I shook my head trying to clear away that terrible thought, and concentrated on what the other men were talking about.
“So, what do we know?” John was asking Lt. Jacks. John had come along as Lewis his partner had been in the first group to leave with the Captain. So, John had demanded that he come on our rescue mission. Plus, it was always handy to have a mechanic on board.
“At around 13 hundred hours, we received a distress call from the Captain. We’re not sure how he is or even where he is. That’s all we could get was, camp overrun, we need help. Then just static. It’s strange as this was the most secure of camps that we had. I’m eager to get there to see for myself what’s happened.” Jacks replied, his tone sounding curt and uncaring. But I knew different. I knew that he was worried about the Captain by the way he was making a fist; his knuckles were white.
We all nodded, we’d heard it all before in the meeting that was held that morning. I think that John just wanted to hear it again. Maybe he thought that by hearing the details again he may have picked something up that the rest of us hadn’t.
“So, the plan as you know, is to take the same route as they had planned, keeping our eyes open for them on the way, just in case they have turned back or are stranded.” Lt Jacks pulled out a pair of binoculars from the small back pack by his feet and looked across the fields to our left, then out to the front.
“Anything?” I asked looking the way he was faced.
“Nothing, a few undead, but not a living soul so far. Wanna look?”
He passed the binoculars back to me, I took them gratefully.
Looking through the binoculars I hated what I saw. Thick black plumes of smoke rose into the sky to my left. The dead roamed through the fields, some walking some pulling themselves along, their legs too damaged to walk.
“Can we stop so I can use the toilet?” Adam asked sheepishly.
“Yeah, this seems like a good a place as any. I could do with starching my legs too. Its bloody hot today.” Lt Jacks answered, wiping his brow in his shirt sleeve.
He radioed the car behind to let them know that we would be pulling over. John pulled onto the left-hand side of the road. The men behind us got out of their vehicle at the same time that we did.
We checked the immediate perimeter quickly and gave Adam the go ahead to use the nearest bush. I also felt that it would be a good time to relieve myself because we didn’t know when we would be stopping next.
I crossed the road and found a large tree that I could go behind. I had just finished and was zipping up my trousers when I heard it.
A low moan followed by a dragging, scraping sound was coming from my right.
I pulled the large knife from my belt and moved forward slowly. The noise was coming from behind a small bush, I moved around it carefully, wondering why it hadn’t attacked me yet. My heart was pounding, and my mouth felt dry.
The rope around its neck was caught in the thorns of the bush, when it heard me there it started to struggle more, causing it to tangle up even further.
This one had taken a substantial amount of damage. It was missing both its eyes and the skin had been shredded on the right side of its face. It had been crushed from the waist down and was missing one leg, maybe it had been run over. We’d never know. The rope around its neck indicated hanging but whether they did it to themselves or somebody did it to them I couldn’t tell you. But it was a ghastly sight.
I knelt by the side of it, the smell of decay and rot was overwhelming, I drove the knife through its head, right through the temple. A green/black sludge oozed from the wound as I pulled the blade back out.
I turned and vomited by the side of the second-time dead corpse. Some splattered on the tattered remains of the top the zombie was wearing. I didn’t think that it would mind though.
“George, man are you ok?” Adam came around the corner with his hands over his eyes.
“Yeah, just found this” I pointed to the zombie on the floor. He peeked out from behind his hands in case I wasn’t decent.
“Uh that’s just wrong” he gagged but managed to keep his stomach contents where they were.
“Yeah, let’s get back” I got to my feet and staggered a little, the adrenaline leaving my system and causing me to feel a little shaky. We got back to the vehicles which everyone stood outside of looking at a map of the area. They were discussing the route again and possible issues that might arise.
I grabbed my water bottle out of my back pack and took a small swig. Swishing it around my mouth I spat it out and then took another long pull. The water was warm but good.
“Everything ok chaps?” John called, seeing me looking a little green.
Lt Jacks folded up the map and tucked it into his pocket, eyeing me up.
“Yep all good.” I replied hopping back into the stifling heat of the car.
John and Jacks got in just before Adam hopped in. “Road Trip!”
I shook my head and smiled at him. He was always so jovial. He was able to brighten the mood in the car just a little.
We travelled on for a couple more hours, each man chatting about their lives from before the apocalypse. I kept quiet, everyone in the car knew of
