The Undead. The First Seven Days (57 page)

  Another fat body drops down and now we are trying to stamp down on two of them. Tucker’s big boot gets the first one - which explodes under his foot; bits of blood and fur spraying out.
  ‘Fucking got him,’ Tucker yells, with victory.
  ‘Get that other fucker then,’ Cookey yells, as we keep trying to stamp down and kick it. The rat is darting about very fast and trying to leap up at our legs, the long yellow teeth bared, and gnashing with ferociousness.
  ‘Yeah, got both of the fuckers,’ Tucker yells as his massive boot crushes the next one.
  ‘Thank fuck for that, I fucking hate rats,’ Blowers sinks back onto the bench seat, just as several more rats drop down from the hole and start running round the back.
  ‘CURTIS - WE HAVE TO STOP,’ I shout out, as we all dance up and down, stamping our feet.
  ‘THEY’RE EVERYWHERE THOUGH,’ Curtis yells back.
  ‘HEAD FOR THE SERVICES BUILDING, FUCKING QUICKLY TOO.’ We all jolt as the Saxon goes in a straight line and speeds up, bouncing over the kerbs and lane dividers.
  We keep jumping and slamming our feet down, as a rat jumps onto the front of Darren’s trousers and starts climbing up his legs, onto his stomach.

  Blowers punches out hard and strikes the rat in the middle of its body, the rat drops down but the blow was hard and knocked Darren back onto the benches.
  ‘Sorry mate,’ Blowers shouts.
  ‘It’s okay,’ Darren yells as he gets up winded, but still dancing on the spot.
  ‘ALMOST THERE, MAKE READY,’ Dave bellows at the top of his voice and we all try to pick our assault rifles and bags up as we bounce up and down, black bodies scurrying and jumping at our boots.
  ‘BRACE,’ Dave yells, too late, as Curtis slams the brakes on - bringing the Saxon to a grinding halt.

  We all go flying and I drop down onto my hands and knees. A rat launches at my face and is kicked aside by a black boot.
  ‘THANK YOU,’ I shout as I get back up and we all scrabble to get to the back doors, bursting out onto the concrete just a few feet away from the front doors.
  ‘GET INSIDE,’ Dave yells and we all start running to the doors. Dave gets there first and slams into them and bounces off.
  ‘LOCKED,’ he yells and starts kicking at the doors. I get to his side and glance back to the car park. We have gained a few seconds, but the rats are pouring across the car park.
  I start hammering on the doors and see someone moving around inside. A man appears, running towards the doors and stops when he sees several armed and crazy looking men yelling at him.
  ‘OPEN THE DOORS,’ Dave shouts, but the man walks a bit further, then stops, and stares back at us - a terrified look on his face.
  Dave steps back and aims his assault rifle directly at the man.
  ‘I CAN SHOOT YOU FASTER THAN YOU CAN RUN. OPEN THE DOORS NOW.’
  The man jerks forward and pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and fumbles with a lock; eventually, he opens the door and we burst in, roughly pushing him aside. We all try to get at the doors at the same time and slam them shut; the keys are still in the lock and I manage to turn them and pull them out, just as the rats slam into the glass panes from the other side.
  We all jump backwards and aim our assault rifles down into the writhing mass.
  ‘DON’T SHOOT, YOU’LL BREAK THE GLASS,’ Dave shouts and we all slowly lower our weapons, watching with horror and disgust as the rats throw themselves at the doors.

  Several of them stretch their mouths wide open and try to bite at the smooth glass, but all I can see are hundreds and hundreds of pairs of red eyes.
  ‘We need to seal the building up,’ I say to the recruits. ‘Team Alpha, take the left side with Dave… Team Bravo, the right side with me. Make sure every door and window is closed and locked.’
  Dave, McKinney, Smith, Tucker and Hewitt all run off to the front left side of the building, straight into the café area. To the right is a convenience style shop and I start into it with Blowers, Cookey, Reese and Graves.
  We sweep round the edge of the building, kicking in doors and shouting clear when we have checked the area.

