Zombies: The Black Rock (3 page)

‘
She’s
been bitten,’ said Sheridan.

‘
Get
away from her,’ ordered Colt.

Lisa
turned the trucks heavy duty machinegun and began to open fire on the
horde of zombies making their way up the bridge. All the gunfire had
attracted more attention than the group had ever desired. Tracers
danced through the darkness, sending limbs and gore in all
directions. Andy looked between Sal and Colt. He did a double take on
his friend and then stepped away from her.

‘
What
are you doing? Help me!’

‘
I’m
sorry, Sal.’

‘
Please...’
Sal stumbled forward, grabbing at her stomach as she cried out in
pain. ‘It hurts so much.’

‘
What
are we going to do?’ asked Sheridan.

‘
I...
need... a... medic...’ and then it happened. Sal’s eyes
rolled back into her head, she spat blood. It was like someone had
just stabbed her through the throat. She released a loud agonising
howl, throwing back her head like some kind of wild animal. Suddenly,
she swung around in a complete three-sixty and dropped to the floor.
Andy watched in horror, as his friend thrashed upon the wet concrete,
scratching at her face, drawing blood from her neck and chest.

‘
What
the fuck is happening to her?’

‘
It’s
the change,’ said Colt, marching forward.

He
placed a black boot on the young woman’s chest, holding her in
place.

A
single gunshot removed the top of her head, silencing the horrific
noise that was coming from her mouth.

‘
We
got to move!’ Lisa yelled. Fear had made a home in her voice.
The horde was closing in quickly.

***

Natasha’s
scent led the way. Bishop wasn’t really aware of what road he
was taking, or what route he was on. There was no master plan to his
journey. He had one goal and one goal only. He was going to hunt down
the woman that used his five-year-old daughter as a shield and he was
going to rip her fucking throat out. The beautiful watercolour effect
that was the link between the two of them was so strong now. It was
like he was riding his motorbike down a road of light. She was close.
She was very close. It wouldn’t be long until he caught up with
her. Rain poured down on them, making it difficult to see, which
meant for a slow and tedious journey.

Python
pulled over to the side of the bridge.

Bishop
rolled up beside him.

The
powerful engines continued to turn over.

‘
Would
you look at that?’ said Python, flicking a thumb in the
direction of the black rock.

‘
What
is it?’

‘
I
haven’t got a fucking clue, but I know one thing. I don’t
want to go fucking near it.’

Bishop
felt the same way.

Something
deep within the core of his being inspired him to stay away from the
black rock. The image of the black beast appeared within his mind eye
with a skull stabbing pain. Bishop still didn’t know what the
hell that thing was, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the beast
and the black rock were somehow connected.

***

Colt’s
truck bounced over the fallen chain linked gate. Lisa swung the light
machine gun, left and right, as they pulled into the large base.
Zombies were everywhere. Dead walkers and the skeletal remains of
their victims covered the black concrete. A battle had taken place
here. Several small fires still burned nearby. The other vehicles
pulled into the base beside them. Colt circled, slowly. He weighed up
his options.

‘
It
wasn’t like this earlier,’ said Andy.

‘
I
thought you said it was secure here,’ replied Sheridan.

‘
It
is. It is!’

‘
We
have to get out of here, Colt,’ announced Lisa.

Colt
turned his head and looked out the back of the truck. A horde of
zombies was marching around the side of a building. It was weird.
They were not rushing out in that frenzied way, they were actually
marching. And they were also carrying weapons. The zombies marched
out and blocked off the gate. They were stood in four lines of
twenty. Suddenly, the first row got down on one knee and took aim
with their weapons.

‘
SHIT!’

Colt
slammed his foot down on the gas.

The
truck lurched forward.

Escape
was no longer an option.

He
drove the truck straight through a garage door and into a long
hanger. Walking corpses bounced off the bonnet, showering the
windscreen with Gore, as an orchestra of gunfire opened up behind
them. Tires screeched, as they skidded to an emergency stop. Colt was
the first one out. He wasted no time in eliminating the most
immediate threats of the walking dead. By the time Sheridan, Andy and
Lisa were out the other two cars was speeding into the hanger. The
sound of boots marching across concentrate echoed in the air. The
zombie firing squad was closing in.

‘
What
the fuck is happening?’

‘
I
don’t know,’ admitted Colt, as he headed for a side door.

***

Bishop
and Python parked up their bikes outside of the military base. Python
chewed the inside of his mouth, as he watched the zombie firing
square moving across the base. It was a weird sight to see.

‘
Come
to me...’ whispered a voice in their ears.

‘
This
feels very wrong,’ said Python.

‘
I
think we should go,’ added Beth.

‘
I
know, but Natasha is in there.’

***

Lights
hung down from ceiling tiles, as blood stained handprints lined the
walls. The red glow of the emergency lighting created a tense and
eerie feel. Colt led the way down the corridor. Evidence of a brutal
gun battle remained. Bullet holes could be seen high and low, as
debris littered the floor. Brain matter was splattered here and
there, as fallen zombies led a trail deeper into the base. The
constant groan of the un-dead echoed down the corridors, as the group
moved with stealth and speed. Experience dictated that a narrow
corridor was not the best location to fend off a zombie assault. They
needed to get elsewhere and as quick as humanly possible.

