Frustrated it couldn’t get me to drop my knife, the HZ on top of me leant forwards and bit into my wrist. I screamed and let go of my knife. The HZ pulled its head up and, with my blood dripping down its chin, grinned at me as it chewed a piece of my flesh. I bucked and writhed under its weight as the first light, icy flakes of snow spattered my cheeks. But the HZ held me fast. Over its shoulder I saw Sean drop the bloodied, dead body of an HZ he’d just killed before striding over. He slammed his crowbar down onto the head of the HZ on top of me. As its head split open, its jaw went slack and the piece of my flesh dropped out of its mouth and onto my shoulder. ‘Ewwwww!’ I shrieked as Sean caught the HZ by its mattered hair before it fell forwards onto me.
I scrambled out from beneath the body, while Sean dived towards Stewart, who struggled under the weight of the HZ that fed on his flesh. Sean used his crowbar like a cricket bat, slamming it into the side of the HZ’s head; brain, red blood and skull burst forth as the side of its head caved in with the impact. I heard the sound of howling and more feet pounding the track outside the camp. ‘Shit,’ I cursed under my breath as I realised more HZs were on their way. ‘The tower!’ I called out to the others. ‘Get inside the tower!’
With no time to try locking the fence panel again, I dived towards the Martello tower. The others all made for that direction, now concentrating on killing anything in their way, rather than killing everything. Kay, Clay, Charlotte and Misfit got there first. Charlotte and Kay disappeared inside while Misfit and Clay waited at the door. Sean helped Stewart to his feet. Stewart clutched the bloody mess that was his stomach with his left hand as he swayed, trying to stay on his feet.
Sean darted for the tower, bundling me in front of him, while Misfit held the door for us and Clay stood just outside the door with his gloves raised in front of his chest, ready to spike-box the hell out of anything that got close enough. I glanced back to see another wave of HZs approaching the camp’s entrance.
Stewart swiped his sword from the ground, but before he could straighten up, a zombie lunged at him and bit into his shoulder. ‘NOOOO!’ I yelled. I became all feet and legs as I tried to stop and go back for him. Sean grabbed me by the elbow and Misfit dived forwards to grab my other arm and the two of them pulled me towards the door of the Martello tower.
‘It’s too late for him,’ growled Sean, shoving me inside.
Before Sean slammed the door, I glanced outside and saw Stewart, Samurai sword in hand, rush towards the new wave of HZs as they poured into camp. A fearless warrior heading into his last battle.
Entry Twenty-One
Kay and Charlotte disappeared up the staircase. On the ground floor, Sean and Clay leant their weight to the back of the door and I drew the small bolt across the top. I hoped Stewart could keep the HZs back long enough while the rest of us made our escape. Misfit grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. I reached the top before I heard Stewart cry out. The silence that followed killed a piece of my heart, but I couldn’t think about that right then. Fists pounded against the door below.
‘What now?’ asked Kay, her eyes darting around the gloomy space. ‘We’re bloody trapped up here.’
‘That’s what I want them to think,’ I said. ‘But while they’re kept busy busting in that door, we can go this way.’ I headed for the back of the Martello tower where I had recently partially pulled a board from the window when trying to find a way out to search for Misfit. ‘Help me get if off,’ I said to the others.
Everyone grabbed hold of a section of the board and we ripped it away from the window, sending dust moats swirling into the gloomy air. I hoped the track leading down to the road was clear of HZs, or we really would be buggered. Looking out through the flurry of sleet-like snow, I saw no sign of any HZs below. ‘We can get down to the ground this way,’ I said, pointing to the scaffolding outside the window. My words flowed fast; I knew the bolt on the door wouldn’t hold much longer. ‘Then down to St Andrews. GO!’
Charlotte and Kay climbed out first. Misfit pushed me out next. ‘Right behind you,’ I heard him say.
I crouched on the wooden walkway of the scaffolding while I waited for Kay and Charlotte to clear the drop. Once they had made room for me, I slid through the gap in the bars and lowered my body down, my feet dangling freely. Blinking to keep the gritty flakes of snow from my eyes, I found purchase on the windowsill below with the tip of the toes on my left foot, then my right. I let go of the scaffolding bars, my hands slipping over the bricks of the curved wall, wishing there was something to grip hold of. Balancing on the windowsill, I slid down to my knees, hooked my fingers on the concrete and lowered my body over the edge. Letting go of the windowsill, I dropped the last couple of metres until my feet hit the ground.
The last thing I heard as I dropped was the sound of splintering wood and a bang as the HZs broke through the door. I clambered up the rubble, grasped a handful of the taller fence, using the chest height inner fence as a foothold to spring myself up, and hauled myself over to join Kay and Charlotte on the track. I heard Misfit yell, ‘RUN!’ and I glanced up to see him drop from the tower in a faster and more agile manner than I had done. Clay, his boxing gloves hanging around his neck, followed Misfit. Sean came out last, swinging down from the tower like giraffe playing at being a chimpanzee.
