Ridgetown: A Zombie Apocalypse Novel Read online

  The creatures closest to the vehicles held out their arms in a pitiful attempt to grab the people inside. Helen's truck decimated any zombie that was unlucky enough to stand in front of it, any stood either side risked losing limbs or hunks of flesh. The cars following Helen also collected trophies of the zombies that got too close. Sharp edges on the vehicles cut into the soft flesh of the rotting corpses, peeling skin off fingers and tearing existing wounds and gaping sores. A zombie lunged into the path of Dennis's car and was rewarded with two shattered kneecaps, crumbling to the floor never to stand again.

  Mark looked forwards again, noticing that they were rapidly slowing down. Mercifully there were only a few more zombies to break through before the only hazards on the road were abandoned and crashed cars. The bumpy ride that the truck was subject to suddenly became smoother and the last zombie's head struck against the side of the truck.

  Once through the horde, Helen continued driving for a few moments to make sure they were clear before stopping for the others to catch up. She looked in the wing mirrors, seeing the opening they had made begin to start closing up with more of the undead. Blood was spattered all over the windscreen, she tried the wipers but was only successful in smearing the dark mucus like substance across the window.

  "They're coming."

  She heard Mark shout and activated the washer jets for the windscreen, turning the dark colour lighter as it slowly started to dilute and wash away. First she saw Liz's car emerge, the front painted in guts and tissue. A few seconds later, Dennis also emerged and Helen instantly set off, aware that some of the zombies were breaking away and following them. She maintained a constant speed that allowed them to keep in front of their pursuers whilst staying close enough to keep them chasing. When they reached the next junction, she waited as Mark shouted through the window.

  "Wait for them to catch up a bit more then turn left here and floor it. If we can lose them they might end up shambling off harmlessly. Turn left again when you get to the minimarket and you'll soon see the church. Turn right at the church and you'll get to the gate we used earlier, we'll need to dump the cars as soon as we get in and warn everyone."

  Mark had barely finished speaking when Helen decided it had been long enough. She turned the truck sharply and headed down the road, leading the convoy. Her adrenaline was still flowing from driving through the zombies and she knew that the day was only going to get more dangerous. She shared Mark's feeling that the horde was heading for Ridgetown and it concerned her how they were acting. They moved like they all had a single objective, just like they had when they had ambushed her and Mark at the pub the other day. The inhabitants of Ridgetown were going to have a fight on their doorstep and Helen was nervous about how strong the walls of their estate really were.

  Helen pulled up to the gate at Ridgetown and waited as Ryan pressed the button on the dash to open the gate. As soon as the gap was wide enough, the three vehicles entered and pulled up outside Liz's house. Everyone emptied out onto the road and Mark instantly began giving people jobs to do, it was clear to Helen that he had been planning what to do in his head while they were on the way here.

  "Allister, I want you and Ryan to go back out and head towards the park. Decide between you if you'd be better going in armour or on bikes, choose whichever you'd feel more comfortable doing. If that horde is on its way here, that's where they'll be coming from. What traps have we got down there?"

  "We've got the car bomb." Allister replied.

  "Good, that should take a few out. Make sure you take a radio and keep us updated of how many there are and any specials that are with them. If we're lucky, I'm wrong about them heading here and you'll have nothing to report."

  Luke stepped forward. "Don't you want me to send the drone out so you can keep Allister and Ryan here?"

  "No, we need someone to set up the car bomb and stop as many of them reaching here as possible. From what we saw of the size of that horde, they'd break down the gates too quickly. Luke, I want you and Liz to get the word out to everyone what's going on and tell them to prepare for a siege. We've talked over siege plans at meetings before and we made those checklist things for people. People should know where they're reinforcing and where their defensive points are."

  "I'll help Dennis get Scott somewhere safe and then get the guns out of the lock up." Ishaq was slightly hunched as he spoke, clearly still suffering from his rib injury.

  "Scott will be safe in my house, he won't have to be moved too much either." Liz added.

  "Okay, thanks Liz, that sounds good. Ishaq, I don't want you running round injured."

  "I'm fine."

  "Now's not the time for heroics Ishaq, you need to be careful. Otherwise you could end up getting yourself and/or someone else into trouble and no one wants that."

  Ishaq sighed and nodded slowly, not liking what Mark was saying but agreeing with his logic.

  "Instead, I want you in constant contact with Ryan and Allister as well as me. You're gonna be our contact point, constant communication with all of us."

  Ishaq nodded more enthusiastically, still unhappy not to have a more hands on role but glad to be doing something useful.

  "Helen, you come with me to the lock up for the guns. Have you ever fired a rifle before?"

  Helen shook her head.

  "We have more guns than people who have used them and I think you would be a good candidate to use one. Firearms are going to be the next line of defence, stopping the horde before it reaches the gates so we need to have as many guns being used as possible. Luke and Liz, you guys take radios as well to keep in contact. Does everybody know what they are going?"

  Everyone gave a positive response either by nodding or verbally saying yes, each person looked concerned or scared but they all looked ready to go.