Colt
stepped into the canteen. A group of walking dead were feasting on
the guts of their latest victim.

He
holstered his weapon and drew his knife.

The
rest of the group rushed into the canteen.

Lisa
closed the doors behind them, forcing a metal pole through the
handles for extra security.

‘
I’m
going to check for food,’ said Levi.

‘
I
will come with you,’ added Sheridan.

‘
Sit
down here, children,’ instructed Natasha.

‘
This
is your fault,’ panted Oliver, he pointed a figure at Andy.
‘You led us here.’

‘
I
didn’t know it was like this. It was fine this morning. I don’t
know what happened.’

In
the background, a bone-crunching snap could be heard, as Colt stabbed
the tip of his blade through the skull of a zombie. He was making
quick work of the three undead. The man was so good at slaying them
that he could do it without even breaking a sweat.

‘
There
is a shit load of food in here,’ called Levi, from the back of
the kitchen.

‘
What
are we going to do?’ asked Natasha.

Colt
was heading back towards them, using a napkin to clean the blood off
his knife.

‘
We
wait until sunrise and then...’

He
was interrupted by a voice coming through the intercom on the wall.

‘
Hello
is there anyone out there?’ asked a nervous voice.

Lisa
stepped over and pressed down on the intercom.

‘
Yes.
Where are you?’

‘
I
am on level four in a safe room.’

‘
Did
she say safe room?’ asked Natasha.

‘
It
could be one of those talking zombies. This could be a trap,’
explained Oliver.

‘
What
do we do, boss?’ asked Lisa.

Colt
thought about it for a moment. ‘Those doors wouldn’t hold
back a herd. We go to level four.’

***

‘
What
the fuck is their problem?’ cursed Python, as he pushed his way
through the crowd of zombies.

‘
Just
keep going,’ said Bishop, struggling to force his way through
the herd. The two of them had been heading for a door leading to the
base when the zombie horde had made a bee-line straight for them. A
road led through the middle of the base, towards the crater with the
black rock. That was where the zombies were heading. Bishop, with
Beth on his back, practically fell through the crowd and into the
doorway leading into the base. He turned to look at Python. His
friend was gone. ‘Python, where are you?’

Suddenly,
the nearest zombies stopped and stared at Bishop.

A
frown creased his brow.

Bishop
didn’t like the look it was giving him.

The
zombie reached out, trying to grab his wrist.

Bishop
smashed it straight in the face with a powerful punch.

It
was pure instinct.

Several
more zombies turned towards him. This wasn’t the usual
curiosity from a dead head that had heard a random sound. They were
looking straight at Bishop as if he were fresh meat for the eating. A
big part of Bishop wanted to go out into the crowd and find his
friend, but another part of him that preferred to survive took over.
Bishop slammed the door shut, flicking an internal lock. The zombies
thumped on the door. The twang of a zombie trying to shoot off the
hinges echoed down the corridor. Bishop backed away from the door,
confused and concerned.

‘
Why
were they trying to grab us?’ asked Beth.

‘
I
don’t know. Something very weird is happening here. Let’s
get moving.’

***

‘
This
way,’ said Andy, leading the way through the base. One or two
zombies were ambling down corridors or stuck in stairwells, but it
was nothing the group couldn’t deal with. Red swirling lights
meant it wasn’t the greatest visibility and created tension the
group could have done without. Andy stepped out onto floor four. A
side window gave them a bird’s eye view of the strange black
rock, misted landscape, and the horde of zombies marching in
formation down the crater. The whole image felt wrong. Zombies were
scary, but the group had learnt to read them and predict them. This
new bunch of zombies was frightening on a different level. They were
organised.

Colt
could feel something off here.

Who
was organising these zombies?

‘
It’s
here.’

Lisa
squeezed off two rounds, dropping a zombie that had stepped out of a
side room. Heightened senses meant no zombie was going to get the
drop on them. Sheridan was keeping a close eye on the kids, as Levi
and Oliver brought up the rear. The nine of them reached the large
metallic vault-like door at the end of the corridor. The door looked
so thick that it could resist even the biggest of explosions. Colt
pressed a button on the intercom.

‘
Open
up,’ he commanded.

‘
Is
anyone infected?’ asked a female voice.

‘
No,’
said Colt.

‘
I...’
the woman sounded nervous and unsure.

‘
We
have incoming,’ said Levi, pointing to the half-dozen zombies
at the end of the corridor.

‘
You
asked us to come up here, so open the fucking door,’ ordered
Colt.

‘
I
just need to know if anyone has been bitten,’ continued the
woman.

‘
If
they had been bitten I would have killed them already.’

The
zombies at the end of the corridor scooped down and armed themselves
with shards of glass, broken bits of wood or anything they could turn
into a makeshift weapon. That movement alone sent a cold shiver
through the whole group. Yes. There were the talking dead, but these
were not them. The talking dead were more human. They zombies looked
like robots, marching in formation.