Z - Arrival / Z - London / Z - Payback: Books 1, 2 & 3 of the Zombie Apocalypse

by Hatchett

  “Thank you Major. Can you tell me how many soldiers are on their way?”

  “We’ve got one hundred and fifty in the Company plus a few others for support,” Major Fellows responded.

  “And, what exactly have you been told?” Jack asked.

  “I’ve been told that a riot has got out of hand and we’re needed to help you calm it down,” came the reply.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Jack barked. “Sorry, Major, slip of the tongue. Look, we’re not dealing with a riot. You’re going to find this hard to believe but we’ve got hundreds of zombies rampaging around the airport. Nearly all my officers have been killed and thousands, and I mean thousands, of civilians. We need thousands of troops to deal with this, not one hundred and fifty. I can send you footage of some of it if it would help.”

  “Sending footage wouldn’t help,” replied the Major. “I couldn’t order the movement of a regiment, that order would have to come from above. So, you say zombies?”

  “Yes. The only way to put them down appears to be a shot to the head and we lost a lot of good people before we found that out. You need to see this for yourself before your men get here. Tell your pilot to land on the Apron in the space next to Gate 7. It’s the closest to where I am. You don’t have to worry about air traffic as all planes have been diverted and none are taking off. I’ll arrange for the remainder of my team to get to Gate 7 to provide you with cover.”

  “Thank you, Sir, see you soon.”

  Jack replaced the handset and flicked a switch on his comms.

  “Bear, Irish, status report,” ordered Jack.

  “We’ve cleared a lot of Level 1 but there are still zombies around and we would need more time. Using knifes definitely helps keep the noise down but it’s a bit messy and can’t really be used when there is a group of them.”

  “Ok, I need you all to get up to Gate 7, move the jetway so that it’s at Ground Level. We’re expecting an army helicopter to land with a Major Fellows on board. I need you to provide him with cover and bring him in.”

  “Roger Boss, leave it to us.”

  45

  Day 1

  10:20 GMT

  Stanwell

  The horde of zombies, increasing in number with every minute that passed, had followed people into Oaks Road which led to the centre of Stanwell Village.

  Wherever they went, cars were screeching to a stop or skidding into each other or jumping pavements to hit walls and houses. Those stupid enough to get out of their cars and those who were unlucky enough to be at home when the crashes were happening and came out to see what was going on, were attacked.

  When the zombies reached the local shops, they attacked the pedestrians on the pavements and managed to gain access to some of the shops. Thankfully, most shops didn’t have automatic doors so once the owners, managers and staff had seen what was going on outside, they quickly retreated, locked the doors, and started to move items to re-enforce the doors and block entry. Some shoppers managed to get into the shops before the doors were locked but others were not so fortunate.

  The horde continued through Stanwell pursuing the people running away. Though the zombies were unaware of the direction they were taking, they were heading towards two local schools, and from there onwards towards the main London Road. This would take them to Staines and Egham to the West, Ashford and Sunbury on Thames to the South and Feltham and Hounslow to the East.

  46

  Day 1

  10:25 GMT

  Heathrow Terminal 3

  Bear and Irish, together with their ten remaining officers made their way back to Gate 7, making sure there were no zombies lingering around to give them a surprise.

  Leaving Travis and Sean at the gate to provide cover, the rest moved down the jetway to the end.

  Bear and a couple of the officers cautiously approached the gaping hole at the end of the jetway. It felt very unstable when it was not attached to the side of a plane, especially with a light wind pressing into their faces. They were careful not to get too close to the edge but from their vantage point at about fifteen feet above the ground, they could see the fires in the distance and the odd zombie still milling around on the apron below. Whilst it would have been easy to take them out, Bear didn’t want to make any unnecessary noise which might attract others unless it was absolutely necessary.

  Irish moved to the jetway’s controls and turned the key to get things working. He warned the officers to hold onto something before he used the joystick to try and figure out exactly how it worked. He had used them in the past, which was why he had volunteered to do the driving, but it had been a long time ago and things had changed. After a few minutes he had sussed out how to move it around and up and down. He lowered it as far as possible, but the jetway was still a good six feet or more off the ground; it simply wasn’t meant to pick people off from the ground, and even if it could, the corridor would have been a little too steep.

  “It won’t go any further,” he advised.

  “Not a problem,” replied Bear, “this is a pretty good height as a vantage point, and we have steps to the ground through that door,” he said indicating over his shoulder. “That’s where the Ground Crew take the kids buggies to the plane. I’ll go on the platform outside the door. Irish, you keep watch from this vantage point.”

  With that, Bear sidled up to the door and looked through the window. There were no zombies on the platform, and just a couple milling about around thirty metres away. This would be a piece of cake. He opened the door and moved out, gesturing that a couple of officers should follow him. They stood there in the light rain, waiting for the helicopter.

