from Bill and Graham.

  Graham lay hardly breathing in the bottom of the ditch while Bill eased himself through the hole in the hedge. Between the branches, he could see the soldier's torch beam flicking back and forth across the field. The instant Bill's feet disappeared, Graham squeezed through to the other side and kept perfectly still.

  'Alright, I checked the gate and the field but there in't nothin'.'

  The torch lit up Castle Mount and back down the other side of the road, illuminating the fronts of houses and garden walls. Meanwhile, Bill and Graham crawled as fast as they could into the woods.

  'Still can't see nothin', sarge.'

  'Good. It'll have been a cat or a badger or something. It's zombies and stray locals we're after. Now get back to your post.'

  The soldier shivered as he crossed back to his doorway. 'It's not true what the ovver lads bin saying about zombie dogs, is it?'

  'Nah, pull yourself together and stop wasting ammo.'

  Chapter 6: Return to Castle Mount

  There was a quarter moon, which gave just enough light to see by in the DT room. Steve connected up a set of bulbs to a portable battery pack. While it was still light enough to see, he'd tried all six soldering irons before realising the reason they didn't work was the power was still off. Instead he found a box of solderless connecting clips to join up the LEDs when the torch arrived.

  'Stevie, what are you doing. It's not safe to have lights on in here. Switch them off at once and come back to the canteen.'

  'So
rry mum.'

  'Didn't you hear the shots being fired up the road?'

  'Oh, yeah, what was that?'

  'It was Graham and Bill getting shot at, that's what!'

  'Are they back alright, mum?'

  'Yes but it doesn't feel very safe here.'

  'We could go back to the castle, through the tunnel.'

  'OK, come back to the canteen and we'll see what the others say.'

  'I'll just scoop up the stuff I need for the torch.'

  'I think we should drive out the first chance we get,' Bill said. 'The longer we hang around the village, the more chance of getting caught.'

  'Now it's dark, we've no idea who we'll run into either in the village or beyond. You heard what the Ministry was telling the army about how many zombies got out.'

  'It'd be easier to get out at night, as there's only one road out of here, up the old cliff road. Have to do it without headlights, though.'

  'Sounds like a recipe for driving off the edge up there.'

  'We could get in behind an army truck with our lights off, following theirs.'

  'What about road blocks?'

  'Not heard any coms traffic about road blocks. I get the impression the zombies are on foot.'

  'We've got the rest of the night to think about driving out,' Janet said. I just don't feel at all secure here. Steve had the idea of going back to the castle.'

  'How's that go then, lad?'

  A noise from the kitchen startled everyone. Bill ran round, his revolver at the ready.

  'It's OK, it's just the fridge and freezer coming back on, they must have re-connected the power. At the same time everyone's phone beeped and showed a signal.

  'Cell tower's back up, too,' Alex said.

  Meanwhile, the klaxon on the school tower stuttered a few times, then began to wind up, faltered, stopped, started again, kept going. Everyone winced; so loud, it was the most awful sound, especially as everyone knew by instinct that it only started up for dire emergencies.

  'Oh no! That's going to bring all the soldiers down on us.'

  'Quick, all of you, out the back and into the woods,' Janet said in her 'get that boat out of here' voice.

  With the klaxon blasting through the night and the little light flashing above it, the band of survivors hurried out of the back door of the canteen. A loud whoosh caught them all by surprise. It was immediately followed by an explosion and a shower of flame and sparks as the top of the clock tower disintegrated. Shrapnel shattered tiles on what remained of the school roofs and smashed another window somewhere. The sound of the klaxon died into the echoes of the explosion which left everyone's ears ringing and their vision with black spots. Distant cheers and sounds of laughter filtered through the night air from the village.

  'Crikey, someone's been keeping up with his target practice,' Bill said.

  'Laser-sighted,' Alex said. 'I saw the red spot on the clock face just before it was hit.'

  'Well,' Janet said. 'I think that's decided it for us. We go straight to the castle. With the portcullis down the army can't get in, so we should be safe until we decide what to do next.'

  'Makes sense,' Graham said. No-one disagreed.

  'Have you all got your bags and coats?'

  'Mine are, like back in the canteen,' Maisie said.

  'And mine,' Rachel, Sarah and Steve said.

  'OK, go and get them quickly. Steve, did you bring the components to convert the torch?'

  'Oh, yeah, the torch,' Bill said.

  Janet rolled her eyes. 'The soldiers might still pay the school a visit. Hurry up and don't leave anything behind.'

  Five minutes later they were deep in the wood, heading towards the field below the castle.

  'You think that soldier's still hanging around on Academy Row?' Bill said.

  'How should I know?' Graham said.

  Rachel cursed as a low branch caught at her hair.

  'Quiet!' Janet hissed.

  'Can't we use the torch, Mrs Reynolds?'

  'Not unless you want to be shot at,' Graham said, still wary after his earlier encounter with the soldier.

  'Or they lob over another RPG, like the one that took the clock tower out,' Alex said.

