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

by Hatchett

  “It all sounds good, we’re making progress. Tomorrow we should be in a position to start trying to reach survivors outside the airport and train some of the civilians to use weapons.”

  The Leaders slowly got to their feet, ready to go and find their Crews and continue with their work.

  Issy and Sarah were the last two to leave and as they started to follow the others, Sarah held Issy back and asked quietly if she was all right.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” Issy replied. “Why do you ask?”

  “Nothing really, but you normally lead the discussions and you seem quite angry.”

  “I think for the first time since all this started, I’m really beginning to grasp what has happened and what it means going forwards. I’ve lost a lot of my colleagues today and our lives are never going to be the same again. And, I’m fed up with all the innuendos.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure things will get better. We’ve just got to try and look out for each other, become a new family and do our best,” Sarah advised. “There’s not much else we can do.”

  Issy gave Sarah a quick hug then quickly left to join her Crew.

  84

  Day 3

  17:30 GMT

  Heathrow

  The Crews had been busy all afternoon; Issy and her Crew had cleared Terminal 5, finding a further eighty-one survivors, then gone to help Bear and Irish’s Crew clear the cargo area to the South; Bear and Irish had already cleared Terminal 2 and Terminal 4 finding seventy-eight survivors before turning their attention to the Southern Cargo Area, finding another thirty-four survivors.

  Dave’s Crew had secured the airport which made them all breathe more easily; where there were access points to the airport, there were now buses or coaches blocking the way and forming new gates. Dave had then helped clear other cargo areas to the East of the airport with Sean and Travis.

  Joel had returned from Aldershot with another twenty-two soldiers and two Chinooks full of weapons, ammunition, and other useful equipment. Before looking to unload, he and his Crew had used the Panther and some pick-up trucks to roam all around the airport making sure there were no stray zombies lurking anywhere. Joel made good use of the bullhorn to try and entice any stragglers out into the open.

  Andy and his Crew had been busy trying to clear the dead bodies, but this was going to take them longer than expected, especially the ones in awkward locations like the tunnels and rail stations.

  Following reports from all the Leaders, Jack and the Major announced that the airport was now clear of any zombies and that people could move about freely, but for the time being keep a watchful eye out just in case there were any zombies that had been missed.

  Most people who had been cooped up for the past few days delighted in the fact that they could now escape the building to get some fresh air, even if it was still raining.

  Some wandered around the different areas of the airport, seeing parts which were usually out of bounds. They made sure they went in groups, took weapons, and remained alert.

  Some people were measuring themselves against some of the huge wheels on the various planes; it was not every day that you got to go where you wanted, when you wanted, especially airside.

  Some people made their way to the fences to get a glimpse of what was happening in the outside world; it was not a pretty sight, and many were sick on the spot. They made sure not to get too close to the fence or make too much noise; there were thousands of zombies just a few feet away on the other side and they really didn’t want to attract their attention.

  A few of the more ghoulish went to have a look at the huge pile of dead bodies in the South-West corner; it was lucky the wind was coming from the North otherwise the stench would have been unbearable. As it was, the smell was far from pleasant causing people to retch and move quickly away.

  A couple of men found themselves a Porsche 911 and a Nissan GT-R from the Short Stay Car Park and had great fun racing them up and down the runways and link roads.

  It had been a harsh and frightening few days and people were now beginning to believe that they would survive; a party atmosphere was emerging, and people were beginning to come out of their shells.

  As mentioned at their lunchtime meeting, the Leaders wanted to get access to nearby hotels for accommodation. This was becoming even more of a necessity with a further five hundred and eighteen survivors found that afternoon. This brought the total number of people in the airport to around nine hundred and fifty.

  The Leaders had already identified the Hilton hotel as the best place to start; it was just across the Southern Perimeter Road and there happened to be a Premier Inn right next door which effectively shared the same large plot which could easily be sectioned off. More importantly, both hotels could be accessed safely via their own covered walkway direct from Terminal 4.

  There were many other hotels around the perimeter of the airport and these could be seconded in the future if the need arose.

  85

  Day 3

  18:00 GMT

  Heathrow Terminal 4

  Dave, Sean, Travis, and Joel had just left Terminal 4 and had tasked their Crews with finding more trucks, coaches, and buses ready to drive in convoy through the perimeter gates at Swindon Road and Stratford Road to form an impenetrable barrier which enclosed both targeted hotels.

  The Hilton and Holiday Inn were on their own plot of land which was surrounded by a combination of the Southern Perimeter Road, Snowdon Road, Sheffield Road and Sheffield Way. The aim was to form one continuous barrier all the way around.

  Snowdon Road, Sheffield Road and Sheffield Way were relatively free of obstacles, but the Southern Perimeter Road was like a parking lot with hundreds of stationery vehicles all across the road. There were also thousands of zombies milling around these stationery vehicles.

