The Undead. The First Seven Days (86 page)

From the motorway, the convoy takes a slip off to pass quickly through rural villages as the night sky starts to lift.

The lush landscape of rolling hills, wooded copses and cultivated fields soon becomes flat, open heath land; the first signs they are nearing the coast.
  The Saxon leads the vehicles through an industrial zone with large hanger-style buildings; signed for  marine engineering. Expensive looking powerboats and luxurious yachts loom high on giant stands,  dotted about the area.
  ‘This is the road in to the Fort,’ Howie reports back to rest. ‘As far as I can remember, this is the only road in.’
  The convoy drives through the industrial units and into a country lane, bordered with high hedges.

Within a few minutes, they enter a housing estate; full of large, detached houses.
  The road passes through the middle of the estate, which abruptly ends with lines of dwellings stretching out on both sides, bordering open heath land.

Howie explains that the landscape changed abruptly, one hundred and fifty years ago, when the Fort was constructed, to allow the defenders a wide view of the entire area. Thickets of trees and undulating hillocks had been flattened, and now the area remains wide open.

Lights shining in the distance are the only sign of the Fort ahead of them.
  ‘Can you slow down please, Mr Howie,’ Dave asks, quickly.
  ‘Do you see something?’ Howie replies quickly, as he slows the vehicle down, causing a long line of red brake lights to shine out behind him.

Dave looks to the rows of buildings stretched out on both sides, then out to the flat land; the sky getting lighter with each passing minute.
  ‘Is the Fort down there, where the lights are?’ Dave asks, pointing down the road, away from the estate.
  ‘Yep, you can see it clearly during the day,’ Howie replies.
  ‘Okay, thanks Mr Howie,’ Dave says, apparently satisfied.
  ‘Chris, can you hear me?’ Howie calls out.

Chris lumbers back to the front and leans forward, ‘What’s up?’ he asks.
  ‘Chris, when we get there, we need to make sure we are isolated if we discuss anything…’ Howie whispers just loud enough for Chris and Dave to hear.
  ‘We don’t know how long Darren was infected before he turned, and we don’t know anything about the people here,’ Howie adds, as they both nod, understanding.
  ‘How do we know none of us are infected,’ Dave asks.
  ‘Well, I know I’m not,’ Howie replies, quickly.
  ‘Darren would have said that too,’ Dave says.
  ‘True, so how can we be sure?’ Howie asks.
  ‘Check for bites and scratches, any open wounds?’ Chris says, quietly.
  ‘How about we get Doc Roberts to check us over, to be sure?’ Howie suggests.
  ‘Sounds good, I’m okay with that,’ Chris replies.
  ‘Dave, that all right with you?’ Howie whispers.
  ‘Yes, Mr Howie,’ Dave nods.

They drive forward on the straight road as night transforms to morning. The rain clouds of the previous day have now drifted away, to leave a beautifully clear sky.
  The flat grassland suddenly rises into steep embankments that stretch out to both sides with the road cutting through the middle of them.

Once past the grass banks, they see another stretch of flat grassland, then another high, steep embankment, which drops down into a wide ditch on the reverse side. The ditch is cut deep into the earth and is at least ten feet in width, with sheer sides.
  ‘So we’ve got the first high bank, flat land then another high bank dropping down into a deep ditch, then more flat land,’ Chris voices his thoughts out loud, as he takes the scene in. ‘It looks like the banks stretch out to both sides of the spit, so does the ditch. Is that an outer wall or just the main wall?’ he asks Howie.
  ‘Err… I think it’s an outer wall,’ Howie replies, trying to remember. ‘From memory, the rear of the Fort has a high wall that drops down straight into the sea. The land was dug out, so the sea is very deep straight away, with no beach - I think there’s a rear access point though,’ Howie explains. ‘The rear wall runs the length of the rear section and then curves back round with the natural lay of the spit. The front section here isn’t a straight wall. It has two sections that jut out, one on each side where the wall starts coming back inland, and then there’s the long, straight bit we can see here,’ Howie finishes.
  ‘We’ll need a good look round, as soon as possible,’ Dave says.
  ‘Ah… you mean we need an advanced recce reconnaissance pathfinder,’ Howie jokes.

