The Undead. The First Seven Days (59 page)

  The people in
Burger King
all stand up and look about, terrified.
  ‘Quick, upstairs,’ I say to Dave, as we run to the access ladder in the back area and climb up onto the roof.
  ‘What’ve you got Jamie?’

  I race towards the front edge, where he is standing, aiming the rifle.
  ‘Look!’ Jamie points almost dead ahead and I peer out over the car park to the hordes of undead zombies running towards us.
  ‘It’s not night time and they’re running… why are they running?’ I shout out, alarmed.
  ‘They’re coming straight for us, Sir,’ Jamie says.
  ‘Start shooting them, mate,’ I run across the roof to check the other sides and I am horrified to see more of them coming across the car park. More are on the motorway and even coming across the fields behind the services.
  ‘Fuck me, there’s loads of them!’ I check my watch. ‘It’s about an hour to sundown, but they’re running now - something has changed.’
  ‘What’s going on?’ a voice shouts up, through the skylight.
  ‘Zombies, coming from all sides, and fast,’ I yell down.
  ‘But it’s daylight,’ the voice shouts up.
  ‘That’s what I said! Get the others up, quick as you can, but keep Cookey and McKinney in the toilets and Hewitt on the main area beneath us.’
  I move back to the front and see Jamie taking aim and firing at the oncoming masses, his aim is brilliant and, even from this range, and firing at moving targets, he still drops them.
  ‘Are you getting head shots from here?’ I ask, surprised as they fall down and stay down.
  ‘No way, not from this distance and the speed they are moving at,’ Jamie replies and fires again with a cough sound from the rifle.
  ‘But they are staying down?’
  ‘Are they? I haven’t looked, hang on,’ Jamie says and sweeps the scope back to the ones he has already shot down.
  ‘You’re right, they are staying down, not even moving,’ he says.
  ‘They must be weaker, a body shot like that wouldn’t stop them, it might drop them down but they would keep coming.’

  I make my SA80 assault rifle ready, just as Tucker, Blowers, Curtis Graves and Darren Smith come out onto the roof, one at a time.
  ‘Jamie is killing them from this distance with body shots,’ I say, as I take aim and hear the rest of them rack their rifles and make ready.
  ‘Spread out to cover all sides,’ Dave says.

  I aim at centre mass of a large-built, undead female who is staggering and wobbling across the car park - I fire and watch her drop as she is struck somewhere in the middle of her body. I keep watching, waiting for her to start twitching and trying to get up, but she remains completely still.

  I next aim for the middle of a group and fire into them. One of them drops and is instantly trampled under the feet of the others.
  I hear rifles popping all around me, and the coughing noise from the sniper rifle held by Jamie. I keep firing and feel a deep satisfaction as they are dropped on the spot.

  There are more moving fast though and are already halfway across the car park. The rats pay them no attention and the zombies just stagger through the black bodies, treading them down or kicking them aside, as they lurch forward.
  Even when the human zombies drop from being shot, the rats don’t try and eat them, they just keep surging forward.
  ‘Shit, look at that lot,’ Blowers calls out and I look over, he is facing the motorway and I see a densely packed horde charging down it towards the slip road. They are really crammed together at the front and then spread out to a long tail, further down the motorway.
  ‘There’s more coming across the fields at the back too,’ Tucker shouts.
  ‘Fuck me, they don’t like us much, do they,’ I shout out. ‘Rats and zombies all coming for us, doesn’t it just make you feel special? Jamie, can you start dropping them as they come into the access road from the motorway, mate.’
  ‘Sir,’ Jamie confirms and moves over to the corner of the building, so he can cover the car park entrance to the access road and the motorway. He puts his bag down at his feet and I see it’s full to the brim with boxes of bullets. I move over to the skylight and shout down: ‘Get one of those people up here to help Jamie re-load the rifle magazines.’
  I watch Hewitt run towards the side to
Burger King
and I go back to the front and take aim. There are hundreds of zombies coming for us now, and thousands of rats. We keep firing, taking single shots and managing to keep them back from the building, but their numbers are huge and it’s only a matter of time before they get to us.
  ‘How can I help, young man,’ I turn to see the old man coming up the ladder and onto the roof.
  ‘Can you re-load a rifle magazine?’ I ask him.
  ‘I did National Service, I can’t imagine it’s changed very much. I might be a bit rusty but I’m sure I will soon pick it back up,’ he says, with confidence.
  ‘Dave, can you show him what to do? We need to keep Jamie firing.’
  ‘Yes, Mr Howie, on it now,’ Dave responds and takes the old timer over to Jamie and shows him how to push the bullets into the magazine and stack them up on the low wall next to Jamie.
  We keep shooting and they keep dropping, but more are coming, and we still have the rats to deal with.   We are getting good results though and the car park and surrounding areas are soon littered with bodies.
  ‘Here they come,’ the old man shouts, as the massive horde from the motorway staggers out of the access road and spreads into the car park, running towards us.
  I turn and fire into them, as do Dave and Jamie.

