The Undead. The First Seven Days (58 page)

We go through to the back of the building into the utility and office areas. Tom explains that they have daily deliveries, so the only stock will be what is in the shops and cafés. We stop at a metal access ladder that leads up to a small landing and a door. Tom ascends first and unlocks the door with his set of keys. We follow up and step out of the door into the bright sunshine; ready to respond, in case the roof is covered with rats. The sides of the building are sheer and, unless the zombie rats start stacking boxes, it will be unlikely that they can get up here.
  ‘All of the wiring and pipes are underground, so there are no attachments to the building anywhere,’ Tom says, as we walk round the perimeter.

The view is much worse than I thought it would be, the ground level is thick with rats, stretching out across the car park, all the way back to the still burning fuel station.
  ‘At least now we know who caused that,’ Tom says.
  ‘Yeah, sorry about that mate - bit of a desperate situation,’ I apologise, watching the thick, black smoke pluming up into the sky, sending a massive smoke signal to every undead in the area.
  ‘We can expect more visitors now,’ I say to Dave, who nods.
  The rats are climbing on top of each other at the edges of the building, each one desperately fighting and squirming to get inside.

They are on all sides of the building now, and hundreds more are still pouring in from all directions.
  We get to the central sky-light and undo the clasps on the sides; the top can be fully removed, but that would be dangerous; rats might descend very quickly, like in the Saxon.
  ‘Just crack it open a few inches, so we can slam it down, if we need to,’ I say.
  ‘Cookey? Nick? Can you hear me?’ I shout down.

Two faces appear underneath me, grinning up.
  ‘Loud and clear,’ Cookey shouts up.

I move away a few feet. ‘How about now?’ I call out.
  ‘Yep, still good.’

I move over to the edge of the building and call out again.
  ‘Yep, we can hear you fine,’ Cookey shouts up.
  ‘Okay, Jamie - all yours. Shout down every twenty minutes, so we know you’re still alive.’
  ‘If I see any of the
people,
can I fire on them?’ Jamie asks me. I look to Dave and we both nod.
  ‘Yes, mate, but let us know first, so we don’t all jump out of our skins.’
  ‘Okay, Mr Howie.’

Bugger, he
is
slowly turning into Dave.

Back downstairs, I see that Blowers has already divided them all into teams and sent them off into various sections to secure the building. ‘I told them to tape up every possible entry point,’ he says.
  ‘Well done, mate.’

I watch as Dave walks down the aisles and stops to pick something up from the shelf. Then he walks over to the counter, to a tray of cigarette lighters. He raises a can of hairspray and presses the button, as he sparks the cigarette lighter and a long flame shoots out from the nozzle of the can - he looks over to me and smiles.
  ‘I knew we’d have flame throwers at some point,’ I jokingly groan. ‘Bloody good idea though, mate, let’s hand them round to everyone. But… they might burn the building down… maybe we should put them at key points, so we can spray into the drain openings and toilet bowls - in case they break through.  

Dave nods in agreement and we start walking through the building, watching the recruits and the people from
Burger King
taping up every air vent and drain cover.
  Darren Smith is stretching tape across the gap, just a few inches back from the front door.
  ‘It won’t stop them, but it might buy us a bit of time, Sir,’ he says, as we stop to help.
  ‘Tom… we need a safe, secure place we can all go to, in case they get through.’

The storeroom or the office? The office has the cash safe in there - so it’s the most secure, just very small,’ he replies.
  ‘Will we all fit in there?’ I ask him.
  ‘Probably not, so… we could use the office
and
the storeroom - if we make the storeroom fully secure.’
  ‘They are connected by the corridor, aren’t they?’ I ask him.
  ‘Yes, so we could fall back to the storeroom first and then the office - if all else fails,’ Tom replies.
  We walk through to the back area; the old chap from
Burger King
is working with McKinney, taping up the air vent. I check the rear access; a double metal door with safety bars on the inside and thick looking bolts on the top and bottom.
  ‘We should keep these doors clear, they look strong and even rats can’t chew through metal quickly.’

