I Dream of Zombies (23 page)

“Vroof! Vroof!”

Tommy stirred in his sleep as t
he sound of barking rocketed through his dream.

“Vroof!”

“Agh,” he groaned as he went to sit up and bashed his head on the car door. “Jesus!”

“Vroof!”

“Calm down, boy,” Tommy grumbled as he sat up, rubbing his head with one hand and patting Bob with the other. “What psyched you? Been seeing the uglies out there?”

The Labrador
scrambled away and put his front legs up against the opposite passenger door, wagging his tail and barking as if his life depended on it.

“
Stop barking, I hear you! You wanna go pee? Fine, but can’t you just learn a little English or mime it, eh? I don’t know dog talk.”

Yawning, h
e leaned over to open the door of the jeep. Bob hurtled out into the road. Tommy slid across the backseat and stepped out. The early morning sun slapped him in the face and he experienced a head rush. As his blurry vision focused he saw two shadows near the end of the street. Before he could say anything, Bob was off, racing down the road after them.

“Bob! Come!”
yelled Tommy, but it was useless. Why was his dog chasing freaks? He leaned inside the jeep for his jeans and tugged them on in a hurry. Without putting on his boots, he grabbed his gun and shut the car door.

“Tommy!”

He turned sharply to see Marla walking away from the house, fully dressed and carrying two rucksacks. She tossed them into the boot. Leonie, who had been following behind, asked, “Are you going to be alright?”

Marla
nodded. “Thank you for your help and letting us stay, and everything. Sorry we have to go.”

“Don’t be
sorry. We’ll be here if you want to come back.”

“Thanks. What about you, Jo
anna?” asked Marla.

The girl smiled. “I want to stay. Leonie already said I can.”

“I’ll be glad of the female company,” Leonie admitted. “I’m kind of outnumbered.”

“
Sorry, but I have to get my dog,” cut in Tommy. “He ran up there!”

“Why
didn’t you say, but don’t you want to put your boots on first?” Marla asked with a quizzical look. “I was coming to ask you if you’d seen Ellen and Devan?”

“Ellen’s not with you?”

“No. She’s gone and so has he. I packed up her stuff, but we should get moving. I guess they went for a walk.”

Tommy scratched hi
s head and the penny dropped. “So that’s who Bob was chasing,” he said, adding two and two. “Phew! In that case, they went up the street and turned the corner. I didn’t suspect it was her. He’ll come back then.”

Marla sighed. “That’s too far. Ellen
should know better. I’ll drive, so you can put your boots on. We’ll catch up with them faster that way. It’s broad daylight, so they should be okay.”

“We don’t see many wanderers at this time of the day,” Leonie remarked. “Seriously, if you need somewhere to stay, you are welcome
back any time. It was nice to meet you.”

“Thanks again,” said Marla, giving her a hug. “And thanks for all the meals. We have to run though. I ne
ed to catch up with my sister – young romance and all that.”

“Sure. Mind how you go.”

“You take care,” Marla told Joanna, before embracing her. The girl’s body felt rigid and she felt sorry for her.

Tommy said his goodbyes from a distance
and they got into the jeep. “I’m going to miss them,” Marla admitted as she started up the engine.

“Yeah, it turned out alright. I was worried, if I’m honest, but they turned out to be nice people. I just wish Joanna’s sister...”

“I know,” said Marla as they drove off down the street. “There’s nothing you could have done differently. You shouldn’t blame yourself. We’re lucky any of us got out of there.”

He nodded and focused on his boots. “I wish Bob hadn’t take
n off like that. He normally comes right back.”

“He likes Ellen
. I guess he’s looking out for her in his own doggie way,” she added with a chuckle. Marla drove the jeep around the corner and slammed on the brakes when she spotted a blonde-coloured heap on the pavement. “Bob...?”

Tommy threw open the
passenger door and ran towards his dog, lying slumped on the concrete. “Hey, boy,” he said softly as he checked over his body for bites. The Labrador’s tongue rolled out of his mouth as he tried to sit up with a yelp. When Tommy felt along Bob’s back, he whined, but there were no wounds of any kind. As he continued to stroke Bob’s fur, the dog craned his head up slowly and finally got to his feet. He limped forward, stopped and struggled forwards again.

“What
’s wrong with him?” asked Marla, leaning out of the car.

“I don’t kn
ow,” Tommy answered. “He hasn’t been bitten. I’d have said a car or bike had hit him, but not nowadays. Who did this, Bob?” he asked as though expecting an answer. The Labrador whined, turned and limped back a couple of steps. When he reached his owner, he took a few paws forward again. Tommy picked him up and carried him to the jeep. Putting him in the back, he closed the door and slid into the passenger seat. “I have a bad feeling,” he said.

Marla frowned.
“How so?”

“I think someone mig
ht have kicked him or hit him with something.”

“But who?”
she asked and then a sense of dread came over her. “What about Ellen and Devan? Could someone have attacked them? Maybe they had to run?”

Tommy
looked sombre and made no reply. Marla turned on the engine and drove forwards. “Shit, where could they have gone?”

“Not far
, as they’re on foot,” he replied. “Bob wanted to go in this direction, so that’s my guess. Keep going straight to the bottom of this road. We might see them there.”

“What if they’re hiding somewhere
, Tommy?”

“Don’t think. Just drive.”

Marla
tried to calm herself as she drove to the end of the road, turned the corner and slowed down the car. “Can you see her?” Before Tommy could answer, she spotted two figures. “Hell, look! Across the roundabout and up the road – that’s them!”

“He’s got a gun
in his hand,” said Tommy.

“Mu
st be hers. Bastard! What’s he doing?”

