Blog of the Dead (Book 2): Life (13 page)

This part of the park used to be a landscaped garden, with trees and little bridges over paths that weaved through beds once filled with seasonal flowers, but now grew thick with weeds and long grass. ‘We need to think about taking cover and finding some food,’ I said.

‘The Mermaid Café,’ suggested Kay. The Mermaid stood a little way down through the park and overlooked the beach. It was the only building down here, other than the Toll House further along at the very end of the park.

‘OK, good thinking,’ I said.

We followed a path down to the seawall, thinking it would be the safest route – with the beach on one side and the tall seawall on the other. We reached the steps up to the café and took them two at a time until we came out to the entrance to the café’s veranda.

Inside, I made straight for the counter. The place looked pretty bare, but I grabbed a couple of bottles of orange Fruit Shoot and threw one to Kay, before picking up a packet of ice cream cones – bypassing the shrivelled, mould covered burger buns. Kay sat at one of the tables and I joined her, tossing the ice cream cone packet on the table in front of her, and opened my drink. I took four big gulps before placing the bottle on the table and rubbing my face with my hands. ‘I’m tired,’ I said, lowering my hands and looking at Kay.

‘Yeah, we could be back at camp, our luxury caravan bunks awaiting us … but you had to be like, “Let’s go and set a serial killer free so he can rejoin his psycho sister and kill a ton of people”. Bloody fucktard.’

I ignored Kay and closed my eyes, but all I saw was Josh’s bloody body laying on the steps. I snapped them open. ‘I need to pee,’ I said. I stood and headed for the café door. Outside I turned right at the steps and jogged up another flight of stairs. At the top, I could see the adventure playground. Before the outbreak, a group of us students came here after dark and played on the zip wires and climbed the huge wooden structure, sliding down the spiral slides. It had been fun back then, but now the playground looked like a waste of precious energy.

I ducked into a patch of small trees and bushes, directly behind the café, slid my knife through my belt and undid my jeans, shoving them down to my ankles. I lent back against the wall of the café for support while I peed.

I’d had an unfortunate-weeing-outside incident a few years back on a camping trip, where I crouched down and got my aim totally wrong and ended up pissing all over my jeans. Once I’d started I just couldn’t stop and my jeans got soaked, and my friends took the piss out of me for the rest of the weekend. And I never got anywhere with the cute boy I fancied. I couldn’t even remember his name now, but I’ll never forget how embarrassing it was to return to camp with soaking, stinking jeans that I had to take off and wash in a lake because I hadn’t packed another pair. But over a year in the zombie apocalypse with no flushing toilets had made me quite the peeing-outside-with-my-trousers-around-my-ankles expert.

Job done – successfully – I stood and pulled up my jeans. I did up my flies while I hurried through the trees. I stopped when I heard the sound of feet pounding. My heart thumped in my chest and my hand went to the handle of my knife. That’s when he lumbered through the trees before me – Sean. He stopped at the sight of me and his eyes widened.

‘It was you. You killed them!’ I said, but before I could pull my knife from my belt, his eyes narrowed and he dived at me, the crowbar he’d nicked from St Andrews raised in his right hand.

I tried to dodge him but in one swift movement he wrapped his left hand around my mouth, moved his body so he stood behind me and pulled me backwards onto the ground. He sat behind me as he held me – my body between his legs and my back against his chest. Sean kept his hand over my mouth while his right arm swung around to grip my waist, pinning my right arm to my side. I couldn’t move to get my knife. ‘Shhhhhhhh,’ Sean whispered. ‘Shhhhhh. Don’t make a sound.’ I glanced down at the crowbar held in his right hand and I wondered if I could get hold of it with my left arm. I struggled but he only held me tighter. Images of the mutilated bodies at the hotel spammed my mind. ‘Shhhhhhhh, keep quiet,’ he said. Tears rolled down my cheeks and onto the back of his hand.

I heard feet pounding on hard earth. I heard the sound of branches swishing against moving bodies. My muddled mind tried to make sense of it. Someone else was here. Was it Anna? But I heard more than one pair of feet … Chris, Soph, Misfit … tracking Sean? I struggled, desperate to call out, to say, ‘He’s here!’ But Sean held me so tight I could hardly breath, let alone free myself enough to cry for help.

The sound of the feet disappeared into the distance. ‘I’m going to move my hand away,’ Sean whispered into my ear. ‘Promise me you won’t scream.’ I didn’t move. ‘Sophie, it’s not me you have to fear, OK? Promise me you won’t scream or shout. Please, for both our sakes, trust me.’ I nodded and Sean moved his hand, hovering it near my mouth, ready to cover it again in case I disobeyed him. He loosened his grip around my body and I sprang forwards, out of his arms. I turned, and on my knees, I looked at Sean with wide eyes. ‘Where’s Kay?’ he asked, keeping his voice low. ‘Sophie, we need to get out of here now, understand? Where’s Kay?’

