The Z Word (A Zombie Novel) (11 page)

Chapter Thirty Six

Clare had managed to climb out of the attic with ease, whereas Kelly, predictably, struggled. I opted to go last, which was a wise decision as I helped her as she struggled to get out.

I passed Clare the crowbar and the bag, then pulled myself onto the roof and took the weapon back off her, while she insisted on carrying the heavy bag with her hand. It was such a shame that this was happening as the day was beautiful. The sun was burning the back of my neck, and it was good to feel fresh air brushing my features.

I took a hold of Kelly and told the girls that it would be easier and safer to walk across the 'spine' of the roof. I kept a hold of Kelly and once we both made it up to the top, we began slowly walking, with Clare behind. I looked down into my front garden to see dozens of zombies crowding around, aching to get inside. Clare and Kelly had also seen this and I looked back at them. I could tell by their faces that they were convinced that they were now doing the right thing, especially Kelly, rather than waiting in an attic, wasting away.

Asked Clare, "Wouldn't it be better if we try and break into someone's attic?" We had just walked past the attic that belonged to Abbie and her parents, which I assumed gave Clare the idea. Clare added, "Obviously not this one, but the next couple further on."

"Two problems with that little theory, Clare." I spoke up. "One: what if we break in and are attacked by a frightened family? Two: what if there are zombies inside?"

"And three," it was Kelly's turn to speak. "Look down to ye left."

We all looked and it wasn't just my house that had gangs of them, the whole block of houses on our side had a mob now. It started off with just a handful outside the house, after the melee of fending one of them off, and now they had, predictably, multiplied in numbers.

The whole reason I wanted to keep everyone in the house was because of this specific reason. In most films I had seen, these things usually hunted in numbers, and this was no different. I was a little pissed off that the house was now out of bounds, and even though I knew that the girls were responsible for this new and frightening predicament, I was glad that they were still breathing. They had been given a potentially more attractive offer, rather than being stuck in a barricaded house, and it didn't go to plan. It wasn't their fault.

We got to the third house of the block; I peered inside the attic window and saw two of my neighbours that I didn't know too well. The elderly gentleman was called Alex, and his wife was called Ina. I knew they had kids that had flown the nest years ago, and that was pretty much all I knew. It was obvious that they had moved into the attic and was surprised and alarmed to see me, but eventually gave me a thin smile.

I waved at the man and woman and continued to walk on.

Even if I was desperate, I didn't have the ruthlessness in me to break into the nice couple's home and harm them just for a few days worth of food. A part of me wanted to knock on the window and tell them that there was a shitload of these things outside their house, but I didn't have the heart to deliver them the bad news.

We passed two other houses with two blacked-out attic windows; then we came to the end house. I peered inside and sniffed like a dog.

"I don't know how," I said to the girls, "but this house is on fire."

I looked down, either side of me, at the front and back garden of the house, but there was no signs of smoke. I presumed that the windows were all tightly shut and that maybe the fire was in its infancy. Fuck, I thought. With a house fire, it could attract many more from afar.

I looked at the back garden of the end house and decided to climb down straight away, because it was clear. I told the girls to gently slide down the roof towards the beginning of the drainpipe, and reassured them that they wouldn't fall.

Clare then suddenly slipped. "Fuck!" She then dropped the bag full of supplies to get her balance, then watched helplessly as the bag fell into the front garden. She looked distraught, but I was surprisingly calm. I was just glad that
she
was okay.

"It's okay," I said. "We'll get more."

Clare and myself slowly shuffled our way down, using our backside, and even if we did slide down at a rapid speed, I was pretty sure the guttering would have prevented any unfortunate accidents.

Once we got to the side of the roof, we realised we were a man—or in this case, woman—light. We looked behind to see a petrified Kelly still sitting on the spine of the roof, shaking her head.

"I don't think I can do this." Tears rained from her bloodshot eyes, and she added, "Even if I get where ye are, then climb down tha' drainpipe, we're still gonna be on the run. And for 'ow long?"

