The Undead. The First Seven Days (97 page)

Dave moves down the central road, going just past the halfway mark, looking at the parked cars nose to tail on both sides of the road.
  ‘They’ll come down the lane and have to go through the gap between the vehicles on either side,’ Dave explains.

He takes two grenades from one of the canvas bags and walks back to the closest row of vehicles. Dropping down onto the ground, he positions the grenade snug against the inside of the rear tyre, then crosses the road to place another grenade against the inside of the tyre on the opposite vehicle.
  ‘When the time is right, we tie wire onto both pins and wedge them in firmly. Pressure applied to the wire pulls the pins which activates the detonation,’ Dave explains, pulling a roll of very thin fishing wire from a pocket to show Jamie.
  ‘Will these two be enough to detonate the rest of the vehicles?’ Jamie asks.
  ‘In theory yes, but there will be a delay. These grenades will detonate the fuel tanks, but we need to speed the progress up so we get maximum effect.’
  Dave shrugs his rucksack off and takes out a container. He unscrews the lid and starts pouring a thin trail of black powder from the first grenade, working back to the next vehicle and ending the thin trail underneath the fuel tank. Dave takes another grenade and rests it in a small pool of the powder.
  ‘I see,’ Jamie says.

Dave takes out another container and hands it to Jamie.
  ‘You do the other side,’ Dave says and returns to move on, trailing black powder over to the next vehicle.
  Jamie moves across and repeats the action, pouring a thin trail of black powder from fuel tank to fuel tank and leaving a grenade nestled in the black powder underneath each one.
  ‘Good,’ Dave says. ‘Now we do the rest of the estate.’
  They move back into the estate, moving from road to road and house to house. Finding alleys and paths that work through the small streets. Placing trip wired grenades at various points of access.
  They get to the side roads connected to the central main road and stop to look at the cars and vehicles left in situ.
  ‘We’ll do all of these too, you do the far side,’ Dave says.

They split up and Jamie crosses the central lane to work the other side; positioning trip wire grenades between the gaps of the vehicles and more thin trails of black powder stretched from fuel tank to fuel tank. They meet back in the central road.
  ‘Now, go from house to house and turn the gas on, close the doors to trap the gas.’
  ‘Got it.’
  They move off again, from dwelling to dwelling, going into kitchens and turning the gas jets on low and letting the poisonous vapour seep out to fill the rooms.
  They continue to work throughout the day, moving into the side streets and laying traps with grenades, wires and black powder. Then move into the houses and turning the gas supply to hiss out as they move back out, closing the doors behind them.
  After several hours, they stand at the exit point of the lane where it stretches out into the flatlands and the diggers move along, slowly churning the earth up.
  ‘Clarence is still out with his foraging party, we’ll wait for him to return and then put the wires across the centre path,’ Dave says.
  ‘What about the men out front on the observation points? They won’t be able to get back through,’ Jamie replies.
  ‘I spoke to them, I left a clear path for them to run through on the side I worked on,’ Dave replies.
  ‘Okay,’ Jamie nods back at him.
  ‘Get our vehicle and leave it on the edge of the estate on the road, meet me back at the entrance point,’ Dave says, turning to walk back up the central road.
  ‘Okay,’ Jamie replies.
  A few minutes later, they stand in silence at the entrance to the estate.
  ‘You did well today,’ Dave says.
  ‘Thank you,’ Jamie replies.

Eventually, they hear engine noises coming towards them.
  ‘How many? Dave asks.
  ‘Engines? Err…,’ Jamie cocks his head and listens intently for a few seconds. ‘I have no idea,’ he finally admits, feeling ashamed that he is unable to work out the different sounds of the engines.
  ‘Me neither,’ Dave replies and Jamie gives a rare and awkward smile.

The front vehicle comes into view, Clarence’s distinct bald-headed profile is clear through the windscreen. The lead vehicle slows to a stop a few metres back from the entrance.
  ‘Everything okay?’ Clarence asks, getting out and walking towards them with his assault rifle held like a toy gun in his massive hand.
  ‘Yes,’ Dave replies.
  ‘Did you rig the estate okay?’ Clarence asks.
  ‘Waiting for you to go through so we can finish off,’ Dave answers.
  ‘Okay mate, we found a few things to bring back with us - we’ve got loads of nuts, bolts and chains for the cannon,’ Clarence smiles at the two quiet men.
  ‘Good, is that a fuel tanker?’ Dave asks, looking over at the large vehicle with the engine idling.
  ‘Yep, and it’s full too - thought we might make use of it.’ Dave nods, staring at the tanker.
  ‘If they don’t need it down there, we can use it here.’
  ‘Roger, I’ll pass that on,’ Clarence replies.
  ‘Let them know the estate is rigged and to be avoided,’ Dave adds, as Clarence walks back to his vehicle.
 

