Clifton Falls (24 page)

Dripping with sweat, Craig contacted headquarters again but fear filled visions now haunted him.
“Mike, are you there?” he spluttered.
The men in the office listened closely and heard the disorganised breathing patterns arriving over the radio.
“I’m here. What’s happening over there?”
A touch of silence from Craig forced the chief to make his own conclusions to what was happening. Mike knew something was wrong and this conversation wasn’t going to be a routine one.
“I’ve got some bad news.” The unsure listeners waited to hear the rest of Craig’s sentence. “Doug’s been attacked by one of those bastards.”
The nightmare wasn’t over and the misery, plus heartache was carrying on again.
“How the fuck did that happen?” Mike ranted.
A frantically upset Craig kept himself together despite the stinging tears. “I don’t know. All I know is, I was walking along the cemetery doing my job, but when I returned to the car, saw a fucking zombie all over Doug.” The men in the office heard faint sobbing coming from the distraught person. “I killed it. I’m inside now and have shut the doors.”
“Are there anymore out there?” the chief asked, as he absorbed the useful, but dramatic information.
The troubled man explained the situation to Mike, but even though Craig hadn’t seen anymore zombies at the cemetery, the news still wasn’t putting Mike at ease and the whole situation caused him to react differently toward the other person. Mike tried finding out exactly where the beast could’ve come from. Craig had no answers. Mike didn’t want to upset him anymore, as he needed his officer to be in total control. “It’s all right, mate, let’s hope it was the last one. How’s Doug doing?”
Craig knew he had to answer and couldn’t avoid the fatal news any longer. “He’s dead.” The men in the office wept inside as the two words were spoken. “There was nothing I could do.”
The chief gave the heartbroken man some free counselling as Chris prodded him in the back. Mike was not amused, so turned, facing the little man. “What?” he snapped.
“Ask him where Doug is?” a shocked Chris responded.
“Why’d you want me to ask him that for?”
Chris quickly reminded the chief about what’d happened to Wayne, the mutation started straightaway with him. Mike apologised, patting him on the back to show gratitude for the reminder before quickly returning to the conversation with Craig.
“Where’s Doug now?”
A worrying look passed over Craig’s face. It wasn’t what Mike just said, it was the way he said it, and it frightened him. “He’s in the seat next to me, why?”
Mike chose his next words carefully. “Craig, there’s a strong chance that Doug could be going through the change as we speak.” Those words rattled Craig’s nervous system. “I want you to check for any signs of movement and let me know?”
A sweaty faced, heart-racing man spoke again.
“Change boss. Are you saying he’s changing into a woman?”
All of a sudden the men in the office shed tears from a different kind of emotion, as Craig stupidly replied to the chief’s question.
“Stop being an arse, you know exactly what change,” Mike barked.
Craig still wasn’t convinced that his partner would turn on him but Mike probably knew best, so he turned to stare at the corpse.
A split second whizzed by before the dead man’s eyes opened again, staring at the human. The bright blue, lively sparkle that Doug used to have had now turned into a devilish red colour. An astounded Craig reacted, reaching for his weapon. This shifted the zombie’s attention away from him and it stared at the shiny object. The sight frightened the creature. It knew exactly what it was used for.
Without any warning the zombie pounced on the officer, gripping the gun hand as Craig wrestled with it. The commotion spilled out through the device in Mike’s hand. He yelled out words of support, but his attempts were in vain as the beast continued its quest to release the weapon from Craig’s hand. He was now being forced down in his seat. He desperately tried pointing the gun toward the target while keeping the slobbering beast away. He punched out, obtaining the upper hand on the gun situation.
The men in Mike’s office tried unravelling the mystery behind the troubled voices and whatever went on at the cemetery. It didn’t sound like good news. Mike bellowed out Craig’s name for the next few seconds but still wasn’t receiving any response from his officer.
A gunshot echoed through the handset. This was the evidence Mike needed to establish that another one of his men was in deep trouble. A hurrying horde escaped the police station, racing to the cemetery before it was too late.
The noise of the blast forced the zombie backwards, but the bullet only grazed the creature’s right shoulder. Craig had the perfect chance to finish the freak but was more concerned with exiting the vehicle than shooting his old friend again. The weapon had hypnotized the monster, but for how long?
The officer hurriedly bundled himself out of the car, leaving the still staring creature admiring the killing object. He continued watching the newborn being as he finally made some distance.
