Clifton Falls (28 page)

Blake, Karen, Shane and Chris were now placed safely into the old lady’s empty van while the officers remained outside to fight what needed to be fought, well that’s if they turned up? Blake and his companions were now able to rest their aching bones, but Karen wasn’t happy having Shane so close to her. She still had doubts about him, but her feet needed her full attention first.

THIRTY-FOUR

Mike’s crew had strayed well away from the caravan site. This irritated him because he hadn’t found any un-dead creatures lurking around the area. “Okay, that’s enough. We’ve walked a long way and haven’t seen any sign of the zombie fucks. I seriously think we may’ve missed them. There’s no way they could’ve moved at a faster pace than us. We’ll find another route and work our way back to the others.”

Simon hadn’t seen an active zombie up close and was inquisitive to know more about them. He asked Mike the one question that he didn’t want to hear, and that was. “How dangerous are they?”

This was greeted with a blast of abuse. The young man was quickly reduced into submission as Mike began to describe torturous examples of what these creatures could do to a human if they were in their way. “They’ll tear out your heart before you can scream if you’re not prepared for them,” he warned.

On another day Simon would’ve run away to avoid this confrontation, but not today. Today he was going to be transformed into a man. Whether he lived or died, was definitely going to be brave in his quest for survival.

Each person now made their way along a different route and with guns ready, followed the new path leading back to the caravan site.

Craig and George felt immensely tired and so now sat down to take a well-deserved rest. The light source from the caravans was enough to keep their visibility on alert mode so a zombie couldn’t get near them without being spotted.

A shining light bounced toward them from beyond the trees, zigzagging at a rapid pace. It was evident that whoever was responsible was obviously running from someone, or worst luck, from something. The beam was watched meticulously as it reached the end of the forest, making its way down the hill, but it suddenly stopped for about ten seconds before continuing its spasm like movement. Craig had an idea on who it might be, but wasn’t going to say anything until he was certain. The torch holder slowed down when reaching the safety of the caravan site. Craig blasted out his own beam of light to acquire the attention of the mystery person.

“Who’s there?” the stranger shouted.
“Never mind who’s there, where the fuck have you been?” “Am I glad to hear that voice,” Todd said.

He walked over to the other men before speaking again. The officers saw a thick coating of mud covering Todd as he turned off his torch and sat down. Questions were thrown at him, but it was Craig who made the first attempt to re-open Todd’s mind about the previous encounter with the zombies. “What happened after we left?”

Todd stiffened as he took in the question. “Where’d you want me to start?” he answered, shaking his head.
“Start from when you told Blake you were staying back for a rest.”
Todd began to explain, but Craig interrupted him as soon as he heard about the zombies. “You told me they were dead.”
“I’m not an expert on zombies, Craig. I hit them so hard that any normal person would’ve been totally dead.”
“But these things aren’t normal.”
“I know that now,” the factory foreman snapped back.
George stepped in, wanting to know more. “Go on, what happened next?”
Todd fast forwarded the conversation onto the bit when he was attacked while looking for his torch but managed to escape by hiding in the ditch again, although he missed out the part about falling into it. “While I was hiding, I noticed a bag of clothing and some pictures in the ditch with me. I mean, they were pretty much covered in dirt and no one could really see them unless they were in that spot. The photos were of two children and two adults. I wish I’d taken some but I’d other things to think about.” A nervous reminder caused the man to stall slightly. “I searched through the bag and came across a knife.”
At first, Craig thought Todd was making this up.
This guy is pulling my leg. Clothing and pictures in a ditch, yeah right,
he thought, but then he remembered the lorry driver.
He’d hit a John Doe walking in the road. That corpse could’ve been the troubled farmer who the police thought had gone home?
That man was last seen standing outside the police station selling the ‘Big Issue’ magazine…
While Craig was lost in thought, Todd carried on with the story.
“The knife wasn’t the sharpest of tools, but did the trick…”
Craig and George were now hypnotised by the exciting, fascinating, heart pounding and pulse-racing tale that Todd was spilling from his dried up mouth. “The zombies hadn’t a clue where I was hiding as they couldn’t see me in the ditch. I saw one of them just above me and so I grabbed its legs, pulling it into the hole. I then thrust the blade with all my strength into its scalp before the beast could react. I twisted and pushed it until the flapping bastard stopped moving. I then heard the other one moving around above my head.”
“How’d you get rid of it?” Craig asked.
“I sneaked up behind it and stabbed it in the back, but all these maggots fell out onto my hand. They were pretty grotesque, but I was in a cloudy, mad daze, with no feeling at that time.”
Todd went on to explain that the beast fell to the ground before he jumped on its back and pinned it down. The knife was then used for the same ritual. He sat on it until all struggling ceased. Todd’s expression changed as he spoke. There was also anger in his eyes as the story came to an end. It sounded like he’d enjoyed turning himself into a serial killer. Craig was glad that the only killing the man did was of a legal kind.
Surely zombie murder had to be legal?
“You’re a very sick man, Todd,” George said.
Craig was knocked back by the violent way in which Todd killed. Any normal man would’ve downplayed the explanation.
A weary eyed Todd was now emotionally wrecked, but he did manage a few more words. “No. I’m not sick, mate, I was just surviving, that’s all, just surviving.”
He collapsed and was ready for a good sleep.