The convoy stops on the single-track road leading to the Fort as Howie and Chris step out of the gates, accompanied by Blowers and Cookey. All of them look at the fuel tanker.
  ‘Where on earth did you find that?’ Chris calls out as they walk towards each other; Clarence turns to glance at the fuel tanker.
  ‘We found it behind some gates next to a petrol station, couldn’t believe it was still there. We’ve got loads of stuff from the hardware store and the first gunsmith’s, but the next one was looted, the one after that was a florist’s and not much use…’
  ‘A florist’s?’ Howie interrupts. ‘Who would turn a gunsmith’s into a florists?’
  ‘That’s what we said, so then we went for the last one… and saw shit loads of zombies marching out of a town, heading north.’
  ‘North?’ Chris asks quickly, all of them focussing hard on Clarence’s words.
  ‘Yeah, it looks like they’re going towards the motorway but moving as the crow flies, going across land and fields.’
  ‘How many?’ Howie asks.
  ‘Thousands, just a solid line of them. They’re moving slowly and they didn’t pay us any attention, not even when we mowed a few down with the fuel tanker.’
  ‘You reckon they’re heading for the motorway?’ Chris asks.
  ‘Must be, it makes the most sense. They get to the junctions on the motorway and then tag onto the main bulk as they pass through. The most obvious theory is that they’re massing, just like they did in London,’ Clarence says, looking to Chris then Howie.
  ‘Well, we knew it was coming, this is just a dose of reality,’ Howie says grimly. ‘It changes nothing, we’ve got spotters out and Dave is rigging the estate now…’
  ‘He’s done it, him and that other quiet one,’ Clarence says.
  ‘Jamie. They’ve done it already?’ Howie replies.
  ‘He wants the fuel tanker up there, if you don’t need it.’
  ‘I bet he bloody does, I bet his eyes lit up at that thing,’ Howie laughs. ‘Is it full?’
  ‘With petrol,’ Clarence nods.
  ‘The last point of defence before they get to us is the deep ditch after the last bank, if we pour petrol in, we’ll lose loads being soaked into the ground, before it starts to fill…’ Howie muses.
  ‘I see what you mean Howie, some pipes filled with petrol spraying out maybe?’ Chris adds, rubbing his beard as he thinks.
  ‘Flame throwers?’ Howie asks. ‘Big, fucking flame throwers, now that would be cool,’ he smiles. ‘But it will take too long to sort out.’
  ‘Maybe not,’ Ted interrupts,. ‘We’ve got plenty of plumbers here, let me have a word with them and see what we can do.
  ‘You happy with that, Howie?’ Chris asks, looking at him.
  ‘Yeah, we’ve got no choice really. We know they’re massing or getting ready so we need to pick the pace up, it’s already getting late.

‘Chris, find out how the diggers are getting on then how long before we can start putting the spikes and caltrops in.

‘We need Dave back here to sort those cannon out and see if they can be used. Ted, find those plumbers, and work out if we can rig something up with the petrol going through pipes in the ditch.   ‘Clarence, you take the weapons and materials you found to Malcolm, and then get the lists of people that have weapons experience and start drilling or training or distributing the weapons. Use the top of the inner wall for the long-range weapons and get people up there ready. There’s some archers here too, find out where they need to be positioned. Ideally we want them on the top of the inner wall too, firing high, so they get the best range.

‘Blowers and Cookey, stay on that gate and do not let anyone out that shouldn’t be going out, got it?’ Howie speaks firmly and quickly, looking to each man as he issues orders and instructions.

They nod back at each request.
  ‘Good, we need to move and get this done quickly, let’s go.’

The afternoon rolls on with the long hours flying by as those few men tasked with the responsibility work like demons without rest. Strong coffee, adrenalin and the knowledge of what’s coming their way keep them working at a pace that would leave most reeling from exhaustion.

