The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever (10 page)

“There it is!” he exclaimed to Zoë, pointing at a small
cluster of houses next to a large patch of grass, enough space to land half a
dozen helicopters like this. It should be a piece of cake.

“Nice,” she replied.

As he got closer he frowned. All over the grass and along
the roads was a massive throng of people, undoubtedly infected. He hovered at
the shoreline, not wanting to attract any more to the house until he had a plan.
Even in that moment of arrival he could see a general movement of the crowd towards
the beating of the blades; the sound was a serious draw for their addled minds.

“Where in God’s name have they come from?” he asked out
loud.

“From the bridge, I reckon,” Zoë replied, pointing to the
buckled metal that had been the freeway into and out of the city.

BB looked at the bridge and could now see that it was jammed
with cars, some of which were still blazing furiously. A fuel tanker was burning
brightly about midway across, the thick pall of smoke from the dying ship rose into
the still morning air. The intensity of the fire was causing that part of the
bridge to buckle and warp. A line of people seemed still to be walking away
from their stationary vehicles and in the direction of the shore and his
precious house. There were so many of them.

“Zoë, now’s the time to practice your
hover.
I need to make a call.”

“Roger, I have control,” she commanded, her face creasing in
concentration.

Happy that she did indeed have control, albeit a little
erratic, he was finally satisfied that she could hold this position for the few
seconds necessary to dig out the phone. Thank God for the auto-stabilising
features, he thought, remembering his own first helicopter hover during
training - it had been a complete disaster. BB quickly pulled the plastic bag
with the sat phone out from under his seat. Turning the phone on, he checked for
a signal and found it to be strong. Now all he had to do was hope a connection
was still possible. He pressed the redial button. An engaged signal, dammit. He
dialled the landline and got the same response. Fucking typical, what can we
do, he wondered. Landing certainly wasn’t an option.

“Zoë, will you help me with some winch work?”

“Sure boss. What’s your plan?”

Having explained in as much detail as possible, he sent Zoë
to hook up to the winch line. It was possible for the pilot to raise and lower the
winch on this helicopter from the front seat. It just meant he would have to do
two jobs simultaneously and both of them well. He was glad Zoë had military
training. She was a plucky thing; there weren’t many civilians who would risk
their lives to help others, it just wasn’t part of their everyday life
experience.

Lowering Zoë about thirty feet below the helicopter he flew towards
the house. Looking down he could see a sea of upturned and gory faces, it was like
looking directly down through the gates of hell. Focusing on the task at hand
he placed Zoë gently on the roof. She unclipped herself and began to pull at
the tiles just where BB had instructed; kicking at the thin support slats a
hole began to appear. The hole now big enough, Zoë disappeared inside, first drawing
her gun. As the seconds ticked by his stress levels rose and his eyes flicked
over the instrument panel, half expecting to see something fail, just when it
was most needed. Was it his imagination or was the press of zombies much denser
around the house than a moment ago?

Three minutes had passed; it was too long, surely. Looking
around the house he could see it wasn’t his imagination. The noise of the
blades was attracting unwanted attention in the form of huge numbers of
infected, they now covered the approach road, and the grass on the vast expanse
of common land was no longer visible, every inch of it temporary home to a
zombie. In another minute, if no-one climbed out onto the roof, he would pull
away and try to draw the crowd away from the house. He had no idea what sort of
problems his presence might be creating below. At this moment he regretted not bringing
another helicopter pilot to the party; he wanted to be in the house rescuing
his wife and that poor girl she had spoken of in their last call while he was
flying down to SF.

At last, Zoë’s head appeared in the hole along with another
face he didn’t recognise. He assumed it must be the girl, Emily. No sign of his
wife yet; where the hell was she, he fretted. And suddenly there she was, right
behind them. She had a worried look on her face and continually peered behind
her. He could see small puffs of smoke as she fired at something out of sight.
No, no, no, those bastards have broken in! Please save my girl, he prayed
quietly.

Zoë signalled for him to approach which he did, arriving
directly overhead. With quick and practiced movements Zoë had herself and the
girl strapped in and was signalling to be lifted, but not before handing
Kimberley her pistol. The six-shooter’s ammo had been expended. BB winched her
up and about twenty seconds later he felt the change in motion as they landed
on the cabin floor having swung themselves inside.