Dave smiles back at him, remembering the previous conversation of a few days ago.
  ‘Hello, we’ve got company,’ Chris point up to the high walls to see heads moving about, peeking over and then dropping back down.

Howie brings the Saxon to a halt a few metres back from the gates.
  ‘I’ll go and say hello,’ he says, opening the door and dropping down to stretch his arms out and arch his back.
  ‘Ah… that feels nice,’ he mutters, Dave jumps down and walks round to join him at the front.
  ‘Well, we made it, mate,’ Howie says, as they walk towards the gates.
  ‘We did, Mr Howie, and we got your sister,’ Dave replies.
  ‘It’s all good in the hood mate - apart from the zombie army coming to eat us.’

They stop a few feet back from the gates, looking at a single door cut into the solid metal plates. A small hatch opens from the inside and a pinched face looks out.
  ‘Are you bitten?’ A high-pitched, female voice calls out.
  ‘Oh yes, we are bitten all over and completely infected,’ Howie smiles broadly. ‘I’d recognise that voice anywhere, hello Debbie.’
  ‘You have to strip off again,’ the voice laughs back from the hatch.
  ‘Now stop being a pervert and trying to look at Dave being naked and let us in, we’re gasping for a brew,’ Howie says, laughing.
  The single door swings inwards and Sergeant Debbie Hopewell walks out, looking neat and tidy and still wearing her all-black police uniform.
  ‘Hello, Mr Howie,’ Debbie smiles as she reaches them, genuine pleasure on her face.

They hug briefly.

‘It’s good to see you Debbie, I somehow knew you’d be at the front gate,’ Howie says.
  ‘Well, we can’t just have anyone at the main entry point now, can we,’ Debbie says, turning to Dave and giving him an awkward hug, which makes him blush bright red.
  ‘Let me guess, you had a meeting and got it submitted in triplicate and posted the rota on some wall - somewhere,’ Howie jokes.
  ‘Oh yes, there must be order, Howie,’ Debbie smiles back.
  ‘Hello ‘ello, there’s a couple of ugly faces I wouldn’t forget in a hurry,’ a loud voice booms out into the quiet morning air.
  ‘Ted! Hello mate, it’s good to see you,’ Howie calls out, as he steps forward to shake hands with the former policeman.
  ‘You too, Mr Howie… hello Dave, you’ve kept him alive then,’ Ted says, looking at Dave, but nodding towards Howie.
  ‘Hello Ted,’ Dave leans forward to shake his hand but stops midway. ‘Did you wash your hands this time?’ Dave jokes.
  ‘Bloody hell, someone’s taught him a sense of humour,’ Ted says, as they shake hands.
  ‘So, you made it down here okay, then?’ Howie asks them both.
  ‘Easy run really, we just kept going, despite young Tom whining that he needed to pee,’ Ted replies.
  ‘You should have seen the state of the place though,’ Debbie cuts in. ‘Absolute bedlam, people arriving every few minutes, there was no order, no rationing, no lists, nothing. It’s taken days to get things ship shape,’ she adds.
  ‘Well, we’ve got a couple of thousand tired, scared, hungry and thirsty people crammed into these vehicles,’ Howie says, turning back to look at the vehicles and seeing Chris, Clarence and Sarah walking towards them.
  ‘We’d better get them inside then, they’ll have to come in on foot, we don’t have the room for the vehicles,’ Debbie responds, in a business-like fashion.
  ‘Ted, Debbie, this is Chris, Clarence and my sister Sarah. Chris had set up a safe area in London, but it got overrun last night as we left,’ Howie introduces them, as they shake hands with polite greetings.
  ‘Right, we need to get the people out and filing in here,’ Howie says. ‘No room for the vehicles though, have you set up a vehicle area?’ Howie asks.
  ‘Not inside, I made them take the vehicles out and put them into the estate,’ Debbie replies. ‘We have kept a few for patrolling and gathering supplies though,’ she adds.
  ‘Okay, how do you want this done?’ Howie asks.
  ‘We’re recording the names, date of birth and last address of everyone entering and then allocating them a specific place inside the compound. We also record any specific skills such as butchery or carpentry, that kind of thing,’ Debbie replies.
  ‘We’ve got doctors, nurses and some hospital equipment with us,’ Chris adds.
  ‘Brilliant, we’re desperate for medical personnel. Right, I suggest you get them out of the vehicles and line up in front of the gates. I’ll get some people out to distribute water, while they wait,’ Debbie says.
  They depart from the brief meeting, as Debbie and Ted head back inside to prepare for the incoming refugees.