Chris stalks the Fort, radio in hand, and speaking to the guards with the digger drivers, urging them to move quickly and finding out the pits are nearly finished.

He locates Sergeant Hopewell in the office, already surrounded by people clambering for her attention. Chris pushes through, using his bulk to force a path and then instructing Sergeant Hopewell to find people to send out and cut weeds and long grass down and be ready to assist the engineers.
  Then he works his way to the workshops, to find Kelly and the rest hard at work and more people already drafted in to sort wooden shafts, posts and metal poles into piles that are waiting to be sharpened into spikes or to be cut and bent into the deadly foot traps.
  Several generators sourced from non-essential parts of the Fort chug and roar as the power tools scream out.

Sparks from metal cutters cascade out onto the workshop floor and every space is dominated by small groups hard at work.

Chris pauses at the door watching Kelly move from group to group, correcting and offering advice.
  ‘Kelly, how’s it going?’ Chris asks, finally getting her attention.
  ‘Good, the spikes are almost ready, they were the easiest. The foot traps are taking a bit longer though,’ she replies, wiping sweat from her brow with an old cloth and smearing black grease over her forehead.
  ‘Can we start getting them in then?’
  ‘The spikes? Err, yeah I think we can.’
  ‘Good, find someone to send out to supervise it if you can’t be spared,’ Chris replies firmly.
  ‘No, I’ll go myself, are there guards out there?’ she asks.
  ‘Several of them, no one is to go near the edge of the estate. The guards will shoot them if they do, get out there as quick as possible.’ Chris responds and walks out of the room.

Back on the radio, he informs the gate that engineers will be coming through shortly and then talks to the guards with the digger drivers, he tells them to get the pits finished and then use the drivers to help with whatever else is needed.
  Finally, he establishes that Dave is on his way back to the Fort with Jamie.

Ted moved away from the small gathering outside the Fort, moving quickly and with purpose back inside.

He walks quickly to the police office to find Sarah and Terri helping Sergeant Hopewell deal with the many enquiries and people now coming in to ask questions about all the activity taking place and trying to find more people to help the engineers.

Ted finds the stack of lists and works his way through the pile, until he finds names of plumbers and the sections within the camp they are allocated to.
  Striding back outside, he looks for runners to send out, only to find the supply of runners now exhausted.
  ‘Where are all the runners?’ He calls out, stepping back into the office and having to shout over the clamour of voices.
  ‘All busy, Ted,’ Sarah replies.
  Ted steps back out and casts his experienced eye around to see Tom and Steven strolling along in the camp, still bickering.
  ‘You two, come here,’ Ted bellows.

Tom and Steven both spin round, recognising his voice instantly, and moving quickly over to him.
  ‘We need plumbers, they’re on these lists…’ Ted starts to explain.
  ‘Have we sprung a leak,’ Steven jokes.
  ‘Shut up and focus young man,’ Ted snaps at him and notices they both visibly straighten up at his tone of voice. ‘Take these,’ Ted hands the lists to Steven. ‘And get them over to me as soon as possible, and I mean as soon as possible.’
  ‘Okay, Ted.’

‘Right Tom, Ted gave me the lists so I’ll be in charge of this project seeing as Mr Howie said we’re both the same now…’ Steven starts to gloat.
  ‘I SAID NOW,’ Ted booms at them, they both turn quickly and start heading back into the camp as Ted heads back towards the police office with a wry smile and a shake of his head.

As the small gathering listens to Howie, Clarence watches him closely. This untrained man, a supermarket manager, giving orders to trained and experienced soldiers. There’s something about him though. The passion he exudes and the absolute certainty with which he speaks. Even big Chris defers to Howie and Clarence thinks back to the many missions when Chris was in charge, but Chris was always a man’s soldier, never an officer. Howie is like an officer, the type of officer the men all respect and trust, the officer always leading from the front. The officer that can see all the facets of the mission, not just the one bit he is doing. Clarence had met great strategists in his time, but none of them had the human touch that Howie possesses. His ability to look a man in the eye and say with certainty that this needs to be done and it needs to be done now.
  Clarence watches big Chris and the way he listens to Howie. Chris had always been that rare thing in a soldier, a good diplomat, as well as a good fighter. However, Chris had never taken to idiot officers very well and had been outspoken if he felt they were doing the wrong thing, often to the detriment of his own career.