Zombies: The Black Rock Read online

  ***

  ‘Come... to... me...’ the voice spoke in a low, deep growl. ‘Come... to... me...’

  Bishop woke with a start. He gasped for air, as he tried to take stock of the situation. Had someone tried to kill him? What had happened? One moment he was standing in front of that woman and the next he was out for the count. Python was sitting up against the counter, looking equally as confused.

  ‘What the fuck just happened?’

  ‘I haven’t got a clue,’ replied Bishop.

  ‘HELP!’ Beth screamed at the top of her lungs. ‘BISHOP, HELP ME!’

  ‘Fuck!’ Both men were up and moving in seconds. Bishop had never heard her sound so distressed.

  ***

  Bishop was the first one out. Wide eyes caught sight of the two dogs tugging on Beth. Intestines, guts and lungs were scattered across the petrol station forecourt. Bishop fired off a quick snapshot, missing both dogs. The sound of the gunshot echoed like a thunderclap. Both dogs scattered. Bishop holstered his gun and approached Beth. If the little girl could cry, she probably would. There was not much left of her. Bishop was surprised she was still alive. She had lost half her face, all her limbs and all her internal organs. How much damage could a zombie take before it finally died? Beth was the very definition of a fighter. Bishop lifted the bloody torso from the floor and hugged her close to his chest, life a father holding a baby.

  ***

  ‘I don’t think this is a good idea, Colt,’ said Lisa. The window wipers throbbed back and forth, as the rain lashed down upon the windscreen. Colt was sitting in the driver’s seat. Two more cars made up the convoy of survivors.

  ‘You don’t have to come with me,’ said Colt.

  ‘Don’t be like that.’

  Colt sighed. ‘I have to know what happened to my family.’

  ‘The city is overflowing with zombies,’ said Sheridan, from the backseat.

  ‘It is a suicide mission,’ added Lisa.

  ‘We will find shelter tonight, but I will go on alone tomorrow,’ insisted Colt. It didn’t matter what any of them said he was heading into the city. He had to know if his family got out alive or not. He had to know. ‘What the fuck is that?’ The truck slowed to a standstill on the bridge. All eyes turned to the black rock embedded in the city centre. Towering buildings overshadowed the impact crater. The black rock looked so foreign and out of place. Suddenly, a small explosion erupted at the end of the bridge. Colt strained his eyes to see through the downpour of rain. Two soldiers were running onto the bridge, followed by two dozen zombies. ‘Lisa, get on the gun.’ Lisa didn’t need telling twice. She unlocked the top hatch and climbed out onto the machine gun. Colt put the truck into gear and pulled forward at speed.

  ***

  Blood splattered across the windscreen, as the decaying corpses popped like balloons. Colt’s truck smashed into the group with brutal effectiveness. Tires screeched, as they came to an abrupt stop at the end of the bridge. The window wipers throbbed back and forth, removing lumps of flesh from the windscreen. Colt looked beyond the bridge towards the hundreds of zombies ambling through the streets towards them. The back hatch was thrown open as Sheridan dived out onto the bridge. Colt followed. The rain lashed down hard upon them. It only took a handful of seconds to soak them all to the bone. The majority of the zombies on the bridge were disabled bodies that shouldn’t be alive. Legs were facing the wrong way. One zombie had been cut clean in two, but still continued to reach out for them. Colt pulled out one of his handguns and put down the zombies closest to him. He made killing the walkers so damn easy. Two soldiers were on the bridge. They were both in their early twenties. One guy approached them with relief written across his face.

  ‘Thank you so much,’ said Andy.

  ‘You can thank us later. Get in the truck,’ ordered Colt.

  ‘I don’t feel well...’ mumbled the second soldier, a young brunette.

  ‘Sal, you okay?’ asked Andy.

  ‘I don’t feel well,’ she repeated, doubling over. She began to scratch at her arm.

  ‘Colt,’ Lisa nodded to the ripped clothing on Sal’s upper right arm. Blood was dripping from a wound.

