Outbreak The Zombie Apocalypse (UK Edition) (20 page)

‘Bugger, bugger, bugger,’ he hissed under his breath.

‘Are you okay? Are you bitten?’

‘Bugger, bugger, bugger.’

I hit him across the side of the head, knocking his cap off and showing his curly black hair.

‘Are you bitten?’ I snapped.

He wrenched away from me. ‘No, no. I’m just terrified, so get off me.’

I glowered and held the steering wheel tighter. ‘If you’d rather get out here, that’s fine with me.’

The castle was now on our immediate right and I could see the corner of it ahead, where I would have to turn right and follow the wall around. 

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just… What the hell is going on? They killed my Mum!’

He started to cry, banging the heel of his hand on the dashboard in front of him. I realised for the first time that this was no man but a teenage boy. He was tall but could be no more than seventeen.

‘Why are you going this way?’ he continued, his voice rising with panic. ‘You need to get out of town. This is where they’ve all been heading for!’

And the signs of it were all over the place. Bodies, blood and more of the zombies themselves. They turned their heads as we passed but none tried to intercept us like the woman had done. But then, we’d been static when she had started her attack. Had they worked out that a moving car was a danger for them? This was unbelievable.

‘Listen, I’ve been told by the Army to get to the stadium. It’s meant to be safe. So that’s where I’m going.’ I turned right, the castle’s main entrance now visible. ‘And if you don’t like it, take your chances with them!’ I pointed at a group of zombies, all shirtless, who had surrounded three men against the castle walls.

‘No! No chance.’ 

That finally shut him up.

Two police cars passed us going the other way, without their lights or sirens on. Occupants of both cars were signalling that we should be going in the other direction. My passenger turned in his seat, watching the cars as they sped away and looked at me, eyes wide and questioning. 

‘I know what I’ve been told,’ I said too quickly, the panic rising from my stomach to my throat as I turned left at the Angel Hotel. Halfway through the turn I slammed the brakes. The kid slipped forward and braced himself against the dash.

‘Oh, my God,’ he said, looking to his right, out the side window and across the bridge at the sight that had stopped me, and the Range Rover, in our tracks. 

Walking across the bridge were hundreds of zombies. Some limped but most walked like any human being, and then, when they saw us, they screamed and they ran. I put my foot as hard down on the gas as possible and the Range Rover accelerated down the tree-lined avenue. 

Cars were parked tightly on each side of the road but there was no sign of any people or any more of those creatures. As we approached the entrance to the old Cardiff Arms Park rugby ground and one of the main entrances to the Millennium Stadium, a group of soldiers stepped out into the road and trained their weapons directly at us. I braked hard again, the boy next to me this time placing his feet up in front of him to stop from sliding forward, raising his arms in the air with the universal sign of surrender. 

‘We’re human!’ he shouted. ‘We’re human!’

We had slid to a halt just in front of the soldiers. They wore full battle gear including helmets and body armour. One officer pulled my door open before I had the chance to react.

‘Pull forward to the bottom of the ramp. To that space there, leave the keys in the ignition and run, and I mean run, up to the turnstiles. You’ll be told what to do next. Go.’

‘Wait!’ I shouted as he slammed the door. ‘They’re coming from that way.’

‘You think we don’t know that? They’re coming from everywhere. Now move!’

I brought the Range Rover forward to where another solider directed me as I pulled in to the final space in a row of cars, completing a makeshift barrier, and turned off the ignition. It was only when I got out did I realise what was going on directly in front of me. A row of cars had been parked across the road and ten, maybe twelve soldiers were firing in sustained bursts over the top of the bonnets as dozens of zombies charged at them. 

Then from behind me, the first shots were fired towards the creatures we had seen coming over the bridge. Grabbing the black-haired boy by his jacket, I sprinted up the slope towards the stadium entrance without looking back. The sound of shots, screams, bellows and wails chased us, pushed us on. 

By the time we reached the turnstiles my lower back and the tops of my legs were cramping up and I stumbled. The kid let me fall, left me lying there and ran towards the soldiers. They let him through the barriers and then he was gone.