It was now 8.45pm. Mike’s crew had finally closed in on nearby sounds.
Surely this had to be the zombies. How could these crazed psychos disappear into the night?
the chief thought.
He could smell the strange and sickening stench which was the creatures’ trademark in the air around him, and so had a strong feeling that at least one of the bastards was close by. “We’re close now. Can you smell that awful, dry rustiness in the air?” Mike said, as he turned his attention toward the two cadets. “It’s the smell of a dead corpse. It sickens me to have to smell this crap.”
What the fuck was he going on about? Was this guy losing his marbles?
Kevin thought.
“We’ve never seen a dead body before today so don’t know how bad the smell gets, but if it answers your question, I do smell something strange in the air around us.”
A shadowy figure slipped itself between two trees. Simon aimed his torch toward it, waving a circle-like formation at the area. A dirty, half clothed, half disfigured being stood staring at the men. Simon remained watching it but didn’t let on that he’d one of the beasts in his sight.
Mike and Kevin were having their own private chat, but as they neared the end of the conversation, Mike became aware that Simon was watching someone or something. “Simon, what’s up with you?” he asked.
Mike and Kevin followed the beam of light from the base of the torch to the object that it rested on. Mike reacted very quickly, but before firing his gun, another weapon went off. The chief and Simon watched Kevin lower his gun. He’d certainly learnt a lot from old George. This killing game had become second nature to him. The more he impressed the chief, the better it would be for him. Neither person spoke until reaching the dead again zombie.
“Kevin, I’ve got to hand it to you, you certainly know how to show off in a crisis situation,” Mike said, pulling a rare smile.
“Sorry chief. I’ll remember to save some of the hunting for you. I’m not greedy, I’ll share them.” The cocky recruit smiled back.
“That’s good to know.”
The smiles were only temporary. They’d only killed one of the zombies, but where there’s one there could well be another.
The men formed a triangular like shape and followed the trail again. Mike faced forward and the other two stood side on, so as to see the forest from different angles. Their torches shone amongst the trees, covering a blanket of light around them.
The transformation process began for the man in the van. Lifeless veins were now pumping contaminated fluid through the body. This new zombie opened its eyes, revealing an expression of pure evil.
The beast rose to its feet, staggering over to a hanging from the wall mirror. It reacted badly to its own reflection and began to smash everything in the room. This noise attracted the attention of the three men outside. George and Craig rushed over to catch a glimpse of the beast. They scanned the inside of the caravan, faces only an inch away from the window, but from this view all they could see was a smashed-up television and other bits of violently moved furniture. Now the zombie was in their sight. It stood with a slightly tilted head, sniffing the air. It bared venomous teeth while smelling for the direction of human meat.
Even though Todd was truly whacked out he still wanted in on the spying game. He walked over and stood next to the two men. All it took was a single glance for him to be sucked in by the fascinating, but scary sight. The zombie sensed the arrival of living flesh and stared at its prey, craving it badly. Slowly, it shifted over to the window. It was now the distance of a piece of glass away from the clueless, still staring men. It pressed its face against the windowpane before showing teeth again, but moved away slightly after a few spitting and spluttering motions. It left droplets of saliva behind. The wet, sticky muck slid down the window. For this reason alone the men retreated from the scene and turned to walk away. Craig thought about leaving the zombie in the caravan. After all, he’d other zombie worries to think about and at least knew where this one was.
This idea was erased from his mind once a very loud ‘THUD’ forced him to turn around again. The creature was now banging its head against the window. It was about to do it again but Craig couldn’t let that happen. He knew that the window would break if it persisted; leaving an opening for the monster to escape so it could spread the infection. He reached for his gun, firing it without hesitation. The window, plus the zombie’s head shattered into pieces. This plan wasn’t what he had in mind. Shooting the human killer so close to the residents was bound to cause uproar amongst them, and it would only be a matter of time before someone plucked up enough courage to leave one of the vans to confront him over this.
Todd had seen enough for one day and needed a good shower, so Craig notified him of Karen’s whereabouts. That caravan was going to have entertainment written all over it once the brave man told his tale of terror, heroism, and foolishness to the others.