‘Down there,’ I nodded with my head in the general direction of the steps.

‘Come on,’ said Sean. He stood, grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. I led the way to the steps. ‘Down here,’ I said, unsure whether to believe I didn’t need to fear him or whether he was just after tricking me to get a two for one deal. But something about the fear in his eyes …
‘Quickly,’ said Sean. ‘They’re everywhere out here.’ I didn’t bother asking who, instead I practically tumbled down towards the café.

Kay leapt to her feet as I burst into the café with Sean following me. She raised her axe and lunged at Sean. ‘NO!’ I yelled, putting a hand up to hold her back. ‘It’s OK … I think.’ Sean slammed the café door and I watched as he shoved tables and chairs up against it.

‘What the fuck –’ she began, but Sean grabbed her arm and pulled her around the back of the food counter. I followed and the three of us crouched down on the floor, resting our backs against the pale blue painted wood.

I watched Sean put his face in his hands. After a moment he ran his fingers through his hair before resting his head back against the counter. The swelling had gone down around his right eye, but the skin remained an angry purple. ‘What’s going on Sean?’ I said. ‘Who are we hiding from? And tell us everything this time.’

‘Anna –’

‘
Oh and just so you know,’ began Kay, cutting Sean off, ‘we’ve just checked out of Hotel Hell, so we know this isn’t just about your little sister. Not unless she’s trying to give Ted Bundy a run for his money.’

‘She wouldn’t have hurt a bloody fly before,’ said Sean, not reacting to Kay’s comment.

‘Before what? asked Kay.

‘Before she was brainwashed.’ Sean looked from my bemused face to Kay’s bemused face.

‘Fuck off,’ said Kay. ‘Brainwashed … by who?’

Sean leaned his head back against the counter and stared up at the ceiling while he spoke.
‘A guy called Marco –’

‘
Wait,’ I said. ‘Marco … a smarmy bloke with black hair and a perma-grin?’

‘
You know him?’ asked Sean.

‘
No. But he turned up at our camp wanting us to join his safe house. We sent him packing. I thought … me and Kay thought … the bodies at the hotel … we thought they were Marco and his people. We thought … we thought you and Anna killed them.’

‘
The bodies aren’t Marco and his
people
. They’re the
victims
of Marco and his people.’

‘
What?’

‘
That bastard twisted her mind … all their minds.’

‘
Who’s minds?’

‘
You couldn’t leave well enough alone so you’re going to find out now anyway – they’re all over this place.’

‘
Who are?’

‘
Marco’s
Saved
ones.’ At the sound of hands slamming the windows at the front of the café, Sean fell silent and we all snapped our heads in that direction. I couldn’t see anything from beneath the counter. I glanced at Sean, my eyes wide, and he placed a finger to his lips to silence me. But at the sound of smashing glass, Sean rose to his feet, limped to the corner of the counter and peered around to the other side. ‘Fuck,’ he said, his crowbar firm in his hand. ‘Game’s up.’

I stood and peered over the counter to see five Human Zombies, their nails and teeth sharpened to points, slamming their fists and bodies against the door and window of the café. Another HZ snarled at me through a hole in the glass door, baring its sharp teeth as it reached its filthy arm inside. Its hair was long and matted with dirt and blood, on its head, it wore a hat made from a human face. In its right hand it held a carving knife. ‘Kay, Sophie, meet my sister,’ said Sean.
‘Meet Anna.’

Entry Fifteen

‘Shit. Fuck,’ I said as me and Kay followed Sean out from the counter in the Mermaid Café. Three more HZs joined the six already outside. I won’t lie, my bowels threatened a worrying opening sort of manoeuvre at the sight of them but I clenched tight. I thought we’d killed all the HZs, back in town when we saved Kelly and her kids from them and a hoard of zombies outside the old cinema. Apparently not.

We stood in a line, me with my knife raised, Kay with her axe across her body and Sean with his crowbar held high. The door gave way and the tables and chairs squeaked against the tiled floor as they were shoved back. The first HZ squeezed through the gap – a skinny male, naked other than a drying piece of tattooed flesh that must have once been someone’s back piece but was now strung on a piece of string and tied around the filthy HZ’s waist. It stalked towards me, its eyes boring into mine, a smirk on its lips.

