Day Zed - Box Set: Volumes I and II

by Charles Smith

  With one more flight of steps to climb the trio would reach the area directly outside of the command room. If the room was empty they could use the security console to track down the whereabouts of the other survivors, if there were any left alive? They stood at the doorway, listening for any sound of movement. Once through the doorway, there would be no immediate cover for them to use, and they only moved forward when Kathy believed the area to be clear. What lay before them was perplexing, it made no sense. Two of the group who had a combined age of over a hundred stood guard with shotguns, and they seemed to be holding all the younger survivors against their will. The two old ladies had seemed so harmless, when they first entered the bunker, Kathy wondered what could have possibly happened to push them over the edge, until they snapped. The soldiers scanned around the room, looking for the two other survivors who appeared to be missing: Ron and Aoife. It was strange to see Lily and Lexi without their shadow; they hadn’t left Ron’s side since entering Chatsworth.

  “What do we do now Kath?” Wasn’t a question that she could so easily answer from Morgan? She shrugged the now trademark “Morgan” gesture, “I was hoping you had a plan.” “I reckon me and Jackson should flank them, and when we are in position, announce yourself, giving them a chance to surrender.” Kathy pondered Morgan’s answer, “What if they go to shoot?” “They’ll be dead, before they get chance to fire. Just stay out of range and you won’t have to worry.” Kathy reluctantly agreed to his plan, what other choice did they have? The two men quickly found their desired positions, and both signalled to Kathy that they were ready. As she stood up she thought, “Here goes nothing.” “Hi ladies.” Kathy announced as she stood up from a more than safe range. Only Lexi turned to face her direction, Lily decided to press her shotgun into Nicole’s head, even though the girl was sobbing.

  Now as Kathy faced Lexi she could see nothing but pure hatred etched across the woman’s face. Whatever had happened to the bubbly jazz singer; who had spent a lifetime entertaining the masses on cruise ships? “What’s happening Lex? What is this all about?” The older woman looked like she was ready to explode with rage, “I’ll tell you what is happening girl. The three of us are goddam sick of these younger ones taking the proverbial piss.” “Come on Lexi, whatever they have done, they can’t deserve this?” Kathy asked while pointing at the crying women kneeling on the floor. “Soon as you soldiers were out that door, they started playing up and mugging us off.” “Lexi listen to yourself?” “Girl, I don’t like your tone. Why don’t you reel that neck of yours back in?” Kathy saw that anger was getting the better of the woman, and tried to placate her, “Hey Lexi I’m only asking what they’ve done. I swear I’m judging no one.” “You better not be Kathy, so help me God.” “What did they do? Tell me?” “They done no jobs, refused point blank, left the place looking like a cess pit, drank all day long and the final straw was the lot of them having some sort of gang bang in Ron’s bed.” Kathy looked in amazement, sanity looked to have deserted Lexi, and she knew that there wasn’t a hope of ending this needless conflict peacefully.

  “You got nothing smart to say back to me then?” Lexi challenged. The soldier shook her head, “No Lexi, what else can I say?” The woman’s nostrils were flared with anger, “Like you’re not going to free them?” “You know we have to do what’s right Lexi.” Lexi looked across the room, “We? Who else is with you?” Kathy signalled for the two men to stand and show themselves. The sight of Morgan and Jackson standing either side of the room, with their rifles aimed squarely in her direction should have fazed her, but it didn’t.” “Doesn’t matter what you have to do. We needed to teach them a lesson, teach them some respect.” “Whatever you think Lexi, it is wrong.” The former jazz singer took two steps forward and growled, “I told you to reel that skinny neck back in didn’t I?” Kathy remained calm, despite the hostility aimed at her, “Yes you did Lex, but I don’t give a fuck.” The soldier’s next movement surprised everyone in the room, as she pulled her gun free in one fluid motion and fired. Lexi clutched at her throat the instant Kathy’s bullet tore a hole through the front of her neck, exiting through the top of her spinal cord. Lexi’s movement was wasted; too much damage had been done by the deadly bullet and the woman was dead before her body hit the ground.

