Clifton Falls (31 page)

THIRTY-NINE
(SATURDAY)

Blake made it to the cemetery without a sniff of trouble. There’d been no sighting of any infected animals nor had there been any transformed humans. He placed his wife down and took a breather, but was shocked by the change in her complexion. The wound had turned purple, her veins became more and more noticeable, and her face was swollen. The poor woman’s health had definitely deteriorated very quickly. Blake could see this, but still remained focused on making Karen better. He needed to keep her hopes up for as long as he could.

He carefully examined the area around his car for any signs of zombies before attempting to reach it, but even though the mentioned zombie wasn’t to be seen, it didn’t mean it wasn’t nearby. Blake was extremely lucky that the darkness wasn’t causing his eyesight to fade. The forest was very dark, but in the open it wasn’t so bad and he could just about see the things close to him.

He needed to leave Karen for a few seconds and locate a weapon of some kind, just in case the creature showed up.
“Karen, darling,” he whispered.
Her eyes flickered as she fought desperately to keep them open.

Blake could hear Karen coughing and spluttering but could do nothing except watch as the life slowly drained out of her. It now burned him up inside, so he gave up the chance of an explanation and just went off to do what needed to be done. Within seconds he found a reasonably sized tree branch that would make a great addition to his non-existent armoury.

He moved back and escorted Karen to her feet. With both eyes whipping from left to right, and a useful tool in one hand, Blake held her close while attempting to reach his vehicle. After much struggling and panting he finally managed to deliver his wife to the destination point. He leaned her against the car while fumbling inside his pockets to find the keys. It was a miracle that she remained upright. The keys were found and a smiling Blake now thought of freedom and acquiring some serious help for his beloved. What Todd had told him earlier was erased from his memory. Somehow, the cliff-top of past thoughts had too many to maintain and the evil one, the vital and needed one, had fallen off the edge.

It was too late to try rescuing that memory now because the beast had spotted them. It’d been stalking them since they’d arrived at the graveyard but had been waiting for an opportunity to strike. Blake was so absorbed with helping Karen into the car that he failed to see the beast approach. The first he knew of the danger was when the crazy creature smacked him around the face, forcing him to crash into the now, non-heart beating woman. Both bodies sprawled to the ground but Blake made a swift recovery. He rose to his feet as the culprit moved in on his wife. The zombie sighed as it reached her because she wasn’t fresh meat anymore.

Blake wasn’t to know that she would soon become one of them and now had crazy thoughts of betrayal. He stood holding the keys. All he had to do was get in the car while the zombie fed on his wife and he would be free, but that thought drifted away rather quickly.

He raised his left hand and rushed over to the creature, giving the elderly looking, toothless, female corpse a wicked uppercut on its chin. He watched it topple over before racing over to help Karen, but he could see she was dead. Now was the time to leave her, but he couldn’t do it, how could he do it? She was his wife for God’s sake and he loved her very much, so hesitated. He carefully placed Karen in the back seat of the car, conscious that the zombie was staggering back to its feet. He quickly slammed the door while receiving the full attention of the shaken, but angry zombie. It reached out to grab him, but he was too quick minded, swerving out of the way and kicking out, forcing the creature to slump to its knees. A crazed boot print was embedded into the zombie’s face and this time it went down again.

Blake’s eyes became glazed, not with tears, but with anger. He was now angry at the world. He was angry that his wife had died so was now going to take it out on this unlucky zombie. Every time the beast tried to get up, he would kick it back down again. In Blake’s mind this monster wasn’t going to get away from him.

He was in full control of the situation so entered his car and rolled it a good distance away from the abandoned police car. He then exited, manoeuvred to the back before lifting up the boot to release a can of petrol. He wanted rid of this freak once and for all so, without any second thoughts, moved toward the beast, emptying most of the liquid substance over it. Blake was extremely lucky that the zombie didn’t grab him as he did this. It growled as a petrol line was made during Blake’s walk back to the car. Once sat in the driver’s seat again he released the handbrake. The car rolled forward and more petrol spilled out, keeping the line flowing, the line that would hopefully be this man’s saviour. He had the distance now and so stopped the spilling.

Blake finally stepped out of the car, taking the important steps for ‘Operation Zombie Bonfire’. He watched, waiting for the zombie to stagger in his direction and away from the other vehicle. It smelled its own tattered clothing but continued to move toward him. Blake looked fiercely at the zombie, not caring that he was about to destroy it forever. He pulled out a box of matches from his pocket, struck one, and threw it onto the line of petrol, shouting: “I hope you enjoy bonfires.”

