Escape From Dead City Read online

  Sprinting as fast as they could, they got to about half way across the ancient stone bridge before Pauline let out a great shout, and started pointing into the distance. “There she is,” she screamed to Gordon, even though he was still right next to her. “Can you see her? She’s just over there…look.”

  Gordon had spotted her too, it was hard not to. Even with his poor eyesight he could never miss that crazy mop of bright red hair which was all spiked up with gel, she always reminded him of some sort of psychedelic porcupine. He could see that she was standing up on the plinth of a tall statue and waving away like some sort of mad woman in their direction. He quickly realized that this was not just to signal to them that she was there; it was also a warning to what was coming behind them.

  The long line of tanks and armored cars were on the move again and were by now almost at their side, and at the rate they were going, they would pass them and be at the far end of the bridge before they were. Pauline could also see that a line of makeshift barricades were being made on Margot’s side of the bridge, it seemed she was right, the army was getting themselves ready to make a stand. And the two doctors needed to get over that line in the sand before it was completed, they had to get behind the army and it had to happen quickly. They ran like they had never run before, with their lungs almost bursting out of their chests, they somehow managed to keep just a few feet ahead of the tanks.

  “Stop right there or I’ll shoot!” A soldier popped up from behind one of the barricades and aimed his large gun directly at Pauline who was still just in the lead. “Don’t you dare come any closer...or else I’ll fire.”

  “We’re not frigging infected,” she shouted back. “We just need to get through to meet my sister.”

  “Last fucking chance, miss,” the soldier barked back. “I mean it, stop right there now!”

  Pauline looked right at him, he appeared to be about only seventeen, and she guessed that he must have been driven straight here from a basic training camp. He was also shaking away with the adrenalin; the barrel of his rifle was bobbing up and down in front of her. Firing a single shot above their heads, he did at least give them one more chance before his eyes drifted across to the approaching huge tank. The turret was turning around a full hundred and eighty degrees so the huge main gun was pointing way back down the bridge. As they stood and watched, it fired. With a deafening roar, and a huge puff of white smoke, it sent the deadly, two-foot long projectile rushing back down the bridge into the busy street.

  Boom!

  Debris from the mighty blast flew high up into the air; it was not just from the concrete and dust of the road, body parts also spun up and away in every direction. As the dust cloud began to disperse, Pauline could see some of the undead were still on the move, while the living were stuck down on the ground from their injuries or lying there in fear from another volley. The beasts had the advantage, they felt no pain from their damage and still showed not a single flicker of fear for their sad excuse of a life. It would take far more than this little distraction to keep them away from their prey, to keep them away from their tasty food.

  “Keep on firing!” Pauline could hear the man up by the machine gun call out. “They’re still coming, just keep bloody firing!” Round after mighty round rained down onto the street behind the bridge, huge cavernous holes appeared on the concrete and tar, as the area was pummeled with the high explosives over and over again. After what sounded and felt like a dozen blasts, the gun fell quiet, as the masses of dusty clouds slowly broke up in the light wind; this once pretty street now resembled a scene from West Beirut. Death and destruction was all they could see, until, slowly at first, some movement could be seen coming from deep inside the bloody carnage. Disfigured and dismembered bodies crawled up from the gaping holes and headed straight for the living that were screaming out in pain and begging for help. It did not matter to the undead if they now had no legs or only one beaten up arm to crawl along on; nothing would or could halt the urge to hunt them down.

  As Pauline and Gordon turned again, the young soldier had now come around from his makeshift barricade to watch the horror of the deadly barrage for himself. On seeing the others facing him, it snapped his attention back and he threw up his rifle again.

  “Please just piss the hell off kid and let us get by,” Pauline shouted to him, they had to keep moving, she knew that time was not on their side. “We’re nothing like them, just take a frigging look at them, and for Christ’s sake can’t you even see that!” Marching towards him, she was quickly pulled back by Gordon as the soldier flicked his long rifle up a little more to take aim directly at her head.

  “I’m very sorry, miss,” the boy soldier was muttering, almost like he was apologizing to a teacher. “But like I said before, I’ve got my orders. So please let me tell you again miss, and this is for the last time, you ain’t getting frigging past me.” His shaking grew faster.

  “Hello there,” a voice behind him whispered.

  Spinning around in shock, the boy soldier came face to face with the pretty, flame haired, young Margot. While still wearing a little smile, she smashed him deep in the face with her swinging back pack. Falling to the ground, shock filled his eyes until the look of sheer and unadulterated pain set in. Her foot had followed him down as she stamped with all her weight on top of his groin. On seeing him writhe on the floor, Gordon suspected that death by the zombies might have felt a little more appealing than the pain he had right now.

  The two sisters ran together and hugged each other tight, but it lasted for merely a second as both felt more than a little bit uncomfortable by this show of affection, and just as quickly they split apart again. They also shared a quick glance over at each other’s boyfriend; neither of them looked that impressed with the other ones choice.