  Just as Lexi’s body sagged to the floor her best friend Lily reacted like any best friend would, wanting to exact revenge. She didn’t look up towards where Kathy stood, she didn’t need to revenge was right in front of her. With an emotionless expression she pulled the trigger on the Ithaca shotgun twice; the first shot shredded Nicole’s head like an over ripe water melon, and the second shot hit Natasha square in the chest, killing both young women instantly. Before Lilly got a chance to turn and aim at any one else, bullets from both men’s guns found their target, pummelling Lilly into oblivion.

  Kathy raced forward to the two survivors who still remained on their knees. They were both in shock, and both bore physical injuries as if they had been tortured. “You’re safe now, it’s over.” She tried to reassure them. The survivors who still remained on their knees. The youngest male of the group looked up at her; one of his eyes was swollen so badly, Kathy guessed he couldn’t see out of it. “Who did this to you?” Kathy demanded. Sam chose not to answer her, he didn’t even seem to want to stand up and remained kneeled, with his hands on his head. “It was Ron.” Kathy turned round to acknowledge Letitia’s reply just as she was standing up. She too sported bruises and abrasions to her face. “Did Ron do that to you Letitia?” “He has hurt all of us Kathy, he just snapped.” Letitia began to sob as Kathy put her arm around her shoulder, “Where is he now Letitia?” “He led Aoife away a while ago. He always takes us to the check point at the entrance. He says it’s nice and quiet there and he won’t be disturbed.”

  A simple nod of her head in Morgan’s direction was enough to tell him that Kathy wanted him and Jackson to track Ron down, and take care of the overweight bully. Morgan still saw him as the man cowering on the same carriage as Jin-Lee and Heather, he had fooled them all. It didn’t take long to find him, sickeningly he had Aoife strapped to one of the four examination desks. Ron was in the process of raping the young Irish girl, and Morgan couldn’t just shoot as Ron held a large chef’s knife to her throat as he thrust in and out of her. “Ron what the hell are you doing?” Morgan roared from behind one of the other desks. The man stopped what he was doing, he turned to face Morgan, but kept the knife pressed against Aoife’s windpipe. “How the fuck did you get back in Morgan?” “That doesn’t matter Ron. I’m glad we did, what you’ve done to these kids is barbaric.” Ron looked incensed, but was still sensible enough to hold the knife to the young girl’s throat, “How dare you. You have no idea what they did to us, how they made us suffer.” “No Ron, there’s no excuse for this kind of treatment. It’s just wrong.” Ron didn’t back down, “Why don’t you just go back to where you came from Morgan? You’re not needed here, we have everything under control.” Morgan smiled at Ron, “There is no we Ron, Lily and Lexi are dead, you’re on your own now.”

  Realisation that his two cohorts had been slain seemed to tip Ron over the edge. The overweight man roared and spun free of his grip of Aoife to face Morgan with his knife raised. If it hadn’t been for the horrors this man had committed over the past fortnight, Morgan would have found a naked man charging at him, with a knife and a semi-erection comical. As he squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle Morgan felt repulsed. When the bullet struck Ron in the centre of his temple, he collapsed to the ground dead.

  Once Morgan and Jackson had helped Aoife get dressed, she broke down. The younger of the men hugged her, allowing her to sob against his shoulder. He felt so helpless, although they had rescued three of the survivors, he felt responsible for the abuse they had suffered. Why had he gone out into the crazy new world to follow Penny? Why was this new world so damaged? When Aoife had calmed down a little bit, Jackson led her back to the others with Morgan following up the rear, behi
nd them. The three victims instantly hugged and consoled one another, only they could relate to what had happened to each other, and right now they needed each other.