The monster tried to quicken up its walk as the match neared the ground, but a strange blast of wind blew the flame out. Blake looked up to the heavens for help.

“Please, God, don’t let this plan fail me now. I thought you were on my side?”
This time he ignited the whole box.
Surely this would do the job
and it did. The line went up in a twisted, powerful, stranglehold burst of flames. The zombie could see the line racing toward it, but wasn’t fast enough to escape the orange and red, hot, snaking terror catching up with it. The beast burst into a ball of fire, screaming so realistically that for a second Blake thought he’d actually set fire to a human. He wasn’t thinking properly and knew that the zombie could change direction and head for the abandoned police car. If it did then he would have to drive out of there quick just in case the vehicle blew up. He was happy to see the creature collapse a good few feet away from the car, its arms waving around to try to put the fire out.
Blake watched the hot flames spread through the body of the beast, causing it to fall apart. The fire acted like acid, and the same vanishing effect happened. He inspected this pleasing sacrifice for a touch longer, watching the creature burn down to just piles of contaminated bone.
He returned to his car and started driving away, but Karen was now a transformed member of the living dead. She shot up behind him, wrapping deadly arms around his head which caused Blake to have a lack of vision. The car swerved and smashed into the metal, graveyard protector before finally halting. The latest zombie reincarnate was thrown head first into the back of Blake’s headrest. This gave him the chance to flee so he dived out of the vehicle, kicking the door shut. He watched the zombie recover again, but it wasn’t angry anymore. It just stared at him through the side window. Blake wanted out of this bad situation, wishing he could just run away, keep on running, but couldn’t. He knew he couldn’t leave the zombie in the car and would have to erase his former wife before this night was over. This was a horrific thought. Blake had to give himself sometime to adjust to this idea in order for him to succeed in the demolition of the latest breed of enemy. He couldn’t believe what he was about to try. He never imagined that he would harm Karen in any way shape or form, but now had to smack the shit out of a zombie that only a few days ago was making sweet passionate love to him.
Tears rolled off the tip of his chin, splashing to the ground like rocks dropping into water. This poor man had seen his wife suffer in life, and now had to make her suffer in death.
The zombie remained staring at Blake as he paced up and down in his battle to go through with the killing. He couldn’t let himself get drawn into the staring game because it would stop him from doing the right thing.
The time is now, not in another minute. The task needs to be done now
, he thought, as he walked over to pick up the branch again.
The zombie’s puppy dog stare changed and was replaced by a display of temper. It began to bang its fists on the window to gain his attention. Even though it unbalanced Blake, he was brave to ignore the thumping noises. He began the dreaded walk back to the car, holding the branch firmly between both hands. Occasionally he would practice the swing needed to execute the zombie. The creature halted its noise as soon as Blake neared, and the same saddened expression returned. Blake could easily tame this creature just by being near it.
The door opened and Blake retreated, but the zombie didn’t want to leave the car. This became harder to do with each second.
Why won’t you attack me?
he thought.
He had to make the first move to provoke it, but was a shaking mess and wished this was a joke. He moved closer, until he was able to prod the beast with the wooden object. He was allowed to do it. After three pushes the zombie lashed out and tried to grip the branch. Blake wasn’t falling for that and retreated some more. This time the monster followed him, but still wasn’t aggressive in its approach. The strange colouring around the creature’s face had turned into a rainbow. There must’ve been at least five or six shades mixed together to paint a picture of a distorted, aged female.
A few more heart racing seconds went by, but Blake couldn’t go through with the execution. He needed the monster to strike first, but the zombie seemed to feel his pain and knew why he was backing off. It now shed a few tears. Karen’s physical appearance had changed, but there was still a touch of human emotion inside. Blake hesitated. He began to put the weapon down and wasn’t sure of what to do next, but a loud growl blasted out of the creature’s mouth. It was a warning to prepare Blake for an attack. It moved toward him. This time the teeth showed and an aggressive manner took over. Diseased arms spread outwards. In an instant reaction Blake lifted up the branch and swung it at the beast’s head, splitting the skull. The zombie walked in a daze and fell over. Blake stopped the assassination and watched the defenceless creature try to regain its balance. “What am I doing? This isn’t my wife anymore,” he kept on telling himself.
He had to end this before he was finished.
Water filled eyes followed the movement of blood spilling from the wound but the iron gate vision was able to block out what was in front of him. The branch was raised again. The creature lifted its head, sending out a sorrowful, forgiving look at the person who was about to end its short stay in this world. “Sorry love, but you know I’ll always love you.”
Three, four, five more cracks followed to the zombie’s skull as its head banged against the car door. Blake finally stopped. He knelt down from exhaustion before dropping the blood-soaked weapon. A quiet word to the big man in the sky was required now. He told him to take care of Karen. She wasn’t evil. God would notice that before welcoming her into heaven with open arms.
Shattered by his terrible ordeal, Blake returned to the vehicle, shut all unnecessary doors and sat in the driver’s seat. One more droplet of water leaked. This one was for the memory of his darling wife. The key turned and the car started. Blake was very pleased with this, especially since the front had been caved in.
This man was in no fit state to drive home. In fact, he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to drive at all, yet he did. As the car drove along, Blake had no idea where he was going…

