After the Fall (Book 1): Outside (4 page)

Chapter 7

Jack would replay the next five minutes over and over in the months to come. What actions should he have taken; could he have stopped anyone from dying?

Simon shouted and waved manically, “Move, we have to move now!”

Jack leapt forward into a sprint, again a rabbit scurrying for cover.

His first mistake was to stop when he heard the noise. A heavy and deep metallic clang that seemed to shake the whole building. The floor shuddered. He stopped dead and fell over as Marcus clattered into the back of him.

Ash was ahead and nearly out of the aisle, and Jack was on the floor with Marcus on top of him when the second explosive clang sounded. Now it was accompanied by dull thuds, high pitched bangs and twisting groans, like a building falling apart.

He scrambled to get up, his limbs not moving fast enough for the furious instructions from his brain.

Another huge bang, and then nearly immediately after, another.

He looked up to see Ash and Simon yelling at him from the end of the aisle, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Another bang, this one nearly on top of him. It reminded him of the time the washing pole in his back garden had been hit by lightning. The clap of thunder had run through his whole body, right to his bones.

He looked up and saw the looming hulk of the the high shelves tipping over slowly, building up speed, and falling. The heavy wrought iron shelves that made the walls of the aisle, were collapsing on top of him and Marcus.

He didn’t remember thought, only movement and fear.

He wouldn’t escape the aisle before it fell.

He should have ran, but he cringed. The behemoth descending on him froze his nervous system and he fell into a ball on the ground.

He yelled as all around him building supplies clattered and banged; bags of concrete; metal poles; pieces of timber. He held his head in his hands and waited for death - for a wayward pole to sever his spine, or for a brick to hit his skull.

The noise reached a crescendo as the aisles tumbled one by one for the whole length of the building. A discordant racket of metal and concrete echoes filled the store.

And then it stopped.

Everything that could fall had fallen, and he was alive. The shelves had come to rest at a steep diagonal angle, leaning against the next set of shelves, which no doubt leaned against the next, repeated to the end of the store like the huge dominoes of a giant’s playset.

He looked up, and at the end of the aisle, he saw Ash and Simon, now fighting a crowd of zombies. A collection of the undead in various states of decomposition crowded around the two, lining up to be killed again.

Jack jumped up and ran, towards the end of the aisle. He had to get out.

A shout from behind. Marcus.

The skinny teenager was lying on the floor, his leg underneath a number of bags of concrete. He was stuck.

“Jack, help, get me out of here.”

Jack’s immediate urge was to run. Out of the aisle, past Simon and Ash and their opponents, and into the car park. Away from everything.

But he fought the urge and dashed back to help Marcus.

“Thanks man, Christ, my leg is hurting, really hurting,” said Marcus.

Jack struggled with the concrete bag. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it moved.”

A moan from nearby and Jack looked up to see three zombies approaching from the back end of the aisle, buried in darkness.

One wore a summer dress; an old woman, probably buying something for her garden when the apocalypse hit. The other two wore matching yellow and black retail uniforms, and sported matching gaping wounds on their necks. The skin hung off the face of one of the shop assistants, revealing a blank white staring skull.

“Shit,” said Jack.

Marcus turned and saw them too. “Oh fuck. Come on man, hurry up. Hurry man.”

Jack pulled at the concrete bag, but he couldn’t shift it. It was stuck under a heavy immoveable metal pole, jammed between the floor and the shelving.

“I can’t move it,” said Jack.

“You have to, come on Jack.”

Jack shook his head. “I said I can’t fucking move it. It wont budge!”

Marcus started to cry. “Then kill them, kill them and get the others.”

The zombies were only a few feet away. Jack’s sledgehammer was by the zombie’s feet. He couldn’t get it.

“I’m sorry,” he said, quietly.

He ran.

Marcus shouted after him, and Jack’s mind tried to filter out his desperate cries. The cries turned  to terrified yelling, which turned to the ripping of flesh and gurgling screams.

Jack burst out of the aisle to where Ash and Simon were finishing off the rest of the zombies.

“Where’s Marcus?” shouted Ash as she stabbed the last zombie in the head.

“He didn’t make it,” said Jack. He stared at Ash blankly. “He was caught under concrete, the aisle had fallen on him.”

Simon looked down the end of the aisle, “Jesus,” he said quietly, before turning to the others, “Lets fucking go.”

They ran out of the store and into the truck. Jack jumped into the back.

Alone.

Chapter 8

Annie kicked her sandals off and ran along the beach, following Tom who had sprinted to the water’s edge.

“Come on,” he shouted.

The grey sea lapped upon the sand and Annie laughed as the white foam tickled her toes.

“Do you want to see the rocks?”

“Sure!” 

Annie forgot that she shouldn’t be out here - how could anywhere so much fun be dangerous? Maybe Tom was right, her Daddy was just not very brave, not like the other Dads.

The two children ran far down the beach, towards the headland that tapered into the sea, ending in a sprinkle of large and heavy rocks.

The truck stopped. They were only half way back to the holiday camp.

