Dead Zone (zombie story pt VI)

I couldn’t ignore the discomfort with which I had slept any longer. Startled, as I opened my eyes to obscured and blurred vision. For a moment I didn‘t even know where I was. Rational thought suddenly penetrated the alcoholic haze. The clinging parasite on my face was the gasmask. Clumsily I wrenched the thing over my head, pulling my hair painfully. Fuck this, the world was falling apart and here I was hung-over and passed out on the couch. Anything could have happened while I was obliviously passed out. Would it really have mattered if somehow zombies had smashed their way in and devoured me while I slept? 1

Like the previous morning the TV was still silently displaying confusion and disorder. A mild headache was pulsing away in the front of my head, I hoped it didn’t get any worse. Unable to bring myself to stand, I settled for stretching out on the old, threadbare cushions and turned the volume up. The same news room as the morning before, a different exhausted and concerned newsreader. Finally some important facts of the situation were being realised, the dead were rising, even those that hadn’t been bitten. It was estimated there could be thousands of minor bites that hadn’t been reported. Authorities urged anyone with even the most minor of bites to seek medical attention. How they intended to treat an unknown affliction was a mystery. I felt sorry for hospital workers brave enough to show up for work.2

The need for water drove me from the couch. In the kitchen, I took a bottle from the fridge. Drinking deeply, the cold water didn’t sit well but it wasn’t coming back up. I could still hear the news from the kitchen; a military official was handing the government an ultimatum, either fix the problem now or have it dealt with for them. The army wanted a free hand to shoot the affected and suspected affected on site with impunity. Their method may have been heavy handed but if there was any hope of controlling the situation, a heavy hand might be necessary. All the talk of security got me back to thinking of my own. It was unlikely the dead could get in but it was best to be prepared. Zombies weren’t the only threat, as the city ground to a halt there would be hundreds of thousands looking for security and supplies.3

The fluorescent light flickered to life as I pressed the switch. I pulled up a section of the vinyl imitation tiling and lifted three loose floor boards. What was it about firearms and weapons, especially illegal ones, that brought a smile to my face? Reaching down into the cavity I grasped my masterpiece and drew it out of hibernation. My custom built crossbow, it had enough punch to bring down a brick wall, still, an assault rifle would have been more useful for putting down a horde of zombies crashing through my front door. The next hour was spent checking the weapons, making sure they were mechanically sound. Each weapon was in perfect condition, as they had been at the time of hiding. Sometime was spent stashing the weapons and ammo round the house. A shotgun in the disaster shelter; pistols in the kitchen and under a cushion on the couch; the crossbow and a semi-automatic rifle by the balcony door. I was putting another pistol in the bathroom when I caught a look at myself in the mirror, looking stupid as hell, I was still wearing my cowboy costume. 4

I showered and changed into black jeans and a tee-shirt. I checked on the global situation according to survival nuts. The phenomena was everywhere, in the space of a few days it had reached every continent, despite most international travel being cancelled. Only the remotest members had reported an absence of a local outbreak. Perth was one of the only notable major cities to have avoided the worst, though with the phenomena occurring on most who died, it was unlikely anywhere would ever be safe again. I brought up the instant messenger, Tahni was still logged in, but she didn’t respond to any of the messages I sent. At six thirty in the morning, she was probably still sleeping.5

The sound of an approaching helicopter cut through my internet trawling. I decided to go out on to the balcony and check out the scene of yesterdays skirmish. It was like a powerful storm had hit the street. The road was clogged with cars, with one, a white hatchback, crashed into a lamp post down the road. Everywhere there was a litter of abandoned groceries, cloths, bags and bikes. Occasionally I noticed dark stains on the concrete, blood, I assumed but it could have been oil or just about anything else. It looked as though the streets had been filled with thousands of fleeing residents. Many would have tried to catch the trains out. I could imagine a panic breaking out on a packed platform, perhaps with a train coming in. Many of the stores looked as though it were any ordinary night of the week, serene in their dim internal lighting. Others hadn’t escaped the chaos untouched. The contents of one store was strewn across the footpath, its window smashed in. Here and there were things that had obviously been used as weapons, sticks, bricks, bats, pipping, anything that could be torn free and used to smash. I couldn’t believe I had slept through all that had obviously taken place. The night soundscape was one of panic, painted with sirens and a distant babble of yelling and screaming. Whether I could or not, I fancied I could hear the moaning and groaning of the walking plague. 6

The drone of the helicopter was loud and close. An announcement blared out through a speaker, presumably from the helicopter. ‘This zone is under police blockade, residents still in the area are urged to stay in their homes until rescue arrives.’ The message was repeated multiple times as the helicopter passed over head moving towards the city centre.7

As I peered into the stores, a man stumbled out of a destroyed café and onto the street. It was hard to tell, the light as it was. I took the rifle from behind the door, sure the uncoordinated and dishevelled thing was a zombie, I took aim.8

