Devouring The Dead (Book 2): Nemesis (12 page)

Tom looked around. The mall would offer little protection from the horde t
hat was only sixty seconds away. Like the supermarket, there was nowhere to hide and nothing to barricade themselves in with. He looked at the garden centre. The building looked intact, but the fence around it looked insurmountable. Tom scanned around looking for inspiration.

“Hey you, let us in!” Harry shouted.

“What? Who’s there?” said Tom.

“I see them too,” said Jessica. “Look, behind those rose bushes, there’s someone there.”

“Hey, you, we’re not infected. We need help!” shouted Harry again.

The rose bush rustled and then a man stepped out from behind it. He jogged up to the fence and looked at Harry. The man was dressed in overalls and apparently worked there. His face and hands were covered in dirt
, but he seemed healthy otherwise. Despite all the dirt he was covered with, his white eyes sparkled brightly. He looked African and had a round cherub-like face and short dark hair.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?
Are you with them?” asked the stranger in a deep and urgent tone.

“Please,” said Tom approaching the fence, “please let us in. They’re coming
. We just need somewhere to shelter for a while. We’re no trouble, I promise.”

The man’s
brown eyes looked Tom up and down and then settled on Caterina. “She pregnant?”

“
Yes, she is. Can you help us?” pleaded Christina as she helped Caterina to her feet.

“Over the
re, there’s a gate in the fence.” The man pointed to one corner and then raced over to open it.

Tom and Heidi ran to it and the man was there
already unlocking it. He pushed the gate open and let them in. When the last of them was inside he shut it and locked it again.

“Better get inside then. No one knows I’m here and I’d prefer it to stay that
way. Follow me and keep quiet.”

The man led them down an aisle of tall shrubs and Tom saw that
many of them were dying. Looking around at the other plants, many of them had dead leaves and the soil was dry. Evidently the occasional storm wasn’t enough to keep them alive. Tom wondered if this man had any water and how he had managed to survive in here on his own.

They walked into the garden centre through another door that the man locked behind them. Inside it was cool and dark
. It smelt like fertiliser and the air was bad. They were quiet, as he had asked, and followed the man past well-stocked rows of gardening equipment: forks and spades, lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, trellis, and even an array of outdoor furniture. The man led them into a back office, not locked, and then through into another room. It appeared to be the worker’s restroom. There were two vending machines in the corner, a couple of sofas and a small kitchen area with a microwave, kettle and assorted dishes.

As they all settled down into the
seats, Tom approached the man who stood by the door watching them all. “Thanks. I’m Tom.”

“
Macklin. But call me Mac.”

“Thanks
, Mac. Is there anyone else here or..?”

“Just me.” Mac ran his grubby hands
over his head. “Shit, I’m just...I thought I was the only one left around these parts. Where the hell did you lot come from?”

“That’s a long
story, Mac,” said Tom. “I’ll fill you in later, but right now, I’ve got to figure how we’re going to get out of town. We’ve more people out there and they’re relying on me. I can’t leave them out there.”

“More people?”

“Hey, Tom, are we good?” said Harry. He shook hands with Mac and introduced himself.

“
Yeah, they can’t get in, don’t worry,” said Mac. “I haven’t had any trouble in here - not from those dead fuckers anyway.”

“
You asked if we were ‘with them’ when we were outside. Who were you talking about?” asked Tom. “Is there someone else in Longrock we should know about?”

“I suppose you’ve not been here long then? You don’t sound like you come from here and I don’t recognise any of you.
Well, that blonde chick looks vaguely familiar actually. Anyway, I wasn’t always on my own in this dump. I only moved to this town recently. Man, how much would I love to be kicking back with my friends in Jo’berg right now? Assuming they’re not zombies of course.

“
When it all kicked off, there was me, Sally and Keisha. We all worked here and it seemed the safest thing to do was stay put. There wasn’t much choice, outside was...well, you know, how it is. We wouldn’t have lasted two minutes. We managed to get a shit load of food and drink from the supermarket before it was cleared out completely. We just locked up and stayed put. I haven’t been outside since.