  ‘She’s been bitten,’ said Sheridan.

  ‘Get away from her,’ ordered Colt.

  Lisa turned the trucks heavy duty machinegun and began to open fire on the horde of zombies making their way up the bridge. All the gunfire had attracted more attention than the group had ever desired. Tracers danced through the darkness, sending limbs and gore in all directions. Andy looked between Sal and Colt. He did a double take on his friend and then stepped away from her.

  ‘What are you doing? Help me!’

  ‘I’m sorry, Sal.’

  ‘Please...’ Sal stumbled forward, grabbing at her stomach as she cried out in pain. ‘It hurts so much.’

  ‘What are we going to do?’ asked Sheridan.

  ‘I... need... a... medic...’ and then it happened. Sal’s eyes rolled back into her head, she spat blood. It was like someone had just stabbed her through the throat. She released a loud agonising howl, throwing back her head like some kind of wild animal. Suddenly, she swung around in a complete three-sixty and dropped to the floor. Andy watched in horror, as his friend thrashed upon the wet concrete, scratching at her face, drawing blood from her neck and chest.

  ‘What the fuck is happening to her?’

  ‘It’s the change,’ said Colt, marching forward.

  He placed a black boot on the young woman’s chest, holding her in place.

  A single gunshot removed the top of her head, silencing the horrific noise that was coming from her mouth.

  ‘We got to move!’ Lisa yelled. Fear had made a home in her voice. The horde was closing in quickly.

  ***

  Natasha’s scent led the way. Bishop wasn’t really aware of what road he was taking, or what route he was on. There was no master plan to his journey. He had one goal and one goal only. He was going to hunt down the woman that used his five-year-old daughter as a shield and he was going to rip her fucking throat out. The beautiful watercolour effect that was the link between the two of them was so strong now. It was like he was riding his motorbike down a road of light. She was close. She was very close. It wouldn’t be long until he caught up with her. Rain poured down on them, making it difficult to see, which meant for a slow and tedious journey.

  Python pulled over to the side of the bridge.

  Bishop rolled up beside him.

  The powerful engines continued to turn over.

  ‘Would you look at that?’ said Python, flicking a thumb in the direction of the black rock.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I haven’t got a fucking clue, but I know one thing. I don’t want to go fucking near it.’

  Bishop felt the same way.

  Something deep within the core of his being inspired him to stay away from the black rock. The image of the black beast appeared within his mind eye with a skull stabbing pain. Bishop still didn’t know what the hell that thing was, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the beast and the black rock were somehow connected.

  ***

  Colt’s truck bounced over the fallen chain linked gate. Lisa swung the light machine gun, left and right, as they pulled into the large base. Zombies were everywhere. Dead walkers and the skeletal remains of their victims covered the black concrete. A battle had taken place here. Several small fires still burned nearby. The other vehicles pulled into the base beside them. Colt circled, slowly. He weighed up his options.

  ‘It wasn’t like this earlier,’ said Andy.

  ‘I thought you said it was secure here,’ replied Sheridan.

  ‘It is. It is!’

  ‘We have to get out of here, Colt,’ announced Lisa.

  Colt turned his head and looked out the back of the truck. A horde of zombies was marching around the side of a building. It was weird. They were not rushing out in that frenzied way, they were actually marching. And they were also carrying weapons. The zombies marched out and blocked off the gate. They were stood in four lines of twenty. Suddenly, the first row got down on one knee and took aim with their weapons.

  ‘SHIT!’

  Colt slammed his foot down on the gas.

  The truck lurched forward.

  Escape was no longer an option.

  He drove the truck straight through a garage door and into a long hanger. Walking corpses bounced off the bonnet, showering the windscreen with Gore, as an orchestra of gunfire opened up behind them. Tires screeched, as they skidded to an emergency stop. Colt was the first one out. He wasted no time in eliminating the most immediate threats of the walking dead. By the time Sheridan, Andy and Lisa were out the other two cars was speeding into the hanger. The sound of boots marching across concentrate echoed in the air. The zombie firing squad was closing in.

