End of Days

This is a story my brother is currently writing and he as given me permission to share this with you.

Please put comments in comments thread. enjoy.



"End of Days"

August 2006

One last smoke and it would be all over, as John sat there with the last cigarette he would ever smoke, taking long hard draws on it, illuminating the corner of his own personal hell,he had already come to the conclusion that it would take a miracle to get out of this. The incessant pounding on the door had increased in the last few minutes, and pretty soon his friends would want him to join them, in the background he could hear the faint melodic tones of James Hetfield singing "nothing else matters" soon enough he would be correct.

Normally John would not be so shrewd with his smoking but he was intent on getting every last ounce of nicotine out of this smoke, despite the fact he hated Malboro lights, but looters can't be choosers. He gingerly rose from the chair in the corner of the room, surveying the carnage that was to be his last stand, his own version of Rourke's Drift, spent ammunition casings, a few fag butts strewn about, congealed blood, the remains of something long since gone, he had seen this many times before but this was different, there would be no great escape this time.

It was then his gaze was drawn to the small glass panel in the door, the last vestiges of natural light seeped in, but it wasn't the setting sun that got his attention. Looking back at him was a face he recognised, yet the essence of his life long friend had ceased to exist a few days before and all that remained was a pair of dark, empty, souless eyes, for a moment he thought back to the time Steve had saved his life, he had stupidly been heroic and found himself stuck up a tree, surrounded by THEM, facing the prospect of starving to death, that seemed an eon ago, they had been through a lot in the past few weeks. Times & dates meant little now, he only knew the month because of the rather cheap watch he had found a few days before.

The thought had crossed his mind to deal with Steve before the end but as time is running out (aswell as ammunition) if he was to help his friend find eternal peace, it had to be done and soon. John checked the magazine of his gun.......................................two bullets left.

Walking painfully towards the door, blood seeping from the wound in his stomach he had gotten a day earlier, simple first aid would have solved the problem, but somehow he didn't think that his GP would be able to fit him in. John came into view of the horde that was waiting outside, and with that a loud, almost ungodly moan arose, with that the pounding increased, fresh meat was back on the menu.

Steve was still at the window looking in, John thought "I need to help him, i was to blame for his predicament" Looking directly at his "friend" John thought he caught a glimpse of his old pal, but it must have been a trick of the rapidly fading light because all Steve, and his friends, wanted was to get to John (at that was not going to happen).

He decided! It had to be done, raising the pistol to the glass, pulling back the hammer was a struggle, John finally managed it on his third try, he aimed directly at Steve's head, one pull and he would be at rest, then he saw it, it was strange he had never been this up close and personal before so he wasn't sure if he was seeing things, Steve stopped moaning and gave what you could only describe as a smile, seemingly giving John his blessing. John said "sorry" and pulled the trigger, the glass immediately shattered, showering John with shards of double glazing and blood from the small entry wound.

Steve fell instantly, his body collapsing under the pressure from behind him, and was trampled on by what can only be described as a "woman" her hair (what was left of it) was matted with blood, her face was covered in bite marks, exposing her deathly grin to the world, parts of her shoulder were missing, she was maybe in her 20's, a few years younger than John and strangely, he thought she could have been attractive a few weeks ago, but right now he didn't really want to ask her out for a beer.

With the glass gone, the sound was un-bearable, the guttural moans would drive anybody insane in a few minutes, shredded arms grasped through the empty hole where the window once was, trying in vain to grab hold of John, the door would hold for now, but he wouldn't want to bet on it holding for too long, the sheer number of them would soon force the framework to give. John turned and went back to the chair, although he was in shadow, they weren't fooled, lunch was in that room and it wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

John poured himself a drink, cursing that he had no more fags left, shakingly; he reached for the glass of whisky, he needed the dutch courage right now, he was essentially a "chicken" but the alternative was too much to bear, he downed the foul smelling liquid in one gulp and immediatley wretched, the burning sensation kicked in right away, now he knew why he didn't drink anymore.

It was then that he thought back to 9/11, and how some of the people trapped in the towers decided to end it before they were consumed by the flames, he used to think "what the hell made them do it?" Now he knew what desperation really was.

He held the gun in trembling hands, not knowing what would become of him, not been slightly religous in his life ever bothered him since he lead an essentially good life, never been in trouble with the law, never broken any of the ten commandments (John loved Heston in that film) "OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS" chuckled John, those words seemed so prophetic now. Sadly in the last few weeks, John's personal beliefs had been severely tested, he had done things that he would never have imagined himself doing, he had seen things that made him wonder, if there was a soul, where would he go? One thing was for sure, he did what he did to survive, i'll answer for my crimes i'm sure he thought.

The creaking from the door frame was getting louder now and the moans, well the only thing they reminded John of was going to football matches when he was younger with crowds of maybe 40,000 people all groaning when his local team were going through a "restructuring phase" there were maybe 100-150 of those things outside the door now, clambering over each other in the corridor that lead to John's final resting place, drawn by the noise the others were making, but in this confined space, his eternal tomb as it were, there groans were amplified.

Slowly he raised the gun to his temple, he knew what had to be done, he would rather die then become one of them, it was then suddenly he remembered watching a program on TV about suicides, sometimes the bullet passed through the head without killing the person, just paralysing them, and the thought of been incapacitated when the door finally gave way gave him a jolt. so although he hated the thought of metal near his fillings in his teeth he placed the barrel in his mouth, he tasted the cool metal on his tongue, it made him gag, holding it there he thought "How the **** did it come to this?"

BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. There was a flash of brilliant light then it went dark...................................



Chapter 2. Same shit, different day.

Monday June 3rd 2006

It was a warm morning, usual for this time of year, although it had rained heavily through the night, the sun had been blazing since around 5am and dried the overnight downpour. The sun blasting through the curtains is what woke John up, he had been awake for a while before his alarm clock told him it was time to get up and face the world. John Davis was 33 years old and worked for a large faceless American coporation as an engineer, he had worked for them for around 13 years working his way through various departments until he got into the maintenance department. He hated his job, it was an endless monotany of people complaining that their machines weren't working, although he was quite an intelligent guy, he never really applied himself (various school reports said the same "has the ability, but doesn't try" the truth been that he found the work easy and often was bored).

When John was younger he had hoped to go to university and study to be a teacher, he wanted to make sure that what happened to him (neglected and labelled lazy) never happened to any other kid that has the ability and just wasn't pushed. But since all his friends had been leaving school and getting jobs (going out and getting drunk, sleeping about etc) he decided to have a year out which turned into the longest gap year in history (15 yrs and counting).

That's why John was often bitter about his life and how things could have turned out. He lived alone in his flat, one of six 2 bed flats in a block, the flat that was supposed to be a stop-gap until he and his girlfriend had saved to buy a house, but she had other plans, her name was Samantha and she was two years younger than John and had a child from a previous marriage, he had met Sam whilst she was going through her divorce. Sam never discussed why she and her husband were splitting up (something that came back to haunt him) so he never broached the subject.

John had been away with work commitments when he fell ill and had to come home early, thinking that it would be nice to suprise her, he didn't call to tell her,well he got a suprise he never would forget, arriving home in the early hours finding that she must have been cold whilst he was away, since she was cuddled up in bed with some guy.

John lost it, although he wasn't a violent person, the red mist had descended and he beat this man severely, to stop him Sam had to get in the way, knowing that no matter how angry he was, he wouldn't hit a woman. Subsequently John took her keys and kicked her and her boyfriend out. Before he closed the door, he asked "is this why you were divorced?" Sam turned and didn't speak, she didn't need to. John's heart sank as he closed the door, cursing himself for not seeing the signs, always believing that although you are in a relationship, it was important to have seperate lives and interests. The late night calls with no one on the other end, the reluctance of Sam to let John see the text's she got. Oh well he thought after calming himself with a rather large herbacious smoke, you live you learn.

That was six months ago, although she had attempted to rekindle the romance, John wasn't interested, the only regret he had was not seeing her daughter Katie, John had always wanted to be a father but due to various circumstances, it never had happened (the only real regret he had in his life). He doted on Katie and he loved her, she was the real victim in all this.

"Jesus i look rough" John thought has he looked in the mirror through bloodshot eyes, the last six months had been a blur, since he was single, the nights were long and sleep was a rarity. As the cold blade scraped across his face he decided to give it a rest for a while, since his liver was considering leaving him for someone else. Shaving was one of those things that John hated but needed to be done, he once considered growing a beard, but that would have made him look about fifty.

John made himself a strong coffee and sat down for his first smoke of the day, he flicked on Sky news to see what had been happening in the world, a report came on about how some stupid enviromentalist was banging on about global warming, apparently some rare flower was dying out because people were leaving their TV's on overnight, "****ing get a job" John thought has he lit his second fag of the day. The next report was saying that the Queen was unwell and wouldn't be able to travel for her next engagement to some far flung corner of the commonwealth. She had apparently been bitten by one of her corgi's.

Looking at the clock it was 6:20am, forty minutes before i best set off for the bus. John had been taking driving lessons and failed his driving test more than once, it wasn't that he couldn't drive, quite the opposite, it was just that he drove like he had been driving for years, and not how the DVLA thought he should be driving "Your learning to pass a test, not drive" his instructor had often told him.

As John left the room to get changed, he heard another thing that got on his nerves, apparently some animal rights protesters were staging a demo outside a lab that was testing new vaccines on animals, sure he thought it wasn't 100% correct to do this, but what else could they test it on? Humans? He remembered some clinical trials that went wrong the year before that left some people rather ill. "Its called been at the top of the food chain, go get a ****ing bath you twats" John mumbled has he left the room.

After another exciting day at work John got home late, due to some boy racer who thought he was Steve McQueen in Bullit, crashing his pathetic 1.1l Vauxhall Corsa into a pedestrian crossing, traffic was at a standstill so he walked the 3 miles home, finally getting in at around 7pm, after getting changed he couldn't be arsed cooking so ordered a take-away curry, he often did that although he was a good cook, cooking for one is really boring. The asian guy who answered was called Asif, he essentially ran the business since his father passed away a few years earlier and had built up a rather successfull retirement fund. He had got to know John over the last few months and he already knew what the order was, after some rather colourful banter between the pair he told him that his order would be about ten minutes (other people usually waited 45 mins) oh well it's who you know not what you know.

After wolfing down the rather nice curry with various side dishes, John settled back to watch a DVD, after about 5 minutes deciding he settled on Family Guy, he needed a laugh. after 4 episodes of adult cartoons, he switched the news back on. This time he chose the BBC, since they didn't have adverts. Something immediately got his attention, those animal rights wacko's had stormed the lab they were demonstrating against, forcing there way past the police who were there monitoring the situation, and releasing all sorts of animals to be "free". John often thought that it was time that the UK police force were armed, could have rid the world of these smelly irritants before they got inside.

The on the spot reporter was about 200 yards from the main gate which was sealed again, talking to one of the demonstrators who had chosen not to go inside, he said that nine of his comrades had gone inside and after a scuffle had been taken to hospital with minor injuries. Four police officers were also injured. The situation had been calmed down when the SO19 armed response unit showed up. Unconfirmed reports told off shot's fired, but as yet they were unconfirmed.

"Stupid southerners" thought John as he turned the TV off and ran a bath, John lived in Yorkshire in the city of Leeds, and had lived there all his life. Before getting in the bath, he checked his messages, first one was Sam saying that Katie wanted to see him, great, first bit of good news i've had all week he thought, she asked him to call her back in a day or two. Second message was from his parents, telling him that they were going up to Scotland to visit family, and that his sister was going too, Kelly was 10 years younger than John and still lived at home, she was a decent level headed girl who had no shortage of offers from men, but she was concentrating on university and didn't need the distraction. The last message was from his friend Steve, asking if he was going out at the weekend.

After his bath, John collapsed into bed, it was about 10pm and he was getting sleepy, nearly falling asleep in the bath and drowning was the tell-tale sign.

John was just getting into his dream about been married to a swedish supermodel when his mobile went off, blindly grasping for it like some punch drunk boxer rudely awoken from been knocked out, he glanced at the clock, it was 3am "this better be ****ing important" he growled in his semi-concious state. Trying to focus on which idiot was calling him, he noticed it was Steve.

Steve didn't work, he never had too, his family had money so he essentially had no need to work, so he dabbled with a few things before becoming some kind of champion of online gaming, "nice work if you could get it" John often thought. He also was what could be described as a lover of the herb and often spent long nights glued to his laptop, stoned. John's voice croaked has he answered the phone "S....teve it's real early and i have to be up for work in a few h.....", Steve cut him off "Dude you gotta check this out, turn on the news, something crazy is going on in London"


Chapter 3. Unlucky 13.

Slowly coming around from his slumber, John was on his way to the living room. The kitchen was the first stop, if i'm up i need a coffee he thought. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil he felt the urge to answer the call of nature, he wasn't that old that he needed it, but somehow he felt he could be glued to the sofa for a while.

Making an extra large cup of coffee and grabbing his fags, John sat himself down on the sofa and flicked the TV on, the cable box was still set on BBC News 24. What greeted him was a scene that reminded him of that Dustin Hoffman film OUTBREAK, there were armed men in white chemical suits and the area was cordoned off. "What the hell is going on?" John decided to phone Steve who filled him in on what he had missed.

After been on the phone for 15 minutes John had a pretty good idea that this was no simple chemical spill, apparently the nine activists and four police officers had become gravely ill, and had been moved to a secure military location for isolation and observation. There condition had worsened but (luckily) because the military had no idea what they were dealing with, no medical personel were allowed to go near them. They had all been on monitors so there vitals could be checked without been in contact with the medical team who was assessing them. Subsequently all thirteen had since died. Now they had sealed the lab to ensure that no further outbreaks could happen.

Looking back at the TV John could see a reporter who was now moved to about 700 metres away from the Lab, and what looked like an exclusion zone had been put in place. The reporter then read an official statement released by Downing Street.

"Due to the actions of ALF terrorists, two totally benign vaccines that had the potential to save thousands of lives here and across the world, have been rendered unsafe, the dangers of these two substances become mixed were known and that they were both contained at seperate level 5 containment areas within the lab. But with the release of the animals, cross-contamination has caused this scenario to happen and now we are concentrating on cleaning the area. To prevent any further contamination any animals within a 10 square mile radius of the lab are to be destroyed on site. If you have pets please keep them indoors. We ask the public not to over react, the danger to persons in the area is minimal. Sadly we can confirm that 13 persons have died, but we must stress that this is not as a result of the vaccines, they had inadvertantly entered an area that contains samples of old viruses that were been studied to assist in our ever growing fight against new mutations of HIV & HN51 bird flu"

"Why the hell wasn't that place better guarded? Maybe the goverment didn't know?"

In the background, army trucks could be seen unloading company after company of men, all armed with the standard issue SA80 assault rifle and bio-chem suits. "The country has taken a turn for the surreal" John thought has he sipped his coffee. Looking at the time it was nearly 4am, John considered going into work early since he was awake, maybe then he could get home before the rush hour. The first buses were about 5am so he phoned Steve and asked him to call his mobile if things changed.

