by Hatchett
“Don’t forget to park them at the far end of the tunnel,” Ernie pointed out. “Don’t want the cars getting in our way or getting damaged when you use the bombs.”
Mamba nodded.
“OK, get the cars.”
Mamba then looked towards the group that were left.
“Ernie ‘n Chrissy’re stayin’ here. The rest of ya are with me. Kill any zombies.”
Mamba checked behind the cars blocking off access to the railway track and couldn’t see any zombies nearby.
“Basir, Ahmed, move these two fuckin’ cars outta the way.”
Basir and Ahmed did as they were told, and Mamba and the rest of the group started walking down the narrow lane towards the train tracks.
After twenty metres the lane flattened out and split; to continue straight on would take them down to the tracks and turning to their left would take them to some derelict buildings which might once have been the station or storage sheds, it was difficult to say.
There were some zombies wandering around the buildings so Mamba indicated that some of the men should veer off in that direction.
Mamba and the rest continued down the lane until they reached the tracks, the first of the cars now right behind them.
Mamba looked both ways down the tracks and could see some zombies, but they were all well out of the way for the time being. That wouldn’t last long with the noise of the car engines and the idiot drivers revving them, and he saw that one or two zombies had already turned and were moving in his direction.
Mamba walked out onto the tracks, using the crossing so he didn’t trip over. There were two sets of tracks, one going each way he presumed, and the crossing was just a little wider than a car, but not as wide as two. Mamba walked to the far side of the crossing, indicating that his men should spread out and guard against the zombies. Then, like a policeman directing traffic, he started pointing where he wanted the cars to go.
The first car was being driven by a man named Dev. Mamba pointed Eastwards, away from the tunnel and indicated he wanted him on the outside of the track.
Dev slowed, stopped and wound down his side window.
“How far you want us to go?”
“Thirty metres or so. Make sure the cars are in a line ‘n there’s no gaps.”
Dev nodded.
“What about the zombies?”
“What ‘bout ‘em?”
“You want us to get out and kill them?”
“Fuck no! Jus’ drive over the fuckers if they get in the way.”
Dev nodded and accelerated, turning the steering wheel of his Vauxhall Astra and headed down the outside of the Southern track, the car canted at an angle and bumping up and down as the wheels on the left-hand side bumped over the ballast and wooden sleepers.
Mamba could see that the Astra wasn’t going to block the entire width between the tracks and the hedge, so he directed a second car along the same route, telling the driver to park next to Dev at an angle and make sure there was no gap, even if it meant parking the car in the hedge itself.
The next car he sent between the rails of the Southern track, the next two in the gap between the North and South tracks, the next one inside the rails of the Northern track and the next two on the outside the Northern track.
Mamba watched the eight cars bumping along and stopping in line with each other, some at a slight angle so the drivers had enough room to get back out. A couple were so close together that the doors wouldn’t open far enough so the drivers climbed out of the windows instead. Mamba noticed a few crushed zombies littered along the tracks and was fairly confident that no more could get to them from the East. However, it didn’t mean that there weren’t any gaps in the hedges and fences alongside the tracks, so he sent some of his men to check along each of the borders.
Mamba then turned his attention to the West and could see the tunnel just over a kilometre away. There was no way he was walking, so he sent one of his men back up to the entrance to bring down a SUVs and Ernie and Chrissy. In the meantime, he directed a further eight cars along the tracks heading Westbound and explained to the drivers that he wanted the tunnel blocked at the far end.
“This is fun,” Ahmed remarked, sarcastically.
“Ain’t got no choice, bro” Mamba replied. “Don’t worry, we’ll be blowin’ shit up soon.”
“What the fuck we gonna do if we find a way in ‘n there’s fuckin’ thousands of soldiers? We’ll be dead as shit.”
Mamba thought about it.
“Yeah, I guess they must have some sorta defence.”
“What? Ya thought we’d jus’ march in, kill a few knobs ‘n rape ‘n pillage?”
