Blog of the Dead (Book 1): Sophie (10 page)

‘Stay there, sweetheart,’ I whispered. ‘Keep your eyes closed tight and I’ll be right back’

Zombie-William had almost made it to the top of the stairs. I couldn’t stop thinking about Jake. What would I do if this was Jake? Sam didn’t move. I darted back to the stairs, pushed Sam out of the way and rammed my knife into the zombie’s face. William stayed still for a moment, kept up by my hand on the handle of the knife. I pulled the blade out and he toppled backwards, down the stairs. I couldn’t kill a kid, but William hadn’t been a kid any more.

I heard Tyler crying so I told Sam to go and move the body. That done we took Tyler outside. The rain had started to ease off and the sky was growing light. Polly had her arms around Stella, while Stella held Lucy tightly to her body. I saw no sign of Leanne. Stella cried with joy when she saw Tyler. Then it must have hit her that her husband and William had to be dead and she had a meltdown in the middle of the street, ending up in a heap on the ground with Lucy and Tyler gathered in her arms. I could see zombies lurching down the road towards us in both directions. ‘Move!’ I said.

Me, Sam and Polly grabbed the three sorrowful figures and dragged them to our house, me squelching in my sodden biker boots. We were all soaked. It was lucky (debatable) that Sam had managed to get a t-shirt on before we came out because his Spider-Man boxers now clung to him mercilessly and didn’t really hide anything at all by themselves. I tried not to look.

We sat Stella at the dining room table and gave her tea (that I made. Polly had taken Leanne off upstairs saying what a terrible trauma all this had been for her????!!!! Words fail me). Stella had Tyler on one knee and Lucy on the other and wouldn’t let go of either. Can’t say I blame her. None of them really spoke, Stella only to tell me her name, but other than that, totally catatonic. We’ve managed to house them with some neighbours across the street who also have a couple of kids … once me and Sam had dried off, got dressed and killed the zombies that loitered outside that is. I don’t think Stella and her kids will be going back to their own house again.

December 14
3.55pm Day 31
Got woken up by hailstones slamming against the skylight above Sam’s bed this morning at about 9am. And where did I wake up? In Sam’s bed. Yes, I’ll admit it, I’ve actually graduated from Sam’s floor to Sam’s bed … with Sam. This was my second night. But, and I can’t emphasise this strongly enough, NOTHING IS GOING ON. We haven’t done anything and we’re not going to either. I’m just sick of sleeping on the bloody floor.

I’ll admit, I do like Sam. Well, let’s say he’s grown on me since this whole zombie, constant fear of death thing. I’ve seen him in a different light, I guess. But, you know what, I think I’m developing a bit of a weird crush on David. Yes, really. I’m certain it’s one of those infatuation things that will pass. He’s good looking, not that much older than me. Looks wise, he’s the type I would go for – pretty, long hair, tattoos. But I just can’t get beyond this whole indebted-to-me-for-saving-his-life thing. It’s creeping me out a bit.

I saw him in town late morning on my way back from picking up a few bits in Boots. I feel fairly safe in the town centre these days. Our jurisdiction goes from Debenhams on Sandgate Road down to Rendezvous Street where Googies is, encompassing Bouverie Place and Asda. There are other groups that occupy different parts of the town, and they’re responsible for managing themselves. Hannah organised a patrolling rota in our area, with armed volunteers guarding at street level, and some positioned up on the roofs of buildings. The ones on the roofs have alarms to sound if they spot anything that they think the ground guys or girls can’t handle. At first whenever an alarm sounded, I’d get freaked, but I’m getting used to it now. Sam did a shift up above Merchant Chandler in Rendezvous Street this morning. Because we started this whole thing, nobody really expects me, Sam, Polly or Leanne to do any of the work. But both me and Sam get involved where we can. Polly and Leanne – not so much.

David had about four bulging Asda bags in each hand as he trudged down Sandgate Road. When he saw me he bounded over, Asda bags swinging, a big grin on his face.

‘Hi, David, you having a party?’

‘Huh?’

‘The bags,’ I said.

‘Oh. No. I’m delivering the food. It’s Hannah’s idea. We’ve started delivering to people nearby who can’t really get out themselves, you know oldies and that.’

‘Why don’t you use a trolley to carry that lot?’

‘Too noisy. Attracts too many fucking zombies. And I don’t mind. There’s a few of us that do it, so … You know, if you’d like your ration delivered … Oh, not that your an oldie, or …’

‘It’s ok, I get you.’