I was aware more HZs had slipped inside the café but I kept my eyes on the one heading towards me. It licked its lips and laughed. I lunged at it with my knife but it was quick and it dodged me, grabbing the lapels of my biker jacket. It shoved me so my back went over the table behind and it forced its body on top of me. It snapped its jaws. I gagged as the smell of its breath – like rancid meat in the sun – hit my face.

I managed to get my left hand up and I placed my palm on the HZ’s forehead. As I pushed its head back, I swung my knife arm up and rammed my blade through its open mouth. Its body slid off me and slumped to the floor while I pushed myself up from the table. I turned my attention onto the next HZ, this one wielding a knife while it performed boxer stylee footwork before me, when I heard Sean shout, ‘Leave my sister to me!’ I risked a quick glance to the right to see him smash an HZ in the head with his crowbar, while Kay split the head of another one with her axe.

I turned my attention back to the HZ before me. It swiped its knife at me in a toying manner, while I dodged the blade. It laughed, enjoying watching me dance. Another HZ took advantage of me being busy and it pounced on me from the right, knocking me to the floor on my left side. It grabbed the hand that held the knife and dug its long, sharpened nails into my skin. I cried out and dropped the knife. The HZ rolled me onto my back and pinned me to the ground by my wrists, its blood smeared body straddling me. Its hair smelt like sheep, while the odour wafting from its body was of stale sweat, coppery blood and human shit.

The HZ with the knife screamed and grabbed the matted dirty blonde hair of the HZ on me, pulling it back and dragging it off me, angered by a rival stealing its pray. The blonde HZ clawed at Knife HZ and Knife HZ slashed Blonde HZ’s chest with its knife, drawing blood. Not a deep wound, just a warning.

I scrambled to my feet, grabbed my knife and drove the blade through Blonde HZ’s ear. ‘There you go,’ I said to Knife HZ, ‘I’m all yours.’ The HZ slashed its blade at me. I ducked and plunged my knife through its heart, wiping its perma-smirk off its face.

I glanced behind to see Kay bury her axe in the head of an HZ, but before she
could pull the axe free, Anna leapt at her. The force of the attack knocked Kay sideways and she lost her grip on her weapon. She hit the ground on her left side with Anna on top of her, her knife raised above Kay’s head. Kay thrust her right hand up and grabbed hold of Anna’s wrist, keeping the blade from going down any further. With a sharp shove upwards, Kay bent Anna’s wrist backwards, causing her to drop the knife. Furious, Anna punched Kay in the jaw and rolled her over onto her back, pinning Kay to the floor by her wrists. Dazed from the blow, Kay lay beneath Anna, unmoving.

I charged at Anna with my knife raised but Sean grabbed my elbow, yanked me back and shoved me sideways where the side of my left leg slammed into a chair. The chair toppled and I grabbed the backrest with my left hand and swung my right arm in the air to try and get my balance, but, as the chair crashed onto its side, it took me down with it. My knife fell to the floor with a clutter as my hands instinctively threw out in front of me to break my fall and my palms slammed against the tiled floor. I came to a stop with the edge of the chair seat digging into my groin.

From behind me, I heard Sean yell, ‘Anna, no!’ followed by the horrible sound of Kay screaming. I used my hands to push myself back, off the chair and, still on my knees, I turned just in time to see the last HZ throw itself at me. I grabbed the legs of the chair and swung it up and at the HZ. The weight of the chair prevented me from putting any great force behind the swing while on my knees but it was enough to knock the HZ off course in time to grab my knife, spring to my feet and stab the HZ in the neck before it could steady itself for another attack.

As the HZ’s body slumped to the ground, I turned to see Kay laying on the floor clutching her throat. Blood oozed from between her fingers. Anna, vibrant red blood dripping down her chin, thrashed wildly as Sean held her under her arms and dragged her off Kay’s shuddering body.

Sean pulled Anna clear of Kay and wrapped his arms around her chest and held her writhing body to him, while I darted over and knelt beside Kay. I ripped off my jacket, peeled off my jumper and removed my t-shirt, before shoving Kay’s hand out of the way and pressing the balled up t-shirt against her throat to stem the blood flow. ‘We have to get Kay out of here now!’ I barked at Sean.

I watched as Sean ignored me and, with his head close to Anna’s, he spoke to her. ‘Shhh, Anna,’ he soothed. ‘It’s OK, darling. It’s me. Sean. It’s your brother.’ Sean jolted his head back instinctively as Anna snapped her head to the side and snarled at him. ‘Ssssh, Anna, please. Anna.’ he implored, his voice cracking. ‘Please remember me.’

‘Sean, we have to go!’

‘Remember that I love you. That you love me,’ he continued, ignoring me. ‘I love you, Anna.’

