I Dream of Zombies (34 page)

Mick
chuckled. “If it pleases you that much.”

Billy glanced around warily, expecting to be shot, but wondering who
it would be that pulled the trigger. There was nowhere to run and if his friends started firing then it was possible that all of them would be killed, because they were vastly outnumbered.

All around them the gnarling and moaning intensified, lifting into the air, carried on the breeze, wildly like an echo, and still it seemed to increase. “They’re coming,” whispered Marla, glancing around. “They heard the gunshots.”

Tommy and Harold looked across the canal. The men gathered around them were also turning their heads. Two of the newest arrivals shot up the steep bank and then almost slid back down as the dead appeared at the top; a line of grey stretching all the way along to the bridge ahead in the distance. Marla watched the leader of the men shove Billy to the ground and raise his gun as he stalked off. The dark-haired man kicked him in the stomach as he strode past brandishing a machete. The rest of the gang turned and opened fire on the creatures that were moving like a putrid wave down the grassy bank from the trees.

Inside the boat, Ellen moved to the right and glanced out
side through a gap in the black curtains. Breathing in at the sight of the things walking towards the gang of men, she grasped her gun and ran back to the other side to keep watch on Billy. He was still lying on the ground, clutching his stomach.

“This is our chance,” said Marla. “We should go now, but we need to get Billy.”

“I’m thinking,” Tommy replied, as he glanced from their friend lying on the grass to the leader of the gang who was marching towards the line of the dead firing his weapon as if it was some kind of shoot-em-up game in which he stood no chance of losing. The dark-haired man from the boat was beheading one of the creatures and most of the gang were on the rampage, shouting and killing anything in sight as if releasing rage that had been pent up for too long.

“It could have been us on the receiving end of that and if we don’t go it will be,” Marla
warned.

There were still five armed men standing on the concrete glaring at them. They had not moved since the rest of their group shifted to confront the dead. Tommy stared back at them, debating the odds if he blasted his shotgun at them.
At that moment something moved out of the corner of Marla’s eye to the left and she turned to see fleeting outlines in the dark. She squinted until she could make out figures approaching from behind the trees and a boarded-up cafe. “Tommy,” she muttered, prodding him until he turned.

“We’re stuck in the middle here and we’ve gotta move,” he replied. “We’re going to have to
take a chance.”

As
Tommy spoke, Billy staggered to his feet and lunged forwards towards the narrow boat. The five men on the opposite side of the canal nudged one another, and one angled his gun away from Marla’s group and towards him. It happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to think. Tommy yelled Billy’s name, but before anyone could react a shot rang out and the man with the gun plunged forwards into the canal. The smash of the body on water stirred everyone into action. Marla shot at the nearest man, but missed, while Billy ran to the side of the narrow boat and ducked behind it. Harold took down the third man with a bullet to the chest and then everyone hit the deck to protect themselves as the remaining three goons launched their firepower on the boat.

The echo of a gun
firing was followed by the sound of something dropping into the water. Marla glanced at Tommy and he frowned. They needed to take down the last two men, but where were they? Tommy pointed for Marla to get inside the boat, so she crawled through the doorway, and then jumped up and ran towards the window. The inside was in darkness, so she moved to the window and cracked it open, just enough to stick her gun through.

The two men were running along the bank towards the back of the boat. She fired once and the man in front hit the deck. The second man hesitated and glanced down, just long enough for Tommy to take him out.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Marla closed the window and ran back outside. “Let’s go!” she shouted, “while those idiots out there are playing He-Man.”

Harold laughed while Billy leapt off the boat and ran to open the second gate.
To the side of him he could see the monsters stumbling across the grass, pouring out of the gap between the cafe and the bushes. He could count about two dozen of them, but he just knew there had to be more. As the corpses at the front stepped on to the concrete, Billy heaved and turned the windlass as quickly as he could, wishing it was automatic. The stench of the rotting bodies swept up his nostrils and he held his breath, willing himself not to feel nauseous.

Finally, with a
dull creak the gate opened and Billy sprinted towards the narrow boat. As he ran one of the monsters surged forwards, its arms outstretched, and he swung the heavy windlass with all his might, knocking the thing in the head, causing the skull to crack and deform beneath it. Without stopping to check if the monster was moving, Billy leapt on to the deck.

“Good work, son,” exclaimed Harold as he selected the forward gear and throttle to send the boat on its merry way.

Marla gazed at the dead-lookers making their way towards them, relentless in their pursuit of flesh, and shivered. To the other side of the canal the gang of men were battling the dead that were still coming over the peak of the hill. She could not understand why none of them had tried to escape, run or even drive away. It was as if they were enjoying the fight. She breathed out in relief as the boat left the narrow channel and glided out into the wider canal, into deep water where the dead could not reach them.

“You can go inside if you want,” suggested Tommy. “Check to see if everyone is alright. We’ll keep watch here, but all those men are far up there, too busy to even notice us. We’ll be fine now.”

Marla smiled and nodded. “Thanks.” Ducking inside the doorway, she walked through the boat to the other side. Sweeping the curtain aside she found her sister sitting on the bed with her gun in her lap. As Marla entered, she stood up and embraced her. “I’m so glad you’re fine. I was so scared.”

“Me too,” Marla admitted. “I think I’ve never been so happy to see the dead-lookers. They inadvertently saved us.”

Ellen smiled.

“You don’t need this,” said Marla, picking the gun up from the bed. “I know how you… hey, this has been fired…”

“Twice,” Ellen replied. “It was fired twice.”

Marla stared at her open-mouthed. “When?”

“Just now, from that window there… I saw Billy on the ground and…”

“That was you?” Marla gasped. “Ellen?”