After been at work for a few hours he began to think he had dreamed the news story in the early hours, because nobody was talking about it, maybe they weren't up on current affairs. The lack of sleep was getting to John so he made out he had a dentist's appointment and left just after lunch time. When he got home, he called his parents but there was no answer, the signal up in the highlands isn't great so he thought nothing off it and left a message. John made himself a bacon sandwich and sat down on the sofa, just then his mobile rang, it was Steve.

"John, remember all those times you called me a nerd for messing with computers, well my friend you will be glad this time, i couldn't sleep so i decided to see what kind of info was available on the web, the official sites were maintaining that everything was ok, but apparently some mate of Steve's in the US called Tiberius had managed to snoop on e-mails and secure communications going back and forth between the Defence dept and the Home office, it's much worse than they are letting on"

"There's a suprise mate" John sarcastically commented. But what Steve was about to tell him made him think that maybe Steve had well and truly over-done it with the weed.

Next 3 Chapters enjoy, please give feedback.


Chapter 4. So it begins.

Steve talked on the phone for ten minutes describing what exactly had happened earlier. Apparently the unlucky 13 that had died, were left in isolation for some thirty minutes before it happened, one of the guards thought he saw movement, although all the monitors showed no life signs and the thermal imaging camera in the room showed no body heat. Everything would have been fine but the so called isolation, was just some plastic tents in a warehouse on a military base just outside London. The bodies of the dead started twitching, not sure if this was some from of delayed reaction (like if you cut a chickens head off, it can still run-around for minutes after) one of the nurses rushed past the guard to asses the situation up close. Big mistake, she was torn apart in seconds by the dead / undead which feasted on her flesh, her entrails were torn from her stomach and sprayed around the tent, the guard paniced and fled. Luckily for the moment they managed to lock down the warehouse, but not before seven more people were attacked and killed.

"You're shitting me" John said nervously, half expecting Steve to start giggling, Steve was dead serious. He then went on to tell him that the efforts to track down the animals had stepped up, Most of London was now been scoured for these animals, although they are not infected, they carry it on the coats, but not knowing what animals were released, they have resorted to killing all animals that are in the area. Apparently the laboratory didn't keep accurate records of what animals they had.

"So avoid London for a week or two then?" John asked, "sounds like it mate, listen i'm gonna get some sleep, but you call me in a few hours and we'll hook up".

John was glued to the TV for the next few hours, nothing new, they were still maintaining that everything was rosy, until the phone rang, it was Katie, Sam's daughter, she was only eleven and had known John for only a short time, but she always called him her "other daddy". She was tall for her age and you could tell that when she grew up that she would be a heart breaker "I bet I'll after make sure her future boyfriends are good to her" John often thought. Katie wanted to know if she could stay the night since her mummy needed to visit her parents in Newcastle; which was up north, her father was sick and she needed to leave asap. "Katie let me speak to mummy please"

Sam came to the phone
"Is it ok John, I know it's cheeky but your the only one she wanted to stay with"
John
"It would be great Sam, no problem but have you seen the news?"
Sam
"Oh yeah, some sick animals or something"
John
"Listen babe, i think that it's much worse then there telling"
Sam
"John, if you don't want her just say so"
John
"That's not it, you would be better taking her with you, i'll call my dad he'll pick her up and take her to Oban in Scotland where there staying, she'll be ok with them"
Sam
"You getting paranoid in your old age?"
John
"Maybe, if i'm wrong she'll get spoilt rotten for a few days, and i'll go up and get her, if i'm right she would be safer up there"
Sam
"You're starting to worry me now"
John
"Just do it for me please","I'll call my folks and arrange it, I still have your parents address somewhere"
Sam
"Ok J, but i'll bet this will blow over in a few days, I'll leave soon, I love you"
John
"That was never a problem, talk to you later"
With that John hung up, feeling somewhat silly, "what if I was wrong?"

Chapter 5. The Chopper

After speaking with his parents, who themselves thought John had gone mad, they agreed that they would drive down and take Katie for a few days, and even invite Sam too if she wanted, although they were angry at Sam for what she did to their son, they weren't the type to hold grudges, and they too, doted on Katie.

John rang Steve to wake him, and after 5 minutes he answered. Steve told him that he would be over soon and to get the kettle on. John was back watching the news, people were on complaining that the police and military were going house to house, killing pets at random, and any house that had pets was secured and the people put in quarrantine, there were unconfirmed reports of people been attacked and killed, all emergency services were called in and all links into London were closed and Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead airports were prohibiting flights to prevent any spread.

There was a knock on the door, it was Steve. Both guy's sat on the sofa watching the story unfold before there eyes, it was getting worse. Reports were coming in that fires were breaking out across the city, gangs of people were roaming the streets attacking anybody in sight. The army and territorial army (national guard) were fighting pitched battles with them but to little effect, Just then the Prime Minister appeared on screen, normally he would be stood in front of 10 Downing Street, but he wasn't, he was on board an aircraft. He didn't look like he had slept in a while. He read a statement

"What I am about to say may sound incredible, but I assure that this is a matter of dire importance, there has been an outbreak of a deadly virus in the capital, for which we have no known cure, the virus presents itself like the common cold, sufferers soon develop a high fever, vomiting and bleeding from the eyes. The virus is 100% fatal, but i must stress that this is not the end of it, after death, the incubation period can be anywhere between five and sixty minutes, after which the dead rise and seek out prey, and that prey is the living"

"The virus was originally spread by animals, but now the virus is been spread by the infected, we are not sure at this time if it is transmitted in saliva from a bite, blood or both, but you are advised to avoid the infected at all costs, if you are attacked by these creatures, defend yourself by any means necessary, trauma to the brain is the only method that has been shown to work. If any of your family is infected then please alert the authorities, if they pass before help arrives then please do not approach them, do not try and reason with them."

"The outbreak that was contained outside London involving the 13 original sufferers, is no longer contained and I am ordering the Army to that area immediately, I am also closing all airports, ferry terminals and the channel tunnel to prevent this spreading outside the UK. I have called upon the US, NATO and the EU to assist where possible in sending troops and medical teams to bases in Ireland, who will then be deployed where needed"

"I will update the country soon when i have spoken to COBRA (Civil contingencies commitee), the best advice now is to stay in your homes, if you live in the capital then please secure your homes and wait for evacuation teams"

The screen went blank. Kate Silverton, a rather attractive BBC newsreader appeared on screen, but for the first time in history said nothing, she just stared into the camera, wondering when she would wake from this dream. But it wasn't a dream, it was all too real as her and the rest of the country were about to see.

Stumbling over her words she said "and now we go live to the BBC weather chopper that is in the air above central London"

The picture that was been shown was reminiscent of George A. Romero films, there were thousands of them shuffling along the roads, much of the capital was in flames, Buckingham Palace was under siege, although the Royal family had been evacuated because the royal standard wasn't flying. The reporter on the bird said nothing, he didn't have to, "A picture is worth a thousand words" never before this did John understand that saying, but he did now.

The camerman who was sat next to the pilot as the reporter sat in the back, zoomed in to show the remnants of a company of soldiers fighting a pitched battle with over 1000+ of those things, many of the soldiers were firing blindly into the crowd, with only a few falling every so often, panning across the carnage you saw a young soldier, maybe just turned nineteen loose his footing on the wall and fall into the horde that was below him, maybe he slipped or just gave up, but it didn't matter within seconds he was no more, it was hard to make out with the camera shaking so much. Before he hit the ground, around 30 of those things grabbed at him with their deathly hands, tearing him to pieces. The cameraman tried to keep his camera focused but it was nigh on impossible for any human to do, especially with what he, and the audience watching were about to witness.

The helicopter descended to around 100 feet, this had two effects, it distracted the undead horde from the soldiers, they were blindly stretching their arms skyward, trying in vain to pull the shiny bird from the sky, and it managed to dislodge a few soldiers but luckily although they were injuries, the three that fell, fell inside the compound, the cameraman was able to get closer pictures of the crowd, making it possible to see their faces for the first time, many were severely injured, in tattered and torn clothes, there skin was a pale grey but it was the eyes they gave you the creeps, dull, lifeless without a soul. It was then that the camera saw it, a baby's pram. it's long dead parent still pushing it, inside was a tiny infant mass, missing an arm and most of it's young, still developing face. With that the cameraman lost it and panned away quickly, inadvertantly hitting the pilot in the face and knocking him cold, the picture went black, but the sound was still on.

Normally in this case, John thought they would cut back to the studio, but maybe the editor or director couldn't believe what was happening, the screams of the reporter were blood curdling to say the least. Knowing what was to await him, maybe he was hoping the helicopter would explode on impact to end it quickly. "May god help us"............."NOoooooo...." a loud crash could be heard and then nothing else.

The helicopter had come down within 100 yards of the gate of the palace, but it might aswell have been a 100 miles, because the 17 soldiers that were in the palace grounds could do nothing for them, an old corporal, radioed his commanding officer asking for permission to assist, he got no answer, but by then it was already too late, the crowd had submerged the wreck in a sea of rotting flesh. Their cadaverous, wraithlike bodies grasping at anything that was fresh.

John looked at Steve, and said nothing. Steve was in shock, tears rolling down his face but he made no sound. Steve's family were in Guildford, just outside the M25 motorway that ran around the outskirts of London. Steve hated life in the South, the people were more interested in money than anything else, and although he had money, he didn't act like he was better than you. "Maybe they can get out before it get's too bad" John said re-assuringly, Steve looked back and gave him a look that suggested that it may already be too late.

The picture suddenly switched to the studio, Kate Silverton had gone and in her place was an older gentleman who obviously wasn't a newsreader, he immediatley began crying into his hands, sobbing uncontrollably, after a few moments he managed to control himself, his eyes red, trying to follow the autocue he began talking "Ladies and gentlemen, we have received reports of outbreaks as far south as Brighton on the south coast, Bristol in the west and the city of Birmingham in the north" , " The BBC studio's are now under attack, we have closed all exits and we will endevour to stay on the air as long as is possible, but we are unsure at this time when the emergency broadcast system will take over" Looking at a voice from behind the camera he said quickly "We will now go direct to the Prime Minister, who has hastily arranged a press conference".


Chapter 6. So what now?


The Prime minister, obviously shaken by the unfolding events of the last 24 hours, began to speak
"I am now talking from a secure location somewhere in the north of the country, in an attempt to maintain a working goverment, i have ordered to complete evacuation of the southern counties of all goverment, medical and military personel. I have to report to you with a heavy heart that we have failed in our attempt to control this outbreak, the speed of which has taken the entire world by suprise, i am now ordering the evacuation of all major cities south of Sheffield to try and slow down the spread of this disease. ", "If you feel compelled to leave your towns and cities, please do so in an orderly fashion, I must stress that you and your vehicles will be checked for signs of infection, anyone failing to stop for searches will be shot"


John tried to phone Sam, he needed to make sure she had gotten out, everything had happened so fast, he just prayed that she had listened to him, he knew his family was safe (for now) and he just needed to know that Sam and Katie were safe. Trying his mobile, the network was busy, so he tried the landline, it was still working, he managed to get her, she was stuck in traffic south of the Newcastle, apparently the world and his brother was heading north.

John
"Listen Sam, i'm not sure what you have heard, but forget staying in Newcastle, pick up your folks and head for my parents in Oban, they are staying at the old Jameson place that I took you to before"
Sam
"What's going on J? There are army trucks everywhere, is it that bad? I can't get anything from the radio"
John
"It's worse than even i feared, you need to get north quickly"
Sam
"What about you?"
John
"Steve is here with me, we will get out when the evacuations begin, whenever that is. I'm not sure how long the phones will last down here, so use your laptop, i will set up mine with the broadband phone"
Sam
"People are abandoning their cars, and walking, should I tr............"
The phone went dead
John
"Sam..............SAM!!!!!" she was gone.

Looking at Steve who by now was in danger of breaking down, John asked him "Do you have a plan?", Steve answered "Well sitting here and trying not to foul myself is my first idea". John knew that they needed to do something before it was too late, the answer was what? Should they try and make a run for it? Steve had a car but although he was quite well off, his car wasn't, it was quite new but Steve had "screwed the bollocks out of it". Not sure how long before they would be evacuated, they needed a few things, like food, water and other essentials, knowing that everyone in the world would be rushing to the local shops to stock up he asked Steve if he would try and get anything he could, whilst he looked at securing the flat for the moment.

Steve left with a wad of cash and headed out, "Be back in two hours at the latest!!!!!" screamed John out of the window as Steve was pulling away. Looking around his neighbourhood, from his raised vantage point, he could see people leaving "Rats and sinking ships come to mind" smirked John.

John knocked on the doors of the other five flats in his building, he lived on the middle floor so he tried the bottom two first, although he had lived there for four years, he had never really got to know his neighbours, and now he may have to depend on them for his life. At 132 (John was at 134) he got no answer, not wanting to jump the gun he decided against breaking in for now, at 133 lived a man who was in his late forties, very large build with a geordie accent, they had passed on the hall a few times and said hello, but that was the extent of their relationship. He answered the door with a table leg in his hands, "what the **** do yo want?" bellowed Geoff, he worked for the local council on nights as a emergency plumber, so John must have woke him. "You heard the news?" asked John, Geoff replied in his own polite manner "Yes, now **** off and leave me be". Not to be put off, John said "I'll be upstairs if you need me"

There was no answer at any other flat, strange when John considered that he and Geoff were the only ones who worked. The flat's occupiers that were across from John had been evicted earlier that week for not paying the council tax, so that was empty, an old drunk lived above John who deemed it funny to sing Elvis songs all night, out of tune. Above and opposite lived a young family, Brian, Dina and their four year old boy Matty, they had spoken to John a few times, but he had not seen them for weeks.

Since there was nothing John could do, he searched his flat for useful objects, he found a couple of torches, various power tools, candles, gaffer tape (duct tape) and some old planks of wood which were left over from when fenced his back balcony off, this was to prevent Katie's cat from escaping, which it still did on occasions. Also he found an old police band scanner, which he used to listen to years ago, mainly to listen to aircraft landing at his local airport.

John made himself a coffee and sat back down, it was getting late now nearing 8pm, he tried phoning Steve but he got no answer, so he switched on the news, this time he chose CNN, stupidly considering that it was an American company, they may not be affected, and to some degree John was correct, they were still broadcasting live feed from the capital, although it was a remote camera in Trafalgar Square, you got a good sense that the capital was now totally uninhabitable, well to the living anyway, the streets were full of the walking, shambling masses. Apparently the evacuations were going well, both sides of the motorways were opened, but travel was not been permitted south, so essentially the busiest motorways in England were now the largest one way streets in history, there was obvious bottle necks at the military checkpoints, and the army were not messing about, reporters there were prohibited from filming, but some camera crew managed to get a pair of soldiers, emptying a full magazine each into a car that refused to stop, on closer inspection, some poor fool was trying to get his infected daughter across the line, she was in the boot, bound and gagged, but still alive when they opened the boot, she couldn't get at her prey, so she was thrashing about in the boot, gnashing her jaws at the soldiers, one bullet from the young soldiers sidearm put her at rest.