Kimberley had climbed out onto the roof now and was walking precariously
down the gulley away from the hole Zoë had created. Malevolent strangers’ heads
poked out from where she came and soon the Infected began to climb out in
pursuit. A couple of well-aimed shots and they fell lifeless, blocking the
access to the roof for the others, at least for a moment. Lowering Zoë once
more he swung her carefully towards the edge of the roof to where Kimberley had
retreated. It was going to be a close call, the creatures had cleared the
blockage and had begun to mass around the hole which was bulging as their
numbers massed, excited for the chase and eager to make their way towards their
quarry. Kimberley appeared to be calmly aiming at each one’s head as if on a
target range. At that moment he couldn’t have loved her more, his heart
swelling with pride.

Watching closely he could see Kimberley was now dry firing;
her ammo had been expended. Panicking he swung Zoë a little too hard towards
his wife. Kim ducked and Zoë careened forward and dodging outstretched clawing
hands, kicked at the small crowd of zombies, knocking several off the roof to
the depths below while at the same time knocking a couple back into the hole,
blocking access for others that were trying to join the hunt on the roof. He
breathed in and out deeply, trying to get his emotions under control. Flying Zoë
back to Kim, she grabbed hold of his wife, and they clung to each other, limbs
entwined, while he lifted away from the roof and to safety. Just in time; the
valley of the roof was sagging under the weight of the throng and had begun to
collapse, carrying many of the hunters down with the debris. Now the roof had
half disappeared, leaving a gaping hole filled with thrashing limbs and
tormented faces filled with the anguish of failure.

BB worked the winch bringing the two to the door.

“They can’t get in the door!” he heard the young girl shout
up to him.

“Okay!” he called back. “Tell them to hold on tight and I’ll
find somewhere to put down.”

Looking ahead as he travelled away from populated areas he
saw a white blob of open space about a mile ahead.

“Tell them we’ll be a minute or so,” he shouted back into
the cabin. The girl nodded and began to shout the information to the two women.

After thirty seconds he could see the area clearly now; it
had a high chain-link fence surrounding it and he breathed a sigh of relief.
This was a safe place to land; there wasn’t a living - or otherwise - soul in
sight. Another fifteen seconds and he began a descending approach and landed in
the centre of the clearing having first scoured the area to ensure there was no
immediate threat, no Infected that could put them at risk.

Shutting down the systems, he rushed back into the cabin.
His wife was standing on the ground outside and he jumped out, landing heavily
and literally fell into her arms. Zoë stood guard as the two held each other,
oblivious to the rest of the world. He had only fucking gone and done it.

Danny was sitting with Rob; they had turned the settee
around and were now staring out of the main window at the frozen lake. The dog
was by Danny’s side enjoying an ear rub; Oskar had taken to Danny and wouldn’t
leave his side, possibly because his was the first non-zombie face it had seen
on the plane. Although the dog was another mouth to feed, he was invaluable as
the kids loved him and his devoted presence was helping them come to terms with
the loss of their father at Rob’s hands - although that incident was not
forgotten and now never mentioned, both Sam and Penny were easier in Rob’s
presence. In the pitch darkness at the airport Oskar had also alerted Danny to
the Infected that wandered all around them, invisible in the inky blackness in
the minutes before their eyes could adjust to the starlight. It was quite probable
he would be worth his weight in gold as an alert system - only time would tell.

It was about seven in the morning and the dawn was well
under way. Outside it was well below zero and looked it; hoar frost had made a large
part of the window opaque and the greenery outside had turned white. Nothing
stirred except small birds searching for insects or the final grubs of autumn in
the undergrowth; when it snowed there would be even slimmer pickings for them.
Thinking about their upcoming and inevitable hard times Danny suddenly
understood the benefits of hibernation and envied animals capable of the
practice. Although it was a crisp, clear morning, clouds were already beginning
to form; it looked like a cold front was on its way from the east and would be
with them by lunch time. It would almost certainly bring snow with it.

“I wonder how BB’s getting on,” Danny remarked. It had been
just over an hour since the man had left on his rescue mission.

“I don’t imagine he’ll get there much before about lunch
time. After six hours of flight, he’ll be knackered.” Rob liked to use a number
of English expressions he’d picked up while working in London; he said it helped
make his business travels worthwhile.

“I hope the GPS service continues to work a while yet.
Otherwise his return journey will be interesting; with this snow coming all the
landmarks he could use as an alternative will be completely covered; how he
will see the fuelling points I have no idea.”

“Fingers crossed then, eh. Probably better off in a
helicopter than a plane, I reckon. At least he can fly low and look at signs.”

The women had taken over the kitchen and had begun to cook a
full breakfast and the lads could hear chattering and the occasional laughter;
it was amazing how calming the normal smell of cooking was to everyone in the
cabin, even Jackie seemed to have overcome her injury and was helping out.

