Zombie Dawn Apocalypse (10 page)

Artur
nodded and ran off, taking two of the reserve fighters with him. Nick headed for the spiral staircase at the great tower whilst more fighters returned to the castle. He ran as fast as he could, determined to get to the top to see for himself what was happening. As he reached the top level he found nobody, just several crates with burning
matchcords
and another dozen rocket flares. Another whooshed off before he could pull out the burning cord.

As he stood at the top he looked across the horizon, noticing the last of the defenders making their way inside the castle. What worried him the most though, was that there didn’t appear to be any people at the bridges and the zombies were making their way across and towards the castle. Movement near the water caught his eye.

“The bastard!” he swore as he spotted Davies pushing out a boat, along with half a dozen of his comrades.

Artur
appeared next to Nick.

“Nobody knows what happened. They assumed it was you sending the signal.”

“It wasn’t me, it’s that asshole Davies and look, he’s leaving by boat! He must have triggered them to get people away from the river and the boats.”

Artur
looked over the ledge, spotting the men making their way to the water. He pointed out near to them.

“Look, the dead are already there, they must have broken through at the small bridge.”

The barricade was partially knocked down and a group of at least a hundred zombies advanced past the bridge and towards the boats. Davies and his people had almost got the boat into the water when the zombies cut them off. A desperate battle started but Nick turned back to
Artur
.

“Serves the bastards right, we have our own problems.”

The two looked down to the perimeter of the castle, hundreds more zombies swarmed around the entrance and it looked like they were circling. In just a few more minutes the castle would be completely surrounded. Gunfire erupted along the walls and from the towers as the survivors did their best to force back the zombies.

“Come on, back to the courtyard, we need a new plan,” said Nick as he headed down the staircase.

The battle continued around them and by the time they reached the courtyard the entire outer wall was covered in white smoke from the battle. They met in the middle where they were joined by Zack and Gary who were both covered in gore from close quarter combat.

“The drainage tunnel and sally ports are not going to last long, the numbers are too great. Also, there are two groups at the main doors, I don’t know how long the doors will last before they can get in,” said Gary.

The sound of the creatures smashing their bodies against the ancient wood was terrifying to the less than sixty people still left from the start of the battle.

“Jesus, we’re missing so many people. That arsehole Davies really screwed us over. There’s no way we’re going to hold them from in here,” said Nick.

A group of people came rushing in from the back section of the castle, they pulled the inner door shut behind them, whilst more of them fired their weapons at whatever was inside that part of the castle.

“What about the convoy? Could we use them to break out?” asked Gary.

Zack pushed forward.

“Yeah, I think we’ve got about seven cars and trucks still running. We were checking them earlier in case we needed them to move people around the town. Trouble is they’re outside.”

“Hmm, how do we get to them?” asked Carter.

“There’s only one way, we need a diversion to give us enough time to get the civilians out,” replied Zack.

“I have an idea,” said
Artur
.
 
“If I take a team of six we can go down the wall and draw them away from the main doors. That will give you time to assemble the convoy, just don’t go without us!”

“I don’t like it,” said Nick.

Screams came from the weakened wall in the main courtyard. It was part of the wall that had been blown apart by cannon in the 1600s but had since been repaired. The zombies, with their weight of numbers, seemed to have forced a small hole in it and several arms were pushing inside.

“Gary, plug the breach!” shouted Nick before turning back to
Artur
.

Gary and Zack ran to the breach, quickly followed by one of the Johnson brothers and Jake, still wearing his medieval armour.

“Do it, fire a flare when you’ve drawn them away, then we’ll get everybody down the side of the castle to the car pool,” said Nick.

Gary shook
Artur’s
hand, “Good luck, you crazy bastard.”

The man turned around and ran to the rest of the defenders in the courtyard to assemble his people for the diversionary attack.

At the breach the wall had crumbled enough that two zombies at a time could climb through. Gary and Zack forced the horde back with their shields whilst the defenders on the walls dropped rocks and fired hook guns at those pushing behind them. The rain continued and it did nothing to help the defence of the castle, other than reduce the chances of fire spreading. Nick ran to the breach, picking up one of the dropped riot shields and slammed it against another two to create a strong wall. There was a cry as Jake fell, his legs pulled from beneath. Zack tried to pull him back, but at least a dozen arms pulled him back through the breach and out to the horde on the other side.

“Come on
Artur
, pull them away!” he muttered whilst striking another creature with his blade.

 
“We can’t hold for long!”

* * *

It had been nearly half an hour since
Artur
and his party had climbed down the outer wall and attacked the horde. Incredibly, they had pushed over a hundred yards away and had occupied the old Tourist Information Centre. The cracks and bangs from their firearms indicated they were alive and fighting hard. Nick and his group waited next to the castle gate, whilst Carter watched from the walls immediately above them. He shouted down.

“There are only a couple of them left!” he cried.

Nick turned around, the rest of the defenders, now only just over forty, were waiting with the few weapons and supplies they could find. Zack and Gary waited at the front along with what was left of the mobile reserve. The inner doorway was still shaking from the horde trying to break inside.

“Ready?” shouted Nick as he turned.

