Z-Day Series: Book 1 First Burnz
Page 6
Chapter 5
“To London!” Teegan cried. “Why on earth to London?”
“I’m tired of going around Ashton; it’s like we’re trapped here just because we used to live here! Well, we’re not, and I want to go to London.”
“London? Give me a minute.” I said quietly, turning on the laptop and checking Google Maps. “Well, it’ll only take us approximately four hours, and it’s not like everyone’s going to be on the roads.”
“Exactly.” Courtney said.
“But what about the Library?” Daniella asked worriedly. “It’s our only source of ammo!”
“Don’t worry about that.” A library worker, who was just passing by, said. “All Libraries across England are connected to this underground system, so find a Library and you’ll be safe. They also transport food and clothes, so they’re essential.”
“Thanks.” Courtney said, before turning to us all. “Now, who wants to come?”
“Me and Molly are in.” I said immediately.
“As am I.” Daniella followed my lead.
“I suppose there’s no harm in trying...” Teegan said slowly. “But if this ends badly, we’re coming straight back!”
“Agreed.” Courtney sighed. “But I tell you, things are going to be fine. Now, let’s get an early start while we can.”
We all piled into the Jeep, Molly, Buddy and Lacy in the boot. Courtney started the engine, and so began our long journey to London.
It was relatively uneventful, with us all either talking (Teegan and Courtney), reading (Daniella) or staring absent mindedly out of the window (Me, of course, being the loner that I am)
The roads were practically deserted, as everybody was either at home or work when they were infected, and the horizon was a dull grey, the sun didn’t seem to shine, everything being miserable and cliché for a Zom... I mean, for a Z-Day. Ha, almost said Zombie Apocalypse then. Courtney would kill me if she heard me call it that!
The Zombies didn’t tend to stray far from the urban areas, staying close to what little civilisation was left.
After two hours, we stopped at the roadside to have a drink and some food, and let the dogs run about a bit, before giving them a drink too. Everything was going as planned, except for a Farmer Zombie, who seemed to be alone, and was took down by the dogs! This time we couldn’t stop them, as they raced up to their walking food and ripped at its skin, not making any damage, until Molly sprung up and bit at its head. This stopped it, but I shot it in the head for good measure.
The dogs started to eat the meat left behind, before we stopped them, but it didn’t seem to have any bad side effects. Even so, we didn’t let them eat the rest, loading them into the cages so that we could continue driving.
From then on, the journey was rather mundane, except for when we found Survivor FM. I was twiddling with the radio dials and buttons, when suddenly we picked up a signal, and the whole car was filled with the sound of ‘Bang Bang’, by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nikki Minaj, but with different lyrics, referring to the killing of Zombies!
We all sang along where we could, but the most interesting part was when the music ended, and the talking started.
So, hello folks, it’s been a normal day round here, I believe, grey skies and cloudy weather, but hey, you can’t have everything.
A word to those of you who are on the road, the motor way is relatively clear, there’s about one car on it, no accidents, finally, and the weather should stay dry until the night, when it’s forecast to rain, and Zombie activity will be a bit higher than usual, with no apparent reason.
This is your host, Nigel Bell, I’ll be here with you all day, making sure you survive this Apocalypse, and next up is Hungry Like The Zomb.
The next song was a version of ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’, by Duran Duran, only it including Zombies, or Zombs! This time we all sang along, as not many words had changed, and it instantly brightened our mood.
Going online, with the everlasting internet working everywhere for some reason, and with no passwords needed, it seemed that these Zombie covers of songs were growing more and more popular, as were videos on Youtube on ‘How to make the best base ever!’ or ‘How to make YOUR food last in the Zombie Apocalypse’, which Courtney demanded that I comment on, saying ‘It’s Z-Day, NOT THE APOCALYPSE!’.
Finally, we arrived in London. The roads were desolate; the big cities must have been hit hard by the virus. Well, when I say desolate, I mean of humans. There were plenty of Zombies around, and Courtney had to swerve a few times to avoid them!
There was some dispute as to which library we were going to, since London had many, but we finally decided on the London Library, one of the biggest in England.
We were greeted warmly, the dogs probably making us appear friendlier and less threatening, as they bounced around and were generally happy. It was almost as if they didn’t know that it was a Z-Day!
The Library had been set up the same way as Ashton Library; books all being replaced by ammo or guns, and the pages being ripped out and put into fires. London Library was much bigger than Ashton Library, so, naturally, it had more fires to warm the entire place (Heating didn’t seem to be working anywhere!). We sat down by one such fire, getting some food and bedding, on which we could rest our weary heads. After all, four hours travel gets you tired, even if it is in a car.
The radio, which was sat on a low bookshelf in the corner of the room, was blaring out Survivor FM, while we ate and slept continually, as there was not much else to do. I occasionally read books, or went underground to help with the unloading trucks, carrying the crates up again.
One of them contained a sack of newly made clothes, completely free. But we couldn’t just grab anything, oh no. Courtney wanted us to wear dark clothes, which made sense, since darker clothes meant you couldn’t be seen as well by the Zombies.
I got a black top, with some dark grey jeans and black trainers. Boring, I know, but, if was going to keep me safe, I didn’t really care. Everyone else went by the same colour code, and, for once, all the nice clothes were left, the ones too colourful to be any use to anyone, except improvised bandages and fire fuel. Which they were used for, by the way.
After a good sleep, we decided to go exploring. No, we weren’t idiots, and no, we weren’t five year olds. We just wanted to know the streets, as we knew Ashton like the back of our hands, but London? Let’s just say we needed Google Maps, and leave it at that.
After stopping at Starbucks for a ‘Make your own coffee/disaster session’, we had cleaned ourselves up and were going around in the Jeep again. Here and there, we got into little skirmishes, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Courtney was amazing with her AK-47s, so we didn’t have much trouble, but I also shot a few of the undead with my Sawn off Shotguns, because, you know, I was sitting shotgun, and I had two Sawn Off Shotguns... Get it? Shotgun, shotguns? Doesn’t matter.
We were able to give the dogs a run in the park, and they seemed to appreciate it, jumping around as usual and downing a few Zombies. As long as we watched them, they were fine.
“Kate?” It was Courtney, snapping me out of my daydream.
“What? Oh, sorry, what is it?”
“Look over there.”
I looked to where she was pointing. In the distance, there seemed to be a figure. But it wasn’t a Zombie. No, this was a human. A human fighting Zombies. A human who looked strangely familiar...