British Zombie Breakout: Part Three (6 page)

'It's so small,
man. Are you sure there's enough.'

'Plenty.'

'You sure you
know what you're doing?'

George gave a
rare smile. 'Just following the instructions on the box. Say, has
Zac got the food ready yet? I'm starving.'

Zac's dinner
proved to be more appetising than what the virus had to live on and
after clearing his plate, Sven belched loudly before passing round
a flask of brandy. Only Dubois didn't take any of it.

Connor set up a
collapsible table and dealt out cards while Dubois opened an
expensive-looking bottle of wine and Sven topped up his flask.

'Why'd you
bother with the flask, Sven,' George said, taking his chair to the
table.

Sven laughed,
'Tastes better, man.'

After an hour,
George got up from the game and went to check his equipment. 'It's
started,' he said on his return.

'This had
better work, after what we went through to get it,' Sven said.

'I thought
those kids might be trouble,' Connor said.

'Good move
leaving them behind.'

'Dubois, didn't
you say that minister guy was hoping we'd dispose of them for
him.'

'We were paying
him, not the other way around. It wasn't any part of a deal I
made.'

'You reckon the
accents fooled them?'

'Guess so,'
Connor said. 'I heard they didn't like Tank's taser.'

'Dubois, you
still not saying who put up the money?'

'Not today,'
Dubois said, lighting a cigarette and tapping it with his
finger.

'Nor tomorrow,
I shouldn't wonder,' Sven grumbled as he picked up his cards.

The next day,
the men spent their time smoking, training and waiting for the
virus to grow.

On the evening
of the following day, they sat around playing poker as usual.

'What's up,
George?' Sven said. 'Bad hand?'

George's face
twitched and he showed his teeth. 'Nothing, mind your own
business.' His voice was almost a snarl.

'Alright, man,
take it easy, just you usually got such a poker face.'

'Must be the
heat,' George said, getting up, rubbing his fingers and flexing his
hands. He went as far as the lab, then sat back down again with a
fresh pack of cigarettes.

When Sven won
three times in a row, followed by Connor winning twice, George
threw down his cards. He stood up, sending his chair tumbling over,
and shouted, 'You guys are cheating!'

Sven leapt to
his feet. 'Cheat. I don't cheat over peanuts like this.' He threw
over the card table and his lips drew back in a hideous
grimace.

George and Sven
flew at each other, not with fists but with teeth and nails.

Dubois looked
on in horror, reaching for the pistol he always kept handy. Before
he could act, Zac let off a shot in the direction of the fight.
George and Sven continued as if nothing had happened, having worked
themselves into such a frenzy that Zac had missed both of them.
Before Dubois could stop him, Zac fired again.

The second shot
missed as well but was accompanied by the sound of shattering
glassware.

Chapter 1
2: Zombies Turn
Up The Heat

Neither
Professor Mason nor Commander Hodgeson had planned a trip overseas
in the near future. Nevertheless, that's exactly where they found
themselves. The government of the unfortunate country concerned
decided to use its own security force, vehicles and protective
clothing. On a flight which took them halfway around the world,
Professor Mason quizzed his friend about tactics.

'The plan,
Albert, is to encircle the village, move in, then take down and
inoculate as many zombies as possible.'

'If the local
troops are handling things, why are we here?'

'It has been
reluctantly agreed that we're the two highest qualified individuals
for dealing with a zombie crisis.'

'You mean if
the whole thing blows up in their faces, we'll be on hand to bail
them out.'

'Something like
that.'

Hodgeson and
Mason's plane landed on a strip of tarmac which stretched from one
horizon to the other, with red sand on either side of it as far as
the eye could see. The inland road between two cities had been
closed 'for major road works', leaving a coastal road connecting
them. Before landing, the plane had flown over the affected
village, which, even from several hundred feet looked to be in a
state of total disarray. They also saw the mass of troops, already
in circular formation, waiting for the order. The two Brits exited
the plane and took up station at an air-conditioned mobile command
module, inside which they were surrounded by remote camera feeds
and communication equipment.