‘Get up. Move it!’ shouted a trooper as he grabbed me under one armpit, pulling me to my feet. Once through the first set of gates, he pointed me in the direction of one of the huge steel doorways.

‘In there, and do exactly as you’re told.’

I dashed through the doorway and into the concrete causeway that encircled the inside of the stadium. Through the entrance to the stands I could see hundreds of people already inside, some on the seats and some on the pitch itself. There were dozens more soldiers between me and there. Without a word, I was ushered into the nearest men’s toilets. I moved without a sound but kept my hands raised because the two soldiers who directed me had their guns trained at my head. There were three more armed soldiers in the toilet.

‘We need to check you haven’t been infected. Take off your clothes.’

I did as directed, realising that the jogging trousers and sweatshirt were damp with perspiration. I laid my wallet and phone on top of a pile of boxes and military equipment positioned in the middle of the floor. I was surprised that I hadn’t left them in the car.

‘Clear,’ shouted someone.

‘Turn around.’

‘Clear.’

‘Okay, put your clothes back on. Where have you come from and have you had any run-ins with those things?’

‘Usk. I’m from Usk,’ I said as I dressed myself, pleased not only to be clothed but also that there were no longer guns aimed at me. ‘The town was being torn to pieces. I’ve been chased but no direct contact.’

‘All right. Now go through to the pitch side. We may want to speak to you again about what you’ve seen, so don’t go too far.’

‘Sure.’

I stuffed my wallet back into my trouser pocket but kept my phone out and brought up Nick’s mobile number. I dialed it, expecting nothing, but as I walked through and took a seat in the bowl of the stadium, Nick answered.

‘Matt,’ he whispered. ‘You’ve got to help us.’

My blood ran cold at his tone. ‘Nick! Nick. Oh, no. Where are you?’

‘Keep your voice down. We’re in the loft. I turned it into a safe room. We’ve got food and water, but those things…they’re looking for us. It’s like they can smell us.’

‘Nick, I…’ There was a bang from Nick’s end of the line.

‘Shhh.’ 

Then nothing for over ten seconds. 

I raised my eyes and I saw for the first time that the roof was closed over. No wonder Mitchell had been so convinced that this place was safe. 

Then Nick came back. ‘One of them was on the roof. Please come and help us, please…’ and the line went dead. I shook my phone, not quite sure what I was expecting to happen. I called Nick again but got nothing. I looked at my phone’s screen and saw my signal had gone.

‘No…’

There was a sudden burst of sustained gunfire from the doorway behind me, followed by heavy footsteps, and then voices.

‘Drop back, drop back!’

More gunfire, a yelp of pain and then screams.

‘Close the door, close the door now.’

‘But, sir?’

‘Close the door now! That’s an order.’

Gunfire again and I jumped to my feet and turned to face the exit when, mixed in with the shots, came the unmistakeable growl of the zombies as they charged the stadium. The metal door slammed into place, the noise echoing around the concrete corridor, muting the continued gunfire outside.

From where I was stood I could not see the main door, but now a few soldiers came into my line of vision. Even though the door was closed, they still trained their weapons in that direction as the metal was pummelled with what I could only assume to be the fists of the dead outside.

‘It’ll hold,’ said the authoritative voice that had demanded the doors be closed in the first place.

And then, from a seemingly younger soldier, the worst words possible:

‘Sir, I’ve been bitten.’

The troops that I could see tensed and backed off. A couple of them dropped into firing position and they raised the sights of their guns up to eye level. The hammering at the door continued. More people crowded around where I stood. 

‘Oh, please, please,’ came the younger voice, and then a louder, ‘No!’

‘I’m sorry, son.’

The echo of the discharged bullet rang around the stadium.

A chilling wave of silence fell in its wake. Everyone, soldiers and civilians alike, either flinched or stepped backwards. Some of the troops turned their back on the scene. Others leant their guns against the nearest wall and stepped out of sight, then reappeared, dragging the body of their fallen comrade across the grey floor, past the toilet where I had been checked for injuries. 

