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

by Hatchett

  *****

  Team 5 moved quickly across the Arrivals Hall, though the exit and into the cordon. The sub-team leader was a veteran of the army named Bill Johnson, who had seen conflict in Bosnia and Iraq. He led the team quickly across the cordon towards the far end and the ‘gate’ that allowed access to the Short Stay Car Park, conscious that the heavy rain was washing away the blood and guts they had painstakingly applied a little earlier. As they moved along they scoured the area outside the cordon for any movement.

  There was no need to open the gate, the team simply slid across the car bonnets to get to the other side. There were no zombies close to them, so they moved up the ramp into the car park and stopped, waiting for their eyes and other senses to adjust to their new surroundings. They were now undercover but could still clearly hear the rain bouncing off the ground and vehicles outside, the sound echoing around the concrete car park. With the heavy rain it had been dark outside, but thankfully the lighting within the car park was still working.

  Bill looked around. He was a little worried that the sound of the rain would mask other sounds and was also worried that the team may have lost their camouflage. There was only one way to find out. During the briefing in the Arrivals Hall, Bill had agreed with his team that they should stick together, fan out, and slowly clear each level of the car park moving clockwise. He now gave the signal to move out and the team spread out in a line and started moving. With every vehicle they passed, one of the team would move alongside it and check to make sure it was empty. Any zombies found would be introduced to the Bowie knife. Any civilian found would be taken back to the cordon. There would be no shooting unless absolutely necessary.

  The ground floor level of the car park was empty, and it didn’t take long to clear; zombies which had been on this level had been attracted by the movement of cars and buses the day before.

  Bill took Team 5 towards the ramp leading up to Level 1.

  *****

  Issy reached the bottom of the stairs first, her knife in her hand ready for action. She looked down the sloping tunnel; it was well lit, with a cream tiled floor, a mainly white tiled wall interspersed with an irregularly placed purple tile, and a shallow curving ceiling. Issy couldn’t see down the whole length but she could see the lower legs of a few zombies mulling about further down.

  Issy moved slowly down the tunnel, closely followed by her teams. She had only gone half a dozen paces before there was a clatter as someone dropped their automatic onto the floor. The group froze as the sound echoed down the tunnel and the legs she could see turned and started moving in their direction.

  “Fuck, they’re coming,” Issy muttered under her breath. She had no idea how many zombies they were likely to be faced with. She quickly turned and ordered the soldier behind her to re-open the barricade in case they needed to retreat. A few seconds later, she could hear the scraping of the barricade being moved but they had lost the element of surprise so a little more noise wouldn’t make any difference. Some of the team moved back up the stairs into the Arrivals Hall as Issy indicated that some of the team should line the walls. Issy was first to put her back to the wall and start sliding down the tunnel towards the approaching zombies. She was quickly copied by other soldiers, some against the wall opposite.

  Within a few minutes, the zombies were nearly in range. She could see that there were about a dozen of them, so she quickly counted how many soldiers were lined up next to her and opposite. She was satisfied there were enough and slowly pushed away from the wall and shuffled towards the oncoming zombies. They looked towards her but did not seem interested as they continued on their way past her. Issy was bumped hard by one of the zombies and she cannoned into another which had moved behind her, causing it to fall to the floor. The noise attracted attention, and with their heads turned, the zombies gave the soldiers along the opposite wall the opening to step forward a couple of paces and plunge their knives into their heads. The zombies in the centre of the tunnel reacted and moved quickly towards the soldiers. Issy quickly plunged her knife into one of the heads, all caution gone, before turning and attacking the zombie which had fallen to the floor. As she did so, the other soldiers on her side of the wall moved forward to help their colleagues’ opposite. The pincer movement worked, and the remaining zombies were quickly taken down. Issy got back to her feet and let out a long breath. She surveyed the dead bodies scattered across the floor before checking her team.

  “Everyone ok?” she asked in a whisper. There were nods all around before one of the soldiers responded.

  “That was fucking close! I nearly shat myself when those fuckers turned and stared straight at me.”

  “Yep, you need a strong nerve for this job,” Issy replied.

  “Well girl, you’ve got the biggest cohones I’ve ever seen,” came a comment from over her shoulder, “and I’ve seen a few in my time.” Issy looked around and nodded her acknowledgement of the comment before turning back to look down the tunnel. There was nothing in sight, so she ordered, “Get the rest down here and close the barricade.”

  A few minutes later the teams were back in position and ready to go. Issy led them down the tunnel. After thirty yards, they came to the first junction which, according to the map, led towards the train station. Issy carefully looked around the corner. There was nothing in the immediate vicinity, so she ordered Team 4 to follow it. Another twenty yards further along and Team 3 moved off down a different tunnel, but one which still took a roundabout route to the train station. Team 2 then took a tunnel which would eventually end up going to the Underground as Issy’s Team 1 continued down the main tunnel and a more direct route to the same destination.