‘I’d be happy to, you know, deliver your stuff.’

‘Um. Thanks. But I quite like coming into town. I get to see people.’

‘Sure. Sure. Just a thought, Soph … I, er, mean Sophie.’

Bless him, I imagined he would start tugging at his forelock at any moment. We watched an episode of ‘Fawlty Towers’ in a Drama Writing class once and David reminds me of the character Manuel, always acting like he’s going to get a whack round the head any moment but so bloody grateful for his job that he’s almost happy to take the abuse.

‘You can call me Soph if you like. And it was a good thought. Thanks for the offer, David. Anyway, be careful out here.’

I went to walk away, thinking I’d best make the first move or we’d be here all day with David grinning at me and his arms growing longer and longer from the weight of the bags. ‘David, would you like to go for a drink after you’ve delivered that lot?’ I couldn’t believe that I actually asked him that. It just came out before I could edit myself. But David intrigued me. He hadn’t, as of yet, volunteered any information about how he’d come to be mixed up with the Big Guys. I figured if I could just get a drink or two down him, he might divulge. And he’s so easy on the eye ...

‘I, er …’ That was as far as he got. Liam and Kay rolled up and asked me to go to Googies with them. Before I could say anything, David had sloped off with his bags. I was going to call out after him, feeling a little pissed off that, technically, I’d been rejected, when I noticed fresh black blood on Liam’s axe and clothes.

‘Zombies?’

‘Hell yeah. Fucking bastards,’ said Liam. ‘I only put this fucking t-shirt on clean today.’

‘There’s a whole store full of them up there,’ said Kay.

‘What,
zombies
?’ I asked.

‘No. T-shirts. Debenhams.’

‘But there are more zombies in town than usual,’ said Liam. ‘I’ve noticed it over the last couple of days. More and more of the fuckers’re turning up.’

‘I guess because there’s more of
us
in town,’ I said, with an image in my head of zombies coming to town to do
their
food shopping. ‘Lets get that drink.’

4.30pm Day 31
I saw Michael inside Googies, sat at a table by himself. I was surprised to see him. He’d been keeping a low profile since … since Archie. He was another one that I wanted to get more info out of. Like what happened to Archie after he turned. But I could see by the way that Michael almost knocked his beer bottle over that he was not in a condition to talk any sense.

I told Kay and Liam that I’d see them in a bit and went over to Michael’s table. He didn’t notice me, not even when I took a seat opposite him. His eyelids drooped and he had one elbow on the table, his head slumped against it. I think he would have fallen asleep right there if I hadn’t tugged on his arm. His head lolled and then shot up. He looked at me, eyes trying to focus.

‘Shoph.’

‘Michael, why d’you let yourself get into this condition? It’s not even bloody lunch time.’

‘Wa con … Wa con … Why not, eh? Wassa point any bloody more.’

‘I think I’d better get you home.’

Leaving Michael to stagger around the streets blind drunk didn’t seem like a very good idea, especially with more zombies around. I considered putting him on one of the sofas in Googies and hoping he’d stay put until he’d sobered up. But I couldn’t chance it. I stood up and sidled round to him. Grabbing him by the arms I eased him up out of his seat.

‘Wa ya doing?’

‘Getting you somewhere safe before you end up feeding yourself to a zombie, Michael.’

‘Only way t do tha ss build a fucking gray big wall round tha bloody town.’

I let him drop back down into his seat. Hell yeah! A fucking great big wall around the bloody town … from the mouths of drunks!

December 15
2pm Day 32
Michael looked ropey when he staggered downstairs this morning. Sam had helped me to drag him up to Polly’s old bedroom yesterday. He was already unconscious, bless him, even before we dropped (tried to lower gently but didn’t really work out) him on the bed. That was about 1pm-ish, and he slept right though until about 10am this morning.

I have a bit of a hangover, too. I’d stayed up late talking with Sam about the prospect of making a safe zone for us all to move into by putting a barrier up around the town centre. No way I felt anywhere near as bad as Michael looked.

We sat on the sofas, drinking black coffee, while I reminded Michael about his drunken brainwave. He remembered nothing about it. Meanwhile Polly and Leanne (really feel like I should give them one of those celebrity couple’s names like Brangelina or Bennifer – Pleanne? Lolly? Polanne?) came down. I swear Leanne looked even thinner than usual. She kind of shuffled into the room behind Polly with her shoulders hunched, looking at her feet. They both stood either side of the fireplace like they were about to launch into song in one of those cheesy Christmas specials, Alan Partridge-stylee.

