Ridgetown: A Zombie Apocalypse Novel Page 19

  Luke and Helen raised their weapons as they entered the estate. A legless zombie crawled along the floor towards them, one arm outstretched as if begging for help, snarling and baring its teeth. Helen readied her axe and slowly walked to meet it, the zombie crawling faster as she got closer. Before she reached it, an arrow pierced the side of the zombie's skull and pinned it to the ground.

  Helen looked for the source of the arrow and saw the older female archer she had seen earlier on. She was hanging out of the top window of the closest house on the street. She waved slowly with a sense of mournfulness, although pleased to see they were still alive. Helen looked round the houses and saw a few more people at windows, she didn't recognise any but could see from Luke's reaction that he did. Luke jogged over to the archer and called up to her.

  "Eleanor, have you seen Mark or Liz?"

  "Not since they went over the wall."

  Luke was about to run back to Helen before stopping himself and shouting up to her again, "We'll go and find them, are you okay here?"

  She smiled at him, again tinged with sadness. "We're fine, picking off the last couple of stragglers. You guys be careful."

  "Where would they go?" Helen asked as he ran over to her.

  "Let's just follow the bodies."

  The bodies outside the wall of the estate made their pile of bodies in the playcentre look insignificant. More spread out but the numbers still dwarfed Helen and Luke's kill count. Across the road was a trail of bodies that branched off from the site in front of the gates, heading down the road opposite. Luke and Helen followed it to the big fields that Helen had followed Mark to the other day. They saw the wake of dead zombies trail off in three directions on the field and at the end of each trail were Mark, Liz and a third person Helen didn't recognise. It was a young man with a shaved head. He was tall and, despite wearing full armour, looked very slim. Helen suspected it was the armoured person she had seen earlier although he had now removed his helmet.

  Each of them was tackling the last couple of remaining zombies and all of them looked exhausted. They were covered in blood and Helen hoped that none of it was their own. She'd never seen anyone infected simply by ingesting or inhaling zombie blood but she didn't like to think about how much they had been exposed to considering the sheer amount of corpses they had just run past.

  Mark hacked slowly at his last two zombies, struggling to muster the strength to swing the pickaxes a final two times. The first one killed the zombie instantly but the second glanced off its shoulder as it darted forwards to close the gap between them. Mark let out a guttural roar as he kicked it in the chest and stepped forward. Before it could steady itself, he kicked it again sending it sprawling to the floor. Instantly it began to sit up only for its face to meet with Mark's boot, kicking it with as much force as he could manage. Its head snapped back and its shoulders thudded against the floor. Again, it instantly started to sit up but this time its forehead was met with the blade of Mark's pickaxe, having dropped one so he could swing the other with both arms. The axe went through the creature's forehead and poked out of the top of its skull, curving back towards Mark. He sandwiched its jaw down against the floor with his left foot and ripped the pickaxe free, bringing half of the zombie's skull and brains with it. It finally fell back down and stayed down. Mark dropped to his knees and rested his hands on the ground, Helen couldn't tell if he was going to be sick or about to pass out.

  A loud grunt by Liz made Helen look over to see her stab through the skull of her final zombie, releasing the button on her wrist blade allowing it to retract itself and saving her from having to waste energy by pulling it free. Exhausted, she too dropped to the floor, laying on her back on the short grass.

  The other survivor had killed his final zombie and was doubled over, leaning on his improvised sword that he had stuck into the ground to act as a post. He stood with his hands resting on the handle of the weapon, his feet far back and spread apart and his head hanging low between his arms. Occasionally he would look up to make sure he was safe before allowing his head to flop back down.

  Luke crouched down next to Mark while Helen knelt next to Liz, neither of them spoke for a while, allowing everyone to rest.

  It was Mark who spoke first, "Ridgetown?" He spat the word out between deep breaths, both syllables filled with hope and worry.

