The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever (20 page)

“We’ll start with a low volume at first,” Tom suggested, “
it’ll
give us an idea of how to use this thing and what it
can do.”

Tom lowered the volume and Danny pressed play.

“I can’t hear anything,” Rob said.

“Wait a
mo
’,” Tom said as he
steadily raised the volume. Slowly faint chords of the song began to drift back
behind the speaker. The plastic bottle began to vibrate; at first it was
indiscernible but after a moment the label appeared to go fuzzy and Danny blinked
his eyes to clear his vision. It didn’t work. Slowly the beat of the music
shook the bottle so hard it looked as if an invisible hand had pushed it off the
perch and away from the music.

“Sweet,” Danny muttered. “That works. Let’s try another
tune.”

“Let me choose one,” Rob asked and Danny handed him the
phone. After looking through the list he smiled.
“Oh-my-God.
I can’t believe you have this one in your selection. As punishment you can go
and get the plastic bottle and put it back in place.”

Danny ran to the bottle and picked it up. It was quite warm.
“Hey, Rob! Did you use hot water to fill the bottle?” he shouted back.

“No. Why?”

“’Cos it’s pretty warm now.”

“Damn. I suppose the sound must be exciting the water
molecules,” Rob said, surprised at this discovery. “I don’t think I would want to
be on the wrong side of this contraption. But I reckon it should slow down the
Infected, maybe even those travelling under the snow.”

Danny had returned by now and so they turned it on again.
Kylie Minogue’s dulcet tones were clearly audible as she sang ‘Can’t Get You
Out
Of My Head’.

“Ah, that one,” Danny said, looking shame-faced. “I
downloaded that as a joke.”

“But somehow you still have it,” Rob said, continuing to tease.

As he spoke they were watching the bottle. It shook even
harder than before and after a moment it burst, spraying water in a wide
circle.

“Jesus!” BB said, laughing. He’d just walked up behind them
to watch their experiment. Tom switched it off and they ran over to what was
left of the bottle. Touching it Rob recoiled; it was boiling hot. The water had
been made to boil causing the container to burst under the pressure of the
steam generated.

“Looks like Kylie really excited your molecules, Rob,” Danny
said smiling. “It looks like we’ve found the right tune for the job. I’m sort
of looking forward to seeing what happens when we let Kylie loose on the heads
of our real subjects. May not be all that pretty.”

“And they use this for crowd control?” Rob said, looking at
BB. Along with Zoë, BB seemed to have been the font of all knowledge about this
LRAD device.

“It’s used at much lower volumes of course, and it’s usually
someone speaking to the crowd. With all the noise of protest, particularly
violent protest, this thing lets the speaker’s voice right into their heads.
They can’t avoid hearing it.”

“Goddam,” Tom exclaimed. “This comes over real unethical to
me.”

“On the flip-side it can also be hitched to a helicopter for
search and rescue. You can call out instructions over a huge area and get the
attention of the lost person or persons, instructing them on which way to
travel to be rescued. It has been used before with success.”

“I guess what can be used for bad can also be used for
good,” Rob agreed. “Not much of an issue now though, is it? We’re using it for
defence so I can’t complain.”

“I guess we ought to go and do some work now. We need to get
those fence posts in the ground as soon as,” Mike had joined the party and seen
the last demonstration. “For the record, I quite like Kylie Minogue.”

“Takes all sorts,” Rob replied, grinning.

*

Janet, Danny and Tom sat in the front of the truck as they
made their way over to the reservoir. Rob, Sandy and Sam sat in the rear, along
with Oskar. Sam had been allowed to accompany them as they went in search of
useful machinery; his young mind was craving something to do. He had started to
tease his sister and was getting on everyone’s nerves so no-one argued when he asked
to accompany them on this small expedition. It was either that or he was going
to become the tethered goat staked out to attract the reanimated. Oskar had
become his constant companion; the dog was also getting a little annoying,
constantly craving attention; clearly he too was missing proper exercise. Staying
in the cabin might be safe, but not necessarily from each other.

“I really needed to get out,” Janet said, her relief
evident. “I feel like I’ve been in there for bloody ages. It’s so nice to be
outside.”