  Janet put up her hands and stopped everyone. 'Listen, this is life or death here,' she said in cold quiet voice. 'No-one speaks until we get inside that tunnel, understand.'

  There was no reply, so she turned and led the way, skirting the edge of the field, until they were under cover of the bushes concealing the way into the tunnel under the moat. Half way there they had all thrown themselves flat to the ground as an owl swooped low, calling loudly and a shot fired from Academy Row rang out across the sky above the meadow.

  'Looks like that trigger happy soldier is still around,' Graham said once they were safely through the door and inside the tunnel itself, with the door locked behind them.

  'Which is exactly why we take every possible precaution from now on,' Janet said. 'This is not a school holiday.'

  'I brought the sword back in, too,' Fred said, trying to sound helpful.

  'Well done, it might have been a bit of a give-away if a soldier had been snooping around later and found it.'

  Chapter 7: The Trick With The Stone

  As the party approached the door leading into the barrel shaped dungeon, Janet whispered to Steve to turn off the torch.

  'Why's that, mum?'

  'Think about it.'

  'Well, OK, the torch is pretty powerful and if it gets waved around while pointing up in the air, it'll be seen from right across the valley?'

  'Yes, very true and?'

  'Someone else might be, like, up there already, miss?'

  'Very good, Maisie.'

  'The castle is a great vantage point …' Steve said.

  'Exactly.'

  'But mum, no-one can get in.'

  'The army's pretty resourceful. If they wanted to get in there's plenty of ways, including lowering someone down to keep guard, using a helicopter.'

  'We haven't heard any helicopters since this afternoon.'

  'No but I'm sure they have other ways.'

  'Even simple stuff, like ladders or ropes and grappling hooks,' Alex said.

  'Please Mrs Reynolds, we don't have to stay down here all night do we?' Rachel said.

  'Graham's got a pretty good trick with a stone,' Bill said.

  'What's that?'

  'I could climb up the ladder and throw a stone as far away as possible. When it lands if there's anyone up there, they'll fire at it or at least shine a torch in that direction.'

  'OK, do it. But please, be careful!'

  Sarah grabbed Graham's arm and hugged him. 'Just don't let anyone see you.'

  Steven switched the torch on inside his bag, so there was just enough light for Graham to find the ladder. Once he was there, Steven turned the torch back off, leaving the rest of them in almost total darkness. All they could see was the rectangular hole of the trapdoor into the tower. They could hear faint creaks of his feet on the ladder and then saw his fleeting silhouette at the trapdoor.

  It seemed to take forever for Graham to do his stone throwing thing. Alex found herself gnawing at her knuckle in anticipation of a series of shots ringing out. The others fidgeted and sighed by turn.

  Finally, Graham's voice called softly from above, 'OK, I've thrown small stones all around the place and nothing's happened, so I think we're OK.'

  Rachel jumped up and down and let out a little yelp.

  'Shh,' Karen said. 'There are still soldiers around on Castle Mount outside. If we make too much noise they'll hear us.'

  'That's right,' Janet said. 'Come on. Kids go up first. Don't go out of the tower though.'

  Once they'd all assembled in the base of the east tower, and the trapdoor shut so none of them could fall down in the darkness, Janet held a conference.

  'OK, we can't go putting the lights on in the keep but that has got to be the best place to be. There's just enough moonlight for us to see our way to ge
t inside, then try and find another light source so we can save the torch battery.'

  'Good point,' Graham said.'

  'There're candles for sale in the shop, aren't there,' Fred said.

  'Oh, yes, but we need to get all the blinds and shutters closed before we can use them.'

  'Why can't we like use the electric lights?'

  'They'll be too bright. I'd rather stick to candles. Remember now, complete silence.'

  Janet supervised rolling the blinds down in front of each window, then carefully closing the wooden shutters, which were mounted on the inside of each window. They had to be moved slowly in case any of the hinges squeaked. Eventually, they had the place shut up tight and were able to light a couple of candles in the shop.

  'What will Old English Monuments say about us using all the stock, Mrs Reynolds,' Alex said.

  'Samuel hasn't exactly found the place awash with visitors since the devastating effect on the population of the first outbreak. What I think is, assuming we all get out of this alive, Old English Monuments might actually welcome the publicity.'

  Janet recognised in the faces of her companions what she had said was good for morale, so she continued in the same vein. 'I mean we might be photographed or even on TV when we get out of here. If we're wearing OEM insignia clothing, it can't do them any harm, and there'd be a real outcry if they asked us to pay for any of it.'

  'You really think we'll, like, be on TV?'

  'We might be interviewed on the news, sort of thing?' Rachel said, flicking her hair. 'I like the sound of that.'

  Alex smiled to herself, thinking there was no way on earth Rachel would pass up a chance to be on TV. None of them would hear the last of it.

  'When we get back to civilisation, I shall make sure of it! Now then, what else is there?' She wandered around the little shop with the others following her. 'Here we are, car blankets, sweat shirts, biscuits, we should be able to keep warm at least.'

  'There isn't much left in the snack bar, I'm afraid, mum,' Steve said. 'We ate most of it earlier.'