  "It's okay. Looks like it's taken a beating but they've got it under control. We'll take you guys back and make sure it's empty of anything undead. We need to have you all checked over though, you look like you're about to have some kind of seizure."

  Mark turned his attention to the other two, "Liz, Gaz, you alive?"

  The two moaned in unison, unable to verbalise a response but it was good enough for Mark.

  Luke had to help Mark get to his feet, the added weight of the armor making it twice as difficult. Liz and Gaz were able to walk unaided albeit very slowly, Helen walked between them just incase they needed help. Gaz had a limp that developed enough for him to need to use his weapon as a walking stick as they got closer to the estate.

  As they approached the entrance to Ridgetown they saw the metal gates back up. The gap in the wall at the top where the mechanism had been attached to the bricks hinted that the gates weren't functional, it quickly became more apparent as they got closer and saw that a truck had been parked lengthways across the gates to keep them in place.

  "Hey, can someone let us in?" Luke shouted as they got closer.

  Excited voices came from the inside of the wall followed by the sound of someone getting in the truck. It started and reversed slightly revealing Scott and Dennis who were waiting on the other side. Dennis pulled one of the gates open to let them in while Scott looked frustrated at not being able to help, his leg heavily bandaged and a crutch under each arm to help him move around. No one spoke until everyone was inside and the truck was back in place blocking the gate.

  "It's good to see you're okay." The voice from the truck belonged to Ishaq, he hopped out and went to help Luke carry the weight of Mark who removed his arm from around Luke and began to walk unaided. "I kept trying to get hold of Allister but I haven't had a response. I'll try again but it's not looking good."

  "How many have we lost? Have we done a headcount?"

  Mark stopped walking as he asked, wanting to know the answer before they got too close to other residents. He wanted to stay as positive as possible under the circumstances, knowing that people would be looking for a competent leader now more than ever.

  "We've not done an official count but I don't think we've lost many. When all of you went over the wall, you took the majority of the horde with you. We managed to stay on top of what was left pretty well. Eleanor said Hannah and Joseph got grabbed from the platform, I've seen Ste, Kobe and Tom's bodies near the entrance."

  "Tom got killed by a Leaper that was going to kill me."

  Everyone looked at Helen.

  "He saved my life without even hesitating."

  "That the same Leaper that Liz saved me from?" Ishaq asked.

  "Yeah, that one."

  Liz gave a sorrowful smile to Ishaq acknowledging his thanks.

  "Are we happy with the gate? I can tell it will take a lot of work to get it back to normal but is it secure for now?" Mark's leadership persona continued to shine through.

  "Yeah, we can get straight back on it tomorrow but it's safe for today." Ishaq replied.

  "Gather everyone together. We need to know exactly who we've lost, check the perimeter and tend to any injuries. We'll set up a field hospital type set up in the gardens between the houses, gather everyone there."

  They all headed towards Liz's house with minimal conversation. They went to the garden area round the back and split up. Liz climbed the ladder into her house to get some water and some medical supplies, Ishaq, Luke and Gaz headed in different directions to spread the word that everyone was to meet in the centre section. Helen waited with Dennis and Scott, relaying to them what she and Luke had done and liste
ning to what happened to them.

  Despite the suggestion to take Scott to Liz's house, they had initially stayed in the transmission room with Ishaq armed with sword-like weapons. They had been told that it would be the safest place for them to be and allow Ishaq to concentrate on keeping communications going without having to worry about keeping his wits about him.

  Dennis and Scott, being the people they are, quickly got itchy feet staying in one place when there was a war going on outside. Ishaq also felt like they could be more use outside and told them to help people on the wall, running spears and ammunition whilst staying close enough to be able to every-so-often check in on him for updates and to make sure he was okay. Scott had tried to be as useful as possible by checking if people needed anything and then passing the requests on to Dennis.

