Zombie Dawn Apocalypse (21 page)

“Enough! Let’s get out of this unholy place!” Wells said.

Finally, something they all agreed with. Feeling utter anger and disappointment Madison continued to climb, but faster, being the only way she could exert some of her feelings. It was another hour before they all made it to the top and finally were able to lie down to rest.

“My Lord, I wasn’t made for that,” said Wells.

“But you’re here aren’t you?” Jack asked him.

“But Justin isn’t!”

“No, Madison, and that is none of our faults. It’s those bastards!” Riley said.

Riley opened up the canteen of water that hung around his body and poured it enthusiastically down his throat, without any regard for the little they had left.

“Hey! Hey! Take it easy on the water!” Jack said.

“Why? We’re fucked anyway. No horses, no food, not a lot of water and just four people in a world of zombies. This is the end, we’re on borrowed time!”

“Then why didn’t you just give up and fall into those fuckers, let them finish you off?”

“No idea, maybe it would have been the right idea.”

“That’s enough, I’m sick of seeing and hearing those disgusting creatures, let’s get moving,” Madison said.

“She’s right, no point in dwelling on the past, let’s go forward,” said her father.

“Like we did the other night, when we lost seventeen people?”

“What other choice do we have?” asked Jack.

“Come on, enough fighting, I have had enough of it, let’s move,” Madison sighed.

The four survivors staggered to their feet and began moving, not sure where they were going or even why, but probably because going forward seemed better than facing a gruelling death. They walked for five hours, until finally Jack who was leading them stopped, turning to face the other three.

“Maybe Riley is right. Running isn’t getting us anywhere. It’s prolonging our miserable lives.”

“What other option do we have?” asked Wells.

“Well our water is finished, we’re tired, hungry, we can’t last much longer. Would you rather die out here, or fighting, go out with a little glory?” asked Jack.

“What is glory if no one
lives
to tell the story?” Madison asked him.

“God will see it, and know that we fought evil to the very end,” Wells replied.

“Fuck God, I’m up for a fight to end all fights. What about you Madison?” said Riley.

“I’m game, I’m sick of this life, sick of those blood thirsty bastards. I want to give them hell one more time, no running, no hiding.”

“All agreed?” asked Jack.

“Aye,” said Wells.

“Yes,” said Madison.

“Fuck yeah!” said Riley.

“Okay,” said Jack.

“So how do we do this?” Madison asked.

“Well I’m guessing that the horde will be on us before the sun goes down. So let’s sit, relax, conserve energy and enjoy our last moments without fear, dread or despair,” said Jack.

They sat down on the dusty hard ground, counting their ammunition and preparing their weapons. Each of them had only a handful of bullets left for the firearms they had so carefully preserved. They waited, all finally at peace with the world. For no matter what the next few hours brought, they would give it their best, knowing they had survived when millions had not.

Across the open plain they had travelled across they could see the horde approaching from a mile or two away, enough time to watch them stagger towards them for maybe less than an hour.
 

“Remember, however this goes we are God’s children, made in his image, and we have stayed true. We will be the ones to see heaven, not those disgusting beasts,” implored Wells.

The creatures were now just fifty yards away.

“Okay people, let’s give these bastards hell!” shouted Jack.

A hail of gunfire erupted, soon followed by the final battle of desperation.

English/Welsh border, United Kingdom

“Hey buddy, hey, you ok?” came a faint voice.

Nick tried to open his eyes but everything was still dark and he could hear noise as though there was a party or something going on. His leg hurt but he couldn’t work out why. He lifted his hand and rubbed his face, feeling something slick on his cheek.

“Nick, come on, wake up fool!” shouted a familiar voice.

He struggled to open his eyes, just making out the shape of Max in front of him. He was being carried by several of the passengers and off to his right he could see the old Land Rover, still on its side and burning furiously. A pinprick of light flashed ahead and one of the people carrying him fell, dropping the wounded Nick to the ground. The impact hurt but if nothing else it shocked him and helped him focus. As he looked more closely he could make out several rusting, heavily armoured cars nearby.
 

“What? Who are they?” he asked, whilst Max dragged him to cover behind their own modified ambulance.

“No idea, some stupid fucking raiders I’d think. I thought they’d been wiped out years ago,” Max answered.

A short burst of fire clattered against the vehicle.

“Yeah, well, I think they’re back,” Nick grimaced.

A loud noise indicated the arrival of the last two vehicles in the convoy and as they arrived the gunfire increased. The raiders were certainly badly organised and had bitten off way more than they could chew. The armoured minibus kept moving forward, offering protection from gunfire as it raced up to the raiders. Once it was close enough the doors burst open and the passengers inside rushed out, all armed with various hand weapons and the odd firearm. It was over in seconds and with no more casualties.

Nick lifted himself up, holding onto the side of the ambulance as he looked about. There were several bodies on the road, one of them was face down, the other was Zack, he must have been hit in the crossfire.

“Fucking hell,” swore Nick, “we got this far, ten bloody years only to lose people to some pathetic local bandits.”