  "Okay guys. We can do this. No horde of shambling corpses is going to ruin our community. We've worked hard to get Ridgetown to where it is today and we're not letting these things undo that. Stay safe everyone, let's go. Helen, come with me."

  Everyone split up in their separate directions, Helen followed Mark in the direction of his house. The adrenaline was building again. She'd never fired a gun before in her life, she'd played paintball but doubted it was very similar. Despite her reservations, the idea of going hand to hand with a horde that size terrified her. The other night had been too much of a close call and that had been a fraction of the size. Keeping her distance was something she was keen to do but she refused to run and hide, she was needed in this fight and she was determined to make a difference to the outcome.

  "I don't suppose you know how to use a bow and arrow?"

  The question caught Helen off guard, "No, sorry."

  "We've got a couple of sets, people have been learning how to use them but I was kind of hoping you'd be a champion archer."

  "Do you think I look like a champion archer?"

  "You don't not look like one." Unsure if his response made sense, Mark laughed aloud.

  Helen took it as a compliment and smiled, partly smiling because of his idiotic laugh. She admired Mark's ability to deal with the stress of the situation, keeping a sense of humour in such a desperate situation. Less than an hour ago, she had been incensed by him after the teasing but it was nearly impossible to stay mad at him. His upbeat personality was infectious and in times like this, that was exactly what people needed.

  They walked briskly and Mark told anyone he saw that there was an incoming horde, not to panic and to find Luke or Liz for more information. Helen respected how he kept the people calm when he told them by keeping calm himself. He was very matter of fact with what he said, not giving false hope and telling people it would be fine, giving them clear instructions and giving them an objective.

  "How long would supplies last if they get through the gates?" Helen asked.

  "If they made it inside and we were forced to wait it out, we'd probably be good for a couple of days. But we aren't going to let it get that far. Our whole ethos rev
olves around not underestimating these creatures or becoming complacent with them, if we let them inside people would assume they were safe by staying upstairs in their houses."

  "They would, wouldn't they? I thought that was the reason you'd modified these houses like you have."

  "Think how much harder it would be to get rid of them once they were inside the estate. You've seen those jumping ones before, a broken set of stairs wouldn't do much to stop one of those. The sheer numbers would destroy property and force people into making deadly mistakes. Also, if they made it inside and we cleared them out without many problems, then the next time they attacked, people here wouldn't be as worried. They'd be defending the walls thinking that it didn't matter if the zombies broke through because it had happened before. That's where the complacency comes in and we can't afford to let it."

  They had reached what Helen assumed was Ishaq's house. As with every other house in Ridgetown, they headed round the back. Unlike the other houses, Ishaq's entrance consisted of blocks of wood that had been screwed into the wall, leading up to the standard gaping hole that served as the entrance. Instantly Mark began climbing, using each block as a hand grip and then a foot grip. He had reached the top in a matter of seconds and was lifting himself into the building before Helen had even started climbing. Once inside, he turned to look at her progress and was surprised to see her still standing at the bottom.

  "You okay climbing up?"

  "Yeah, sorry. I just wasn't sure if you wanted me to come up."

  "Of course, I'm going to need your help with the guns."

  Hearing the word guns made Helen feel nervous. It was funny how she associated them with something violent considering how her skills with an axe had developed over the last few months. Guns still seemed something illegal, something she could get into trouble for being involved with, despite the world turning on its head.

  Hesitantly, she began to climb the house. She grew more confident the higher she climbed and nearly threw herself into the room at the top. Instinctively she strode through the only door in the room and onto the landing. The door at the far end of the hall was now open and she could here Mark inside. She walked in and was surprised by what she saw.

  The wall in front of her had rifles and shotguns hanging on hooks, each with a thick black outline painted around it. The guns were behind a cage that had been fashioned out of multiple layers of thick chicken wire. The joints were crudely but effectively welded together and the front was split into two pieces, held together by a thick chain threaded through it and fastened with a thick padlock that Mark had unlocked.

  "We keep them locked up because they make a lot of people feel uneasy. We voted as a community and about half said they would be more comfortable if they were kept under lock and key, most others said they weren't bothered either way so it seemed like an obvious thing to do."

  "That sounds really sensible, I think I'd have to agree."

  Mark split the guns into two piles and strapped them together.

  "Can you carry one if I take the other?"

  "No problem, I'm not gonna shoot myself in the leg if I fall on my butt, am I?"

  "No, none of them are loaded. Which reminds me, I'll split the ammo into two bags as well."

  As Mark finished filling the second bag, they heard the explosion. Mark shot a concerned look at Helen.

  "That was the car bomb. Either it's gone off by accident or the horde has reached it already, neither of those is a good thing. We need to get back to the gates."

  Helen followed Mark to the entrance and watched how he climbed down, copying his method to make sure she got down as quickly and carefully as possible. They jogged back towards Liz's house, Mark with a hurried urgency that Helen managed to match despite how cumbersome the guns made it. They could see the smoke rising in the near distance, billowing into the sky like a warning signal. Helen hoped that Ryan and Allister were okay, Mark's concern wasn't very reassuring.

