by Chris Harris
He stood with his arms folded, a superior look on his face, as his wife meekly joined him.
I was lost for words. I truly didn’t know what to say to the man.
For the first time Louise spoke up. ‘Are you completely stupid or something? Everyone’s turning into zombies! These people saved my life less than an hour ago. My sister and I were hounded across the moors all night after our car was surrounded by them. My sister was bitten and she turned and then they had to kill her. It wasn’t murder! They were saving my life just as they did yours when they killed that man in the house who’d turned.’
‘Maud, come with me,’ said the man, beginning to inch away from us. ‘We can’t stay here any longer. We’re in danger. She’s just told us they’ve murdered someone else. I have their pictures; they won’t escape.’
We stared at him in disbelief. The man was clearly deranged or something. All attempts to reason with him proved fruitless.
Once again, Andy summed up the situation. ‘Let them go. I can’t put up with his whining voice for another minute. We’ve tried to explain what’s happening, but they just don’t get it. Chet said earlier that we should help everyone to ensure the survival of the human race. I’m sorry but he’s wrong, we can only help people who want to help themselves.’
He turned and addressed them again. ‘What were you doing in the farmhouse anyway?’
We watched as the man puffed out his chest indignantly and went slightly pink in the face. ‘I was going to make a complaint to the farmer. He’d left some barbed wire sticking out of a post and I caught my jacket on it and tore it!’ He held his jacket out and showed us a small tear in the lining.
Before any of us could respond, Becky suddenly lost it. ‘For God’s sake just go!’ she said, through clenched teeth. ‘If you’re too stupid to realise when someone’s trying to help you then just leave! Go and find the police. And good luck with that! I guarantee we’re not going anywhere for at least the next day or so.’
She advanced on them and the man backed away, grabbing his wife by the arm and shouting, ‘Look Maud, they’re attacking us now! Let’s get out of here before they kill us too.’
We watched in astonishment as they hurried out of the gate and along the track that led to the road.
I shook my head and turned to everyone. ‘Right, let’s get this place secure and then we can sort ourselves out. Louise, if you don’t feel up to it that’s fine.’
‘No, no,’ she said quickly. ‘I want to help. It won’t do me any good brooding.’
I nodded in approval. ‘Great, well done. Becky and the kids and I will check the perimeter while the rest of you look for something we can use to strengthen the gates. They look like the weakest points to me.’
Chet and Andy set off to check one building, and Shawn and Louise walked over to the other, while we walked around examining the walls.
The place was as good as I’d hoped and unless the zombies turned out to be good climbers, then providing we could secure the gates I was reasonably confident that we would be safe for a while.
CHAPTER TWENTY
As predicted, the walls were solid enough, but the gates were definite weak points. They opened outwards but were only held closed by a single metal catch. The catches looked sturdy enough but I doubted if they would be strong enough to hold back zombies en masse.
We still didn’t know enough about what they were able to do. We’d only experimented on the woman in the Range Rover to see how they could be killed. Were they capable of climbing up and over obstructions? The ones we’d seen previously hadn’t done that, but we’d watched them get back up after being knocked down so it was probable that they could climb stairs and therefore also negotiate their way over things.
Shawn was busy wedging lengths of timber against the gates to reinforce them. He was doing a good job, so I led Becky and the children into the house so that we could explore it.
I moved the farmer’s body out of the way to save the children from having to step over it. I’d never had to move a dead body before and was shocked by how heavy it was; it took all my strength just to drag it off the path.
I’d warned Becky beforehand about the room containing the woman’s body so we were able to avoid the children inadvertently opening the door and seeing her. I also wanted to keep the disgusting smell confined to the room if at all possible. The house already contained faint traces of it, but as the heat of the day began to build, it was only going to get worse. We needed to remove both corpses as a matter of urgency.
I tried a light switch and was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked. I also noticed that the cooker in the kitchen was a gas one. The house was too remote to be connected to the mains so I reasoned that they must have a propane tank somewhere. If the electricity and gas were still connected and working we’d have hot water for washing and cleaning.
As we explored the house the news got even better. Both the pantry and the freezer were well stocked with food so we wouldn’t have to worry about going hungry just yet, and apart from the bedroom containing the body, there were five more, so there would be enough beds for all of us. I’d discovered a gun safe bolted to a wall in the boot room of the house and was trying to find the hiding place for the keys so that I could open it. I’d also found quite a few boxes of shotgun cartridges and another small locked safe in one of the downstairs cupboards. I was hopeful that it might be where he kept his rifle bullets and that there would be a rifle in the gun safe (I was aware that the rules about storing bullets were far stricter than they were for cartridges). If I wasn’t able to locate the key, we would have to find a way to break into them.
The only weapon we currently had at our disposal which could kill from a distance was Shawn’s crossbow and that took time to reload. A shotgun or rifle would make a big difference to us.
Becky had found a leaflet advertising the farm as a bed and breakfast business that also offered evening meals. No wonder there was so much food around.