Howie and his small group walk back to the Saxon and Howie calls the recruits and guards over. Chris calls out on the radio for all guards to make their way to the front. Within a few minutes, the small force are all assembled in front of Howie and Chris - Doctor Roberts and a few of the medical team stand to one side.
  ‘Right, they’ve got enough room for everyone, but we have to line them up for details to be taken. We need a perimeter set up and Curtis, I want you to take the Saxon and go to the rear, keep sweeping back and forth across that area. Nick, I want you on the GPMG. Blowers and Cookey, you’re both at the gates being nice to people again, Sarah would you mind going with them?’ Howie asks.
  ‘No problem, I’ll take Mary with me,’ Sarah replies.
  ‘Be on the lookout for anyone with cuts, bites or any open wounds,’ Howie continues.
  ‘What if we see any?’ A voice asks.
  ‘They need to be isolated, but do it quietly with no fuss and do not create panic,’ Chris cuts in. ‘Doc, can you set something up inside to check people over as they enter?’
  ‘Yes,’ Doc Roberts replies curtly, and moves off with his team.
  ‘Jamie, I want you up high somewhere with the sniper rifle,’ Howie says, to the quiet lad as Jamie looks about.
  ‘Go in and get up on the inside of the outer wall,’ Dave says to him.
  ‘Right, spread out, stay sharp and get those people out,’ Howie calls, out as they depart. Jamie runs back to the Saxon and draws the sniper rifle from the protective bag. He loops the bag over his shoulder and starts jogging towards the gate.
  ‘Tucker, we’ll get that supplies vehicle up front for unloading. Can you get inside and see what the situation with supplies is like. I would imagine Sergeant Hopewell would have a tight grip on it,’ Howie asks him.
  ‘Okay, Mr Howie, I’m on it now,’ Tucker replies and starts striding after Jamie to the gate.
  Doc Roberts and his team walk past, carrying armfuls of equipment and soon disappear into the gate too.
  ‘Mr Howie!’ A voice calls out.

Howie turns to see Tom Jenkins and Steven Taylor walking towards him, both of them with huge smiles.
  ‘Hello Tom, Hi Steven, good to see you lads, again,’ Howie smiles, as they shake hands with genuine warmth.
  ‘I knew you’d make it,’ Tom says excitedly, looking back at the armed guards. ‘Wow, you got more soldiers with you, are they SF too?’
  ‘Err, no. Some of them are ex-soldiers, police officers, like you, and some Army recruits we... sort of found,’ Howie says.
  ‘Wow, and you’re in charge of them all,’ Tom looks at Howie with awe.
  ‘Well… I wouldn’t say that…’ Howie starts.
  ‘Yes, Mr Howie is in charge, with that man over there,’ Dave says flatly, pointing at Big Chris.

The vehicles are slowly unloaded; scared and terrified survivors drop down from the trucks and squint in the bright sunlight, or slowly emerge from cars to stretch wearily.

Howie watches as Sarah and Clarence work their way back along the fleet, telling the people to move down to the gates where Blowers and Cookey are standing smiling and joking with their assault rifles strapped to their shoulders.
  Howie, Chris and Dave stand near the front, watching the Saxon drive off with Nick waving at them from the top, smiling as they go back down to the rear.
  ‘They’re good lads, those recruits,’ Chris says.
  ‘Very good, considering what they’ve been through,’ Howie replies. ‘Bloody brave, too.’
  ‘We need to start thinking about defence,’ Chris says, turning to look at Howie.
  ‘No time like the present then,’ Howie replies, as they make their way over and finally step through into Fort Spitbank.

They step into the shadow of the gate and pause for a few seconds to allow their eyes to adjust. The outer wall behind them stretches off in both directions with a gap wide enough for a few vehicles to drive abreast, before the inner wall looms up.
  ‘Bloody big walls,’ Chris mutters.
  ‘Good job really, we should just close the door and hide,’ Howie replies, to see Chris smiling back at him. ‘Well, we could, but where would the fun be in that,’ says Chris.
  ‘Hello gentlemen,’ a voice calls out from behind them.