“Ov
er the past couple of weeks we saw these creeps come around. There was always two or three of them and they’d come and check out the mall, take stuff and leave. They drive an ambulance, but I’m pretty sure they’re not ambulance-men. They didn’t look like it to me. Sally reckoned we should join them. She thought they must have somewhere safe nearby. I told her not to go, but she wanted to leave and she convinced Keisha to go with her. I think they probably got cabin-fever being cooped up in here with me.

“A few days
ago, Sally and Keisha left. I watched them approach the ambulance and a guy came out the back. He was a short, ugly looking bloke. They talked for a minute or two then they got in the back, drove off, and I haven’t seen them since.”

“These men driving the ambulance, you don’t think they’re on the level?” said Harry.

“I didn’t like the look of them one bit. I hope the girls are all right, but…” Mac shrugged his shoulders. “What could I do, I couldn’t force them to stay, could I.”

“Mac
, we were on our way out of here when we had a bit of an accident. We’ve got friends out there. I don’t suppose you know where that ambulance went? Maybe we can find your friends? You helped us, we’ll help you, right?” said Tom.

“I hope your friends are okay
, but if they’re outside...I heard them talking once, the ugly bloke and another one with a funny accent. Reckon he was Australian or something. They drove around the garden centre and must’ve figured it wasn’t worth it because they stopped and had a look but left us alone. One of them said they had to get back to the boss, but if you’re thinking of joining them, I’d think again. You’ll never get there anyway. The ugly bloke said they had to get back to the Mount. I think that’s where they are, on the Mount.”

*
* * *

Laurent kicked open the door and ran into the petrol station foyer. Rosa was right behind him. The station’s glass doors were
shut, but they found a back door which took them inside. It was quiet inside and they were exhausted from running. The plan had worked well so far. The pack of zombies trailing them had largely turned around, once Tom had brought the van onto the street. Some were still following them, but they had managed to keep well ahead of them.

“Hurry up,” shouted Laurent
.

Daniel and Glenda were not far behind
, but were finding the run hard. Laurent could see that there was still about twenty or thirty dead behind them. Glenda pulled ahead and reached the station. Rosa grabbed her hand and Glenda gratefully took it, letting Rosa lead her into the station. She looked back through the large glass frontage and saw Daniel straining to reach the station.

Laurent watched on,
worried that Daniel might have a heart attack as he stood in the doorway urging Daniel on. “Come on, Daniel, you’re almost there. Hurry!”

Overgrown fields bordered either side of the
road, and from the undergrowth, a dog suddenly bounded out. Laurent saw it was already dead. Its mangy body was covered in sores and much of its fur had rotted off. It chased after Daniel and nipped at his heels. Daniel stopped, no more than ten feet from the station, and kicked out at the dog.

“Get away, get out of here,” he said, repeatedly kicking the dog in the head.

Suddenly, another dog appeared, then another and another. Laurent counted six in total, all very large, powerful dogs, and all very dead. There was a variety of breeds: Labradors, Alsatians and some he didn’t recognise. They were in various stages of decay. Their teeth were still razor sharp though and their senses keen. Laurent watched, his stomach churning, as the pack of dogs circled Daniel and pounced on him. Laurent faintly heard Glenda scream and was aware of a struggle behind him as Rosa held Daniel’s distraught wife back.

Daniel was dragged to the floor and the dogs tore into him, muscular jaws clamping around his arms, legs, and face. Laurent picked up the door he had kicked down and p
laced it in the doorway. It wouldn’t hold much back, but it might help keep them out of sight of the dead. Daniel screamed and pleaded for help, but there was nothing they could do now. From inside the station, Laurent heard the sounds of Daniel’s bones crunching as the dead dogs ate him alive.

Glenda fainted and Rosa dragged
her behind the counter. “Laurent, we have to hide, help me,” she said, kicking away the cluttered mess of bottles and newspapers on the floor.

Laurent stood watching Rosa, too shocked to move. “Did you see?
Did you see Daniel, he...”

“
Yes, I fucking saw!” said Rosa. “Now fucking help me or we’ll be next!”