  A few minutes later they heard the ‘whup whup whup’ of rotor blades and a few seconds later a Lynx helicopter appeared and eased itself down onto the apron a few metres away. The wash of air from the helicopter hit them and the nearest zombies. The officers were holding on to the railings, so they had no problem keeping steady, but a couple of zombies were thrown backwards a few feet before coming to a rest.

  The pilot shut down the engine as the door opened and a man came running across the tarmac to the jetway and up the steps.

  “You must be Major Fellows. I’m Bear,” said Bear who held out his hand which was shaken firmly. Major Fellows looked to be in his early forties with a blond crew-cut and blue eyes. He must have been about five feet nine inches tall because Bear had a good six inches on him. Although he wasn’t that tall, Bear could tell that the man worked out. He was quite broad and looked strong with a chiselled face. He also had a small smirk on his face and glint in his eye, knowing that Bear was giving him a quick ‘once-over’

  “Good to meet you Bear,” replied Major Fellows confidently as one of the officers took out a zombie who was approaching them. Major Fellows turned to see the body lying on the apron, its head shattered and blood forming a pool around what was left. “I was told there was zombies, but I didn’t really believe it,” he noted drily.

  “Watch this,” said Bear. A few isolated zombies had been attracted by the arrival of the helicopter and the shot fired by the officer. More and more began to appear from the baggage area and from the other side of AA4520 a few gates away. He lined up his MP5 on the nearest zombie and shot it in the chest. The zombie was thrown backwards onto the ground a couple of metres further back, a large hole appearing in its chest and blood erupting from the wound. A few seconds later, the zombie got back up, guts and entrails spilling back down onto the tarmac. “Now do you understand?” Bear asked as he took aim once again and shot the zombie in the head. It didn’t get back up. “We better go, we’re getting an audience,” Bear advised as he opened the door to the jetway and allowed Major Fellows to enter.

  “Will my pilot be safe?” the Major enquired as he passed Bear.

  “He should be as long as he’s quiet and doesn’t open the door,” Bear replied. “I hope he’s not scared easily!”

  The officers and Major Fellows walked up the jetway and on to the Security Command C
entre.

  47

  Day 1

  10:30 GMT

  Earls Court

  The Piccadilly line tube train from Heathrow rumbled into Earl’s Court station with a screech of brakes, having stopped at a dozen other stations on its journey. At each station along the line, passengers had been getting on and off and going about their daily business.

  Once the train had come to a stop, the doors hissed opened. In the sixth carriage, three people who had been bitten at the airport stayed on the train, one was looking to get off at Green Park, another at Piccadilly Circus and the last one at Leicester Square. None of the three were aware of each other as they were sitting in various parts of the carriage in a world of their own and none of the three were feeling particularly well. All three had cramps and all were sweating profusely, drinking water to try and alleviate the growing pain.

  From the fifth carriage, four people who had been bitten at the airport got off the train. One young woman in her early thirties felt so bad that she had to go straight to one of the seats on the platform to sit down. The other three moved along the platform following the ‘Way Out’ signs to the escalators as the train left the station.

  The woman on the bench was sitting forward with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands staring at the floor between her feet. Without warning, she felt her gorge rise and vomited blood all over the floor beneath her to a chorus of shrieks from nearby passengers who quickly moved out of the way. Without moving, she continued to stare at the mess between her shoes, her focus starting to blur. A few seconds later the thumping in her chest abruptly stopped and she found she couldn’t draw in her next breath. There was a final burst of pain before darkness overtook her and she slumped forward, banging her forehead, and shattering her nose on the platform as she went down on her front and then lay still. The passengers who had seen her vomit and then moved away to a safe distance had been keeping a watchful eye on the woman. It seemed unusual that she hadn’t moved or made any sound at all. An elderly lady had been approaching her to check if she was ok when the woman fell to the platform.

  The old lady’s initial concern turned to rising panic. “We need some help over here,” she shouted, “can someone call for an ambulance?”

  “I’ve got it,” replied another woman who started dialling.

  Word was spreading down the platform and a crowd began to gather around the woman on the floor, all thoughts of the next train now forgotten.

  A man in his late twenties came pushing through the crowd. “I’m a paramedic,” he advised, “let me take a look. Can everyone please move back a bit and give us some air?” There was a little shuffling of feet, but the crowd hardly moved. It was far too exciting to give up a front row seat.

  The man knelt next to the woman and quickly bent down to see if she was breathing. It didn’t appear so. He took her wrist to see if there was a pulse but all he could feel was his own heart beat increasing. It looked like the woman had literally dropped dead. Still kneeling, he turned to the people surrounding them and again asked if they could please move back. As he did so, the young woman pushed herself up as if she was starting to do a press up. Once her arms were fully locked, she slowly moved her head from side to side as if to get her bearings and then launched herself at the paramedic, her mouth arrowing in on his exposed neck.

