One
Kev grimaced, his entire body shaking as the gun mounted to the roof of the truck fired rapidly as he held onto it for dear life, cutting swathe after swathe through the advancing horde. Beneath him, Rhys and Cerys took shots at those creatures coming from the sides as they leant through the truck’s windows with their assault rifles in hand.
There were so many of them, in fact Kev had not seen such a large horde since the first days of the outbreak when people, despite the fact that Hollywood had given them all the information required, did not know how to put a Z down.
He had been on leave at the time, preparing for a week in the Canaries with the wife and kids. They had been waiting for a taxi to take them to the airport when the news first started reporting strange goings on although within minutes of that first report the term ’zombie,′ had been used. The kids had been excited, of course, whereas he and his wife had been highly dubious. Just in case though, he had grabbed the shotgun he kept in the porch cupboard, at the back behind the ironing board, and ensured he had as much ammunition as possible.
The taxi had never arrived and the next morning, the world had quite literally gone to all Hell. Communications networks had crashed and zombies roamed the streets, just a few of them at first but they were far from shy about eating, which in turn had made more of the damned things.
He and the kids had barely made it out of Chester; his wife had not, but Grace and Beatrice were still on that bridge, waiting for their daddy to return.
For the first time since the outbreak as every single inch of his body vibrated, taking out as many undead creatures as he could, he truly believed there was a very big chance indeed that his girls were going to have to live the rest of their lives, however long that might be, without him.
“I’m out!” Cerys yelled, her voice barely audible above the noise made by the truck-mounted machine gun.
“Makes two of us!” Rhys shouted moments later.
Bloody hell, Kev thought as adrenaline pumped rapidly through his bloodstream. This is really it.
At the very moment Kev had all but resigned himself to the fact he was going to be a Z’s next meal he heard the most glorious sound and as he looked up, beyond the horde of zombies he saw the dustcart reversing slowly towards the truck and more importantly, towards him and his two friends in the cab.
With renewed enthusiasm, Kev lay waste to every single zombie that he could until the machine gun was simply click-clacking impotently but by that time, the grating siren upon the dustcart had attracted the horde’s collective attention and they all but threw themselves in front of it. Most were crushed to death beneath the vehicle’s weight whilst the rest scattered, losing limbs and heads all over the place.
"Go!” Kev yelled as he banged both fists upon the roof of the cab, and then held on tight as Cerys spun the tyres before finding traction and the truck shot off at speed.
She skidded to a stop beside the dustcart and from within, two individuals leapt onto the truck bed.
“Introductions later?” Kev asked, smiling at the two strangers.
“Aye.” She was blonde and Kev had no doubt rather attractive beneath the layers of dirt and shit and grime. Her companion, a redhead, was equally as filthy but a mass of freckles were still clearly visible.
Quite clearly not needed any instruction to do so Cerys slipped the truck into gear and sped off once again. The engine roared and growled. Normally, driving in such a way would be tantamount to suicide; one might as well stand in the middle of the street with a loud-haler and declare that it was open season for humans, but there was a very real need to put as much distance between them and the horde as possible.
She kept off the motorway for as long as she could. The majority of the six lanes were nothing but a mass of abandoned vehicles and even though the group had ensured that for a mile or so either side of the crossing was clear, recent events in Newport had proved that just because an area appeared to be clear, there were no guarantees.
The dual carriageway was pretty clear until they reached Magor, a small town in South Wales, which was most irritating for the fact it was less than two miles to the point Cerys intended to drive the truck up a bank and join the M4.
“Gotta’ go through,” she said, nodding towards the mass of burnt out vehicles that blocked the carriageway in its entirety.
Rhys nodded. Like Cerys, he was not particularly enamoured about driving through any town unless it was absolutely necessary but there really was no other choice.
Just before the turn-off, Cerys pulled the truck to a slow, easy halt, and all five were soon stood upon the tarmac.
“Thanks for the save back there, ladies,” said Cerys. “I’m Cerys, this is Rhys and that manly man right there is Kev.”
“Angie,” replied the blonde, “and my sister, Deb. We’re all that remain of our group, there were only six of us to begin with but we lost the rest in Newport.”
“Sorry to hear that, were you close?” Kev asked, already knowing the answer. People did not get close, not anymore.
“Only in the sense that we fought to survive side-by-side,” Deb replied with a shrug and the other four nodded knowingly.
“We have people on the Second Severn,” said Rhys. “Quite a large group, actually, but more importantly Kev’s girls are there.”
“Your daughters?”
“Aye,” Kev said. “Eight and five.”
“I’m sorry,” said Angie. “Sorry that they’ve got to grow up when the world’s like, well... this!”
“You and me both, believe me,” he replied. “But look, we’re not going to get back there by standing around here chatting. The road here’s blocked so we’re going to have to go through...”
“Magor,” said Cerys, taking over when she realised Kev was not entirely sure whereabouts they were. “We’re out of ammunition and all of the supplies we picked up are back in Newport, somewhere.”
“Same here,” said Deb. “So the question is twofold. Do we think we’re far enough ahead of that horde to risk a quick stop for supplies and if that’s the case, are we confident enough that we can fend off whatever zombie population Magor has to offer?”
“We’re probably far enough ahead to risk it,” said Rhys, thoughtfully. “And besides, people gotta’ eat, so we really don’t have much choice!”
