by Hatchett
Seconds later a bomb went off along the Western edge of the building, followed by another one on the back of the building to the North and then a fourth along the Eastern edge of the building.
Most of the ground floor and second floor apartments were decimated, massive holes in the walls caused masonry to fall and ceilings to collapse. The small number of people on the ground floor not immediately killed by the bombs, flying masonry and collapsing ceiling were just delaying the inevitable. Many were injured or trapped and within minutes were cowering from hordes of zombies swarming into the building.
Some on the second floor found themselves on the ground floor when the floor beneath their feet collapsed. Those who did not die from the fall were injured, some very seriously. The lucky few who were still alive and still had a floor beneath their feet looked down into the gaps in the floor and the missing walls to see a form of Hell on Earth.
Samata was in her apartment with some of her family members when the bombs when off. The building shuddered and shook as if a massive earthquake had just struck. It was some minutes before the movement stopped but they could all still hear other parts of the building collapsing.
Samata ran to her front door and pulled it open before walking out into the open-air corridor. What awaited her was something out of a nightmare. She could see that the Eastern horseshoe to her left seemed relatively intact, but almost all the lower floors on the Western horseshoe to her right were decimated. The whole section looked like it was sitting on stilts.
Through the smoke she could already see zombies flooding the area and quickly clicked her comms to speak to Daniel.
What she heard from Daniel didn’t fill her with optimism; they were effectively on their own for the time being.
Samata realised that the whole building could come down at any second, but there was no way anyone could try and leave; to do so would be suicidal. She thought about the small group of soldiers guarding the Estate and the way they ‘got dirty’, but there was no way of doing something like that on a larger scale. They were all civilians and didn’t expect to find themselves in this sort of situation.
Samata clicked her comms again, “Tim? You there?” she asked, trying to get hold of the guy in charge of the guards.
“I’m here Samata,” came Tim’s voice, out of breath as if he’d been running.
“What’s the status?”
“The alarm isn’t working, and I can’t get hold of two of my team. The other three are with me. We need to get everyone up the stairwell and block it up as quickly as possible.”
“OK, I’ll make a start here.”
Samata shouted into her apartment, “Everyone out and get to the roof!” She grabbed a couple of the younger cousins and got them to carry a small sofa down the corridor to the stairwell.
There was already a stream of people heading up the stairwell when she got there, and they were joined by more and more on each level. Samata tried to ask people if the stairwell below was being blockaded but no one seemed to know anything and were more interested in running to safety.
As the tide of people going up began to dwindle, Samata got her cousins to push the sofa into the stairwell to block it. The people still coming up just jumped over it and continued on her way. She ordered her cousins to break into the nearest apartment and get what they could to block up the stairwell further.
As the cousins ran off, the building shuddered again and the third and fourth floors at the far end of the Western horseshoe crashed to the ground. It was swiftly followed by the floors above until the last five metres of the Western horseshoe was a large pile of rubble on the ground. The Green Park Estate was beginning to resemble a derelict building which had been smashed about by a wrecking ball.
Samata briefly closed her eyes, but she couldn’t afford to think about the building collapsing nor the people who had already lost their lives. She needed to get people to safety and block the stairwell to prevent any zombies reaching them.
Her cousins came out of the apartment, struggling with another larger sofa and Samata moved across to help them lever it into the corridor and then push it towards the stairwell. As they were about to push the sofa down the stairs, Tim and two other soldiers came rushing up the last few steps from the third floor and almost hurdled the sofa.
“Gotta be quick!” Tim huffed as he and his team helped push the second sofa into the gap. “We need more,” he gasped, trying to draw in more air.
Samata turned to her cousins and ordered them to get more items. They ran back into the apartment, closely followed by the soldiers.
A few seconds later they were back with an assortment of items; small tables, chairs, lamps, all of which were thrown onto the stairs below.
“Get to the tenth floor and get as many people as possible to get items ready to throw in the stairwell. We’ll try and hold them off as long as we can.”
Samata and her two cousins scampered up the stairs towards the tenth floor while the three soldiers readied their MP5s and aimed towards the stairs below.
It was some minutes before the first zombie appeared and Tim put a bullet straight through its temple. The body immediately slumped to the floor, only to be trodden on by another zombie climbing up. This too was shot, and the soldiers began to think they’d be able to block the stairs off with dead zombies when the first gun clicked on an empty magazine.
The soldier reloaded and continued picking out targets but shouted that it was his last bullets. Tim and the other soldier each instinctively checked their own supply and found that they both had one spare magazine with thirty rounds in them.
They continued taking out zombies as they appeared but there seemed to be a never-ending supply of them. Once they were down to their last few rounds each, the pile of zombies was large, but it would only be a matter of time before they were able to climb over the dead and the furniture. Tim hoped that Samata was ready on the tenth floor, ready to block the stairwell.
Tim signalled that they should move out and they ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. They reached the tenth floor and were pleased to see Samata at the head of the stairs, and when they pulled level, they saw a long line of people down each of the corridors, all holding something to throw down the stairs.
