How are we going to get out of this? We have an army of undead all around and god knows where we are! I know that there is little to no chance of us surviving, even if we make it through this challenge, there will just be another waiting for us. And while the enemy grows with each fallen survivor our numbers only grow smaller, and our resources dwindle more and more. What’s the point in fighting, if there’s no hope of victory?

Monday, July 29, 2013

The Dead Chapter 13

Book 1: The Dead

Chapter 13

                We eventually decided we would take the Ute and the bike, Caleb and Monica would ride on the bike while Todd, Wendy and I would be in the Ute. But I had to ride in the back. I had this weird feeling, like a schoolkid who’s breaking a rule, kind of excited to ride in the back of a Ute. The rest of the back however had been left empty so in an emergency, which was likely to occur, we could load the most stuff we could quickly. It was difficult, splitting up the group, it already felt as if our situation had been this way forever, and I didn't feel as confident or safe without some of the people I had begun to rely on. But it had to be done, not everyone can come to the hospital. Simon, among others, would slow us down.
               
                Almost as soon as we left Caleb pulled into one of the shops’ car parks and found another helmet for Monica. For some reason that made me feel safer, like we knew what we were doing and were prepared. We weren't. We drove along back roads for a long while, often having to pull over to find a way to the hospital without taking a main road, or avoid a roadblock. The streets in this area had always been a catacomb, but a navigable one. But now that the landscape was disfigured by car crashes and explosions, and the sound of traffic is gone, we sometimes had no idea where we were or where we were going.

                Finally Todd got fed up and we pulled over beside a house that had a car sticking out of it. Before he had even left the driver’s seat he was talking, ‘we are never going to get there like this,’ he sounded frustrated
                ‘Well what do you suggest?’ I asked, also frustrated but I knew that there was only one other option: using main roads, ‘all main roads will be blocked, or infested’
                ‘Maybe, but maybe we can use the emergency lanes and nature strips.’ He turned to Caleb before continuing, ‘Caleb, I need you to see if there is space for us to get through.’ Caleb nodded and drove off, leaving Monica here with us. While we were waiting we got out the maps again in futile attempt to find another way. When we gave up we got a more close up map from one of the houses and tried to form a plan of attack. We decided the best way to do it, assuming we get there, is to have Caleb drive up and pull some of the dead away from the front while the Ute drives up the ambulance entrance, from there though we had no idea. We didn't even know if the hospital kept its medicine on the ground floor.

                Caleb returned and had found a stretch of main road that we would be able to pass through. After that stretch of road however there was a clear route through smaller streets to the hospital. Before we started moving again however we made the decision that we would not use our guns yet, conserve ammo for the hospital. Unless it was an emergency we would use or axes and melee weapons. Tense and afraid we drove onto the main road.

                We had to drive through a complicated path, weaving through abandoned cars. At first they were empty but as we went we began to see dead bodies inside some of the cars, and more in between the cars. And then they started to move. There were only a few at first, stumbling through the cars towards the noise of our engines, but then more appeared. And then I assumed they had realised what was passing through their den because they began to run at us. There was no were for us to go, we were surrounded on all sides. Caleb had to stop moving when two deadmen appeared in front of him.

                Monica and Caleb jumped off the bike, Monica using an axe to smash the head of a deadman as they ran back to the Ute. I was standing up in the back of the Ute now, my pole at the ready in case one of the dead got close. Even though we’d previously decided not to waste our ammo I was thinking about my gun, constantly I was asking myself: should I use it? When is it too dangerous to not use it? But most of all I began thinking, what would happen if we died here? Nicole and the others would never know what had happened to us, either they would give up waiting for us, assume we’re dead and leave the clinic, or they would stay, constantly hoping that we were simply delayed. My greatest fear was that they would try to get to the hospital themselves and get caught in the same trap we did.

                Monica and Caleb got on the back of the Ute with me as the dead got close enough for me to start swinging. I can’t remember what or who I hit, but I remember feeling the sickening feel of when the metal strikes through rotting flesh and into bone. Eventually though we had to stop attacking and start defending, swiping away hands as the dead tried to pull themselves up. I knocked on the Ute’s back window during a break in the assault, yelling, ‘drive! Drive!’ Todd nodded jerkily, unbelieving that we would be able to make our way through the mob that was attacking us.


                I heard Wendy scream as a deadman broke through the passenger side window and hands reached for her. I heard a gunshot and saw the deadman fly back from the window, his head in shreds. Wendy had grabbed Todd’s rifle in her fear. I used my pole to protect her window while still defending my side of the back, we couldn't afford to use any more ammo. Eventually the mob began to part from the front and we were able to gain slightly more speed, meaning it was easier to block the dead mob’s desperate attacks. But we weren't out of danger yet, as we turned around a large truck I was able to see a stretch of road clear of cars. But full of the dead.

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