“Yeah, summat along ‘em lines,” Mamba laughed.
“Jesus!” Ahmed said in disgust.
“Ya got any bright ideas then?” Mamba asked heatedly.
“Yeah. As a matter of fact, I do.”
Ahmed told Mamba what he was thinking, and Mamba’s scowl slowly turned into a bright smile.
“I knew ya had ta be useful fer summat!” Mamba said, laughing.
38
Day 22 – 14:30
Corsham
The SUV arrived with Ernie and Chrissy in the back. Mamba switched places with the driver and told him to get some help and bring the other SUVs down with all the equipment to the mouth of the tunnel. The rest of the men could walk, checking the hedges and fences along the cutting to make sure the area was secure.
Mamba got into the driving seat and pulled away as Ahmed shut his door.
They passed under Potley Lane Bridge and carried on down the tracks, thick trees and fencing on either side of the cutting. As they got closer to the Box Tunnel entrance, the sides of the cutting gradually rose up before the trees gave way to near-vertical brick walls covered in vegetation and rising up a good twenty or so metres at their highest.
Fifteen metres from the tunnel entrance there was a set of metal steps which rose up twenty metres to the ground above the tunnel. To the right of these steps, the cutting widened, and they were faced with a flat brick wall roughly ten metres wide facing them.
Mamba stopped the SUV next to the steps and looked ahead into the tunnel. He noticed that the drivers had turned on the cars’ headlights so they could see where they were going.
Mamba got out of the SUV, Ahmed, Chrissy and Ernie joining him.
“How far is that fuckin’ tunnel?” Mamba asked in awe. He could see the light from the cars penetrating the darkness for a few metres but then it was pitch black with just a pinprick of light in the far distance.
“Just under three kilometres,” Ernie said.
“Yer kiddin’?” Mamba asked.
“No. It goes under straight under the M.O.D. place you visited earlier,” Ernie said.
“How do ya know that?” Mamba asked.
“I worked here, remember. For years. It was hard work, backbreaking. Like working down a coal mine. And, we got paid bugger all. A bloody pittance it was.”
“Ahh, poor ol’ Ernie. And don’t swear.”
Ernie laughed.
“See the ground above the tunnel entrance?” Ernie said, pointing to the skyline at the top of the steps with a gnarled hand. “About a hundred metres further on from that edge, that’s where the M.O.D. grounds start.”
“Is that all? Ya mean we went all ‘round ‘em houses ta get there ‘n this is a short cut?”
“Yep. You probably went around the outer edge of Burlington.”
“You mean the underground city fills all that space between the town ‘n the M.O.D. place?”
“Yes. And that’s just the Northern part of the site. The site also extends to the South of the railway line. From the maps I saw years ago, the railway roughly splits it in two.”
“Fuck me, it’s massive!” Mamba exclaimed, surprised at the size of it. He expected something the size of a large hotel.
“Well, it is called an underground city. The clue’s in the word ‘city’,” Ernie said sarcastically.
/> “Funny. Well, ya coulda tol’ us ‘bout the shortcut when we saw ya this mornin’.”
“You didn’t ask. You asked about quarries.”
Mamba looked skywards and sighed.
“So, where’s the entrance ta this city then? All I can see is train tracks, the tunnel ‘n shitloads of bricks.”
“The only entrance I know is hidden behind the bricks,” Ernie said, pointing to the ten-metre wall by the side of the steps. “I’m sure there’s plenty of other ways in, I just don’t know where they are.”
Mamba looked at Ernie, seriously wondering if he had finally lost it.
“If we blow that, the whole fuckin’ tunnel might come down.”
“Well, dig it out, then, son. Let’s see how your back holds up, shall we? And, don’t swear.”
“No chance. It’d take too fuckin’ long. Are ya sure it’s there?”
“Positive. Before they bricked it back up and hid it, there was a spur off the main railway line that went right inside. It made it easier to move all the men, machinery and other equipment to where it was needed. It was a big area and I expect it’s still there, behind that wall.”
