The Undead. The First Seven Days (71 page)

Soon the Saxon, leading the convoy, heads off towards Tower Bridge.

The convoy continues along the main road, going through the Elephant and Castle roundabout and off towards Tower Bridge Road. The exodus, or i
nvasion
of zombies is even more prevalent on the road to the Bridge, with massive numbers stretched back in solid lines, seven or eight deep. The General Purpose Machine Gun does a good job of cutting them down, but the thickness of the lines means many on the inside escape uninjured and continue on their slow shuffle.
 
‘Charlie to Alpha.’
The radio crackles in Dave’s hand.
 
‘Alpha receiving, go ahead, Charlie.’
  ‘Charlie to Alpha, this area looks too hot for RV, I suggest we move to a quiet, side street, you choose.’
  ‘Roger that Charlie, stand by,’
Dave answers.
  ‘This place is crawling with ‘em,’ Howie mutters, but loud enough to be heard over the constant thumping of the machine gun above them.
  ‘Over there, Sir,’ Blowers points, leaning forward to indicate a side street with a constant stream of zombies going past the entrance.

The Saxon slows down and Howie peers over to see that the road looks wide enough to take the truck but is quiet enough to move down.
  ‘We’ll go through here, get Jamie to stop for now,’ Howie calls out and the machine gun ceases firing as Cookey yells up.
  ‘
Alpha to Charlie, side street identified, moving in now,’
Dave reports to the others as Howie turns the wheel and ploughs through the lines of undead; the solid front end of the Saxon easily squashing some and shoving the rest out of the way.
  ‘Bloody hell, they didn’t even slow down,’ Howie shouts, as he looks in the side mirror to see the zombies still slowly marching forward - not breaking pace to turn or look.
  The Saxon is followed by the truck and then the two four-wheel drive vehicles, as they proceed a safe distance down the quiet street and finally pull over.
  ‘Blowers, get some lads out front and to the sides mate,’ Howie asks as he drops down from the cabin and walks back along to meet Chris and the others.
  ‘Will do,’ Blowers calls out as he and the recruits pile out of the back and spread out ,as directed.
They meet near the front of the truck: Big Chris, Malcolm, Howie and Dave. A few of the others are standing nearby but clearly distancing themselves from the immediate group.
  ‘That Bridge will be full up,’ Malcolm says, rubbing the back of his neck.
  ‘We can get through them easily enough,’ Howie replies.
  ‘We can - but there are thousands heading that way. They seem to know where we’re going and I don’t like that fact one bit,’ Big Chris says.
  ‘How can they know?’ Malcolm asks and they both look to Howie, who shrugs back at them.
  ‘I don’t know, it seemed they were coming for us last night at the services too, like we were being targeted, but I don’t know how.’ Howie says, thinking hard.
  ‘Unless they’re going into the City for something else?’ Malcolm asks.
  ‘Not likely, every time we’ve met any hordes they turn and come for us, these aren’t doing that, they’re intent on getting somewhere. This could get very messy if we are anywhere near this place at sunset,’ Howie replies.
  ‘We can get through them, no problem, but then we have to stop at the hospital with this lot still coming behind us. Even the GPMG can’t cut that many down, and we don’t know how many are coming from other directions,’ Chris says.
  ‘What choice do we have?’ Howie asks.
  ‘Lift the Bridge,’ Dave says, quietly.
  ‘Lift the Bridge?’ Howie asks.
  ‘Of course, Tower Bridge lifts, we could raise it up after us,’ Malcolm says excitedly.
  ‘How will we do that? Does it need power, do you know how the controls work?’ Howie asks, liking the idea.
  ‘Mate, we were Para-Reg…’ Malcolm smiles.
  ‘It must have a separate power supply, in case of blackout or something, and the controls can’t be too complicated,’ Chris muses, rubbing his chin.
  ‘So, we get across and then work how to raise it, to stop this lot getting across. Then we just have to worry about the rest on the other side.’ Howie says, looking between them all.
  ‘Yep, that’s about the size of it,’ Chris nods.
  ‘Okay, where do you want us?’ Howie asks.
  ‘Keep the Saxon at the end of the Bridge, on the other side, to keep them back, while we work out how to get the thing lifted - with the truck behind the Saxon,’ Chris says.
  ‘Are you leaving a unit there, so we can drop it again for the egress?’ Dave asks.