The front door opened and Simon jumped out and stomped to the back of the pick up. He scowled at Jack.

“What the hell happened?”

“I… I don’t know, I was knocked out by the… I couldn’t get to him. It was too late,” stammered Jack.

Simon jumped into the back of the pick up and grabbed Jack by the lapels, pulling him up. He held him over the edge of the pick up.

“What are we going to tell his mum, he was only seventeen!”

“Simon!” Ash appeared at the side of the pick up. “Stop it, let him go.”

Jack turned round to look at Ash. There was no sympathy in her eyes, but no anger either.

He felt limp. Part of him wanted Simon to let him drop, to leave him here.

“You’ve seen what he was like,” said Simon to Ash. “Shit scared the whole time. Like a fucking rabbit.”

The rabbits again.

“We were all scared once,” said Ash, “and I’m sure we all will be again. We don’t know what happened. We can only take Jack’s word for it. If he’s lying,” she looked at Jack, stared at him, “then he will have to deal with it.”

Simon let his hold go and Jack stood up.

“What happened Jack?” said Ash.

Jack faced Ash, glad to get the chance to turn away from Simon. “I don’t know, not for sure. We were running, and then the shelves fell, and next thing I was on the ground. I think something hit me. When I got up, they were already on Marcus. I couldn’t do anything.”

“That’s what we will tell his Mum,” said Ash.

“He was your responsibility Jack,” said Simon.

“We are all each other’s responsibility, Simon,” said Ash. “You invited Jack, remember. You told us he was ready.”

Simon glared at Jack. “Fucking zombies. I hate this fucking world.” He jumped off the pick-up and got back in the cab, slamming the door behind him.

“You want to get in the cab?” said Ash, “this rain is getting heavy.”

Jack shook his head. He didn’t want to be near Simon.

“Fair enough.”

Ash got in the driver’s seat. Jack sat down in the flatbed. They set off for camp.

Annie climbed up a large pile of boulders resting against the base of the headland. They were slippy, due to the rain, so she was being extra careful. She didn’t want to look like a coward again in front of Tom, who had scaled the boulder no problem. He had better trainers though. They had good grips.

She eventually got to the top and stood up next to Tom. Big waves tumbled into the rocks at the edge of the headland. The sky, the sea, all were a heavy grey. A biting wind blew.

The fence looked far away and she was cold and wet. She pulled her coat in around her.

“I think we should go back.”

Tom let out another of his theatrical sighs. “We’ve only just got here.”

“I know, but it’s cold, I think we should go back.”

“Are you scared?”

Annie shook her head, but she was. She felt her lip trembling. The holiday camp looked so far away. She wanted to be back in her chalet, with Daddy.

“Ok,” said Tom. “Let’s go then. It’s raining anyway.”

He walked to the edge of the rock and suddenly stopped.

“What is it?” said Annie.

Tom didn’t answer. He stood still, staring down at the beach.

“What is it?” said Annie again. Her silly butterflies were going crazy.

Still no answer from Tom. She felt very scared now. Why wasn’t he answering?

She walked slowly to stand beside him. When she saw what Tom was looking at, she screamed.

An old man, half of his skull caved in, his yellow grey flesh dashed with red against his torn and ragged clothes, was below. He was looking up at them, his nails scraping against the rock. He hissed and moaned, reaching for the two children.

He blocked the only path down from the rock.

Behind him, four more zombies were approaching. Annie fell to her knees, her lip trembling.

Jack’s was the second truck back, and the immediate centre of attention once news spread about what had happened.

James listened as Jack related the tumbling aisles, the zombie attack, and the death of Marcus. Each time he told the story it became easier, and it even stared to feel like the truth in a strange sort of way. Maybe it was what had happened. If he had been knocked out, maybe he hadn’t remembered things properly?

James led Jack away from the main group in the car park.

“Are you ok Jack?”

Jack nodded, but said nothing.

“It’s ok if you’re not. This new world, it’s, well things are happening that we aren’t used to. We aren’t prepared for any of this. Do you know what I mean?”

“I just want to look after Annie.”

“I know Jack, and that’s right. That’s what you should do.” James glanced at what seemed to be a new commotion in the crowd, before turning back to Jack. “Are you ok, I mean, able to look after Annie?”

“Of course I am. She’s all I’ve got left.”

James put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and eyed him carefully. “What you told those guys, back there, that’s what happened?”

“Yes. That’s what happened.”

“Ok, but if you need to talk, about anything, you come find me, ok?”

“Sure.”

James looked over Jack’s shoulder, irritated. “What is going on?”

Simon ran towards them. “Jack, Jack! The kids,” he came to a halt, panic across his face. “They’ve gone.”

“What?”

“No one can find them. They went out to play and… no-one’s seen them.”

“We have to find them,” said Jack, looking around at the faces fixed on him and Simon. Then he shouted, “We have to find them!”

Chapter 9

Jack ran to the shop, or the armoury as it now was. He scanned the rack of sledgehammers, axes and knives. He took a 10lb sledgehammer to replace the one he had lost in the building store.

James and Simon burst in after him.