  When they reached the gate near Liz's, a couple of people she didn't recognise were already waiting. Mark began to unpack the guns as he asked for an update.

  "Has anyone spoken to Ishaq? Has he heard from Ryan or Allister?"

  Luke came running over to Mark as if he had heard him asking.

  "Ryan's dead."

  Everyone within earshot stopped what they were doing and was silent for a moment. When it was apparent no one was going to speak, Luke continued.

  "He and Allister had set up the car bomb but it didn't go off when the horde reached it. Allister said they were watching from a safe distance and Ryan said the detonator must have failed. He asked what they should do next and Ryan didn't say anything, he just stood up, gave a smile and ran towards the car. Allister said he watched Ryan hack at a bunch of zombies as he fought through them towards the car and jumped inside."

  "Was he bitten?"

  Helen didn't recognise the voice, a male, but he sounded concerned.

  "I don't know but Allister said two of those leapers started attacking the car shortly after Ryan got in. He must have set the bomb off manually, from the inside. Took both the leapers and a decent chunk of the horde with him."

  Despite trying to sound upbeat about the number of zombies Ryan had taken out, Luke sounded choked up and on the verge of tears. Helen felt like she barely knew Ryan but even she felt gutted about the news, she could see by the look of loss and devastation on everyone's faces that he was very popular.

  "What about Allister?" Mark asked.

  "Don't know. He didn't contact again. Ishaq keeps trying to contact him but he's not responding. He's either gone dark or...."

  Luke let his sentence trail off instead of finishing it. He didn't want to add to what was already a mourning group.

  "Right." Mark climbed on a nearby table and addressed the crowd. "Just like I feel about most of you, Ryan was like a brother. Now is not the time for his eulogy, he deserves more than a few words before a battle and he'll get it. But you all know as well as I do that he would be livid if he thought he had made such a big sacrifice just for us to blow it by moping round following his loss. He'd be expecting us to kick some ass and that's exactly what we're going to do."

  Someone cheered in agreement.

  "We're going to stop these things before they even get inside our town."

  Another cheer, this time by a couple of people.

  "And it's not just in memory of Ryan or Allister, it's because we've built this place and it's our home. Let the loss of anyone you've loved spur you on to fight harder, but fight because we deserve to live and no one or nothing is going to take our home from us!"

  This time, everyone cheered and even Helen felt herself getting caught up in Mark's encouragement. She felt energised and ready to fight, ready to defend this place that was beginning to feel more and more like somewhere she could see herself living.

  People ran around, handing out weapons to each other, reinforcing walls and gates, keeping a look out for the horde. Helen didn't really know what to do, she wondered whether she should find Liz and tell her about Ryan incase she didn't already know but decided she would be needed here more.

  As if on cue, Helen heard her name being mentioned. She looked up to the platform in front of her where Mark was talking to an older man, around the same age as Dennis, but more frail looking. He was holding one of the rifles they had brought from the house and Mark was passing him another. When Mark saw Helen looking at them, he beckoned her over.

  She lifted herself onto the platform that was just above waist height and stood between them. Instantly, she could see clearly over the wall but was still protected by it up to her chest. She scanned the surrounding area, looking for any sign of the approaching horde or even a single zombie.

  "This is Tom. He's going to show you how to use one of these rifles, I really think you'd be able to keep your cool."

  "Nice to meet you Helen, wish it could have been under better circumstances."

  Helen was surprised at how polite and
well spoken he sounded. Tom had a weathered face topped with grey, nearly white hair, kept quite short at the back and sides and allowed to grow a bit longer on top despite it starting to thin. Unkempt stubble added to the aged look along with an ill-fitting body warmer and oversized shirt underneath. She expected him to sound a bit rougher, purely based on how he looked, making her feel slightly embarrassed she had judged him so quickly.

  Mark continued, "I'm going to go and check on where the rest of the town is up to while Tom shows you how to shoot. I'll be back though, so don't worry."

  That last comment earned him a raised eyebrow from Helen.

  "I understand that sounded a bit condescending." He was deliberately speaking slowly, as if through thick glass, to make himself sound like he was talking down to her. "I don't really know how to fix that so I'm going to run away for a bit." He bowed his head and backed away as if he was keeping eye contact with a wild animal whilst trying to escape.

  His idiotic behaviour worked and Helen cracked a smile, despite trying her best not to. "Just go. Before I start using idiots for target practice."

  Helen suddenly remembered about the seriousness of the situation and the loss of Ryan and felt guilty. She turned her attention back to Tom and focused herself again.

  Tom gave a reluctant smile as he gave her a rifle.

  "Any kind of experience with a firearm at all? Clay pigeon shooting or anything like that?"

  "I've been paintballing and used a bb-gun but I've never even touched a real firearm."

  "Okay, well this is going to be a bit of a crash course. It's not that difficult, I'll stick to the basics and you'll be fine. Mark sang your praises saying how clever you are so I'm not worried about you taking it in."