He stepped backwards a few more feet until he was knocked off guard by the stench of another living corpse. The smell didn’t put him off from fleeing the area but he turned, smacking into a zombie. The latest monster was so close to biting Craig that it was a good job he knocked into it. The sudden, unplanned collision sent both bodies sprawling, and once again, another officer had let go of his ultimate survival kit. This reaction stopped the zombie of Doug from staring and it now clenched teeth, showing Craig that it wasn’t going to give up. The former friend shuffled along in the seats before reaching the same exit door.
The monster on the ground dragged itself along the grass in order to reach the terrified man as he frantically tried reclaiming his gun. The blow caused Craig to lose visibility for a few seconds, but he was now fully focused. His old partner left the vehicle as the other zombie grabbed onto his left boot. He saw his gun, but needed to shake the monster off his foot before reaching it. A violent effort progressed, but it wasn’t working. Craig felt confused, frightened, and desperate as he searched for the whereabouts of his old partner. This made the attempt on escape more frantic, and this time it worked. The zombie let go.
Craig made a quick dash for his weapon, grabbed it, turned, and fired it. From luck more than judgement, two bullets had torn a zombie’s face wide open, and it collapsed. The other corpse stepped over the dead one and headed for the shaking man. The officer remained in the same position to fire again. “I’m sorry mate, but this is for the best. You’ll be in a better place after this,” he nervously said.
Another shot forced this beast off the ground. It flew back against the police car, splashing the bodywork with freshly diseased, thick blood. Craig was left observing the still staring exfriend as it slowly stopped twitching.
He wasn’t to know if anybody was arriving soon or, if more creatures were going to pounce on him, but wasn’t in the right frame of mind to try finding out. In order to return to the car this slaying had to be wiped from his mind.
Craig sat in the vehicle waiting for something to happen, or, for someone to arrive.

TWENTY-NINE

It won’t be long before night takes over from the day,
thought Mike, as his tired mind tried to stay focused on the activity around him.
Two police cars and a civilian vehicle were at the latest site of all the turmoil. Mike was extremely low on staff members. He needed extra help to tackle the situation, so had put a call out to the local police-training academy. He needed some of the finest cadets to help, and needed them to meet him at the cemetery. It was either this or admitting defeat to his superiors. According to Mike, the men with him, the men that’d stuck by him, the men that still trusted him, despite the good men who’d been felled in their prime, these were the men needed to finish the job and not some stuck up pricks from the city. They would just come down to take the glory away from the brave individuals.
Mike also mentioned that he needed the recruits to be able to use a firearm, and use it well. All information was to remain private. He didn’t want the academy superiors to tell the commissioner.
George was also asked to help. Even though he was too old to run around he still had a duty to say yes.
The young men hadn’t been briefed on what dangers they were to face. Mike never had time to do it, except to say that they had to expect the unexpected. The sight of the recent bloodbath was enough proof that he was right. Mike gave the lads their first assignment and sent them into the graveyard to search for any disturbed graves. He then gathered the other men for a briefing.
“Right, listen up.” He glanced over at the dismal sight of Craig. “We need to find out exactly what we’re dealing with so you need to search this area thoroughly.” There was no way Mike could finish his conversation while one of his officers had their mind elsewhere. “Hey, mate, are you sure you’re up for this? I’ll understand it if you need time out.”
Craig nodded, showing Mike that he wasn’t going to lose his services. He then shook himself together and reloaded his gun. The chief carried on with details of the plan while the young recruits raced around the graveyard.
It took another ten minutes before they returned. Mike saw something being carried by one of them. “What have you got there?” he shouted.
“A bag of money, chief... It was scattered on the ground.”
Mike’s first thought wasn’t leading him anywhere but eventually, past memories would push to the front of his mind to help him. “Were there any graves tampered with?”
“There are twelve freshly opened graves,” Toby replied.
Mike rubbed a hand over his face to disguise his grimace from the other officers.
When is this going to end?
he asked himself wearily. His head was aching from the strain, but knew he needed to maintain focus.
Mike deposited the bag of money into the boot of his car. He then proceeded in sorting out his small army before the darkness fell again on another fucked up, death stricken day. George was told to take Toby and another recruit through the forest in search of the missing, un-dead monsters. It was obvious to Mike that, although two had been killed by Craig, the others were out there somewhere. Before George was let loose with the hyped up pair Mike spoke to him again. “I know you, Toby and Kevin have never witnessed one of those things before, and I pray to God you won’t have to, but I want you to be careful.”
George smiled, promising he would look after the pair. Each person was kitted up before setting off into the slowly darkening tree area.
Even though Craig struggled to cope with what’d happened to Doug, knew Mike would eventually give him a hard time over it. The hard time came, but it wasn’t spoken.
“I’m taking Chris and young Simon with me,” Mike said.
It was as if the chief picked the best players for his football team, meaning Craig had to take the Laurel and Hardy of the bunch. Surely this was the start of the punishment process?