  “Hi there,” Arthur said as he came over to join them. “I take it that you must be Gordon, you’re also a doctor aren’t you?” He held his hand out and on grabbing Gordon’s, he shook it vigorously. “Very nice to meet you at long last matey, it’s just a shame it isn’t under some better circumstances.” Gordon was more than slightly shocked to see that the younger man was smiling.

  “Sorry to butt in, but can we get going if you don’t mind guys,” Pauline called over to the men as the tank started to move off again, heading a little further along the war torn bridge. “We’ve not got the time for you to have a little chit chat; we need to get away from here now.”

  Passing by the still wriggling soldier, Arthur stopped for a second and pursed his lips, letting out a little, “Ouch! That’s sure gotta hurt.”

  Gordon also looked down at the young, pained man, then nodded back towards Arthur. “Nasty,” he said. “Very nasty indeed, and I think I know where she gets that from.” They both looked over towards Pauline.

  Jumping over the still flimsy barricade, they managed to get to the corner of the road and bridge before they heard that deadly noise again.

  Boom!

  The tank had started firing again, but this time it was not at the other side of the bridge, but at the mighty stone structure itself. It only took two hits for the complete centre section to break away and fall down into the fast flowing river Thames. The ranks of soldiers let out a mighty cheer, but Gordon stood and shook his head, for he knew that this was nothing but a hollow victory. They should have known that this was only one bridge out of nearly twenty in central London alone, and far more importantly, why did they think the infection was not here along with them on the south side. In another way, if it was not, then they had also destroyed a possible escape route away from the clutches of the undead. He just hoped that they would never have the need to use it.

  “Okay, listen up folks,” Arthur said as he tried to grab their attention away from the destruction. “If you could all follow me, it’ll only take us about ten minutes to get to the station…if we hurry.”

  Gordon watched as Arthur and the two girls started running again, his hands tapped at his ample belly as he cursed h
imself for not taking more care of his fitness. With one more deep breath, he set after them.

  They ran off to catch the last train to Dover.

  4- Back together again

  09:10 A.M

  En-route to the train station

  It was becoming all too clear to the guys that Pauline and Margot did not have a lot to catch up on, even after all this time apart. Running on, shoulder to shoulder at the front they both seemed to be stuck inside a strange and eerie silence. Gordon however, wished that he had the same problem with Arthur, because it sure felt to him that the guy would never shut up. What, where, when, why, he wanted to know everything that had happened up to now and much more. At least the screaming from directly ahead shut him up for a moment.

  Soon enough they saw a large framed woman standing on the pavement in front of them shouting and pleading to one and all for help. No one answered; the ever-growing crowds were just racing past and ignoring her. This setback however did not put her off her mission; over and over again, she called out a name.

  “Katie…Katie…Katie!”

  On seeing Pauline and Margot coming towards her, she ran and grabbed a good, strong hold of them, stopping them both dead in their tracks. Her face said it all. Surely, they would help find her. Surely, these young women would help her.

  “Have you seen her? Have you seen my baby?” She mumbled, her tear stained face now right up to theirs, her eyes almost pleading for their help.

  “Hey, let go, we need to get by,” Pauline snapped back, breaking the woman’s desperate grip as she tried to push her away. “We’ve got to keep moving, sorry but we can’t help you.” She also shook her head at Gordon and Arthur, showing she could handle this.

  “Who is she, who are you are looking for?” Margot did not try and break free, if anything she got herself a little bit closer to her. For some reason she needed to know what the woman was after.

  “My beautiful little girl, Katie, she’s only just turned ten last week, but I can’t find her anywhere,” her eyes kept darting around at the still bustling crowds, hoping to catch even a glimpse of her young daughter. “She was right beside me but somehow we got split up a couple of minutes ago. Have you seen her? She’s got light blonde hair, she’s wearing little pink glasses and she’s about this size.” She held her shaking hand half way up her chest, “Please tell me that you’ve seen her.”

  “No, we haven’t,” Pauline angrily pushed the woman’s hand away from Margot’s arm as well, and moved herself right in between them. “I’m sorry but we haven’t seen her. Now please can you get out of our way, we’ve got to get going.”

  “Please I only need a few minutes, you have to help me look for her, she must be terrified by now,” she begged with all of her heart to the sisters, once again trying to grab a hold of them both. “I can’t leave her all alone, please, not alone with what’s going on out here. They can’t get their hands on my daughter, please they can’t.”

  Dropping down to her knees, she clasped her hands out in front as if praying. It was a last, desperate throw of the dice for help.

  “As I said, I’m sorry,” Pauline was already pulling Margot away as the two boyfriends kept a close and careful eye on the proceedings. “But we can’t help you, I’m sorry, there’s no time, we’ve got to go now.” Without looking back, they left the distraught woman alone with yet another fresh outburst of tears.

  “So that’s it then, so that’s the way it’s going to be from now on is it?” Margot spoke to Pauline, her voice low but strong, as they quickly moved away from the woman and along the road. “So, we aren’t ever going to even try and help anyone else? Is that it, are we just going to look after ourselves from now on and say to fuck with everyone else?”

