Blog of the Dead (Book 1): Sophie (24 page)

I grabbed the shotgun and we clambered towards the rear doors. Liam opened one side. ‘Shut it!’ I shouted at the sight of all the zombies outside. Liam pulled the door, slamming it shut.

‘Shit,’ he said. ‘What do we do?’

‘Only thing we can do,’ I said, raising the shotgun. ‘We go out there and fight. Weapons ready, people. Liam, open the door.’ Liam opened the door, kicking it wide with a booted foot. Countless zombies staggered towards the rear of the van at the sight of us. Realising I couldn’t fire the shotgun inside the van without deafening everyone, I jumped out, gun raised. I hadn’t yet had a go on it, not wanting to waste precious ammo, and now I regretted that decision. I pointed it at a zombie’s head and fired. BOOM – the power of the blast took me by surprise and the shot went wide. I reloaded and tried again, this time holding the gun steady and bracing myself. I fired and blasted the head off a zombie. ‘Fuck yeah!’

I continued to fire into the zombies, holding them back while the others joined me. We fought our way around the side of the van. I could see that we’d hit a line of cars that had been parked across the entrance of the Academy car park. The impact had pushed one of the cars back, opening a gap in the blockade and zombies had started to pour through into the car park. It had also crumpled the front of the van. ‘Sam! Kay!’ I yelled and I turned the butt of the gun around and used it to knock zombies out of my way to reach the front of the van.

I peered in through the passenger window. Kay lifted a groggy head from where it had been thrown against the steering wheel, while Sam lay slumped over the dashboard, not moving. I opened the door while the others held the zombies back. ‘Sam!’ I reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder but he didn’t move. ‘Sam, wake up,’ I said, shaking him.

‘Careful with him,’ said Kay and she levered him back into his seat. His head lolled to the side. She put a hand to his neck. ‘He’s breathing,’ she said and she slapped his cheeks gently. ‘Sam, wake up. Wake up, Sam.’ Sam groaned and I let out a gasp.

‘What happened, Kay?’ I asked.

‘All the zombies … I didn’t see the blockade … I just didn’t see it …’

‘It’s ok. We’re all ok,’ I said. Sam had regained consciousness but he was dazed and disorientated. Me and Kay helped him out of the van and onto the zombie infested street. Liam, Charlotte and Stewart, his guitar strapped to his back, fought the zombies off, while me and Kay helped Sam away from the van. ‘The Academy,’ said Kay. ‘It’s our only chance.’

The six of us made for the opening between the parked cars and into the car park. The zombies that had got in ahead of us were staggering towards the large glass fronted building. We weaved our way through and past them and headed towards the glass doors. They were locked. I could see someone, a young guy, late teens, short curly hair and acne, inside at the reception desk, so I banged on the door. The young guy looked up, looked startled, then looked behind us to the zombie hoard lumbering through the car park towards the building. I glanced back. Many more zombies still poured in through the gap between the cars. Charlotte pressed a buzzer for the intercom.‘Let us in,’ she yelled into the speaker. The young guy stood up from his seat behind the reception desk and I could see he was tall. He stared at us with his hands on his thin hips, biting his lower lip. He emerged from behind the desk and sped off to the right. We followed him with our eyes until he disappeared from view.

‘Where’s the fucker gone?’ asked Kay.

‘We should go, find another way out,’ said Sam, who’d regained his wits. ‘This isn’t worth dying for.’

‘No. No, wait,’ said Stewart.

The car park was crawling with zombies now. ‘They’ll not let us in now we’ve drawn a crowd, sweetie,’ said Charlotte.

‘Aye, they’ll probably leave us out here and hope we draw that lot away,’ said Liam.

‘Just give it a minute,’ said Stewart.

There was about three metres between us and the first wave of the zombies. Not long and we’d be in full battle. ‘For fuck’s sake. Let’s scarper,’ said Kay. ‘While we still can.’

‘No. Look,’ said Stewart. The young guy came tearing down the corridor with a shorter man, a bit older. They stood just on the other side of the glass doors looking at us, their eyes flitting over our shoulders occasionally to the zombies. The young guy bit the nails on his right hand, while the man ran a hand through his fair hair.

The zombies were almost on us. Liam drew his sword and moved towards the zombies. I turned back to look through the glass and slammed my palms against the glass.