  Our shots are good.

  Dave stops firing and drops down to the bag at his feet, he pulls out a black pistol and hands it to the old man.
  ‘Can you use this?’ he asks.
  ‘Oh yes, I was a good shot a few years back,’ he replies, taking the gun and examining it with steady hands.

  He takes seconds to figure out how to push a magazine in and slide the top back.
  ‘When they get closer, start using it,’ Dave says simply and goes back to firing at the massed horde charging towards us.
  I keep shooting into them, but the numbers are too high and they are relentless. They get halfway across the car park and the old man raises the pistol and starts firing - sharp cracks fill the air as the handgun fires and I see his arm hardly moves from the recoil.

  He drops several of the undead with his first magazine and starts re-loading, checking Jamie has enough magazines before he continues firing.
  Despite our constant firing, they reach the front of the building and slam into the glass doors with a loud bang.
  ‘Tucker, get down and support Nick, in case they get through,’ I shout and Tucker runs towards the ladder.
  I switch the assault rifle to fully automatic and lean over to look down at the already packed horde and squirming black bodies jumping up between them.

  I then press the trigger and watch as they are cut down from the rapid fire - but thirty or so rounds last seconds and I’m re-loading and firing again.

  The old man is leaning over and firing into them too.
  ‘They’re at the sides,’ Blowers shouts.
  ‘Which side?’ I yell back, as I change magazines.
  ‘Both,’ he shouts back, running between the two edges and looking down.

  I glance at the Saxon and the GPMG sitting dormant on the top, wishing we had it now.
  ‘At the back, too,’ Smith yells out.
  ‘How are those doors looking,’ I yell towards the skylight.
  ‘They’re holding, but they won’t last if they keep coming,’ it sounds like Nick shouting up.
  ‘Tucker, get those people into the safe area and make Tom keep them there.’
  ‘Yes, Sir,’ Tucker shouts and again I go back to firing down into the increasing horde.

  They are staring up at us, pale, drawn, decomposing faces that are rapidly becoming less human in appearance.
  The bodies pile up as we shoot them, which creates a natural obstacle for the others, but they are frenzied and claw and rake at the bodies to get to the doors. The groaning noises they emit are a lot more aggressive now and they almost sound like they are growling.
  ‘What’s got into them?’ I shout out, as I change magazines again.
  ‘I don’t think they like us very much,’ Blowers says, as he fires his weapon down at the sides.

  I look up and see more coming along the motorway and from all around. Dave suddenly runs off and slides down the ladder, heading underneath us to the shop. He returns a few minutes later with a basket full of bottles of spirits and a rolls of kitchen towel.
  ‘I’ll help with those,’ the old man says, and starts working with Dave to open the bottles and stuff thickly twisted kitchen roll in the top of them.
  Dave steps up to the edge of the building and lights the first one; he waits for it to catch alight and launches it high into the air. It smashes on the ground in the middle of a group charging across the car park. The flammable liquid ignites and flames shoot out, as the liquid bursts away. Several of the zombies are set alight instantly and they stagger forward, but drop down within a few steps.
  ‘They really are much weaker now,’ I yell out, as the old man hands Dave a flaming bottle. Dave launches it and again it hits in the middle of a group, bursting into flames that shoot up and ignite the zombies.
  Dave continues with the deadly cocktails, until there is a line of fire across the car park. The undead run straight through it and many are set alight and fall down within a few steps, but many more make it through and get to the front of the building.
  ‘THE MALE TOILETS ARE GONE,’ Cookey yells out, and I glance down to see him holding the door shut.
  ‘IS THAT BECAUSE YOU BUMMED THEM ALL,’ Blowers shouts and I can’t help but burst out laughing.
  ‘YES, IS THAT A PROBLEM,’ Cookey yells back.

