The Undead. The First Seven Days (69 page)

Howie pulls off to the left, creating a bloody slick behind them.
  He keeps going for several minutes as the GPMG starts up again and, through the view of the windscreen, he sees bodies burst apart; blood spraying high and slamming into the thick glass screen. The recruits resume their killing from the rear doors as they slaughter every one of the zombies that they can hit.
  Many escape the deadly firing, but many more are cut down and left to rot on the road.

‘AHEAD.’ McKinney shouts from his position up-top.

Howie and Dave both lean forward and peer down the road to another junction; completely blocked by a massive horde. They are trying to walk into a smaller side street, but the immense size has clogged them at the junction, and more join the back of the crowd, pushing forward.
  ‘It feels like they know where we’re going,’ Howie says to Dave.
  ‘I agree.’ Dave answers.
  ‘We’re definitely being targeted.’
  ‘Looks like it, Mr Howie.’
   Howie brings the Saxon to a slow crawl, just back from the massed horde, all facing the other way at the junction.
 
‘Alpha to units, road is blocked ahead.’
Dave transmits over the radio.
  ‘We’ll have to take them out.’ Howie says, staring at them and his left hand drops down to touch the top of the axe handle sticking up. Dave catches the movement and looks at Howie.
  ‘
Alpha to all units, we’re going to take these out,’
Dave says, still staring at Howie.
 
Charlie to Alpha, are you using the GPMG, we can’t hear it, is there a problem?’
Chris asks.

Dave pauses to look at Howie, at the darkness starting to seep in across his face. Dave notices Howie’s breathing has become slightly faster, as he stares intently at the horde facing them.
  ‘
Alpha to Charlie, negative, we are doing this the old-fashioned way, standby.’

Dave drops the handset next to me, but all I can see are the hundreds of zombies stacked up in front of me. They are targeting us, going to our location; somehow knowing where we are heading and trying to get there ahead of us.
  They have taken my mother and father, and now they threaten to destroy the rescue attempt of my sister. No, this isn’t a rescue
attempt
- this is a rescue. I will get to her and I will find her. These things will clearly do everything they can to stop me, but I will prevail.
  My breathing increases and I feel
him
inside me. He went away after the last battle, but now he’s back and he wants another payment. Anger is knocking at the door again and he’s brought his associates Fury and Rage with him. They want payment too and they won’t stop until they get it.

I pause at the door, my hand resting on the handle, I know what will happen if I open the door. I can see what will happen. I want that to happen. I want it more than anything.
  My hand grips the axe handle and I look across to Dave who is staring at me intently. There is a look in his eyes that I haven’t seen before; the anger is within him too. I can hear it knocking at
his
door and demanding payment.

I twist slowly in my seat and look into the rear of the Saxon: eight, young faces, stare at me with grim expectation.

Eight faces watch me and I see those eight faces struggling to contain the violence that is threatening to burst out.

Eight young faces that have seen more violence and destruction than most see in a lifetime:  Blowers, McKinney, Cookey, Smith, Tucker, Hewitt, Reese and Graves all stare back at me.
  No one speaks, for we can all hear the anger and the rage and the fury knocking at the doors.

Our hands rest, waiting for the second when we can open the door and unleash hell.

I look back to Dave slowly and stare into the killer’s eyes. I nod to him once and watch as he slowly draws breath in.
  ‘FIX BAYONETS.’ Dave roars at the top of his voice: a drill sergeant voice, a parade square voice that booms round the buildings and the horde start shuffling round to face us.
  ‘Ready, Dave?’
  ‘Yes, Mr Howie.’
  ‘Ready, lads?’
  ‘Yes, Mr Howie.’ They roar and I’m out flying through the air with my glorious axe in hand.

Dave has done the same, both of us leaving our assault rifles in the vehicle, as I swing my axe in preparation and Dave turns his knives back against his wrists, so that the blades rest up against his forearms.

