Zombie Dawn Exodus (20 page)

Dave led the way down the first flight of stairs at
a steady pace, they all knew the importance of getting out as
quickly as possible. They made it down the first flight of stairs
to the hallway of the first floor of the house. A zombie was
already tumbling towards them, but not blocking their path to the
next floor.

“Tommy, lead them on, I’ll deal with this,” said
Dave.

The survivors moved past Dave. He knew that any
creatures this close to them must be dealt with, as any holdup on
the ground floor could lead them to fighting on all sides. He moved
towards the creature, doing his best to ignore the fact that he had
spoken to the man just the day before. He lifted the hammer up to
his side before smashing it into the creature. The thick flat head
of the tool crushed into the beast’s jaw, breaking it from the
skull and sending the body tumbling against the radiator on the
wall. Not risking a comeback from the creature, he swung again,
hitting the back of the head. The zombie’s head was resting on the
radiator, the hammer crushing the skull nearly flat to the
metalwork. Blood sprayed up the wall as the body slumped down the
wall to the floor.

Dave followed on down the stairs after his fellow
survivors. He reached them at the bottom where they stood,
mortified. Through the corridor to the kitchen they could see four
of their former friends, all with blood dripping from various
wounds and the crazy expression in their eyes that they had come to
loathe and fear. The path to the front door, which was wide open,
was block by another two creatures. Roger held up his shotgun, he
fired his first round, scattering blood and brain matter across the
hall. He quickly aimed at the next one and pulled the second
trigger on his weapon. The scattershot was off centre and tore
flesh from the side of the beast’s face, leaving blood trailing
down its clothing, but it wasn’t dead.

Roger drew his sword from his side and walked
quickly towards the creature, he swung at the beast as if the sword
was a hammer. The clumsy strike missed the head and imbedded in the
collar bone. The zombie’s jaw opened and hissed at Roger, the
wounds not having any major effect on it.

“Out of the way!” shouted Dave.

He ran forwards and without stopping smashed his
hammer into the creature’s forehead, cracking the skull open. The
force of the blow sent it face down to the floor. He looked around.
The zombies in the kitchen were already staggering towards
them.

“Let’s move, people!” shouted Dave.

The group began moving towards the door with Dave at
the lead, but they were stopped by a creature that walked into the
doorway before them. Dave stopped immediately as he recognised the
hair and body outline he was so familiar with, Kailey. He stood,
speechless, having to kill his friends was not new to him, but this
was different. For every month he’d lived in Everglade the
knowledge that every time he went out into the infected lands he
could return to see her face had kept him going. This was the end
of hope for Dave, what was there to live for?

“What are you waiting for?” shouted Roger.

Dave stayed silent, his mouth was dry and his hope
was lost.

“Fucking do it and we can get out of here!” shouted
Tommy.

“I, I can’t,” said Dave.

The body of what used to be the woman he loved so
much began shambling towards him, now just a few feet away. His
hammer was still at his side, arms and shoulders hunched. Dave had
lost all sense of priority, shocked by this one last loss that
pushed him over the edge.

“Get out the fucking way!” shouted Tommy.

He pushed Dave aside and ran at Kailey, immediately
bring his hammer down onto her cranium. The skull split and blood
seeped out, mingling with her blond hair and pouring onto her
blouse. Dave watched in horror as her body swayed until it finally
toppled to the floor. Tommy turned around to look at Dave. He
slapped Dave across the face.

“Wake the fuck up, man!” shouted Tommy.

Dave looked up at Tommy, but didn’t respond, a look
of despair in his eyes. Roger and Graham looked behind them, the
creatures in the building were getting ever closer.

“Dave, wake the fuck up, we need you!” shouted
Tommy.

Dave looked into Tommy’s eyes, but his face was long
and pale.

“She’s gone, but we’re still alive, man the fuck up
and be the leader we’ve grown to respect!” shouted Tommy.