“
Something didn’t seem right with him to me. My first instinct said so, and I ignored it.” Tommy checked his SIG Sauer was loaded as Marla drove straight across the mini-roundabout, causing the jeep to bounce. In the distance, Devan turned his head, spotted them, and started to run with Ellen. Tommy pointed. “Look! There’s a sign for the station.”

“But surely the trains aren’t operating?”
gasped Marla.

“Electricity is still working
because they’re evacuating people...”

“
Oh, God, no.”

***

“Hurry up
,” Devan ordered, pushing Ellen forward.

“What about the dog?”

“Just walk.”

Ellen
tripped slightly and clenched her hands into fists as she did as he said. Focusing ahead, she tried to keep the myriad strands of panic from overwhelming her senses. The main thing was to remain strong and wait for an opportunity to escape. It was what her sister would have done under the same circumstances. The street was deserted, the only things breaking the quiet being the soft step of her trainers on the pavement and the heavier breathing of the man behind her. Ellen did not allow herself to imagine what he wanted. Feeling the gun in her back, she crossed the road, glancing up at the buildings. It was strange how the place was so desolate. Where were they, the undead people whom she expected to see wandering here? A sigh escaped her lips and she swallowed down her rising fear. A crow fluttered across the sky, silhouetted against the sun.

“Go right,” Devan muttered.

Gritting her teeth, Ellen obeyed. She drew in her breath as she spotted the familiar-looking outline of a man leaning against a tree, gazing at her. He reminded her of the man she had seen outside Tommy’s place when she had last been there, but how could that be? “Can you see him, Devan?”

“Who? No,” he spat, “
there’s no one there, and my name isn’t Devan. It’s Mark.”

“Mark?”

“Cross here – over the roundabout.”

Ellen nodded and did as he instructed, before wandering down the next road. A sense of dread slid over her skin. Why had he lied about his name? Trying to calm herself, she asked him, “Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything to you?”

“No, nothing,” he snapped, “but you would have left without me. I could see the way you were looking at me, you and your friends. You were all going to leave me. I had to shoot that girl, but you don’t care.”

“I do care, and we weren’t going to leave you. We would have taken you with us.”

“Doubt that,” he scoffed, kicking a stone. “I know your type. You pretend to be so fucking nice to people, but you’re not really. You just lure them in and use them.”

“But I haven’t done anything to make you think this. How can you do this to me? Put the gun down and we can go back. Please! I won’t tell them. We can just pretend this didn’t happen I know you’re stressed because of…”

“Shut up. I did the thing you were all too scared to do, and if it wasn’t for that stupid dog, the girl wouldn’t have got bitten, but Tommy couldn’t control his bloody dog.”

Ellen bit her tongue, knowing it would be a mistake to provoke him by arguing. “We can still be okay. Just take me back.”

He stopped and stared her in the eyes. “I picked you out on that coach right from the start,” he said, waving the gun as he spoke. “You looked like the kind of girl my brother would end up with, but the type who would never give me a second glance. I thought my luck might change. I’m a good person, but bad things keep happening…”

“But I did speak to you,” said Ellen. “I thought we were friends, Devan.” She froze as she the wrong name slipped out.

“That’s not me. Stop calling me that. My name is Mark. Devan is my brother’s middle name.”

“Your brother? Where is he?”

He scowled. “Dead! He’s fucking dead. Now walk faster.”

“Where are you taking me? What do you want from me?” Ellen pleaded.

“Shut up and walk!”

Ellen swallowed down her fright and did as the man said. There was no reasoning with him. The events of the past few days had pushed him over the edge and she could not guess wh
at else he was capable of. Whatever had happened to his brother she dared not ask. As she walked, Ellen hoped Marla would come after her. Her sister had to realise she was gone by now and who with. It was only a matter of time, she hoped. But as she turned the corner, she spotted a sign for the station and her stomach fell. Through the quiet burst the rattle of a train approaching.

“Go right,” Devan muttered.

Gritting her teeth, Ellen obeyed. She drew in her breath as she spotted the familiar-looking outline of a man leaning against a tree, staring at her. “Can you see him, Devan?”

“Who? No,” he spat, “and my name isn’t Devan. It’s Mark.”

“Mark?”

“Cross here – over the roundabout.”

Ellen nodded and did as he instructed, before wandering down the next road. A sense of dread slid over her skin. Why had he lied about his name?

“I picked you out on that coach, right from the start,” Mark
remembered. “You looked like the kind of girl my brother would end up with, but the type who would never give me a second glance.”

“But I did speak to you,” said Ellen. “I thought we were friends, Devan.”

“That’s not me. It’s my brother’s middle name.”

“Where is your brother?
”

He scowled.
“Dead. Now walk faster.”

Ellen swallowed
down her fright and did as the man said. Marla had to realise she was gone by now and who with. It was only a matter of time, she hoped. As she turned the corner, she saw a sign for the station and her stomach fell. Through the quiet burst the rattle of a train approaching.

“Faster,” Mark
pressured. “We’re getting on it.”

“You can’t be serious?” Ellen gasped, turning.

“Don’t do that. Run, but don’t try anything, because I’m right behind you and I have a gun.”

“My sister...”

“Just do it,” he growled, pushing the weapon into her back.

Ellen began
to sprint towards the station across the litter-strewn road. She ran into the building with Mark on her heels and through the ticket area. A man sat slumped in a chair and she did not look twice at him. Some luggage lingered in the aisle, abandoned or unclaimed. As she walked out on to the platform the train entered the station. From the driver’s cab a man’s face stared forwards. At least he was alive, she thought, as she turned to look at Mark. He glared back and pushed her towards the nearest stationary carriage.