They would need the energy provided by a good breakfast today;
the first thing to do was to make sure the whole area was clear of the undead.
At some point they would also have to set about fortifying their domain. If
those bloody creatures could survive the sub-zero weather, and BB’s quick and
dirty test seemed to prove that, they would eventually make it up here, but hopefully
not in large numbers or life would become very difficult.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about our predicament, Rob,”
Danny continued. “I think we are going to have to do some serious planning.
Pre-packaged food isn’t going to be something we can depend on to survive.
Eventually it will become hard to come by and inedible. We don’t even know how
many people survived this thing.”

“Know what you mean, it worries me too. Not the lack of food
but the scavengers. Chuck told me about the two fellas that attacked them in
Bolder before they came up here. It’s not likely they’ll be the only ones.” Rob
lapsed into silence for a moment. “On another subject, when we were driving
here, how many survivors did we see?
None.”

“I know, it’s really weird.
I don’t
want to be one of just a few survivors of the human race. With luck a lot will probably
be in hiding and trying to keep warm. I hope.”

“Yeah.
How much of the population
do you think might have survived?”

“That’s a question and a half. I don’t even know how the
hell we didn’t succumb. Based on what we saw in London at least eighty per cent
or so were turned. But it could be less, I just don’t know.”

“Remember you said it was possible the air filtration system
in the data centre might have prevented me from being infected?” Danny nodded
in reply and Rob continued. “What if
there’s
loads of
us techies out there that have survived because we were in clean rooms at the
time? You realise this could mean the rise of the Nerds, don’t you?”

Danny laughed. “Sorry, don’t think your optimism is valid;
if we’re dependent on nerds that would mean we become extinct as a race; with a
nerd ratio of about ten blokes to one woman, the odds are stacked heavily against
us. Kidding aside, you may have a point. Perhaps there are survivors in major
buildings because they didn’t breathe the original strain in.”

They fell silent again.

“Jesus, I’ve just had a thought,” Rob said turning to Danny.
“Do you know it’s only been about three and a half days since all this began?
It feels like bloody years!”

“Bugger.
Such a
short timescale for such a big change.
No wonder I feel knackered. We
haven’t stopped since I came in to the office after the New Year break.”

The dog’s ears pricked up and he emitted a low growl.

“Oh, no!”
Rob exclaimed. Danny saw
it at the same time. A man had walked into their field of view. Judging by the
fact that his whole left arm was missing and there was a gash down the side of
his face that appeared to have frozen, the man was obviously infected.

“How the fuck is he walking?” Danny wondered. “He looks
frozen solid.” The man was stiff-legged, his distal joints almost completely inflexible;
it was a miracle he could stay on his feet at all.

“
Dunno
, but he isn’t going to get
away,” Rob said reaching for his weapon. Danny followed suit. They still had
the Heckler & Koch plastic rifles purloined from the two zombie police
officers back in London. Rob liked the way it fitted into his shoulder when he
used it, whereas Danny’s attachment to his came from the fact that it was easy
to use and had saved him on many occasions in the last few days.

Donning their coats and gloves they both stepped outside;
England rarely got this cold and the sudden chill made Danny’s skin tighten as
his blood disappeared deep into his body in response. They looked around,
concerned that there might be more where this one came from but it seemed to be
alone as it purposefully made its way along the track. They decided to follow
it to its destination, if it had one. The walkie-talkie crackled. It was Chuck.

“Where you boys
goin
’?” he asked.

“We’re following this walking popsicle,” Rob answered
quietly. “We won’t go far but this one seems to have somewhere it needs to be so
we thought we’d check on it.”

“Want some company?”

“No, we’ll be fine. Just want to make sure there isn’t a
group of them holing up somewhere nearby.”

“Okay. See you soon. Breakfast will only be a few more
minutes.”

The thought of food made Danny’s stomach grumble. Detecting
the slight sound, the wounded man stopped and turned slowly. The two followers
stopped dead in their tracks as it surveyed the area, trying to find the source
of the noise. After a moment it turned back and continued on; its hearing might
be spot on but its eyesight was clearly failing in the cold, or maybe the
temperature meant that the boys weren’t kicking off enough living human smell
to be detected at this range; not feeling the need, neither had used aftershave
this early in the morning. It continued its journey for a few minutes more
until it rounded a bend in the path.

Nearing the corner the lads split up and took opposite sides
of the track. Slowly they rounded the bend using the ice-covered scrub to hide
their progress. A group of people, all appearing to be in their late teens or
early twenties, were standing together, apparently huddled for warmth.
Concerned for their safety, Rob was about to call out to them, warning of the
approaching danger. At the last moment he held back; there was something
strange about the group. The way they were so still, no-one was flapping their
arms to stay warm, no breathed vapour rose from them at all.