Mike made it clear what was needed. They were to drive around the outskirts of the forest in search of the nasty gang and once located, were to be shot dead. The six figures looked at each other, concern written on their faces, as it dawned on them that this could well be the last time they saw each other again.
A few seconds later and the chief was back to dishing out orders. Shane and Blake were next to receive tasks. He wanted them to use a walkie-talkie to keep in constant communication with George’s, and his crew. The groups made their way to the police cars. Mike radioed headquarters, asking for another ambulance to clear the bodies from the cemetery before the vehicles headed off in separate locations, leaving the squad car with the broken window and the civilian vehicle behind.
George looked at his watch as the time hit 5.30pm. Toby and Kevin now tasted life as police officers. They were mucking about with the rest of the lads at the academy just a couple of hours ago, but now were scouring the forest for signs of the walking dead. George ordered the recruits to release their guns, making sure the safety was on. He couldn’t risk them losing it and firing bullets off at the slightest sounds. Even though none of these three had witnessed a zombie before the visit to the graveyard, the sickening sight of the recently ‘sent back to hell’ ones had etched an eerie picture into their minds. The forest darkened at a fast rate, trees now blocking the last hour or so of daylight.
George began to feel his age as he trekked through the undergrowth, and suddenly, chasing dead, walking monsters now seemed less exciting to him, but he was determined to remain positive. He was impressed by the first class attitude to the mission by the younger members. They could so easily have taken this as a complete joke, but they respected the old timer, and that was a very good sign.
Fifteen minutes passed by before they closed in on the village. So far they’d witnessed nothing, no creatures, no strange noises, not anything out of the ordinary, but as they reached the outskirts of the inhabited area, could hear violent banging sounds. George relied on the sharper hearing from the other two as they placed the sounds into a better perspective for him to understand. The constant bangs sent shudders down the spines of the humans. This wasn’t training camp, this wasn’t an exercise, and this definitely wasn’t a desk job, this was a combat-like, reality moment. Each person felt the same sickening emotion and the closer they were to fighting for their survival, the closer they got to being scared, nervous and agitated. Apart from those emotions they appeared excited to be in this dilemma. They’d heard stories about the freaks, but now could tell their own stories. The three males smiled at each other after seeing just how slow the zombies moved. This reaction changed their attitude. The fear factor erased and a fun one moved into its place.
They neared the outskirts of the busy pile of trees, reaching a clearer viewpoint to see a handful of dirty-clothed figures banging fists against the sides of caravans. There were no signs of human life, so George knew that the locals were trapped inside their homes.
Toby noticed two bodies lying on the ground, but wasn’t sure if they were alive or dead. “George, I can see two casualties. Shall we go and see if they need our help?”
Toby was too eager to get stuck in. Maybe he’d played too many ‘Medal of Honour’ games on his play-station, or, wasn’t thinking properly.
George blocked the young man’s attempt of a rescue.
“Wooooah! Nobody goes anywhere until I say. We don’t know if they’re the good or bad people from here. Mike’s told us to be careful and that’s what we’ll do.”
He reminded the others that this mission was real and all thoughts of this being easy had to vanish now. He then led the way, following the path that would take them into the village.
The zombies didn’t even notice the ‘cavalry’ arrive. They remained banging on the caravans, trying to find a way inside.
Kevin tapped George on the shoulder. “Why don’t we pick them off from here?” he asked.
“Do you think you can hit them from where we’re standing?” George replied.
Kevin took George seriously. He was determined to impress the older man with his abilities. “Hey, I’m not the top marksman at the academy for nothing. I could shoot their noses off from here, that’s how good I am.”
George looked over at Toby, witnessing the younger man smiling and nodding his head. This was a sign to let the officer know that Kevin wasn’t telling pork pies.
“Okay, why not give it a go,” George said, moving out of Kevin’s way.
Kevin knelt down, lifted up one knee and placed his elbow onto it to support the gun hand. He aimed the weapon and fired, but missed the zombies by about six feet. The distance hadn’t been long enough to perform the perfect execution, but was enough to cause the zombies to stop banging and move away from the caravans. Kevin shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t mind, but George could tell that he wasn’t feeling so big headed anymore.
George quickly radioed Mike to explain the current situation. “We’ve spotted a number of the freaks at the holiday village.”
“How many you got down there? If there’s ten then we might as well come to you.”
“There’s five here,” replied George, as he swiftly counted up the escaping enemy.
“Have you got the situation covered?”
“Yes, we’re in control here,” George answered, giving his team a ‘thumbs up’ sign.