"Look, Kelly," I began. "I know you're thinking 'what's the point?', but if you want to live, then we may have to do some dangerous things."

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "We should 'ave stayed in ye house, and this wouldn't be happenin' now."

"It doesn't matter about that now," Clare called up, and brushed her brown hair over her ears. "Does it?" She looked at me with those striking blue eyes, and even if I did blame the girls for this situation, I don't think I would have mentioned it.

"No. It's not important," I finally answered, and held out my hand to Kelly. "Come on."

She tried to compose herself and shuffled slowly down the side of the roof. A few tiles gave way, but I think she found it easier than she anticipated. Once she reached us, I told them that I would go down the drainpipe and into the back garden first.

All agreed.

I threw the crowbar onto the lawn and after two minutes of climbing down, I was in the back garden. "It's actually quite easy," I whispered up, picking the crowbar off the lawn. "But still take your time though."

I looked at the brackets that kept the pipe secure to the house and hoped they would hold. The brackets were there to prevent the pipe from giving way, and I don't really think it was designed for three people to climb down.

Once we were all on the ground, Clare asked, "Where to now?"

"For frig's sake," Kelly panted, and bent over to catch her breath. "Giz a flippin' minute, will ye?"

Ignoring Kelly's scolding, I said to Clare, "The school is the nearest place from here. If I can break-in somehow, we can stay there for a while until this mess gets sorted."

"And what if it doesn't get sorted?" Clare impatiently waited for an answer off me.

"I don't wanna go there."

"I hope there's food there." Kelly stood straight, not looking forward to another physical session. "My stomach think its throat's been cut."

"Are we ready?" I asked the girls.

They both nodded. unenthusiastically.

"Stay there for a minute." I instructed, and disappeared through a gate that led into the front garden of the end house. A minute later, I returned.

"It's kind of clear. We're gonna run for it. Stay with me, and don't look behind."

Clare looked at Kelly. "It's just half a mile away; we should make it okay. The school grounds are locked up, so once we're over, we're safe."

"And what if the school isn't empty?" Kelly asked.

"Then we go somewhere else," I stepped in. "Look, we're wasting time standing about chatting. Follow me."

Chapter Thirty Seven

All three of us ran into the street, and we never looked back. From the sides of the road we were getting some interest, but they were too slow to react.

We veered right, away from the road that led to the motorway, then turned into a street. We could now see the secondary school of Fair Oak. However, there was a small problem.

Three zombies were shambling along the perimeter of the school's fence; the entrance gates were reasonably clear, but we saw what happened with the house. If these things saw us go in, they'd hang around, attracting more of them over the hours and days, until the wiry fence collapsed with the weight of the potential crowd that could show up. We needed to get rid of them.

"Hang back," I said to the girls.

"Ooh, ye such a hero," Kelly mocked.

"Look, this isn't time for Women's Lib; I'm the only one with a weapon, otherwise I'd be more than happy for you to join in."

"Can't we just climb the gates?" Kelly moaned.

"We saw what happened to John's house," was Clare's response. It appeared Clare and I were on the same wavelength.

One of them then clocked our presence, and stumbled over our way. We were out in the open and only twenty yards away, so I was surprised it took one of them that long to spot us. With little hesitation, I walked over to the first one. My thinking was that it would be better for me to take them out one-by-one, rather than waiting for all three to walk my way, in unison, and making it harder for myself.

Z
number one was dressed in a suit, a middle aged gentleman that could have been an important person when he was in human form. His two other colleagues had spotted us, so I thought it would be better to take him out ASAFP, to give me a little respite, before number two and three reached me.

I swung furiously at número uno, and gave him three successive blows, one after the other. I wanted to put him down as soon as possible, and once strike number three had managed to take the top of its head off, very messily, I prepared myself for the other two targets.

