The Walk - Part Three

  I woke to the scratching more than the moans. They were are at window, their wide eyes all peering through the darkness into my soul. There must have been a hundred of them, most pressed against the thick glass by the rows of lost souls behind them, all hungry for my flesh. I sat myself up against a row of shelves. My head ached. My wrist throbbed and my eyes were having trouble adjusting to the darkness. I noticed the drinks freezer was lit and on and so was the small microwave for the burgers they sold, so I knew the power was on, but I could've sworn that before I passed out they were on. I ached my head round and scouted the shelf I was using as a backrest and saw it was the crisp isle. I picked up a packet of Monster Munch and tore into it. I was hungry, no, I was starving, but in my mind I think I was testing myself. I knew I had not become one of those things, but I knew I was not the same as I was.

“You've been out for a few hours” a voice came from my left and I shot round to find a old man wearing a green macintosh with cream trousers, his hair greasy and withered. He had a face that had succumbed to the years, pale, but rough, worn out. His eyes seemed bright even in the darkness, he was standing at the end of the isle, his arm stretched out towards me and he was holding a can of cola.

“Thirsty?” he said and smiled. I took the cola. Opened it and took a huge chug. I hate cola, I don't like the fizzy sensation, but I enjoyed that gulp, it quenched more than my thirst, it was another piece of mind.

“Who are you?” I asked as I sucked on my tongue and blinked my eyes as the sensation of the bitter taste of the cola lined my throat.

“Jed.” he replied holding out his right arm and I purposely held out my left arm and shook it backwards.

“Mike!” I replied and got to my feet and wiped my eyes, the moans outside upped in volume as I did so and the excitement in those dead eyes seemed to sparkle through a little more. Jed saw me looking at the window and looked himself.

“We are in a real shit-storm ain't we? He said. He had a Yorkshire accent, but I couldn’t place it. I couldn’t remember the name of the village we had stopped at, I wasn’t even sure if I'd even noticed it on the way through.

“You can say that again. How long have you been in here?” I asked picking up my crisps and motioning if it was OK to eat them.

“About three hours before you. I was in the bathroom when you arrived. Thank you for closing the door, by the way.”

“Why didn’t you lock it?” I mumbled through a mouth full of dry crisps.

“I thought I did, I was in a bit of a panic, that one, you know, the one your friend shot that...She... was my daughter.” He was looking down at his feet now, swaying too and fro, as if although he was talking that he was far away in a place in his mind. I had thought this man to be harmless and the way he spoke his words contained no anger but those four words sent a jolt through my mind, we had just killed his flesh and blood and now I was trapped inside a glass aquarium surrounded by an audience of the dead, they suddenly became the least of my worries.

“I’m sorry” I said, he lifted his gaze to mine. “She attacked..”

“I know, I know.” he spoke gently and his gaze dropped back to the floor. “would you prefer a coffee? There is a pot out back I made.” I nodded and said “OK then, sugar, milk?”

“no sugar for me please, but milk, thank you”.

Jed turned and started towards the back room of the garage and I started to follow, which he noticed and stopped

“Stay in here.” he said quite abruptly. “make yourself at home.” and then headed off into the back.

This took me by surprise and I found myself getting suspicious of what he could’ve been hiding. He was back in a flash, handed me a steaming hot coffee and we sat at the back by the microwave. As if he had read my mind he said with a big smile on his face. “I'm not hiding anything back there.”

He could see the shock on my face I suppose as he continued. “They don’t seem to be round the back.” and pointed to the Ghouls through the black sludge that had built up and scraped across the window.

“Its because they can see us. So they just try and get in there, and I thought seen as how we are going to get out of here that we will need that side clear, you can go look back there if you don’t believe me”

“That's not a problem Jed, I believe you and think your a smart man. Did you say there was a bathroom?”