FORTY

Craig and Mike waited as patiently as they could for any sign of the enemy, whilst Kevin remained pretty much frozen to the spot. “Hey, chief, I’ve been here ages and I haven’t seen or heard anything.”

“Stop your moaning. You young ones have got no patience.”

The young cadet needed to have a sit down because being in this situation increased his frustrations to the limit.
“This isn’t funny, man. I feel stupid doing this.”
Mike nudged Craig, winking as he did so.
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Kevin, I’ll come down and change positions with you. Would you like me to do that?”
“Fuck, yeah. That would be the bomb, man.”
Mike never had a clue what all the mumbo-jumbo words spoken by the younger generation meant.
“I know you would be happy if I did that, but I’m the chief and you’re not. If you want paying this month then you do what I say. Is that right, Craig?”
“That’s about dead on, Mike.”
“Stop teasing me, chief. I’ll stay, but I don’t like it.”
They heard a shuffling noise closing in and so listened intently. Slowly, very slowly, the sound increased, nearing the young man. This left him imagining dangerous thoughts as he desperately tried seeing past the darkness.
Kevin tried to stand as still as a statue, but couldn’t stop shivering after hearing something move close to him. His gun hand neared his weapon and he was on the verge of losing control. He wanted to shoot into the darkness but knew the plan could fail if he didn’t do what he was told. He now hoped and prayed that the two officers were paying attention. Bushes behind him shook and branches snapped, so he slowly and carefully adjusted himself to see what was to come. Suddenly a strange, rotten odour drifted underneath his nose, and Kevin knew it was from a rotting corpse. That meant another dead zombie was coming for food.
Two corpses closed in, avoiding the lighted area, and after circling the petrified human for a few minutes, were now about to attack from both sides. These creatures from another world were doing a great job at confusing the young man, and he was lost to where they were. If Kevin worried about standing face to face with one of these monsters then he’d no chance of fighting them if they struck together. It was still difficult to see them clearly, so hoped that his faith in Mike and Craig was justified.
One zombie entered from beyond the darkness. Luckily for the young man it was the one he faced. Kevin never had time to get ready for the attack. The sound of a precise bullet echoed past his face before crashing through the zombie’s head. The force of this hurled the creature into the air before it thudded down to the ground. Kevin’s face was now an imprint of dark red, as blood spots were portrayed all over him. He looked like a sick patient with measles. He stared at the monster. He remained stunned because the bullet had come very close to killing him.
The other beast growled and entered the scene. This time Kevin spiralled out of control from the fear of being bitten, and was now scared for his life. He didn’t need to do anything but stand still, as another bullet found itself a new home inside this monster’s scalp. Somehow this beast remained standing. It growled at Kevin as the blood slipped down the front of its face. It wasn’t dying, and instead moved toward the terrified, young man.
Two more quick-fire shots were on their way, both reaching the designated target. The zombie’s face was squashed. Its eyeballs flew from their sockets, landing at Kevin’s feet. The monster was now finished and it too was left to rot on the grass below. The two men climbed down from the caravan and proudly walked over to the third one. Mike sensed Kevin was at breaking point, but there was no time for him to be caring. That time would have to wait for another day, if that day was to come.
“Are you still focused, Kevin?” the chief asked. Nothing, the young man still wasn’t moving. He now stared at the spot where the eyeballs had landed. “Kevin, are you still with us?” Mike asked again.
This time he returned the question with an answer: “I’m here. I’m not dead...”
He repeated the words a few more times, each effort releasing more ranges of exciting confidence from his vocal chords. Kevin wiped the blood from his face and laughed. He was a very lucky man and so now enjoyed the moment of being alive. “My God, I’m not dead.” He turned around to face his saviours. “You two were brilliant. I did have my doubts at first because you’re older than me and I thought that maybe your eyesight wouldn’t be up to the challenge, but you did it though, and I can’t thank you enough for that.”
All that standing around and all that time waiting for the foe to arrive had taken a great deal of strength, sweat and courage out of the young man, but here he was now full of life, jumping about like it was his fifth birthday party and he’d just received his presents.