  The convenience store has a storeroom and small staff canteen; both have doors and windows leading to outside, but all are checked and found to be locked securely. We move out of the shop and down the wide central aisle. The next room on the right is a small amusement arcade with darkened fruit machines.
  I watch the lads quickly sweep the rooms, but the room is sealed internally, with no other doors. As they come back out, I hear a woman screaming and running out of the rest rooms - which are directly ahead of us.
  ‘There’s a rat in the toilet,’ she screams and doesn’t even take in the armed men walking towards her.

  I see a
Burger King
off to the right, a long counter and seating area with tables and chairs with several people all standing up to look at us.
  ‘There are thousands of rats trying to get inside this building, we need to seal every point of access,’ I shout at them, scaring them witless and a woman faints and falls onto the floor.

  A young child starts screaming and is picked up by another adult female.
  ‘Blowers, you check in there with Cookey - Jamie and Curtis with me to the toilets.’
  ‘SIR!’ they all shout.

   I run ahead to the toilets: one wide access in, the males to the right and the females to the left.
  ‘Jamie, you take the right side, Curtis with me.’

  We split up as Curtis and I burst into the ladies toilet. The first cubicle door is open and a fat, black rat is climbing out of the toilet bowl, using its front paws to pull itself up. I run into the cubicle and slam the lid down hard, crushing the rat dead. I lift the lid and use my foot to push it back inside, then slam the lid down again.

  I hear Curtis yelling and slamming the lid down in the next cubicle and I move out and round to the next one after that and see one rat already on the floor, scrabbling towards me. I take a running kick and splat it against the rear wall; the body hits, slides down and remains motionless on the floor. The next rat drops out of the bowl onto the ground and I stamp down; crushing the wet, shit smeared body. I move from cubicle to cubicle, pulverising rats, as they appear.
  ‘Curtis, I’ll hold these, you find something heavy to put on the lids,’ I shout to him.
  I position myself a few feet back, so that I can see all of the cubicles and then run forward to crush or kick them as they appear.

  I’m kept busy as they keep coming, until I pick the dirty, wet, dead zombie rat bodies up and throw them into the bowls to try and block them. I keep doing this, until each bowl is filled with dead rats, then I put the lids down, but can still hear them fidgeting and moving about. I push the flush buttons for each bowl, trying to drown any living undead rats, that are still down there.
  Curtis bursts in with Blowers and Cookey, each of them carrying a heavy, long, cylindrical waste bin. We put the heavy metal bins on the lids and step back, to see if the rats can get out. After a couple of minutes, I am satisfied that they can’t, so I push the already dead rats out of the way and get the lid up.
  ‘
Burger King
is clear, Sir,’ Blowers says.
  ‘Thanks mate, what about the men’s toilets?’ I ask Jamie.
  ‘We did the same thing in there, they were trying to come up through the bowls, too.’
  ‘Okay, let’s see if the others are all right.’
  We leave the toilets and make our way into the central area; Dave and Team Alpha are already waiting for us.
  ‘All clear for the minute, Mr Howie, but it won’t last long,’ Dave says, as we join them.
  Nick has pulled out a packet of cigarettes and the lads start lighting up, after Nick looks at me for approval.
  ‘Crack on, lads - I think we need a few minutes rest after that,’ I say to them, as they light up, taking deep drags.
  ‘I know what you mean, we always had rats in the supermarket; the fuckers will get through anything for food. This place has air-conditioning, so there will be vents. Also, the drains will need sealing up.’
  ‘Okay, Mr Howie,’ Dave says.
  ‘Mr Howie, are those fucking things zombies too?’ Tucker asks me.
  ‘They certainly look like it, mate - I don’t plan on getting bitten though – so I cannot be exactly sure, but look at those eyes!’
  ‘Yeah, but why are they coming for us, Mr Howie?’ Smith asks me and they all look to me for an answer.
  ‘I don’t know, but it bloody looked like that didn’t it? They were watching us for ages, before they started to attack. There’s people here they could have come for, but, mind you, we were out in the open and they were locked in here.’ I shake my head, trying to make sense of it all. ‘What a fucking day,’ I add and rub my forehead.