  As they moved along the tunnel, they encountered and dispatched half a dozen zombies until they reached the corner which would lead into the ticket office area. Issy held up a hand and everyone stopped. She then poked her head around the corner to take a look and found herself staring at a large group of zombies milling about. She indicated extreme caution and began to slowly shuffle towards the ticket office area. She had only gone a couple of metres before they all heard shooting and screams echoing down the tunnel from behind them. That was not good news; it meant that either Team 3 or 4 had encountered a large group of zombies and could not get by with their knives alone. It also meant that there were casualties. Several zombies were looking in her direction so she daren’t use her comms to check what was happening, and the teams were obviously too busy to provide a report. There was nothing she could do but continue forward.

  As she got closer, Issy could see beyond the electronic barriers to the escalators which would take them down a further level to the Underground platforms. Above the grunting and shuffling of the zombies, she could hear that the escalators were still moving; there was a constant hum and intermittent scraping noises in the background. First, she and the team needed to deal with the dozens of zombies in front of them.

  The team slowly moved forwards and started mingling and carefully taking out zombies. They were joined shortly after by Team 2 who had obviously managed to clear their tunnels without any issues.

  As her teams dealt with the zombies, Issy shuffled towards the ticket office and took a look through the window. She couldn’t see anything but an empty office. She noticed the office door but immediately realised that it wouldn’t open without a key or swipe card. She looked behind her to make sure there were no zombies close by before gently tapping on the glass. There was no response, so she tapped a little louder. She sensed movement and heard what sounded like a scrape of a chair before a man stuck his head around the corner of a filing cabinet. He looked at Issy and was about to dismiss her as just another zombie when she gestured him over. The man looked stunned, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. Issy was still gesturing for him to come forward. The man slowly moved in her direction, obviously still concerned that this was some kind of trick. Issy raised one finger to her lips to indicate that he should stay quiet. She then looked behind her again before gesturi
ng that the man should open the office door.

  Issy moved to the door and heard a click before the door was pushed outwards towards her. She quickly entered the office and closed the door behind her then looked at the man who she could now see was still in his rail uniform, albeit crumpled and dirty.

  “Are you alone?” she asked.

  The man stared at Issy before responding, “Who are you?”

  “Army. Are you alone?”

  “No, there’s three others in the back.”

  “Go and get them, it’ll be safe soon.”

  The man moved off and a couple of minutes later returned with two other men and a woman, all in the same state of exhaustion and dishevelment.

  “Do you have any food or water?” the man asked.

  “We’ll get you some in a minute,” Issy replied. “Let’s get you to safety first. Keep quiet.” She moved to the office window and saw that her teams had effectively cleared the ticket area and were waiting for her before tackling the zombies behind the ticket barriers. Issy moved across to the door and opened it to allow the four people out. The woman stifled a scream as she saw all the dead bodies littered all over the floor and all that came out was a high-pitched keening. Issy quickly covered the woman’s mouth but the sound had alerted the zombies on the other side of the barriers, who started to crush up against them in a bid to reach them.

  “Do you have any passkeys for the barriers?” Issy asked.

  The first man dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He did his best to keep the keys from jangling as he removed two of them. “These two keys are the same. They will open or close any of the gates, operate the escalator and pretty much anything else you might need. The gates can be opened or closed individually,” he pointed to the place on the barrier where the key needed to be inserted, “or all the gates can be opened or closed at the same time.” He gestured to a large panel to the side of the gates. “That’s the master control panel and these keys will give you access. What are you going to do?” He asked worriedly.

  “We’re in the middle of clearing the Lower Ground.” She moved away, clicked her comms. “Team 3, Team 4, come in. It’s Issy, over.”

  There was a little static before a voice came through clearly. “Iain, Team 4 here.”

  “What’s going on? We heard shots and screaming.”

  “Team 3 walked into an ambush. They’ve lost four men, but we arrived just in time otherwise it would have been much worse.”

  “Ok, are you able to continue?”

  “Yes, we’re nearly at the station.”

  “Ok, we’re at the Underground ticket office and about to go and clear the platforms. I may be out of touch down there but try and keep me posted.”

  “Will do. Out.”

  Issy signalled two soldiers from Team 2 over. “Take these people out of here,” she ordered. “there should be nothing in your way but keep an eye out just in case. Once you’re finished, come back and wait for me here.” The two soldiers gestured that the four civilians should follow them and started moving in the direction of the exit. The woman now had a hand over her eyes and was being supported and directed by her colleagues.

  Issy turned back towards her teams and placed one of the keys in her pocket. She beckoned them over and told them what she planned to do. They then moved away and formed a guard of honour either side and in line with one of the barriers. Once they were in place and ready, Issy used the second key she had been given to open that particular barrier.