Dave began to come around, the survival instinct was
beginning to kick in, aided by the adrenaline that was now pumping
through his body, his body fuelled by the impending danger. His
eyes suddenly tightened and his body straightened. He had been
through this before, loss on a regular and massive scale was an
ordinary part of life now. He was alive, and so were at least some
of his friends.

“Okay, I’m ready,” said Dave.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here!” shouted Tommy.

They walked quickly out of the front door. Before
them was just one zombie, blocking their route to the nearest
parked vehicles.

“This fucker is mine!” said Dave.

It no longer mattered that the creature had been
another one of his friends, now he was utterly filled for the
hatred of the zombies, choosing to ignore the faces that they wore.
He ran towards the creature and thrust the head of the club hammer
into its face, knocking it off its feet. Dave took the short handle
in two hands and continually smashed the skull until it was nearly
flat to the ground, a bloody pulp.

They looked out at the smashed gates at the entrance
to their previously secure compound. One zombie was already through
the gates, another only a few feet away. The zombies were sparse
out in the countryside, but there were still enough to quickly
overpower the survivors now that they had zombies among them in
Everglade.

“Take both the Land Rovers, we cannot risk it with
one!” shouted Roger.

Dave stood back upright, his hammer dripping blood
at his side. He said nothing, but the entire group knew what they
had to do. The vehicles each carried enough food, water and weapons
to keep four people alive for a week, a precaution Roger had always
insisted on, both for teams in the field, and such emergency
situations as they were now in.

Dave and Roger jumped into the front of the first
vehicle, whilst Tommy, Graham and Sandra took the second. The
engines roared to life almost simultaneously. Dave was in the
driver’s seat of the Land Rover he’d spent so many months getting
used to. A loud noise rang out as a zombie crashed against his
door, making him jump. The vehicle was stationary whilst the engine
was running, but Dave was glad of the mesh fitted over the
windows.

“Time to go, Dave. This is not home for us anymore,”
said Roger.

“And what, we just keep driving, now just five
people with nothing left in the world?” asked Dave.

“No, we do not have nothing. We have five lives, and
that’s worth more than solid gold bars ever were. We are the few,
the lucky and capable few. We will move on, create a new home and
make it better and safer than before. There are other survivors out
there, we will keep living,” said Roger.

Dave simply sat at the wheel, contemplating his
leader’s words. He knew everything that Roger said made sense, but
the emotional battering that he’d received was overwhelming.

“What do you think Kailey would have wanted? For you
to be morbid and lacking your characteristic cautious skills that
have kept you alive, or for you to meet the same fate she did?”
asked Roger.

Dave thought back to the day it had all begun. It
made no sense that Kailey’s death had struck him so hard, when he
was quite capable of ending his best friends’ lives and moving on.
It had clearly amassed, finally tripping his calm persona into a
depressive state. He looked over at Roger, the zombie beside him
beating pointlessly at the door.

“I get it, so where to?” asked Dave.

“I’m not too sure, I suggest we get a good distance
from this place, forget the horrors of this night and set up
somewhere completely new with access to a whole new set of
resources. Drive on, we’ll hopefully find somewhere decent to stop,
sleep in the trucks, and begin our new lives tomorrow,” said
Roger.

“You know what I wouldn’t give for a kebab,” said
Dave.

“Where did that come from?” asked Roger.

“Just a small taste of the life I used to lead,
something to look forward to, the luxuries we used to take for
granted,” said Dave.

“I know exactly what you mean, let’s find ourselves
a home, better than this one, and we’ll sit down with some good ale
and forget it all,” said Roger.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Dave.

He put his foot to the floor, spinning the wheels on
the grass. The vehicle stormed towards the entrance, crushing the
zombie before them. They were finally free, leaving the disaster of
their greatest hope behind them, with a quarter of the people and
few of the supplies.

It was a bleak day, but they at least they were
alive.