John was sat at his computer now, checking the internet for updates, when he heard the security door open at the bottom, peering through the spyhole in his solid front door,slightly wary of what he might see, it was Steve, he was carrying a large box and a backpack. "Open the door tosser, and get your arse downstairs and grab a bag or two". John opened the door and ran down, amazed at how much Steve and managed to get crammed into the back of his car, there were boxes of food, bottled water and even a rifle, although it was only an air rifle, not enough to kill one of them, it would probably annoy them more than anything else, but for visual effect was what John was thinking of, if things got bad, then he was sure not only the dead would want to get to him. They managed to get everything inside just as the light was fading, it was getting quite dark now, so it was time to lock up and see what the morning would bring.

[No message]

chapter 7 and 8

Sorry posted some more the other day but must have been to much text here are the next 2 chapters.

Chapter 7. No retreat, No surrender

Staff Sergeant Dave Carrol, or Cazz as he was known to his men in the 7th Armoured regiment, was onboard the chinook that was bound for a milltary base just outside Reading, which was sixty miles west of London, with him were eleven men of the hasitly formed squad that was been sent to rescue a group of survivors that had become trapped inside the base. The base had been overrun in a matter of minutes, many people were killed and vital supplies were lost, but this plucky band of survivors had managed to fight off the cadaverous horde for a few hours, but they were desperately short of ammunition and supplies and if not rescued, were doomed to die of dehydration and starvation, they had managed to hold up in the control tower of the small heliport there.

They had received the SOS call just twenty minutes before, and had flown from HMS Vanguard that was anchored in Portsmouth Bay 45 miles away and were the closest rescue team available, their orders were clear, get in, get out and no heroics.

As they flew low over villages and towns, they could see just how bad it actually was, many onboard thought that the media had sexed up the story to keep viewers, but it was plain to see that the media had actually not shown the entire story to prevent panic, town after town, village after village was destroyed, fires raged out of control, motorists were been pulled from their cars and devoured. Cazz thought he had already died and this was hell, but the groans from the decomposing figures below him soon woke him up, it was difficult for many of his men to see these things, at least Cazz had seen combat in Iraq and in the Balkans, and he thought he had seen atrocities until he witnessed living shooting the living, just to escape, mind you he thought, maybe i would do the same. A young soldier, just signed up asked permission to fire, Cazz just shook his head "We can't afford sentimental feelings now boy, we have a mission to complete","also this chinook aint the most agile girl in the sky, would you like to get shot down here?"

Another soldier "Pavo" who only signed up to get out of going to jail for robbing pensioners took aim at a few of the undead, with that Cazz booted him in the ribs "You ****ing well fire, when I tell you, there could be civilians down there". Pavo fired a look at Cazz that on civvy street would have said that i'll wait for you outside the pub pal, with my pals!

Pilot
"Staff Sergeant Carrol, we are two minutes out what are your orders?"
Cazz
"Call me Cazz, I wont reprimand you, take a circle of the base, lets see whats going on"
Pilot
"Roger that sir, looking at the tower, i wont be able to set down on that or the pad, looks like your swinging today"
Cazz
"Ok circle around and pick your spot, SQUAD!!!! get ready to rope"

As the pilot circled the base, he was presented with a scene that he would never have imagined, he knew the towns were bad but this was a military base for christ's sake, it was supposed to be secure. The gates had been busted open and fires raged across the facility, there were hundreds of dead, to the south-west he could see the control tower, with about seven soldiers still firing from the roof (there were originally 15).
Cazz
"Right lads, we are here, nothing silly, we rope down secure the survivors and winch back up, ten minutes and we are back to old Vanguard"
Squad
"Yes sir!!"
The squad roped down to the roof of the tower and were greeted by cheers, Cazz asked where the rest were, apparently half of the survivors had climbed down into tower to retrieve some food and ammunition because they were not sure if they were to be rescued and ended up becoming trapped by the dead, they were ok, but were going to need help to escape. Cazz decided to lead 3 others down into the tower whilst the rest would winch upto the chinook "No heroics" he somehow knew that would come back to haunt him.

Cazz took Rob with him who was a CQB specialist and not likely to panic, he then asked for two volunteers to back them up, suprisingly Pavo offered, and he would be led by Stan, he was another lifer who was close to retirement but a damn goos soldier. Cazz cautiously opened the roof hatch and with guns primed, he descended into the tower followed by the others, the top floor was clear, there was one door leading down that lead to two rooms, with a corridor adjoining, there was one last door that lead downstairs to the ground floor, which was swarming with the undead.

Cazz cautiously opened the dorr that lead to the corridor and was immediately greeted by two of them, with his silenced MP5 he despatched them quickly, slowly covering the corridor he could see two more by a door and another three by the door that was the way downstairs. He motioned for Stan & Pavo to take the three and cover the door, whilst he and Rob cleared the other rooms.

Stan and Pavo got two with their first shots but Pavo's gun jammed on the final one, and he paniced, before Stan could lift his rifle up the final ghoul lunged at him, taking a chunk out of his arm, he screamed in pain as his bicep was torn from the bone, tendons and ligaments were left hanging from the joint, at least he had the sense to dive to the side but not before the thing clipped him again on the shoulder, has he fell to the floor he loosed of one round that relieved the beast of it's lower jaw and cranial matter, as the beast fell, it fell against Pavo and scratched him on the leg.

Whilst all this was going on, Cazz and Rob easily destroyed the other two and were just entering one of the rooms, at the same time they heard Stan's scream and turned, as they stood there they forgot to secure the room, lumbering in the shadows was a near 7ft monster that had only recently been turned because he was still bleeding, maybe he had been attacked not long before the team came down and had just shut himself in the room, he grabbed Rob and tore into his shoulder and neck, killing him instantly, Cazz managed to move back a foot and railed the creature from stomach to head, Stumbling back he fell awkwardly and twisted his knee. Cazz screaming in pain he called for Pavo's help,"Pav, put a round into Rob before he turns, and drag me away from the door"

Cool as you like, Pavo drew his sidearm and plugged Rob in the head. Cazz called out to Stan and asked if he was ok,
Stan
"I'm not too good sir, but i will be fine in a minute"
Cazz
"Stan, my good mate you know what needs to be done, right"
Stan
"Way ahead of you sir, good working with you"
With that Stan drew his sidearm, placed it in his mouth and decorated the wall with his cranial matter
Pavo then dragged Cazz away from the door and placed him near the door that lead downstairs, he the proceeded to open the final door, to find seven healthy humans in there, without wasting time he lead them to the roof hatch.
Pilot
"Cazz, we need to move out, fuel is running low and I don't wanna have to ditch on the mainland"
Cazz
"Two minutes and we'll be out","Pavo I thought i saw you get clipped"
Pavo
"I'm fine"
Cazz
"You sure you have blood on your leg"
Pavo
"I'm fine but you're ****ed" and with that he ripped the MP5 and radio from Cazz's hand "You shouldn't have kicked me you son-of-a-bitch" Stamping down hard on his knee, feeling the satisfying crunch of ligament and bone as he twisted his boot. Kneeling down beside him, looking into his eyes he whispered "You should have kicked me out the chopper, now your gonna suffer like those poor bastards did who were been attacked by THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Pavo got back to his feet and whilst still looking the horrified Cazz in the eyes, he unlocked the door the ground floor, a swarming mass of decomposing arms grasped for Cazz and dragged him down the stairs, his last screams were muffled as his throat was ripped out.

Pavo turned and got back to the roof hatch and made it to the winch, on arriving in the chinook he said that the door gave way and he had no chance to save him, a private asked him if he was ok because he looked pale. "I'm fine dickhead, lets get back home"

Twenty five minutes later, as the Vanguard was monitoring the chinooks radio chatter, there were screams and gunfire.
Radio Op
"Flight CH1 come in"
Pilot
"Mayday, mayday", we have infected on board, a soldier has gone nuts and has killed the remaining on board","I'm secure in cockpit, requesting orders"
In the background, screams and groans could still be heard, along with pounding on the cockpit door, luckily for the pilot this was a brand new chinook that had been fitted with a seperate cockpit.
Radio Op
"Ch1, calm down we have you on radar, proceed as planned, we will secure on landing"
Pilot
"Roger that, i'm 15 minutes out"
Radio Op
"Be advised Ch1, you are low on fuel, we have containment area aft, proceed there"
Pilot
"Sir i'm not sure if this door is gonna hold"
Captain Platt
"Weapons, lock on CH1 and fire"
Weps
"Sir?"
Captain Platt
"Fire on that bird, they have infected on board, if they reach us this vessel is finished"
Weps
"Yes sir"

Two surface to air missles locked onto the chinook, and with a high pitched scream, they were on there way.
Captain Platt
"May god forgive me"
Pilot
"The door is......................................"
The three blips on the radar screen converged and disappeared.


Chapter 8. A quiet night in.

Just after getting all the items Steve had begged, borrowed and stole, stored away, some of the things he had managed to get even suprised John, he always knew his friend could be resourceful, he half expected his mate to come back with an ounce and a crate of lager, but he even thought about if the power went out, if the water supply failed and also enough fags to give West Yorkshire a cancer scare. Looking at the clock, nearly 9pm, he had not heard from Sam or anyone else for that matter. John wondered about what was going to happen, not in a few months or weeks, but the next few hours, John had always liked to know what was going to happen in his life, he always had things planned, but all that went by the wayside after he had kicked Sam out, now for the first time in his life, he had no idea what was to become of him.

All day John had been considering reasons why this had spread so quickly, it was less than twenty four hours since those crackpots had unleashed this evil on the country, but it had already spread across the southern counties and was heading north, towards him and everything he knew and held dear. Was there something the goverment weren't telling us?

"John, you ok mate?" he didn't respond, he was lost in thought, he couldn't rationilise what was going on, his mind was racing, looking for reasons why, why had this terrible curse befallen this country, were we been judged for the Iraq thing? A cold hard slap hit John on the back of the head,"Wake up you dozy bastard.......I've been talking to you for nearly ten minutes" "sorry Steve, i'm just trying to understand this thing". "What's to understand?" asked Steve "we're all gonna die, it's just how and when". John smirked "too true mate, just not by them and not soon"

The two friends got about securing the flat, since they were on the second floor, they had no need for now to cover the windows, the thick heavy curtains would stop light getting in our out if that was the way they wanted, after a quick check, they decided that it would be fine for now, after all they were at least 100 miles from any confirmed outbreak, and as they settled down with a beer and switched on the t.v, it seemed just like a normal night, one they had shared many times before, they would play cards, piss about on the PS2 and generally get slack eyed and silly into the early hours. The sombre newscaster reminded them that this was unlike any other night. They had seen bad news on the TV before, 9/11, Asian tsunami, Madrid bombings and the London bombings only eleven months previously, but all those terrible stories paled into insigificance with the "Plague". The Prime Minister was just about to address the nation. He appeared on screen in the same clothes he had worn earlier that day, and he needed a shave.

"I am addressing you from the Scottish parliment building in Edinburgh, finally I am glad to say that we have some positive news with regards to the spread of the disease, we have so far ceased the spread at this line (he points to a map of Great Britain and draws and rough line from Cardiff, north east towards and through Coventry, Leicester and terminating around The Wash on the East coast)



No further reports have reached us of any cases north of this line, but this, by no way means we are reaching the end of this terrible tragedy. Of course this means that the area below the line is still to be considered too dangerous for habitation at this time, Major cities like London, Southampton, Plymouth, Bristol, Cardiff and Coventry are just about over-run. To prevent loss of any chance of turning the tide, I have ordered all available military units out of the area until we can decide on what to do next, primarily the armed forces are now acting towards containing the threat although we cannot guarantee this will work. Large scale evacuations have begun in cities and towns nearest the infected areas, all the information regarding this can be found on your screens after this statement. Our medical and scientific communities are working on a cure for the virus that has swept the country, but as you can appreciate, a lot of great minds have already been lost to this disease, although I am glad to announce that teams from all over the world have began arriving in Scotland working towards this goal. I am now placing England and Wales under martial law with a dusk till dawn curfew. The main reason we have seen this spread so quickly was because people were transporting infected loved ones through the night to avoid detection, I must state that COBRA has passed emergency powers authorising maximum force be used to prevent further threats of contamination, that is all for now, please refer to your local media for information. I will address the country in a few hours when we know more, may god be with you"

Steve turned to John and suggested "Hey, maybe it's not as bad as we thought", looking back, John wasn't convinced "Something still stinks about this mate, there is something he wasn't telling us, you could see it in his eyes" , "Now you're just getting paranoid John", "Maybe mate, maybe but I'll tell you this, it is not over by a long shot"

Next story was of a military helicopter crashing just outside Portsmouth, eyewitnesses report seeing the helicopter flying erratically before exploding in a ball of flames, although as you can appreciate, none of these reports can be confirmed, who would want to be stood in a town or city centre in the south asking questions?

Then a group of human rights activists were arguing about the possibilty of training these things to not eat humans "We must give them a ch............" John turned the TV over, he had heard enough bullshit tonight. The only channels broadcasting were news stations, all the others had switched over to the emergency network or broadcasting their own news specials, the Emergancy network was an ancient broadcasting network left over from the cold war, the picture was snowy and the sound crackled, but both John ans Steve decided to leave it on just in case.

John checked his laptop, just to see if Sam had contacted him, mobile networks were down, landlines were now operator based, and they were always busy, but good old NTL had kept his broadband connection up. He checked his e-mails, but nothing. It was late now, past 11pm both of them had been watching the emergency station for ninety minutes and nothing, "lets try and get some sleep mate" Steve yawned, "You go mate, don't think i'll be going to work in the morning" said John, kind of hoping that he would be, just for a last taste of normality. John thought he would close his eyes just for a second, he was soon asleep...................

John was walking across a field, he had not been here before for he didn't recognise the place, it was dark and in the distance he could see some headlights, but they were not coming towards him, he walked, began jogging and finally started running towards the car. It was surrounded by them.
He tried to speak, to shout and draw them away from the car, but nothing came out, he tried pulling them away by hand but he was paralysed, frozen to the spot, just then one turned, it was Steve, but it wasn't Steve, not anymore, he spoke "You caused this, now you have to watch"

Sam was sat in her car, praying it would start, the engine just wouldn't kick into life, all around her were these things banging on the windows, cadaverous hands trying to get to her, causing spider web break patterns to litter the windscreen, her stereo was on full, trying to drown out the sound, Katie was hiding in the footwell of the passenger seat, screaming for her mummy, for John, for anyone to help, but they were on a little country lane in the middle of nowhere, miles from safety. Sam continued to turn the key, nothing it was dead. She began sobbing into her hands "Sorry baby, i'm so sorry".........the passenger window broke, with an earsplitting groan, sweet little Katie was been dragged out of the broken window, shredding her legs on the broken glass.........she was torn to pieces in seconds "mummy he......." her last words descended into a gurgle, her pretty little neck was bitten by one.............Sam screamed............................."

"SAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" John awoke with her scream reverberating in his ears, he could still smell the blood when his "daughter" was attacked. He sat bolt upright in his chair, tears rolling down his face, he was shaking violently and he could taste the bile rising in his throat, he ran for the bathroom, but never made it more than a few feet, his legs gave way under him. Laying in the foetal position on the floor, he was crying and vomiting at the same time, he was wretching wildly, but nothing was coming out. At that point Steve awoke to see his friend convulsing on the floor, he dived onto the floor, John was in danger of swallowing his tongue, using a pen he forced the tongue down into the well of his mouth, shouting at John "John, come on buddy, snap out of this". He held his friend in his arms, John had gone into shock now and was losing consciousness, he wrapped his jacket around him and held him for what seemed like hours, he was mumbling something "Sa...m, K...at..ie, y..o..u.........I.....coul.....dn't ...........help". Steve got him cleaned up and laid him down on the sofa, John was staring into space, he was like this for a while until Steve gave him some valium and within a few minutes John was asleep, but at least this time he wouldn't dream.
"That was F.U.B.A.R." exclaimed Steve "So much for a quiet night in"

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Chapters 9 and 10

Enjoy
Please leave comments on End of Days comments thread.

Chapter 9. Secrets and Lies.

It was raining heavy outside, the constant barrage of the unseasonal weather against the windows was almost hypnotic, the rhythmic static was only broken by the quiet ringing of the telephone. A man answered

"Yes"
"Is this line secure?"
"Of course"
"Good, last thing I need is for this to get out"
"I was wondering when you'd call"
"What the hell happened? You assured me that this could be contained"
"Nothing is certain, we both knew this could happen"
"But not on this scale"
"I knew it would work efficiently"
"It was never intended to work like this"
"It's a perfect test, for us both"
"It needs to stop, before it's too late, do you still have it?"
"Of course"
"Well I want it done now while we are still in control"
"I don't believe you are in a position to demand anything"
"I'll go public"
"Who'd believe you? Your credability is already ebbing away"
"What do you want?"
"I'll be in touch, maybe i'll send a friend to your family home"
"No, please that won't be nessecary, i'll get what you want"
"Don't call me again"

The phone line went dead, looking into the darkness of the night, he could see his reflection in the window against the black night sky, he was grinning, "Soon" he thought "just a few more days"

Steve got a blanket from the spare room and threw it over John, he was out cold, "what the hell was that all about?" pondered Steve, it had really scared him, so much in fact that he couldn't get back to sleep, he sat in the chair for an hour trying to get to drop off, glancing occasionally at John, wishing that he could sleep so soundly, but the fate of his family played on his mind, he had tried to contact them but their line was dead. He considered driving down to "get them out" but he knew that would be suicide, what if his car gave out on the way?, stranded and alone in the zone. Maybe, Steve thought, his family had called him, Looking over at John, knowing that his friend wasn't going anywhere soon, he decided to drive home and see if there were anymore things he could bring and to check his answer phone, he could never remember the code to check from any landline and looking at the time (4am) he'd be back in an hour or so.

Steve quickly wrote John a note

"Just popped home mate, I should be back before you wake up, but if not call me, hope you're feeling better"

Steve.

Quietly leaving the flat, he thought about maybe trying to get a real gun in the morning, the price would have shot up, but that wasn't a problem, it was ammunition that was rare, one of the only times he wished he lived in America "A ****ing three year old can buy an Uzi over there, and I get a background check for an air-rifle" moaned Steve has he opened the driver side of his car, it was a three year old Subaru Imprezza and it had been in the wars, he had taken it rallying a few times and track days at Silverstone in the summer add those to the fact that he very rarely drove below 90mph gave a good idea that the engine was not the most reliable thing about the car "These were supposed to be sturdy" he often thought.

It was a twenty minute drive to his home, a secluded area of Leeds that was designed for the higher echelons of society, he hated the area, too many snobs but it was his parents had bought it so he couldn't really complain.

Pulling into his drive, he looked around, no lights on at any of the homes in the cul-de-sac, at first he thought it strange but since it was just getting light, he realised that these people didn't have to get up early for work. Trying to be quiet, he walked slowly across his gravel path to his front door, it was ajar, "Did I forget to lock up?" he wasn't sure, he had left in a hurry to get to John's and he was a little stoned and tired when he left. He walked back to the car and opened the boot, fumbling around in the darkness he found something of use, a crowbar that he had forgotten to take into John's, just in case.

He got back to the door and listened, all was quiet, he ever so slowly pushed to door open, crowbar primed and ready, he left it a few seconds before entering, he was in his hallway, and still no sound but he wasn't taking any chances "It can't have spread this far so quickly, and broke in?". He was halfway down his hall, the living room was open plan and he had a good view, nothing in sight. He reached for the light switch, flicking it on he was blinded for a split second, as his eyes adjusted to the light he noticed that something was different, just a little thing, normally he would have missed it, his ashtray was on the floor, it's contents spilled on the floor, if Steve was anything he was a clean person and would have cleaned that up right away. Just then he heard the real wood floor behind him creak, he span around with the crowbar raised, he caught a glimpse of a man in his peripheral vision, just as a small club came thundering down on the side of his head, he fell to the floor, his vision fading into black, his mind felt like it was swimming, looking up he tried to focus on his assailant, a large man........"****ing bas....." the club came down again, it all went black.

Sam finally got to her parents house in the outskirts of Newcastle, it was really late (or early on how you looked at it). The street was deserted, normally there would be cars parked outside the other homes but there were all gone, thinking that maybe people had panicked and fled the area, but she had seem nothing un-towards. She still had a key so she let herself in, carrying Katie over her shoulder she laid her down on the sofa. The TV was still on in the living room, but no one was around, she checked the ground floor rooms, nothing, but the stillness of the night. It was then she noticed a note her mum had obviously left, reading it sent a shiver up her spine

Samantha,

" Not sure if you are still coming up darling, but i was feeling unwell and went to bed early, Daddy is in the hospital, his condition had worsened since i spoke to you on the phone and he was put in the intensive care unit to be monitored, it was a stroke, sorry I couldn't tell you this in person but i was attacked on the way home, I took a short cut through the park when this man came out of nowhere and grabbed me, i managed to break free but he scratched the side of my face, i'm ok but just a little shaken and didn't want to bother the Police so i came home and got a bath and went to bed, wake me when you get here"

Love Mummy
xxx


Her heart was beating faster and faster, she had caught what was happening on the news, but like many other people, believed the Prime Minister that it was safe the further north she was, she was getting worried when she heard movement upstairs, walking to the bottom of the stairs, looking upwards she expected to see her mother stood there, she called out, but got no answer but someone was up there, her mother was a little deaf, so she called louder this time, she could hear shuffling of slippered feet, she could see a shadow at the top of the stairs, "Mum" she called out softly, a lump rising in her throat, no reply. Sam's mind was racing "Just grab Katie and run" she was telling herself, but she had to be sure. Reaching across the hall, with her gaze never leaving the top of the stairs, she turned the light on at the top of the stairs..................

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Chapter 10. The Rescue


The sight that greeted Samanath Hall was something that, even in her worst nightmares, she could never have imagined, what greeted her at the top of the stairs was a demon from the abyss, wearing a dressing gown that Sam had bought her mother, the slightly greying hair, the pearl earrings and golden crucifix, all things pointed to the fact that this was indeed her mother, the woman who had brought her into this world, and now, a creature that intended to take her out of it. Sam tried to scream but nothing came out, she was frozen to the spot, she could hear a voice in her head shouting, screaming for her to run, run far and fast and never look back, but the paralysis had set firm and she was at the mercy of the gods. The wrathlike figure was a pallid grey colour, it's eyes; that in life were brilliant blue; were now a opaque whitish grey, Sam saw the wound that the note had mentioned, it was nothing, just a little scratch, the kind you may have gotten from a bramble bush if you had brushed past it, but all around it was red and festering.

The creature was not making a sound, no groans or anything, maybe if it had it would have shaken Sam to move. The only thing that stood between them was fourteen steps and a baby safety gate, the gate that Sam had mentioned to her father to install to stop the family dog sneaking upstairs and getting into her parents bed. Her mother was confused, she couldn't work out why she couldn't get down the stairs, she never looked down to see the gate firmly in place (for now).

Sam stood there for what seemed like hours although it was maybe a few minutes, tears ran down her face unable to comprehend what had happened, she was roused from her melencholy by the voice behind her.......

"Nanny?" Katie was still half asleep "Are you ok Nanna?"

Sam turned and saw the expression on her daughters face change, still unable to move, she would have stood there for ever if it weren't for the deafening scream that came from her little girl "NANNA!!!!!!!!!!"

Sam felt the control come back to her body, just managing to grab hold of Katie as she was running past her to cuddle her grandma, she was crying "Nanna................come down and play". This commotion had awoken the creature and a soft groan came from deep in her throat, it was an unholy sound and sent a shock through to the very core of Sam's soul. Her mother was now walking forward, banging into the gate, hitting it and every time, stumbling back, becoming more and more frustrated every time, Sam backed away slowly, towards the front door that was closed, she hadn't locked it and that probably saved her, and her daughters life. She turned to open the door and was greeted by a man. She fell backwards, dropping Katie, it had given her the shock of her life but luckily, It was John's father, he had kept his promise and come down for her.

John's father (Jack) was the same build has John, about 6ft and average build, the tell tale signs of a receeding hairline that she had often teased John about was evident, as well as the greying hair. He was a fit man though, a former soldier who had kept himself in pretty good shape and could have passed for 45 rather than the 68 he actually was.

Jack
"I heard the screams outside, what's wrong?"
Sam
"My mums gone"
Jack
"Gone?"
Sam
"She's one of them now"
Jack
"Sorry darling, let's get out of here, i saw some things on the way down, seems it's spread"
Katie
"G...ran..dad...."
Jack
"it's ok sweetie, we'll go and see Nanny Joyce and see if she will make you your favourite cookie's, how's that sound"
Katie
"ok"
Jack
"Sam, get you and Katie in the Land Rover and we'll get out of here, gimme your door keys"

Sam handed the keys over and ran for the car, it's engine still running, she got in and locked the door. Jack gripped the door handle and pulled it shut, just in time because the safety gate had just given way and the creature tumbled down the stairs, slowly getting to it's feet, it tried in vain to grab at the handle of the rapidly closing door, but to no avail, Jack slammed the door and locked it shut, he could hear groaning and scratching from inside, it wasn't going to come after them. Scanning the street, he could see movement at the end of the lane, there were about seven of them, slowly making there way towards the Land Rover, he ran towards the car, he was quite spritely for a pensioner, got in and locked the doors.

Jack
"Ok girls, we'll have a little drive, with the main routes congested, it could take a day to get home
, so that would have us getting to the farm for Thursday evening, so get comfy"
Sam and Katie nodded in unison, not wanting to speak.

Jack let off the handbrake and was on the move, Sam hugged Katie and pulled her head into the warmth of her bosom, protecting her from the sights that were all around.

They drove quickly out of the street and made a left, there was a roadblock, but it wasn't man made, it was about 100 of those things shambling down the street towards them, Jack quickly hit the brake and made a 180 degree turn, and went back towards Sam's parents "We'll try another way" he said quietly. Before long they were out of town and heading north, the traffic was light, maybe others had set off before, or left it too late, Jack didn't want to question why, he just wanted to get home.

They had been driving for about an hour before anyone spoke, it was Sam that ended the silence.

Sam
"What happened Jack? I thought things were under control?"
Jack
"They were, until a few hours ago. I was worried about John, but couldn't get hold of him, so i phoned an old army buddy of mine, just to see how safe John was in Leeds, he worked in intelligence and i thought i could find a few things out. Apparently, the military were transporting some infected on an Hercules transport plane, bringing them to a secure lab on the island of Hoy, just near Scapa flow in the Orkney Isles (the home base of the Atlantic fleet), there they were to test a cure of somekind, he was unclear about what kind of "cure" it was, but anyway, the hercules developed engine problems and before the Tornados of the RAF could blast it out of the sky, it went down about 40 miles south of Newcastle, the infected got out and the virus was no longer contained"."Why it wasn't escorted by fighters is anybody's guess"
Sam
"Jesus, why didn't they say something on the news?"
Jack
"No idea, but a lot of people would have survived had they known, after that idiot (Tony Blair) told the nation everything was rosy, people relaxed."
Sam
"So how bad is it?"
Jack
"Real bad, they reckon that unless this cure works, the mainland will be overrun in around a week, with most of the military bogged down in the south, there are only a few regiments left up north, including those they have called back from Iraq."
Sam
"We have to warn John"
Jack
"Tried, no phones or anything working down south, maybe when we get back home you can try him on that broadband thingy, we should be ok once we hit the Glasgow area, apparently some sections of the goverment never had much faith in containing this in the south, they had begun to contruct a physical barrier that stretches some 30 miles across the narrowest point of the mainland, and then once the new border is closed, work on trying to get the country back"
Sam
"Will they have time?"
Jack
"Let's hope so" He didn't sound like he believed himself.

Silence once again descended on the car, the long road ahead was now illuminated by the summer sun rising above the crest of the hill they were approaching, the beauty of which belied the predicament the next few days would bring.

Chapters 11 - 12 enjoy

Chapter 11. Where did the day go?


John was sat in a deckchair, the sun was beating down remorsefully on his face, it was one of those days the Spanish talk about "Mad dogs and Englishmen" it was a scorcher. Squinting in the glare of the sun, he could make out a figure ankle deep in the sea, but he couldn't figure out who it was. Looking around, he recognised the place he was at, it was Scarborough, the little seaside resort on the east coast of England where he went to every summer to visit his grandparents, with his father been in the army, he would often be moved from base to base, Germany, Cyprus, Hong Kong etc, but his mother always insisted he spent the summer in England "Just for a dose of normality Johnny boy" his mother always told him.

There was a light breeze blowing in across the shore which was refreshing, it hit John in the face with the sharp tang of a cold beer on a sunday afternoon. He laid back and relaxed into his chair, watching the tide lap against the golden shore, the figure turned and began walking towards John, he still shouldn't tell who it was, but he knew, somehow, that it was a pleasureable feeling that was running through him. The figure was walking with the sun behind i, so that John couldn't see who it was until it was directly above him, it was Katie.

John
"Hello darling, what are you doing here, where's your mum"
Katie
"Shhhhh........wake up John"
John
"Excuse me?"
Katie
"You need to wake up now, it's not safe here so I need to go, you should go too"

With that Katie disappeared, the sun began to turn a blood red. John stood up and turned to look inland, the town was ablaze, they were people everywhere screaming, been chased by the undead. Decaying masses swarmed over the living like ants on a piece of cake. The sky was dark now, the sea was a funny colour, looking closer John realised it wasn't salt water, it was blood. Reeling back in horror he started to walk over to the beachfront pavement, the sand was more like quicksand, with every step he sank, using all his strength he managed to continuosly pull his feet out and continue walking. The seafront was total mayhem, was this the end he thought. Just then he saw her again, this time she was on the pavement looking directly at him, surrounded by them but not in danger, in fact they ignored her. "Wake up John, you are in danger"

Running now he got to her, grabbing hold of her he said "It's ok darling, i'll look after you", Katie simply replied "I'm safe now, but you are in danger, please go" She wriggled free of John, he stood there looking at her, knelt down so he was at her level, she looked him in the eyes "WAKE UP!!!!!" pushing him hard in the chest, he fell backwards and stumbled into the railing that seperated the beach from the road, going over the railings, he was falling, falling further than he should, until he hit the floor..................................