The children had spotted the TV in the lounge and had gathered in front of it like moths to a flame. They’d switched it on but hadn’t been able to find a single broadcasting channel that wasn’t displaying the emergency message. Realising that we hadn’t listened to the radio all day to check for updates, I went to the kitchen where I remembered seeing one and turned it on, tuning it in to the right frequency. I caught the end of a message stating that the broadcast would be repeated, so Becky and I sat at the kitchen table and waited for it to begin again.
Our hearts sank. It was repeating the same message as the day before. Either there was nothing new to report or there was no one left to update the message.
The sound of a TV playing made us rush into the lounge so see what was happening. The kids had found some DVDs and managed to put a movie on. Becky and I watched them from the doorway for a while. It was a Simpsons DVD and in no time at all my two were roaring with laughter at Bart and Homer’s antics and even Eddie was managing to smile.
Becky put her arm around my waist and her head on my shoulder as we watched the children. Over the past two days they’d seen and experienced the most mind-numbingly terrifying things. Only yesterday, Eddie had watched his parents die and Stanley had saved my life by caving a zombie’s skull in with repeated blows from his cricket bat. Now they were laughing at some mindless comedy on the TV.
We came crashing back to reality, as Chet came running into the house yelling, ‘Zombies!’ The pleasure on the children’s faces evaporated and was replaced again by terror. They looked at us. Becky hugged me even more tightly and then said, ‘Go! I’ll get the kids upstairs.’
I ran outside to find the others looking in the direction of the track that led to the nearest road. Shawn was squinting through a set of binoculars that I hadn’t seen before. I looked at them as he handed them to me. ‘They were in the tractor,’ he explained. ‘They’re good ones. It’s that prick Knight and his missis. They’re on their way back and they’ve managed to bring a whole lo
ad of zombies back with them.’
I looked through the binoculars. They were so powerful I felt as if I could have reached out and touched them. The Knights were staggering along, their faces white with exhaustion and terror. It proved the point that you could outrun zombies over a short distance, but their pursuers were relentless in their pursuit of food. A ‘tortoise and hare’ scenario (and we all know how that ended!) The zombies were clearly able to keep going until exhaustion overtook you and you could go no further.
I don’t know how long the zombies had been chasing them, but it was clear that the Knights were almost at the end of their endurance. They’d probably already been worn out by their ordeal in the cellar.
I tried to count the zombies and guessed that there were around forty of them. As I watched, I was shocked to see Knight grab hold of his wife and push her behind him. He was clearly intent on putting his wife between himself and the pursuing zombies.
‘Fucking prick!’ I exclaimed. I passed the binoculars to Andy and described what I’d seen to the others.
Without hesitation, Louise spoke up, ‘We should help her. I felt sorry for her when he was ranting on earlier. She looked really embarrassed and kept glaring at him behind his back. He’s probably been bullying her for years and she hasn’t had the confidence to stand up for herself.’
‘I agree we should help her,’ said Chet, ‘but what about him?’
‘I’m not making that decision,’ I said. But in the meantime we’ve got forty zombies heading our way and we’re in no way ready for them. We need to get that gun safe open and I haven’t managed to find the keys yet.’
‘Tom, I’ve just thought,’ said Shawn, ‘There’s a petrol powered disc cutter in the shed over there. I know how to use them so I should be able to cut into it. Look, two of you need to go and get the Knights. The rest of us need to stack everything we can up against those gates.’
I nodded and looked up at Becky and the children, who were watching us through an upstairs window. We were going to need them so I waved for them to come and help. I clapped Chet on the back. ‘Come on mate, it’s your turn to be the hero now.’
Becky came out just as I was running to our car and I shouted to her, ‘Can you open the rear gate? I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
As she opened the gate, I quickly drove out and bumped along the track that led outside the walls, until I’d reached the main track that led to the gate closest to the Knights and the zombies. I’d made a snap decision to exit using the gate furthest from the zombies, figuring that it would give the others more time to reinforce the gate before they got there.
Looking ahead, I could see that Maud was falling far behind her husband who wasn’t paying her the slightest bit of attention. She’d virtually come to a standstill, and looked as if she’d more or less given up. The track here was in better condition than the one we’d used to get to the farm. I suspected the farmer had maintained it because it was their main access route. This worked in my favour because I was able to drive reasonably fast along it, only having to swerve to avoid the bigger potholes.
As we approached, Knight stood in the middle of the road and waved his arms frantically. ‘I really hope you’re not planning to get him first!’ said Chet grimly.
‘No way!’ I kept my speed up and drove straight for him. I knew the coward wouldn’t have the nerve to stand there and I was proved right, as he dived out of the way just as I sped past him.
‘Get ready Chet,’ I said, gritting my teeth. ‘You need to get her in the car. Be careful, they’re close behind her.’
He gripped his hand axe tightly and the car skidded to a halt next to Maud. As he stepped out I watched as he swung his axe, cleaving the head of the nearest zombie, then pulled it out and smashed the next one in the side of the head, almost taking the top of it off in the process. That bought him the time to grab Maud and push her into the back of the car.
There was no time or space to turn the car around so I slammed the car into reverse, turned in my seat to face my new direction of travel and started heading back to the farm. Looking at Maud, I said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get your husband.’
