Zombielandia (2 page)

George and Frank took us on their fishing boat to a small cove up by the village and we walked into the village from there. George and Frank stayed aboard the boat and anchored within sight of where they dropped us off so they could see us when we returned and set about spending the day fishing.

It was only a short walk into the village and we saw nothing out of the ordinary. As we got nearer to the houses we could see yellow tape on many of the doors. As we got closer we could see that the tape said that the houses had been cleared. People had written signs and put them in their windows advising family and friends that they had been evacuated to a safe zone in Portsmouth. Some of the signs had dates on them and they were all about four months earlier. We decided to go to the local pub as we thought this would be the hub of the community and if there was anyone left, we’d probably find them there.

The pub was all locked up and we got no response from banging on the doors and windows. We decided to break in through a small window at the rear. John went first as he had the gun and I and Becky followed closely behind. The place was empty. We grabbed what we could carry from the cupboards in the living quarters and what was left in the restaurant and kitchen areas and started to head back to the boat.

However, before we left the village, Becky told us about a corn mill which was just a few minutes’ walk away. They had kept chickens there and we were hoping we might find some to take back with us. As we reached the mill, we could see the chickens had been set free and we managed to catch half a dozen and bungled them into sacks to take back with us. We then went to have a look in the souvenir shop to see if there was anything of use to us in there. We were busy filling our bags with overpriced Country Jam and Chutneys when we first heard a noise from above.

Did we run back to our boat or did we investigate? What if it was a survivor hiding out? We decided to take a look. As usual now, John went first, he had the gun, right! As we entered the old mill, we heard a moaning noise I will never forget and then we saw them.

They were clearly in an advanced state of decomposition, but they were moving and stumbling towards us, not fast, but they were heading our way. Becky appeared from behind me and screamed, John seemed to be rooted to the spot. I don’t know if it was instinct, hours of watching zombie movies or just plain adrenalin kicking in, but I grabbed the gun of John, pointed at the nearest one’s head and pulled the trigger, nothing, shit, the safety, I flicked it off and pulled the trigger again, Bang! Fuck, nothing, it still kept coming towards us. I fired again, Bang! Fuck, fuck, fuck, nothing! It was still coming our way, I dropped the gun and grabbed my garden fork that I’d been carrying and ran at the thing and speared it through the head, and it fell, lifeless to the floor. There were two more; I couldn’t get my fork out the bloody things head. Becky threw over hers. I speared the next one straight through the eyeball and into it’s brain, thud, it fell to the floor. The last one wasn’t moving. I managed to free the fork from the eye socket of the one on the floor. I and Becky approached the last one with our garden forks. It was caught up in the mill workings, crunch, Becky speared it through the top of the head, it was still moving, and so she used her foot to force the fork in further. Good girl, it was definitely dead now. John had picked up and reloaded his shot gun, Bang! He fired into the lifeless creature, again nothing, he fired again, Bang! Again, nothing.

Blanks Becky shouted, they’re fucking blanks you wanker! She was right; they must have been purchased to frighten the sea gulls without actually harming them. I started to laugh, we all did. I think it was more out of relief to be alive. We didn’t hang around long after that. We grabbed what we’d already gathered and headed back to the cove a little faster than when we’d arrived.

George and Frank had heard the gun shots and had already brought the boat in close. We were soon back on board and heading back to our site. We told George and Frank what had happened at the mill, but agreed not to share the information when we got back to site.

We returned to the village a few times again after that day, however we never returned to the mill. We systematically cleared all the homes of anything of use or edible. We never encountered zombies again on our escapades into the village and came to the conclusion that the ones at the mill may have been tourists to the area missed by the military or maybe they’d wandered in from elsewhere.

Chapter Six

Life at the site wasn’t too bad, we were surviving well on what we were scavenging and what David, George and Frank brought us in. We had about a dozen chickens now. Ken and Margaret had spent all summer picking and pickling things. Sophie and Paul went out on regular kayaking expeditions to see what they could collect from local beaches and coves. The Smiths had become good friends as our children were of similar ages and played together. That was one thing, the kids never got bored living in a family holiday park. We were trying our best to home school the children. Funnily enough they didn’t seem to be missing school life at all. They were quite happy playing all together on the site. One long holiday for them! We had some fun nights together too. Alcohol was one thing we weren’t short of.

But as the months turned into a year and we struggled through our first winter together, thoughts started to become more and more of home and family. What if there were survivors in Togston? After all, it was a coastal village not too different to where we went on our supply runs. What if all the safe zones hadn’t been compromised? What if there were ships full of survivors settling on uninfected islands? What if our families were looking for us? What if the media had sensationalised everything? After all, we’d only encountered three zombies in a year. But then I had Babs and the children to think of. We were safe here for now, they had friends, and life wasn’t all that bad. At first the children, including us adults, were lost without our technology. Winter months when the weather was inclement the Children were stuck indoors with no games to play on mobiles or tablets. It was daunting. We resorted to playing what board games were available in the caravans. Hey! We played Ludo, Snakes and ladders, Ker plunk etc. which the children enjoyed and Babs and I were transported back in time to our childhood! Yes, back to a time before computers prioritised our leisure activities. But if we left, who would follow next? Ken and Margaret couldn’t survive alone. Anthony and Maddison were growing close. How could Alan and Liz survive alone with an eighteen month old baby?

Then one day in spring, the day had started as any other. A few of us had gathered in the Neptune bar to make plans for the day. Ben and Hayley had taken all the kids down to the beach to collect pebbles and hunt in the rock pools. I was discussing the previous day’s events with Becky, Sophie and Paul. David, George and Frank were deciding on their plan of action for the day. Then suddenly we heard screams. We ran outside to see Luke, Emily and Britney running up the path from the beach. He was screaming something that I could not quite make out. As we ran towards him I heard him screaming Dad! Dad! They’ve got Alfie! Who’s got Alfie? I shouted back. The monsters Daddy, the monsters. We grabbed our weapons as Babs and Amy took the three children inside.