  When Ishaq had heard the commotion from the Leaper coming over the wall, Dennis and Scott had been handing out ammunition. When they came back to check on him, the gate had been compromised and Ishaq was helping to fight back the horde pouring in. The zombies began to force the residents back despite the others going over the wall and leading most of them away, they fought as long as they could before Ishaq shouted for everyone to retreat upstairs in the closest houses, recognising the advantage it would give them.

  From the relative safety of upstairs, the Ridgetowners had dispatched the last of the zombies similar to how Luke and Helen had been killing them in the playcentre, spearing or shooting them from above. Even though there were only around a hundred zombies left, they made a mess of some of the platforms that had been built between the houses that hadn't been built anticipating having to survive an assault of any kind.

  Seeing the downed platforms and battered defenses of the lower floor windows and doors, Helen thought about what Mark had said about taking their safety for granted. She had genuinely thought that staying upstairs in their houses would allow the residents of Ridgetown to survive any kind of siege, now she knew better. The thought of the entire horde smashing through those gates in one single contingent was terrifying, they would have torn through it and rocked the foundations of the buildings.

  Slowly, a crowd began to gather in the fields between the houses. There were still a couple of corpses scattered around which some of the residents were quick to move into the street. People talked in a hushed murmur, some hugged as they saw each other for the first time since the attack had begun, elated to see each other again. Others weren't so happy, they consoled each other as they told of people that had been lost. Helen overheard one man mention Ryan's name and another man gasp in shock. Ryan had clearly been a popular member of the community and Helen wasn't surprised. Mark ascended the platform of Liz's house and addressed the crowd.

  "We're alive."

  Everyone stopped talking and listened to Mark.

  "I don't know how that horde knew to come here, or how they grouped together. I don't know why now or if we'll ever find out, but it's done. You all pulled together and showed what we can do as a community. Some of our community didn't make it but every one of them made us proud, their deaths have shown us that we have some improvements to make, but I want you all to look at your success. You were all survivors before you came here and you're still surviving together. We can make our defenses stronger and the next time something like this happens, we'll be more prepared."

  Helen looked at the crowd, everyone was entranced by Mark as he spoke.

  "I say next time because I'm not going to lie to you, you deserve better than that. This attack was something unprecedented, but it could happen again tomorrow, that's the world we live in now. It's not going away any time soon so we need to adapt to it as best we can."

  "You've shown you can fight, now we need to rebuild. We'll set up a patrol rota for the next few days and nights. As always, I ask for volunteers, you've never let me down before. If anyone needs any supplies, let us know, we've got enough and now is the time to use them. Ishaq?"

  Ishaq waved from below.

  "Would you mind staying here for a bit and taking orders?"

  "No probs."

  "Okay, let my lovely assistant Ishaq know what you need and we'll bring it to you. We can do this, none of you are alone anymore. Thank you."

  A few people clapped, to which Mark smiled and nodded his head in thanks. As he approached the lift to lower himself to ground level, more people started to clap and a few cheered. The clapping grew in noise and energy, Ishaq climbed on a pile of scrap metal and joined in the clapping, loudly and excitedly, howling like a wolf.

  Mark started laughing as did a few other people, Helen saw Liz smile for the first time since she had heard about Ryan. Mark climbed up a few of the rungs on the ladder he had used to get up the platform and joined in with Ishaq's clapping, encouraging the crowd to cheer.

  "Yeah! Be excited! Be happy, you're all amazing!" He started pointing at random people like a TV evangelist. "You're amazing! You're amazing! You're...... Slightly above average, but you, next to average guy, you're amazing!"

  People were laughing and cheering, even Helen couldn't help herself. She began clapping and smirking, she even cackled when she noticed Scott, who was totally enthralled like a child at the circus with Dennis clapping slowly behind him like a reluctant parent.

  Mark climbed down the steps and approached Helen, still clapping and cheering.

  "Are you guys gonna stop around for a few days? You can stay with Liz and we'll get Dennis and Scott somewhere to stay, or you can all stay together if you prefer?"

  "No, staying with Liz would be fine. It's nice to have a bit of girl company, plus I think she might value the companionship after Ryan. Were they an item?"