“Cheeky fucker, we aren’t up there in the ranks for nothing. We can shoot a bit,” Mike replied.
Kevin smiled at the other person’s words, but Mike didn’t notice. He was mentally ticking off in his mind every zombie that’d recently returned from the grave, but was still unsure that all of them were accounted for.
As the men returned to the safer region of the caravan a quick count up was passed between them. Shane was the first to speak out once the others returned. “Mike, what’s happening? When’s this going to be over?”
The chief looked closely at the scientist, the reporter, and the foreman before deciding that these Muppets looked more like the Village People pop group than a surviving trio of a horror massacre. His first opinion was aimed at the unpredictable reporter. Put him in a crisis and it was like a time bomb ready to explode, chaos everywhere, but at the moment the bomb wasn’t close to being lit. Then he stared at the foreman, not much wrong with this man, apart from his ego. He’d survived an attack, just like Chris had, but was he going to let it drop and move on, or brag about it just to piss him off? Mike prayed he wouldn’t go there. The last person he stared at was the scientist, the master of disaster. He was the reason that this town had lost loved ones and why the dead were returning to life again. Mike had plans for this man if they both survived.
“I know you’re all impatient and worried, I can understand that, but I have to think about your safety as well as the people in this village. We’re on the verge of beating this virus so I’m asking you to be patient for a little longer. Now, can you do that?”
There was a sensation of slight tongue biting as the chief did the sensible chat. Chris placed his pen down and jumped into the conversation. “We aren’t going to sit in this shoebox and watch you guys have all the fun. It’s about time you let us help.” He lifted out of his seat. Was this bomb exploding time? “We all know how risky this is, so, if you want us to write down that if we get killed you won’t be responsible, then we will.” Chris tried persuading Todd and Shane to stand up and be counted. If they all got stuck in then this would be over sooner rather than later. “Are you two with me?” Chris finished.
Shane and Todd hadn’t expected that speech, but agreed with him. Mike however wanted to hear it from them. A slight nod of agreement wasn’t good enough for him to put his guard down on the subject. He knew Chris could probably sweet talk one of the zombies if he wanted to.
“Shane, you seemed worried when you asked about when this was going to be over, but now you want to get out there and kill these things. That’s a quick change in such a short time.”
“I was only asking about that because I haven’t fed the cat since yesterday morning.” He looked at his watch. “Let me rephrase that, it was Thursday morning when I last fed him.”
Mike couldn’t keep a straight face any longer and burst into a fit of laughter. This wasn’t expected. The scientist was a clown all of a sudden. Craig took over until Mike regained his serious side. “You were worried for the cat?”
“Yeah, if I don’t feed him then he’ll fuck off to one of those lonely old grannies. They’ll keep him locked inside and spoil him on the finest dishes of meat and fish. I can’t have him thinking I’m a complete bastard you know.”
“Okay. Let’s forget about the cat for a moment and start concentrating on here and now.” Craig looked over at the foreman. “Todd, are you definitely up for this?”
“I’m in,” he said, without any hesitation.
“And Shane, are you in?”
“Of course I am,” he answered with a smile.
Mike wasn’t going to argue over this, not now, not when they were so close to finishing off the enemy. He paused slightly before rallying the troops again. Something was bugging his mind and needed sorting out first. “Who’s going to stay here to look after the kid? I’m not risking him leaving yet.” It was now a case of ‘Eaney, meaney, miney, mo,’ but whom was Mike going to choose? “I’m not being funny Shane, but I want you to remain here.”
Mike had his reasons for why the scientist was to remain. He didn’t want to risk Shane becoming a victim of his own experiment. He was going to survive this ordeal and face up to it like a man. After this caravan, prison would probably be his next home.
Mike teamed up with Chris again, as the five men left the caravan. “I want you all to be careful. Todd’s already seen one of the forest rodents become a pain in the arse, so let’s hope there’s not an ambush of squirrels waiting for us.”
“I only saw one, Mike, so it could be a one off,” said Todd.
“But still, best be prepared,” Mike replied.
Craig was left to go solo as they headed off into the night. This time there was no turning back until the job was finished.