  The first zombie wedged against the barrier fell forward and was swiftly followed by the second and third in line. The soldiers allowed them to crawl along the line as other zombies, still on their feet, shuffled forwards. Once Issy had counted ten zombies, she closed the barrier to prevent any more getting through. This was the signal for her teams to take out those that had been let through. The soldiers in the guard of honour stepped in with their knives at the ready and stabbed the zombies in the head. One soldier was a little tentative and only managed a glancing blow as his target turned its head at the last moment. Instead of killing the zombie, the knife opened up a large gash along the zombie’s head, starting at its temple and moving along the side of its head towards the back of its neck, slicing off half an ear in the process and causing blood to spurt in all directions. The zombie didn’t notice the injury and instead lunged towards the nearest soldier who was focused on killing his own target. As the zombie bore down on the soldier a knife appeared from nowhere and embedded itself in the zombie’s head. The zombie started to fall, its head smashing into the soldier’s arm as it went down. The soldier screamed and jumped back out of the way. He was covered in blood and guts and was frantically trying to wipe away the mess from his lower arm where the zombie had struck. As he began to panic, the soldier was held by one of his colleagues before another produced a bottle of water and started pouring it onto his arm and using a cloth to wipe away the gore.

  “I’m gonna die,” screamed the soldier in a high-pitched wail as he was administered to, struggling to get away from the soldier holding him. Another couple of soldiers moved forward to grab him and help hold him steady.

  “Keep fucking still,” the soldier holding him shouted in his ear, but the man wasn’t listening and was struggling for all he was worth.

  The soldier cleaning the arm finally managed to get the area clean and was looking carefully to see if there were any puncture marks on the skin as Issy came up.

  “What the fuck happened?” she demanded, looking at the scene on front of her.

  “We missed one of the zombies and it fell face-first into this guy’s arm.”

  Issy grabbed the arm and looked closely. It was not as easy to see because the soldier had thick dark hair all over his arms.

  “Hold him real still!” Issy ordered as she took her Bowie knife and started shaving the soldier’s arm. The last thing she wanted was to cut the man, especially with tainted blood on the knife’s blade. After a few strokes she was satisfied that she had cleared enough hair then looked at the arm more closely. She couldn’t see any puncture wounds but was not about to take any chances.

  “Bring him to the office,” she ordered as she led the way and opened the door, pulling out a pair of handcuffs as she went.

  Once inside, Issy quickly cuffed the soldier to a radiator. He was still shouting and screaming so Issy slapped him hard across the face. The man was stunned into silence, but it was clear from the look on his face that he was on a different planet. Issy tried to calm him down in any case.

  “It doesn’t look like you’ve been caught, but I’m not taking any risks. You’ll stay here until we’ve finished downstairs and by the time we get back, we should know if you’re ok.”

  With that, Issy and the soldiers who went with her left the office and moved back to the rest of the team who were standing quietly in a group.

  “I think he’ll be ok,” she advised quietly, “but we’ve got to use our heads. If you hesitate to kill these things, they won’t hesitate to kill you. It’s them or us. Also, make sure your shirt sleeves are down and that you cover as much of your skin as possible. You might be too hot but tough shit; that’s a small price to pay for staying alive. Let’s get going.” With that, Issy turned and strode towards the barriers where more zombies awaited.

  The team quickly dragged the dead bodies out of the way before they returned to their formation and waited for Issy to re-open the barrier. The movement of the team was enough to keep the zombies interested and they moved forward like herded cattle as soon as the barrier thumped open. As Issy once again closed the barrier, there was no hesitation and the zombies let through were taken down within seconds.

  The team were now fully focused and concentrating on the job at hand, so it didn’t take long before the area at the top of the escalator was almost clear. There were just a few stragglers left; some were stuck in the other barriers and some were just wandering around near the top of the escalators. The team were able to take ou
t the zombies stuck in the barriers without getting too close, then they passed through the barrier they’d been using and spread out before Issy closed it behind them. They moved towards the zombies near the top of the escalator and quickly and efficiently took them out.

  The teams then moved carefully towards the escalators; one was moving up, the other down, but both were currently clear. Issy used her key to switch the escalator moving up so that it was also moving down; This would prevent any zombies getting back up to the current level and give them two escalators to ride down on. Issy and her team split between the two escalators and made their way down.

  At the bottom, the team spread out once again, most hugging the side walls. The concourse leading to the platforms was teeming with zombies, but they appeared oblivious to the new arrivals; the noise of the escalators helped cover their movement. The team took their time moving forwards and eventually shuffled into the crowd. They then started taking out zombies, being careful not to make too much noise. The biggest problem they encountered in this area was the scattered luggage which had been unceremoniously dropped all over the place. Some of the luggage had opened, the contents spilling across the floor, only to be kicked around to different areas by the zombies. The soldiers had to be very careful where they stepped and at the same time keep a close eye on the zombies. One mistake and it could be fatal.

  Issy stabbed another zombie in the head and was just beginning to think that they had this sorted when someone or something stepped on a child’s squeaky toy; the sound sounded like a scream in the confined space and echoed off the curving walls. All heads turned in the direction of the noise and the team stood as still as possible. Some of the zombies started moving in the direction of the noise, a couple tripping over a stray piece of luggage. This attracted more interest and a couple of the team were dragged along with them as if they were stuck in a strong river current. They had no option but to follow the movement and try to keep calm; easier said than done when they were surrounded on all sides by zombies and had their arms and knives pinned to their sides. The soldiers closed their eyes and tried to think of something to keep their breathing normal.