  The Leaders had decided that there was little point in trying to clear the Southern Perimeter Road; it would take far too long and there would be sections where there had been accidents making it even harder to move the vehicles. They decided that the easiest way to close off the hotels from the zombies was to use the other roads where possible, and where not, they would simply use the pavements, grass verges or parts of the hotel grounds.

  The first vehicles to leave the security of the airport were half a dozen CAT bulldozers. Their job was to shunt vehicles out of the way and create a path for the larger vehicles from the airport to follow. If it was possible to shunt existing vehicles into a seamless wall, then they would do so.

  Once a path had been cleared, it didn’t take long for the drivers of the large airport vehicles to form a ring nose to tail around the perimeter of the hotels. The noise and movement attracted more and more zombies into the area, but many of these were simply run over by the large heavy vehicles. Once the barrier was in place, no more zombies could get inside, and the Crews were able to climb down from their vehicles and begin to clean-up of the hotel grounds and car park.

  *****

  Issy, Bear, Irish and their Crews were in Terminal 4, ready to remove the barricade at the entrance to the walkway which led to the hotels.

  Everyone was quiet, waiting for Issy to give the order. She looked around one last time then nodded to the four members of her Crew who were standing by the barricade. They quietly moved it aside before a dozen more ‘dirty’ soldiers from the Killing Crew slid through the gap and quickly moved to cover both walls. They then started moving forwards slowly, silently taking out a couple of zombies on their way until the Leaders and other soldiers had enough room to enter the walkway. The barricade was then closed behind them.

  Issy moved towards the front of the group and could see more zombies further along. She indicated that her Crew should continue forwards on either side and she followed down the middle. The pincer movement which had worked so well over the past couple of days worked well again, and the zombies in the first section of the walkway were dealt with easily.

  They reached a divide in the walkway; the right-hand
corridor led to the Hilton’s reception area and the left-hand corridor went to the Holiday Inn.

  The Killing Crew members on the left-hand wall stayed left and led Bear and Irish and their Crew towards the Holiday Inn. The Killing Crew members on the right-hand wall went right and led the way for Issy and the remaining soldiers to the Hilton. Both groups encountered a few zombies wandering around, but they didn’t pose any problems and were taken out.

  Issy approached the end of the walkway and noticed that the entrance to the Hilton was a pair of glass sliding doors which would detect motion and open as someone approached. Issy and her Crew stayed out of range of the sensors and spent a few minutes surveying the reception area and the passageways leading to the lounge and lifts. Luckily the area was relatively clear, so she gave the order to move forward.

  The Killing Crew entered the Hilton reception area and quickly killed four zombies idling around the area. The Crew then split up as planned and moved off in different directions to clear the communal areas; some went towards the bars and restaurants, some towards the kitchens and some towards the fitness centre and pool area. Once those areas had been cleared, the Crew would regroup in reception before starting a floor by floor and room by room clearance. For that, they would need access to the rooms, and following help and advice from Gina, a couple of hotel workers who had experience of how things worked were standing by in Terminal 4 ready to come down the walkway to the hotels once everything was clear.

  Issy waited in the reception area, listening to her comms, and making sure there were no problems. As she waited, she checked the area behind the reception desk and the office beyond to ensure they were clear. Eventually Bear confirmed that the Holiday Inn was secure, just as her own team was starting to filter back into the reception area. Issy clicked her earpiece and asked that the hotel workers be sent down.

  A few minutes later a woman appeared, escorted by a couple of soldiers. The second hotel worker had been escorted to the Holiday Inn to carry out the same role.

  The woman came through the glass doors and headed straight to Issy.

  “Hi, I’m Jan,” she said with a smile. “Where do you want me to start?”

  Issy wandered over towards her. “Hi Jan, I’m Issy. We need some universal passkeys. Can you do it?”

  Jan walked over and behind the reception desk, clicked a mouse a couple of times before saying, “No problem. The computer is still up and running, it was just on standby, so coding a couple of universal passkeys will only take a minute.” She continued to click away with the mouse before inserting a credit card sized bit of plastic into a machine then withdrawing it and passing it to Issy. It was shortly followed by a second card. “There you go,” she said with a smile.

  “Thanks.”

  Issy turned to her Crew. “Are you guys happy you know what you’re doing?”

  “We’re fine,” replied one of the soldiers, taking the two passkeys from Issy before handing one of them to a colleague.

  The Crew then split into two pre-arranged teams, one heading to the stairs and the other in the direction of the lifts. “Try not to make too much mess!” Issy shouted after them, “we’re going to be sleeping in them.”

  A soldier turned and grinned, “We’ll do our best,” he added with a stabbing motion before moving off.

  Issy turned to Jan who was still behind the reception counter. “I’ll call in some help, so you can start getting this hotel up and running.”

  “That would be great, I’ll make a start organising things here.”

  “I want a room on the lowest floor,” Issy added with a smile before she walked into the lounge bar and helped herself to a Coke. She then found herself a nice comfortable seat and clicked her comms, “Sarah, Gina, you there?”

