Zombie Castle (Book 1) (22 page)

This time the zombie crumpled as a small red hole appeared in its forehead.

‘Good shot,’ said Steve grinning, ‘now try a few more to make sure.’

Three carefully aimed shots later, I was confident that I could make consistent headshots from as far out as fifty metres. Conscious that we needed to save our ammunition, I stopped shooting then reloaded the gun and put it to one side.

Steve and Jim talked about their experiences over the last few days. It turned into a bit of a group therapy session, with all of us describing our most terrifying moments. The lowest points for them had been having to kill former friends, to avoid being attacked themselves. They’d seen a lot of men hesitate, and pay dearly for it with their lives.

Looking back at my own experiences, I realised how lucky I’d been. I’d faced death a number of times and only survived because Becky, Shawn, and then Stanley had intervened. On the last occasion, if it hadn’t been for Simon and Ben, we would all have died. Listening to everyone’s stories, it struck me that sooner or later our luck would run out. We couldn’t afford to take any more chances and if we were to stand any chance of surviving, we needed to get to Warwick Castle as soon as possible. All our hopes and dreams were riding on it being suitable, but it was the best idea we’d been able to come up with. As a theory, it was the glue that was holding us together as a group. It was giving us all a common aim and purpose; something to fight for. So far every new arrival to our group had seemed to grasp this as well.

As I sat there listening to them all, I realised that the plan we had in place was the one thing that was giving everyone some hope that there might be a future. It was something that would make all the horror we would experience on our journey worthwhile.

My train of thought was interrupted by Simon’s voice over the walkie-talkie. They were heading back and would be with us in about twenty minutes.

The tone of his voice said much more than that. The news was obviously not good.

We hastily packed up our gear and waited impatiently for them to arrive. Before long we heard the familiar sound of the tractor coming closer. The zombies below us turned towards the sound and began to shuffle towards it, their primitive thought processes collectively deciding that the approaching noise would provide a better opportunity for finding food than waiting for us to descend.

The tractor didn’t slow down. It smashed its way through zombie after zombie until it had cleared a path to us. The plough on the front was looking rather more blood streaked and battered than it had done and Shawn, who up until now, I had thought of as a cautious but skilful driver, seemed to be driving in a fury. The tractor and trailer ground to a halt up against the wall, crushing and dismembering the zombies pinned by its blade. I realised with a shock that I could only see Simon and Dave in the trailer and that Simon, his face twisted in anguish, was holding a small bundle of blankets in his arms.

Shawn switched off the engine and we hastily lowered the ladder so that they could climb up.

Simon appeared first, holding the bundle awkwardly against him, and to our amazement the bundle let out a shrill cry. The bundle was a baby!

Instinctively, the women stepped forward and helped Simon step from the ladder on to the roof.

‘Becky, could you hold her for a moment,’ he said, as he handed her the crying bundle. The baby was immediately whisked away and all the women started to fuss over it.

As Dave and finally Shawn climbed up the ladder, I handed them the mugs of tea we’d got ready for them.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

Dave looked at Simon. ‘You tell him.’

Simon took a gulp of his tea and began. ‘There’s not much to say really. After we’d resupplied with ammo, the journey to Ben’s house didn’t take long at all. The roads were reasonably clear and we easily dealt with the zombies along the route with our spears.’ He went quiet for a minute, then continued.

‘The housing estate where his family lived was a bit trickier, as there were a lot more of them walking around and on the narrower roads we had to use the bucket to clear a way through the cars parked on either side. So of course, soon we had quite a crowd following us! When we pulled up outside his house it all looked quiet. The front door was closed and all the curtains were still drawn. We were actually quite hopeful that they’d made it.’

He took another gulp of tea, closed his eyes for a second then carried on. ‘We all shouted but got no response so Shawn sounded the horn on the tractor. Then we heard the baby cry. Ben’s got a six month old baby sister and we knew it could only be her. Before we could come up with a plan, Ben jumped out of the trailer shouting her name, kicked the door in and went inside.’