‘So what’s going on?’ asked Polly, like we were keeping secrets from her and Leanne (they choose to shut themselves off from the rest of us. I don’t think either of them have left the house since the Asda coup). I told them the latest plan and asked if they wanted to get involved. ‘We can’t,’ said Polly.

‘Why, pray tell?’ said Sam.

‘Leanne’s not well.’

‘She doesn’t look sick,’ I said. Ok she’d make your average Hollywood actress look obese, but she’d lose hands down to Michael in the who-looks-the-sickest comp.

‘She is, and I need to stay here to look after her.’

‘Oh
please
,’ I said. ‘What’s wrong with you, Leanne?’

‘She’s –’

‘I asked Leanne, Polly! Why don’t you let her speak for herself?’

‘I think we’d better go,’ said Polly.

‘No! For fuck’s sake, Polly. You have been acting weirder and weirder since she came here. And with you, Polly, that’s really saying something. What’s going on with you two? What do you do all day and night up there?’

‘Fuck off, Sophie.’ Polly stormed out of the room, followed by the shuffling Leanne, who avoided my eye the whole way.

‘Freaks! Fucking freaks!’ I yelled after them.

I wanted to go after Polly and smash her face in. I stomped out of the living room, to the dining room table and picked up my claw hammer. I flung open the front door, marched over to the nearest zombie that happened to be passing, and I brained it. I turned, came back in, shut the door and threw my claw hammer on the table, leaving a trail of black blood on the antique pine stained wood.

‘That’s redheads for you,’ said Sam from the living room doorway. I gave him a grrrr look and he stopped smiling.

I’m not even a natural redhead. I’m naturally dark brown, as my roots will testify.

‘Right,’ I said, smoothing down my fringe, ‘can someone round up Kay and Liam on Facebook and let them know we’re on our way into town.’

5.55pm Day 32
Liam, Keith, David, Hannah and Matt were already in Googies waiting for us when we arrived. Me, Sam and Michael pulled up some chairs around the table. I noticed Liam looked a little hungover too. Though he had on a lovely new t-shirt.

Kay burst into the café. ‘Bloody great idea,’ she said as she joined us at the table. ‘Loving it!’

‘Well, it’s one of those ideas that’re so obvious you wonder why you never thought of it yourself. But it’s not going to be easy,’ I said.

‘Whatever you need, Soph, just say,’ said David, pushing some hair out of his face and smiling at me.

‘Thanks, David.’ I felt my cheeks getting hot and prayed that they weren’t red.

‘My dad owns … owned a building firm,’ said Michael. ‘He was a builder himself, but he had to give it up cos of his heart condition. But he should be able to help manage the job.’

‘You think he’ll be up for it?’

‘I reckon.’

‘Ok,’ I said. ‘Michael, you and your dad can be the foremen, and you can be responsible for rounding up a building team and supervising them. Kay, Hannah and Sam you can head up teams to find the materials. We’re going to need fencing and lots of it. You’ll have to check with Michael’s dad exactly what you’ll need. It’ll have to be strong enough to withstand a lot of bashing.’

‘We can use trucks or vans and go to B&Q and Homebase,’ said Kay.

‘I’ll Google building and fencing suppliers in Folkestone,’ said Hannah.

‘Great. And there’s that metal fencing at the petrol station in Tram Road. That’ll be good,’ I said (sorry zombie builders, time for you to go. I’ll miss you). ‘If you think you can get it moved up here?’

‘I’ll sort it,’ said Sam.

‘Liam and Matt, can you be in charge of security and make sure that the volunteers putting up these fences are safe?’

‘Sure,’ said Matt, removing his flat cap and running his fingers through his dark hair, before replacing the cap again. ‘No problem.’

‘Aye,’ said Liam with a nod. ‘No brain dead fuckers’ll get in on my watch,’ and he proceeded to roll a cigarette.

‘I’ll keep everyone fed,’ said Keith.

‘Fantastic. Thank you,’ I said.

‘Haha! This is going to be great. But we’ll need to make sure this whole area is zombie free before we start moving people in,’ said Kay.

‘Yeah. I’ll organise that,’ I said. ‘I’ll get a team together and search every flat, office, shop and café in the safe zone.’

‘I can help you with that, Soph,’ said David. ‘I’m pretty shit hot at making things open.’