Her sister frowned. “Yes, I couldn’t just sit back and watch it happen. I shot him… I mean I shot… I mean twice… two…”

Marla hugged her again and squeezed tightly. “It’s alright, Ellen. They were going to kill us. You saved Billy’s life, you know? You saved him!”

Ellen didn’t reply and nestled against her sister.

“Marla!”

She turned as Tommy’s voice bellowed through the ribs of the narrow boat. Bob started barking loudly inside the bathroom, and Marla heard Peggy and Barney telling him to be quiet. She sprinted towards the back of the boat. Ellen grabbed Tommy’s gun again, which her sister had dropped on the bed, and raced after her.

“What is it?” asked Marla, emerging outside. “Where are the men?”

“Not them,” Tommy replied, nodding at something behind her. “Them!”

Feeling
a knot of dread in her stomach, she turned her head slowly and saw the bridge. It was heaving with the dead. Their hideous forms lined either side of the canal and the low, curved brick structure under which they would have to pass.

“Oh my God,” she gasped.

Ellen stepped out and her eyes widened.

“Do you want me to stop?” asked Billy.

“The water is too shallow here,” Harold warned. “If we stay they can swim to us.”

“No,” muttered Ellen, “this isn’t happening.”

“There’s no option. We have to keep going,” said Tommy.

“But they’re going to jump on the boat from the two sides,” Marla answered.

“I say we should go under there as fast as we can,” Harold suggested. “Full throttle and hope for the best.”

“
You’re right,” said Marla to Billy. “Do it.”

Tommy ran inside the boat and re-emerged with more ammo, which he threw on the deck, and
his second SIG Sauer, which he handed to Billy. “You’re gonna need this. That’s it though – all the guns I’ve got.”

The guy nodded and checked it over. “Easy. Thanks.”

“Is the other exit still locked?” asked Tommy.

“Yes,” said Marla. “Should two of us go down there? What do you think? I’d vote on staying together. If any get inside, they can’t get in the bathroom and it doesn’t have a window.
Barney, Ruth and Peggy are safe in there.”

“I’m with you on that,” he replied. “Right, everyone, let’s just go.”

“I think I can get this baby to go quicker,” said Billy, pushed the lever to make the boat go faster, and it ripped through the water at its top speed of 7mph.

“It’s not exactly a speed boat, is it?” joked Marla, but no one laughed and she sensed her timing was way off.

Everyone stared ahead at the approaching bridge and death’s welcoming committee. Although their carrier had speeded up, it did not feel like it to anyone. Marla hugged Ellen and moved her in between herself and Tommy. “Good luck,” she whispered.

As the narrow boat got closer to the bridge, the dead began to surge towards the edges of the gravel paths. Oblivious to what was beneath they continued to step until their bo
dies plunged into the icy water. After a few moments seemingly disembodied heads began to appear, floating on the gloomy surface, which rippled from the mass movement. The boat tore past as the dead scrambled to grip its wooden sides. Billy pushed the gun into his pocket and picked up one of the spiked poles from the left-hand side of the barge; greater numbers were assembled on that particular bank. He gripped it like a lance, waiting for any of the monsters to get too close.

Tommy shot at the foreheads of the freaks drifting towards them. Bones and brains scattered
like confetti across the water, the noise seeming to reverberate in the otherwise stillness. The snarls and groans of the freaks echoed all around, almost hovering in the air, as suffocating as the stench of their own decay and rotting flesh.

Billy pushed and prodded at the monsters to the left, jabbing the spiky end of the pole into their heads, hoping to hold them back at least. Marla
and Tommy focused on the right-hand view while Harold checked the rear and left. Ellen shot at the closest creatures, surprised how she no longer even imagined them as remotely human. Since her experience on the train she had realised there was nothing left inside them; they were simply hollow shells, withering like the skin cast off a snake – just a fading echo of what was once alive.

It seemed to take forever for the narrow boat to reach the bridge. Within moments they would pass beneath its curved, brick arch and this nightmare would be over. Deep open water
lay ahead with the promise of rest and recuperation. Tommy reloaded his shotgun and glanced at Marla. “Nearly there,” he whispered as a wave of relief washed over him. And then it sank without a trace as the unexpected happened and the hoards of bodies on the bridge began to jump.

“Oh my God,” breathed Marla, as the dead plunged into the dark
abyss. Some landed with a thud on the wooden decking at the front of the boat.

“Do I stop?”
yelled Billy.

“No!” Tommy shouted
back. “Keep going.” He raised his shotgun and aimed across the boat at the freaks that were getting to their feet and stepping on to the flat roof. Two sailed off into oblivion.

Billy exchanged his gun for the pole, which he slipped down the side of the boat again. Ellen and Harold continued to shoot at the heads in the water on the left-hand side,
but now there were more of them; they swarmed like rats, she thought, except that was making rats look bad. Billy moved carefully to the right and began picking off the monsters that were surging there.

Marla glanced up at the bridge and started targeting the dead-lookers
who looked about to leap. As more of them landed on the end of the boat, Tommy jumped on to the roof. As he blasted his shotgun, the force of the impact sent the freaks flying into the side of the bridge as the boat began to pass under, at which point the danger intensified. Now the creatures that plummeted hit the roof. In the time it took them to stand, Tommy tried to shoot them, often taking two at a time. There was no time to think or feel afraid; only time to react. As the centre of the narrow boat fell into shadow the bodies fell like a sheet. Eight landed on the boat at once while the rest slid into the canal.

“Need help,”
yelled Tommy and Marla leapt up beside him. She wavered, almost losing her balance, and he moved his left arm around her waist for support. When she nodded, he removed it and focused on the job in hand. Together they cut through the pack, obliterating one corpse after another. As each one landed on the wooden roof, Tommy and Marla shot at them. As she reloaded he covered her, and vice versa.