Westminster, London, 25th July, 5:30 GMT
As soon as the group had reached Westminster station, they had checked that not only the platform, but the entrances and exits were all secure. Happy in the knowledge that they would be safe for the evening, they had set up camp on the platform, and sat down and eaten. Kathy had doubled the sentry duty for the evening; after her faith in humanity had taken another backwards step, it had been tainted by Phillip’s actions. Sam and Heather had been given the responsibility of watching the tunnel they had entered from, whilst Penny and Jin-Lee had volunteered to watch the main concourse.
The evening had been uneventful and they had been glad to get some rest after the scuffle in the station the previous day, and were lucky to be alive. Shanice had surprised her father when she had begged him to sleep up on the concourse with the two women. Gerard of course had refused point blankly, he hadn’t allowed Shanice out of his sight since the outbreak begun, apart from when he was on sentry duty, and then he had always left her with Penny, he knew he could trust her. Gradually bit by bit Shanice had worn him down; he had found her behaviour strange, as usually telling her no just the once was enough. In the end he had relented and reluctantly conceded, by allowing his daughter to stay upstairs and guard the entrance.
It had been a long night for the two women, as there had been no movement at all outside, and Shanice for a change, had fallen asleep early. The pair had struggled to stay awake keeping watch, and often one had to wake the other after they had dozed off. Just as daylight was starting to break through the pair were startled by Shanice waking up so early. The two women watched the little girl as she began to tie her backpack over her shoulders, Jin-Lee gave Penny a little nudge and then asked her, “Do you think she is sleep walking?” Penny shook her head, silently as Shanice walked over to them. “Morning ladies.” She greeted them, whilst rubbing at the corner of her eyes. “Morning Shanice. You’re up bright and early this morning aren’t you?” Penny quizzed her. “Well I have my promise to carry out today.” Jin-Lee walked over to the ticket booth; it was where their makeshift toilet was, and disappeared, leaving Penny on her own talking to the girl.
Penny turned back to Shanice, she had a feeling that Jin-Lee was in on this plan of Shanice’s. She watched as the little girl kicked nervously at the floor. “What plan Shanice?” She looked up, meeting Penny’s stare, “I’ve got to go outside.” Penny half laughed at Shanice’s answer, but when the little girl didn’t laugh back, she quickly realised Shanice was being serious. “You know I can’t let you go out there Honey.” “You have to Penny, I made a promise.” Penny’s tone grew sterner as she tried talking the girl down, “Sorry Honey, no can do.” “I wouldn’t be on my own though Penny, please?” Shanice wasn’t making any sense, “Who was you planning on taking then?” Penny asked her. “Why you of course.” Shanice grinned as she told the nurse. “Now why would I want to go outside?” Now Shanice giggled, “Because we are going to see your Daddy, of course.”
As soon as Shanice mentioned her father, Penny was no longer in control of the situation. “What do you mean by that Shanice? Saying something like that isn’t funny, you know?” Still Shanice smiled, even though she was being chastised, “I’m not joking Penny. I know where you’re Daddy went after saying goodbye to you.” “What? Where? How do you know?” “The two boy’s at the bunker, their Daddy is a policeman and he was protecting your Daddy, and that was his mission.” “Shanice Honey how would they know that?” Again Shanice smiled, “He called them, when the phones were still working and told them he would come and get them, but first he had to make sure Leonard Thomas was safe.” Penny began to cry, she had already grieved for both of her parents, surely now they couldn’t possibly be alive? “Where’s my father Shanice?” “I can’t tell you that Penny, I have to show you, or you’ll make me stay here once you know, and that’s not fair.”
Before Penny got a chance to give Shanice an answer, Jin-Lee appeared back on the concourse, “Well are you going then?” She asked both of them. “You did know about this then?” Penny incredulously asked her. Hanging her head Jin-Lee didn’t answer Penny’s question, and thinking back to the previous night, Penny now understood why Jin-Lee had talked her into volunteering for the sentry duty in the first place. “Someone has to lock us out.” Shanice defended Jin-Lee, and then added, “Jin-Lee was only doing what I asked her to do for me, and that’s why she is such a good friend.” Penny looked over the little girl. “We don’t have any guns though.” Shanice’s familiar smile began to return to her face, “Guns just tell them where we are Penny. If we are really clever, we will be able to sneak past them.” Without replying to Shanice, Penny unzipped her backpack, and after checking its contents and zipping it back up, she slung it over her shoulder. “Let’s go and keep your promise.” She said to Shanice as she strode towards the exit.