I explain the plan to the old man and McKinney and then work with them to secure the room completely. The door leading into this area from the main building is only a single wooden door. There are some stock cages in the storeroom and I work with Dave and McKinney to pull the cage of the wooden base. Once free of the wooden base, the metal cage stretches out - it’s fine mesh and we jam it against the door.
  ‘That should hold them for a bit longer, if needed.’ We remove the mesh barrier and rest it to one side.
  We hear shouting and run into the main area to see Nick booting a rat against the wall.
  ‘Coming from the ladies toilets,’ he yells and we run in to see thick, black bodies straining to lift the lids with the heavy waste bins on top. The dead rats I put in the bowls have just given them something to stand on and get leverage.

I grab a can of deodorant and a lighter and charge into the cubicle. Just as the lid lifts and two of them squirm halfway out, I ignite the spray and keep the button pressed down and push the flame throwers at the bodies.

The rats squeal and start thrashing; the jet of hot flame incinerates their small bodies within seconds. Remarkably, they keep trying to fight their way out, rather than dropping back down into the safety of the bowl. I kick out at the flaming bodies and stamp them down onto the floor, so that I can crush them underfoot.
  I rush out and see Dave doing the same thing, but holding the flame directly on their heads, so the fur burns away. He scorches them to death, amidst squealing and thrashing.
  ‘We need someone in both toilets all of the time,’ I shout out as the last of the rats is destroyed by fire and stamping.
  ‘I’ll do these ones,’ McKinney offers.
  We go back out into the main area, Cookey and Nick Hewitt are still there, but watching our direction with concerned faces.
  ‘All clear for now. Cookey, can you keep watch in the men’s toilets, mate? Nick… you watch this area and the front doors,’ I shout over to them.
  ‘He’ll bloody like that,’ Blowers shouts from off to the side somewhere. ‘Cookey likes hanging around in the gent’s bogs - don’t you, Cookey?’ He adds, as the lads all start sniggering from their various positions. I even hear Jamie chortling from above us on the roof.
  ‘Get Fuc…’
  ‘Language lads!’ I shout out and cut Cookey off, before he offends everyone in the building.
  Cookey grins and walks off to the toilets.
  ‘Oi, Nick! You got any more smokes, mate,’ Cookey yells and Nick throws him another packet.
  We keep waking around the inside edge of the building; checking and re-checking the access points.    

Nearly all of the tape is used up, there’s just a few rolls left over. The storeroom is searched, but no more tape is found. I find Tucker in the other café, the one by the services company. He is sorting through boxes of food and making piles.
  ‘Tucker, can you get some supplies into the storeroom and office at the back? They are our fall back points,’ I say to him.
  ‘Got it,’ he responds and starts loading boxes with bottles of water and snacks.
  ‘Also mate… in your official capacity of stores man - can you get those First Aid kits on sale in the shop and stack them in there too? Get some dressings and stuff to the lads as well, and make sure they’ve all got water and something to eat…’ Tucker nods and starts moving off. ‘Oh… and Tucker,’ he turns back to face me.’

Sir?’

‘Thanks mate, good job.’

He smiles and walks off and Dave stares at me again.
  ‘What have I done now?’ I ask him.
  ‘Nothing, nothing at all Mr Howie.’
  ‘It’s going to be a long night, I can bloody feel it.’
  ‘Yes, Mr Howie, it will be.’