  “What happened to Ron?” Kathy asked Morgan as he approached her. “I had to take care of him.” She nodded, and reached out, grabbing his hand. “I just can’t believe what’s gone on here.” He said to her. “It’s just getting worse isn’t it Jay?” Morgan nodded in agreement, “After the last few days we have had, it would have been nice to have just one normal day.” The frown spread across Kathy’s brow told him something was wrong. When she tapped the computer monitor next to them, he could instantly see what. “All bunkers will shut-down automatically at fourteen hundred hours tomorrow. General Terrance Harper orders that all staff are to travel to the Battersea bunker, on a mission to retrieve the country’s nuclear launch codes. Anyone refusing to adhere to these orders will be court martialled.” Morgan looked away from the screen. “What the hell do they want the key codes for?” He asked Kathy and Jackson. “Who knows, but what chance has anyone got of getting there unscathed, and then if they’re that lucky managing to get in?” Kathy replied. Jackson disturbed both of them whilst they were deep in thought, “I think you’re missing the point, they opened the other entrance and I bet they’ve opened all of them.” “Why turn the power off though?” Kathy wondered out aloud. Morgan shrugged, “Guess they want to force all the staff out into the open, because they’ve no other option. We all better get some food and rest, looks like we will be heading out again soon.”

  Shanice’s Journal, Chatsworth Bunker, London, 20th July, 23:51 GMT

  Why has everyone turned so nasty? They haven’t even been bitten, yet they have still become horrible. The last few days have been very bad for all of us, we have lost three of our friends, and even though Daddy says they are now in heaven we miss them so much. No one is left to make us laugh anymore, since Dave died. I think Daddy misses him calling him MacGuyver, and Penny is very quiet, she just doesn’t talk about him, I suppose it is a good job that Jackson has been checking she is okay and chatting with her a lot. This morning we had to say goodbye to Daryl and Scott, poor Daryl was hurt too bad from being shot. Scott was so brave when he helped to get rid of the bad people from the edge of the river, he could have come back to us, but he didn’t, I sure hope he made it.

  We’ve met some new friends today, at the moment they are very quiet, and I’m not surprised as they were hurt pretty badly, by some nasty people that were supposed to be their friends. I think they will talk more to us after they have a good rest. They seem nice, even though most of them are young, I’m hoping that when they are a bit better the younger ones might play a few games with me. Letitia is the oldest at twenty six, and then there is Sam and Aoife; who are both seventeen. I think Daddy likes Letitia, I keep catching him having sneaky looks at her, when he thinks no one is watching. It took me ages to learn how to write the Irish girls name; it doesn’t look like it sounds at all, now why would you do that?

  It’s a real shame that we can’t stay here for longer, as we have to leave in the afternoon. At least tonight I get to sleep in a proper bed again. Earlier we had the nicest dinner I’ve had since people started to get sick. Penny and Kathy cooked for all of us, we had southern fried chicken, gravy and chips. I was allowed a whole bottle of coke to myself and then Kathy made my day, when she gave me the biggest bowl of ice cream I have ever seen, it was delicious. I’m so glad ice cream isn’t extinct, it’s just too good to never have again.

  All of the grown-ups have gone away to discuss what we should do tomorrow. I didn’t want to stay, as I wanted to write and tell a bit more of our story, for once not worrying about the zombies outside, or the cruel people that have so far managed to survive. I’m now on my real bed, and Jin-Lee is staying in the bunk below, watching over me. I have offered to swap with her if she gets bored. Kathy said that we all have to go to another bunker, it’s next to the big dog and cat home. I wonder if any of the doggies are still alive. If they are, who has fed them? I would love a little puppy and would train it to protect us all.

  Daddy did tell me to go to sleep straight away, but I didn’t want to. Every time I close my eyes I see the four horrible men from the station. They were so dirty that they looked like they had never washed in their whole life. They couldn’t have been crueller to Kathy if they had tried. I don’t understand what that man was doing to her, but I can tell from the way the other women reacted, that it was wrong. A while after it happened I did ask Daddy what the man had been doing, and why? All Daddy would say is that I was too young to know, and that he didn’t want to explain it to me, at least until I am older.

