Death Plague Omnibus [Four Zombie Novels] (17 page)

“I’ve got most of the pieces in place now.” The man suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh God! I can’t put into words just how fucking alive I feel. It’s ironic really, to think that it took a total catastrophe for me to realize that I should never have given up what I love the best. I bet you don’t know what I mean by that do you, Ernest?”

He kept silent.

Dennis crouched down and nodded to Mavis. “You were pretty cute when you were younger, lass. I almost chose you instead of Ethel.” He giggled. “You’d be in the van instead of her.” He grinned. “Not that it matters, you’ll be in there pretty soon.”

Dennis stood up and looked back at the fallen soldier. “I want you two to carry him outside, and hurry up. I don’t want him dying on us just yet.”

Mavis looked at him, her eyes full of fear. She then glanced at the gun Dennis had in his hand. Ernest could see the madness in the old man’s eyes as well.

“Well, come on!” urged Dennis. “There’s still loads left to do tonight.”

Ernest got to his feet and padded over to the man on the floor. He didn’t look very alive to him. He put his arms under his shoulders, waited for Mavis to grab his legs, and then attempted to lift him up. He was surprisingly light.

“It’s all down to us and them in the end.” Dennis saw Ernest look back at his ex-boss, and he started to laugh again. “No, no, it’s not about who’s alive or dead.”

Ernest rested the body on the edge of the sofa; it didn’t look as if Dennis had noticed that he’d stopped.

“There’s us: me, you, Mavis, and a few others scattered around. We are potentials. If those things out there catch us, we’ll join their ranks. Then there are the others, they’re the competitors.” He grinned. “Now if they get caught, they’ll get ripped to bits and chewed up. Now why do you suppose that is, eh? I mean, it’s not like they get any nutritional value out of the flesh, I mean how can they? Their bodies have effectively shut down.”

Dennis waved his gun at Ernest; he got the message and lifted the body back up.

“I’m not sure yet just why this is, although I suspect that our dead friends are scared of the competitors. You see, I reckon that if a competitor survives a bite then they’ll change but perhaps into something else.” He shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.”

This madman was going to kill them both. They had to get away from him. Mavis managed to get the soldier’s feet out of the window. Ernest heaved and shouldered the rest of him through the hole. He landed on the grass below in an untidy heap; if he wasn’t dead earlier, Ernest suspected that he was now.

“Right then, dear, you first, out you get.”

Ernest hoped that Mavis would climb out from the window and just make a run for it; he wouldn’t blame her if she did.

“I think it may have something to do with tribes, you know. In the future, this planet will be ruled by the dead—it’s inevitable—but I don’t think that the dead will be one big harmonious group. Right, you wait there. After I climb out, I want you to be right behind me. If you take too long, like have strange ideas about running back into the shop to grab a knife or some other weapon, you’re going to find the pretty Mavis cut up into several bloodied lumps.”

He watched Dennis climb through the window. He wanted to break down and weep; he felt like he’d failed everyone. Ernest knew that this was not going to end well, and he couldn’t see a way out of it.

After he heard him drop down, Ernest looked wildly around the room, looking for something, anything that he could use to protect himself and Mavis from that fucking lunatic. Potentials and competitors? Oh Christ, what a fucking looney tune.

Oh fuck, there was bugger all here; but then he remembered the soldier. The lad must have a knife on him somewhere, and Dennis was bound to make them carry him to wherever he was going. Ernest nodded and grabbed the window frame. It was better than nothing, he supposed.

As he hit the ground the fact that the soldier had dropped his fucking rifle in the shop hit him like an express train. Ernest couldn’t believe he had been so Goddamn stupid. He slowly turned around, expecting to see the face of the grinning old man leering at him.

He saw Mavis, a teenage boy, and a young woman. The boy held a long knife, and Dennis was at his feet with a pool of blood spreading out from under him.

Chapter Seventeen

Ernest held the bolt-cutters in one hand while tucking the handle of the hammer down the back of his trousers. He’d tried pushing the handle through one of his belt hoops, but the hoop was too bloody small.

Going back into that place was probably one of the hardest things he had ever done; he was left with no choice though. Ernest needed those bolt-cutters.

Despite his earlier idea about grabbing the soldier’s gun, he left it on the floor. They were fine, but only until the ammo ran dry or it jammed. He’d stick with the hammer; you didn’t have to put bullets into that. Ernest so missed his trusty pool cue. Sporting goods was yet another item on Mr. Singh’s banned lists.

The soldier had begun to stir. Ernest had gained enough experience tonight to understand what that meant. He leapt through the smashed window, put the bolt-cutters on the ground, and pulled Dennis’s shotgun out from beneath the old man’s body.

“Life’s a bitch, ain’t it?” he said. “Welcome to Breakspear.”

He took hold of the barrel and brought the stock down hard on the man’s head. His movements ceased.