Mamba strolled across to the steps and used them to vault over a chain link fence to get closer to the wall in question. As he did so, more men started arriving in the other SUVs.
Ahmed strolled over to one of the SUVs and searched around before pulling out a set of bolt cutters. He walked back to the chain link fence and set about cutting a hole to walk through.
As he did so, there was a massive thud followed by a startled scream. He turned in time to see a circle of Turks staring down at a squashed zombie on the tracks. It was obvious that the zombie had taken a dive from the ground above the tunnel and had landed on its head.
“Ya wanna watch where ya stand,” Ahmed said belatedly, as he went back to cutting the fence. “Who screamed?”
“It was Abbas,” a Turk named Yilmaz shouted and started laughing.
Ahmed turned back to see Abbas going bright red and trying to deny it was him.
39
Day 22 – 15:00
Corsham
Once Ahmed had made a gap in the fence, he, Ernie and Chrissy walked over to Mamba as he continued to study the wall.
“Can’t see anythin’ ‘n it don’t look like no entrance,” he said as they joined him.
“What do you expect after sixty-odd years?” Ernie said, looking around at the ground. “Look here.”
The three turned to Ernie, who was pointing at the ground.
“If you look carefully, you can see the ground leading up to that wall is level, then there’s a bit of a slope going down until it meets the side wall.”
“So what?” Mamba asked.
“The ground has to be level to lay down train tracks. If you look closer, you can see that even after sixty years there’s bits of vegetation that hasn’t grown as much as the surrounding area. It shows where the siding and tracks used to be.”
“I can’t see shit,” Mamba said.
“Come and stand by me. Then you’ll see.”
Mamba walked over to where Ernie stood, then looked in the direction he had been pointing. At first, he couldn’t really see anything, but as soon as he looked slightly away, his peripheral vision picked out the feint tracks far more clearly. A little like seeing stars at night with your peripheral vision, but as soon as you looked directly at them, they seemed to disappear.
Mamba was surprised and walked along what he thought to be the old track, kicking away some of the turf to see what was beneath. He found a piece of metal and held it up for Ernie to see.
“It’s a fish bolt,” Ernie said, looking closely. “They’re used for splicing connections.”
“Like I know what that means,” Mamba said sarcastically.
Ernie looked towards the existing rails and pointed to where a thick strip of metal held two sections of track together. The strip of metal had a number of bolts holding it in place.
“See?”
Mamba nodded and looked at his watch. He then looked towards the sky, which had darkened considerably over the last half-hour.
“I reckon we should get back ta the hotel, have a beer or three ‘n make plans fer tomorrow.”
“Sounds good ta me,” Ahmed replied, already walking back towards the SUV.
Mamba took one more look at the wall then followed with Ernie and Chrissy.
Mamba told the rest of the group what was happening.
“We’ll be back at first light,” he said.
“What about the gear?” one of the Turk’s asked.
“Leave it inside the tunnel. No one’s gonna nick it.”
Mamba climbed into his SUV, wound down the window and shouted for Abbas to get in as some of the other Turks bundled into the other vehicles. There wasn’t enough room for everyone, so those still standing decided to wait for the car drivers to return from inside the tunnel then they could all walk back together.
Abbas climbed into the back next to Chrissy and shut the door as Mamba bounced the SUV over the tracks to face the way back and accelerated.
“So, tell me Abbas. What the fuck was all that girly screamin’ ‘bout?” he started.
40
Day 22 – 15:30
Corsham
Because of the roadblocks, they had to dump the SUVs along Station Road and walk the rest of the way to the Hunter’s Arms.
Ahmed, Chrissy and Ernie went into the lounge while Mamba went up to his room for a quick shower and a change of clothes.
He was back down within fifteen minutes, absently wondering where Natalie might be. He entered the lounge and found most of his group and quite a few townspeople milling around talking and drinking. It took him a few seconds to work out what was different about the room then Evelyn was shouting towards him and confirming his suspicions.
