As Aleksander and Afanaz reached the rest of the group they were both handed their own bowl and spoon. Each of the soldiers thanked the old man, as he passed them their gifts and watched as he tottered off over towards the fire, armed with something resembling a ladle and began stirring at the pots contents. “What’s in there?” Igor eagerly asked, “Rabbit stew.” The old man croaked over his shoulder, in a reply. Afanaz was more interested in the momentary look of what he saw as deception which passed along the line of villagers. Had he imagined it? He thought to himself. Was it his fatigued mind playing tricks on him? Maybe they had found a tin of unopened tin of pet food and didn’t want to embarrass themselves for offering the soldiers pet food. He was so hungry that Afanaz didn’t really care what they had found to eat; after all he had eaten far worse than pet food over the past two weeks.
The old man shuffled back to the front of the line and took Aleksander’s bowl. His frail frame made him look even older than he probably was. Now that he thought about it all of the remaining survivors looked older than they should do, Afanaz brushed back his black hair looking along the line at their discoloured nails. After taking two ladles off the steaming broth from the pot the old man shuffled back with a full bowl for the lead soldier. “Thank you.” Aleksander said to the old man, barely able to stop himself from diving into the bowl. “Our pleasure.” The old man replied to him as he took Afanaz’s bowl and headed back to the fire.
Over the past two weeks Afanaz had seen more than his fair share of horrors and atrocities and to his amazement the bowl of broth now cradled in his superiors lap was the opposite. The aroma rising in the air from the thin wisps of steam, was by far the most comforting smell he could ever remember breathing in. He found himself salivating as Aleksander took his first spoonful of the broth; immersed amongst the brown liquid sat on his spoon was a chunk of white meat, carrots and a potato. As his own bowl was handed to him, Afanaz delved into the warming stew and didn’t lift his head again until the bowl was empty.
Everyone soon sat eating from their own bowls, no one spoke to one another, as each person’s ravenous hunger meant that all their attention was directed at their own bowl. When everyone had finished the old man invited them to return and fill their bowls from the boiling pot of broth, it didn’t take long for everyone to take heed of his offer. “Sorry what is your name?” Igor asked as he looked the old man in his eyes. “It’s Nikolai, young man.” Igor couldn’t help but laugh, “I haven’t been called young for some time. Where did you get the rabbit from?” The old man smiled at his question, “In the back garden of course. It wasn’t one, but three.” “God must have blessed you then Nikolai. We haven’t seen any living animal in over week now.” Igor stated. Now the old man laughed, “It had nothing to do with God. The rabbits were trying to eat our carrots and potatoes and got caught in a trap, that’s all.” Igor smiled back at the old man, “Next you’ll be telling me you have water outside as well Nikolai.” The soldier couldn’t help but joke. “Oh but there is young man, we have our own well outside.” Nikolai nonchalantly told him and then watched as the three soldiers ran outside together to fill their bellies.
When the three men returned from outside their stomach’s ached. They had gone without a proper water intake for days now, and had quite understandably over indulged in its intake from the well. “Why don’t you head back upstairs and get some more rest, now that you’ve eaten and quenched your first?” Nikolai asked them as they fell back into their chairs. “We can’t do that Nikolai, not with all of those undead outside.” Aleksander quickly replied, whilst pointing at the barricaded door. “You and your men have fought every day, for the past sixteen days. For what is to come, we need you good and strong, and we will survive longer. We will guard the barricade, and wake you at lunchtime with more fresh broth.” Nikolai told the three men. Aleksander pondered the old man’s argument, he was right, they hadn’t stopped fighting for sixteen days and they all could all do with a rest. “Okay Nikolai we will go and rest, but you must promise us that you will wake us before if the barricades are showing signs of any weakness.” “I promise, now go and rest. Take what’s left of this morning’s broth.” The old man told them as he handed over three more bowls of the warm broth.