John woke up with a jolt, unlike his dream the before that was still fresh in his mind, he didn't feel sick or in danger as such, he just felt disorientated. Looking around, he could make out that it was daytime, the sun was peeking through the curtains, but where was Steve? John stood and went to the bathroom, pissing for what felt like an hour. He made his way back into the living room, still not quite sure what had happened. He looked at his mobile to see what time it was, but it wasnt the time that suprised him, it was the day, he did a double-take and checked again, it was Thursday, how the **** was it Thursday? He and Steve had settled down Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, he remembered the dream and not much else after that. Sitting back down on the sofa, lighting a fag, he first noticed the bottle of valium on the table, next to a bottle of sleeping tablets, "i'll kill him for doping me up" John thought, but then again Steve wasn't gonna dope him up for nothing, slumping back into the sofa, he drew back on the fag in his mouth, he got his dizzy head on, like the first time he tried a cigarette at the age of 15, feeling light headed he sat himself up, it was then he clocked for the note on the table, reading it gave him a sense of dread.....

"Just popped home mate, I should be back before you wake up, but if not call me, hope you're feeling better"

He should have been back ages ago, where the hell was he. Frantically trying his mobile, he couldn't get through, no signal. He tried the landline but that was dead too, what the hell has happened? What the **** did i miss?

John then had a brainwave, or maybe the valium was leaving his body "Try the laptop" he thought, logging on to the network was no problem, it seemed Steve had been a busy boy, he had set up a direct link to his own house, not bad for a rich geek John thought.

John wasn't a technophobe, but he wasn't on Steve's level, looking at the icons he noticed a new one, looked like a telephone, and it had "STEVE'S SHIT" written underneath it, double clicking the icon opened a browser window, after a few seconds a grainy image appeared, it was the webcam that Steve had at home, studying the image he couldn't see anything except that the camera was looking at the hallway, the front door was shut. Looking at the screen he noticed another icon "BBP", whats that? he thought and double clicked it, it was a Broadband phone, but it wasn't the cheap crap John had bought from PC WORLD, this was like something from a bond film.

The phone began ringing.


****************************************************************************

Chapter 12. Everybody changes.

"Answer damn you" yelled John at his laptop screen, hoping that his friend would answer, somehow knowing he was in danger. He left it going for a few minutes but still got no response.

John was getting worried, a wave of fear ran over him, if indeed the country had gone tits up, he didn't fancy facing it alone. He left the phone ringing, out of desperation, he wanted anyone to answer. He decided to check his answer phone, just in case. The first message was from some manager at work telling him that due to recent circumstances, the company would shut down and lock up until things had calmed down, "Like I would have gone in anyway?" John thought. The next was from some company trying to sell him a fitted kitchen "The worlds gonna end and they think I want some formica worktops!!".

Turning on the TV, he finally caught a glimpse of what he had missed, the infection had spread, small breakouts began in the south and spread into Wales, also for an unknown reason a breakout had occured in the north, but it didn't say how. He was trapped, no matter which direction he chose to go, he would have to brave going through them, a John sandwich was the last thing he needed to hear. All this information was coming from the emergency network, all other channels had closed down and switched over, only the radio was still "independant" and they were just playing looped music. Glancing at the laptop again, he thought he saw movement, but his imagination was getting the better of him. Just then a military spokesman appeared on screen, he recognised him from when the EU were in the Balkans

"Ladies and gentleman, my name is General Sir Mike Jackson, and due to the unfolding catastrophy I have been given command and control of England & Wales, the Prime Minister is still in Edinburgh co-ordinating continuing operations to assist in the evacuation of the population into Scotland and from there to other destinations. The remainder of the country is now under military rule, we are working on plans to evacuate the major cities that are not completely over-run, but as for those that are decimated by this plague, there is little we can do, it is simply too dangerous for us to send troops in to assist evacuations, we would simply add to the problem, so I urge those in the major cities to prepare to leave as soon as it is possible to so, many people have already left and are heading north, we will inform local authorities and how and when we will get people out, but for now remain in your homes and avoid the infected at all costs. The plan of containment is still ongoing, we have prepared a 10ft high, 30 mile long barrier, using caissons that were designed to repair the docks on the river Clyde in Scotland, to build a permanent border between England and Scotland, they have been placed just south of Glasgow and will be operational in the next hour. As you can expect there will be long delays at checkpoints that lead to the barrier, but these checkpoints will be well guarded and any attempt to deter the searches will be dealt with swiftly. I will now take some questions"

A rather dishevelled looking gentleman raised his hand
"Dealt with swiftly? Can you elaborate please"
General
"If you don't stop to be searched you will be shot!, ladies and gentlemen this is deadly serious and we can no longer take any chances of this virus spreading into Scotland"
"Susan Patchanick, CNN, General, Roughly how many people do you think have succumb to infection in England and Wales?"
General
"I dont have accurate figures, but a ratio of 50-70% would not be far of the mark"
"Thats all for now, thank you for your time"

The screen goes back to the now familar picture of an old broadcasting tower, pulsating with radio waves coming out from the top of the mast.

John stood and walked to the window, from which he usually had a good view of the city, the centre and outlying areas, placing his hand on the curtain, he stood there for a moment, not wanting to look, afraid of what he might see. Pulling back the curtain, even in his worst nightmares, he could never have imagined what he would see.

The city centre was in flames, smoke rising from many of the tallest buildings, the university, general infirmary, town hall and even those posh new city living apartments, John smiled at that, built for the people of Leeds, of which not many could afford the 200k they cost. The mayhem did seem localised to the city centre, at the outskirts, just small fires could be seen, he could make out the flashing lights of the emergency services buzzing about trying to keep a lid on things, but there efforts would inevitably be doomed. Looking a bit closer to home, within a mile of his flat, he didn't see much action, a few people were leaving, he even saw someone pushing a wheelbarrow with a TV in it, maybe he was looting? John heard what he thought was gunfire nearby "this aint south central" he spoke softly, maybe he heard a car backfire, since he didn't have much experience of guns, apart from the odd pigeon shooting when he was a child, he couldn't be sure. Looking back again at his laptop he screamed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
" Come on Steve, where the **** are you?"

Steve could hear a noise in the background, it was a few moments before he could figure it out, there was a siren in the street outside. He couldn't figure out why he was laid on the floor, he tried to open his eyes but was unable to, they were glued shut with what he would later see to be blood. He tried to move but couldn't lift his head, his hand was absolutely banging, like the worst hangover in history, his mind was in a muddle, then it came back to him, he remembered the tall man and then nothing, what had happened?

After a few minutes he managed to come around enough to move, his body was stiff, he wasn't sure how long he had been down on the floor, Steve managed to pull himself towards the chair, he imagined how a disabled person felt if they fell from there chair, now he knew. Pulling himself up into the chair, he collapsed back into it, still trying to clear his head. Noticing a half full can of beer on the coffee table, he tried to drink some but couldn't co-ordinate his arm to his mouth, spilling some down himself, the cold beer in his crotch actually brought him round a bit more. Still unable to see, he poured some beer into his hand and let the cool flat liquid dribble down his face, wiping it away with his sleeve, it loosened the blood and he could open his left eye, scanning his surroundings, although he couldn't focus, he could make out that some of his stuff had gone, the 60" LCD TV he had just bought, his Bang & Olufsen stereo and a few other things, his temper began boiling, but had to calm down because the angrier he got, the more his head hurt.

Steve got to his feet, and although he stumbled and nearly fell a few times, he managed to make it to the bathroom. After a refreshing wash, he surveyed the damage to his face, his right eye was swollen, he had a deep laceration at the right temple, it had stopped bleeding, but was tender. He looked rough, looking into the mirror made him feel a bit better, at least he was alive. Walking like he'd had a few, he made is way into the kitchen and got a pepsi from the fridge, gulping it down quickly, made him do a vomit-burp, but again he felt a bit better for the refresher. Stumbling his way back into the living room, he saw where he had laid, there was a pool of congealed blood on the floor, maybe the reason he couldn't lift his head, it's was stuck in the blood.

It was Steve noticed that his laptop was still on, and what's more it was ringing.

John had been to get a drink, as he walked back he noticed Steve walk across the screen. Clicking the icon again set the phone ringing.

Steve sat in front of it, clicked on a camera icon, and could see John.
"Steve, where the **** ya been?"
" No idea mate, looks like i've been robbed"
"What happened to your head?"
" Ok it was aggrevated burgalry"
"Do you know what day it is?"
"You trying to be funny? Ok i got a bang on the head, but i'm fine, nothing a couple of ibruprofen wouldn't fix"
"It's Thursday"
Steve didn't reply
"I've just got up and about myself, listen mate it's gone tits up for sure"
"How bad?"
"England and Wales under the Army, infection spread all over, evacuating people north"
"**** that is bad"
"Listen mate, if your coming back, come soon, it may be too dangerous already"
"One second mate, there's a noise out side"

With that Steve went to the door and looked out through the peephole, there were a couple of ambulances abandoned, bloody handprints could be seen easily on the brilliant white of the emergency vehicle. There was someone laying by the side of one, it's stomach torn open and it's entrails spread across the road, with that he saw one for the first time in person, it was a paramedic, stumbling from around the drivers side, he could see that its throat had been ripped open, his green overalls covered in claret, it's arm was hanging loosely and it's shoulder looked like it had been through a mincer. Scouring the area he could see that they were about 100m away and that his car was still parked in the drive.

Running back to the laptop
"John they are here, i'll make a run for it"
"Don't be daft, stay there, you're locked up, you're safe"
"No thanks, if i'm gonna die, i'm taking you with me"
John laughed
"Ok mate, be careful and take no chances"
"Don't worry about me, i'll be there in ten, i'll bring the laptop, better than your glorified calculator"
"Ok mate see you soon"

Steve gathered up a few supplies and walked towards the door, they were closer now, but as luck would have it, some idiot three doors away was at his bathroom window shouting obscenities at the undead, drawing them away from Steve's house. He decided it was now or never, silently unlocking the door, he took one last peek, one chance to make it. Steve opened the door and made a run for it.

chapters 13 - 14

Chapter 13 : Charity begins at home.

Slamming the door behind him was his first mistake, he would have been more discreet placing a big neon sign above his head saying GET IT HERE, the noise alerted the entire population of the once quiet cul-de-sac, normally he would have gotten a few dirty looks from his well spoken neighbours, now he drew the attention of the local diners, and he was the main course at the all you can eat human buffet. He froze for a split second, checking his surroundings, this was his second mistake, but luck was on his side, his neatly manicured gravel path, gave away the imminent threat coming from behind, the shuffling mess must have been so close to the house that he wasn't able to see it through the fish eye lens of his peephole.

The undead child lunged and just failed to make contact with him, it was a local child whose parents lived at the other side of the street, he didn't know his name and that made him feel better in a way. Looking down at this pitiful creature almost brought a lump to his throat, he was face down and trying to regain it's balance, its hands were bloody stumps, the kind you get from slamming the car door on your hand repeatedly, they were picking up gravel and dirt from the floor. Not wanting to get caught out in the open, he began his headlong rush to the car, he managed to dodge a floor crawler, this one he didn't know, although he recognised the uniform, it was a postman, was been the operative word, since it was summer the local post office had there delivery people wear shorts, maybe to promote a "cool" image, but all this one promoted was that you better be able to run, unlike this poor soul. It looked like it had been through a mangle, it legs were just rotting pieces of putrid flesh, dragging ever so slowly behind it. One of his arms was half eaten and he had a deep bite mark in the the nape of it's neck.

Steve finally got to his car, and went to pull the keys out of his pocket, they weren't in the front pocket, where the hell were they, he tried the back pockets with no luck, he began to panic, frantically trying to remember where his car keys were. They were closing in on him now, four were to the right side of him about 30 metres away, two were approaching from the front about 45 metres out and he was sure that the local child was getting back to his feet because he could here the gravel shifting behind him, the groans were deafening, "Where's that loudmouth when you need her" he was referring to the hothead that was shouting from the bathroom window, maybe she could have drawn them away, but as the ghastly figures closed in, he realised that she was like a cocunut, a soft, sweet centre surrounding by an almost impenetrable shell, whereas he must have looked like a desert trolley at the ritz.

It was then it clicked, he had thrown his keys into the bag, "for some stupid reason" he thought, fumbling around in the bag whilst his hunters were closing in, after what seemed like an age he located the keys, pulling them out of the bag and putting them into the door lock in one swift move "just like in the movies" he thought. Within seconds he was in the car trying in vain to stop his hand shaking enough to get the key into the ignition. The engine grunted into life at the first try, checking the fuel he was on nearly a full tank, which in his current predicament may prove useful soon. Looking around, the closest sleazeball was about ten feet away now and closing fast (well as fast as it could). He revved the engine which just seemed to excite the gathering crowd, dipped the clutch and slipped it into first, he was just about to let the handbrake off when he heard frantic screams coming from the rear of the car, looking in his rear view mirror, he noticed a woman running from behind the ambulance and towards the car, dodging past the undead and almost splatting herself into the rear window.
"Please help me, please[i/]" she sobbed loudly, Steve motioned for her to come to the passenger side door, letting the window down an inch he shouted "Are you injured?". "No, I swear, please take me away from here" Against his better judgement, he opened the door and the lady jumped in, just in time aswell because she actually trapped one of the creatures fingers in the door, with a sound like a twig snapping, she relieved the beast of its thumb and forefinger, there was no blood and the once again dead fingers fell into the foot well.

Steve dropped the handbrake and ploughed over two of them that were at the front of the car, their decomposing bodies bounced off the bonnet and flew over the roof, and with that Steve saw an open road ahead of him.

Looking across at the woman who was in her early twenties, she was about 5ft 7" with long dark hair tied into a rushed pony-tail, she was wearing blue jeans, white fitted t-shirt and nike trainers. She was very attractive and Steve cursed his luck for meeting her in this way.
"Are you ok?"
"Yes, thank you very much for letting me in"
"I'm Steve by the way"
"Catherine, but please call me Cathy"
"Ok Cathy, what happened"
"I'm not sure exactly, my husband had been out to get some things before we left and when he came back he had been bitten by a little girl, he turned within minutes of getting home"
"Oh" Steve kind of knew what happened but didn't want to snoop any further, fearing the answer.
"I managed to lock him in the house and I was just trying to get the car started when he broke through the door and leapt onto the bonnet, i panicked and ran, just as I was leaving the garage, I noticed you get into your car, so i ran for it"
"Lucky for you then"

With that Steve left it, he didn't need to know more, they were both fine and on their way.