I could hear that fighting had broken out behind me, but I kept my eyes on the man with the fair hair. He shook his head and my heart sank. Then he said something to the young guy, though I couldn’t hear through the glass, and the young guy ran off on lanky legs to the reception desk.

‘We’ve got to go. Now,’ I heard Sam shout from behind me. But I followed the young guy’s progress with my eyes, pressing myself against the glass door.

‘No. Wait,’ I said. The young guy dived behind the reception desk and reached his hand out. He must have hit the door release because I now found myself falling forward as the door opened.

‘Hurry!’ yelled the man with fair hair. I barged inside, followed by Stewart, Charlotte and Kay. But Liam and Sam were still outside, surrounded by zombies.

‘Come on!’ I shouted at them. ‘Move your fucking arses!’

‘I have to close the doors,’ said the man. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘No! You’re not leaving them out there. No fucking way,’ I said, holding the door open … clinging onto it like a kid in a playgroup, possessive over some skanky toy that she didn’t want any of the other snotty kids to play with. ‘SAM! LIAM!’

The man took hold of the door, and tried to pull it away from me. ‘I’m so sorry, I have to close the door,’ he said firmly. ‘I can’t risk this place getting overrun.’

‘Do what you have to do,’ I said, and I let go of the door and walked outside.

‘Sophie. Come back here you fucktard,’ I heard Kay shout, but I had gone.

I raised the shotgun and fired at a zombie, taking off most of its head. Reload. I shot another that had hold of Liam’s arm. Reload. I shot a zombie, it’s rotten arm en-route for Sam’s neck. Reload. I would have shot a zombie that came at Liam from the left while he was busy slicing one that came at him from the right, but I missed. Reload. Tried again … bullseye. Closer I went until I had reached the guys. I got the claw hammer out from my belt and began smashing zombie heads. ‘Come on,’ I said.

More zombies lumbered towards us while we moved backwards until our backs met with the closed and locked door. I turned and could see the young guy standing by the reception desk looking worried and unsure while Kay, Charlotte, Stewart and the man shouted at him. I banged on the door with fists still clutching my weapons, zombies due to be biting our flesh any second. I saw Stewart, who’d dropped his guitar and sword, and the man both run towards the desk, and, much the same as the young man had done earlier, they both dived behind the desk and simultaneously reached out for the door release. I didn’t know whose hand got there first and I didn’t care. The door opened and I fell in, Liam and Sam behind me. Zombies lurched forwards, but Kay and Charlotte shut the door, leaving the zombies to pound against the glass with their rotten hands.

I stood with my hands on my knees, my gun and claw hammer on the floor in front of me, and I panted heavily. Sam and Liam stood beside me looking dazed, while Kay and Charlotte backed away from the doors and the zombies that pressed themselves against the glass. Stewart stood by the reception desk, between the young guy and the man. ‘So, what brings you lot to my radio station, then?’ asked the man.

23rd March, 4.30pm
We’d brought what looked like the entire zombie population of Folkestone to the front doors of Folkestone Academy just so Stewart could play on the radio. The man introduced himself as Dave and, leaving the young guy – Rob – to hide behind the reception desk, he led us to the studios, down to the right of the building. On the way, I couldn’t help thinking that the inside of the Academy looked like a cross between a shopping mall – with its large, open reception area, high ceilings, and glass fronted rooms – and a prison – with its walkways that ran the perimeter of the reception area and allowed access to the rooms in the levels above.

Inside the small studio office, Dave introduced us to a fellow presenter, Craig, who greeted us with a beaming smile without getting up from his seat in front of a computer.

‘And in there,’ Dave nodded through a glass window into a studio, ‘is Gemma. The four of us having been living here for a while now, keeping the radio station going. We sometimes have other musicians come in to play. I think it’s really good for the surviving community to hear live music and know that there are others out there, though they don’t usually bring a hoard of zombies with them. I guess you’d like to play?’ he said, looking at Stewart who clutched his guitar to his side.

‘I would.’

‘No problem,’ said Craig. ‘You can go on once Gemma’s finished. She’s got another couple of songs.’

So, Stewart got to sing and play guitar on the radio. And we met Gemma. She had been a student at UCF, the same time as me, but studying drama. I thought she’d looked familiar.

That was when Rob started shouting, and I turned at the sound of feet pounding along the corridor. Rob burst into the office, his face sweaty. ‘What’s going on?’ asked Dave.

‘The-the doors,’ said Rob. ‘I don’t know how much longer the doors and going to hold.’