He paused again and I could see that he was finding it difficult to continue. ‘Suddenly there were hundreds of the bastards, only thirty metres away, so all we could do was try to hold them back to buy him some time. We shot as many as we could and Shawn started to shunt the tractor backwards and forwards to stop them getting too close and it worked. We managed to keep them away from the front door. Then Ben came flying out of the house carrying his sister. He threw her up to me and started to climb in himself.’

Simon looked up at me now, his eyes moist. ‘Just as he was about to climb over the edge, he looked back. There was a woman walking out of the house. It was his mom. I met her at a social a few months back so I know it was her. I don’t know what Ben was thinking because the woman had clearly turned. Maybe he just saw what he wanted to see. Anyway, he shouted her name and before Dave could grab him, he dropped his weapon and jumped down and went back to her.’

We listened appalled, as he finished his story. ‘I think when he got halfway across the front garden he suddenly came to his senses, because he hesitated and stopped. But by then, because we’d been distracted and stopped firing to help him and Shawn had stopped moving the tractor so that he could climb up, the zombies had broken through. They got between us and they trapped him. Dave started firing again but by then there were just too many of them. Ben had his back to his mom and was kicking out at the rest to keep them away so he didn’t see her until she grabbed him and bit into his neck. The last thing we heard was him calling for her as she pulled him to the ground.’

He sighed. ‘There was nothing we could do. I threw a grenade at the spot where he’d fallen. I knew he’d rather be blown to kingdom come rather than become one of those things. For fuck’s sake, I think we all would.’

He looked round at us all, smiling bleakly. ‘And here we are. One down because of some stupid mistake. He was a fucking good Marine!’

One dead, one new arrival.

We were still twenty-one.

The baby was called Sarah and was the usual bundle of cuteness that only a six month old baby can be. She had a head full of black hair, and judging by the volume of her crying, was in good health. Hungry but healthy.

Louise came over. ‘She needs food. We’ve given her water and changed her but she isn’t really going to be happy until she’s had a bottle.’

I looked at everyone. ‘Any suggestions guys?’

Straight away, Vicky said, ‘There were a few babies on the base. I know where they lived so I could show you. There should be bottles, food and nappies in the houses.’

‘Great. Let’s get going. Who going to come with us Simon?’

He thought for a moment. ‘After the shit that happened with Ben, the only way we’re going to accomplish anything is by using maximum force to ensure mission success. I say we take every shooter we’ve got in the hope that we’re able to maintain control over any situation we get ourselves into. There’s no point in doing anything half cocked; it’ll only end up with more of us getting killed until there’s none of us left. All or nothing I say.’

Chet said, ‘Someone needs to stay and protect the ones up here.’

Maud put a stop to the discussion. ‘We don’t need protecting up here. They can’t reach us. Everyone who needs to go, go and get some food for that poor baby. I’ll stay here and look after the children. Just make sure you all come back safe.’

Louise and I fetched the shotguns and Shawn was given Ben’s rifle. Chet wanted to come too and grabbed the.22 rifle. The soldiers still had their own assault rifles and sidearms. Noah, Daniel and Aggi also volunteered to come. Although all we had to offer them was the zombie spears, we figured the more the merrier, and they climbed into the trailer.

Vicky agreed to ride in the cab with Shawn so that she could guide him to the houses we needed to get to. As soon as the soldiers had refilled their empty magazines from the ammunition Simon had taken from the armoury, we were ready to go, spurred on by Sarah’s plaintive crying. We left one of the walkie-talkies with the group on the roof so that we could still communicate with them.

It was my first time riding in the trailer and it did make you feel invulnerable looking down at the zombies, swarming around the trailer, before we set off. While Shawn was helping Vicky into the tractor, we gave the three greenest members of our group a quick lesson in using the spears. To their credit, they didn’t hesitate to start killing the ones they could reach by leaning over the side of the trailer. Pretty laudable, as I’m sure that three days before they would never have dreamed of doing anything so violent.