  The paramedic screamed as he felt teeth tear into his neck and pull back, ripping away his skin and severing his jugular vein. Blood erupted from his neck and pumped out in jets in time with his heart beat. The people closest were sprayed as the paramedic tried to pull away from the woman, the excitement they had felt a few moments earlier rapidly turning to horror. They started screaming and tried to get away but were blocked in by the crowd behind them. The paramedic managed to get to his feet and shakily started trying to push his way past the crowd towards the exit. He was closely followed by the zombie who charged into the nearest people, tearing, and biting them as they fell to the floor. In the panic, a man and a woman were pushed off the platform, both luckily missing the live rail. They managed to get to their feet just as the next train entered the station. The woman thought quickly and ducked down into the recess between the rails. The man was not so quick on the uptake and tried to get back onto the platform; he was hit by the train and thrown forwards, landing on the live rail fifteen feet further down the line.

  The train driver saw the two people in front of him, but it was far too late for him to brake in time. This had happened to him before, so he knew what to expect, but was surprised that there had only been one thud to the front of the train rather than two. The train screeched a stop a carriage length short of where it would normally stop, and the driver flicked the switch to open the doors; those in the last carriage would have to move along one carriage if they wanted to get off, but because there was a fatality, this train wouldn’t be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

  The driver sat in his seat cursing his luck that he’d had another jumper and shook his head in disgust at the thought of all the paperwork, interviews and counselling he would have to go through before he was allowed to drive a train again; the last time he’d been off nearly nine months, thankfully on full pay. He was thinking about his predicament when the screams coming from the platform pierced his thoughts. Just the usual scared passengers, he mused, as he turned his attention back to his own situation.

  The other three people who had stepped off the earlier train had negotiated the escalators and were all on the Ground Level approaching the exit barriers. The first two went through without incident and left the station onto the busy Earls Court Road with its many shops and restaurants. The third, a man, stopped as he was about to go through the barrier, causing the person behind to bump into him and curse before moving a couple of yards to an unobstructed barrier. By this time, the man had fallen to his knees before being violently sick. He stayed in that position, looking like he was going through an impromptu prayer as one of the station staff went in search of a bucket and mop to clear up the mess.

  As screams started coming up the escalators followed by a crowd of people pushing and pulling their way to the top and the exit, the man rose from his knees, turned in the direction of the noise and moved off in that direction. A few paces and the zombie reached the top of the escalator, waiting to greet the crowd coming towards it.

  The two who had managed to get out of the station, a man and a woman both in their forties, had gone separate ways. The man had turned South-East and was passing the local Burger King and Boots when he went down, quickly surrounded by concerned shoppers looking to help. The woman had gone North-West and had made timely progress towards Nando’s before she succumbed to the pains.

  Within minutes the busy one-way street was a scene of carnage and panic.

  48

  Day 1

  10:30 GMT

  Paddington

  The packed Heathrow Express pulled into London Paddington Station following its fifteen-minute journey. At least a dozen passengers were carrying injuries sustained at Heathrow, although most had tried to hide them as best they could. One of those affected had entered the toilet, locked the door, and spent the whole journey trying to stem the flow of blood from a nasty gash on their wrist. The man didn’t realise how much blood he was losing and had slumped to the floor unconscious a mile from his destination.

  The others had started to feel cramps and pain but all managed to leave the train and pass through the ticket barriers onto the main station concourse where they went in different directions; a couple went towards the Underground and others left the station to find a taxi or bus for their onward journey.

  The train Guard moved along the now deserted Heathrow Express train. He was carefully checking that no luggage or other personal effects had been left behind on the train; it was amazing to think of some of the items that had been left behind in the past and the fact that few passengers came back to reclaim them. It was definitely a throwaway society these days and yet eve
ryone was supposed to be feeling the pinch after years of austerity. Didn’t make sense. Still, he supplemented the pittance he received from his employer by passing on various Apple and other electronic devices to a guy he knew at the local pub; for the few that did come back to try and find their lost possessions, well, he hadn’t seen them, had he?

  The Guard finished checking the carriage he was in. He pressed the button on the connecting door which then slowly swished open to allow him into the passageway. As he walked past the toilet he tested the door handle in his usual perfunctory manner but came to a halt as he realised it was still locked. He knocked on the door three times in rapid succession shouting “Anyone in there?” loud enough to be heard inside. He heard some bumps but there was no response, so he tried again.

  “Hello! Anyone in there?” Again, there was no response. “I’m coming in,” he warned, taking a small spanner out of his pocket. He heard another bump and assumed that the passenger inside the toilet was either injured or pissed; you got a lot of the latter on this service; people still in the holiday spirit having one too many from the drinks trolley.

  The Guard unlocked the door from the outside and slid it aside. His eyes were immediately drawn to the amount of blood in the cubicle. Without warning, the zombie inside grabbed him and almost bit his whole nose off. Blood started coursing down the Guard’s face as the zombie lurched forward and took another chunk of flesh out of his cheek as he tried to turn his head away. He then felt his ear being torn off before he thankfully lost consciousness and slumped to the floor.

  49

  Day 1

  10:35 GMT

  Heathrow Terminal 3

  Bear and Irish entered the Security Command Centre with Major Fellows and introduced him to Jack.