Laurent was instantly snapped out of his awe and picked up Glenda. They carried her behind
the counter and crouched down.

“
Well, that didn’t go as planned,” said Rosa. “Fuck.” She sat on the floor and listened to the sounds from outside the station, of the dogs eating and the zombies approaching. “They know we’re in here, surely. If they can’t see us they can smell us, sense us. Fuck, Laurent, what are we going to do?” Rosa was trembling and he took her hand.

“I hope Tom hurries up with the van,” said Laurent
trying to give Rosa a reassuring smile. “I don’t know how long it will take before they figure out a way in here. Tom will come soon. If he doesn’t…” Laurent didn’t want to say what he was already thinking.

“He’ll come,” said Rosa. “He
has
to, or we’ll be as dead as Daniel out there.”

PART
FOUR: PATHOGEN

CHAPTER TEN

“I can’t believe we’ve got an ambulance,” said Tim. “Surely, there must be something better we could use, something bigger that could carry more things? What about a truck or a van? They can’t be that hard to find.”

“This is
fine,” said Shane. “Not too big, not too small. Easy to drive and manoeuvre. More importantly, it’s easy to spot when you’re out on the street and need an escape. You don’t want to jump into the wrong truck and find yourself in a confined space with a hungry zombie.”

Honok was driving
whilst Shane and Tim had squeezed into the passenger seat. They were driving into Longrock along the coastal road, a path that Honok and Shane had travelled together many times recently. On their last trip, they had happened upon two girls at the shopping complex. They hadn’t even had to coerce them into coming back to the Mount, they
wanted
to go. Honok still smiled when he thought about that now. Sometimes luck was on your side and things just fell into your lap.

“So where first?” asked Tim. He was chattering endlessly like a schoolboy on his first trip away from his parents. “Straight to Penzance or what? What do I do? Can I do any of the driving?”

“You can be quiet, Timmy,” said Honok. “I’m driving. Shane is working. While you shoot your mouth off we’re looking out for something that could be useful; supplies, weapons, maybe more recruits even. Of course, there might also be things out here we don’t want to meet. Look, there’s one now.”

Tim saw a zombie on the side of the road. It was nothing more than road
-kill now. Honok had driven over it so many times that the lower half of its body had been flattened. He had been careful to avoid the head though so it still struggled to get up off the road it was stuck to. Tim felt slightly queasy.

“Gross. I hope we don’t run into any of those things today. Say, shouldn’t we have weapons or something, in case we get attacked?”

Shane sighed. “They’re in the back. Now shut up.”

“But where are we going? If I’m going to help I need to know what the plan is.”

Honok and Shane looked at each other. They were approaching Longrock and Honok slowed down. The road ahead was unusually busy. Just past the petrol station there were nearly thirty zombies.

“Holy shit,” said Tim. “Look at them all.”

Honok brought the ambulance to a standstill, but left the engine running.

“Something’s brought them out,” said
Shane, scanning the fields. “They don’t normally gather in numbers like this unless they’ve found a meal.”

“A meal?” said Tim nervously.

“Hey, Tim, you’re right, we need something to defend ourselves with. Why don’t you go grab something from the back?” Shane shuffled in his seat to allow Tim out.

Tim jumped out
excitedly and ran around to the back of the ambulance.

“One minute, okay?” Shane said to Honok as he slid over the seat and jumped out after Tim.
“I just need to...take care of something.” Honok nodded, and waited.

Tim pulled open the back door and cast his eyes over the assortment of weapons in the back
: axes, swords and spades. He picked up a sword and was impressed at how heavy it felt in his hands.

“Let me see that,” said Shane.

Tim passed him the sword. “Cool eh? That should do us nicely, I reckon.”

Shane gripped the sword with both hands.
“Tim, do you know what Lazarus told me before we left today?”

“What?” said Tim eagerly. He was looking forward to getting on with their mission
, yet equally anxious about standing around in the open with the zombies so close.

“He said you were a liability and that I had to kill you.”

Tim laughed nervously. He could see that Shane was serious. Shane raised the sword so that the tip was pointed straight at Tim’s throat. “Shane, you wouldn’t? What did I do?”