From her vantage point, behind the concertina gate it appeared quiet outside the front of the station. As penny brushed her long dark hair back, she wondered why some areas were devoid of any zombie presence, yet others areas the undead would congregate in large numbers. From what she had seen so far they did seem to move together as one, and she surmised that other areas in the capital had drawn the zombie’s attention away from Westminster. Peering through the gaps in the gate Penny could see that the area directly outside was strewn with abandoned belongings; as well as suitcases and backpacks, it seemed that the people who had become trapped around the area had discarded their last remaining personal possessions when they had come under attack. The pavements were caked in dried blood; there had been no rainfall since the start of the outbreak to wash it away, leaving it to congeal, and its coppery odour still managed to permeate the air. There was evidence to suggest that many had died in the streets outside, across the streets lay a plethora of stripped white bones, and Penny guessed that that sight would stretch for miles.
Still hovering at the gates, she listened out for any signs of movement, she was scared to leave the concourse, and it was Shanice who gave her a jolt into action, “The quicker we go. The quicker we can be back.” The little girl suggested, whilst holding out a bunch of keys to the locked gate. The small bunch had been found hanging up in the station attendant’s booth, when they had first secured the area. All Penny was able to offer the girl was a half-smile, and then she turned the key in the locked gate. Penny then turned back to Shanice, and told her in a hushed voice, “You stay with me, all the time, and you do as you are told, okay?” Shanice simply nodded in agreement and followed the former nurse quietly out the opened gate.
Neither of the pair turned to say farewell to Jin-Lee as she locked the gate behind them. It was both their intentions to return unscathed from the unauthorised mission they were about to set out on, speed was of the essence, they had to return before anyone knew they were gone. “Where to now Shanice?” Penny whispered as she looked left and right, checking that the area was clear. “We need to get to the riverboat pier, opposite the London Eye.” Shanice replied, whilst she winced at the overpowering smell which lingered in the air around them. With the shadow of Big Ben stretching out before them, Penny looked to her left and found the London Eye. In all, they had no more than four hundred metres to travel and they would reach the edge of the Thames; Penny hoped that it would be a formality getting there. The pair remained crouched; both nervous of their surroundings. Shanice only moved when Penny instructed her to.
Their overall progress was slow, as Penny kept stopping after several steps to check there wasn’t any zombie activity. Now out in the open Penny could hear the tell-tale moans; at first she had thought that the generated noise, was that of the wind howling, but as they crept further forward the noise grew in intensity, and when they finally reached the end of the pavement Penny stood, and was frozen in place, open mouthed as she looked across the river.
The two survivors stood in silence as they looked out across the Thames, it was filled with the undead. With the tide out, they could see tha
t the zombies were trapped in the soft, clay like river bed. It was easy to imagine, just what had happened on the day of the outbreak; when the roads and then the pavements had become so saturated that there was nowhere left to move to, people had gone into the water to escape, only for the zombies to follow them. Each of the cadavers was now embedded in the silt like surface, right up to their waists and Penny shuddered to think that only a few days ago, all of them had been on a boat in these waters, oblivious to the creatures that were trapped below them, as the tide had been in; if they had of stayed moored up in the boat as the tide fell she grimaced at the thought of what would have happened.
Shanice had seen enough, she tugged at Penny’s arm, eventually she snapped out of her frozen stance. “Shanice we can’t possibly go down there.” Penny insisted as Shanice began to traverse the riverboat walkway that led down to the jetty. “We won’t be anywhere near them Penny, I promise.” The little girl replied without turning back to wait for a reaction. After Shanice tore down the walkway, Penny was left with no choice, but to follow. She couldn’t understand why the little girl wanted to go to the riverboat jetty, but reluctantly continued to follow her.
