The Undead. The First Seven Days (46 page)

It goes quiet for a second.

Then…
  ‘FIGHT YOUR WAY TO THE REAR, WE’VE GOT LOADS OF AMMO.’
  ‘Right lads, we go out the back and move together as one,’ I shout out and we scoop our bags and kit up and go over to the rear wooden doors.

I stop to listen and press my ear against the door, but I can’t hear anything.
  ‘Cookey, me and you get ready to shoot out,’ Blowers says, as he and Cookey drop down a few steps back from the doors.

I lift the locking bar up and me and Nicholas Hewitt take a door each, we wrench it open and stand back, but neither Cookey or Blowers starts firing.
  ‘Looks clear, Sir,’ Blowers calls out.
  ‘Let’s go,’ I shout and we surge out.

The area is clear, apart from the bodies of the zombies we shot earlier. We move round and start making our way towards the
Land Rover
, reaching it within seconds.
  ‘Bravo, take the sides and the rear, Alpha at the front,’ I call out and we push into the circular area of the sandbags and start firing out into the crossroads.

The noise from the GPMG is deafening this close.
  ‘Fucking good to see you again, mate,’ I yell at Dave.
  ‘You too, sorry about the wait.’

Soon, it’s all over and there are scores of bodies scattered about the area and shiny spent casings littering the ground.

We move out slowly, finishing off the ones that are writhing on the ground; shooting directly into their heads from close range.
  ‘That was fucking tense,’ Blowers says to Cookey.
  ‘Fucking, telling me mate. Jesus, I thought we were fucking done for. Oi… Tucker… you need to start running faster, mate - they almost had you back then,’ Cookey shouts out.
  ‘I’m not built for running,’ Tucker yells back.
  ‘Built for fucking eating is what you are,’ one of them shouts.
  I work with Dave at the back of the
Land Rover
, filling the lads’ backpacks with more magazines. A few of the recruits have been posted as sentries and are standing looking out into the plains with their rifles at the ready.
  ‘So, what took you so long?’ I ask Dave.
  ‘It was a long drive and we had to load up, then get back,’ he answers.
  ‘Ah..  we had ‘em just where we wanted ‘em,’ I say to him, he stops packing and looks up at me and nods.
  ‘Okay, Mr Howie.’

The APC is loaded and ready.

The controls look just like a normal vehicle and I’m sure I will be able to figure it out as I go. Thankfully there is no key needed and the engine roars to life at the press of a switch.

There is another GMPG on the top, which Dave has already loaded with a belt of shiny big bullets. The rear section is massive with seats going down each side. Within a short time, the recruits all pile in.  

Dave quickly runs through how to fire and reload the GMPG and tells them that one must be up there at all times. As Dave gets into the front with me, I hear them all start bickering about who is going to be first.
  The Saxon vehicle is massive and feels solid and strong. It has taken a huge effort to get it, but I’m glad we did, if this won’t get through London, then I don’t know what will… a tank maybe… but we’ve already discussed that.
  ‘Can we stop at the armoury again and get more supplies, Mr Howie?’
  ‘Yeah, no problem mate. I reckon we should park up somewhere and get some sleep first. I know that lot must be ready to drop.’
  ‘Best go into the plains then, find somewhere quiet,’ Dave says.
  ‘Okay mate, sounds good.’
  I pull away with a hard jerk and bounce along for a distance, getting shouts and jeers from the back, until I get a smoother motion. We head out into the plains and drive for a solid ten minutes, keeping a rough line with the road, way off to the right.

Eventually, I stop and shut the engine down.

Dave climbs into the back and relieves Blowers on the GPMG and tells them all to get some sleep.  

Within minutes, they are all gone and I look down at the filthy, drawn, young faces and I feel immensely proud to have worked alongside them. Young, jobless and sent here to get experience and now look at them, they are a unit - a fighting unit.

I think ahead to the next day and moving towards London. I am willing my sister to just sit and wait and know that I’m coming for her.

I try to think through everything that’s happened today, but I feel very sleepy and my eyes are drooping.
  Tomorrow we shall go to London, I just bloody know something else will happen though.
  It always does.

Extract from Howie’s Journal:

The infection has overwhelmed the rodent population and drives them on during the night; biting and clawing at everything in their path.
  A young, undead couple, stand by the side of a car that has been eaten into by hundreds of sharp yellow teeth and an undead zombie baby groans on the seat; red, bloodshot eyes staring up at the sky.

The infection knows these small rodent hosts cannot sustain this pace for long, but they can take so many more hosts.

The infection also knows how long these hosts will last.

24 hours.

Extract from Howie’s Journal:

From an empty window frame of an old cottage in the urban training zone, the infection watched as many hosts were torn down.

  It saw the humans coming and sent the horde after them, but the daylight meant that it was slow and weak and couldn’t respond fast enough; the infection feels each loss of each host and knows it is being diminished and reduced.
  It doesn’t know how or why it came into existence; only that it is, and the primary function is to survive, and, if it must survive, then these losses must be stopped.