The three soldiers began climbing the stairs, making sure not to spill any of the valuable contents of their bowls of food. Following up at the rear Afanaz stopped on the third step and turned back only to find Nikolai watching him. “Where did you learn to cook broth like that?” The young soldier asked the spectator. What can only be explained as an evil cackle, left the man’s chest as he answered the young soldier, “I watched my mother making the same broth during the battle of Stalingrad, when I was just a child.” “Well your mother was a good cook.” Afanaz offered the old man as he began to re-climb the stairs and follow after the others. “Oh yes she was and she was able to make good soup with hardly any ingredients.” Nikolai responded to Afanaz’s back, who was unable to see the wicked glint in the old man’s eyes.
Once again Igor slept well and when he awoke, he couldn’t at first work out why he couldn’t move his arms. As his brain woke properly his eyes focussed on Aleksander as he still lay asleep, but Igor quickly realised that the big brutish man lay with his eyes open, and he wasn’t asleep at all. Now in a panic, he again tried to move; it was then that he realised he was tied up. Igor looked back in despair at Aleksander, unable to accept he was dead, but where was Afanaz? He was about to call out to his colleague when two pairs of boots walked into view; all he could see was that they were Spetsnaz issue boots.
The two approaching figures stopped in between him and the dead body of Aleksander. “Please what’s happening? Why am I tied up? Where’s Afanaz?” Igor asked the villager as he crouched down. The villager didn’t reply, but just smiled with a wicked look etched upon his withered face. Fear had stopped Igor’s brain functioning properly and when both men stood and walked out of the room, he was sickened to see that one of Aleksander’s thick set arms had been removed. Now as he thought about his predicament, a distant sawing noise had been in the background of his head as he had watched the villagers crouch down. Why hadn’t he realised what they were doing to his superior? They must have slipped something into the last bowls of broth? “Nikolai, you lying mother fucker.” Igor screamed from the top of his lungs, and then added, “Rabbits, my arse.” The last thing Igor ever saw was a pair of Spetsnaz boots running back into the room and then kicking him in the head, until the blows silenced him.
Battersea, Government Bunker, London, 27th July, 18:52 GMT
Throughout the day the group had listened intently to the explosions emanating from the Government bunker. At first the explosions had gone off every couple of minutes, but as the day had gone on the explosions had become more sporadic. The last explosion had detonated over half an hour ago, and since then the area had been very quiet. “Is it over?” Shanice quizzed Morgan, as she impatiently nudged at his leg. “I don’t think so Honey. The soldiers still have to retrieve the codes, and I don’t think that they’ve even gone into the bunker yet.” His answer had confused the little girl, it showed on the expression of her face before she asked another for good measure, “Why would they be blowing things up all day then?” “They must have been clearing the way, there are over three hundred of them monsters in there to worry about.” His second answer seemed to appease the inquisitive Shanice, until she turned her attention towards the drawn blinds, “What about the man with the big gun? Is he still out there?” Morgan nodded slowly, “Yeah he’s still out there somewhere, and he will be reporting back to the general what’s happening.”
William McNamara had been staring down the lift shaft for the past ten minutes. The shaft stunk; the void was now filled with not only the rotting smell of the undead, but also an acrid burnt smell. During ten years of service with the SAS, William had witnessed a multitude of horrific scenes, but none came close to the ghastly sight below him now. For the past six hours, he
and his team had took turns in dropping grenades down into the exposed shaft, every time the zombies had filled it up. He was only too aware of the threat just one of the monsters could offer, let alone three hundred of them. What disturbed him most was that below them, these things had once been human. The bunker was meant to protect the highest chains of hierarchy within the country: The cabinet, the Royal Family, the highest ranking army officials and even the greatest scientific minds Britain had to offer, and now with great regret McNamara was staring down at what remained of all of them.