As Penny walked further down the wooden walkway she could feel her stomach somersaulting, and she eventually lost the battle to keep the nausea from rising up in her throat. Such was the overpowering smell of decay that she wasn’t able to smell her own vomit. It was unnerving to see the trapped zombies so close, each one was so full of hate, all eager to feed upon her. Where their bodies had been immersed in the water for large lengths of time, all of them had become bloated and looked ready to burst. She couldn’t believe how many flies buzzed around the moaning corpses, they were everywhere.
“Penny come quick, I’ve found it.” Shanice’s excited interruption once again snapped her from her horror ridden daze. “What have you found Honey?” Shanice was pointing to a rusty door mounted in the wall, “The hidden entrance Penny.” Penny rushed over to the little girl, and began to study the door, it must have been here for years, judging by the amount of rust on its surface. She tugged at the handle, and wasn’t surprised that it didn’t move, she then looked down at the little girl, “It’s locked Honey.” Shanice shook her head, “It can’t be Dan said there was a button to type in the secret code, and then it would open.” “Penny looked around the door again, unlike Chatsworth there was no key card slot, or even a pin-pad. The only thing that appeared out of place was a small button that resembled a door bell. When she pressed the button, she could feel it click underneath her finger and with each press it done the same. As a smile spread across Penny’s face, Shanice looked up at her confused, “I don’t get it. How can that one button be used to type in a code?” She asked as she continued to look at the button, as if mesmerised. “What’s the code Shanice?” “Dan said it was nineteen, forty-seven.” Shanice watched as Penny pressed the button once, waited a spilt second and then pressed the button again in rapid movements nine more times. Penny then waited a split second before repeatedly pressing the button four times. Shanice realised what the nurse was doing, “Let me finish it please?” Penny stood back and watched the little girl press the button rapidly a further seven times, hoping that on the final press the door would spring open.
Westminster Station, London, 25th July, 8:09 GMT
Rubbing at the corner of his eyes as he awoke, Gerard blinked at the gasoline lantern, hanging above him. It had been hung there last night by Kathy, as she reminded them that it was the last filled one that they had left to use. Now as he watched the lamp, spluttering in and out of life, he wondered what they would use as a source of light tonight. He turned and looked at the still form of Letitia, who was asleep on his arm and smiled; last night the pair had made the most of Shanice sleeping upstairs and had slept together for the first time.
With all of the group sleeping together, in the same area, privacy was a luxury that was impossible to come by, in conditions like these; with a few of the group entering into relationships with one another, each tried to be as discreet as possible, whilst they satisfied their needs. Heather and Sam had seemingly forgotten the meaning of discreetness during their sentry duty the previous evening. Even though they had been watching the tunnel at the far end of the platform, and the group hadn’t been able to see them, it had been obvious what had happened. When the noises had begun to filter down to them, everybody had looked towards Jackson, to gauge his feelings. To every one’s surprise the young soldier smiled, over the past few days he had grown tired of the constant attention of the two young women, his mind seemed to be somewhere else, and he felt that Sam had done him a favour, by taking Heather off his hands.
As Gerard looked around him, everybody still slept. He looked at his watch, noting that it was just after eight. He was surprised that Shanice hadn’t already made her way down to them, for her breakfast. Maybe she was as worn out as the rest of them? He thought. She would make her way down with Jin-Lee and Penny, when they were ready and giving her that bit of space would be good for her independence.
Up on the stations main concourse Jin-Lee sat nervously and had done ever since she had lost sight of Penny and Shanice, well over a couple of hours ago. She had hoped that their quest would have been over quickly, and that the pair would have returned before now, before anyone from downstairs learnt of their disappearance. Looking at her watch Jin-Lee knew it was just a matter of time, before one of the others ventured upstairs, to see where they were. Even if they did, she had promised to Shanice that she wouldn’t tell anyone of the little girl’s plan, Shanice had refused to tell Jin-Lee where they were heading for, all that she had told her was that it was nearby. Jin-Lee looked back across the street, and then back to her watch, “Come on Shanice, where are you?” She said to herself.