Anna cocked her head to the side and I saw her features soften as her body relaxed in Sean’s arms. Despite the dead human face on top of her head, and the blood and shit smeared over her half naked body, I realised, in that moment, just how beautiful she must have been before she ruined herself – tall, though half a foot sorter than Sean – modelesque, full lips, big green eyes. ‘That’s right, darling,’ soothed Sean. ‘You remember me.’

Sean let go of Anna and he moved around so he stood in front of her. ‘I’m going to help you. I’ll take you away from here. Away from Marco.’ Anna’s features twisted and she shook her head. She raised a filthy hand to her forehead and raked at her skin with her sharp nails, drawing blood. ‘Anna, don’t!’ said Sean and he put a hand out towards her but Anna batted it away. She unleashed an animalistic squeal that rose into a shrieking cry and punched Sean in the jaw, sending him backwards where he sprawled into a table. Anna turned and fled through the door.

Sean scrambled to his feet and limped after her. But, before he reached the door, I grabbed Kay’s left hand and pressed it against the blood soaked t-shirt at her neck, hoping she had the strength to hold it there, and leapt after him. I grabbed his elbow and pulled him back into the café and round to face me. I saw that Anna’s punch had reopened his cut lip and he licked at the fresh blood with the tip of his tongue.

‘What the fuck, Sean! Anna’s a Human Zombie and you didn’t think we needed to know that? So who’s this,’ I said, kicking the body of an HZ in its side, ‘your uncle Dave?’

‘Get off me,’ growled Sean and he used his right arm to shove me to the side.

I darted back in front of him and pressed my left palm against his chest in an attempt to stop him leaving. ‘No! Listen, we have to get Kay out of here now.’

Sean batted my hand away and glared at me, his eyes flicked towards the door. I thought he would bolt, but at the sound of multiple shrieks and howls from somewhere outside, he turned back to me. ‘OK, come on,’ he growled and he pushed past me to Kay, laying on the floor where I had left her. Sean helped her to her feet, wincing as his own battered body took her weight, while I threw my jumper on over my bra, shoved my arms into my jacket and picked up Kay’s axe. The three of us headed out the door.

Sean supported Kay, dragging her along with him as he hobbled across the veranda, trying to keep up with me. At the stairs, we ran downwards as fast as we could, careful not to lose our footing on the uneven stone steps. Out onto the sea wall, we turned left towards the harbour, relieved we couldn’t see any HZs ahead. I snapped my head around to scan the area, hoping the HZs weren’t pursuing us from the café, when something caught my eye. ‘Up there … who the fuck?’

Sean turned to follow my pointed finger, back up to the Mermaid. On the roof of the café, looming over us, stood a figure. Blood smeared his bare chest. He wore a pair of black trousers and a black cape covered with black feathers. Over his face he wore a black mask in the shape of an animal’s skull, with an elongated nose. Around its mouth had been glued – I could just make out from that distance – a row of human teeth, and on each side, near the top, were horns, like rams horns, curled outwards. In his left hand he held an HZ by its hair. The HZ was on its knees in front of him but, even before the dark figure dragged it to its feet, I already knew it was Anna.

‘Anna!’ said Sean. He left Kay to stand unsteadily by herself and he stumbled closer to the wall below the café. ‘ANNA!’ More HZs crawled on all fours onto the roof, coming to a stop beside the figure as he held a knife to Anna’s throat. ‘Marco, you bastard, let her go!’ yelled Sean. I watched as the figure – who I now knew was Marco, though he looked very different to when I first met him – ran his knife across Anna’s throat. Her body went slack in his arms and he tossed her off the roof, down onto the veranda. ‘NOOOO!’ Sean raised his arms, palms up towards Marco, then placed the heels of his hands against his temples. ‘No. No. No,’ he muttered, shaking his head. He turned his body from the café, towards the beach.

I continued to watch as Marco turned and stalked to the back of the roof and leapt off, the HZs creeping on all fours to follow him.

‘Sean, we have to go. They might come after us,’ I said. He snapped out of his trance and glared at me. Without a word, he turned and staggered back up the steps towards the café. ‘Sean!’ I yelled after him, worried the HZs would be waiting up there. ‘Shit,’ I said when he didn’t come back. I grabbed Kay around the shoulders, worried at how pale she looked but not wanting to leave her alone, and with me dragging her along, we followed Sean back to the café.

We found him kneeling at Anna’s side, her body twisted on the concrete, blood pouring from her throat. No sign of Marco or the other HZs. ‘I couldn’t save her,’ said Sean.

I thought for a moment, about how to clear Sean’s name so me and Kay could go back to our camp. ‘No. But she can save us.’