William held up four fingers, on his right hand to his waiting men, and motioned his hand downwards to direct the first squad of four. Without any conversation or further commands, four soldiers moved forwards towards the hole and secured their motorised grapple hooks to the undercarriage of the elevator. It took just a few minutes for them to descend the length of the shaft, and reach the ground. When William was satisfied that the immediate area was clear he ordered the next four men down the hole, with exactly the same hand gesture; he would be going down with the last group, but first he would have to check in with the sniper, still hiding out in the construction site.
Moving away from the lift shaft William sent his message, “Echo one, over. This is Eagle Nest, over.” He didn’t wait for a response, and sent a further broadcast, “First two teams now deployed, final team to begin descent, over. Heart monitors have been activated, and entrance code is one-eight-zero-four, over and out.” As McNamara attached his hook, his radio spat into life, “Good luck Eagle Nest. The entry code will only be used should all of your teams life support shut down, over.” William didn’t reply, and set the handset down in the elevator; there was no point taking it with him, as it wouldn’t work through the shielded walls. He arched backwards into the hole, and then thumbed the descent button attached to his cable.
On his descent William hoped that most of the bunker was now clear. They intended to leave the command centre until last; clearing out the trapped zombies in there would have to be done with their guns, and it would be messy. The codes they required could only be obtained after scanning the deceased Prime Minister’s thumb, through the central computer; they couldn’t risk using explosives to clear the room for fear of damaging both the computer and Hadyn’s thumbprint. For now they would have to secure the remainder of the two floors, before heading back to retrieve the codes later.
As he reached the ground. He grimaced as his feet sunk into the wet piles of bones and flesh; it sounded like he was stepping onto a carpet that had been covered in treacle. Along with the sickening, squelching sound coming from his feet, came the snapping of brittle bones as he walked on them towards the lobby, there was also a faint clicking noise directly below them. William stepped up into the reception hall with a sigh of relief and turned just in time to see what was causing the faint clicking sound. The soldier still stood atop of the pile of bodies whimpered in pain as he pulled out his left leg form the pile of carcasses, in an over deliberate manoeuvre. Attached to the calf of his left leg was a zombies head, and even though its body wasn’t attached to it, William could clearly see it biting down into the soldiers flesh. With one swift motion McNamara pulled free the silenced hand gun from its holster and fired one single shot through the body-less head. William then paused as he studied the lone soldier in the lift shaft, and then fired a second bullet into the injured soldier’s forehead; orders were orders, and they had all been made aware that should any of them become infected that they would be euthanized immediately, just like a rabid dog.
William and the two remaining men moved forwards to join the rest of the team. All of the power had been restored to the bunker now that the general knew he and his men were now inside. The zombies trapped inside of the command centre banged furiously at the glass; the sight of eleven men alive, was driving them crazy. Smears of dried blood, both human and zombie stained the bullet proof glass surface; was this how the last of them had met their end? McNamara wondered to himself. William looked directly into the camera mounted above him and signalled to it that he and his team were about to secure the rest of the bunker; on his return he planned to signal to the men watching aboard the HMS Dragon to override the command centre security protocols and release the last of the zombies from their glass walled cage.
In no time at all the specialist military unit cleared the remainder of the first floor. They only encountered a dozen of the undead, and the zombies didn’t even see them coming; it was over that quickly. Judging by footage captured on the CCTV system there were maybe thirty on the ground floor for the team to deal with; a number that didn’t concern William too much as they still had the element of surprise in their favour.
Aboard the HMS Dragon, General Harper was tired of watching the security footage. All the general was interested in was getting his hands on the nuclear codes. Despite the “Eagle” team doing so well in retaking control of the bunker, he had just dispatched an “Alpha” team to the same location. Their first order was to execute any witnesses in the area, before taking over McNamara’s orders. The general impatiently tapped on the arm rest of his chair as he watched the bunker footage; McNamara was taking far too long. Still tapping a tune out that only he knew what it was, he turned to the officer in charge of the security console, and ordered him to “Open the command centre.” “Sir, we haven’t had confirmation that the team are ready for that yet?” The officer protested to his superior, who now leered over him. “That was an order, now open that fucking door.” Harper roared at his man, and without any choice in the matter he did as he was told. The glass shutters retracted back into the ceiling, and the zombies spilled out. “They knew the risks. If they get overpowered we will trigger the explosives in their packs and finish the job for them.” Harper announced to the silent room as he lit up a cigar.