“Know what you mean,” Sandy agreed. “I was going stir
crazy.”

“Sorry it can’t be a little more for you; I’m afraid this
should be a pretty quick exercise, so you won’t be getting much outside time,”
Tom said as he watched the tree-lined road, still wary of what might be out
there. “At least you have a chance to see why Laurie and I chose to have a
cabin up here. What with the reservoir for fishing, the views and amazing
stillness, it was our little piece of heaven. If you sit still you can hear a
fish jump on the other side of the water.”

“It’s certainly isolated,” Janet agreed. “It’s so strange
for us after living so long in London. Even at two in the morning you can still
hear the rush of cars driving around; I’ve not heard silence like this ever, I
think. And the nights are so dark it’s strange to me; we’re used to the street
lights constantly shining into the house. At least we’re breathing better air
for a change. It’s strange, but when we arrived I was a little worried at
first; I kept feeling giddy and offside if I exerted myself.”

“That’s because right now you’re about a mile and a half
above the level you’ve been living at in London. Another three thousand feet
further up and you’d start to need oxygen if you do anything more than sit
around.” Tom explained.

“Yes, Sandy told me,” Janet agreed. “You have no idea how
relieved I was; I thought I was coming down with this damn disease.”

Tom chuckled. “Don’t worry, I bet most of the others have
been having the same sensations as you but you’re the only one to admit to it
so far.”

“At least I feel better knowing what it is.”

At that moment, off to the right and through the trees, they
began to see buildings. Their short journey was nearly over. Absent-mindedly
Tom flicked the indicator stalk, indicating his intent to turn right and then
realised what he was doing. “Years of habit die hard.” He laughed a little as
he pulled into a drive in front of a largish building with a single, roller door
that appeared to occupy most of the front façade of the structure. It looked
like a car repair garage, only cleaner. “Here we are. Keep your eyes open, we
haven’t cleared this far away from the cabin yet. Can anyone see anything of
interest?”

“No movement that I can see,” Danny replied as he heard Rob and
Sandy step down from the back of the truck, rifles at the ready. Danny poked
his head through the communication window into the back of the truck. “You
okay, little fella?”

“Sure am,” came the reply. Sam had taken to practicing his
American accent, so far his South London accent still predominated but it made
Danny smile to hear him try. He looked at the dog that appeared to have made
himself
comfortable on the blanket they had provided;
clearly it had not detected anything untoward.

“Good. Stay in the truck for the moment, we’re just going to
make sure the area is clear.”

“Sure thing,”
came
the reply in the
pseudo accent.

Everyone but Sam was out of the truck by now and had taken
up defensive positions around it. They waited a while trying hard to detect the
slightest movement in the undergrowth, but there was none. It seemed clear. The
only other thing to worry about was the fact that the snow was deep in this
area, no-one having kept it swept. There were no footprints or other
disturbance in evidence in the virgin snow so it was reasonable to assume there
was no-one around. Would the creatures slink around under the snow in
anticipation of some unsuspecting breather wandering by? It didn’t seem
particularly likely unless their behaviour was starting to mimic that of
spiders. As they all peered intently around, each one of them imagined mounds
in the snow making their way over to the warm flesh newly arrived. It was
becoming difficult to differentiate between the imagined and the real.

“Right.
Let’s get this show on the
road,” Tom announced, satisfied all was clear.

“Sam, do you want to come out now? Bring Oskar.”

The two jumped down enthusiastically and started to play in
the snow.

“Sam, please don’t. Stay near,” Janet asked, sounding just
like a worried mother. Danny smiled to himself.

“Bring Oskar over here, would you?” Tom called to Sam. Give
the boy responsibility - that was how to keep him onside and within reach, not
playing around. “Put Oskar’s lead on, Sam.”

Following his instructions, the two came over to Tom who had
stopped at the side door of the building. “Let him have a sniff around, see if
he thinks
it’s
okay,” Tom ordered.

Oskar appeared to be enjoying the new smell sensations and
christened the side of the building, dying the snow yellow. All of a sudden, he
went still, ears pointed erect and stared hard at the door. He emitted a low
rumble in his throat. Everyone saw the reaction and aimed their guns in the
direction of the dog’s stare.