“You’ve a
big mouth, Tim, but don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.”

“Well, yeah, um, thanks.
Look, I know I’ve a tendency to go on a bit, but...”

Shane wielded the sword above his head and brought it down on Tim’s shoulder. He cleaved off Tim’s right arm with one clean slice and blood spurted from the exposed joint. Tim screamed in agony and dropped to the ground.

“Do you ever shut up? Jesus Christ. Like I said, I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to let those things eat you.” Shane laughed and put the sword back in the ambulance before closing the back doors. He went back to the front seat, leaving Tim writhing in agony on the road, blood pouring copiously from his severed limb.

“We all good?”
asked Honok as Shane got back in. He had been watching them both through the side mirror. Whatever Tim had done to deserve it, Honok was not going to lose any sleep over it.

“All good,” said
Shane, closing the passenger door firmly. “Tim’s going to help us by getting their attention.” Shane pointed at the mass of zombies who were leaving the petrol station and heading toward the ambulance in the direction of Tim’s screaming. “Then we can go check out that station and see what got their attention. Could be a little bonus to take back for Lazarus.”

Honok drove forward and pulled over to the side of the road. “
After Norm fucked up the entertainment last night, I hope it’s a female bonus.”

They sat quiet
and still, watching the zombies lope past them to Tim. They took no notice of the ambulance and Shane was surprised when a pack of infected dogs trotted past. They looked like they had feasted recently. Their teeth were bared and blood dripped from their mouths. Shane was never less than bemused by the dead. He found it fascinating to see them now and often imagined how they used to be before they were infected.

Honok watched in the
rear-view mirror as the dead leapt onto Tim who was rapidly submerged beneath a pile of rotting, biting zombies. His screams abruptly stopped as they ripped his body apart and Honok turned the engine over.

“Right, let’s check it out and be quick. Tim won’t keep them satisfied for long. If there’s someone
alive there, we’ll grab them and head back to the Mount. If not, we’ll carry on.”

Honok drove the ambulance up to the petrol station. In the forecourt, amongst sticky pools of oil, lay a body. It was mangled and had been mostly eaten
. They could not even recognise if it had been a man or a woman.

“Do you think that was it?” asked Shane.

“Let’s check inside, there may be others,” said Honok. He left the engine running and jumped out. The vague vapours of petrol and blood wafted up his nose and he fought the urge to sneeze. Before he got more than three feet, a man with long curly hair came running out of the station.

“Tom, thank God
, you...” The man stopped and frowned when he saw the ambulance.

“Hey,
are you all right, can we help?” said Shane nonchalantly.

Honok pinched his nose and buried a sneeze. “Are you alone?”

“No, I’m with two others. Sorry, I thought you were someone else,” said Laurent. The two men facing him looked odd. One was tall and thin, and the other short and fat. They didn’t dress like officials and had obviously stolen the ambulance. “Look, we’re okay, our friend will be here soon. Any moment now, in fact. So…”

“Who else is with you?” said Shane approaching
Laurent.

“Oh
, just a couple of friends of mine, but we’re okay, we don’t need any help,” said Laurent. “One of my friends fainted, but she’s fine, really, thank you, but…” Laurent had a bad feeling about these two men. He would rather take his chances with the zombies than fall in with this odd couple. He was quite sure that the taller man had blood splatter on his shirt. In itself that was not unusual, fighting off zombies was a dirty job. But the blood on this man’s shirt was still fresh, and Laurent knew that you did not get such bright red blood from a dead body.

“The way you came running out of there it sure seemed like you needed help,” said Honok. “Shane,
we should help this man and his friend who fainted. I’ll help our friend here.” Honok drew a knife from his belt and let it hang by his side. He made sure Laurent saw it, but kept his eyes locked on Laurent as Shane made his way into the station.

Laurent noticed that Shane
had drawn a large knife out too and wished he had had the forethought to take something with him. “Look, we don’t want any trouble. My name is Laurent. My friends in there...”