"Where are we going?"
"We, well I was just on my way to my mates flat to hold up until we can get out"
"Ok if i tag along?"
"Sure, just keep up and you'll be fine"

Whilst driving through his neighbourhood, Steve really began to understand just how bad it had gotten, there were the undead everywhere, lumbering around looking for the next victim to drop his or her guard. The emergency services were no longer coming to the this area of the city, it was just too dangerous, stopping to help someone here meant certain death. Reminiscent of a few of the 'B' movies that Steve had watched in the small hours while he enjoyed the medicinal benefits of old mary jane, there were people been attacked right in front of him, every fibre of his being wanted to help, but that would have meant leaving his steel safe haven. Trying his hardest to keep the car going, he could not help but to knock into a few things wandering across the road, some of these he wasn't sure were dead, but they soon would be, as he turned a corner he clipped an elderly lady and sent her reeling backwards and to the floor. Not sure of what he just done, he slammed on the brakes and was just about to get out to see if the old woman was ok, with his hand on the door handle just about to exit the car, Cathy grabbed his arm, looking back at her in anger, he could see from the sorrowful expression on her face, it was too late to help her, even before he had stopped to help; to drag her into the car, a group of four of them had descended on her and she was already dead, her internal organs were now protruding through her plaid overcoat, from what he could see through the carnage, they had already removed one of her arms, a young looking male was gleefully chowing down on it. Afraid to look, but too scared to look away he watched for about a minute before the feast stopped abruptly stopped, and with that the undead rose and moved towards the car, the elderly lady then sat up slowly, most of her face was mauled, looking like a pissed off rottweiler had just attacked her, she raised the arm that remained and pointed towards the subaru, letting out an low hoarse groan, she was one of them.

Unable to control himself, Steve vomitted all over the dashboard and windscreen, the smell was repugnant and caused Cathy to wretch. Steve sat there, covered in vomit, both hands clutching the wheel revealing the white knuckles usually associated with rollercoasters he had enjoyed as a child.
"Steve........Steve.......................STEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Cathy was shaking herself, she knew that they were in grave danger, but Steve was behind the wheel and he was frozen. The first creature reached the car and began smashing it's grubby blood stained hands against the passenger window, leaving reddish brown stains where it had hit, there was little blood, maybe she thought that the heart no longer pumped blood around, so that blood she could see was dead. A second approached from the driver's side and began hitting that window, even this failed to rouse Steve, Cathy was in real danger of losing it, especially with what she witnessed next. Steve turned to the automaton and as calm as he would be if he had been asked for directions, began to open the window.
"NOOOOoooooooooooo" Cathy reacted just in time and lent across and moved Steve's finger from the switch that controlled the windows, still not quite with it, Steve then tried the door handle, but again luckily for them both Cathy stopped him, grabbing him by the hands she was shouting at him from a matter of inches, the lights were on, but nobody was home. "I'm gonna ****ing die here thanks to this pussy"
She had no choice, she had to resolve the situation, looking him in the eye, she mouthed the word sorry, and with that grabbed Steve by the balls and gave them a good twist.

"WHooaaa, what the **** you doing" Screamed Steve, her plan had worked, she had got his attention. "Drive or i'll twist em off" Steve soon came back to planet Earth with an almighty bump, she was dead serious. "****...****.....****..........****, you can let go now darling, i may need them later in life"
"Sorry but you nearly got us both killed, now lets get the hell out of here"

There were maybe eight or nine around the car now, and with the vomit on the windscreen, it made it quite difficult to see, but no matter, he floored it anyway. He drove blind, and with that all too common sick feeling you get if something even grazes the family jewels, for a few minutes until they both agreed they were in the clear, stopping only to wipe the windscreen clear, it was still smudged but at least he could tell where he was, he recognised the street, it wasn't far from John's. He cracked a window to try and rid the car of the smell and carried on driving.

This area was pretty clear, there were a few infected around, but they were pretty well spread about so he would be able to pull up at John's without too much trouble. Reaching into the back seat he grabbed his laptop and quickly typed a message to John.

"Stick the kettle on, be ready on the door and also get me some spare clothes please "

Letting the car roll into John's street was a good idea, it lessened the noise the car made, they seemed to be attracted to any noises. He rolled to a stop about 30ft from John's security door at the entrance to the flats. Looking across he saw a figure throught the toughened safety glass, not sure what it could be, he waited a minute just to be sure, when suddenly he noticed a torch flash three times, it was John. As silently as they could they both exited the vehicle, and crept towards the door, it was broad daylight and to anyone not infected they would look really stupid, but it had the desired effect, the undead failed to notice as they made it safely inside.

********************************************************************

Chapter 14 : The Cure.

A tired looking man was sat behind his desk in a darkened room, the only light source was red emergency lighting, the power had been out for about an hour, and the back-up generators had yet to kick in "Tell me this is not a goverment operation" he moaned to himself. Sitting forward in his rather lavish leather recliner, furiously sifting through mountains of paperwork on his desk, frantically searching for an old post-it with a phone number on. He had been at his desk pretty much since it had all began, thinking that he was in control, but as the hours and minutes passed he realised that he needed help, help that had been promised a day or two earlier. But at what price, because he knew it and the person who offered the help knew it, he would pay anything now.

A knock at his office door startled him, "Yes, what is it?" he bellowed at the underling who was casting a rather pathectic shadow in the doorway. "Mr Stevens" the young man spoke nervously, he had only been in this department a few days, transfered when the infection first spread, "Sir, there is a call for you on line 9". Mr Stevens's heart skipped a beat when he heard the line number, that was the line that HE only used."Thank you Simon, if i could not be disturbed for this thank you". With that the young man turned and left shutting the door behind him "It's Stuart you arsehole" he mumbled to himself as he walked down the poorly lit corridor.

Nervously looking at the phone, with the No 9 flashing, he reached for the receiver, he noticed his hand begin to shake "I need a drink for this" he thought, the direction of his hand meandered to his deask drawer, openeing it slowly he reached inside, he knew what he was after. Inside was an ornate solid silver hip flask beautifully engraved with "For when you're not sure my friend" on it's side, hastily unscrewing the cap he took a big gulp of the finest 20yr scotch he had ever tasted, for this was the first time he needed it. Seemingly gaining some false sense of courage from this he again went for the phone, trying not to sound nervous he answered................

"This is Stevens"
"Thank you for keeping me waiting"
With that his courage had gone, not the response he was looking for
"What can i do for you...............i've no idea what your name is"
"My name is not important yet, but what I have for you may be of interest in these turbulent times
"Do you have it?"
"Yes, but I want to speak to you in person about the matter"
"How can that happen, i'm here at HQ and you're, well somewhere"
"I have the means to get you out, and your family if you wish"
"My family is safe, how do you suppose to get me out?"
"In 4 minutes, someone will come to your office, follow him"
"What? How can some...."
"Just do as i say, if your not interested i'm sure i can talk to others about it"
"No, no i'll be ready"

Charles Stevens didn't like this idea at all, but all other avenues had failed and this was one last chance to turn things around. Once again going into his drawer he pulled out something that he hoped never to use, but these were indeed turbulent times and he wanted to be prepared, slipping the Browning L9A1 semi-automatic pistol into his holster under his jacket. 3 minutes and 50 seconds later, he heard heavy footsteps in the hall, then came a knock at the door.

A rather large gentleman walked in before he was invited........
"Come with me please"
"Whe..........." Steven's was cut off by a simple action, the large guy placed one finger to his lips.

Following the man, not quite sure where he was going made him uneasy, but doing dirty work in the shadows was nothing new to him, and the group he was associated with, Unit 731.

Unit 731, a clandestine group, had it's origins in post world war I Japan, developing biological warfare technology to the highest bidder, through the years the Unit had been involved in every theatre of war from Europe, Korea, Vietnam and most recently Iraq. Essentially they had been covert to the point that many in the Japanese Imperial high command were not aware of it's existence, even at the highest levels, nothing was in writing, there could be no paper trail. A week after Japan surrendered, US intellingence began gathering information on Japanese war crimes that included bacterial warfare, human vivisection, poison gas and genocide, but wary of the new threat of Stalin's Russia they wanted these people to work for them, so they were rounded up and a deal was cut to trade information for immunity. However the actions of the Unit in recent times, despite the best efforts of the US goverment, were deplorable to say the least.

During the cold war, Charles Stevens had worked on the TXR project, a biological alternative to thermo-nuclear weapons, during which he had come into contact with members of the Unit, and subsequently over the years they had "helped each other out" but now this was different, something MI6 had; worked incorrectly , and something the Unit had should stop it working, at least that was his hope.

Boarding the helicopter, a blacked out AH-6 Little Bird, he felt a sense of dread, maybe he had a sixth sense, but somehow he knew he may not see London again. As the chopper gained altitude he could see the city that he called home in ruin, it made him shed a tear, knowing that he was partly to blame, a secret he would undoubtably take to his grave. He wondered as he looked upon the former leading light of the empire if this was how Nero felt when Rome was burning.

The helicopter touched down just before dusk, the ride had been a bit choppy, there was a storm over the Irish sea, a route he had to take due to flight restrictions over central England. He had no idea where he was maybe Ireland or even a far flung Scottish lsland. As the helicopter touched down, he surveyed his surroundings. He had landed inside a 100m square area which was surrounded by all the latest technology in security solutions, 15ft high electric fences topped with razor wire, cctv cameras with motion sensors, thermal imaging and even x-rays. There was one building, no bigger than a garage to the south west about 50ft away, there was one door and no windows. His chaperone motioned for him to get out, Stevens unbuckled and got out, there was a slight north easterly breeze that was refreshing, especially since he could detect no hint of the dead, just as he was closing the door, the large man uttered a few words "Go into that door, and if that bulge in your jacket is drawn, you will be shot!, do i make myself clear?" Stevens nodded and walked away from the helicopter, he reached the door and not knowing what to do, simply knocked. The door opened automatically to reveal a set of lift (elevator) doors. As he walked into the building the door shut behind him. Looking around this tiny room he could see a small camera in the corner of the ceiling, pointing directly at him. Waiting for what seemed an age, he finally heard something, the lift was in operation and from the muffled noise he could tell it was coming up. Wary of his surrounding, he could hear his own heartbeat he was that scared, and when the noise of the lift arriving gave a little ping, he damn near wet himself, he thought about the hip flask in his office, wishing he had it with him now.

The doors opened to reveal...........................nothing, the lift was empty, just has he thought about maybe trying to leave, a booming voice nearly sent him into hysteria "ENTER THE LIFT SIR". Not wanting to piss anyone off at this delicate time he simply did as he was told, "Am i a man or a mouse" he thought as the doors closed. The lift descended rapidly, like a turbolift in Star Trek TNG which his kids had got him into watching, and he was a confirmed trekkie often been teased about it by those who knew him well. After 10 seconds and maybe 100ft the lift stopped. He felt the need to draw his gun, but remembered the warning he had gotten not ten minutes ago. The doors opened to reveal a tall thin man, maybe in his late forties with grey hair and a scar on his left cheek. Charles had met him before, a few years before in Saudi Arabia.
"Welcome Charles, you look a bit on edge"
"Hello, Sirus, didn't recognise your voice on the phone, scrambler system?"
Sirus nodded
"Please follow me, i've something to show you"
They walked down a dimly lit corridor, there were what looked like cells on each side, inside which he could hear the familar groans of the undead, this made him increasingly edgy.
"Don't worry old friend, they are secured"
They walked for another minute or so in silence until they reached the final door, they entered the room to reveal a laboratory, there were banks of computer screen monitoring the cells they had just passed, a few men in the obligatory white coats and more alarmingly there were two heavily armed men, in full black jumpsuits, wearing balaclavas and night vision goggles, they were armed with HK MP5's.

Speaking in some east European language, Sirus barked orders at one of the scientists, who immediately pushed a button so that all screens were focused on one cell. Inside was a pathectic figure of a man, obviously he had turned a few days ago, he was strapped down to the table, just lying there in the dark, not moving or making a sound, Sirus flicked a switch and the cell was illuminated, the beast was in full view now, most of it's face was missing, it's chest cavity was opened and all internal organs were removed,"Jesus, you operated?" he thought, not wanting to know the answer.
"As you can see, even without all it's internal organs it's still mobile"
He pushed a button and the rear of the cell opened, a man in a biohazard suit walked in, he was carrying a syringe in his left hand, and a pistol in his belt.
"This is the first test of this serum, we are confident it will work"
The creature caught site of the "doctor" and went wild, trying in vain to get at his prey, frantically gnashing it's yellowing teeth but to no avail, he was restrained. Sirus, again speaking another language that sounded like Chinese, maybe Mandarin, he obviously instructed the "doctor" to proceed.

Inserting the needle into the things arm, injecting the bio-luminescent liquid into the beast took only a few seconds, with that he walked back out the way he came. It took a few minutes to take effect, but over time the creature stopped moving, after which the "doctor" came back and unbelieveably un-strapped the beast and.................................nothing, the creature was dead again.

Charles was ecstatic, he had it, he could save them all. Sirus gave him the needed information to duplicate the serum, and told him that he would want something in return, but did not say what, but that was unimportant, he could have the crown jewels if he wanted. There was a cure.

A few hours passed, and as Charles Stevens touched down back in London carrying the holy grail, something in a darkened room stirred.

End of days Chapters 15 & 16

chapters 15 and 16

Chapter 15 : Safe for now.

John opened the security door carefully, he had heard some strange noises, like moans and groans but couldn't pinpoint their origin, but carrying a dusty old 3 iron made him feel that bit braver. As soon as Steve and his mystery friend came in they ran up the one flight of stairs and straight into the flat, double locking the door and putting the chain on seemed like a good idea.

All three stood in the hallway of John's flat for a few seconds, looking each other over. Apart from Steve's nasty looking eye, he was ok, John actually looked quite well, maybe having something to do with the fact that he had slept for a day and Cathy looked shaken but generally in good health.

The two men embraced, glad to see each other again, there were a millions questions going through their minds, but neither said anything, they were just glad to be safe, for now.
"Do you guys want to be alone?" Cathy asked sarcastically
"Sorry, Cathy, I would like you to meet my good friend John"
They shook hands and exchanged small talk before John ushered them into the living room. John asked how they had met after making some comment about Steve always managing to come up roses in any situation. Steve and Cathy told John how they had been thrown together and the incident with the elderly lady, John told Steve not to worry, the way things were going it was only a matter of time before she had "gotten it". "Hey do you mind if I grab a shower and change, I stink like a pub toilet" asked Steve referring to the smell of vomit and stale booze he could detect on his clothing. "Sure, just grab something from the wardrobe, your about my size" John replied. Cathy then asked if she could do the same, but smirked when she mentioned that she didn't smell to bad.