'So, we monitor
from here.' Albert Mason said. 'I hope they've got a couple of
interpreters on hand.'

'I'm assured
they do. All we have to do is watch what happens and advise.
Whether they act on our advice or not is another matter.'

Albert scanned
the monitors showing a satellite view and views of the village from
four sides through telephoto lenses. 'This is unlikely to be
pleasant.'

'Always the
way.'

A loudspeaker
in the heavily armoured command vehicle relayed an unintelligible
order, which was quickly followed in English.

'They're off,'
Hodgeson said, leaning back to be able to watch all the monitors at
the same time, as a number of armoured vehicles broke from the
camouflage where they had been concealed under cover of
darkness.

What they
hadn't bargained for was the effect of higher temperatures on the
ferocity of the zombies. As soon as the zombies saw the troops
approaching, they rushed to the attack, using up every round of
ammunition they had. The troops responded in kind on the assumption
that it was only the terrorist zombies who were in possession of
firearms.

After several
minutes the zombies stopped firing as they ran out of ammunition.
Realising the guns were no longer useful, they charged at the
troops with whatever sharp or heavy implements were to hand. The
troops at that point were ordered to switch to 'non-lethal'
rounds.

'You didn't
tell me they'd be using plastic bullets.'

'In a way
that's down to you. The government here was reluctant to kill any
more of its citizens after the terrorists had been taken out.'

'How's that
down to me?'

'Because since
your discovery of the vaccine, it's no longer the only option to
kill the poor zombiefied blighters.'

Professor
Mason's smile in response was short-lived. 'No, no!' he said.
'Doug, this is awful. It's worse than shooting the poor devils
dead.'

Unfortunately,
the non-lethal rounds had the effect of causing far more damage to
the zombies than would have been the case with uninfected humans.
When a zombie was hit with a plastic round, it became even more
enraged, especially as an arm or leg had most likely been partially
or wholly blasted off by the impact on the disease weakened body.
Regretfully, impacts on the torso were as damaging, causing
extensive internal as well as external injuries. As the battle
progressed, there was a terrible toll of body parts strewn around
the fighting perimeter. The outcome was almost the same as if the
village had been subject to a rocket attack.

Finally, the
zombies were suppressed but at an unanticipated cost. Compared to
previous operations in England before the vaccine became available,
where wild zombies were simply shot in a relatively humane manner
and their bodies burnt, here many were still alive, though severely
maimed and dying. Mason was saddened to be told that out of one
hundred and fifty villagers, twenty-six remained alive and only a
dozen could be saved, even with the vaccine.

Commander
Hodgeson himself found the sight shocking, and he had seen rather
more death in his time that he would ever have wished to. 'It's
only slightly worse than the battle of Stannicvale,' he said.

'That was as
bad as this?' Albert Mason said aghast.

'Almost.'

'I remember
advising you on equipment but I had no idea…'

'One never
does, unless you see it for yourself.'

'When they get
into a mass zombie fury like that, there's nothing will stop them,
other than bullets.'

After the last
casualty had been dealt with, Professor Mason turned to his friend
and said, 'The video record of this battle will be circulated
amongst all world governments. Hopefully, they'll get the message
about why biological weapons are totally banned.'

'And yet your
predecessor managed to ignore that fact.'

Mason sighed
heavily. 'Vigilance, always vigilance. As we've seen here, you
can't always spot the miscreants in advance but we can try to stop
them before they take anyone else down with them.'

Cleaning up
began immediately after the end of the battle, a series of pyres
was constructed and the entire area covered in chemical spray. In
the presence of religious officials and the appropriate funeral
rites, the bodies were burnt as a final act to eradicate all trace
of the virus from the village.