We pause, as the recruits pile out of the back and stand behind us, a thin line with me and Dave out front.
  The horde turn and start their shuffle towards us. We wait. They shuffle and groan and we wait. I hear clicks as bayonets are fitted. I turn to look and see a few of them have left their rifles in the vehicles and are just holding their long, deadly, bayonet knives down at their sides. Jamie Reese has one in each hand, like his idol Dave.
  They shuffle and we wait.

Chris bursts out of the four-wheel vehicle and starts walking forward, past the truck. His men join him, just as Malcolm and his group run to catch up.
  ‘What are they doing?’ Malcolm asks.
  ‘They said the road was blocked,’ Chris replies.
  ‘Why aren’t they using the GPMG then?’
  ‘’I don’t know, fuck me…’ They all stop to stare at Howie and Dave standing in front of the recruits.

Howie holding a long-handled axe down at his side. Dave with a long-bladed knife in each hand, the lads stood behind them with a collection of knives and rifles fitted with bayonets.
  ‘Crazy bastards…’ Chris says, in a shocked voice and looks back to his men all staring forward at the small group of men facing down a massive horde that is slowly shuffling towards them.
I am death.
I come for you.
For every innocent man woman and child you have taken.
I come for you.
For every life you have ruined.
I come for you.
For my parents you have already taken.
I come for you.
For my sister who still lives.
I come for you.
I am death and I come for you.

  I roar as the fury explodes out of me. I hear Dave unleash his anger and his voice joins mine and together we roar our defiance and rage at this evil things.

Behind me, I hear doors opening as the anger is released and comes forward for his payment, and together we stand and we scream at them.

We draw breath and we roar our rage into the air.
  I charge forward, with my axe held out to my side. I charge at a solid wall of zombie undead who want to bite me, who want to kill me - but I am death and I come for you all.

Their teeth bare as one, as we slam into them. Ten men against hundreds of vile creatures, but we have righteous glory on our side and we will not be defeated.
  Dave drops down and charges forward into the massed line, steaming through them and using sheer momentum to split them apart. The gap he created is filled by screaming recruits who pour into the front line: slashing, hacking and tearing flesh apart. Roaring with anger, roaring with fear and driving forward.

Bayonets slice through necks and split throats apart. Chest cavities are punctured again and again, as the lads use the simple techniques shown to them by Dave.

They work together and they work alone.

Jamie has watched Dave fight and has taken to this new skill like a duck to water. His arms blur and wave through the air, as he fights into the horde with desperate fury.
  I scream as my axe whirls, decapitating the first one in front of me. I lash out to the left and right, driving them back and embed the sharp blade into their heads. Skulls are cleaved apart and brains burst out, but this isn’t enough for me; not by far - and I keep swinging as the glory of battle surges through my veins.

Bodies drop in front of me and the heavy blunt end does as much damage as the sharp blade, as I bludgeon and shred them.
  Two line up for the lunge and I take a massive swipe and cleave through the first neck and bite deep into the next one. The axe head jams into the spine and I drive my forehead hard into the zombies face and drop him down, leaving my axe free. I use the handle end to lash backwards into the nose of another one lunging at me, and I smash his face in. More are coming, but I want them to. I want all of them to come. I spin round with a huge strike and take out several at the same time and I drive forward into a gap and turn to hack them from behind. Arms are torn off and legs are cut through, as the bodies continue to fall.

‘They must be fucking nuts,’ Chris says quietly, watching with horrified shock.
  ‘Ten men against an Army,’ Malcolm muses, as he watches them hack the undead apart.
  ‘Hardly seems fair…’ The big bald-headed man says from behind them as he pulls the strap of the machine gun over his head and rests it down on the ground, then, draws a massive knife from a sheath on his belt. More of the men take their weapons off and draw bladed and pointed weapons from various pockets.
  Chris watches them and feels the urge of battle calling. He slowly lowers his weapon and reaches behind him, to draw two deadly looking knives out.
  ‘Watch the weapons,’ Chris stares hard at the truck driver who stares back, in absolute terror, buts nods vigorously.
The men start stalking forward, rolling shoulder joints and twisting their necks, to warm their muscles. Chris starts walking faster and they all move to keep up. Chris starts jogging and they all do. With a hundred metres to go, Chris turns to grin at Malcolm.
  ‘Just like the old days, eh, mate.’ He doesn’t wait for a response, but charges forward, screaming at the top of his voice. The others join him, the experience of their age showing as they spread out into a line and charge into the fray.