When we got down to the beach there was a small boat grounded on the rocks. We could hear Hayley screaming, she was sheltering under the cliffs and there was a group of zombies heading towards her. She saw us coming. They’ve got Ben and Alfie she cried! We raced towards her and managed to get between her and the oncoming zombies. We used our weapons. I smashed my fork through the first one’s head. Becky did the same. Alan reacted well and pierced one through the chest with one of the spikes he’d made. The head! I cried out, the head! He managed to pull the spike back out and with all his strength, crunch, he speared it straight through the eye socket and into its brain. Good night sweet heart, he shouted as it fell to the ground. John had managed to wrestle one to the ground and was now pounding it’s head in with a boulder. George and Frank had netted two and were caving their heads in with a lobster hook. Soon they were all disposed of. Alfie! Alfie! Alfie, Hayley started to cry out. Where’s Alfie! We waded through the shallows to the boat. Ben was lying dead on the deck; two of the bastards were still feeding on him! We pulverised their brains with our weapons. We searched the boat. There was no more of them. Then we heard a noise coming from underneath Ben. We moved him to one side. There was a hatch under him. We opened it and there was Alfie amongst the rotting fish bait. We pulled him out, he was alive and un harmed. Ben had hidden and protected his son. Hayley came running over and scooped up little Alfie and headed back up to the site with him. She hadn’t seen Ben or if she had she was concentrating on her son now.

George, Frank and David picked up the lifeless Ben and started to carry him to the beach, as they did though; Ben opened his eyes and sank his teeth into Frank’s arm, tearing the flesh from the bone. David reacted fastest and plunged his hook into Ben’s skull, he was silent again.

We left Ben on the beach and covered him with a tarp until we could decide what to do with the body. We took Frank back to the Neptune bar. None of us had any medical skills, so Babs cleaned and bandaged his wounds best she could. We all knew it looked bad for him.

Chapter Seven

The following morning Frank had gone downhill badly overnight. George knew his friend would die if he didn’t get him medical help soon. He wanted to take Frank in their boat in search of help; he thought he could make it to Portsmouth, where there was still hopefully a safe zone.

We all agreed that this would be the best course of action. We loaded the boat with supplies and George left us some fishing tackle before heading off with his friend in search of help. We spent the rest of the day gathering up the corpses on the beach before burning them all. We noticed something unusual as we were gathering them up to burn, most of them were wearing what appeared to be a blue sash, we had no idea what this meant or if it was of any significance.

We buried Ben on the cliff top overlooking the sea. We all gathered that night and said a few words. Things had changed, we didn’t feel safe anymore. The children had been exposed to horrors no child should ever have to see. We knew then that it would never be the same again.

We spent the next day building a barrier along the path that led to the beach so the children couldn’t get down there without an adult, not that we thought they’d want to anyway. We agreed to have someone on constant watch, day and night in case any more things floated to shore and also to keep a look out for Frank and George.

Days turned into weeks and there was no sign of the guys returning. We had settled back into life on the site. We were managing to survive on what supplies we had, but things weren’t as comfortable as they had been. We still managed the occasional trip to the village, but it was tough using the kayaks instead of the boat as we were reliant on the weather being good.

Chapter Eight

After a while the guys decided to see what they could do with the boat that had crashed to shore a few weeks earlier when Ben had been killed. We managed to get it onto the beach using one of the tractors. It wasn’t particularly big, just a small fishing boat. It had a small cab type area with the steering wheel, navigational gear and radio. It looked quite old and well used. The back was basically empty with a raised edge where about eight people could fish from and there was an area in the middle that was used to store your bait and catch. The hull was a wooded frame with fibre glass. The fibre glass was badly damaged in a few places, but Ken and Paul were adamant that they could fix it. If nothing else, it gave them something to do outside of the normal daily search for food and supplies.

After a few weeks the boat was ready for its first outing. We had renamed the boat Ben’s Hope (The Hope) after our friend who had died. Ken, Paul, David and Sophie decided they were going to test it out. We all helped to get it back into the sea. They had already checked out the engine and stuff and had it fuelled up ready to go.

They set of early one morning with a bucket full of rag worms and the fishing gear that George had left for us. The rest of us stood on the beach and waved them off before getting back to the daily task of surviving, all hoping for a tasty fish supper later that evening!

The guys returned later in the day with quite a successful haul of fish. I guess there weren’t that many people catching fish these days, one advantage of a zombie holocaust I suppose is that nature will have a chance to recover.

However, it wasn’t catching the fish that was the most exciting thing about their day. David told us that they had travelled quite far out to a ship wreck that he knew had been a good spot for fishing in the past. They had spent most of their day there catching fish and generally having a relaxing day out away from the stresses of daily life. However when they had started to return home they spotted a massive ship a few miles further out to sea. They had gone a bit closer and had seen through their binoculars that is was a Royal Navy ship and that it appeared to be anchored. They said that they had seen a small fleet of smaller vessels around it, some anchored as well, but others moving away and towards it. It was quite a hive of activity by the sounds of it.

The guys had discussed going to the ship, but then thought it would be better to come back home and discuss what they had seen with the rest of the group before deciding what to do about it. We sat up half the night in the Neptune bar discussing what we were going to do. We were surviving on our own here and had done so for almost eighteen months now. We had become a family, working together, looking out for one another. But what was on the ship? Was it going somewhere? It was a Royal Navy ship. Was there still a command structure on board? Did we still have a functioning government? Were my Brother and his family on board? Was one of the small vessels that the guys had seen George and Franks and were they still alive? So many questions!