At the final push of the strange silver button that was set into the door frame, Penny had been relieved when she heard the lock automatically disengage, form the inside. Penny had struggled opening the heavy thick door; the door was constructed form solid steel, and groaned in reluctance for every inch it moved. The pair were surprised that the interior had been lit with a row of very old hanging lights, they had thick glass covers, mounted over the top of the bulbs to protect them. Penny quickly closed the door behind them, once they had entered the narrow corridor, and smiled with relief when the door somehow managed to lock itself behind them again, despite its obvious age.
Immediately the pair scanned the bland magnolia covered walls, looking for a route along the corridor that they now stood in. Two black arrows with the words “Communication Room” neatly stencilled in military type lettering pointed to the right, whilst a further stencil informed them that the barracks were in the opposite direction. “Which way now?” Shanice asked Penny as she looked at the stencilling, “Well we’re not staying, so we may as well head right.” Penny told her.
The pair, even though safe from the threat of the undead outside took their time travelling along the corridor; they didn’t know what they were walking towards and that scared both of them. As they walked in silence, Penny couldn’t help but notice that the structure that they were walking in seemed dated. The vast corridor carried the smell of age throughout its length, and despite the fact that it had obviously been looked after, there were still tell-tale signs of wear and tear that came from a building that had long since, become surplus to requirements. She was so busy taking in all of the now vintage war posters that hung on the walls that she stumbled upon the small communications room. The room housed two sturdy mahogany looking wooden desks, along with radio equipment that looked like it was from the dark ages. Penny laughed as she flicked at the Bakerlite switch, which bathed the room and its prehistoric equipment in light. With a confused look still etched across Shanice’s face, she turned to Penny, “What so funny Penny?” “Oh nothing Sweetie. It’s just that this place is very old.” Shanice nodded, fully understanding the nurses answer, “How old do you think it is?” Shanice asked. “I wouldn’t know Shanice,
but I can tell you it’s a lot older than me and you put together. My guess is that it was a secret bunker for The Second World War.” “How can they keep building all of these secret bunkers for themselves, and not tell any of us about them?” Penny bent down to talk to Shanice, “When I was about your age I can remember my Dad telling me that all of the politicians, were as sneaky as snakes.” “But, your Dad is a politician Penny?” The nurse couldn’t help, but laugh at the little girl’s confusion, “Yes he is Honey, and he is as sneaky as the rest of them. Penny told Shanice.
There were a multitude of hand written papers spread across the nearest desk, and Penny grabbed the top few to study. As she began to silently read the papers contents, Shanice watched as tears began to roll down her cheeks. The little girl wondered what the papers could possibly contain to make a grown woman cry, but at the same time she didn’t want to disturb Penny, whilst she seemed so deep in thought; she instead, chose to grab a handful of the papers herself to satisfy her inquisitive mind.
It didn’t take long for Shanice to grow tired of the pages of adult scrawl. Most of what was written on the white sheets outlined the Governments fall and its failure to contain the virus, which had quickly spread across the country. The little girl’s attention diverted in the direction of the large antiquated radio station, which was set into the wall, and she began to flick and press buttons, in an attempt to bring the console to life. Although power still ran through the Goliath of a machine, all she could find was static when turning the frequency tuner. There wasn’t a hint of radio chatter across the entire bandwidth. When Shanice turned to look back, Penny was looking down at her. She quickly removed the large earphones from her head, eager to hear what Penny had found within the pages she still held in her hand. “If you want to keep your promise to the boys, we need to leave Shanice.” The little girl looked disappointed, “But, we haven’t found the boy’s dad yet?” “He isn’t here Honey, he left with my parents yesterday.” Shanice kicked out at the floor, “Oh no, what am I going to do now? How am I going to keep my promise now?” Penny offered the little girl a smile, “They are heading to the same place that we are.” Now Shanice looked even more confused than before, “Why would they want to go there?” With a wave of the papers in her hand, Penny told her,” My father doesn’t want the General to get the codes.” Shanice took a little time to think about Penny’s answer, even though she was a child, she knew when something was wrong, “But the General wants the codes so that he can protect all of us?” The little girls question eroded the smile that had been etched on Penny’s face, and was replaced by a more serious expression. “The General wants the bombs to bomb the country Shanice. He thinks that the bombs will kill all of the zombies.” She told the stunned Shanice.
Day Zed - Box Set: Volumes I and II Page 30
