Z-Day Series: Book 1 First Burnz Read online

Chapter 7

  “Everybody run!” Courtney yelled. “Get to the Jeep!”

  We all ran to the trusty Jeep, the horde on the horizon getting closer, and closer, and closer, until they were no longer figures but Zombies, through and through.

  But then, disaster struck like lightning, as Daniella fell to the ground, having tripped up! She fell on her leg, so we had to lift her up and get her to the Jeep quickly, getting the dogs in the boot and everybody else inside.

  “Step on it!” Yelled Teegan, “They’re almost here!”

  “On it!” Courtney turned the key in the ignition, making the Jeep emit a low roar, before stamping on the ‘go’ peddle.

  We were soon zooming forwards, dodging street lamps, bins and such, just trying to get away from the seemingly endless Zombie horde.

  I had never seen Zombies act like this before, but I had seen them copy each other, as if they depended on one another for what to do and when to do it. I suppose a horde/army was just the next step, especially in such a densely populated place like London.

  We hurried to the other side of London, before deciding on a pub (No, we weren’t going to get drunk) for a base. It was called the Holly Bush, and seemed safe, as it was quite far away from where we first saw the Zombie Horde.

  There were a lot of windows and doors to barricade, and a few zombies to take out, but we were fine with all that. It was basically routine for us. The problem was Daniella’s leg.

  We cleaned up some blood that was there, before binding her leg with some old material, and setting it straight with a wooden splint, made from a broom handle (I know what you’re thinking. But it was there at the time, so... Y’know...).

  Letting her sit on one of the comfier chairs, we then devised a clever plan... Stay put. What? It made sense! We were secure, had lots of food, and the dogs to keep us company. Not to mention the large space, so we didn’t get claustrophobic.

  I took this quiet time to polish my guns, and revise a few of my theories, before I heard Courtney shout us upstairs, to a window.

  There was the Zombie Horde. The one that we had been dreading. The one we thought could kill us. But it wasn’t. And it didn’t. The Zombies just paraded through the streets, and I decided to take a video, it was so... Unlike them. To be so peaceful, I mean, so calm. Sure, they were still brainless half-wits, who tried to eat us all the time, but, just then, they weren’t. And it was kind of nice.

  After a few minutes, everyone went back to what they were doing before. I must have polished my guns about seventeen times, before turning to reading, of course, and checking the internet (Which was still, weirdly, alive and well).

  Tea was a little smaller than usual, what with us having to stay in the same place for longer than usual, but we survived. Sausages, beans and potatoes. Yes! Sausages! It’d been ages since I had tasted sausages, and there were plenty in the back room of the pub!

  After that, Teegan twiddled with the radio dials a little, before the radio blasted out Survivor FM, with Nigel Bell’s cheerful voice making us all feel a little better, though we did have to turn it down in case it attracted Zombies.

  Daniella was feeling a little better, but the fact remained that her leg was still broken, so she couldn’t walk around a lot, and certainly not on her own! If she did want to move, she had to use a long stick, which she leaned on. It was rather like a walking stick!

  I started cleaning then, since the place was a bit of a mess. There were some candles on the tables, which we took for light, and also chairs and tables, which I broke apart and used as barricades. The ‘breaking apart’ bit had left the room looking like a bomb site, though, so I had to tidy up, as well as dust away the annoying, thick, layer of dust, which seemed to cover everything!

  By the time I had finished, the sun was sinking lower and lower, which signalled that it was time to sleep. I only slept, however, after checking all of the barricades, as I wanted to make sure that any Zombies still walking around wouldn’t get into the, now highly secured, pub.

  We were all woken up in the usual fashion; dogs barking, Zombies moaning, and, usually, the smell of Courtney cooking breakfast. Early to rise but late to bed, Courtney was one leader we couldn’t do without. Especially when she cooked bacon and egg!

  Breakfast wasn’t hurried, like it usually was, due to the fact that we weren’t really planning on doing much that day. Take the dogs to the park, go to the Library, both things that could happen in their proper order at any time.

  So, to fill in the blanks, we did some more training, with Sophie and Teegan going out to get the ‘Zombie Punch Bags’, since we wanted to take turns doing it. They came back in, carrying with them some of the later participants of the Zombie Horde.

  Sophie showed us how good she was with her Nunchucks, once again, and Teegan getting more practise with her Machetes. Daniella was teaching Courtney how to throw knives, a safe distance away from the rest of us, and I was doing some melee knifing with my Zombie Target, which was easy as it didn’t fight back.

  The dogs were being themselves, running around and, I suppose, practising their own little methods of ‘How to take down a Zombie’. I decided to record a video of it, then Courtney told me to put it on Youtube. And guess what? It got a hundred views after one day! That’s, like, most of the Youtube users who aren’t dead!

  We stopped for dinner, deciding to go to the park after a plate of spaghetti! Yes! Spaghetti! In the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse! Well, it was all thanks to the Holly Bush’s kitchen, which was packed with ingredients for amazing food!

  We all flocked into the Jeep, Courtney, as always, driving, though she promised to teach me one day, just in case I needed to ‘take over’. I just nodded, but inside I was really excited, and a little confused; where was I going to practise?

  We set off quickly, weaving and swerving to avoid various Zombies, finally arriving at the park, where we let the dogs off their leads, and Courtney and I ran about with them for a bit. Teegan was keeping Daniella company, as she had to sit on the low wall due to her leg, and Sophie was doing some target practise with nearby Zombies. At the same time, she was keeping us safe from the Zombies, so everything worked out.

  At around twelve O clock, we headed to the Library, just in time for dinner. When we got there, we had a surprise, as, apparently, it was a Sunday, and they were serving up Sunday Dinner! That included: Steak (Yes! Steak! I know!), some vegetables, gravy, dilute black current juice (Keeping healthy), Yorkshire Puddings and cake for pudding! It was amazing!

  At the time, life was great. Correction: life was great, by Z-Day (Not Zombie Apocalypse!) standards. I mean, if you had to go to the library to get some decent food, clothes and shelter, then drive a Jeep and shoot ‘Undead Mutant Zombie Things’, as one survivor in London Library called them, just to pop to the shops, you’d be a bit peeved. Admit it. But, if you were like us, and had been surviving for, what, a week, it was great.

  To be honest, I was surprised that it had only been a week. So much had happened: Zombies had taken over, me and Courtney hid in a shop, we met Daniella, together we saved Hannah, Courtney learned to drive, Hannah died, we saved Teegan, our dogs got involved, we went to London, I met my cousin... It just didn’t seem like a week. It felt like a year.

  Back at the pub, we had a bit of a scare, when we couldn’t find Molly or Buddy anywhere, and Lacy wasn’t much help. In the end, we didn’t actually find them, they just reappeared like nothing had ever happened, and got a tap on the nose and a biscuit at the same time! But where had they gone to...?