  ‘What the fuck is happening?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ admitted Colt, as he headed for a side door.

  ***

  Bishop and Python parked up their bikes outside of the military base. Python chewed the inside of his mouth, as he watched the zombie firing square moving across the base. It was a weird sight to see.

  ‘Come to me...’ whispered a voice in their ears.

  ‘This feels very wrong,’ said Python.

  ‘I think we should go,’ added Beth.

  ‘I know, but Natasha is in there.’

  ***

  Lights hung down from ceiling tiles, as blood stained handprints lined the walls. The red glow of the emergency lighting created a tense and eerie feel. Colt led the way down the corridor. Evidence of a brutal gun battle remained. Bullet holes could be seen high and low, as debris littered the floor. Brain matter was splattered here and there, as fallen zombies led a trail deeper into the base. The constant groan of the un-dead echoed down the corridors, as the group moved with stealth and speed. Experience dictated that a narrow corridor was not the best location to fend off a zombie assault. They needed to get elsewhere and as quick as humanly possible.

  Colt stepped into the canteen. A group of walking dead were feasting on the guts of their latest victim.

  He holstered his weapon and drew his knife.

  The rest of the group rushed into the canteen.

  Lisa closed the doors behind them, forcing a metal pole through the handles for extra security.

  ‘I’m going to check for food,’ said Levi.

  ‘I will come with you,’ added Sheridan.

  ‘Sit down here, children,’ instructed Natasha.

  ‘This is your fault,’ panted Oliver, he pointed a figure at Andy. ‘You led us here.’

  ‘I didn’t know it was like this. It was fine this morning. I don’t know what happened.’

  In the background, a bone-crunching snap could be heard, as Colt stabbed the tip of his blade through the skull of a zombie. He was making quick work of the three undead. The man was so good at slaying them that he could do it without even breaking a sweat.

  ‘There is a shit load of food in here,’ called Levi, from the back of the kitchen.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ asked Natasha.

  Colt was heading back towards them, using a napkin to clean the blood off his knife.

  ‘We wait until sunrise and then...’

  He was interrupted by a voice coming through the intercom on the wall.

  ‘Hello is there anyone out there?’ asked a nervous voice.

  Lisa stepped over and pressed down on the intercom.

  ‘Yes. Where are you?’

  ‘I am on level four in a safe room.’

  ‘Did she say safe room?’ asked Natasha.

  ‘It could be one of those talking zombies. This could be a trap,’ explained Oliver.

  ‘What do we do, boss?’ asked Lisa.

  Colt thought about it for a moment. ‘Those doors wouldn’t hold back a herd. We go to level four.’

  ***

  ‘What the fuck is their problem?’ cursed Python, as he pushed his way through the crowd of zombies.

  ‘Just keep going,’ said Bishop, struggling to force his way through the herd. The two of them had been heading for a door leading to the base when the zombie horde had made a bee-line straight for them. A road led through the middle of the base, towards the crater with the black rock. That was where the zombies were heading. Bishop, with Beth on his back, practically fell through the crowd and into the doorway leading into the base. He turned to look at Python. His friend was gone. ‘Python, where are you?’

  Suddenly, the nearest zombies stopped and stared at Bishop.

  A frown creased his brow.

  Bishop didn’t like the look it was giving him.

  The zombie reached out, trying to grab his wrist.

  Bishop smashed it straight in the face with a powerful punch.

  It was pure instinct.

  Several more zombies turned towards him. This wasn’t the usual curiosity from a dead head that had heard a random sound. They were looking straight at Bishop as if he were fresh meat for the eating. A big part of Bishop wanted to go out into the crowd and find his friend, but another part of him that preferred to survive took over. Bishop slammed the door shut, flicking an internal lock. The zombies thumped on the door. The twang of a zombie trying to shoot off the hinges echoed down the corridor. Bishop backed away from the door, confused and concerned.