“Jack,” said Simon, “Come on, calm down, we need to think about how we’re going to do this. We got about thirty people out there who are going to help. We need to organise a search party and be methodical.”

Jack shook his head. “No. You do that, but I’m going to run the fence.”

“Why?” said Simon.

“If they are in the perimeter, then great, your search party can find them. But if they are outside the fence, then we need to know and get out there as soon as possible.”

Simon turned to James. “Jack’s right. I’m going with him. We’ll run the fence and check for any breaches.”

“Ok,” said James. “That makes sense, and I guess I can’t stop you anyway. Got your radios?”

Simon held his up, Jack nodded.

“Keep in touch with me. I’ll create a few search teams and act as liaison for you all. You find anything, let me know.”

“Will do,” said Simon.

“Come on, we’re wasting time,” said Jack. He ran out of the armoury, heading towards the beach.

Simon ran to catch up. “Where are we starting, you know something?”

“We check the beach first,” said Jack through panting breaths. “The fence is weakest there. We made a lot of quick fixes as we couldn’t get the vehicles and heavy goods round to secure it.”

They ran along a number of paths and past several chalets before reaching the dunes. They took the first rise, the sand wet and heavy in the now thumping rain.

Standing at the top of the rise, Jack looked across the fence below. It hugged the bottom of the line of dunes tightly. Piled sand and lumps of concrete extruded at places on its length like cancerous growths. Evergreen branches threaded through the fence, dashes of green on the otherwise dull construction.

It ran for a good mile along the beach.

“We need to split up,” said Simon. “There’s no way we’ll cover it all together, not quickly enough anyway.”

“Ok, I’ll go left, you go right. We’ll circle the whole camp. Radio if you get anything.”

The two men ran down the mound, wet sand tumbling behind them. Reaching the fence they crashed to a halt and without words, Jack went left and Simon right.

Wind and rain pelted Jack’s face and within minutes his skin was red raw, his nose going numb under the cold. He thought of Annie outside somewhere, scared and freezing. Zombies nearby.

He walked quickly along the fence, shaking it, looking for gaps or climbing spots, but found nothing within the first ten minutes. Fear gnawed at him. He tried to shut it down. He needed to concentrate.

Up ahead, he saw a wooden pallet. He remembered carting a few of them down here with Ian, the accountant he had met on the first day (dead now, of course). They had used the pallets to block gaps, with mind to fill them with concrete, sand, tree limbs, anything more permanent later on.

They never had.

The pallet he saw was laying back against a thick growth of marram grass - not the fence, where it should be. He broke into a run, willing his feet to pull through the heavy sand.

Out of breath, wheezing almost, he reached the pallet. There was a gap in the fence.

“Shit.”

He peered through. The beach stretched in bleak monotony for fifty yards before being met by the sea, large grey waves exploding in dirty white foam.

He fumbled with the radio.

“Simon, come in, Simon!”

There was few seconds of static, then, “You found something?”

“A hole in the fence, about ten minutes from where we started, five if you run.”

“Ok, wait for me.”

“No, I’m going now. Radio me when you get to the beach. I’ll tell you where I am.”

He signed off and crawled though the gap. Small and low for him, but perfect for a six and an eight year old.

Once through, he ran out onto the hard sand of the beach. He looked for footprints, but saw nothing - the rain was too heavy, the sand pitted with millions of raindrop rivulets.

When a good distance from the fence he looked left and right, holding his hand up to shield his eyes from the rain. Something on the headland caught his attention. He thought he saw movement. He squinted and tried to keep his gaze steady, staring through the rain and grey of the beach.

There it was, shapes moving, against the rocks. Something white. His daughter’s dress was white.

He keyed his radio. “The headland, when you reach the beach, get to the headland.”

Jack broke into another run, his lungs screaming in protest.

Annie ran round the edge of the large rock. To three sides, it dropped steeply, too high for her to jump. To the last side, stood the zombies. There were now five. Moaning, crawling, scratching, pushing, hissing, reaching.

She stared at them in horror. They were so ugly, s
o
scary
.
She had once watched a scary film about vampires round at Jenny Dean’s house and that had scared her, but this was different. This was the things that had killed mummy. And now they wanted to kill her too.

“I want my Daddy,” she mewed, her legs giving way as she slumped onto the rock, above the zombies, unable to take her eyes off them.

Tom sat next to her. He cried loudly, his face red, his body shaking with large sobs.

Annie wiped away her tears and looked away from the zombies, she didn’t want to see them anymore.

But something else was moving on the beach, far away. Something was running, quickly, coming towards them.

She stood up slowly, and pulled back her hair to keep it from the wind. She stared hard.

“Daddy?” she said to herself.

Was she imagining it?

No. The something got closer. It was a figure, holding a sledgehammer like Daddy used to when he went to work on the fence.

“Daddy?” she said. Then she shouted. “Daddy!” She jumped up and down, waving her arms. The zombies below burst into raucous excitement, as if joining the party, but she didn’t care.

Tom stopped crying, and soon he was beside Annie, shouting with all his strength.