  Mark sighed, "They were never officially a couple but everyone could see they were destined to be. I think Liz would like that, that'd be really nice. Thank you."

  Helen looked across at Liz whose smile had wavered and although her mouth still smiled, her eyes were sad once again.

  "And I can think of someone else who would LOVE you to stay." Mark pointed at Luke with his eyes.

  Helen followed his eyeline and caught Luke looking at her. As soon as he noticed her, Luke looked away sharply and started looking all around him to avoid her gaze, pretending he hadn't been watching her but doing an awful job. Helen couldn't help but laugh and feel flattered.

  "I'll get Ridgetown online and help set up some of the things Luke was talking about. He's got some good ideas that could really help keep an eye on the surrounding areas and give some early warnings."

  She hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to say what she wanted to next.

  "You're a really good leader."

  Mark looked surprised. He hadn't gotten used to being called a leader, originally trying to put people off referring to him as such after losing the apartments. However, as he'd seen people react positively to the idea of him being a leader, he'd begun to embrace it, telling himself it was just for the sake of positivity rather than for his own ego.

  "Thank you. I don't really consider myself a leader though, it just seems to help people."

  "I've watched how they all look up to you, then listen to whatever you say and do whatever you ask. And it's not because they're scared of you, it's because they respect you and believe you. You really do have their best interests at heart and you make good decisions. You listen as well, I think people really have time for someone who will listen to what they say."

  Helen worried that she was rambling or inflating Mark's ego too much. She hadn't seen him being big headed but she didn't want to give him a God-complex, just let him know what she thought.

  "Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I've seen what you do and you're doing a good job. I'm sure people tell you all the time, but you're doing a great job."

  "Actually, no. It's not something people ever say."

  Mark sounded like it was something he hadn't even thought about before, that surprised Helen and saddened her slightly. She knew how it felt to be underappreciated and, althoug
h she thought Mark felt far from under appreciated, she knew that it was something that everyone needed.

  "Look at them." Helen motioned towards the residents, still clapping along with everyone.

  Mark looked at the residents of Ridgetown cheering and clapping to a beat while some of them danced and Gaz lead chants that he made up for people to sing back to him. It made him feel good to see them happy.

  "An hour ago, they were fighting for their lives. Some of their friends and family didn't make it and the town they consider to be their salvation was invaded. But now they're celebrating being alive. Sure, they've had to save themselves, but you've played a big part in that. You lead the initiative over the wall leading the horde away and people, including me, followed you. Because we knew that you were willing to die to protect us and we were willing to do the same."

  She put a hand on his shoulder.

  "You're doing great. Keep going, you can do this."

  If she didn't know any better, Helen would have said that Mark looked choked up. His bottom lip quivered slightly and he blinked rapidly.

  "Thanks." His voice broke and he coughed a few times to cover it. "Ahem, excuse me. Thanks, that's very kind of you to say."

  He quickly straightened up and walked away round the edge of the crowd, Helen followed.

  "Did you nearly cry just now?" She shouted to him.

  "No." Mark didn't turn round and carried on walking.

  "Oh my God, you did. Didn't you?" Helen jumped at the opportunity to tease Mark, just as he had teased her and Luke.

  "No." He shouted louder, trying to sound bored. He quickened his pace and moved into the crowd of survivors, people patted him on the back and cheered for him as he passed.

  "Luke! Luke!" Helen shouted to Luke and he made his way straight over to her, still following Mark. "I think I've found a way of making Mark cry like a little girl."

  "Brilliant, I'll get a camera." He excitedly disappeared into the crowd.

  Helen felt optimistic about the future again. She continued to chase Mark, eager to continue teasing him. She still wanted to get her safe house repaired and secure again but she had to admit the idea of staying in Ridgetown, at least for a while, was very appealing. She'd have to speak to Dennis and Scott about it and see what they thought. But for now, she had a leader to belittle.