“Live by the gun, die by the gun. I’m sorry, but you didn’t deserve the hammer.”

He looked over at Dennis and wondered how long it would be before he started to move again. Ernest didn’t even know if he was dead yet. He lifted up the barrel of the shotgun. Well, if he wasn’t, he would be in a second.

As he lifted up the shotgun, a single cry echoed through the night air, followed by four gunshots. He dropped the weapon and spun around.

“Oh Jesus.”

He’d forgotten that the strangers said they were going to do that. The other three stood beside a blue van opposite the square, and there were four bodies lying at their feet.

The soldier had commented about how he and Mavis didn’t look like the types to survive. Ernest wondered what he would have thought if he saw their new friends, especially the boy. He didn’t look strong enough to fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

He picked up the bolt-cutters and jogged towards the van

“So, you got them,” Mavis said.

Ernest nodded, trying not to look down at those four chained-up corpses between him and the other three. In the end, he gave in to his morbid curiosity and stared in disgust at what Dennis had done to them. He had no idea who three of them were, and it took him a while to recognize Dennis’s dear departed wife. The poor thing looked like she’d been dead for a couple of weeks before she’d succumbed to whatever the fuck had happened to their estate.

Having his wife rise from the grave, even if she’d actually made it there, wasn’t good enough for the old man. He’d manacled her legs together and done the same to her hands. He saw rectangular strips of flesh cut out of all of them. Jesus, he’d been experimenting on them too. He noticed a dark-haired woman with a large number of facial piercings lying next to the remains of a man who looked like he had definitely been dug up. The woman’s lips had been sewn together; he shook his head at the madness of it all.

“This is Stephanie,” said Mavis.

The girl smiled and nodded. He nodded back, unable to trace her. Ernest thought he knew everybody in the estate, so either he was wrong, or the girl was a stranger. If she was, the poor lass had picked the wrong bloody day to come visiting.

“And this is Kevin.”

The boy stepped over the bodies and shook Ernest’s hand. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to the gesture.

“Thanks for looking after him,” he said.

“That’s okay,” Ernest replied, not knowing what the hell he was talking about. He hadn’t realized just how bad the lad smelled; he stank of gone-off meat. The stench was coming off that dirty, tattered jacket he wore over his sweatshirt. The girl had one on too. What the hell had they been doing?

“Kevin here is Adrian’s younger brother.”

Ernest immediately dropped his eyes to the floor, “Oh Christ, lad. I’m really sorry.”

Kevin sighed, “It’s okay, I accepted that he was gone a bit back. I’m just glad that he took a few of those filthy bastards with him.”

Well, he sounded tougher than he looked. He gazed back to where Doctor Death had fallen, suddenly remembering that he’d intended to smash his skull in. “Thanks for saving our lives, both of you. I reckon that if you hadn’t turned up, we’d have both ended up like those poor bastards in the van.”

The boy shrugged. “Yeah, well, we were seconds away from shouting out to the old man until …” he paused and took a deep breath, “… until he opened the van doors and those things spilled out.”

Kevin turned and padded around to the front of the van. Mavis hurried after him.

“That young girl there is Kevin’s sister,” said Stephanie.

Oh, Jesus, talk about a double whammy; that kid would be in therapy for the rest of his life—if they lived through tonight that is. He quickly searched around to find something to cover her body. He had to make do with half a bed sheet he found in the back of the van; it was covered in bits of God knows what, but it was better than nothing.

“Mavis says that you may be able to get us out.”

Ernest nodded at the girl, glad that she had changed the subject. Mavis returned with the boy, and he waited for them both to draw near before he answered. He reckoned that the lad ought to hear this too; he looked like he needed cheering up.

“Yeah, I can get us out. There’s a tunnel that leads all the way from …” he trailed off when he saw the color drain from both of their faces.

“It’s under the old graveyard, isn’t it,” muttered Kevin.

Ernest nodded. “Yeah, how did you know?”

The hardened fighter disguise fell away to reveal a very frightened-looking boy. Mavis hurried over and put her arm around him.

“We’ve just escaped from the cemetery,” said the girl.

“What do you mean by escaped?”

“There were thousands of them coming out from every house and shuffling through the streets.”

“We saw that happen as well.” He decided not to mention that Adrian didn’t live through that. The lad looked traumatized enough.

“Yeah, well, we were with this other lad who led us into the cemetery. See if you can guess where that vast swarm of people was heading?”

Ernest looked into the girl’s eyes. He couldn’t imagine what kind of terror she must have felt when she saw that swarm of ravenous things coming towards them.

“How did you escape?”

She picked at the decaying fabric covering her clothes, then looked at Kevin and smiled at him before walking over and grabbing his hand.

“We wore a disguise. It was Kevin’s idea.”