I hear screaming behind me and hack down the closest zombie to create space, so I can turn. I look back to see Big Chris and his men charging towards the horde. Rifles gone and all of them holding weapons to fight hand to hand. They roar as they strike and I feel a fresh surge of adrenalin rip through me. I scream out with a primeval roar and I hear my men, my warriors, take up the voice and join me, more voices join in and now we are not ten men.

We are more… and we will slaughter every one of you.
   We are death and we come for you.
  I swing the axe round with fresh energy and take them down, I split them apart and bodies fly before me.

Dave is fighting off to my side and going deeper into the horde and I fight my way towards him; savaging the creatures as they lunge for me. A strong uppercut and I cleave into the pelvis of one of them, I kick out and send him back to the hell he came from. I swipe out to my right and take another two down. We fight and we push forward and the bodies rack up behind us. I get to Dave’s side and, together, we clear a small space. Blowers and Cookey burst through and join us in the slaughter, as our ground grows larger.
  Jamie Reese is next and doesn’t hesitate as he plunges at the line of zombies encroaching on us. The recruits pile in, until we are all in the small clearing.
  A loud roar sounds off to the side and I see the big, bald man charging through them with his head down, using his almighty size and strength to drive them apart.

He bursts into the clearing, just as Big Chris and his men get through, until we are all there.
  We wait for a second, drawing breath. None of us speak and we gather round in a tight circle, shoulder to shoulder. The undead gather round us and slowly inch forward; saliva drooling down their mouths.

We wait for them to draw closer and then, as one, we roar out and charge back at them. The circle is suddenly made much wider as the zombies fall back from the furious onslaught. We keep to the circle and let them come to us. We rip them apart, as they step forward. Brains and bones are splintered onto the floor, innards of stomachs fall out from the vicious stabs and slashes and we work on in silence.

This is our ground now, this small circle right here is our ground.

It is holy and sacrosanct and these evil demons, spawned from the devil himself, shall not touch it.

You shall not live nor breathe the air in our circle while we hold it and, to the last man, we shall fight you.

The circle grows wider and wider as we slaughter them. They keep coming, but we move amongst the front line, keeping them in the rough, circular shape around us.

Dave, and some of Big Chris’s men, move beautifully with their knives and blades; experienced and tough, they do what their country told them to do. They do what their country demanded of them and they did it without question and, when the time came to return to normal life, they were the freaks and the killers that people avoided.

Dave has always done what was required and, despite all the glory and praise it brought him, he was alone in those battles - and he was alone when the fighting ended. But these men can now use those skills they honed for so long, they can use the skills and the tactics and the outright violence they were so encouraged to have.
  Throughout time, men have stood together in battle and they have fought for what they believed was right and proper. Now they fight for survival, to protect their loved ones and destroy this common enemy.
  The recruits fair well; their youth, vitality and street-wise nature, make up for their lack of knowledge and experience. But they have already proved they are capable, by surviving in the plains through the first weekend - and now they just get better.
  I can now judge the amount of force needed and can preserve energy to sustain myself during the long minutes of battle.
  Fighting this way is a paradox, it seems to go on for hours, but then it’s over in minutes and, one by one, we stand down and stagger backwards; chests heaving for air as we look about at the sheer devastation we have wrought.
  We have hacked them down until the road is clear and just one small group remain. Still they shuffle towards us, despite the huge losses brought to their kind. We look to one another to see who will go for them, but Dave is already there, dispatching them with cold efficiency, slicing their throats open, until the last one drops with blood spurting from his jugular. Then, Dave drops down to wipe his knives on the bodies.
  I look round at the men, all of them covered in gore, with the undead’s blood still dripping from their weapons. I look down at myself and see I am also covered in the filth.
  ‘The road is clear now.’ I say to Chris and start back towards the Saxon, as the recruits slowly follow me.