He looked at the vehicles, the van was certainly leaking fuel and the minibus was making a terrible grinding sound.

“They aren’t going to last much longer, we need to keep moving, come on,” he said as he hobbled inside the ambulance passenger seat.

 
The rest of the passengers climbed back into the surviving three vehicles and in less than a minute the much depleted convoy was back on the road, now down to just three battered and barely running trucks. The ambulance led, followed by the minibus and van. They followed the road for a good distance until finally reaching the exit ramp that led to the port. Luckily for them the bridge was still intact, though it wasn’t easy to push past due to the large accumulation of rubbish and debris that the wind must have deposited. They finally descended the other side of the road and down to the
portway
.

As they rounded the corner Nick spotted the rusting sign for the marina and docks.

“Holy crap, we made it!” he exclaimed, barely believing it himself.

The road ran alongside the waterway though so far he could see no boats of any kind. The vehicles continued a few hundred yards further until they approached a large rectangular stretch of water surrounded by high concrete sides all around, it was the city’s main pleasure craft marina, even better, it had over a score of vessels remaining.

“Mother of God!” said Gary.

“I’m as surprised as you both,” said Jessica as she looked out at the sad looking boats.

“There!” shouted Nick, pointing to an open area that led to a jetty running out between the boats.

They slowed down and stopped just short of the jetty. Nick swung open the door and staggered out, followed by the rest in the vehicle. As the first headed down the jetty the other two vehicles arrived and formed up nearby. Gary scanned the area, checking for signs of the undead.

“Did you see how many there were when we passed over the bridge?” he asked.

Nick twisted his head.

“Well, I lost count, I think they’ve been lurking in the houses over there,” he pointed to the blocks of houses and apartments a few hundred yards back.

“You think they’ll come here?” asked Jessica.

Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Are you kidding, of course they will. We need one or more boats and we need them in the next ten minutes.”

“Look!” said Jessica, pointing off into the distance.

Nick followed her arm until he spotted a small group of shadows waddling towards the marina.

“Jesus, they just won’t stop will they? Come on, let’s go,” he shouted as he headed off down the jetty.

Along both sides of the rotting wooden structure was a selection of boats with about five times the number half submerged or just below the waterline. Nick made for a rusting metal boat, slightly larger than a tug and orange with wear. It was the second largest vessel in the marina and its rust made it look the most worn of them all.

“Are you sure?” shouted an unconvinced Max.

“It looks watertight and right now we need something that floats.”

As Nick climbed up the metal ramp that led to the deck he looked around for signs of anything that might make the vessel unsuitable. A single gunshot echoed across the area as one of the people back at the vehicles took a shot at the approaching horde. Nick noticed one of the undead fall to the ground and allowed himself a brief smile, it was a good shot. Two more people appeared from one of the official looking buildings, he noticed Gary at the front waving a box. Max helped some of the survivors onto the main deck and shouted for the rest to follow. It didn’t take long before most were on or around the boat, all apart from three who were determined to take a small wooden launch out into the middle of the marina. As Gary ran down the jetty he drew something from the box.

“Keys, good man!” called Nick.

Gary ran up the ramp and headed to the locked doorway on the boat.

 
The small wooden launch incredibly started, though with the amount of smoke pouring from the engine it was hard to tell what was happening. As the smoke washed across the marina it obliterated the view from Nick’s vessel. He turned, coughing in the smoke.

“We need weapons on the deck, get ready for them!” shouted Nick, half expecting the undead to appear through the smoke at any second.

Gary managed to get the door open and he entered the inside of the vessel, quickly followed by many of the others. The smoke started to clear and it was obvious that the area would soon be swarming with the creatures. Nick, Max and a dozen others assembled on the port side of the vessel, each armed with weapons and waiting for the inevitable attack. Gary appeared at the doorway.

“They’re working on the engine right now. It’s pretty flooded below deck but they think there’s a good chance they’ll get it running.”

“Sounds good, in the meantime we need to block the jetty or they’ll be on us fast,” he said.

“What about the petrol in the trucks? We could burn the jetty, that way they can’t reach us,” said Jessica.

“Yeah, good idea. It’ll be quick and right now we need quick,” said Nick with a look of satisfaction.

“Gary, make sure they get the engine running, Jessica come with me.”

He jumped down and ran back up the jetty with Jessica close behind. He noticed the wooden launch was moving out into the water on his left though there was still no sound from the larger iron vessel. He ran up the hill to the armoured van and headed directly to the spare tank. It was held onto the back with a simple jerry can mount. Pulling it from the bracket he undid the lid and proceeded to pour it around the end of the jetty.

“Don’t we want to burn the whole thing?” asked Jessica.

“Well, yes, but what if the engine doesn’t start? We could end up burning the boat,” replied Nick.

“Yeah,” said Jessica as she helped him spread the fuel.

Nick glanced over his shoulder as they continued to work, spotting the growing horde making its way around the marina.

“They aren’t hanging about, look, they already have the place surrounded,” he said as he screwed the lid on.