“There were a load of people hiding in the old church; those dead people just tore into them. I thought that we might be able to slip past them if we smelled as bad as they did.”

The old woman had a very funny look on her face, as though she’d just found God.

“We took these rags off a couple of dead people and hoped for the best. I mean, we had no other choice.”

“Potentials and competitors,” murmured Mavis.

Stephanie stared at her “What does that mean?”

“It’s something that Doctor Death was going on about in the shop,” said Ernest. “He said that was how those things saw the human race. If you’re a potential then they’ll take a chunk out of you, and you’ll end up turning into one of them, but if they see you as a competitor then those bastards will rip you apart and eat the bits.”

“A bit like a paper shredder,” whispered Mavis.

“I think that’s why you were able to get past them; a competitor will take priority over a potential.”

“This is bullshit,” said Kevin, “you’re not buying into this crap, are you, Steph? I mean, you’re repeating some twisted theory that a fucking homicidal maniac came out with.” He glared at Mavis.

“Come on, Kevin. You’ve got to admit that it does sound plausible. They just pushed us out of the way to get to those other people.”

Ernest gazed at the badly decomposed body next to Ethel, not believing what he was thinking. He swallowed down his fear and turned to the others. “We need to go into the cemetery. Personally, I think it’s the only chance we have.”

Kevin staggered back, shaking his head. “I’m hearing things.”

“You got out,” said Ernest, “we’ll be able to get in.”

“Are you having a laugh?” cried Kevin. “We barely escaped with our lives. If those things hadn’t been distracted, we’d have had no bloody chance. Those poor souls will all be dead now.”

Ernest shrugged. “Well, in that case, that swarm will move on then, because you can guarantee that there’ll be more refugees scattered about the estate. They’ll be hunting them.”

He held his breath and leaned over the corpse. He grabbed the shoulder, cringing when his forefinger pushed through into the soft flesh; it felt like he’d just stuck his finger into a rotten pear.

“Ernest, you really do believe Dennis’s ideas, don’t you,” said Mavis.

He looked at her and nodded, trying to ignore her troubled frown and those warning bells going off in his head.

“I do know that Dennis was empathically dead and had no conscience, but he wasn’t insane.”

“Well, what about these dead things inheriting the planet? Will he be right about that bit too?”

He shook his head, “Of course not. I don’t think that’s even possible. Come on, Mavis, do you honestly think I want to do this? What other choice do we have?”

“There are always other choices. Say we do get out of here, Ernest. What will happen when we eventually die? Will we stay dead, or will we rise up from death and spread this plague? Have you considered that? Good Lord, we could be the ones responsible for killing our species!”

“You don’t know that.”

“And neither do you. I think we should …”

“I can hear something coming,” hissed Stephanie.

Ernest saw headlights reflecting in the windows of the dark houses, and raced over to hide behind the van, the other three right behind him. He peered through the side window; his heart sank when he saw a convoy of military vehicles rumbling past. They turned off and traveled down towards the old church.

“We have to give ourselves up; it’s the only moral action we have left.”

“Have you lost your mind, lass? How can you even suggest that after the way they treated you earlier?”

“Those poor men were terrified, Ernest. The people they answer to will be professional specialists, and I’m sure that they’ll treat us with dignity and respect.”

“Jesus lady, what planet did you come from?” muttered the girl.

Mavis ignored her; she smiled and stood up. “Look, I’ll show you.”

“For Christ’s sake woman, sit down!”

She moved out of the way of Ernest’s arms and hurried around the van with her arms in the air.

“Maybe she’s right, Ernest. Maybe we ought to give ourselves up.”

He looked at Kevin and shook his head, “Believe me, son, she isn’t.”

The boy tried to stand up, but Stephanie reached out and pulled him back. “You ain’t going anywhere.”

Three soldiers saw Mavis and immediately raised their rifles. The woman stopped. Ernest shut his eyes; he just knew what would happen next. He turned and slid down the van, flinching as three gunshots blasted through the air. He heard the girl start to sob, and he felt like joining her.

“Oh, Jesus, that’s murder,” she cried. “Why the hell did they have to go do that?”

“There are no vans out there; they have all the specimens they need. Those soldiers are a clean up crew, and they’ll have orders to shoot anything that moves.”

“Can’t we find somewhere to hole up and try again in the morning?”

He shook his head. “I’ve already thought of that one, Stephanie, but it has to be tonight.”

“A load more soldiers have just turned up. It looks like they are trying to repair the fence.”

Ernest opened his eyes. He stood up and joined Kevin by the window; thankfully the van obscured his friend’s body.

He slammed his hand against the side of the van, frustrated and angry. It wasn’t fucking fair.

“Why does it have to be tonight?” Kevin asked.

“They’ve got eyes in the sky. They’ll use satellite imagery to find us. If we find a nice safe hidey hole, within an hour those bastards will boot the door down.”