  We are all sweating heavily from the hot weather and the frantic exercise we have just done.
  ‘I am parched, they must have some fluids in here, let’s look,’ I turn and walk, amazed that I have used the word
fluids
instead of saying
drink
. Bloody Dave – he is rubbing off on me.
  ‘Er… Hi,’ a voice says meekly, and I look up to see the man who unlocked the doors walking slowly out of the entrance to
Burger King
.
  ‘Hi, sorry about that. We didn’t mean to barge you out of the way like that,’ I say to him.
  ‘Cookey, you’re on first watch, on the front doors - Hewitt you watch the toilet entrance - we’ll bring you some drinks,’ I say to the lads and then walk up to the man and extend my hand.
  ‘Hi, I’m Howie,’ I say to him and we shake hands.
  ‘Tom. I was the night manager when this happened. There’s quite a few others in here too,’ he says, nodding towards
Burger King.
‘Are you guys the Army?’
  ‘No mate, these lads had just joined up when Dave and I found them at Salisbury. We were there to take that huge vehicle...’
  ‘So… that means you
are
the Army then?’ Tom says.
  ‘Well… they are newbies really and so am I. Dave is the well-trained one. He was in the Army.’
  ‘But… you’re in charge of them?’
  ‘I guess, but they’re just lads really, we are on our way to London.’

  The man nods at me.
  ‘You’d better come and meet the others,’ he says and I follow him into
Burger King
. The lads are already behind the counter, going through cupboards and pulling out bottles of water.
  ‘Mr Howie…’ Tucker calls out, and throws a bottle of water over, as I go past the counter.
  ‘Cheers mate.’
  There are about eight or nine adults in here, plus one small child and a baby. They are all clustered round some tables in the middle. The people look very tired and frightened and keep glancing over to the lads behind the counter. I realise how terrified they must feel, seeing us all in full action.
  I nod at the group: ‘Hi, I’m Howie - sorry about the noise and bursting in like that and please excuse the lads; they’re just getting a drink. We are not here to hurt anyone, I promise, we’re just trying to get away from the thousands of rats that are chasing us.’
   They all start talking at once and Tom holds up his hand, to quieten them. ‘Mark, why don’t you go first,’ Tom says, indicating to a man who is still wearing a smart business suit, with the shirt top button undone and his tie pulled down slightly.

  Mark stands up and glances round at the others, before speaking.
  ‘I think I speak for all of us when I ask just what the hell is going on here?’ He has a strong, cultured voice.
  ‘What do you mean?’ I say to him, puzzled at the question.
  ‘Well you’re the Army, I think we have the right to some answers.’
  ‘We are not the Army… I…’
  ‘…but you are dressed like soldiers and are carrying military assault rifles, plus you are driving around in a tank.’ Mark continues.

   ‘APC,’ the lads chorus.
  ‘Yes, I know how it must look. Dave was in the Army and we are wearing Army clothes, as ours was covered in blood.’
  ‘So, just who are you and why are you here?’ Mark demands.
  ‘I’m Howie, that’s Dave over there,’ I indicate towards Dave who just stares back blankly. ‘And the other lads are the recruits we met at Salisbury. My sister is in London, I’m going to try and get her, which is why we’ve got the big vehicle. Didn’t any of you hear that broadcast on the radio?’ They look at each other in confusion, then back to me, with eager faces.
  ‘What broadcast? Has the Government released a statement?’ Mark asks.
  ‘I don’t know about the Government, but I heard a broadcast on a car radio, it said that London was infected and for survivors to head to the Forts on the South Coast.’
  ‘Well, just who put the broadcast out? Who sent it and what else did they say?’ Mark says, his tone  becoming more forceful.
  ‘I don’t know, it didn’t say - it was just a looped message on a random frequency. Didn’t any of you go through the radio frequencies?’ Some shake their heads and others just stare back at me, blankly.
  ‘Don’t any of you watch the movies? In horror movies, they go through the radio frequencies and search for government messages.’