After the visitors had both washed and changed, John sat them down and went through what he had heard on the news whilst they were on thier way over.
"Well, you are lucky to have gotten out when you did, the infection has totally taken hold, and although there are still some remote areas that are not affected, it pretty much had a tight grip on England & Wales. The military have begun evacuations, but these are erratic to say the least"
"So what do we have to do then?asked Steve, "Well, we are to listen to the emergency broadcast station for when they are to do this area of Leeds, we then should display a white cross in the window to signify that there are living inside". "That could be days or weeks, what do we do until then?" asked Cathy almost fearing what the answer would be. John gave her a look back, wishing he could reassure her that he had some master plan to save them all, but he had nothing.

Whilst Steve had been driving over he took a quick check on supplies, they had about a weeks worth of food, water for maybe two weeks, basic first aid kit, torches, batterys, a CB radio and police scanner (both had been eerily quiet for the last hour or so), a few "weapons" and along with that lot, he also stored the air-rifle and the generator Steve had brought before in the spare room. The phone lines were now down in this area, apparently there had been an explosion at the main exchange. "What about power?" asked Steve, "well that's been ok for now, but i wouldn't count on that holding out for too much longer" replied John, noticing that his guest were begining to look uneasy he offered to make a coffee and they could relax for the rest of the evening.

The trio relaxed, just chatting in general, but avoiding the current situation, they talked about their childhoods, first loves, embarrassing situations they had gotten themsleves into, just generally trying to put to the backs of their minds the terror that was unfolding all around them. With the fading light outside they all fell silent, as they could now hear screams and shouts on the wind, it was getting closer all the time, and time was running out, "Doubt we'll last a week here" thought John, wishing he had left with Sam and Katie when he had a chance to.

It was already dark as Jack Davis pulled the land rover into the garage of his farm, it was a pretty looking old farmhouse, it was around 200 years old and made from local stone, it had a beautifully thatched roof and ornate windows. Jack had purchased the property when he left the armed forces, as kind of an investment, it was to be a holiday home, but he liked the area so much, he spent most of his time here, with his wife Joyce. It had a few acres of land and been situated right on the coast, he also had a boat and a small quay. In the summer it was an inspiring sight, the mist floating down the hills as the radiant sunshine burst through the light summer clouds, in winter; it was a picture that most people would associate with the quintessential English christmas card.

As the three walked to the door, they could see Joyce in the kitchen preparing supper, she heard the land rover pull into the yard and had began preparing a few sandwiches and drinks for the group.

Sam noticed that the interior of the building had changed somewhat since the last time she had come here, that was a few years ago, before Jack had began his DIY project. Back then it was a rustic shack, but now it was a modern home, similar to those posh apartments she dreamed of owning in Leeds city centre. They all sat round the large dining table and enlightened Joyce about their encounter with Sam's mother and the frantic drive past the various checkpoints. "Well you're safe now, why don't you put Katie in the guest room so she can get some sleep" said Joyce. After putting Katie to bed, they all sat round discussing John's predicament, a rescue was out of the question since no travel was permitted south, just then Sam remembered her laptop, and since Jack was still interested in all things electronic and he just had a broadband line installed, she wanted to reassure his parents and herself that John was still ok. She couldn't work out the broadband phone so she tried a messenger service, John was online, but away so she left a mess age.

John, we are ok, your father came for us and we are now at the farm, please get in touch asap

Sam waited for a few minutes,before closing the clamshell and retiring to bed, as she walked into the bedroom, she tried to be quiet, Katie had fallen asleep clinging on to her teddy bear that John had bought here for her last birthday. Sam undressed and got into bed just wearing her knickers and bra, she cuddled up behind Katie and fell asleep almost immediately, finally feeling safe.

John let Cathy have his bed, he decided he would rather sleep on the sofa, that meant that Steve had the chair again. Having heard nothing on the news, he had forgot to check his laptop so he never saw Sam's message so he thought they should all try and get some sleep. Cathy borrowed a pair of John's football shorts and climbed into the strange bed, deciding to leave to light on for the first time since she was child, she found it hard trying to get to sleep, she kept on picturing her husband's face, and how close she came to been killed by him. John and Steve sat in the living room. Talking quietly
"We need to think about getting up north"
"Thats about 200miles mate, could be a rough trip"
"If we stay here we wont get out"
"Let's talk about that in the morning"
"Ok mate, see ya in the morning"

John turned out the light and laid back on the sofa, contemplating what would beome of them. It was maybe an hour later when he heard it. He had not actually fallen asleep, the sound of Steve snoring kept him awake, he heard the bottom door open and close, he checked the window and assumed it was someone coming in not going out, he then heard on of the bottom floor flat doors open but he couldn't tell if it had shut. He listened for a few minutes, but after hearing nothing else he finally fell asleep.

John awoke to the sound of tapping on his front door, John was a light sleeper, and especially now he seemed to sleep with one eye open. He quietly woke Steve, but left Cathy asleep. They crept to the front door to listen, again they heard tapping and a quiet voice, but they couldn't tell what was been said. Looking through the spyhole he saw Geoff, but he didn't look right, he was really pale and weak, nothing like the obnoxious brute he had been a few days earlier, his eyes were glazed, and looking him up and down, they noticed blood trickling down his forearm. "H...e......l....p......me..............pl...eas....e" he spoke in a low tone and had to catch his breath a few times.
"What the ****s up with him?"
"Well i don't think it's the Flu"
"Do we help"
"We let that in and we're ****ed, we can't help him now"
"Fair enough, but we'll have to deal with him if we want to leave, unless you fancy jumping"
"Let's hope he goes back to his flat, otherwise we need something to subdue him"
Somehow realising that they were behind the door, he looked directly at the spyhole, summoning his last ounce of strength "****.........you, .........you'll..............be.................sorry" and with that he limped off, as he did John noticed also that he had a large wound in his back. Geoff reached the stairs and tried to descend them, but maybe he was already turning because his co-ordination had gone, he fell down the stairs with a sickening thud. Maybe it was a mistake, but John and Steve left it at that and went back to try and get some sleep.
"Lets hope we live to regret that" John said, knowing that Geoff would indeed do his best to make them sorry.
*****************************************************************************

Chapter 16 : Time for a plan.

The rest of the night passed without incident, Cathy woke first, for a moment she forgot all about the plague, her husband and the horrors she had witnessed the day before. She woke up and looked around the room, although it was a strangers bedroom, she somehow felt at home, for a brief moment she half expected her husband to come into the room with a cup of tea and the morning paper, she glanced at the door and within moments her memory caught up with her, she sat up in bed, a melancholy descended on her, the terrible feelings that she had tried to close out, now came back with a vengence, she stared out of the window at the dawn of a new day, not wanting to go on, she had nothing left to live for.

After about 20minutes of sobbing she finally got herself under control, she realised that she did have something to live for, something that her and her husband were dreaming of, the tiny life that was growing inside her, with that a wave of defiance came over her, she pledged then and there, on the memory of her husband that this child would grow up in a world where it could be safe. She was only "a little pregnant" as her husband would say, just 10 weeks or so, but already she had some really bad morning sickness, but luckily not today, she thought that springing her situation on the men who had saved her, might just tip them over the edge, for now she would keep it to herself. She stayed in bed, stroking her toned stomach for a while before she heard something that stirred her from her dreamlike state.

John and Steve woke simultaneously, both a bit bleary eyed, they looked at each other and knew that scream was close, just how close they had to see. John went to the window, slowly opening the black-out curtains he had, he saw a scene of total carnage, there were dead and undead everywhere, the street was literally crawling with them, looking up and down his road he could see the reason, about 100m up his road he could see a double decker bus which was very unusual for his street been that it was so narrow, in front of the bus was a military land rover, probably escorting the vehicle out of the city. He could see two dead soldiers on the floor in front of the land rover they were not moving, not yet, behind he could see the bus, it's doors were closed and inside he could just about make out a male figure, he was at one of the windows screaming for help, his screams were attracting the undead from miles around, the bus was surrounded by maybe 100 of those things, the man was dressed in military uniform and had some kind of gun in his hands. "Maybe they were on their way to rescue people and broke down?" John suggested, Steve didn't hear him, all he could hear was the groans of those vile beasts, becoming more and more excited by the mans anguish.

Cathy rushed into the living room asking what was wrong, not wanting to let her see what was outside, Steve motioned for her to be quiet and sit down, he sat next to her and relayed the story of what they had seen, she became teary again and Steve did his best to comfort her, he put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead telling her that she was safe here and not to worry "Don't worry, we are trapped, with no way out and our salvation is sitting up the street been eaten" There was nothing Steve could say, she was right, but he still maintained that they would get out of this. Suddenly a gunshot tore through the crisp morning air, John saw what was going to happen but said nothing, the doors on the bus had given way to the constant pounding by the undead, he could see them scrambling over each other to get upstairs, on their arrival the soldier had given up, he placed the pistol to his head and blasted his brains all over the windows and seat of the No 4 bus. This didn't seem to make a difference because within seconds of him dropping to the ground he was overcome by those disgusting rotting ghouls, intent on getting a warm meal, they fought ferrociously for every sweet mouthfull.

John turned and went to sit back down, looking at the others, who were expecting something reassuring, he simply sat down and held his head in his hands. "We need to think about getting out of this city" he said quietly. John looked at the pair on the sofa, waiting for a response, but has he feared, they had elected him the leader without telling him. "Ok, so you two got any suggestions?" both remained silent, Cathy looked at John, John looked at Steve on so on, for a few minutes they sat in slience. John couldn't stand the tension in the air, he always wanted to "be in charge" but not now, not of this. "How about we just make a run for it, take the car, drive north and see if we can make it to the border?" John suggested plainly out of frustration, just to get the ball rolling.
Steve
"Ok, sounds good, but the subaru is not really the type of car we need, could pack up at any time"
Cathy
"What about the Land Rover up the street?"
John
"Too risky right now, maybe if it dies down out there"
Steve
"What about our friend downstairs, what does he drive?"
John
"Good thinking batman, he drives a new Disco, don't know how he could afford that, he only works for the council"
Cathy
"Friend, who else is there?"
John
"Oh, he's Geoff, er....he works away and leaves his car here" trying his best to lie his arse off
Steve
"It's not outside, where is it parked?"
John
"This aint a really car owner friendly neighbourhood, if you catch my drift, he parks it in those garages about 150m down the street"
Cathy
"How are we going to get the keys? Are we just going to break in and rob him?"
John
"I don't think he'll mind, he won't be using it anytime soon" flashing a slight uneasy grin at Steve.
Steve
"Might be an idea to do the same in the other flats, never know what these freaks you live with will have stashed away"
John
"Ok we'll sort that out later today, lets see if we can get some information, Cathy do you wanna see what you can find in the flat, organize the supplies and stuff"
Cathy
"Ok, but don't expect me to be your maid or anything, also any chance you could have some music playing, even quietly, just to mask the noise from outside"
John
"Here use my i-pod, don't want to attract attention just yet with Guns and Roses blasting out of my stereo"
Cathy
"You have taste, whats on this then" holding the slender music player in her hands
John
"Bit of everything, just scroll through and see what you fancy","Right lets get to it"
The others nodded in agreement.

As Cathy pressed play and walked out, the two guys turned on the TV, nothing on there yet, just the usual picture, Steve turned on the radio, all he got was a looped recording, playing various artists, he turned it off. John opened his laptop, after what seemed like an age, it finally booted up "Damn this ancient relic"he thought, Steve's on the other hand was a custom built nuclear powered beast and booted up in seconds. "I'll check the official sites, you check the unofficial ones, and see if your pals in the states know something" Steve nodded, he was already contacting his friend Tiberius.

John saw the message from Sam, he read it and started crying, he finally knew that her and Katie were safe, and with his family too. He left her a message

"Thank god you're ok, we are fine, we have another here, we will be ok, we will try and get out soon"

He intentially kept it short, no point worrying his family. He wasn't getting much information from the goverment websites, clearly the sites had not been updated in the past day or two, maybe the head geek in charge didn't think they were important, but the with the loss of 99% of the news channels and the emergency broadcast network intermittent at best, you would have thought this would be how people got information. John checked the BBC website, now this had been updated, in a way he wished it hadn't, it was pure doom and gloom, real end of the world shit. They were reports that the infection had indeed been stopped at the new border with Scotland, although the military were trying to keep the numbers down, there was a real fear that even they would be overrun, plans have been discussed about some kind of wonder cure, but that was from an unofficial source so it couldn't be confirmed.

John tried the earthcam.com site, he usually had a quick look at this mainly for the webcams on famous landmarks around the world, his favourites were Sydney Opera House and Times Square, he used to look at another, but since 9/11 that wondeful vista had vanished. He managed to latch on to the the camera that was atop Big Ben at the Houses Of Parliment, it was a scene of utter devestation, the closest thing he had seen to this much destruction was maybe Hiroshima or Dresden in the second world war, all of the city was in the midst of a conflagration of biblical proportions, there were hundreds, thousands of the dead walking the streets, he watched for some ten minutes not seeing a living soul before he switched to other webcams around England he had heard about, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool the story was the same, many dead, cities destroyed and no living.

Steve had been typing away furiously all this time, "John, you might wanna see this". John walked over to where Steve was sat, looking at the screen, he couldn't believe what he was reading, apparently Tiberius had "come by" some information that the virus is man made, and it was made by the British, it was some kind of cold war weapon that was supposed to have been destroyed years ago, but some thought that it would be good to keep "just in case". "What the **** are they playing at?" John asked in disbelief "Didn't they remember the treaty?"

"At the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee in 1969, the UK, supported by the US, called for the elimination of only biological weapons. The U.S., as a result of increasing protests for its use of herbicides during the Vietnam War, banned the development, production, and stockpiling of BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS and announced its intent to ratify the Convention. The Convention was opened for signature in 1972 after the U.S. and the Soviet Union reached agreement on the text of the Convention. It came into force in 1975."

"Thats the thing about those types of treaties, everybody keeps a little something back" said Steve sardonically. "Who is this Tiberius?" "Not really sure, he is just someone i got talking to on one of the survivalist websites a few years ago, but he knows his stuff"."Deep Throat?" referring to the character in the X-Files, Steve replied, smirking as he did "Not right now mate thanks, but i appreciate the offer" they both started laughing "Funny twat, like i'd give you head, pencil dick" It certainly lightened the mood. John left Steve on the laptop and went to check out the generator that Steve had brought, it was a small petrol generator that could supply power for the basics like cooking and maybe the TV, it had a 5 litre tank and could run for 10hours on that. The only problem was refilling it when it runs out, John didn't fancy walking down to the local garage to fill up.