THIRTY-FIVE

It was fast approaching 9.15pm and young Kenny was back. He still hadn’t cried for his parents, but was very close to coming out into the open again. He was now by the caravan where Blake and his small group were, but was out of sight of the two officers. The child, still badly shaken from fear, was caught up in a frozen iceberg kind of state as he tried moving away from behind a small cluster of bushes.

A walking corpse emerged, glaring at the boy. Kenny stared deeply at its face and somehow unscrambled the loosened flesh, insects, and the grotesque discolouration of the outer mask to reveal a possible identity of a boy named Thomas Griffin.

He’s not dead
, he thought.
Thomas Griffin had lived at the caravan park until his untimely death. It’d affected Kenny very much because they’d been friends. Many strange and mixed up thoughts now entered his head, the main one being:
Why was his friend who was supposed to be in heaven, standing in front of him now?
Kenny remained fully locked onto what the other figure was doing, but wasn’t frightened by it.
It had to be Thomas
, he thought, while producing a nervous smile.
“Hello. Is that you, Thomas?”
Even though this thing in front of him had the look of a person involved in a serious, disfiguring crash, Kenny wasn’t worried. He just thought the other boy had been injured and that was why he hadn’t seen him for a while.
The story of him being dead couldn’t have been true. My mum and dad just wanted to protect me from the shock of seeing Thomas’ injuries.
The zombie appeared to be lost in what to do next as glancing visions of the past flickered pictures through the photo album in its mind, causing the beast to stall its attack on the boy. This would be the right time for Kenny to run away, but even though the frozenness was virtually thawed out, he still wasn’t moving. A few seconds later and the creature’s mind returned to the present day. All memories, if there were any, were long gone, and a killing machine was back. With mouth opened wide, it let out one of those droning, deafening screams, indicating to Kenny that he was being looked at as a Christmas turkey feast instead of as a past friend.
It was at this moment that Karen, who’d been pacing up and down inside the caravan, spotted the young boy, and, without considering her actions, rushed outside to rescue the now frightened child. She stood in between the incoming zombie and the confused youngster, but what could she do? Her only weapon was her voice, so she yelled at the intruder. “Get away from him.”
She tried to pull the innocent boy away, but Kenny seemed dazed, as though he was under the spell of the zombie. The creature began making more strange sounds. It glared at Karen, as though unsure of its next move. She lowered her voice to Kenny and said.
“Come on, wake up, we must leave now. Let’s move away from this terrible place.”
He didn’t reply. Karen swept him into her arms, but her escape route was blocked by the zombie. She shouted again, and this time Blake, Chris and Shane heard. They rushed out of the caravan, leaving Todd to sleep off his adventure. Blake screamed at his wife to move away from the zombie, while she screamed at him to leave her to sort this out. To add to all the noise, Shane and Chris shouted at Blake to shout at his wife.
Kenny was now finally crying. Karen tried to move past the zombie but it grabbed onto her left arm, so Blake raced over to the creature and grabbed it. This was going to be a tug of war to see who pulled who off whom. The annoyed creature clinched even tighter onto the woman’s arm and wasn’t letting go without a fight.
“Get off me,” Karen yelled, trying to free herself.
Looking at a zombie up close would make most humans sick to the stomach, but being touched by one was a hundred times worse. Karen could feel just how close to death she really was as the soul demon tried entering her soul to rip it out. She felt weakened by the touch, wishing she was back home. If she was wearing her nice red shoes would’ve banged her feet together three times, repeating the words: ‘there’s no place like home’ after each thumping sound.