‘Don’t shoot!’ the man pleaded. ‘I saw you from the coffee shop, I’ve been hiding down there for hours, man. Can I hide out up there with you?’9

I considered, the guy looked pretty fucked up. I lowered the rifle.10

‘You been bitten?’11

‘What?’ the guy asked 12

‘Have you been bitten?’ each word was harsh and deliberate.13

‘Fuck man. I can hear noises and shit down here.’14

‘Answer the question.’15

‘Yeah, ok. One of those crazy fuckers bit me just after the cops showed up.’16

I was curious to question the guy as to what had gone on in the few hours I was out of the picture but not enough so to let the infection into my house. I raised my rifle, the guy terrified. ‘You’re infected.’17

‘Fuck no, let me in.’ The guys pleading feel on a heart hard with resolve. There was no going back for him.18

‘Move along.’19

The man stood his ground, I was about to fire a warning shot into the blue sedan behind him, but I noticed his attention was focused else where. He was staring at something out of my vision, something to my left, on my side of the street. There was a sound of a bottle being kicked along the road followed by a smash. The guy didn’t wait to see what was coming, with a furious glance at me he was limping across the road and out of site, I assumed he had gone down the alley where my neighbour had been attacked and killed. 20

I heard voices, laughter and more smashing bottles. I lent out over the old ornate rail. There was a group of about ten people, all male and ranging in age from no older than twelve all the way up to about thirty. Some of them were carrying bags, some skateboards. One swigged from a bottle of booze and passed it to another. They stopped in front of a tobacconist, there was no obvious way in, the windows and doors solidly barred. Two disappeared around the back. Moments later there was a faint smash and a couple of minutes later the door was opened from the inside. I wondered how long they had been planning the break in, the end of the world a convenient coincidence. 21

Two teenagers watched the street as a couple more went into the store. Two others, one an older teenager, the other looked like a child, broke into the porn shop next door. Silently, I applauded the collective intelligence and shared priorities of the group. To the amusement of the two guards, a big latex cock came flying out the broken store window, landing on the road with a wet slap. Magazines, videos, a manikin and other sexual paraphernalia followed till there was a pile the size of a small car. Laughing and flicking through magazines the two exited the store. The older of the two took a small container from his pants and poured its contents on the pile, he bent down and a moment later it all went up in flames.22

The child pointed. And the other three followed his direction, as did I. It had only been a matter of time, longer than I had suspected but the dead were finally putting in an appearance. Undoubtedly they were attracted by the rowdy bravado of the group. There were only a few, stiffly they plodded towards the food.23

One of the guards alerted the others in the tobacco store. Soon they were all out on the car clogged road pointing and talking excitedly.24

‘Let’s fuck’em up!’25

‘… of here… got bit, now he’s all fucked up.’26

‘… blast!’ 27

‘Screw it man, I’m going.’28

One of the teenagers left, the others teasing him. 29

’Fag, man.’ 30

‘Pussy little girl.’31

He didn’t look back. 32

Cigarettes were handed out and they all lit up as they mocked the mindless vessels. When they drew nearer, the eldest lifted his crowbar and with a humorous attempt at a death metal roar charged the leading dead. The thing showed only the most basic of awareness, groping at the man as a strong shoulder hurled it back at a second dead. This was the queue the others had been waiting for, they fell upon the indifferent corpses, beating them with fists, skateboards, and other improvised weapons. 33

‘Burn the fuckers!’34

They dragged the struggling dead to the fire and threw them on. The group, even the kid laughed and forced the dead back into the flames as they tried to escape. There was no way to know what the reason was but the moaning of the dead grew louder as they burnt. Could they feel pain after all, perhaps they were “frustrated“? Eventually the guys let the dead roll out of the fire, they appeared to be blind as they crawled off at random.35

‘Shit!’ one of them yelled, the fear in his voice obvious, the bravado stripped away in an instant.36

The dead were moving in from both sides of the main street and oozing out of the side roads and alleys. Hundreds of them.37

‘There, down there.’ The eldest was pointing, I assumed to the alley by my former neighbours house, the one where the man on the verge of his second life as a zombie had gone.38

They made a run for the alley. ‘I wouldn’t go down there,’ I said as they drew near. 39

‘Jeeze, man, you been up there the whole time?’ The man, obviously the leader the rest took their lead from. He didn’t wait for a response. ‘Let us in, man.’40

‘No.’ How could I let animals like that in, they’d likely turn on me the moment I opened the door. 41

The man growled viciously. ‘Come on.’ He was talking to the group. 42

They moved into the alley… moments later screams echoed back out the narrow brick alley… followed by yelling and the sounds of battle. 43

They came rushing back out onto the street. The leader holding his arm, looked up at me. ‘Prick.’ ‘Back to the smoke shop boys.’44