Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3) (6 page)

“No. If we get out here and cut across the fields we can probably reach those train tracks” I said and pointed to the train that sat unmoving on the tracks in the distance. “From there we can see.”

“That’s a bloody stupid idea.” Candice said with a sneer.

“No one is asking you to come along” I said with a grin as I climbed out and opened the door for Emma.
      

“Wait. Please. I don’t want to be left alone here.” Candice said her tone now pleading.

“I really don’t care what you want. I have no interest in coddling you.” I said and allowed a sneer of my own.

“Please. I’m sorry; I won’t need you to coddle me. I promise.” She said, her tone changing from pleading to wheedling. It was almost entertaining.

“You won’t leave me will you?” Emma piped up with tears forming as she climbed from the car and I knew I was defeated, so did Candice who played on Emma’s’ fear.

“It’s ok kiddo, you can stay with me.” She said reaching out to take Emma’s hand.

“Enough” I told
her sternly. “You can come if you must.” Before crouching down before Emma and saying “I won’t leave you, I promise.”

Emma seemed reassured and I ignored the smug smile that Candice wore. With Emma taking a firm hold on my hand once again, I led the way from the road and across the field. I had left all but one hammer and the small supply of food in the car. I could only carry so much.

Candice had irritated me and I knew from experience that it was a very short step from irritated to murder. As soon as I was able, I would rid myself of her one way or another.

We trudged across the unkempt grass covered ground that rose and fell in little waves. Small hummocks of grass and the occasional stand of trees dotted the area and to our right were the outermost dwellings of the town of Colne.

I wasn’t concerned about being seen or heard as we were far enough from the houses that we should go unnoticed. Zombies weren’t the most vigilant bunch and the few I could see on the roads beyond the houses were either just standing still or wandering around listlessly.

The train tracks were at the bottom of a gentle incline and with Emma holding tight to my hand I made it down to the bottom without falling flat on my face. A faint twinge from my ankle reminded me that it wasn’t fully healed and that I should avoid walking at odd angles.

When I came abreast of the train I pulled Emma to one side and covered her view with my body as much as possible. The last thing I needed was for her to get loudly upset. I stayed on alert as we passed. We were low enough that we would have to jump to see into the windows but from our angle I could see blood covered many of them.

Movement came from within and a familiar moan could be heard as we passed by the door. Dark shapes inside the train were moving slowly and pushing against the – thankfully – electronically operated doors. The mindless creatures had no inkling of how to open them manually.

Still we hurried along and out of their sight. I had no intention of fighting a train load of zombies and I was concerned that enough of them making noise would carry to others who were not stuck inside a passenger train.

“Why don’t we just cross over the track and head that way” Candice asked and pointed towards the trees that lined the opposite side of the banking than the one we had descended.

“You are certainly welcome to, but personally I saw enough houses behind those trees that I don’t really want to.” I said.

“You think following the tracks into the centre of the town will be better.” She sneered.

“I think following the tracks through town will certainly give us more options” I snapped back.

She crossed her arms across the ever present bag that was hanging from her shoulder and dropped a few paces behind.

We were soon at the edge of town and the first problem presented itself. The houses that backed onto the tracks were separated by an eight foot high fence made of metal railings, complete with spikes on the top to prevent climbing.

I had no intention of climbing into the gardens so that wasn’t going to be a problem, though the wide gap between the railings was. I cautiously approached the first garden and peered through the gap. Nothing was moving in the garden but the patio doors were shattered and blood covered the ground.

“Ok we need to keep low and move quietly” I said in a whisper. Candice nodded sulkily and Emma looked scared. I gave her what I hoped to be a reassuring smile. It didn’t seem to work.

We set off past the gardens slowly. We kept close to the trees and overgrown weeds at the opposite side of the track, while keeping a wary eye on the gardens. It seemed most of them were well tended and had sheds or bushes and trees to obscure the fence anyway.

While we saw the occasional zombie we seemed to pass unnoticed and we came upon a bridge that carried the tracks safely over the main road.

“It seems safe enough” Candice said thoughtfully.

“Perhaps. Stay low though, if we are seen crossing that, then we could very well have problems.”

The bridge had only a low wall on either side of the tracks and it was several hundred metres long. My back ached just thinking about crossing it while crouched over. I looked at Emma and felt more than a little resentment that she wouldn’t have to crouch so low.

With a sigh I led the way across. Emma still refused to let go of my hand and as irritating as that was, it wasn’t worth the screaming upset that I envisaged if I forced her to let go.

It was tough going and I felt a burning pain in my back before I was even a third of the way across. I added some stretching exercises to my mental list of things to do when I finally arrived at a safe place.

I paused at the half way point and risked a look over the side of the wall. I could see the river Colne in the distance as it wound its way through an industrial section of town. The streets were lined with zombies, most of them surrounding what looked to be an old mill. Its chimney stacks rising high into the sky.

Someone had painted “Help Us” on a banner and suspended it from the roof of the mill. I guessed it still contained people if the zombies were still trying to get in. I was grateful for the distraction they were providing as I certainly didn’t want those hundreds of zombies wandering around where they could notice me.

At a hiss from Candice I crouched back down and continued across the tracks. We were soon across and hidden from view by thick stands of trees and a tangled underbrush. We followed the tracks as they curved around towards the centre of the town.

“Great fucking idea” Candice snarled as we caught site of the train station.

It had a train with three carriages attached, pulled up alongside its platform and a great many undead standing on the platform. A few had fallen onto the tracks and were standing beside the train, staring off into the distance.

Beyond the train I could see what could only ever be called the end of the line. A barrier sat across the end of the tracks and after that was nothing but grass covered open space.