“Good,” said Mike. “I know you’ll do a good job, but be careful.”
George gathered his crew. It was time for another plan of action to be put into place immediately. He looked over at the caravans, deciding what to do next...
Meanwhile, inside one of the caravans lay Scott. He was reeling from the bite wound, as his friends ran out of ideas on how to help him. He’d been patched up, but the blood still flowed through the bandages.
His friends heard the activity developing outside and Curtis took a sneak view.
“What’s going on out there?” Tom asked.
“The crazy people are moving away and there’s a few uniformed men heading here,” said Curtis, smiling.
“You hear that, mate,” said Tom to Scott. “You’re going to be okay. We’ll get you to the hospital.”
Scott was extremely pale, and if the water-tap of blood wasn’t turned off soon then he was going to die.
The uniformed men closed in on the frightened civilians, but Toby seemed sidetracked. He stopped to study one of the large, bushy hedges. George noticed and shouted. “What’s up?”
Toby remained concentrated on what he was doing.
“I thought I saw someone move in there,” he replied, pointing at the spot as he spoke.
The old officer didn’t want them slowing down when the enemy was in sight, so he had to take control of the situation. “You catch up when you’ve finished your investigation.”
“Okay,” Toby answered.
George smiled and carried on walking. He didn’t believe there was anything to investigate but was willing to let the young man follow his own instinct, knowing Toby would catch them up soon.
The young cadet neared the chosen spot, kneeling down to get a better view. A human figure entered his vision from within the greenery. Toby tried not to startle the mystery person, so whispered. “Hello, can you answer me?”
The object moved awkwardly, as though it was uncomfortable stuck in this hiding place. Toby reached out a hand for the figure to hold on to. “Don’t be scared, I’m here to help you. Reach out and grab my hand. You’re safe now.”
Little Kenny slowly reached out, but the hand never landed into position. While Toby concentrated on the young boy, a visitor closed in. It’d been standing behind some trees, waiting. Kenny had seen it, but was in too much shock to say anything. If Toby had stared deeply into the scared boy’s eyes then he could’ve witnessed the mirror effect shape of the frenzied, flesh hungry attacker coming toward him.
The monster placed dirty, skin fading hands on top of Toby’s head, bent over and bit him, leaving the slightly paralysed young man bleeding. The boy clambered out of the bushes, running as fast as he could to escape the ugly, worm infested zombie, but never ran toward the other men, instead, disappeared again into the safety of the trees.
Toby never moved when the creature attacked for the second time. The poor cadet remained petrified and shaking while teeth were embedded into his face. He fell down as the stinging pain ripped through him. He tried crawling away from the danger, but neither shouted or pleaded for help. In fact, did nothing but crawl.
The people in the caravans banged constantly against windows to try to alert George and Kevin to the danger, but they thought the people were pleased to see them, so they waved at them.
The zombie wasn’t letting this attempt at a kill pass by so reached out, grabbing onto the red-faced target again. With the deadly look of an evil, psychotic killer, the creature pounced, pinning the defenceless cadet without much of a struggle. Pointy fingers were inserted into the recent wound, stretching the skin until an avalanche of fluid escaped. Toby felt the torturing horror now and followed the movements of his killer with tearful eyes, but wasn’t to scream until another chunk of flesh was released from his body. The beast bit into the teenager’s leg, removing more tissue. This callous ripping sensation knocked the young man out of his sudden dose of shock.
“OOOOOOOOOCH!” he screamed, as blood sprayed out of his mouth.
This noise haltered the progress of the other officers, but it was all too late. They turned, staring as the attacker moved in to finish Toby off. Kevin made a move to execute the aggressor and without thinking, fired his weapon at different angles. He was very upset by what he now witnessed and wasn’t able to control his aim. His close friend was being brutalized by something out of this world, but he was too shaken up to even shoot straight.
Suddenly, a bullet hit the monster’s head. This annoyed the beast and it turned, facing its enemy. George and Kevin stared at the creature. It returned to its feet and walked in their direction. Three steps later and the monster collapsed to the ground. Kevin turned, smiling at the old officer.
“What are you grinning at?” George asked.
“Who... Me? Oh, I’m just shocked at what you just did.”
“What do you mean?”
“It took you just one attempt to put the sucker down. I’m a class marksman and I couldn’t get close to it.”
“You panicked. That’s why you missed. You’ll get it together, trust me.”
George patted the younger man on the back as their thoughts returned to the reality of what’d just happened.
Kevin rushed over to Toby and could hear the tiny moaning sounds of a still breathing human. He sat down next to him, lifted up the dying cadet’s head and placed it onto his thigh. “You’re going to be okay, just hang in there,” he whispered.