‘I think we’ll need every one for the hospital and then your sister,’ Chris replies.
  ‘Okay,’ Dave says.
  ‘Everyone happy?’ Chris asks, looking between them all, as they nod and depart back to the vehicles.
  The vehicles all move off and follow the side streets round, until they come back out onto Tower Bridge Road, again using the front of the Saxon to mow down the chain of zombies trudging across the junction.
  The last stretch of road brings the Bridge into view; the massive towers rising up high into the blue sky.
  ‘Hold off on the GPMG until we get across, we’ll be wasting ammo if we can get that Bridge lifted,’ Howie calls back and hears the machine gun stop suddenly.
  ‘Who’s going to lift the Bridge, Mr Howie?’ Nick Hewitt shouts out.
  ‘I don’t know, one of the others,’ Howie replies. ‘Why? Do you fancy a go?’ he adds, remembering Nick’s passion for mechanical and electrical things.
  ‘I’d love to,’ Nick shouts back.
  The Saxon powers through the middle of the road, entering the Bridge. The road is so clogged with zombies and the Saxon has no choice but to plough through them, sending them scattering off to the sides. Still the zombies keep dead ahead and none of them turn to look or alter course.
  ‘This is fucking freaky,’ Cookey says, in the quietness of the Saxon.
  ‘It ain’t right, is it,’ McKinney responds.
  ‘Why aren’t they turning or doing anything else? They’re just heading the same way as us,’ Tucker says.
  ‘It’s eerie, they must know something we don’t,’ Darren Smith says.
  ‘You feeling better now, Smithy?’ Howie calls out, on hearing his voice.
  ‘Yes, thank you, Mr Howie, much better. Guess I was just tired, or had a bit of heatstroke or something,’ Darren replies.
  ‘Or
cockstroke
, in Cookey’s case,’ Blowers says.
‘What? How did you make that connection?’ Cookey exclaims. ‘Smithy’s talking about heatstroke and you turn it round to a gay joke… Cookey says.
  ‘Just comes naturally mate, either got it or you haven’t,’ Blowers says, in a modest voice.
  ‘You’re a prat… Tucker, you got anything to eat, mate? I’m starving,’ Cookey asks.
  ‘Yes mate, I got loads of stuff from that services shop,’ Tucker pulls out a carrier bag and hands it round as the lads dig in for snacks.
  ‘Be quick, lads, we’re almost there,’ Howie shouts, as he hears packets being ripped open and loud munching noises.
  The Saxon roars over the central part, between the towers, and through to the north side; pulling to a halt, where the normal road joins the Bridge.
  ‘Clear the area and keep them off the Bridge,’ Howie shouts, as he jumps down with his assault rifle.

The lads spread out and open fire on the undead, as they continue to proceed off the Bridge, still heading towards the City.
  Despite the firing and the stationary positions, none of the zombies turn or change direction, but continue onwards, away from the Bridge. The truck pulls behind them and Howie glances back to see the four-wheel drive vehicles stopping by a structure on the Bridge with glass windows going round it.
  ‘That must be the control room,’ Howie shouts to Dave, as the recruits fire into the backs of the zombies.

The end of the Bridge is cleared and the lads all turn and start on the oncoming zombies that are streaming down the Bridge towards them.
  ‘
Charlie to Alpha, we are at the control room, but it’s going to take longer than we thought.’
  ‘
Alpha to Charlie, received the last, do you need support?’
Dave answers.
 
‘Negative, they’re just going straight past us, not even looking, it’s very weird.’
  ‘Dave, tell them I’m coming up with Nick,’ Howie shouts.
  ‘Nick, you’re with me in the Saxon,’ Howie shouts to him, as they jump in and drive the short distance back to the control room; the zombies shuffling round them, without so much as a glance.
  ‘This is fucked up Mr Howie, what’s going on?’ Nick asks.
  ‘I don’t know, mate,’ Howie replies, as the Saxon comes to a halt and they get out; readying themselves to fight through the zombies, but none of them stop, look or even bare their teeth as Howie and Nick stand and watch them.