  And I snigger, as I fire my weapon down into the horde again; blowing heads apart and watching the bits of skull and brain matter fly off.

  The doors are getting overwhelmed now and the zombies are already several deep and growing.
  ‘Dave, drop some straight down on them, we’ll have to risk it. The building is metal and glass so we might be all right. They’ll be through there any second.’
  Dave leans over the lip and pulls his arm back, then he launches a bottle straight down, which explodes and bursts into flames, sending smoke straight up at us. Dave grabs another one from the old man who has lit two, and they both lean over and throw them down. The liquid flames up instantly and zombies drop like flies to lie in the flames; the rats squeal and scurry about, with more frantic movements and I see many of their bodies on fire too.

Daylight fades and turns to night, as more zombies pour across the car park towards the building. As the last of the light fades they all suddenly stop and stand perfectly still.
  ‘Here we go,’ I mutter under my breath. ‘Mind you, they can’t get much worse, can they?’
  They all stare up at the sky and start to roar into the night, just as they have done each day so far. We take advantage of their staying still to shoot many down, firing into them as they roar.
  I suddenly feel anger building up in me and I roar back at them: ‘COME ON YOU FUCKERS.’ Dave joins me and we roar with defiance at these undead things that are refusing to let us be.

  Blowers and Jamie join in, even the old man shouts and I hear the lads underneath me screaming with defiance and the adrenalin courses through my system.

   You are many and we are few, but we will kill you.

We are righteous and you are evil and we will destroy you.

  We roar at each other, masses of zombies and a small group in a motorway service station but, right here and now, I wouldn’t change sides for anything in the world.

The undead stop roaring but we continue. We scream every bad word ever known to us, at them.

Dave’s drill sergeant voice the loudest of all: ‘I AM DEATH AND I COME FOR YOU,’ he bellows and it sends a tingle down my spine. I let rip with every ounce of being and scream as they charge.
  As one, we stop roaring. As one, we lower our weapons and aim. As one, we fire.

We cut them down as they charge towards us, weapons on fully automatic now. Jamie has ditched the sniper rifle and has taken up his assault rifle and is firing into them with deadly accuracy.
  They keep coming and they keep dying - as we scorch them and tear them apart with our bullets.
  ‘DOORS,’ Cookey bellows from underneath us.
  ‘MOVE BACK,’ I shout and we start moving back to the ladder and dropping down onto ground level.
  ‘Are they all in the safe area?’ I ask Cookey, as I move into the main area.
  ‘Yes, Sir - Tucker has taken them and that Tom bloke said he would keep them in there,’ Cookey answers.

‘Where’s Tucker now?’ I ask him.
    He staying with them to make sure they don’t lock us out.’
  ‘Bloody good idea, Christ look at that lot,’ I look to the doors and see a solid press of bodies squished against them.

The pressure is so much that the ones at the front are pushed hard against the glass and I can see the black rat bodies running between their legs and feet.
  ‘The toilets went then?’ I ask Cookey.
  ‘Yeah, we got fucking loads though. The bodies were stacked right up, but just too many of them coming out - the doors are inward opening though, so they can’t push their way out.’
  ‘Who won the competition?’
  ‘McKinney, the bastard,’ he grins.
  The rest scale down and come to join us staring at the doors, when a sudden realisation hits me.
  ‘Fuck, the roof is probably the safest place - why don’t we get them all up there, at least we can still fight back,’ I spin round to Dave. ‘Mate, you hold up here with Cookey and McKinney, the rest of you come with me.’
  I run back to the safe area and into the storeroom. Tucker is just inside, closest to the door. They all jump up and stare at me, with terrified faces.
  ‘Change of plan, we need to get everyone on the roof, as soon as possible. You have to move now,’ I say to them.
  ‘But hang on, we were told to come in here and now we have to go up there? Surely this is safer?’ Mark, in the business suit, starts moaning.
  ‘Shut up, we need to get moving now, quickly, get those children up first.’ I run forward and snatch up the baby and start moving back towards the ladder.