Neither me, Kay nor Charlotte moved. We stared towards the tower to see the first HZ appear at the window and climb through after Sean. More emerged from the narrow gap around the side of the Martello tower, wise to our plan. I watched Misfit stab the front runner between the eyes before he turned and flew over the fence. His feet hit the tarmac and he tried to bundle me down the track ahead of him. I resisted and watched as Clay paused halfway up the rubble to turn and punch an HZ with his spiked glove, before clearing the fence and falling into line with us.
‘Didn’t you lot hear me?’ said Misfit. ‘Run!’
‘Sean!’ yelled Kay, ignoring Misfit. She pushed past me, Misfit and Clay, closer to the fence. Sean was still on the other side, three HZs cutting him off. He swung the crowbar at one, catching it on the temple. As the HZ crumpled to the ground, Sean darted between the other two and attempted to clamber up the rubble, but the HZs turned and charged at him. One dived onto his back and clung on, even though it was a good couple of feet shorter than Sean. Sean slipped down the rubble but managed to stay on his feet. He turned and brained the other HZ and tried to shake off the one on his back.
‘
Sean, come on!’ we all yelled as we gathered on the other side of the fence and watched helplessly. Misfit reached up and grasped the top of the fence, trying to haul himself over, but it was too high and he slipped back down.
The HZ on Sean’s back tried to bite his neck but Sean grabbed a fistful of its hair to keep its jaws from his skin and slammed its back into the inner fence, pushing the chain links outwards so they met with the bars of the outer one. Misfit raised his knife and stabbed the HZ through both fences, right between its shoulder blades. This wasn’t enough to kill it with his short hunting knife. But the HZ threw its head back against the fence as it howled in pain and Misfit stabbed it again, into the base of its skull. The HZ fell silent and slid off Sean’s back. With more HZs climbing down from the tower, Sean scrambled up the rubble and flung himself over the fence.
I turned and shoved Kay and Charlotte ahead of me. ‘Run!’ I yelled as I heard the sound of Sean’s feet hitting the track behind me.
Charlotte grabbed hold of Kay’s elbow and pulled her down the track; she went willingly now she knew Sean had cleared the fence. I heard the HZs howl as they pursued us but I concentrated on pumping my legs as fast as I could, snow lashing my skin and making my cheeks sting. Misfit kept pace with me. I knew he could run faster but he remained by my side. Sean and Clay – his gloves back on – stayed behind me, ready to turn and fight. I resisted the temptation to look back. We didn’t have much of a head start and that knowledge infused me with enough adrenaline to make me feel like the Bionic Woman. Though a heart attack felt like a possibility too.
Halfway down the road, I spotted a couple of lumbering zombies. They were left reaching for air as Kay and Charlotte sped past them. As me, Misfit, Clay and Sean darted by, I imagined the zombies left spinning like tops in our wake.
Kay and Charlotte took the turning down towards St Andrews. I heard them both yelling, ‘Let us in! Let us in!’ By the time me, Misfit and Sean rounded the corner, I saw that the gate stood open, ready for us. Shane stood by the gate looking confused and panicked … he had no idea what was coming his way.
We bundled into the car park after Kay and Charlotte, while Shane shut and locked the gate. ‘That won’t be any defence,’ I said, nodding towards it, just as I heard a shriek and the sound of approaching feet. ‘We need to get inside. NOW!’ Shane didn’t waste time with questions – I guessed he had a fair idea of what was coming now – and he pulled a bundle of keys from his pocket, pushed through the rest of us and hurriedly opened the door.
We all fell inside the building just as the first HZs started climbing over the fence into the car park. Shane locked the door and we all retreated down the corridor as fists began slamming against the sturdy wood. We had backed away enough that we stood in the main lobby of the apartment building, with the double front doors ahead of us and the main stairway behind us. Chris came tearing down the stairs, just as the filthy hands of HZs began slamming and clawing at the glass in the front doors. ‘What’s going on?’ he said. Spotting the HZs, he darted to the back of the building where a large porch that leads out onto the gardens had been set up as a communal dining and seating area so the residents could gather outside of their apartments.
Chris returned with Soph, each carrying a chainsaw. And soon, every able bodied St Andrews resident had gathered in the lobby, tooled up and looking grim. ‘Kelly,’ began Soph, get your youngest and the elderly up to the highest point you can and stay hidden, OK?’
With a nod to Soph, Kelly turned to Char, her eldest daughter. ‘Char, take them up,’ she said, using her right arm to guide Chloe, Cameron and Jay towards their sister. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’ With a hollering Ella under her left arm, Kelly darted around to the back of the building, leaving Jay crying out for her as
his big sister, aided by eleven-year-old Chloe, shoved the struggling boy up the stairs.