Howie reaches out and pushes one on the shoulder, forcing him to stagger off to the side and knock into several others.
  ‘Nothing,’ Howie says, as the zombie just continues on its path.
  ‘They fucking stink,’ Nick says, covering his nose at the stench of decaying flesh.

They run over to the side, weaving through zombies and still being guarded, in case they turn and attack and they eventually find their way to the control room.

Some of the armed men from the four-wheel drive vehicles are standing outside, vigilantly watching the hordes shuffle past.
  ‘Bloody hell, that’s a lot of buttons,’ Howie says, as he gets inside and looks at the complicated array of switches on the control panel.

Nick’s eyes light up and he rushes forward to start examining them.
  ‘This is awesome,’ Nick says quietly, as he looks over the panel.
  ‘It’s more complicated than we thought,’ Big Chris says to Howie.
  ‘Just give him a few minutes,’ Howie motions to Nick, who is absorbed, muttering to himself.
  ‘I can’t believe they haven’t turned on us,’ Howie says, looking out at the zombies going past.
  ‘Something’s not right,’ Malcolm says.
  ‘Maybe that’s it, they’ve given up and stopped eating people,’ Howie jokes, the awkward silence that follows it, only broken by Nick exclaiming loudly.
  ‘You got something, mate?’ Howie asks, relieved by the distraction.
  ‘Yep, got it, there’s a power supply and a series of safety switches that have to be done in the right order before the hydraulics’ start lifting the Bridge,’ Nick says, excitedly.
  ‘Bloody kids, too much
Xbox,
if you ask me,’ Malcolm jokes.
  ‘Right, you ready, Mr Howie,’ Nick asks and Howie feels a touch of pride at being asked, instead of Big Chris or Malcolm.
  ‘Yes, mate, go ahead.’
  Nick presses and flips a series of switches, then starts pulling back on a small black lever. An alarm sounds outside and the Bridge starts to lift smoothly; separating in the middle as both sides lift.

The action is surprisingly quick and the men watch as zombies start staggering faster as the Bridge lifts and then gravity takes over and they start tumbling into the backs of each other, causing a concertina effect as the momentum picks up.

The men smile and laugh as the zombies are sent plummeting down onto the road surface.
  ‘The other side are still walking off the edge,’ Nick laughs, watching a number of black and white monitors above the control panel.
  The men wait for a minute, as some of the zombies pick themselves up and start their shuffling again; many stay on the ground in a tangled mess of arms and legs. Before long, the hordes have shuffled off down the Bridge and the men leave the control room to slowly walk behind them.
  ‘If this keeps on, we’ll have an easy time at the hospital and then going for your sister,’ Big Chris says, as he stops by the door of his four-wheel drive.
  ‘I bloody hope so,’ Howie replies. ‘But knowing what seems to happen to us every half hour, I very much doubt it.’ He adds, before walking back to the Saxon with Nick.

_____________________________________________

Extract from Howie’s Journal:

The infection pushes the hosts towards the City, using roads, streets and the underground rail network. Zombies pour down the steps onto the platforms and drop down onto the inert rail lines and shuffle through the darkened tunnels to emerge closer to their destination. Never has London seen such a densely packed crowd before, all moving as one, without aggravation. No fights or pushing and shoving. Just undead bodies all being told to move to this location as they slowly pile into Canary Wharf and the surrounding streets, until every inch of pavement and tarmac is covered.
  The bodies still have the craving for flesh, but this is overcome as they move slowly past Howie and the resistors. The temptation to turn and lunge for the bite is almost too much to control, but the infection holds them back and waits. It knows how they can fight back now and, unless the numbers are overwhelming, they can be cut down too easily.
  On the Bridge, the infection almost decides to make the host bodies move fast and go for the attack, but the big vehicles are nearby, with one of the resistors sitting on that devastating machine gun, so it keeps to plan and waits for them to come.