“I’m not really interested in your name. Listen, Laurent, this is a one-time offer. Those things that killed your friend here are going to be back very soon. Now, your two friends are coming for a ride with us. You can join them
if you like, come back with us to where it’s safe. Or you can stay here and take your chances. You can have, oh, five seconds to decide.”

Laurent thought about running. He thought about trying to fight this odd, stumpy man standing before him
, but Laurent was unarmed and the man had a knife. He had fought off the dead before, but none of them had been armed. He thought about staying and waiting for Tom, but he couldn’t let them take Rosa and Glenda like this.

“Oui. I will come with you,” said Laurent. “Please don’t hurt
my friends, they’ve been through a lot. We won’t cause you any trouble.”

“Just get in the back,” said Honok showing Laurent to the back of the ambulance.

As Laurent was climbing in, he noticed the assortment of weapons on the floor of the vehicle.

“Don’t even think about it,” said
Honok, kicking them away out of Laurent’s reach.

Shane reappeared from the station with Rosa. He was carrying Glenda who was still unconscious.

“What’s wrong with her?” said Honok. “Is she infected?”

“No, she just fainted,” said Shane smiling. “That’s her husband you’re stepping in.”

Honok looked down and realised he had walked through Daniel’s remains. Disgusted, he wiped his shoes on his trouser legs. “Fucking shit,” he said aiming a kick at what was left of Daniel’s skull.

Rosa climbed up into the back of the van next to Laurent and Glenda was bundled in beside them. Shane scooped up the assortment of weapons and took them out to keep beside him in the front.

“Sorry, Laurent. He said if we didn’t come with him, he was going to kill you,” said Rosa.

“It’s not your fault
. I shouldn’t have run out unprepared like that. I heard the engine and I assumed it was Tom.”

Laurent and Rosa
cradled Glenda as the back doors were shut on them. Honok and Shane got back in the ambulance and pulled out of the petrol station just as the dead were returning. Tim had been devoured, only blood stains on the road marking where he had been. Even his bones were nothing but food to the dead. The ones that were too strong to break they carried and gnawed on. The pack of dogs had Tim’s pelvis and femurs between them and were fighting over them.

Honok
pulled the ambulance onto the road and then suddenly stopped. Up in the road ahead was a man in pyjamas. He was walking toward them slowly, carefully following the white lines in the middle of the road.

“What t
he fuck is this?” said Honok winding down his window.

Shane put a hand on the door handle, ready to jump out.

Leonard stopped by the ambulance and looked up at Honok. “Have you come to pick me up and take me home? I’m afraid I got a bit lost. Have you seen my friends? Billy? Glenda?”

Honok turned to Shane. “Have
we, Shane?”

So this man had been with the others, thought Shane.
“He could be useful. I’ll put him in the back with his friends.” Shane jumped out and bundled Leonard into the back of the ambulance with ease. They decided it would be best to head back to the Mount now with their prize. Lazarus would be pleased. They would still have time to go out and find the guns he wanted later.

As the ambulance headed back down the road, away from Longrock, Jackson
stood up. He had been crouched down in the corn field watching the whole scene. He had managed to avoid being seen by anyone, living or dead, and had been about to head over to the petrol station when the ambulance suddenly appeared. He watched one man slice off another’s arm and leave him in agony to draw the zombies away. He watched them take Laurent, Rosa and Glenda away at knife point, and then Leonard. But to where?

Jackson watched as the vehicle rounded a bend on the road and vanished. He thought about running after them
, but who knew how far they were headed, or where. How would he keep up with them and avoid the worryingly large group of zombies still out there. If only he could have stopped them. He felt so frustrated. He knew he was going to have to go back to the others and try to track the ambulance later.

Jackson
recalled they had been going to an out of town shopping centre. He had found his way here through a back road and then overgrown deserted fields. He could retrace his steps and hopefully avoid the zombies. Most of them had been drawn away from him, following the ambulance to wherever it was headed. Jackson disappeared back into the abundant corn and began to head back to the others, hoping he would be able to find them quickly. That ambulance could be headed anywhere, and Jackson was worried they might lose them altogether.