‘What?’ I said.

‘There’s so many of them out there. They’re … they’re …’

‘There’s no way they can get through those doors,’ said Dave, and he shoved past us and out of the office.

Everyone but Stewart, who was still on air, Gemma and Craig, sprinted to reception. The doors rocked like crazy under the weight of the hoard outside. ‘Shit!’ I said.

‘What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?’ asked Rob, visibly trembling.

‘We get the fuck out,’ said Dave. He ran off back in the direction of the office. I followed, leaving the others in reception. Dave opened the door of the studio and leaned in. ‘Your set’s finished,’ he said to Stewart, who was completely unaware of what was happening. ‘Time to go.’ Then to Craig he said, ‘Put on a recording. I don’t want dead air.’

‘Sure.’

‘What’s going on?’ asked Stewart.

‘Zombies are getting in,’ I explained.

‘You can’t be serious,’ said Gemma. Her long bobbed hair swung as she snapped her head, scanning the office. Then she darted past me and into the studio just as Stewart came out with his guitar and sword. She came back out holding a microphone stand, looking kinda pleased with herself.

‘So, is there a back –’ I didn’t get to finish. I heard a smash and then the screaming started. ‘Fuck!’

We ran back down to reception, to the others. The zombies had got in. Liam sliced heads with his sword, Sam bashed with a claw hammer, Kay had an axe, while Charlotte used a meat cleaver. Stewart, still holding on to his guitar in his left hand, joined in with his sword, while I ploughed in with my claw hammer, not wanting to use up any more shots just yet. Gemma hung back for a bit, then she started swinging her microphone stand like a pro, splitting zombie heads with ease.

I saw Rob take cover behind the reception desk, unarmed, as three zombies lumbered towards him. I was too far away, so I stashed my claw hammer in my belt, raised the gun and shot one. I ran towards the desk while I reloaded. I couldn’t see Rob and guessed that he had crawled under the desk. I shot another one of the zombies and reloaded. I went to shoot the third zombie but it bent down behind the desk and I lost my chance. I reached the desk and pulled my claw hammer out of my belt. I heard Rob scream, and I ran round to his side of the desk to see the zombie with its teeth in Rob’s shoulder. Another two zombies had reached Rob and they grabbed hold of him, pulling his lanky limbs all the way out from beneath the desk. All three zombies bit and tore into him while Rob screamed. His eyes found mine. I raised my gun and shot him through the head. One of the zombies lost part of its leg in the blast, but it didn’t act like it had noticed and all three continued with their meal.

I looked across the reception area. Zombies everywhere. I left the feeding zombies – no point wasting ammo or effort on them if they were distracted with Rob’s body – and headed towards the others. Luckily they’d had the sense not to get separated and had banded together around Craig and Dave who were unarmed.

‘Here,’ I said, handing Dave my claw hammer. ‘Sam. Your knife!’ Sam pulled a knife from his belt and slid it across the floor. Craig bent down and picked it up.

Zombies surrounded us. The front entrance was a total no go. Zombies still streamed in from that direction. I spied a staircase not far off. ‘This way,’ I shouted to the others.

We moved as one unit, keeping our backs together as much as possible. I took the front position and used the butt of the shotgun to clear the way to the stairs. The stairs, themselves, were free of zombies. I swung the shotgun at the last zombie in the way, and I reached the stairs. I ran up them, the others following me. The stairs, I could see now, led to the prison stylee walkways that looked down onto the reception area below. I glanced down and saw Sam. He took one last swipe at a zombie with his claw hammer then turned to take the stairs. He tripped and went face down.

‘Sam!’ I screamed from the walkway.

A zombie grabbed the leg of his skinny jeans and pulled him down. Sam fought back, kicking out with his free leg and grabbing hold of the stairs, but another zombie got him by the waist. I turned to go back down, shoving past the others and screaming my head off. I clutched at the railings to keep my shaky legs upright. Then I saw Craig. He’d been just ahead of Sam. Craig turned and ran back to him. One of the zombies had bent down, its open mouth on a collision course with Sam’s beautiful back while Sam dug his fingers into the stairs to avoid being dragged all the way down by the other one. Craig had been running so fast that he stumbled into the zombie and landed on his knees beside it, his knife raised. Yanking the zombie’s head up with one hand, he plunged the blade into its head and pushed the body back to land clear of him and Sam.