“Yeah great idea” I agreed with a sigh.

Chapter 8

“Well it could be worse” I said, more to myself than anyone else. If I were totally honest I would admit that I was at something of a loss as to how to proceed. We were fairly well sheltered by trees on either side of the tracks where we currently crouched.

Through the trees and down the banking to the right was a small parking area and the front entrance to the train station, also swarming with undead. To the left side across a grass and tree covered area was a housing estate. Ahead of us was out of the question. We would have no chance of making it past the train station platform.

I had no desire to head back the way we had come, so it was towards the housing estate and just beyond that was a large building that I very much wanted to see inside. I lifted Emma over the timber fence that was in place to stop people wandering straight onto the tracks and then climbed over myself.

“What’re you doing?” demanded Candice.

“This direction is our best option, keep quiet and try to stay close to the trees” I said as l lifted Emma into my arms and set off across the grass.

Emma had her arms wrapped tightly around my neck as I moved from tree to tree, tense and alert for any sign we had been noticed. Brown and red leaves crunched underfoot with every step and I was very much aware of the noise I was making.

Candice was noisily following, still holding tight to her bag and seemingly unaware of how conspicuous she was being. I tried to ignore her as I was fairly confident that if she attracted attention, I could outrun her.

A row of terraced houses faced the road. They had no gardens and their doors would open directly onto the street. Their doors had the only colour amongst the dirty stone and grey roof tiles. Windows were shattered with glass covering the stone paving slabs.

Out of the six houses in the row, four had doors thrown open to reveal scenes of carnage in the rooms beyond. A silver car replete with roof rack overburdened with suitcases had mounted the pavement and crashed into the front of one of the houses, pinning two zombies against the wall and they were there still, clawing at the car bonnet in an effort to pull free. The occupants of the car were absent and dark stains covered the tarmac of the road.

With no other zombies in sight I risked a short dash across the road towards the end of the street and the houses. A faint moan rose from the trapped creatures as I passed but soon faded behind me. At the end of the row of houses I paused before peering around the corner.

A dozen or more undead were standing at various points in the road. It didn’t seem as though any were close enough to be a real problem. All I needed to do was make it across the road, over some scrubland and then a short dash to the large building I had spotted.

Candice had finally reached us and asked, “Why’re you just standing here?”

“Keep your voice down” I instructed quickly, “There’s a group of zombies around the corner, we’re going to have to run for it.”

“To where?”

“Towards that building” I said and pointed as best I could with my chin. Emma was becoming increasingly heavy and I was sweating despite the chill.

“Why the hell...” Candice began but was cut off by Emma’s scream.

As soon as I heard the overly loud noise come from her, I spun to see what had caused the scream. A zombie had come out of one of the houses and was making its way towards us. Much of the flesh had been stripped from one arm which hung limply from its shoulders. Lips and nose were also missing and gave the creature a disturbing grin.

Candice had set off running as soon as Emma cried and was already across the road and headed towards the building. With little choice I followed, Emma held tightly in my arms and her head buried against my shoulder.

Twigs snapped beneath my feet and the decaying remnants of bushes tried to trip me as the zombies from the street alerted by Emma’s cry, pursued us. Candice had already reached the building and stood looking from left to right as though she were unsure which way to go next.

I ran straight past her, my breaths coming in gasps and my lungs were burning. The moans of my undead pursuers were coming closer and I was very much aware of the fact that they could run tirelessly whilst I could not.

My one consolation was that I had been right. The building was an enormous shopping centre of some sort. I was hoping for a door that would open around the back of the building.

The first door had no handle from the outside and I passed it with barely a glance, further ahead I could see the open door of a loading bay. I ran into the open bay that was thankfully empty. I had to spend precious seconds prying Emma’s arms from around my neck so I could see what I was doing as I searched frantically for a manual release for the steel roller doors.

At the top of the door was a motor and at chest height on the wall beside the entrance were the buttons that operated the motor. I pressed one of the buttons in the faint hope that something would happen but as always, my luck was bad and the buttons had no power.

I couldn’t see a manual release for the door and realised that we were trapped. Candice was sitting on some concrete stairs that led up towards a raised area that surrounded the part of the loading bay where the trucks would park. A door was set into the wall at the back of the loading bay alongside yet another smaller steel roller door that was firmly closed and refused to open. With nothing else to try I picked up Emma and carried her to the door only to find it locked.

The moaning of the undead was coming louder and I kicked the door in frustration, which did little more than hurt my foot as the door seemed to be made of steel. I wanted to swear loudly but a look at Emma’s terrified face reminded me that I had to remain calm.

“Well this was a great fucking idea.” Candice snapped, her own fear was writ plainly on her face.

“Come here and hold Emma” I said.

“Why?”

“Because if you are holding her it will give me at least a fighting chance.”

She sneered but she took Emma from me. “Keep her turned away, this won’t be pleasant” I said as sternly as I could.

As Candice turned herself and faced the wall, holding the little girl against her chest so that she wouldn’t see the end come, I contemplated killing them both in the few moments we had left. It would certainly be a quicker death than any they would face at the hands of the zombies.

The arrival of the zombies decided for me, I would have to save my strength. I was almost sorry that I had led that little girl to a gruesome end. I lifted the claw hammer and advanced towards the undead as they came around the corner and into the loading bay.

I swung my hammer at the first zombie as it came through the entrance and caught it a glancing blow on the shoulder. I managed a second blow, this time cracking its jaw before dancing back out of the way of its clumsy lunge.
      
My third strike caught it on the side of the skull and with a crunching of bone it was dead once more.

With one down and only another dozen or so to go, I was feeling optimistic as I moved across the loading bay, leading them away from the little girl.