CHAPTER TWELVE

RESEARCH CENTRE, HONOLULU, HAWAII

Decker and his team walked past the security desk and
into the foyer of the centre. Since the outbreak the centre had
been collecting as much data as it could from around the world on
the creatures, their biology and anything that might help in the
struggle. Walking at the front of the group, Decker approached the
man sitting at the reception desk. Behind him Terry and Tony
dragged the wounded prisoner with them, pushing him up against the
desk.

The receptionist was startled and when he saw the
bloody wounds on the man he literally stumbled backwards, very
nearly falling from his chair.

“Where’s Murphy? We need a word,” said Decker is a
serious tone.

The receptionist, now starting to regain his
composure picked up his phone, he whispered quietly into the
telephone so the group of men couldn’t hear him. After a short
pause he replaced the handset and then looked up to Decker.

“Please sit down, Sir. Dr Murphy is sending somebody
up now.”

“Bullshit, we need to see him now!” shouted Decker,
starting to lose his temper.

A door opened at the end of the room and two men in
medical scrubs hurried towards them with a wheeled stretcher. A
third man, presumably from security, followed them. He was wearing
a full bio protection suit, along with additional armour and the
ubiquitous Heckler & Koch MP7 on his thigh.

“What’s going on?” asked Decker, as they started
lifting the wounded man onto the trolley.

The security man stepped closer, putting his hand on
Decker’s arm. It was a mistake as Decker was not a man to be pushed
around. He easily brushed the man’s hand aside and twisted it
around and then grabbed his elbow, locking it behind him.

“Don’t fucking touch me, pal!” said an angry
Decker.

Tony stepped up, flanking Decker.

“Big mistake, man. Now you’re pissing him off!” he
laughed.

Before the situation could escalate further an older
man in a smart suit entered.

“Okay, Decker, let him go,” he said in a resigned
tone.

“Next time keep your dogs on a leash,” said Decker
as he released the man.

“Look, things have become a little more complicated
than we expected. Walk with me.”

Decker turned to his unit, the other five men looked
tired and certainly not in the mood for a long talk on biology,
infection and the usual stuff they got stuck with.

“Hey, don’t worry about us, we’ll see you later at
the bar,” said Tony with a grin.

Decker smiled, “Good work, guys, I’ll see you
later.”

He turned back to Dr Murphy who gestured towards the
door.

“Come with me, Decker. I want to show you
something,” he said mysteriously.

Decker went with him, they left the foyer and
entered a long corridor that led to an elevator entrance. It was
flanked by two men in bio-suits and body armour.

“Aren’t we a little underdressed?” asked Decker.

Dr Murphy pressed a button that flashed green
several times. The door hissed open and he stepped inside the glass
elevator, Decker close behind. Once the doors shut he turned back
to Decker.

“Good work on the capture. Those two were
potentially a serious problem. Were any of your people hurt?”

“No, we went through the normal procedures when we
came back. No bites, blood or wounds. I don’t get it though, these
guys weren’t zombies.”

“Well Mr Decker, you are partially correct in that
respect.”

The doors slid open revealing a fully equipped
laboratory with at least a dozen people working at terminals. In
the centre of the room was a massive screen with a
three-dimensional model of a human brain rotating on it. The Doctor
stopped in front of the screen and looked at it for a moment before
turning back to Decker.

“As you know we’ve been making some progress on the
virus. No, we don’t have a cure but, and this is a bit but. We’ve
managed to find a way to stabilise the virus for a time.”

“How is that of any use?” asked Decker.

“A good question. First of all, tell me about your
prisoner. Anything special about him?” asked the Doctor.

Decker looked a little surprised at the question
before realising that of course the Doctor knew too well what was
different about the man.

“Well, the two of them were both alive. They could
think, reason and form an intelligent escape. When we trapped them
they attempted an ambush that very nearly succeeded.

“Interesting,” said Dr Murphy, “go on.”

“They were stronger than they should have been, and
they certainly took more damage than either you or I could in a gun
fight. If I had to guess I’d say you’ve got a living man with some
of the traits of the undead.”