“Good boy,” Sam whispered, holding the lead tighter.

Without saying anything, Tom, Rob and Janet aimed their
rifles at the door as Sandy turned the handle and pushed at it, stepping back
immediately out of their line of fire. It creaked open but nothing moved. It
was dark inside; what a surprise, Danny thought. After a moment Tom edged
closer and peered in. Still nothing untoward. Rob followed Tom and the two
entered the building, warily looking from side to side. Finding a light switch,
Tom flicked it and this time the lights came on; the hydro electric supply must
still be functioning. The others entered the building and closed the door; the
light had reassured them enough to follow. The door had opened onto a cavernous
interior, specifically designed to house large, wheeled machinery. There were
all sorts of equipment here but right in the middle was exactly what they
wanted: a tractor with an Archimedes Screw attached to the back, probably to
sink exploratory bore holes for the water company.

“Perfect,” Tom muttered. “I knew I’d seen them using one.” Suddenly
he signalled for everyone to keep still. Seated on the tractor was a man. He
was stationary but appeared to be making turning actions on the steering wheel,
quite oblivious to the company he now had.
Until the dog
barked furiously.
With a scurrying sound of paws slipping on the
concrete floor, Oskar broke from Sam’s grip and charged at the creature. Slowly
the man turned to investigate the sound.

“Stop, Oskar!
Stop!”
Sam cried, but
to no avail. The dog lunged at the creature, and they fell to the ground
entangled. Danny ran over to the thrashing pile of limbs and pulled the dog
off. He could see chunks of flesh in Oskar’s mouth and suddenly had the terrible
fear that the animal would become infected. A shot rang out as Rob put the man
down. Another creature came at them from the other side of one of the monster
machines and Danny shot from the hip, clipping the side of the target’s head,
spraying bone chips and gore in the bullet’s wake. The beast faltered before continuing
its attack. Rob’s second shot saw it fall to the ground, greyish-green ooze
splattering out behind it. Everyone looked around frantically trying to see if
there were any others intent on joining the fun.

Danny looked down at the dog and saw the poor thing was
trying to spit out the decrepit flesh. With luck Oskar wouldn’t bite one of
them again, but with dogs it was hard to guarantee instinct wouldn’t take over
from remembered experience. He patted the poor animal’s head and whispered calmly
to him, feeling the tension drain from the dog’s muscles as it responded to the
attention.

“Oskar wasn’t wrong, was he?” Danny said to no-one in
particular.

“He knew before we even came in here,” Tom agreed. “Looks
like he’s earned a steak dinner tonight, if we can find any. With the power on
in this building it might just be that the freezers over at the general store
might be working as well. I don’t like MRE’s either.”

Tom climbed onto the seat of the tractor and looked over the
controls. The key was in the ignition so he turned it. The fuel gauge flicked
clockwise indicating the tank was full. He pressed the starter button. After
three turns the engine burst into life, blowing a thick cloud of diesel fumes into
the confined space. Rob went over to the main door and pressed the open button.
Slowly the door raised and began to allow the fumes out. Standing in front of
the building was a group of three zombies, swaying to and fro just watching the
doors rise. As they hadn’t been there when the truck pulled up, they must have
walked around from the far side of the building, investigating the noises they
had heard. Wearing blue maintenance overalls, it suggested that they had been
caught mid-work by the apocalypse. One had a bloody bite mark on his arm, not
having turned at the same time as had his colleagues, holding out until they had
finally caught up with him. As they recognised warm bodies moving about within
the confines of the building their demeanour changed to become more alert, more
voracious in appearance. They began to stumble quickly through the thick snow towards
their prey; clearly they had an overwhelming need to partake of a warm meal.

A small popping sound startled Danny and a red hole appeared
in the chest of the creature on the left. He swung around in surprise and saw
Sam holding a small revolver in both hands, smoke trailing from the barrel.
Danny’s first instinct was to shout at him, his fear for the boy suddenly
overwhelming. In a flash, though, he realised that the boy had done what he
felt he needed to in purloining the gun.