'Albert, I have
to pass on your recommendations for villages which may have had
contact with this one.' It was late in the evening and Hodgeson and
Mason were still alone in the command module. Wrappers from field
rations overflowed the wastebasket and the aircon strained against
the heat produced by the monitoring equipment.

The professor
mopped his brow and examined his notes. 'I think they need to go to
a radius of fifty miles.'

'As much as
that?'

'To be sure.
I've checked the results for potential water contamination and it
looks like they're safe on that at least.'

'We're talking
six villages here. What procedures do you suggest?'

'The
inhabitants all remain at home for seventy-two hours. The troops
used here monitor and enforce that.'

'It's essential
no-one leaves.'

'Precisely. To
save on precious vaccine, they only need to inoculate the lorry
driver, those who've had contact with him and anyone showing
symptoms.'

'After three
days?'

'By then they
should have been able to ship over enough vaccine to inoculate the
whole village, if necessary.'

'Villages.'

'That's right,
all of them. Meanwhile, they shut down all movement in and out of
the region.'

'Bit of a tall
order.'

'It's that or
zombies.'

Chapter
13:
Aftermath

Seventeen
months previously, at the news of the first outbreak of zombieism,
the rest of the world had waited in fear of it erupting outside the
UK. All movement out of the UK ceased, as planes and ships were
turned back without being able to do more than refuel and take off
again. For a week the world held its breath to see if the scourge
of the dreadful disease had escaped what were referred to by every
other nation as 'those contaminated shores'. Meanwhile, the UK
population was forced to continue with making the best of what was
available. Although oil tankers were not permitted to enter British
ports, the gas pipelines were still kept open from Eastern Europe,
so vital energy resources were maintained throughout the crises of
the first and second outbreaks.

Several million
vehicles were commandeered by the government for recycling. Their
fuel tanks were emptied and the contents used until natural gas
conversion kits could be assembled for public service vehicles and
other essential transport. Many homeowners either converted their
car to gas, or donated their vehicles, in order that public
transport systems could be enhanced. Once the zombiefied areas of
south west England had been treated for eradication of the virus,
many people left crowded cities like London to take over land for
cultivation.

In de-zombified
and depopulated parts of southern England, people could afford to
buy up whole estates, bulldoze all but one or two of the largest
dwellings and use the land for crops and raising animals. Over more
than half a century, the population of England had grown to the
point where it was no longer possible to be self-sufficient in
food. Since the mass deaths from the first zombie outbreak, the
population had fallen to a sustainable point and even many inner
city households woke to the sound of a cockerel crowing. Schools
and technical colleges actually flourished in a way they hadn't
since the 1950s as kids realised the value of learning something
which would help them to stay alive. By contrast, the desertion of
certain parts of the metropolis had allowed those areas to become
riddled with looters and gangs living off what they could find in
the empty streets, houses and shops.

The zombie
detector torch, or ZDT was made available in large numbers. It was
to be sold at a profit but the proceeds were not destined for the
pockets of any individual. The ZDT was to be sold by the British
government, with the resulting profits being used to support the UK
economy.

During the
zombie outbreaks, many guns were taken from infected soldiers by
panicked and desperate members of the public. This prompted the
British government to make firearms both legal and widely
available, so that uninfected citizens could defend themselves
against rampaging zombies. The move definitely dealt a blow to
rampaging zombie hordes but there were also innocent casualties.
Many civilians unskilled in the use of guns were killed in
shootouts by 'friendly' fire and cross-fire. By the end of the
trial of the Minister, the government agreed that it was no longer
appropriate to have so many firearms out in the general population.
A passionate plea, supported by Party Political Broadcasts, relied
on the good will of the British people.

All weapons
were required to be handed in to police stations country-wide.
Within a week, it was announced that more firearms than had been
originally issued were recovered for disposal. By the end of
seventeen months of zombies, murder and mayhem, the public had lost
all taste for their use. Another benefit of the UK borders being
closed was that use of illegal drugs had been all but eradicated
and what few members remained of criminal gangs also relinquished
their guns.