Jed pointed me to the back and signalled to go left, which I did and found a small toilet and sink, I took a leak and then washed my face, hands but more importantly my wound. I had been paranoid that if Jed noticed it that he would not be as friendly. The wound wasn’t bad when I cleaned off the dried blood, small round teeth marks that had broken the flesh, but only a small part. The wounds were bruised though and the marks were quite large, but by now the pain had ceased and only irritated when my sleeve rubbed against it. The warm water was refreshing and I poured a lot over my face and hair and held my head back and smiled at the sky as I released the tension in my shoulders with a stretch and let out a groan that could rival any ghoul. When I got back in the front Jed was sat reading a five day old newspaper and sipping his coffee. He was a tall man and towered over my five eight frame.

“any good news?” I joked.

“not really.” he said and smiled. “this was out the morning it happened. It happened so quick that no-one really had time to do anything. The radio said that the army were barricading the cities in an attempt to stop it, but it wasn’t just in the cities, it was everywhere, its like God had decided enough is enough and sent his demons to tear us apart. I own a farm about three miles from here.”

He looked like a countryman, but Jed didn’t have a farmer look, yes his face was old and rough, but his clothed seemed more retired golf fan.

“I used to run it, but my Daughter and her husband took it over a few years ago.” he stopped and stared into his mug for a second. “It was him” he turned and looked me in the eye. “Her husband, Thomas, he came home bitten. We didn’t know what was going on at the time, we knew there was something happening but we had no television and our radio was out. so bandaged him and put him to bed when he said he felt dizzy. We called the doctor but it was constantly engaged. Then Judith, my daughter, she went to check on him. I heard the scream and rushed upstairs to find her holding the bedroom door shut with blood streaming from her shoulder. She was screaming that he had gone crazy and bit into her. Then he started pounding on the door, not with great force, but deep thuds, and of course the moan.” his eyes flickered over to the window. “He turned so quickly, about an hour. Judith was different.”

I shot my head round to face him.

“It took 73 hours for her to die. I had looked after her the best I could and even though Id managed to get the radio working and we knew what was going on by this point, but we couldn’t give up hope that maybe she was special, maybe the news was wrong, maybe it wasn’t the bites that turned you.”

A shiver shot through my spine and pinged into by brain.

“We had locked Thomas in the bedroom and barricaded it so he couldn’t get out, not that he ever stopped trying to. It got to a point where Judith was needing help, but she made me promise I wouldn’t take her outside. I gave her pain killers and mopped her brow, but in the end, I couldn’t take any more. It was killing me watching my daughter in this state. I had watched her mother die, and I wasn’t going to lose her. When she was sleeping I carried her to my car, put her in the back and started my way towards York Hospital when, well, she died. I pulled over just in time to say goodbye. But then she was gone, I was going to close the door and lock her inside, I knew she wouldn’t get out. But I spent too long saying goodbye and managed to get out, I ran and got here, found the front door locked but luckily the back door wasn’t, I’m sure locked it though. She was right behind me, I'm 67 years old, I don't run that fast no more. She was trying to get in for hours. Then you and your friends showed up.” there were tears in his eyes, but his voice was always steady. He spoke well and his story filled my heart. I had no words that fitted the moment, so I just kept quiet and finished my coffee. He looked at me and he asked a question that I remember thinking would be come popular turn of phrase for the foreseeable future.

“What’s your story kid?”

Jed seemed a good open guy, a nice guy, but I didn’t want to waste any more time, I didn’t have time sitting around making friends, when mine were god knows where in this mess.

“I'm just a guy trying to stay alive.” I said and stood and walked over to some rucksacks that the store were selling and took one down, then started to fill them with water and food. “What village is this?” I asked.

“You going somewhere?” he asked.

“I’ve got to get to my friends, to my girlfriend.”

“That’s all well and good, but how do you hope to get away from those?” and then pointed again at the window. “like I say Michael, im not that fast any more and there are a lot more of them than me.”

“It will be OK, do you have a car?”

“Yes, its erm, its about five hundred yards down the road.”

