Zombie Dawn Apocalypse (9 page)

The couple got up to a jogging speed, knowing they could outrun the creatures, at least in the short term. As they ran the short distance to the church it was quite clear that they were overcome with zombies. They reached the building but the heavy wooden door was locked. They beat heavily against it, praying somebody was alive inside to open it for them. Looking around, the horde was already closing in on them with thirty creatures in sight already.

“Fuck, what do we do?” asked Derek.

The heavy bolt slid across and the big door was heaved open by Roger, he looked first at the shocked look of his two friends, and then into the distance beyond them, his expression turned to dread.

“Get inside, now!”

The couple ran in through the doorway and Roger slammed the door shut, with the creatures just forty feet from their position.

“What the hell happened?” asked Roger.

“No idea, they came out of nowhere. Kelly, Travis and Dennis are all gone, and we heard screams coming from the house next door to us.

“Christ, we’re overrun, I’ll get on the bells,” said Roger.

He ran to the bell tower of the church and immediately began to yank the ropes of the church bells, the emergency signal that could be heard across the whole island. He only hoped that there were other survivors left to hear them. He went back to Katy and Derek.

“Are those the only weapons you have?” asked Roger.

“Yes,” said Katy.

“I have some guns here, but not a huge amount of ammo, let’s break them out!”

Emptying Roger’s bag out onto a table they began to take stock of what weapons they did have. Two .357 revolvers, with twelve rounds only, a
Glock
with just seven rounds left in the magazine, and a sawn of shotgun with five rounds.

“This it?” asked Derek.

“Yes, there are more supplies at our house, but that’s no help to use now. I only brought these here as an emergency measure, none of us could have expected a full scale attack.”

“How did they even get here?” asked Derek.

“I have no idea, if Dave is still alive, he will probably have more answers, but that is no help to us now,” said Roger.

“So what do we do?” asked Katy.

“Any idea on the horde’s numbers?” asked Roger.

“We’ve seen about fifty, but I can bet there are a lot more out there, those were just the ones we could see,” she answered.

“Shit, then we only have a few options,” said Roger.

“Which are?” asked Derek.

“Well this place is solid, they can’t get in, we can wait it out here, hoping Dave and his guys are alive and can help us out. We can try and fight them ourselves, or we can make a break for the jetty and take a boat.”

“But we have no idea if help is coming, not enough ammunition to fight, and nowhere to go even if we get to a boat,” said Katy.

“Hey, I didn’t say they were ideal, I said they were our options!” shouted Roger.

“Jesus Christ, we’re fucked,” Derek said.

“Quite possibly yes,” said Roger.

The couple went silent, thinking about the crappy options that lay before them.

“I cannot believe that after ten years of survival that this is what it has come to, what did we do wrong?” asked Katy.

“I say we make a break for my house, at least we will have the weapons we need to fight back,” said Roger.

“And if we don’t make it?” asked Derek.

“Then we go down fighting. The longer we wait here the larger the horde will get and the less chance we have of breaking out.”

“Alright, at least that’s a plan,” said Katy.

“Right, I’ll take the shotgun and the
Glock
, you take a revolver each, and keep onto those tools you have, they will probably be needed,” said Roger.

The three survivors picked up their weapons and got everything in order.

“You ready?” asked Roger.

“Yeah,” said Katy.

“Remember now, no hesitation, when I open that door we give them hell, and keep at it until we can get free.”

“Okay,” said Derek.

Roger stood in front of the big door with the shotgun by his side in his left hand and the
glock
aimed at the doorway, Katy was beside him. Derek slid the bolt across, the weight of the creatures flung it open.

“Fire!” screamed Roger.

The March, United Kingdom

Nothing could have prepared Nick and
Artur
for the scene that awaited them along the eastern wall. This part of the town hadn’t faced trouble in several years, and for some unknown reason a large horde was already at the wall, battering at the stone walls and wooden gate. Gunfire rained down onto the attackers, but the weapons appeared to have little effect on such massive numbers.

As Nick and
Artur
dismounted the ten men from the mobile reserve arrived, they’d obviously spotted the signal at the same time. The men stood for a moment, assessing the situation. Gary, the ex-policeman, saw the problem first.

“There, part of the wall has collapsed!” he shouted before running to the problem area.

He was right. The tall medieval wall had a breach about six feet wide and in the gap a small number of militia were bravely trying to hold back the horde.

“Come on, get in there!” shouted Nick as they rushed to the spot.

Several bodies were on the ground by the time they reached the breach. Gary was already in the breach, swinging his mace and protecting himself with his riot shield. Each swing brought another zombie down. Five more of the reserve jumped in hacking and slashing at the monsters that were trying to get inside. Nick pulled back one of the original defenders.

“Use the rubble from behind,” he pointed at the demolished houses and shops, “and get this hole filled.”

The man nodded and ran to enlist the aid of several more people to help move the materials. Nick moved back to the breach and joined in, his tough metal blade proving the perfect weapon for such a fight. As he swung his blade he called to
Artur
.