  “Here Issy,” Sarah replied.

  “We’re ready for you to start sending down the people you have arranged to run the hotels. Ask them to go to the reception desks.”

  “No problem. Gina’s sorted out two complete teams and they’ll be with you shortly. She managed to find a manager and various others who have experience of running the kitchens, bars, fitness centre, cleaning, and everything else you can think of. Gina’s been pulling these teams together all day and will probably come down as well to make sure things are running smoothly.”

  “That’s great. We will also need Andy’s Clean-Up Crew to remove the bodies.”

  Andy had been listening in to the conversation and interjected, “Already on our way, you’ll soon hear our carts coming down the walkway.”

  “Nice one, Cowboy,” Issy replied. “I’ll have a nice cold drink waiting for you.”

  86

  Day 3

  21:30 GMT

  Hilton Hotel

  The Leaders sat at a low table in the lounge bar with a nice cold alcoholic drink after yet another busy day. It was a modern bar and lounge with lots of granite and chrome and subdued lighting. The noise in the bar was getting louder and louder as more people arrived and more drinks were consumed; the people serving the drinks had managed to find and play some background music through the speakers, but it was slowly being drowned out by the noise.

  Although the hotels were now up and running, certain aspects such as the kitchens were still being prepared for use. Therefore, everyone had eaten in the Departures area of Terminal 3 as they had done the previous two nights before walking across to the hotel. The good news was that both hotels had freezers full of food and a store room with plenty of drinks. This meant that all the other larger hotels in the area were likely to have the same sort of stock. So, even with the considerable number of survivors on site, they wouldn’t be going hungry or thirsty just yet, and they hadn’t even started scavenging.

  The ongoing concern over security had lessened, other than monitoring the access points to ensure there were no gaps for the zombies to get through. The airport was highly unlikely to be approached by anyone alive in the immediate future because the roads all around were gridlocked and swarming with zombies. They made perfect guard dogs when they were on the opposite side of the fence to you.

  All the Leaders were in casual clothes; once they had finished what they needed to do that day, they had been allocated rooms in the hotel and had the chance to finally enjoy their own space, their own shower and toilet, and later, what they were all really looking forward to, their own bed. Life was beginning to return to something approaching normality and they could tell by the buzz all around that everyone else was beginning to feel the same optimism. They recognised that there was still a lot to do; they knew that power to the hotels was not on the same part of the grid as the airport, so they had tasked a few electrical experts to work on how they could divert power from the airport if and when the need arose. After finally getting their own space, the last thing they wanted was to have to go back to sharing as they did in Terminal 3.

  “Are we going to discuss the day’s events and what we’re planning to do tomorrow?” Gina asked.

  Jack looked at the Major who shook his head slightly. “Not tonight,” Jack said. “You and your Crews have all worked extremely hard over the past few days and we’re finally at a point where we can afford to relax a little. So, enjoy the evening. We’ll meet in the Security Briefing Room at 07:30 and discuss what we plan to do next. We know that this will include trying to rescue loved ones, find other survivors and start collecting resources and planning for the future, but that can all wait for tonight. Go and let your hair down. Sorry, Andy already has! Cheers” Jack saluted with this glass.

  The Leaders raised their glasses, or bottle in the case of Issy, and all muttered ‘Cheers’.

  “To the future,” Dave toasted, the others following suit.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Jack noted, before anyone could leave. “The Major and I had an interesting conversation this morning. Tom had picked up some chatter over the old radio frequencies and managed to make contact with a group of survivors in the East End. He put their leader through to us and we spoke fo
r about half an hour. Get this; he calls himself ‘The Judge’ and he referred to his partner as ‘The Jury’. Interesting eh?”

  “Sounds like he’s full of shit to me,” Issy stated, “and I don’t even know him. Anyone who refers to themselves by a title rather than their given name is an arsehole in my book, isn’t that right Major?”

  The Major almost choked on his drink as the Leaders burst into laughter.

  “That wasn’t my decision,” spluttered the Major between coughs.

  “The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks,” Jack countered, to more laughter. “Anyway, I just thought they were interesting names to choose as they sound a bit ominous, and that makes me wonder what sort of people they are.”

  “Arseholes,” reiterated Issy, to more laughter.

  “Seriously,” Jack continued, “it was a weird sort of conversation, like we were feeling each other out. All we managed to get out of him was that he and his group had managed to seal off a tower block in the East End and were looking for any help they could get. At first, I was pleased that we’d made contact with another group and wanted to help if possible, so I mentioned that we had arms and heli’s. He seemed very interested, but as soon as we started asking questions about who he was and how many people were with him he became very cagey and we didn’t get any straight answers. Makes you wonder.”

  “Yes,” added the Major after recovering, “I got the distinct impression that he was someone who couldn’t be trusted, but I guess time will tell.”

  “We’ve agreed to get back in touch in a couple of days once things have calmed down a bit,” Jack advised, “so we’ll keep you posted on any developments.”