_________________________________________

Extract from Howie’s Journal:

The rats sat and waited until the numbers were strong enough to attack and be sure of a victory, the infection felt the pull of the rodents as their urge to attack and bite the resistors was pulling at them. But the infection held them and waited for more to arrive.
  It watched from the thousands of pairs of eyes and picked up on the scent trails from thousands of pairs of noses until sufficient were present. Then, as the one they call Howie got on top of the vehicle, they commenced the attack, pouring across the small fuel station forecourt and throwing themselves at the vehicle. Many died instantly from the giant wheels crushing them, but still they poured in and the infection knew they would be taken now.
  The vehicle started moving, but the infection had planned for this; tapping into some of the memories and images from the human hosts and starting to learn basic tactics. It sent rats up onto the roof so they could attack from all directions. As the vehicle rolled under the roof, the infection pushed the bodies over the edge to drop down. Some held on, but many were thrown off as the vehicle went faster, and then the one they called Howie used a loud tool to fire metal at the rats and the station exploded.
  The infection felt many of the rodents scorched and blown to pieces by the massive explosions, but still it sent wave after wave of rats after them.
 
The infection moved the rats from the top of the vehicle and made them drop down into the inside, where it could see and smell the potential hosts. But those resistors were quick and the infection failed to send in enough rats to finish them off. It kept the rats moving and leaping at the bodies, but the boots were too thick and the rat’s small teeth were unable to penetrate. The resistors were lucky as they had no idea how many times the rats sunk their teeth into the edge of the thick leather boots, but were kicked away or stamped down on.

  The infection watched as one of the rats gained purchase on the front of one and started to climb up to the soft skin of the stomach, but another one struck out and killed it.

  Then it got more rats inside and the potential hosts stopped the vehicle and ran into the building.
  The rats were urged on and whipped into a frenzy, but they got inside the building. The infection sent them against the walls and glass and forced them to bite into anything soft enough to damage. It found pipes and access tunnels and sent the rats along and into the toilets, just like it had done many time, but the resistors were there again and repelled each attack, killing the rodent hosts.
  Through the eyes of the rats, the infection saw the huge plume of black smoke rise high into the clear, blue sky. Every host across the county stopped and stared into the sky, searching for the sign.
  The infection saw the thick black smoke, through many human host eyes and sent those towards it, but they are too slow and the shuffling will take them too long. The infection knows that it can speed them up, but they will become weaker and unable to repair the already badly damaged and decaying bodies.  

  The infection calculates this risk and allows more energy to flow.
  The hordes of zombie undead suddenly start forward with renewed speed and they run in staggered groups towards the smoke signal.

_____________________________________

We keep pacing round the building, checking and re-checking. More rats escape from the toilet bowls but are quickly dispatched by the flame throwers used by Cookey and McKinney. They shout to each other with a running tally, competing with the number of kills they both get.
  Tucker has distributed water and snacks amongst the recruits and I keep rotating them round so they don’t get bored, apart from Cookey and McKinney who are too intent on their competition to leave their posts.
  The people that were already here are moving about chatting with the recruits and making suggestions, until they all gather back in the seating area of Burger King. Dave and I join them after taking another walk about and checking each area.
  ‘How are we going to get out?’ I ask Dave quietly, away from earshot of the group, ‘they are too small to take on easily and there are fucking thousands and thousands of them now.’ Even Dave seems stuck for once and looks thoughtful.
  ‘Maybe they will die quickly, but we can’t risk just waiting here, they’ll bite their way through soon enough mate,’ I say to him.

  He doesn’t respond, but just looks at me.
  ‘There must be something we can do to reduce their numbers, or get back inside the Saxon and lock the top down.’
  ‘We’ll never get through them,’ Dave says.
  ‘Okay, what about fire? But that risks the building and us too - or we could try poison? But we don’t have buckets of rat poison,’ I keep making suggestions, negating each one as I think of it. ‘How about electrocution? We did that at the police station?’
  ‘There’s no power here, Mr Howie, I did think about that.’
  ‘Okay mate, do you know what we need?’ I ask him.
  ‘What?’
  ‘An exploding cow,’ I smile at him.
  ‘We don’t have any cows here, Mr Howie.’
  ‘I know… it was a joke, Dave.’
  ‘Oh, okay.’
  ‘The grenades would be no good, we’re too close to the building,’ I say, thoughtfully.
  ‘They’re still in the Saxon,’ Dave says.
  ‘Oh well, there’s that idea gone.’
  ‘CONTACT,’ Jamie shouts from above us.