She looked at me, wild eyed, the tears drying on her cheeks and said, ‘Don’t you dare get that bastard, he just told me to stay there and die so that he could live.’
Chet turned to her. ‘And you did?’
‘I decided I’d had enough. I might as well die. It would save me having to spend another minute with that man. He’s made my life hell for thirty years.’
I slowed down as we approached him. He was standing at the side of the track and as we got closer, he began to bang on the car, his face red with fury, demanding to be let in. Not knowing what to do, I drove past him and he began to run after us, thumping his fists on the bonnet and screaming furiously for us to stop.
‘Stop the car,’ Maud said quietly.
I did as she asked. He made his way round to the driver’s window and began hammering on it with his fists, demanding that I get out and let him drive. Chet had put his hand axe in the footwell. Maud leant forward and before he could stop her she’d grabbed it, opened her door and stepped out to face him.
Mr Knight turned on her immediately. ‘Maud, get out of my way!’ I watched stupefied as she suddenly swung the axe and hit him on the side of his head. It was a glancing blow but seemed to invigorate her because she swung the axe again, with renewed force. The resulting slice took his ear clean off and the axe stuck in his shoulder. She pulled the axe out and he fell to the ground, his face pale and shocked, then tried to scramble away from her, all the time screaming and pleading for her to stop. She followed him, raining blow after blow down on him until he was lying motionless. Seeing that the zombies were almost level with us, she calmly walked back to the car, climbed in and handed Chet the bloody axe, which he took without a word. She made no comment, but sat there on the back seat, looking blank and slightly dazed.
Chet and I looked at each other and he raised one eyebrow. Not knowing what to do or say I put the car into reverse and just as the zombies were within touching distance of the car, turned and sped back to the farmhouse.
I glanced in the rear-view mirror, just in time to see the zombies stop and cluster eagerly around the body, ripping at it frenziedly with their teeth.
‘Well!’ I thought, somewhat callously, ‘That’s probably the only unselfish thing he’s done in his entire life. It’s given us more time to get ready.’
Now we were ten.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
We arrived back at the yard to find that everyone had been busy. The gate had been firmly propped up with extra lengths of timber and Shane and Andy were dragging sheets of plywood towards it.
Chet helped Maud out of the car and we joined them. As we approached I just said, ‘Knight didn’t make it.’ I exchanged glances with Chet and he nodded. It would be our secret.
Maud seemed to come to herself and said quietly, ‘Thank you.’
‘Right then Shawn, what do you need us to do?’ I asked, conscious that the zombies would be finished with the body before too long.
‘Chet, you start propping up the rear gate, like we’ve done with this one. I’ll come and help you in a minute. Tom, I managed to get those safes open. Why don’t you go and check them out; I haven’t had a chance yet.’
The mood was tense but everyone moved with a purpose. They were all, the children included, hurriedly carrying or dragging boards, steel roofing sheets or lengths of wood towards both gates and casting frequent anxious glances in the direction the hungry horde would be approaching from.
I ran into the house and made straight for the boot room, where the gun safe was. Its door was lying next to it with big holes cut into it. Shawn had obviously just cut the locks straight out. I was impressed as it must have taken some skill to be that accurate with the heavy piece of machinery he’d been using.
The contents of the safe made my day. There was an old looking side by side shotgun, a more
modern over and under one and a scoped rifle. Quickly grabbing all three, I ran to the room where the cartridges had been stored in a cupboard. The contents had been strewn over the floor in Shawn’s haste to open the smaller safe. Once again the door to the safe had been skilfully removed. Grabbing one of the boxes inside it, I saw that it contained.22 rim fire rifle ammunition.
I’d used rifles occasionally so I knew that.22 rim fire was the standard rifle for small game and vermin. The farmer had probably used it for controlling the fox population on his land. I looked out of the window. The zombies were very close now, so I opted for just taking the shotguns because I was familiar with them. I didn’t think I’d have time to work out how to load and operate the rifle. I snatched up two cartridge bags and stuffed them with as many cartridges as I could find then I ran out of the door to join the others.
The zombies were almost upon us. All work had stopped and everyone had gathered together to watch them.
‘What now?’ I heard someone ask uncertainly.
‘Who knows how to use a shotgun?’ I asked.
‘I’ll stick with my crossbow,’ said Shawn firmly.
Both Chet and Andy shook their heads but Louise spoke up, ‘I had a boyfriend who used to go shooting a lot and he encouraged me to have a go. I’m not the best but I have been game shooting with him.’
‘That’ll do for me,’ I said, ‘which one do you want?’
She took the side by side, saying that it looked similar to the ones her boyfriend had given her to use. As she took it she broke the barrels open and inspected the gun. You can tell if someone is comfortable with a gun by the way they handle them and she looked competent enough. I handed her one of the cartridge bags and she deftly inserted two cartridges and closed the gun.
I checked mine and loaded it.
The zombies were now just fifty metres away. Stanley spoke up. ‘Dad, I’ve counted them. I think there are fifty five.’