The officer in charge, the one who had pulled the trigger, walked around the corner towards us. He was a short and squat man with thick forearms. Like the rest, he wore standard Army camouflage gear and a peaked hat that didn’t quite cover a scar that ran along his forehead.

‘Please get back from the doors. Find somewhere and settle yourselves in. Now!’

People, myself included, did as we were told immediately.

There must have been at least a thousand people within the lower levels of the stadium. Some were alone; others had grouped together. Only the occasional soldier prowled the upper levels. My stomach groaned and I realised I had not eaten in hours. 

I was surprised I did not feel worse after the amount I had drunk the previous day, but I guessed that adrenaline was coursing through my body, chasing off all kinds of ills, except for the pain in my lower back. The muscles were still tight but they had not gone into spasm again and I counted that as a victory at this point. 

I thought about Nick and the children, locked in their own attic, hoping that the zombies would move on, that they wouldn’t be discovered. How much food did they have? How frightened were the kids? What could I do to help? I sat straighter in my chair. What the heck was I doing here when my tank of a car and I could be helping them? 

I could get to the Range Rover and get back to Usk. The journey between here and there would be relatively clear of incident. The difficult part would be getting out of the stadium and then the city. I couldn’t see the soldiers rolling the doors open for me to take off on my crusade while the creatures were trying to smash the same doors down to get to their next meal.

It was settled, then. I got up off my seat and walked through to the concrete alleyway. From the landing above I could hear irregular gunfire, single shots as opposed to the continuous rounds of automatic weapons. I could see a lone soldier at the top of the stairs poised at a shattered window. He held a sniper rifle in his hands as he looked out, scanning the approach to the stadium. He would watch for a while, then aim the weapon and fire off a shot. I hoped that he was clearing the area around my car and would inadvertently help me in my quest. I just had to come up with a way to get out.

I ducked inside the toilet, the same one where I had been forced to strip to prove I had not been bitten, and turned on the tap. I closed my eyes and splashed water on my face. I leant forward and let my forehead rest on the cold glass of the mirror. I could still hear the crack of the rifle from the first floor landing. I placed my hands on the wall either side of the mirror and pushed my face away. I continued to study the reflection, but I wasn’t looking at myself. 

I was looking at the pile of heavy hardware and boxes that I could see over my right shoulder. The same pile I had laid my clothes on top of. I let my eyes run down the mirror until I could see the floor around the bottom of the military equipment. It wasn’t the same as the rest of the tiled area. I spun around and quickly dropped to my knees. It was a manhole. 

Why had it been covered? 

Because it clearly led somewhere outside of the stadium walls, and if the zombies got into the sewers, they might just find their way in. I wondered how many similar access points there were and if they’d all been covered over. The toilet I was in seemed like the one in most use so I would be stupid to try to shift the equipment here, but maybe there was another toilet, further along the corridor, that would allow for more privacy. 

I exited the toilet and, instead of going left and back to my seat, I turned right, directly into the path of one of the soldiers.

‘Access out here is limited,’ he said gruffly. ‘Go back inside to your seat.’

I didn’t want to cause a scene or draw any more attention to myself, so I turned on my heels and went back inside to consider my options.

The banging on the roof started about ten minutes later. 

It was sporadic but it echoed around the stadium and drew everyone’s attention. Watching those around me crane their necks towards the sound reminded me of the zombies outside the gate of our house in Usk when they looked up at the moon. A few people got to their feet, others pointed and the general hubbub of conversation grew until a number of people gathered into a group and then began to walk towards me. I couldn’t think of what they expected me to do, but I was mistaken. 

They bypassed me and went straight out into the corridor, shouting that the soldiers needed to start doing something. Two troopers blocked their path, weapons drawn but pointed to the floor.

‘You need to go back inside. We’re dealing with enough without…’

‘They’re on the roof…’

‘What are we going to ..?’

‘Help us…’

They spoke over the solders before they had a chance to explain, and then the jostling started. I got to my feet and stood in the doorway. This could be just the distraction I needed. The lead soldier tried to stem the tide but one of the women was screaming right into his face, and he pushed her away as his colleague called for backup.