A shout came back that was immediately followed by the bars being removed from the castles doors. As they swung open they revealed a mass of bodies, the consequence of the recent battle. A small number of zombies staggered around but it was nothing like the previous numbers.

“Now!” shouted Nick as he rushed through the doors with his blade drawn.

The rest rushed after him, people with supplies in the middle and the armed combatants on the outside to fight off any attackers. They ran down the main path and around the castle to the motor pool. Already the number of zombies was increasing and the arrival of this many living was certainly drawing attention.
 

The motor pool contained a dozen vehicles that were always kept in a state of readiness. It was covered on three sides by a low wall, though in recent years gaps had appeared and some of these were already sheltering a number of the undead.

Nick, Carter and another seven fighters rushed forwards and hacked their way through the zombies at the front of the area and in seconds reached the first vehicle, a heavily armoured bus. Carter tore open the door and signalled for people to get in. They then moved on to the next vehicles, hacking and slashing as they went.

As Carter reached an old 1970s Land Rover, two zombies lurched out of the rubble and knocked him hard against the thick-skinned aluminium body. Nick jumped in, striking the first zombie with his armoured glove. More of the fighters arrived and dragged the other zombie, stabbing and hacking the creature. Some of the survivors climbed aboard the Land Rover leaving the fighters to move on further. One jumped in the back and Zack quickly followed.

“They’re coming!” shouted one of the Johnson brothers, as he waved out to the river and small bridge.

A large number of the undead were moving from out of the cover of the housing along the water’s edge, probably drawn by the sound of the battle. The survivors were now at the motor pool and most had climbed inside the nearest vehicle. Nick hung onto the side of the Land Rover and banged on the door, indicating it was time to leave.

The vehicles pulled out slowly with the Land Rover at the front and closely followed by five other vehicles including the armoured bus. The Land Rover was equipped with an armoured plough fitted to the front, as well as more armour plating and a weapon mount on the top. The other vehicles were all modified in a similar fashion.

As the vehicles rounded the corner they were stopped by the horde, their numbers were immense and blocked the entire road leading through the town.

“Fuck!” shouted Carter as he looked out from the driver’s seat in the Land Rover.

Nick climbed inside, turning to him.

“We have to get through, can you force through?”

“No way, not this many, we need to thin the horde and fast!” he said, sounding a little excited.

Several plumes of white smoke blasted across the street and holes appeared in the horde. Behind the smoke a number of shadows could be seen along with the movement of weapons.

“Look!” shouted Carter, “Looks like
Artur
and his team.”

“Step on it, we need to help them,” said Nick.

Carter pushed the pedal down hard and the V8 engine revved angrily. With a lurch he dropped the clutch and the truck pushed ahead and towards the battle. Zack climbed up through the hatch in the roof and to the mounted weapon, a World War II vintage Bren light machine gun. He pulled back the bolt and opened fire, each heavy bullet easily tore through the soft flesh of the zombies and helped clear the path.
Artur
and his small group were now only fifty feet away and were fighting in the middle of the road. Every few seconds the blast from a hook gun or shotgun exploded in the street and sent blood and gore against the walls of the abandoned homes. Some of the zombies broke away and staggered towards the convoy. Several more bursts from the Bren Gun tore through them. As the Land Rover arrived it slammed into the few surviving zombies, their soft bodies smashing onto the heavy plough.

The arrival of the vehicles wasn’t soon enough though, and at least fifty more zombies stood between the Land Rover and
Artur
and his fighters. Nick opened the door and made to jump out when more of the horde pushed through from the side streets. He slammed the door shut as one of the creatures pulled at the handle. Grabbing a sawn off shotgun from the mount on the dashboard he pushed it out through one of the slits in the door and fired a blast that sent the first three zombies backwards in a spray of blood.

“Fuck, we can’t get to them and we can’t go forward either, there are too many of them!” shouted Nick.

The vehicle started to rock as more zombies pushed and pulled the vehicle. Nick looked behind, noting the rest of the convoy was close behind him and in the same position. Blasts of smoke came from all sides as the bogged down convoy turned into a long metal fort.

Out in front,
Artur
and his group were retreating up the hill and towards an abandoned hotel. As they fell back the zombies pushed after them, eager to reach the fresh blood of his team. One of the men, possibly one of the Johnson brothers was dragged down, yet he continued to hack away with his blade until he disappeared under a mass of zombies. The rest of them were desperately moving slowly backwards, now just twenty feet from the entrance.

“Floor it, we need to help them!” ordered Nick as he reloaded his shotgun.

Carter revved the engine as hard as he dared and pushed forward, the plough forced many out of the way, yet the mass of bodies chocked the convoy and reduced their speed to just a walking pace. Nick fired more shots, trying to clear those in front so they could build up some momentum.

The road came to a wider section suitable for larger vehicles and the armoured bus pushed up alongside the Land Rover and added its own mass and firepower to the battle. Several of the passengers had climbed onto the roof and were hurling rocks and firing crossbows at the undead. The rest of the vehicles moved up slowly behind these two.

“Where are they?” asked Carter.

“Look!” shouted Nick, as he pointed to the hotel.