As we approached the first house, Shawn positioned the trailer so that any zombie that approached the front door could easily be speared as it went by. Simon led the way with the four soldiers, checking and clearing the house of its family of zombie occupants. They’d been trapped in the lounge. It wasn’t clear who had turned first but all that remained of the little girl was her head. After dealing with her parents, who were still feeding on the carcass of her older brother, Simon respectfully placed a blanket over all their remains and shut the door. They’d all known the family.

We used bin liners as carrier bags and hurriedly filled them with as many baby items as we could find. We soon had four bin bags’ worth of nappies, sterilising tablets, bottles, baby food and baby clothes. With no other zombies in sight, we took the time to search and strip the house of anything else that might prove useful. We quickly emptied the kitchen cupboards and the pantry of any food. It proved to us that as long as we could avoid zombies, getting supplies wasn’t going to be a problem.

Every house in the country would yield a certain amount of food if we were desperate. The supplies we already had would see us through the next few days so we weren’t too worried about it yet, but if it was readily available, it seemed sensible to grab what we could. We could carry a lot of supplies in the trailer.

We hadn’t yet had a serious discussion about the best place to get any supplies we needed. Food was obviously our primary concern, but most members of the group only possessed the clothes they stood up in, so as daft as it might seem, we’d probably have to fit in a visit to a clothes shop soon as well.

It had been a while since Stanley and Daisy had used baby milk or nappies so I was a bit out of practice, but I knew the few boxes of milk and packs of nappies we had found should last a six month old for quite a few days. We agreed that we had enough for the time being and should get back to the roof so that we could give Sarah the milk she so desperately needed.

On the journey back I was relieved to find that there seemed to be fewer zombies around. We’d killed a lot of them on our initial journey through the base and every time we drove through in the tractor more of them were destroyed, either by being run over or stabbed. The base was relatively isolated and we thought it likely that the zombies we’d encountered so far had been from the local village. Hopefully the base would remain off the beaten track for zombies for the time being and receive little attention from any from further afield. I knew this situation wouldn’t last but was grateful for the temporary relief it offered us.

Half an hour later Sarah, full of milk and with a small but hearty belch, fell into a deep sleep. Maud made a cosy bed for her under a tarpaulin shelter which had been quickly and expertly erected by Shawn and Dave. Without even thinking, we all started talking in whispers, casting guilty glances at her if we happened to make too much noise. None of us wanted to be the one who woke her up.

The day was getting on and everyone was exhausted from another day of fighting for our survival. Realising that it was far too late to even contemplate leaving our secure location on the roof, we began to set up camp for the night.

Simon and Dave wanted to return to the armoury so that they could empty it of anything useful. As there were fewer zombies milling around now, they decided to set off straight away. Before that, we formed a chain and passed everything we would need for the night up out of the trailer, in order to make the camp as comfortable as possible. We left a group behind to organise the camp and the rest of us climbed down into the trailer.

All the people who’d been on the previous mission to find baby food had volunteered to come along. The silent bonds of comradeship were already binding us together as a group. We all assumed our previous positions around the edge of the trailer, already feeling like veterans.

After a few minutes of dealing with the zombies who’d begun to converge around the trailer, clawing at its corrugated steel sides with tedious tenacity, there were no more within reach. Shawn started up the tractor and we ploughed through some stragglers that were trying to block his path. The area around our building was beginning to resemble a medieval battlefield. The ground was strewn with broken bodies and body parts. Many had been crushed flat having been driven over on numerous occasions.

The air was thick with flies and although the smell of decay wasn’t overpowering yet, it wouldn’t take long for the summer sun to change that. That in itself was a good enough reason for us to leave as soon as possible.

The trailer rocked slightly as the large all-terrain tyres rolled over the corpses. As Shawn already knew the way to the armoury, he made straight for it, weaving as he steered the tractor towards as many zombies as he could, to enable us to kill them. We wanted to prevent them from collecting together in packs. That was when they were at their most dangerous. And of course Shawn’s mantra about killing as many as we could made sense.