Blake grabbed the zombie’s head, stopping it from snapping hungry, starving for flesh jaws at his wife. He pulled one way and Karen pulled the other. The zombie couldn’t maintain control on the intended victim’s arm any longer. The grip gave way, leaving Karen’s forearm with a scattering of fingernail scratches. Blake gave the zombie a hefty shove before escorting her and Kenny toward the caravan.
The two officers, who were supposed to be patrolling the grounds, were at last able to see what was going on as they witnessed Blake hugging two figures. This was their signal to begin the late rescue mission. The screaming sounds from a few moments ago revealed that these survivors weren’t having an argument from inside the caravan, as first thought by George. Upon arrival they saw Shane and Chris gawping at the moaning zombie. It was now flapping a nail-less hand in front of its face. “If you two don’t want to see this then I suggest you turn away now. This won’t look pretty,” Craig shouted.
Chris would’ve been okay with this, but the scientist would probably find this hard to swallow. Shane wasn’t going to budge, well not yet anyway, and wanted to remain to watch his creation’s downfall. He was the master behind what this thing was and so had to see it through.
The creature, sensing what was coming, turned to escape the shiny, silver object. Craig watched it try to pick up speed in its quest for survival. This reaction made the killing process harder to accomplish because the thing wasn’t attacking.
The three onlookers waited, then waited a bit more before Craig finally put the beast down. George knew that this one had hit his fellow officer badly. The ones who intended to kill you were easy to shoot, but not this one. For some reason they could all see a scared, lost, and lonely boy inside this zombie who was trying to get out.
“Are you all right?” George asked.
“I’ve got to be.” Craig paused slightly then wiped his eyes dry. “I need some sleep, but I know I can’t.”
“You can. I’m here to keep watch, and I’m sure the others will help if you want them to.”
“George, we’re supposed to be looking out for them, not the other way round.”
“If you don’t rest then you’ll be no use anyway. What if you decide to close your eyes for a split second but found out that it was for ten minutes, and when you woke up we were all being attacked? You would’ve failed. Trust me, we can work around this.”
Craig nodded, noting the sympathy around him. It was time for him to accept that he needed a rest. “Okay, okay, you guys win. I’ll have half an hour to recharge my batteries, but don’t let Mike know. You know what he’s like, George.”
George agreed to the request. Craig headed for the same van that Blake was in, but upon entering it noticed that Karen was distressed and shaky. Blake was patching up the deep scratches on her arm. “What’s caused this?” Craig asked.
“That stupid freak dug its nails into Karen, but she’ll be fine now.”
“I don’t want to sound nasty or anything, but don’t you think your wife’s a danger to us all now this has happened?”
“Don’t be stupid, man. She wasn’t bitten, and you have to be bitten for the disease to spread through your body.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“That’s what Mike said, and I’m sticking to what he told everyone…”
There was no point in them arguing over this, not now, not while the person they were referring to was actually in the same room. Blake had to be more convincing because Craig was staring very hard at Karen’s injury.
“Come on Craig, have faith. We all need a little bit of faith at this time.”
“I pray, and hope you’re right on this, Blake.” Both men took another lengthy stare at Karen’s wound. “This is your call. If Mike says anything, then you’re on your own.”
“This is something I’ll deal with if it happens. Cheers for this.”
What else could the officer do? Apart from drag her outside and shoot her in cold blood. Craig watched as the female clung to her partner with the look of fear stitched to her skin. He then sent out a nervous smile before heading for the spare bedroom.