Cathy came back into the living room, having sorted out the food situation "Right gents, we have enough food here for about a week, but obviously that depends on what kind of rationing you have in mind, we'll need to eat any perishables first, and we have enough bottled water and some purifying tablets for about 2 weeks so we are ok for that, but we should probably do your looting plan on the other flats if they are empty"

Steve looked at John with a look of fear, they still had the Geoff situation to deal with. John replied "Ok, we'll wait till it's dark and grab a torch and go looking" Steve added "Might be an idea to have some sort of weapon handy, just in case" knowing full well that there could be at least one infected person in the building. Cathy asked "Is there something you are not telling me?" before John could explain, Steve replied "No, nothing it's just better to be safe than sorry"

A few hours passed, and as it was getting dark outside, they knew it was time to move but they had to be quiet, there were still quite a few of them outside, if they heard them, they could end up surrounding the building and that would put them in a world of shit. John and Steve had been listening at the flat door for some time, they hadn't heard a thing, which was relieving for them, but also they realised that it didn't mean that they were 100% safe. John grabbed a torch and an old hand axe that he borrowed from his father years ago and never gave back, Steve on the other hand taped a torch to the air rifle and used that, also he carried a table leg (John had a coffee table from Ikea still in it's box, that was now missing one piece).

All three looked nervous as they readied themselves to begin the nights action. Although reassuringly, the block of flats had some internal lighting, but it was inside the flats that could be dodgy, not wanting to attract attention, they had decided against turning any lights on.
Cathy
"Be careful lads, nothing silly"
Steve
"Oh don't worry, we're just gonna take a look"
John
"Lock the door behind us, but be ready for us coming back, if anything happens, the car keys are on the table, try and make a run for it"
Cathy
"I'll be ready"

Taking one last look, the coast was clear, they quietly unlocked and opened the door, waiting a few seconds to see if anything had stirred, any unseen resident that was lurking in the shadows but there was nothing, it was all quiet. They nervously stepped out of their sanctuary, not knowing if they would step back in...............................

Chapters 17

Chapter 17 : You just never know.

The low moans of the undead could still be heard outside, although they had not been alerted to the two intrepid explorers, stepping out into the unknown for the first time. Cautiously they took one step at a time, their senses on high alert for the slightest noise, the slightest movement but again there was nothing to suggest that they had disturbed anything, living or dead.

The flat opposite John's (135) was the one that was definately empty, it had been for a week or so, they decided against going into that one, there would be nothing in there of use, even the water and power had been cut off. John peered over the railings towards the ground floor, immediately he could see a bloody stain at the bottom of the stairs, and a trail that went towards the rear of the block and towards Geoff's flat. John and Steve decided they would check the upstairs first, they were just about to walk up the stairs when John realised that they needed something to break in with, quietly they spoke to Cathy through the door, she understood and after what seemed ages, she opened the door and handed them a crowbar. The two stealthily proceeded up the stairs, unsure of what they would find. They reached the top floor landing without incident, the noises from outside seemed to be moving away. Looking at the two doors, Steve asked "Who lives where?", "Well Steve at 136 lives that Elvis loving drunk and at 137 lives Brian, Dina & Matty, best try the drunks first"

John and Steve stood at the door and listened carefully, they could here some music playing but couldn't distinguish what it was, they tapped quietly on the door and waited to hear anything different, after a few minutes they still hadn't heard anything untowards, John, with his hand shaking reached for the door handle, grasping it firmly he twisted it round, and with a what seemed like a deafening click, the door opened. Steve looked at John, this was strange, even with the security entrance at the bottom, you still don't leave your door unlocked, especially at night. All the flats in the block had the exact same layout, so at least they could be no suprises that way, but they still were very cautious.





Pushing the front door open they could see that the lights were all still on, all the doors that lead from the main hallway were closed. Listening again they could hear no movement, closing the front door behind them they started checking the doors, the rear balcony was locked and the key was missing from the door, nothing unusual in that John thought. John looked at Steve and said "I'll lead you watch my back" Steve nodded, with his "gun" poised and ready for action. John moved across to the bathroom, opening the door slowly, there was nothing inside, although the few specks of blood in the sink got his attention, it was dry and maybe a day or two old, but it got him worried none the less. Walking back out of the bathroom he closed the door, not wanting to have to check it again. Next door was the living room, listening at the door, he could hear nothing, he originally thought that would be where the music would be coming from, but no noises could be heard inside.

Slowly again with Steve at his back, he opened the door and pushed it open fully, inside was a complete mess, but nothing sinister, there were empty bottles and beer cans strewn about the place, a mouldy old sofa sat against the far wall under the window, a dust ridden TV was situated in the corner and apart from the aroma of stale beer and urine there was nothing of interest in here, so they proceeded out of the door and headed towards the kitchen, the music could be heard a bit better now and it was coming from the bedroom, but with the door shut, they decided to proceed with the kitchen. Again they opened the door and waited for movement, again there was nothing to alert them so they proceeded in, the sink was full of dirty dishes and the draining board was covered in filth, the stench was overpowering. The rubbish bin was overflowing to the point where the crud around it was about the same height, opening the fridge they found no food, just a few cans of special brew, a rather potent drink that was a favourite with the local drunks been that it was 10% abv and cheap too. Searching the cupboards yielded there first find, it was some tinned soups, still in date although they were covered in dust. Placing them into his bag, John checked the freezer, again this was empty "Jesus, didn't this guy ever eat?" he asked himself.

They made their way towards the 2nd bedroom, leaving the only room that may hold some danger till the last. Listening at the door, they heard no movement, maybe they were getting brave, because they just walked in at the same time as the door opened, inside was something they never thought they would see. This room was spotless, a childs room and was kept immaculate, looking around he saw some teddy bears and dolls houses and nearly every toy you could imagine a little girl would want. John found an old newspaper cutting, it told of how a local mother and daughter had been in a car accident, the cutting was nearly 10 years old, "Shit, no wonder he drank" said John, amazed to find out something that he never knew about this old drunk. But there was one picture that got John's attention, it was of the drunk, but dressed in uniform "****, he was a Para" looking closer at the picture, he knew it was from the Falklands war, there was some writing underneath, "Sgt Ferris, Port Stanley 82'."

The two men didn't disturb anything, it didn't seem right to be in here so they quickly left, and headed for the one room left, the master bedroom. Listening at the door, they heard the music clearer now, it was Elvis (as usual) John wasn't a fan so he didn't recognise the song, but apart from the music they could hear nothing. Slowly opening the door, it was the that they saw him. The bedroom had one single bed in it, and clothes, newspapers and empties littered the floor, but that was no reason to do what he did. A week or so ago, John had heard some drilling from the flat above him and he thought nothing of it, but now he could see what Ferris had been upto, he had drilled into the wall and attached a hook into it. Ferris had taken his own life. Underneath the body was a upturned stool, as well as the remains of his bodily functions that must have escaped once he died. John thought that it must have happened a few days before, the body wasn't even swinging anymore, it just hung there, the skin tone was pallid grey. Steve approached the body to check out behind it, John never took his eyes from it, he was transfixed by the way the head was hanging to one side, it's eyes closed. "I hope you found your family" John said under his breath.

Just as Steve was passing around the body, John noticed something, there were a few drops of blood on the floor, but where did it come from, looking at Ferris, he couldn't see anything like a cut, it was only has Steve accidently nudged the body that it all made sense, with a flash the eyes sprang open, he was one of them, flailing widly the creature mananged to grab hold of Steve, but with the lack of leverage due to his hung state, he was unable to pull Steve towards him, Steve lost it and started screaming, this only lead to excite the monster and the others outside

"****ing get this piece of shit off me" screamed Steve, the corpse was still clinging to him managing the pull him closer and closer, towards the gnashing teeth that spelt his death if given the chance. John wasn't sure what to do, so he swung wildly with his hand axe, hitting Ferris in the shoulder, it made no difference to him, he was still trying to get to Steve, even when the arm finally seperated from the body he still had one hand on him. "Hit the ****er again"" yelled Steve, John again swung, but this time he hit the mark, burying the axe into the beast head, almost splitting it in two, it immediately stopped moving, Steve sank to his knees and began shaking, John tried to hold his dinner down, but couldn't, he threw up all over the floor, the smell was disgusting, and mixed with the reek that came from the body, made it even worse. After a few minutes they managed to compose themselves.
John
"He must have tried to stop himself turning"
Steve
"Looks that way, but somethings bothering me"
John
"What's that? Sorry I didn't react quicker"
Steve
"No, it's not that, it's just............................why didn't he react to us until I nudged him?" "I mean they don't sleep do they? If I didn't know better i'd say he tried to trap me"
John
"What, they are intelligent?"
Steve
"I'm not sure but that didn't seem right"
John
"Maybe he just turned then"
Steve
"Maybe" he wasn't sure.
John
"Come on mate, thats enough for now, lets get back and have a drink or something, Cathy will be worrying with all the noise"

With that the two men made their way to the front door, still shaken they made another mistake, they never looked outside. Opening the door revealed they had another problem. Stood between them and safety was Geoff.

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Chapter 18

Chapter 18 : Loot and Leave.

He was maybe two feet from the door, obviously drawn from his hellhole by the noise coming from the top flat. The wounds that the guys had seen before had festered, turning a strange colour, a mix between green and brown, looking him up and down they noticed that there were a few "fresh" ones, something else had gotten to him, was there another beast in the building? What other horrors awaited them in their so called sanctuary.

The stench was almost overpowering for John and Steve, akin to a mixture of rotting meat and the stench of the sewers in this area in the heat of summer. For what seemed like ages, the three of them stood there, none knowing what to do next, until Geoff made his lumbering attack, lurching forward quickly, he managed to grab hold of Steve before he could retreat back into the flat that the both of them had just been searching, the attack sent John flying backwards into the hallway, hitting his head on the storage cupboard, dazing him for a split second, the sound of Steve's agonizing scream awoke him from his stupor, looking up he saw Geoff bite down into Steve's shoulder, "John!!!!!, help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!" But there was nothing John could do from the floor, scrambling to his feet, he swung wildly with his hand axe and caught Geoff in the side of his neck, nearly decapitating him, the blow sent Geoff to the floor, he was down but not out, taking a second swing he managed to dislodge the arm that was still clinging on to Steve's leg. John, with all his football experience placed a well aimed kick into the ribs of the fallen foe, managing to knock him back two or three feet, and with that, John immediately slammed the door.

Steve fell back into a heap on the floor, he was shaking and crying "I don't want to be one of them, please god i don't want to be one of them" looking up at John, his eyes bright red, staring into his friends eyes, looking for some sort of comfort, but there was nothing John could do or say. John raised the axe above his head, staring into Steve's eyes, Steve knew what was coming but didn't flinch, he just closed his eyes, hoping that it would be swift.

BANG!!!!!!!!!! The sound of metal splitting wood, Steve jumped, opening his eyes nervously "What the **** you waiting for, get it over and done with" John had planted the axe into the cupboard door, kneeling down beside Steve "Take your jacket off, lets see the damage" Steve carefully slipped his leather jacket off, waiting to see the blood flowing from the bite, but there was nothing on his shirt, he looked bemused at John, un-buttoning his shirt and exposing the shoulder, there wasn't even a mark. Steve looked at John again, not knowing what to say.
John
"Steve, it's ok, you're not injured"
Steve
"How?, how? I.........mean.........why?"
John
"Well your jacket probably saved you, but there was something that I kind of suspected about him"
Steve
"Well the jacket has just a dent in it, otherwise it's ok, but what did you suspect?"
John
"Geoff, well he smoked like an irish navvy and he did some amateur boxing when he was younger"
Steve
"And?"
John
"Well, I always thought that for his lifestyle, he had perfect teeth, well they were perfect because they weren't his"
Steve
"You mean?"
John
"Yep, dentures, probably the only reason you're not sitting there wanting to attack me"
Steve
"**** me, thought I'd had it then"
John
"Not yet, but if we **** up again like that..................."

John was cut off by the banging on the door, the low hoarse groans told them it was Geoff, this time John looked out of the peep hole, but couldn't see him, he must be still down. Steve was in no shape to do anything, he was just sitting there looking at his shoulder and jacket, not been able to comprehend what had just happened. John tried to get Steve to his feet, but his legs gave way as soon as he tried to stand, so, John dragged him away from the door "stay here, i'll finish him off" Steve didn't even notice that he'd moved, he was now in shock.

John readied himself, not knowing where this surge of heroism had sprung from, maybe it was the fact that he was nearly to blame for Steve's death, or that he just didn't care anymore, he held onto the door handle, opening the door slowly he could see that Geoff was indeed still down, maybe the blow to the neck had severed his spinal cord, making it paralysed from the waist down. Geoff was clawing at John's caterpiller boots, work issue and very tough, trying to bite down into the steel toe caps made John just feel that bit more sorry for what he was about to do. Raising the axe, taking careful aim as not to just wound but destroy the foul creature, he swung down with all his might, cleaving a gaping hole into the beast's head, with that Geoff stopped gnawing at John's boot and laid still, he was no longer a threat to anyone. John tried retrieving his axe, but with the combination of brute force and the earlier blow to the neck he ended up pulling it's head clean off, John stumbling backwards, with the axe and head attached, fell back into the hallway, landing in heap, as he landed the head became dislodged and flew back about ten feet landing with a dull thud next to Steve.

Steve looked in terror as the head rolled towards him, backing up as fast as he could whilst remaining on the floor. After a few seconds the head stopped rolling and came to rest. Steve simply got up and walked out of the flat without saying a word, John, not wanting to leave the body outside, dragged what was left of his former neighbour into the flat, shutting the door on the way out. By this time Steve had already gone back to John's flat and asked Cathy to let him in. Cathy looked at Steve, realising something terrible had happened "Where's John?" Steve didn't reply and Cathy feared the worst, feeling a terrible sadness that only lifted when she noticed John run back down the stairs.

Back in the flat, John relayed the story to Cathy, but omitted the part about Steve and the jacket. Cathy sat their in silence, simply saying "Thank god, I would have lost it if.........." John cut her off "We should really go, tomorrow if possible, this place is too dangerous". Steve still wasn't talking, he had gone to lay down in bed, not knowing just how close he came to dying, and John comtemplated for the rest of the night just how close he came to killing his friend.

John and Cathy had been talking for a while, discussing just how they would proceed, they still needed to get into Geoff's flat for those keys, but Steve was in no shape to go back out today, Cathy, reluctant to get involved especially in her "condition", but wanting not to become a burden agreed to help John, Steve was sleeping, he had taken more than enough sleeping tablets to knock him cold, so they left him a note

" Just in case we don't come back, good luck..................John & Cathy xx"

This time they decided that there would be no softly softly approach, in and out in seconds, no messing about, and they would go to Geoff's first. Cathy took a snooker cue, she felt safe although it wouldn't be of much use really.

After a quick scan of the building for noises, they made there way down the stairs to the bottom floor, they could see a few of them gathered outside, drawn by the earlier noises, but they couldn't get in, scanning the bottom floor, they noticed Geoff's door ajar, the other flat door was closed, "Lets hope they don't know how to open doors" whispered John pointing at the closed door. They listened for a few seconds at the open door, hearing some scratches got their attention, John motioned to Cathy to stay back, and stupidly or bravely, kicked the door wide open.

The flat was in total darkness, and been the bottom floor John didn't want to risk the lights, it would only excite the ones outside, and those inside if they were any. The scratching gave way to quick lights steps, they were coming the length of the hallway, something was coming, Cathy stood back and only reacted when John came flying backwards out of the doorway and landing on his back with a loud thump.