Number two was a teenager, female, and I decided to hold the bar like a spear and tried to ram it through its skull. This worked and the metal contraption shattered the forehead and spilled out dark fluid that dribbled, rather than shot out. As soon as I removed the bar from its skull, it collapsed to its knees and its face hit the concrete.

Number three was another female.

This one looked like hard work. It looked quite bloated and was wearing a blue, flowery dress on its five-ten frame. It was a little worn compared to the other two, and its right cheek looked to have been ripped away, revealing its rotten back teeth.

Because I felt a little tired, I tried the ramming technique, as I was too exhausted to be swinging the heavy thing about. I tried to ram the crowbar like I did with number two, but this fucker wouldn't go down. Its head was either made of metal, or I had weakened a little.

I desperately swung the crowbar, but it made contact with the side of its neck. Now the thing had me with both hands, and I could feel its nails on my shoulders. Paranoid I could be bit or scratched, I yelled out and used my energy to push the thing away, but it wasn't letting go and my clammy hands had dropped the crowbar.

"Close your eyes, John," I heard Clare shout from behind me. I had no idea what she intended to do, but I did as I was told. I closed my eyes tightly, still trying to hold the thing off, and heard the impact of the crowbar caving in its skull. Clare was pulverising the thing, and I could feel specks of blood hit me in the face. I could feel the thing's grip loosening, and then I opened my eyes to see that its features now looked like it had been shot in the face with a shotgun.

Its nose and mouth were still intact, but had brain debris inside of the cavities where Clare had crushed and pummelled the top of the head. I let go of the zombie and it fell.

I felt like crying in relief, but Clare had stopped that moment when she opened her mouth once again. "Let's get to the gates, before any more turn up."

Chapter Thirty Eight

We walked around the empty grounds of the school and saw, to the right of the main building, a much smaller building that was also a part of the place. There was a sign on the outside wall of the place. It was called, the Anson Block.

Clare walked over at the side of the building where there was a door and tried it. It opened. I thought it was strange, and possibly dangerous, that a building had been left unlocked, unless there was nobody inside it. No one was expecting it to be unlocked, despite trying the door anyway, and Clare turned around to me and said, "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," was all I could muster.

I had no clue what the plan of action was, but knew that we shouldn't be standing outside all day. The perimeter of the school was fenced off, but it was apparent that being seen by one or two zombies could result in a horde of the fuckers overnight.

"Ye should go in," Kelly began, "check if the place is safe, and lay low in one o' the classrooms for the night. Then we're gonna have to think 'bout gettin' food and stuff."

"Why should
I
go in?" I asked Kelly.

She guffawed, "Because you're the one with the crowbar," she nodded to my right hand, "ye thick fuck."

I jokingly handed the crowbar to Kelly, as if to say: be my guest.

"No, ye should go in." She gave Clare a cheeky wink, which I saw. "You're the man, after all."

"Isn't that sexist?"

Clare huffed, "Er...guys. Shall we just get inside the fucking building?"

I walked inside, with the girls following behind me. We were greeted by a long corridor, with doors to classrooms on the right. We slowly walked through the dim, eerie place and saw a small hallway to our left which led to the locker area, a set of double doors, and a staircase that led to the first floor. We decided to walk straight on through the long hallway, where the classroom doors were based on the right.

We peered into every classroom, thanks to the glass in the doors, and checked the door of every one to make sure they were locked. After we had checked the four classrooms, we reached a set of double doors. Before the doors was a door to the left; I looked inside and it appeared that the Anson Block had its own canteen area.

I gripped the crowbar tighter, and instructed Clare to open the double doors slowly. She did this, and all three of us got a fright when we saw a zombie meandering at the bottom of a staircase that made Kelly yelp out. It immediately went for us.

Clare rapidly shut the door, and the ghoul slammed against it, opening it a little. The double doors were push/pull doors. The pull was on our side, whereas the push was on the zombie's side.