The window in the right side of the double doors was taking a battering. With one determined slam, I watched a crack appear and snake up through the glass. I heard Jay and Cameron scream as the glass burst inwards. I glanced behind me but the children had already disappeared around the bend in the stairwell. Kelly, Ella clinging to her chest, arrived back, bundling a couple of the oldies, Dolly and Elsie, ahead of her towards the stairs. ‘And you’re sure they’re in their rooms?’ she said to Dolly as they began to climb.
‘Yes dear, Derek went for a nap and Patrick wanted to read in peace.’
I didn’t listen to any more of the exchange and turned back to the door. An HZ stuck its head through the broken window and grinned at us as it began hauling its shoulders through, ignoring the jagged glass that tore its skin. The sound of a chainsaw springing to life
was like the most beautiful piece of music I’d ever heard. Soph charged towards the door and rammed the chainsaw into the HZ’s head and down through as much of its upper body as it had managed to squeeze through the smashed pane of glass.
As Soph sliced the HZ open, vibrant red blood and various body parts exploded and I heard Dolly say, ‘Oh deary me! Oh. Oh!’ I shot a look up the stairs behind me to see her holding onto the rail halfway up the staircase, looking back down towards the door and the eviscerated HZ. With Ella on her left hip, Kelly used her free arm to grasp Dolly’s elbow and tug her up the steps. Ella had her head buried in Kelly’s shoulder and I prayed the little girl wouldn’t open her eyes until after they had rounded the bend.
‘Max, Cleo, head around to the back in case they climb over the fence and try to get in around there,’ barked Chris, before springing towards the double doors now Soph had withdrawn her chainsaw. He unlocked the doors and started his own chainsaw. Opening up the left side, he darted outside, Soph followed him and the pair charged at the HZs that had gathered out there, driving them back. With Shane and Jordan guarding the side entrance, Cleo and Max at the back, the rest of us remained at the front, the most vulnerable point now the doors had been opened.
Kay, Sean, Misfit, Clay and a couple of the St Andrews lot followed Soph and Chris out onto the snow dusted forecourt, spreading outwards to push the HZs away from the building. The HZs stayed away from the chainsaws, shying back like vampires from a crucifix. One went for Misfit, grasping him around the throat with a clawed hand. Misfit drove his knife between its eyes.
Clay ran at the HZs with his fists raised but they shrank back from his spiked gloves just as they had the chainsaws. I couldn’t help thinking, knowing the HZs as I did, they were holding back somewhat. They out numbered us by at least double but their attack appeared half-hearted.
A couple of HZs tried to dodge between Kay and Sean to get to the building.
Sean tripped one up with his boot and Kay slammed her axe through the back of its head as it lay sprawled on the concrete forecourt. The other one got through. Charlotte dived outside and performed a high kick, catching the HZ in the chest. It fell onto its back and Charlotte pounced on it, slicing its throat with her meat clever. The HZ twitched as it lay on the tarmac, a gargling sound escaping its lips while blood poured from the wound on its neck and trickled out of its mouth. It went still. Charlotte stood and launched herself at another HZ that had managed to break through the main defence team.
Another of the St Andrews lot darted outside, leaving only me in the lobby. I heard the sound of glass smashing from somewhere inside the building but an oncoming HZ prevented me from going to check it out. I stood my ground just inside the main entrance, my knife held firm in my hand. As the HZ launched itself through the door, I swung my knife arm up, my blade sliding into its chest. The filthy creature collapsed onto its knees before rolling onto its side. Not quite dead, the HZ grasped my ankle with its filthy fingers and tried to pull my foot from beneath me. But, rapidly losing blood, it no longer had the strength.
Holding onto the door frame with my right hand, I kicked it in the side with my free foot. It released me and I loomed over it. The HZ raised its palms in front of its face as I slammed the knife down towards it. My blade slid through the palm of its left hand before carrying on through its head, right between the eyes, pinning the back of its hand to its forehead. I pulled the knife out with a grunt and straightened myself up just in time to extend my arm and slash the blade across the throat of another HZ before it had chance to get across the threshold. As it slumped against the door frame, it made a gargling sound and clutched its throat before falling backwards onto the forecourt. I stepped outside onto the tarmac and, holding the knife in both hands, I brought the blade down through the top of its head.
St Andrews was a peculiar shaped building, with its main body being a large stately home style building with a church-like, steepled building jutting out the front to the right of the forecourt. The apartments inside this section joined onto the main corridor with their front doors. The church-like building stretched the length of the forecourt, to meet the pavement, so I couldn’t see its front from where I stood.
I heard the sound of glass smashing from the direction of the church-like section. With everyone else busy, I darted back inside, through the lobby and edged down the corridor, straining my ears. I could see Jordan and Shane at the end of the corridor, guarding the side door; three HZs had their bodies pressed against the door, blocking out the daylight while they slammed their hands on the glass. At the sound of a thud from my left, I stopped outside the door to one of the apartments in the church-like section. I listened, my ear pressed up against the wood. Another thud. I tried the door handle but it was locked.