Zombie Dawn Apocalypse (15 page)

“Hardly, we can use this,” said Adam with a smile.

The man looked back, presumably to his daughter, before turning to Nick.

“If you’ll take us with you then you’ll be more than welcome to help yourself to what we have,” he offered.

Nick smiled, “You must come with us, come on,” he beckoned.

The little group left the room and headed back to the open part of the building where the others waited for them.

“We’ve got a few survivors and even better, some supplies. Get the rest in here, we need to fortify the perimeter and then get some rest for tomorrow,” said Nick.

Anton stepped forward and shook the man’s hand before rushing off to the vehicles outside to give them the news. Nick and the others returned to the eating area and cleared space to lay out equipment and blankets to sleep on.

As the first of the passengers entered the building Nick and Adam helped direct them to block the entrances, remove the bodies and start sorting through the supplies. Gary and Max entered, carrying weapons and the map.

“This is the first bit of luck we’ve had, well, in the last twenty-four hours!” said Max.

“True,” replied Nick, “but we need a few hours to rest before daybreak. Gary, you can organise shifts for security. I want everybody in this one room. Nobody goes wandering about. As soon as light hits we need a full assessment of the vehicles. In the meantime, let’s check the wounded and the food situation.”

They had the place cleared and relatively safe in under an hour. Most of the passengers were already sleeping or at the very least, lying down and resting. For all of them this was the first break in an almost unbroken forty-eight hours of fighting and running.

Lundy Island, England

Dave, Tommy and Steve had made quick progress across the island and the church was insight a half mile ahead. They had kept up a fast pace, hoping to reach the town before the creatures did, but also knowing that they needed to conserve as much energy as possible. Dave came to a stop as he could finally see the horde surrounding the big stone structure.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he shouted.

“Holy shit, this isn’t good,” said Tommy.

“But there must be some survivors in the church, Dave,” said Steve.

“Yeah, but they had no warning, the fact the bells only went off half an hour ago suggests that they only knew about the creatures once the town was already overrun, so I doubt there are many left.”

“What do we do? Dave?” asked Tommy.

“We need to clear those bastards from the church, so we at least have some idea of who’s left and what we can do.”

“How much ammo do we have?” asked Steve.

“I’ve got eight shells on me,” said Dave.

“Six,” said Tommy.

“Christ, and I have seven arrows, that’s not exactly ideal.”

“No, let’s keep going, we’ll just have to wing it,” said Dave.

The men again got up to a steady jogging pace towards the church, but before they had been running for long, gunshots rang out from the church, but they didn’t stop to discuss it.

“Christ it’s already begun, let’s move!” shouted Dave.

* * *

The revolvers and
Glock
rang out until every shot was gone. Ten zombies lay dead in the entrance to the church, whilst more creatures poured through the gap. Roger threw down his pistol and held the sawn off double barrel shotgun in both hands, the first shot obliterated the closest target, the second dropping another. He quickly snapped open the barrel to reload as Derek and Katy laid into the creatures with their hand weapons. Another two beasts fell from the axe and hammer, Roger locked the shotgun closed again.

“Out of the way!” shouted Roger.

He held up the shotgun, firing off the two rounds in quick succession, the first ripped half the face off a zombie, but didn’t stop it, he had to use the second shot on the same creature to finish it. He desperately reloaded the last shell he had as his comrades smashed away.

“This is the last one!” screamed Roger in desperation.

He held up the shotgun, seeing his friends were already beginning to tire from the combat. The round went off, bursting open the skull of his nearest foe. Roger’s face turned to stone as the realisation set in that they were still facing massive numbers. Derek’s axe struck into the skull of a creature and imbedded so deep it got stuck, before he could recover it another creature took hold of him and bit hard into his arm, another into his neck before Katy could hit back. Behind the horde two guns fired off in surprise.

“Hey, mother fuckers!” shouted Tommy.

Relief set in for Roger as the familiar sound of his friends rang out. Much of the horde turned its attention to the field in front of the church where the three men stood in the open ground.

“Come get some!” shouted Dave.

More of the creatures turned and began to walk over the two dead that Dave and Tommy had just shot. Steve loosed off an arrow from his bow, his days of practice showing, the steel-headed arrow penetrating the eye socket of a zombie, killing it instantly. Katy carried on clubbing the few creatures to death that had stayed to fight them.
 
Now the whole horde’s attention was focusing on this new threat. Katy stood over Derek, who was badly hurt, but still very much alive.

“Don’t let me become one of those bastards,” he cried.

“I won’t, my darling, I love you,” said Katy.

She lifted her club hammer with two hands and smashed it down on her partner’s head, killing him instantly. Tears already streaked down her face, but her resolve to fight was only hardened. With the horde’s attention turned, the exit into open ground was now open.

“Katy, let’s move, now!” Roger shouted.

He took up Derek’s axe and ran out of the door with Katy. They immediately turned for the open ground and ran until they were safely away from the zombies. They looked back at their friends reloading their weapons, the horde was almost on top of them.