  It’s all very confusing for me right now. I can’t understand why the healthy people spend all their time wanting to fight with one another. Why don’t they just all join together to fight the zombies? Rather than argue over food and guns? The grown-ups always told us children always to be nice to one another, when we were at school, yet they spend all their time doing exactly the opposite. Jin-Lee thinks that they all fight because they are scared deep down, and don’t know how much longer they will live for. I have to disagree, I just think that the bad has always been bad, and when the disaster took most of the good people away, it just made the bad ones forget what good was.

  The more I try to understand the more I struggle when I see the really cruel people, I feel sorry for my friends when they have to hurt them, just to stop them from hurting us. It must bother them, like it bothers Daddy, but being grown-ups they never want to talk about it. My eyes are starting to feel tired and I must start thinking about trying to sleep. The others promised me an amazing breakfast tomorrow, if I get up early enough. When I asked if they had my favourite; hash browns, Kathy laughed at me as she said yes and I punched the air with joy, what’s so funny about hash browns? If the freezers are being turned off tomorrow, I may even get to have some more of that delicious ice cream, covered with lashings of toffee sauce. I must make the most of it after all, just in case ice cream does become extinct.

  I can hear the adult’s footsteps and voices, they are coming back and I have to stop writing, if Daddy catches me he will take this journal away. For now I will say goodbye, and hope that the men from the station don’t decide to visit me in my dreams, that’s if I ever manage to fall asleep. Oh what I would give for just one more night in my old bed, in my pretty pink room. I would feel so safe and snug, I just wouldn’t want to get back up.

  Love Shanice X

  Alicante, Spain, 21st July, 5:15 GMT

  The chirping sound of thousands upon thousands of crickets split the monotonous moaning of the undead. Ever since Day Zed had spread across the world it had eradicated the living across all know species. The virus didn’t single out just human hosts, it was developed to wipe out any living being with blood cells. Even the avian population wasn’t safe from the virus’s effects, although it had taken longer for the birds to transmit it across the skies. Now with all its natural predators in a decline the insect population was booming, especially crickets. Pedro Vasquez lifted the blinds to his motor home, it was a daily routine, a slow deliberate movement in case they had managed to break through the boarded up entrance in the night. First thing in the morning Pedro was usually greeted by a typical Spanish crystal clear blue sky; this morning was no different and once again it blanketed the Costa Del Blanco with sunlight.

  Pedro had been the manager of the camp site for a little over five years now. Being single and having no children of his own allowed him to live on-site, and he loved every minute of it. The camp had been half full of guests when the virus bean to spread. When Pedro learned of a few local isolated cases in the small village up the road, he had decided to close the site’s front gates and hastily boarded them up. His actions that day had saved sixty four lives, including his own and many of his guests still thanked him on a daily basis for his quick actions.

  For the first week all Pedro had been concerned about was surviving day to
day, he was just thankful to see in every full day that had elapsed. All of the survivors in the camp knew that they just had to hold on, until help arrived and they were eventually rescued. Since last week morale had begun to plummet, if help was coming, where was it? When provisions in his on-site shop ran out, he had to join the others and forage for Oranges and Lemons from the trees at the end of the camp. It was a relief that water wasn’t a problem, for them. Many of the guests that returned yearly to the site made a joke of the hand drawn well that gave them their water. Some would ask Pedro when his boss intended to get modern and invest in an electric pumped system; now none joked, the electric had gone off after just a few days and if his boss had indeed modernised the system they wouldn’t have access to the wells spoils.

  On several occasions Pedro had climbed on top of the mobile home and looked out across the terrain, he hoped that one day that the undead would move on from the area, but every time he had climbed up he had been met with the same disappointment; the zombies numbers were increasing daily, and there were now so many that there was no way he would ever manage to escape through them. With the local supermarket visible from the roof of his home, Pedro couldn’t think of a worse kind of torture.