  The infection recognises the humans that cause these problems. All over the world the infection watches these humans fight back and inflict losses on the valuable hosts and it knows that it must stop this from happening, it must end the losses. In order to do this, it must evolve and learn how to fight back. The infection spread so rapidly that it knew it would only be a matter of a short time before it ruled this place and all in it. But it did not expect the ingenuity or bravery of these few humans. The masses were taken over within hours, but some were quick and fought back - or hid. The infection did not concern itself at first, knowing that the numbers it possessed would lead it to take them all, but now it senses there is a desperation to the situation. These humans are inflicting too many losses and this must be stopped.
   These potential hosts offering resistance are cunning and they use more than their bodies; they have tools and co-ordination.
  The infected host body stands still and watches as the recruits cut down the hosts, the brain inside the host is given more energy and synapses start flowing. The infection uses the intelligence and the memories stored inside this mind. But it doesn’t understand these memories or thought processes, so it releases more energy and then feels as the host starts to take back control. The infection knows it can stop this at any time, so allows the host to exert that control. The infected body stares forward and then moves his eyes left to right, the hands start clenching and unclenching and the rate of breathing increases. The energy flow is enhanced and control is given back to the host body, which falls to its knee’s screaming in agony; clutching its head at the intense pain surging from every cell. The body becomes demented and is raving in lunacy, staggering into walls and falling over furniture. The infection takes control and sends more energy into the nerve endings and the body screams with pain and drops to the floor, writhing in agony.

  The infection sends more signals to the pain receptors and the host goes taut; the agony too much to bear. The body would normally shut down and slip into unconsciousness at this point, but the infection doesn’t allow that, it keeps the body awake and learns as the electrical impulses are fired throughout the body. The mind has been given back, but the pain is so intense the host body stays rigid - hardly breathing - every vein sticks out and the muscles are tense and tight.
  Even death isn’t an option now; death has happened once to this man and the infection will not allow that mercy now.

  Slowly pulling back the flow of energy to the nerve ending and pain receptors, the infection diverts the energy to the parts of the brain that release endorphins and the pleasure receptors. The body slowly relaxes and the muscles release, the body twitches sporadically from the intense contractions of the muscles.

  The body starts to smile and moan softly, as it is flooded with chemicals giving an amazing feeling of warmth and security, then, as the pleasure heightens, there is a natural reaction from the body and, before long, his trousers are straining against the erection.

  The infection releases a surge of endorphins and the body once again goes taut and the muscles contract as the feeling is too strong to bear. The infection eases the flow and draws back the control, piece by piece; testing and learning, as each function is given some power, then drawing it back to test other reactions.
  The body writhes in ecstasy, then eases back into a normal state. Then the body sits up and the knees bend, to allow it to stand; but this is slow and cumbersome. The body puts its hands down to the floor and uses them to brace the weight, as the body’s feet find the balance needed.

  The body slowly rises up, into a standing position, and then extends the arms out straight, then above the head. It bends the arms at the elbows and flexes them back out. It spins the arms round in circles, first forward and then backwards. The body jumps on the spot; heavy and unwieldy. Then another jump and the infection learns to control the flex of the tendons in the feet and toes to find balance. The body continues to jump and move about the room, the arms spinning and waving. Kneeling down and jumping up, then taking small leaps forward and backwards.
  All across the world, various infected bodies go through the same moves; spinning and jumping. A release of energy to the nerve endings and all the bodies fall to the floor in agony. Endorphins are quickly released and the bodies stand up, drunkenly. In New York, Paris, Barcelona, Delhi, Singapore and towns and cities all over the globe; the bodies work in the same pattern: leaping; running on the spot; dancing and weaving - as the infection fights to control the electrical impulses, watching through hundreds of host bodies eyes, seeing different scenes, but sharing the common feeling.
  While hundreds of thousands of host bodies across the world are cut down and slain by the brave people fighting back, the infection learns to control these few bodies.
 
While Howie and the recruits fought with grim determination, moving back a step at a time, the infected hosts were slaughtered. Too slow and cumbersome, shambling and shuffling as the bullets ripped them apart
.
  Then, as night fell, the infection released the power that it had built up. It made the host bodies roar into the night, so they could find one another and send fear driving into the heart of the humans. The infected watched them run and hide and sent more hosts after them. The infection felt the church door starting to yield and knew it would be over within seconds; the smell of fear coming from inside was strong, but not as strong as it expected. Then it was over - and the hosts were torn apart and shredded by one man using a tool and then the humans were together again - and it was done.

  The infection took the losses and learnt from them and watched from the upstairs window of the house in the urban training zone. It heard the men laugh and call to each other. It watched the man in the centre of the others be shown respect and deference. It heard the humans speak and the same word is repeated.
  The infected body stands still again now and stares out into the night. It watches as the sun rises and can feel its body slowing down to recover and repair.

  The infection sends energy to the chest and makes air come out of the mouth and moves the vocal chords to make sounds; such as it does when the darkness comes.

  This time the noise is subtle and quiet. The body keeps practising, making noises, until it hears the words that sound the same as the humans’. It repeats this word over and over again, drawing the sound out, until it resonates and becomes fluid.
  It is one word.
  It is:
Howie
.

Through the night, the recruits sleep in the rear of the Saxon Armoured Personnel Carrier that is painted in the greys and blacks of urban camouflage.

  Although exhausted to the point of near collapse, they still cleaned their weapons and made them ready, before they slept. The sleeping bodies in the hot metal vehicle soon built up a high heat in the already warm and muggy night. Dave had insisted that a look-out should be posted on the General Purpose Machine Gun at the top of the Saxon and, before long, recruits were falling out of the rear doors and sleeping directly on the ground underneath the vehicle; just to escape the heat.
  Howie slept in the front and had woken mid-way through the night, to find Jamie Reese on lookout duty. He could see that Reese was wilting and fighting sleep, so Howie relieved him and took over the GPMG.