  “Oh please, can you just grow up for once sis,” Pauline bit back, clearly not in the mood to be arguing with her again. “Of course I wanted to help her too, but we had no other choice. We need to get to the train; we can’t get left here in London with no way out.” Her eyes glared straight at her sister. “Come on, can’t you see it’s all gone to frigging hell already? Did you really want to stay and help her just to get us all eaten by those bloody things? Do you?” She glared over to her sister. “So yes you’re right about one thing little girl, I say fuck them all, all that matters for now is that we survive. We can grieve all you want and have our own regrets later.”

  “Well, I just hope that I never get in your way then,” Margot’s eyes went back to looking out in front, she did not want to even look at her older sibling. “Don’t ever want you to have to make that choice between me and that train sis, I’d hate to think what your answer would be.” Pauline’s eyes stayed forward as well as they carried on running towards the station.

  Neither of them said another word for now, even though they both wanted to get a few things of their chests. At least they were being a little bit sensible; it would only have made things worse.

  Keeping just a few feet behind them both, Arthur and Gordon were now running in a total silence as well. They both had recognized that look in their woman’s eyes and knew when to keep quiet and well out of the way until they had a chance to calm down. The two men did however share a knowing look, and almost smiled.

  All four had also realized that this little family reunion was not going too well.

  5- All Aboard

  09:20 A.M

  Outside London Victoria Train Station

  As the four of them got around the last corner before the station, they came across what was far from a welcoming sight. It was more than enough to bring each and every one of them to a grinding halt. The army was already there.

  “And can someone tell me how the hell are we going to get through that lot,” Margot muttered as they saw the heavy lines of soldiers that were already forming over at the gates to the station.

  “For Christ’s sake, there must be at least a hundred of them out here,” Gordon slumped up against a wall, trying to catch his breath. “And they sure as hell don’t look like they’ll be letting anyone get inside.”

  They could only stand and watch as their fears were quickly realized. A young woman, probably only about the same age as Margot, made a break for the line and tried to scramble over the six foot high steel barricades. Soldiers shouted and screamed for her to keep back but the girl ignored their orders, the urge to find a safe haven made her totally oblivious to their words. As she reached the top of the barrier, a rifle butt slammed full force into her face sending her flying back down onto the wet street. Even from a distance, the sisters could see that she was no longer moving around, the heavy blow had knocked her senseless. They watched as rivers of blood pumped from her nose and mouth as she lay on her back on the cold roadway. No one came to her aid, no one seemed to care, dozens streamed past her as they searched for any weakness in the barrier, for their own chance of escape.

  “You’re right Gordon, we’re never going to get through there, so come on, follow me,” Arthur said to him, he was still seemingly enjoying all of this new found excitement, while the doctor still stared over at the helpless young girl. “I suspected that this would be the case, but honestly, you just need to trust me matey, this it isn’t going to be much of a problem. There’s another way in, it’s for staff only and it’s around the other side of the station.” Turning his head slightly, he winked over to his girl. “With a bit of luck it’ll be nice and clear back there.”

  On the move again and pushing themselves through against the still ever increasing crowds, they had to fight every inch of the way around until at last they got to a rubbish strewn thin alleyway. As he said, it was set at the far side of the one hundred and fifty year old building, and looking down at the grime ridden little walkway it was not quite what the others were expecting to see.

  “It’s right down at the very bottom,” Arthur said as his finger pointed to what seemed to be a dead end. “We need to hurry up before we’re spotted and some of the others try to follow us. We need to keep this as quiet a
s possible.” Grabbing a good hold of Margot’s hand he moved towards it; he never spoke to the others, he seemed oblivious to both Pauline and Gordon’s presence. His eyes, and his actions, were only for his pretty young girlfriend.

  As they reached the bottom of the grim, dark alleyway, a large steel door was waiting for them at the left hand side. There was no lock or handle visible but just to its right, was some sort of high tech electronic card reader. Arthur was already digging in his jacket pocket and he quickly pulled out a small green, plastic card. Flashing it for all to see, it showed his face was plastered all over one of the sides. “See doll, I told you to trust me, I told you that I’d get us all inside,” he said and smiled over at his girl Margot. One quick swipe of his pass under the reader and the long metallic door slowly slid open.

  A large man was standing directly behind it; he took a mighty step forward as soon as it opened.

  “Shit!” Arthur called out as he reeled backwards, his fists clenched and up at the ready to defend himself. The others automatically scuttled back as well.

  But just as quickly, Arthur stopped his intended attack as he recognized the guy standing before him. His arms dropped back to his side as anger instead of fear spread over his face.

  “For Christ’s sake Charlie, what the hell are you doing standing there, I nearly frigging shit myself.”

  The heavyset security guard was just as startled as Arthur was. “Mister Price, what are you doing down here, don’t you know what’s going on?” He glanced behind him to see if anyone else was watching. “We need to be careful, it’s the army, they have taken over the whole station sir, none of our trains are running anymore…and there’s also all those stories about dead people trying to eat us.”