He looked across at Danny and shrugged his shoulders. Danny
looked at him quizzically, from his position he couldn’t see any great detail.
Slowly he edged forward and then he too went still as he realised what he was
seeing. Looking back at Rob he signalled them to retreat to a safe distance.

“How in God’s name did they get up here? They can’t have
walked up from Denver.”

“My guess,” Rob replied, “is that they are staying, or
rather were staying, in one of the cabins at the main lake. Perhaps they were
on a hiking trip when they succumbed?”

“What are we going to do with them? We can’t leave them,
that’s for sure, there’s too many.”

“And they may have fast ones with them we haven’t seen just
yet.” That thought chilled them both more than the early morning temperature.

“Let’s get back to the cabin and plan this properly.” Decision
made they hurried back, casting frequent, nervous glances over their shoulders
as they went.

Entering the cabin, they stomped their feet to return
circulation to their toes.

“Chuck,” Rob called. The man walked out of the kitchen. His
cheeks were rosy with the warmth generated by the cooking; Danny was envious.

“What’s up?”

“We just found a crowd of them around that corner to the
west,” Rob explained, sotto voce, not wanting anyone else to hear. “We came
straight back as there might be fast ones protecting them. We need to get them
all.”

“How many do you reckon?”

“About twenty,” Danny piped up. “They don’t appear to breathe.”

“What makes you say that?”

“No vapour from their breath. We should have seen something
from a crowd that large, especially on a cold day like this.”

“Were they going anywhere, do ya think?”

“They just seemed to be standing there,” Rob replied. “The
guy we followed walked up to them and just stood there. They didn’t make a
sound.”

At that moment Janet walked out of the kitchen. She noticed
the tense looks on their faces.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“We found some of
them
,”
Danny replied.

“A lot?”

“Quite a few.
We need to deal with
them.”

“I think we can eat first,” Chuck suggested. “You’ll need
the energy.”

“It won’t take long. It’s all ready now,” Janet encouraged.

Tom came out of their bedroom; he’d been spending time with
his boys, explaining as best he could the situation as it stood.

“Problems, lads?”

“Nothing we didn’t really expect,” Rob said. “We’ve found
some undead we need to deal with.”

“Okay. We’d better get the others up and ready. Better if we
do this in force I reckon.”

“I’ll get them,” Danny offered and began to walk away. Janet
pulled him to one side.

“Have you seen Angela?” she asked.

“No. Why?”

“I think she might have wandered off with the sergeant and
his kid. They aren’t here either. There’s something strange about her, some of
the others have sensed it too.”

“Okay. I’ll ask the Captain; see if he knows anything about
the sergeant and the woman.” He kissed her gently and walked off to the room
the helicopter crew were using. All he found was the captain and the co-pilot.
Bill had removed his dressings and was squinting at Danny as he entered.

“Hey, Danny,” Bill said, effectively announcing that he
could see, at least partially.

“Hi guys. Breakfast is ready. We also have a situation to
deal with and it needs as many of us as we can muster.” He looked at the empty
bed. “Where is the sergeant? Is he with Angela? She’s missing too.”

“Angela? I don’t know,” Mike replied. “Cliff was gone when I
woke. I thought he might be out there.”

“Perhaps they’ve gone for a walk. Not that it’s a good idea.
We’ve just found a group of Infected; that’s the situation I was alluding to.”

“Really?
In this
cold?”

“Yep.
Anyway, come and get
something to eat and we’ll go out and find the missing pair and the child. I
wish they hadn’t gone out without letting us know.
Bloody
selfish of them.”

Janet and Sandra had made up sausage sandwiches so that they
could eat their food more quickly. The smell was wonderful and soon Danny’s
irritation at Cliff and Angela was replaced by a feeling of warmth as the food
had the desired effect. It was amazing how simple things made such a difference
under difficult circumstances.

“So, what are we going to do?” Danny asked the gathered
audience. “We have some twenty or so zombies in a group over there and we have
two missing people.”

“I say we go after the Infected first,” Chuck stated. “I
suspect Cliff and the religious girl are in another cabin and almost certainly
safe. If not, we still have a large number of the undead to deal with or they
will become a bigger problem for us if they split up into smaller groups. This
group may not be all of them; we have to be sure. That, and determine if there
are any fast ones that can still move quickly in this cold; we have to sort
that out as a priority.”

“I agree,” Mike said, backing up Chuck’s approach to the
situation. “Cliff can handle himself and Angela seems assertive enough that she
probably can too.”

“What about his child?” Janet interjected. “It’s alright if
they bugger off on their own, but what about the safety of his daughter?”