  I am dumbfounded at the amount of people I have met so far that have not bothered to do this.
  ‘I don’t think any of us have scanned the radio but… what’s this about rats?’
  ‘We were getting fuel, when we saw hundreds of rats staring at us. Now, this whole area is covered in them, they’ve got the same red eyes as the zomb… the
strange
people have.’
  ‘I told you Mark, that they were coming up through the toilet,’ the woman who ran screaming earlier says. She too is wearing a smart business suit and has the same cultured tones as Mark.
  ‘Yes, thank you, Cynthia,’ Mark says, without even looking at the woman.
  ‘Listen, we need to secure this building and make sure they can’t get in,’ I say to the group.
  ‘How will they get in?’ A woman holding the child asks, her face looks pale and drawn.
  ‘Rats can get in anywhere: through air vents, drains - and, with so many of them in full force, they can chew through most materials.’
  ‘Oh my god, they’ll get in and kill us! They’ll kill my babies!’ She starts panicking, clutching the child closer to her.
  ‘No, we’ll secure the building and figure something out. Even if it means just waiting until they go away or die.’ I turn to Tom. ‘Tom, we need you to explain the layout of the building to us and identify any rat entry points.’
  ‘Okay, now?’ Tom asks.
  ‘Yes mate… lads, gather round.’
  ‘Now… just wait a minute, I think we were talking,’ Mark says, with a condescending tone.
  ‘No mate,’ I say cutting him off. ‘We have to do this now, before it’s too late. We can talk more later,’ I make a point of turning away from him and looking at Tom.
  ‘Is there a flat roof?’ I ask Tom.
  ‘Yes, it’s quite big actually,’ he replies.
  ‘Okay, we need to get someone up there. Is there access from inside the building?’
  ‘At the back, there’s an access ladder.’
  ‘Jamie, you’ve got the rifle, I want you up-top - but we need a way for you to communicate with us down here.’
  ‘There’s a couple of sky-lights in that central area, Sir - we could open them, so that Jamie can shout down,’ Blowers says.
  ‘Tom, will they open without being forced or broken?’
  ‘You just need to undo the latches, this place is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week - so they’re not a security issue,’ Tom replies.
  ‘Okay, good idea, Blowers. Jamie, do that then, mate - crack open one of the sky-lights and shout down, to make sure we can hear you - every twenty minutes - so we know you’re all right, got it?’
  ‘Yes, Sir,’ Jamie Reese replies.
  ‘Right, we keep two in the middle area at all times, watching the front and the rear, and then a couple on constant patrol around the building, checking all of the rooms. The rest of us will make the building secure…Tom, does that shop stock
Sellotape
?’
  ‘What?’ Tom asks.
  ‘…or brown parcel tape?’ I say to him.
  ‘Oh right, yes they do - we have to get some of our office supplies there, if we run out.’
  ‘Right, okay, if any of you want to help, that would be great,’ I look at the group seated in front of me. An old man and woman quietly look at each other.
  ‘We’d be glad to help you, young man,’ the elderly chap says.
  ‘I’ll stay here with Mary and help to look after the children,’ the old woman says, indicating the scared woman clutching the child; a baby in a removable car seat sleeps next to her.
  ‘Tucker, we need to get moving. While we start getting the building secure, you go through the supplies and see how much food and drink we have.’
  ‘Yes, Sir,’ Tucker responds and shoots off, towards the counter.
  ‘Dave, can you come with me, Jamie and Tom, to look at the roof?’
  ‘Yes, Mr Howie.’