“Let’s get going,” Samata ordered as the first of the line moved forward and launched an old microwave oven down the stairs. The person then went up to the roof, leaving the next person in line to drop their item.
It then became a procession, like the good and the great waiting in line to present newly wedded royalty with their wedding gift. The pile of discarded goods in the stairwell slowly increased in size and began to block off the access. More chairs, tables, lamps, toasters, ovens and even a bed were dropped down the gap. At times the building shuddered again, but thankfully no more of it sheared away. Well, not yet anyway.
54
Day 13 – 21:15
Multi-Storey Cark Park, Heathrow
Mamba was sitting with a big grin on his face, wiping away a little blood from the small cut on his face. Ahmed and Ayla were still sitting on either side yet none of them had said a word for the past few minutes. They just watched what was happening below them.
They had seen an armoured vehicle come speeding towards them from the centre of the airport, cutting across the grass and tarmac as it headed towards the Perimeter. The vehicle ploughed into zombies as the machine gun on the top of the vehicle opened up on the hordes. Behind it in the distance, two helicopters rose into the air, one quickly speeding towards the Northern Perimeter and the other disappearing behind the buildings as it headed South. The helicopter still in sight started shooting at the zombies below with some sort of machine gun, and occasionally loosed off the odd rocket into the denser crowds. Bits of zombie were being flung in all directions. It was absolute carnage.
Mamba wished he had a surface to air missile or some sort of rocket propelled grenade. He’d never fired either, but he’d seen them on the TV and they looked e
asy enough to use. Just point and press. He’d love to see that helicopter trying to evade a rocket. It would serve the bastard right for shooting at him when he was in the armoured truck. He also wished he could join the zombies and invade the airport, try and gain access to their control area and blow it apart. But, he knew this simply wasn’t possible. He could be shot by accident and, even if he wasn’t, it would be a one-way mission. No, he needed a better plan, and watching their reaction was very interesting.
As he was thinking things through, a long line of coaches and buses appeared around the corner of some hangers a few hundred metres directly in front of the first breach. They all watched as two of the buses moved out of line and parked up across the first breach while the others continued along the perimeter looking for more gaps.
Mamba didn’t like it, but he was impressed by the speed of their response. It would only take them ten to fifteen minutes or so to block the breaches and he had to assume the same thing was happening in the Southern part of the airport. Then they’d be left to deal with the zombies within the perimeter, and from what he could see, that was unlikely to cause them to break out in sweat. They were obviously well trained and had drills in place for just such an attack. What he didn’t know was that only around half of their contingent were currently on site.
“All we’ve done is kick the hornet’s nest,” he muttered.
“What did ya say bro?” Ahmed asked, turning to look at him.
“I said that this is jus’ an inconvenience to ‘em. They might have ta fix a bit of fencin’ and replace some of their flowers, but we ain’t done any real damage and we’ve probably jus’ pissed ‘em off even more.”
“What do ya reckon they’ll do?” Ayla asked.
“Nothin’ they can do,” Mamba replied with a smile. “They don’t know who did it and they don’t know where we are.”
“They’ll guess it was you and make an extra effort to find you,” Ayla warned.
“They can try,” Mamba replied. “It’ll be like lookin’ for a needle in a haystack. A very sharp needle!”
Mamba was beginning to get bored. He’d seen what he needed to see and the longer he stayed, the more chance the bastards would spot him.
“Time to move,” he instructed as he got to his feet, pulled on his rucksack and headed for the exit.
55
Day 13 – 21:30
Heathrow
Issy had instructed the driver of the Panther to circle the whole perimeter. Although the coaches and buses were now in place, she wanted to check the fences herself to ensure there was no chance of more zombies getting inside the airport.
The two to three soldiers in each vehicle were still in place, keeping guard in case anything else attacked them from outside. Issy had already warned them that they were likely to be there for the whole night, but she promised that she would arrange for some refreshments to be brought to them once everything was under control.
Issy had ordered a general cease-fire across the airport, so the dozens of civilians shooting from the safety of the buildings and vehicles could stand down. This allowed the two army teams to leave the buildings and start taking out any stray zombies and ensure the ones on the ground were well and truly dead. Most of the soldiers had switched their MP5’s with silencers for the army issue Heckler & Koch SA80’s with bayonets. Although they would be noisier if they needed to be fired, it would allow the soldiers to stab bodies on the ground without getting too close and at the same time, save their ammunition. As it happened, they came across many severed heads with the teeth still snapping away like bear traps hidden in the undergrowth. It was a dangerous and messy job doing the clean-up, but someone had to do it.
“Issy, you there?” Jack asked.
“Here Jack,” Issy confirmed, “just carrying out final checks on the new barriers before heading back.”
“I didn’t want to raise this earlier as I knew you had your hands full, but there have been simultaneous bomb attacks at the Tower and the Green Park Estate.”