“OK, we go out together, but you need to get to the car, and you need to wait for me, OK? “

“Well I suppose I cant stay here forever. Might as well do it now” Jed rose and grabbed another rucksack and started to fill it himself. I found a tube of tennis balls and cut a slit in one with Jed's knife. Then I took a pack of matches and filled the tennis ball with it. Then I took some lighter fluid and poured it inside the ball. Jed was watching me in awe.

“You probably wouldn’t believe it, but my childhood wasn’t really that rough.” I joked.

Jed smiled and asked if I was ready.

“More than I'll ever be.” I said. “When we get out there, head straight for the car, ignore everything else but that, OK? And get it started, if you could drive me to another abandoned car I'll take it from there.”

“Of course” He was looking me dead in the eye.

I opened the door and stepped into the night. The back wasn’t empty, but there were only about ten between me and the car up the road I presumed was Jed's. Jed started in its direction and I made my way round to the front, but still stepping away also. As they came into view, I could see at least a hundred, all packed in, all groaning, all condensed into the parking area, I couldn’t see the pumps but could see the poles over the ghouls. They spotted me and were all turning towards me now, I didn’t have time to think, this was just a 'maybe' idea anyway. I threw the tennis ball, and it disappeared into the crowd. I didn’t stand around to check, I turned and headed for the car, I could see Jed slowly jogging and narrowly avoiding outstretched arms. All I could think as I ran was 'don’t drop those keys Jed, Don't drop those keys.' They, whoever they are, say you shouldn’t look back if yours being chased, but that’s quite hard when your being chased by a hundred or so crippled cannibals. They we barley moved, and I was a third of the way now. Jed reached the car and got in the drivers side. The engine started and the lights came on, and the car started to turn round to face East, I got to the car and tried the passenger door, it was locked. I looked up at Jed. He was looking me right in the eye. He shook his head and then took off. I shouted half his name when the explosion happened. I felt the shock wave hit my back and the noise of the air was replaced with white noise. I was blown to my feet. I turned and saw about half the ghouls were down, and most of the rest were on fire. But there was still the ones at the front of the pack. The observant ones. I was up on my feet before the remaining fragments of the station were starting to hit the ground around me. I ran as fast as I could, I followed the road for about three hundred yards and then noticed the fields were turning to woodland on my left, so I jumped a small stone wall and headed into the trees. I took out my pistol and removed the safety and looked behind me as I caught my breath. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them and I knew for certain they knew where I was. I put the safety back on the pistol and tucked it back in my trousers and started walking. The woods are creepy in the dark, I don’t care what you say and when your on your own and there’s a group of zombies after your ass, you can be forgiven for having a good few sets of trousers to be able to change into. I headed North, I think, I have no idea to be honest. I just ran, or jogged, if im honest. After the first mile I puked and decided to half a break. I could barely hear the ghouls, but as long as I could hear them I wouldn’t be safe. I even laughed at myself for that thought, like I was safe out there at all, alone with a pistol and lots of chocolate and water. I sat down and gave myself five minutes. The woodland was clearing and I thought id take a break before I headed back out onto open ground, in case I needed to be fresh to be able to leg it if need be. I thought about Jed. Why did he go? Why didn’t he let me in? It didn’t really take me long to get it. That it was his revenge for what we did to his daughter. I felt bad that I hadn’t said anything to his story and that I had been cold when he asked for my story after spilling his heart out to me. I I had that guilty lump in my throat at the thought. A feeling I have grown used to. I did then curse myself for being a dick and then started to look at my wrist. What was I? Was I still human? I felt alight, but I didn’t feel myself, maybe it was the adrenaline.

I walked out into the open and couldn’t see any dead. I walked across the clearing and saw a farm house. It looked well looked after and I wondered if it was Jed's. I headed towards it and as I approached noticed an old Land Rover parked outside, Jed was in a Toyota. I walked up to the front door and used the brass knocker that hung from it. I waited and after about a minute the door opened and a young man pointed a shotgun in my face.