Knowing we would have to confront it sooner or later, I told Clare to open the door. As soon as she did, the creature darted through the door, quicker than any of us were expecting, and all three of us jumped in fright. We ran backwards a few yards and saw the creature stumbling towards us, dressed in overalls.

The school's caretaker, I immediately thought.

I drew the weapon back and waited for it to come within striking range. Once it was near I struck the thing at the side of its head. Debris spat against the wall when it received the violent blow, and dark blood smeared as the ghoul fell to the side.

That was it.

It took one strike, and then it fell. I was beginning to get worried that I was becoming immune to such violence, but convinced myself that in this new world, being cold in killing these freaks would enhance and prolong my survival.

We walked around the body and tried the double doors again and made slow steps up the staircase to the first floor. Once we reached the floor, we were faced with another set of double doors. They opened out to another long corridor. The first floor was exactly the same set-up as the ground floor, with classroom doors to the side.

Again, we walked slowly, checking every room as we walked past. The end classroom was looked in by myself and I nearly dropped the crowbar in shock at what I saw. I moved away from the pane of the door so I wouldn't be seen, and tried to get my breath back.

The girls, who were standing yards behind me, asked if I was okay, as if they could see on my face that I had just seen something really gruesome. I slowly turned my head to look at twenty-eight-year-old Kelly Barrett; her shoulder-length blonde hair was looking a little greasy, and her blue 'Easy Tiger' T-shirt looked like it could have done with a wash.

I then gawped at Clare Conway. Despite what we had been through in the last few days, Clare still looked so pretty, and it was hard to fathom if her clothes were sporting any blood from those things with the dark attire that she was wearing. Nevertheless, all three of us could have done with a shower and a change of clothes.

After a long pause I finally beckoned the girls over. "Take a quick peep," I urged. "Make sure they don't see you."

The girls took turns to have a quick gander, and both stood with their backs to the wall, trying to recover from the shock. I then crouched down and gestured with my hand for the girls to stay where they were. Their frightening, whispering protests fell on deaf ears as I began to crawl back to the classroom door.

I could understand their consternation. They were scared and were wondering what the fuck I was doing, but I had no time to explain. I wanted to check the door to see if it was locked, and the only way of doing that was to try the door handle. If the outcome was positive, we could all kind of relax and continue to search the building. If the outcome was negative, then we would have to evacuate the building and find somewhere else to stay.

Still crouching by the door, under the pane of glass, my right hand reached for the door handle. I slowly pulled it down and gave the door a slow nudge with my left shoulder. The door was locked. The outcome was positive.

I then stood up and had a proper, long look now that it was safe to do so, because they couldn't get out. There must have been a least twenty kids, about the age of thirteen/fourteen shambling about in the classroom. They were all reanimated; there was blood over the walls, body parts sat in a bloody mess on the floor from the ones that couldn't change due to the excessive damage they had received, and the remaining kids were in such a daze, my presence wasn't noticed.

I moved away from the doors and walked past; Clare and Kelly followed.

We stood at the end of the corridor, next to a wooden door belonging to the headmaster of the school. The door had no glass, so there was no way we could see inside. I said to the girls, "Look, all the doors are locked, but I think we're better off somewhere where things...people can't see in, for a security measure." I nodded to the headmaster's office. "We should take this one."

Kelly tried the door. It was locked. "It's locked," she sniffed. "And we don't know what's
behind
the door."

I showed her the crowbar. "This can deal with both of those problems. Don't worry about the lock; I'm sure there's furniture inside that we can stack up against the door."

"Why don't we just try the main building?" Clare suggested. "It's bigger—"

"Which means," I interrupted, "there could be even more of those fuckers inside. Not only that, if other people decide to use the school as some kind of base, they're more than likely going to use the main building rather than the Anson Block, where we are now."

"We'll need to block off the two doors that lead into the Anson Block." Kelly nodded in agreement at her own statement.

"First things first." I nodded to the headmaster's door and had my crowbar ready to prise it open.