“Mamba! Over here,” she shouted, beckoning him over with a wave.
As he reached her table, she handed him a nice cold bottle of beer which he took gratefully and took a few quick gulps. He plonked himself down in an empty chair and noticed that Natalie was sitting two seats away with a glass of wine in her hand and a smile on her face.
“We’ve rigged up a generator, so you now have electricity and we’ve also re-stocked the bar. This is now our main public house for the town.”
“So, I see,” Mamba said, nodding.
It was the lights being on which gave the room a completely different look and feel. Plus, the fact that someone had drawn the lightweight curtains to shut out the early evening gloom. He could finally see that the carpet was made up of shades of red, greens and blacks and with the lights behind the bar and inside the refrigerators all lit up, it brought the whole place to life. All it needed was some noisy fruit machine, a jukebox and pool table and it would be just like a pub should be. As he was thinking this, the strains of The Beatles singing ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ came through hidden speakers at a low volume.
“Ernie and Chrissy have been filling us in on what you’ve been up to,” Evelyn was saying.
“What?” Mamba asked, missing what she had said as he listened to the music.
Evelyn repeated what she had said, and Mamba nodded, distracted.
“What is this music?” he asked.
“A Hard Day’s Night by The Beatles. The Fab Four,” Evelyn replied.
“The what?” Mamba asked, clearly confused.
“The four band members, George, Ringo, Paul and John were known as the ‘Fab Four’,” Evelyn explained.
“Not exactly ‘fab’ is it? ‘N who the fuck has a name like Ringo? Sounds like a mobile phone tune.” Mamba groused. “And why call yerself the Beatles? I mean, might as well call yerself the fuckin’ slugs or caterpillars or woodlouse’s or whatever. Can’t beat The Sex Pistols for a band name.”
“Woodlices,” Ahmed corrected him.
“’N what the fuck is a hard day’s night?” Mamba continued, ignoring Ahmed. “It’s either a hard day or a ha
rd night. Can’t be both.”
“Have ya finished?” Ahmed asked sarcastically. “We can’t hear the fuckin’ tune.”
Mamba shrugged.
“If you don’t like it, I’m sure we can find something else if you’d prefer,” Evelyn said.
“Nah. As long as it ain’t Men at Work then we’re OK,” he said.
“Who are Men at Work?” Chrissy asked.
“Exactly!” Mamba retorted.
“Please, no!” Ahmed butted in. “Not now. Can’t we jus’ have a nice drink in peace?”
Ernie, Evelyn and Natalie looked at each other wondering what was going on.
“I hear you’re going to try and find the entrance in the morning,” Evelyn prompted, trying to get Mamba off the subject and talking about his plans.
“Yeah. I need a pen ‘n paper so we can start plannin’.”
“I’ll get some,” Natalie said, rising from her seat and walking off. She was back within a few minutes.
“Ernie’s shown us a brick wall,” Mamba noted absent-mindedly as he watched Natalie’s pert backside swaying from side to side as she walked away.
Evelyn laughed until she realised Mamba was being serious.
“You’re joking,” she said, turning to Ernie for confirmation.
“It’s true,” Ernie confirmed, grinning. “We won’t see anything until the wall is demolished.”
“I’m jus’ hopin’ he ain’t lost it,” Mamba said, tapping his temple with his finger.
They all laughed, none more so than Ernie.
“You’ll see, son. I reckon you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.”
“Why’s that then?” Mamba asked.
“Well, for a start, the city is bound to be well protected and using bombs they’re going to hear you coming. How many people have you got, fifty?”
“Forty-eight now,” Ahmed butted in.
“Well, they’re likely to have thousands.”
“How come?” Mamba asked.
“I gave you an idea of the size earlier. I know it’s hard to imagine, but if you think up to around ten thousand people could be living down there, and a lot are the rich and famous, how many of that ten thousand is going to be army types to protect them?”