“Dave! Run!” Roger screamed.

Dave looked around to see the two survivors fleeing from the church, he snapped his shotgun shut and reloaded it with his last two shells.

“Let’s go!” shouted Dave.

The men ran towards
Millcombe
House to join the others. They stopped as they reached them, now fifty feet clear of the horde with just a minute to talk.

“Anyone else left?” asked Dave.

“Not that we know of,” said Roger.

“Christ, what a fucking disaster, what’s the plan, Roger?”

“You got much ammo left?”

“Almost nothing,” said Dave.

“Then let’s get to the house, we can’t do anything without weapons.”

“Agreed, let’s go!” shouted Dave.

The five survivors ran towards the house, being the only humans left on the island.

“Where did all these bastards come from, Dave?” Roger asked.

“A fishing ship is beached on the coast up north, it must have been packed with the fuckers.”

“Jesus, I never thought it could happen,” Roger replied.

“No, none of us did, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to die without a fight!” shouted Dave.

They reached the road to the house, the horde was stumbling towards them enthusiastically. They knew it would not be long before it reached them. Looking down the hill towards the jetty, dozens of the creatures were staggering forwards. A single zombie was stood in their path to the house, Dave stopped, lifted his shotgun and blew its head off with his last round.

“Jesus Christ, how many of them are there?” asked Roger.

“A shit load, I can only imagine the ship was packed with survivors who somehow got infected,” said Dave.

They ran to the door of the house and flung it open, went inside and quickly shut it behind them.

“Upstairs quickly, we need all the weapons we can get!” shouted Roger.

They stormed into the room where many of their weapons and ammunition were kept. They had twenty shotgun shells left, twelve 9mm rounds for the Browning, seven for the .45 Colt and a selection of crossbows and bows.

“Jesus, Dave, I thought we were well stocked, who could ever have imagined such a fight on our island?” asked Roger.

        
“No, we had no idea. Grab the bows and crossbows and get to the windows quickly, we’ll use those first. Get firing as soon as they come within effective range, save the firearms for when you really need them!”

He picked up the Colt with just the one full magazine. Tommy and Roger each took ten shotgun shells each, and everyone grabbed a bow or crossbow.

“Make sure you all have some hand weapons, we’ll be out of ammo in no time,” said Dave.

Roger grabbed his beloved sabre and Katy hung onto her club hammer. Steve picked up his improved mace, a dumbbell bar with roofing lead gaffer taped to one end.
 
Tommy snatched a hatchet, and Dave took hold of a fire axe.

“The only way they can get in is through the front windows. Let’s move!” shouted Dave.

The five survivors went to the four front windows on the ground floor, Dave and Roger sharing the large window to the north of the house, which they knew would be struck the hardest. He began to string the hunting crossbow he had with twenty bolts. The crossbows were good weapons for dealing with small numbers, but their reload times were poor.

“Do you think we can win?”

“No, Roger, but I’m not going to sit down and die!” shouted Dave.

The horde was now just in range, the first bolts and arrows flew towards their targets.

“There must have been hundreds of people on that ship,” said Roger.

“Yeah, the poor bastards.”

By the time the horde was ten yards from the house it barely felt that their initial attempts had done anything to cull the masses.

“This is it, people, give them everything you’ve got!” shouted Dave.

The guns rang out from the house like cannon from an old ship, blood flowing as the horde was pelted with metal, but it made little difference. They were at the walls within minutes. The shotguns rang out for a further minute, until they went silent, dry of ammunition. The only firearm left with ammunition was Dave’s .45, which he was hanging onto.

Roger drew his sabre and thrust its tip into his closest target’s head. Dave took his axe in two hands and swung the back edge of it into the next, fracturing its skull. Each of the survivors was bashing away with blunt and blade instruments with all the energy and will they had left in the world. Glass smashed as the horde’s numbers kept increasing and the sheer weight of the creatures was forcing them through the gaps.

“It’s no good, we have to fall back!” Dave shouted.

“To where?”
 
Roger shouted back to him.

“Upstairs, all of you. Now!” Dave yelled.

They quickly abandoned their positions, but as Steve turned a creature took hold of his jacket and pulled him through the window, the horde wrenching him into the mass of creatures and beyond sight. There was nothing any of the survivors could do for him. The four islanders that were left reached the staircase as the first zombies were already tumbling through the windows.

“What do we do?” cried Katy.

“Into that room!” shouted Roger.

It was the upstairs lounge, with a large lockable door. They ran inside, shutting it behind them, Roger turned the key. They could already hear the sound of the creatures’ dirty footsteps coming up the stairs.

“What the fuck do we do now, Dave?” asked Tommy.

“Seriously? You’re asking me to know, like I have any fucking clue!”

The horde began beating on the door, it was a sturdy door, but with enough creatures and time, it would fall.

“What options do we have?” asked Roger.

“Get fucked, that seems about it!” said Dave.

“That’s bullshit! I refuse to accept that and to just lie down and die!” cried Katy.