“How bad?” Issy asked with concern.
“The Tower is fine, just a bit of disruption to the cordon. The people in the hotel have had to block themselves in. Luckily no casualties. The Green Park Estate was not so lucky; it seems there has been a lot of casualties and part of the building has fallen, with the rest sure to follow. The survivors have made their way to the roof and barricaded themselves up there, but they need rescuing before the whole of the building collapses.”
“Can we get a couple of Chinooks over there to take people off?”
“That’s what we’re looking to do. Most of the people will need to come here. The Green Park Estate is no longer viable.”
“OK, I’ll make my way to the Chinooks,” Issy confirmed.
“No, you stay here. Andy is already there with Joel and they’re about to take off.”
As he said this, Issy heard the ‘whupping’ of rotors in the distance, the Chinooks warming up, ready to depart.
“OK, I’ll finish up here then work out what to do next.”
Issy knew it was going to be a long night.
56
Day 13 – 21:30
Tower of London
Daniel was still standing on the South Eastern rampart with Sean, Travis, Isaac, Zak and Grace. They’d all been watching the surrounding area for any sign of their attackers and listening to a running commentary from Samata at the Green Park Estate.
Isaac and Zak had been very worried about their mother, and although things seemed to be under control, the boys were still wound up. The only good thing to come out of this was that Samata would now have to leave her home, something she hadn’t really wanted to do.
The third Apache had arrived a little earlier and had circled the Tower and the nearby area, using its heat seeking gear to try and identify any live targets. They hadn’t found anything and as there was no immediate threat, Daniel had sent it back to Battersea. It didn’t surprise him that the attackers had disappeared. If what Sean has suggested was right, and that their aim had purely been to disrupt, then they’d done what they came for and run off home. Dave was currently en route from Battersea in one of the boats, bringing with him some of his team to help provide support and leaving Gina there to take control.
Things has begun to settle down and people had now been let out of their buildings. Many of them had raced to the outer ramparts to see what was going on, and some were sick when they got a smell of the burnt flesh. Most of the smoke had disappeared, although there were still fires burning in the nearby streets and buildings and, of course, the moat where the zombies were being incinerated. No doubt plenty more would fall into the moat to replace them over time.
There were also hordes of zombies inside the cordon, but Daniel couldn’t see any point in doing anything about them now. They were safe and the people in the hotel were safe, so it would just have to wait until the morning.
“Not a lot we can do until morning,” Daniel suggested.
“No,” Sean agreed. “Might as well start again after a good night’s rest.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Daniel replied, “but there is one thing I am sure about.”
“What’s that?” Sean asked.
“My beer is getting warm.”
Sean laughed as Daniel led the way back towards ‘The Keys’. On the way, he arranged for an increased number of his warders to keep guard overnight. You could never be too careful.
57
Day 13 – 21:45
Green Park Estate
Samata and the survivors were huddled on the roof of the Green Park Estate, waiting to be rescued.
Thankfully, they had not heard many sounds through the heavy door at the top of the stairwell, so it looked like the blockade was working, at least for now.
The building had shuddered quite a few times over the past twenty minutes or so, and each time there were screams and cries from the residents who thought the building was about to collapse. Samata just prayed t
hat it wouldn’t happen before help came.
As she sat there, she heard the first sounds of the Chinooks in the distance, getting closer with every second. Her comms crackled as Joel came online.
“Samata, you there?”
“Here Joel.”
“Which side of the building is falling down?”
“The West side, the one you’ll be approachin’.”
“OK. This is going to sound counter-intuitive but get everyone to move as far to the Western side of the roof as possible. We can’t risk the Chinooks on that side as it could trigger a collapse. We’ll come in from the East, so get people ready to move.”
“OK, but how’re ya gonna do it? Won’t landin’ cause more stress on the buildin’?”
“We’re not going to land, we’re going to lower the ramp and hover. People will have to jump onto the ramp and get inside quickly.”
“OK, leave it with me,” Samata confirmed.
Samata turned to Tim who had also been listening in on the conversation. Without being asked, he whispered to the rest of his team and they started moving people back towards the Western wall. Some of the people were reluctant to move, knowing that the West side seemed to be the most dangerous, but when the huge Chinooks came in with their two rotors hammering the air and causing massive downdrafts, they soon scooted out of the way.
Joel’s Chinook was the first one to pull up and hover. The ramp was already down, and he guided the pilot to bring it down within a couple of feet of the building’s roof. Once he gave the signal, people started moving forwards quickly, desperate to get off the roof and away to safety.
Although the Chinook usually transported a maximum of fifty or so troops, this assumed they would be sitting down on benches against the fuselage. In view of the current emergency, it was standing room only and it felt like a tube train in rush hour. Once the ramp had been raised, there were nearly two hundred people crammed into the space and there was no chance any of them would be able to fall over. A few along the edges got squashed a little as the Chinook banked and headed back in the direction of Battersea and was replaced by the second Chinook with Andy in charge.