“Get guns on the walls and drive the zombies back, we need to give them time to repair the breach,” he called and
Artur
moved off to carry out the plan.
 

Two of the reserves appeared with a slightly burnt door and moved it into the breach, pushing the zombies back.

“Forward!” shouted Nick, as the small group pushed, forcing the zombies back and outside the wall.
 

Gunfire from the wall rained down, slightly reducing the numbers moving to the gap. A massive blast from one of the hook guns created a large dent in the bodies. Dropping the door down in front the men crowded around the improvised wall. The battle raged on as more and more pieces of wood, stone and debris were brought forwards to repair the hole.

Two more blasts from the hook guns cleared the space in front, finally giving the men the time they needed to erect something more substantial. Nick hacked down another creature before the numbers thinned enough for him to take a breath. He looked around, noting the greatly reduced numbers of undead. The breach was filling in nicely and the militia were now able to hold their own and continue repairing the damage.

“Good work, people. We need to get back to the vehicles, let’s go!” he cried.

The group moved back, their places now taken by the defenders of the sector. One of the men moved up it was Zack the gamer they met years ago.

“Thanks, man. That was looking pretty rough. We can hold it from here, there was a weakness in the wall. Anything you need?”

Nick tapped him on the shoulder.

“We’re good, you just watch the wall.”

Zack nodded and then turned back, helping the rest with the repairs.

Nick and
Artur
faced the bloodied but uninjured reserves. They looked an absolute mess but they had certainly done an incredible job. Another flare arced across the sky, this time from the western sector, presumably one of the bridges. Before they could move it was joined by another from the southern wall.
 

“Come on, guys. We’ll take the south, the bridge is closest to the castle, they can deal with that one!” shouted Nick as he lifted his motorcycle from the ground.

The rest of the group did the same and they headed off to fix yet another potential crisis.

* * *

The battle for the southern wall was less desperate than the previous fight. There was no breach, but the real problem came from the storm. It started just as the reserve reached the wall but by the time they were able to reach the battlements and help drive off the attacks, the rain and wind had lashed the defences making it hard to see, let alone fight. As well as this, the rain made the muskets and hook guns far less reliable. Nick and the rest had sallied out and cut down the creatures near the walls, keeping them clear of the walls and the town. That wasn’t the worst problem though. It was the fire that had been the reason for the flare, and for the unfolding disaster in this area. That was six hours ago and Nick,
Artur
and the rest of the group were still trying to control the blaze. What had started as a misfiring hook gun had ended in a fire on the damaged tower. Burning powder had blown in the wind and caught more of the stores and the stacks of debris behind the hastily repaired fortifications. Now the fires had spread through more than ten houses.
 

Nick stood a short distance from the blaze, co-ordinating the effort. Carter arrived on his motorcycle, looking flustered. His face was cut and bleeding quite badly.

“What’s going on?
 
We can see the fire from the castle!”

“We’re holding, it looks worse than you might think,” said Nick, though he didn’t sound very convincing.

“Ok, well, we’ve got bigger problems.”

“The bridges?” asked Nick.

“No, they’re holding, the problem is Davies. He managed to get out and get inside the castle. I tried to stop him and ended up getting this in the face,” he said as he pointed to his cuts.
 

“He’s stripped out the reserves and taken them somewhere, probably trying to save his skin like he usually does.”

“Fuck!” swore Nick as he paced around.

“What is he doing? He can only leave by road or boat.”

“I doubt it will be by road, the vehicles are still in the compound and guarded near the short bridge. I bet the boats are where he’s headed.”

A series of bright flashes came from the direction of the castle indicated major trouble and to retreat to the castle.

“What the hell?” shouted Carter. “It was ok when I
Ieft
.”

“Come on, people, fall back!” shouted Nick as he leapt onto his motorcycle.

Those on foot jumped down from the wall and started running off to the castle, whilst the ones on bikes picked up as many people as they could to carry back with them.
 

The collapse of the defences came quickly as the fighters left their positions to retreat to the safety of the ancient fortress. Without firearms to covers the gates and doors some zombies were already tearing their way inside.
 

Nick and the rest of his mounted group made their way slowly through the retreating fighters, all converging on the one place. The rain was now coming down even harder and to make matters worse the sun was going down, reducing the light and visibility even more.

As the column rounded the last bend they spotted the castle, flares still launching off into the sky. Defenders trickled in from the bridges, heading through the great gate where the mobile reserve had gathered just hours before.
 

The mobile column rode up the main path and inside the castle courtyard to find about fifteen ragged defenders waiting for them. Nick jumped off, looking up at the great tower, noting the flares still launching but no people appeared to be visible. He turned to
Artur
who was close behind.

“Help get everybody inside. We need this place secured in the next ten minutes. Get guns on the walls and make sure the rear gate and sally ports are secured,” he ordered.