  ‘Why were they trying to grab us?’ asked Beth.

  ‘I don’t know. Something very weird is happening here. Let’s get moving.’

  ***

  ‘This way,’ said Andy, leading the way through the base. One or two zombies were ambling down corridors or stuck in stairwells, but it was nothing the group couldn’t deal with. Red swirling lights meant it wasn’t the greatest visibility and created tension the group could have done without. Andy stepped out onto floor four. A side window gave them a bird’s eye view of the strange black rock, misted landscape, and the horde of zombies marching in formation down the crater. The whole image felt wrong. Zombies were scary, but the group had learnt to read them and predict them. This new bunch of zombies was frightening on a different level. They were organised.

  Colt could feel something off here.

  Who was organising these zombies?

  ‘It’s here.’

  Lisa squeezed off two rounds, dropping a zombie that had stepped out of a side room. Heightened senses meant no zombie was going to get the drop on them. Sheridan was keeping a close eye on the kids, as Levi and Oliver brought up the rear. The nine of them reached the large metallic vault-like door at the end of the corridor. The door looked so thick that it could resist even the biggest of explosions. Colt pressed a button on the intercom.

  ‘Open up,’ he commanded.

  ‘Is anyone infected?’ asked a female voice.

  ‘No,’ said Colt.

  ‘I...’ the woman sounded nervous and unsure.

  ‘We have incoming,’ said Levi, pointing to the half-dozen zombies at the end of the corridor.

  ‘You asked us to come up here, so open the fucking door,’ ordered Colt.

  ‘I just need to know if anyone has been bitten,’ continued the woman.

  ‘If they had been bitten I would have killed them already.’

  The zombies at the end of the corridor scooped down and armed themselves with shards of glass, broken bits of wood or anything they could turn into a makeshift weapon. That movement alone sent a cold shiver through the whole group. Yes. There were the talking dead, but these were not them. The talking dead were more human. They zombies looked like robots, marching in formation.

  Lisa gave him a stern glance and mouthed, ‘don’t frighten the woman!’

  ‘We have children out here,’ said Natasha, pushing Colt out the way. ‘Please let them in.’

  A second later and the metallic sound of bolts and locks being retracted reached their ears. The large vault-like door opened slowly, giving just enough room for a single person to get through. ‘Go!’ Colt stood still, making sure every single man, woman and child got into the safe room before heading in himself. The room was a large open room, like a ward in a hospital. There was another vault at the far end of the room and four side rooms. Cots lined the walls, running parallel with one another. In the far corner were crates of supplies, which included food, medical and weapons. There was also a makeshift kitchen with a sink and cooker. Two small children were sat playing with dolls on a cot in the middle of the room. A man was curled up, mumbling to himself at the far end but stood by the door was a beautiful red-haired woman wearing combat trousers and a white tank top. Every single man’s jaw hung open at the sight of her. Saying she was hot was an understatement. She had curves that made your mouth water.

  ***

  ‘Bishop, why are they after us?’ asked Beth.

  ‘I don’t know.’ He pistol whipped a zombie in the face, dislocating its jaw. A half-rotten corpse stumbled out the side room but was put down by a pistol grip to the skull. Bishop pushed on, stepping over chewed up bodies. A deep frown creased his brow. Why were the zombies turning on him? They were not supposed to go after their own kind.

  ‘Come to me...’ said a voice in his head.

  ‘Did you hear that?’ asked Beth.

  ‘Yeah,’ he sighed.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  He stepped into a small office, checked behind the door, just to make sure it was empty of his fellow undead and then closed the door. A filing cabinet was rocked and tugged away from the wall and shoved in front of the door. It wasn’t going to stop a determined horde, but it would give them some protection from anyone trying to get into the room. At least here he would be able to gather his thoughts before making his move. Something weird was happening here. And he didn’t fancy his chances against a horde of undead.