The sniper sitting out of sight opposite the dogs home, pondered his next move. For what he was about to do there would be no return for him; the general would have him shot for approaching the group of survivors stranded in the recuse centre. Orders had just been issued to him, telling him that a second team, were now on their way in and that their first task was to sweep the entire area, leaving nothing left alive. When joining the army just over three years ago, he had done so to help protect innocent people, not to eradicate them from existence. As he strode towards the dog home, Jordan Chapman knew he had to do something.
He hadn’t seen any of the survivors since they had moved upstairs; he was glad of that as having the little girl lined up in his sight’s earlier on had made him feel uneasy. So far in his career, all of his kills had been classed as clean ones, and despite how fucked up the World was at this present time, he intended to keep it that way. When he reached the double glazed entrance, Jordan didn’t try to open it. He knew it was locked from watching the soldier secure it yesterday evening. He took in a deep breath and then rapped his closed fist against the glass three times, and waited.
It took a few minutes before the blinds obscuring the top windows moved. When they did Jordan held aloft a white handkerchief and waved it in the air as a display of peace. The soldier sheepishly appeared in the doorway moments later, and Jordan afforded him a smile. Annoyed that the soldier still held back from opening the door, Jordan chose to place his hands on his head, it seemed to have the desired effect as the cautious soldier finally unlocked the door. Jordan wasn’t surprised or offended when Morgan stepped outside to talk to him, rather than usher him inside.
From the window above Kathy and Jackson watched a conversation that neither of them were able to hear. As she watched her lover talk to another soldier, she felt sick with fear, her group were unarmed, what could they possibly do to help Morgan if the conversation below soured? She was relieved when after just a few minutes the stranger handed Morgan a backpack. The pair then went on to shake hands, before they parted their separate ways. As Morgan re-entered the dog home, both Kathy and Jackson ran down the stairs to greet him. Just as the door to the home finished
closing, the whole area was rocked by a large underground explosion; Morgan knew exactly what had caused it , as Jordan had just pre-warned him, he now intended to tell his two companions as they picked themselves up from the floor; both had dived to the floor as the explosion went off.
Morgan ran straight up the stairs after briefing Kathy and Jackson all about his conversation, taking two steps at a time with each powerful stride. He was followed by his two friends and they reached the office at the rear of the building in mere seconds. “Listen up.” Morgan shouted across the room filled with nervous tension. “I have no time to explain now, but we need to leave, we have just ten minutes to get to safety in that bunker.” “Hang on Jay? You can’t expect us to go down into that bunker.” Penny quickly protested. “If we don’t Pen, we are going to have an extermination squad turn up and take care of us.” Kathy interjected. “Well what about the soldiers that are already in there?” Gerard joined the conversation. “They are all dead Gerard, that explosion was no grenade. They’re vests were filled with plastic explosives, and they were remotely detonated by the general.” Morgan explained to the engineer. Everyone was so shocked that the general had killed his own men that they realised that a death squad, being sent to wipe them out was inevitable. “Come on let’s get going.” Kathy said as she began clapping her hands together to force them all to move.
Without hesitation everyone rounded up their belongings that they deemed essential, and hurriedly packed them into their bags. They were soon following Morgan down the stairs and out into the open, towards the bunker entrance. They all watched as Morgan attached a small device onto the door and then punched a code into the small rubber keypad that was mounted on the front of the device. Whatever Morgan had typed in released a lock on the other side and the door clicked open, Morgan was quick to usher each of them inside. When he stepped inside himself, he immediately turned back to the device and began re-setting its pin code, just as Jordan had instructed him to. “We won’t be needing that anymore.” He said as he tossed the device to the side.
Day Zed - Box Set: Volumes I and II Page 34
