Zombie War: Health + Safety Regs

Chapter 14 - Safeguarding Children

Kendra slid the final few feet down the slope, before turning to help Richard steady the makeshift sled as it came to a shuddering halt.

'Let's put this stuff in the car and get on the road as fast as we can,' she said, trying to catch her breath before picking up a couple of the packs and slinging them over her shoulders.

'Is it hidden in that stand of trees over there?' she asked, pointing to a small copse down the road to her left.

Richard, however, did not answer her. He was staring intently at the closely packed trees, eyes narrowed.

'Rich come on, we can't stand around wasting .....'

Richard shot out a large brown hand, grabbing Kendra by the wrist. He pulled her back and put his other hand over her mouth.

'Sssh! Can't you smell anything?'

Kendra shook her head.

'Let me go!' she hissed under her breath.

'I don't want to freak you out, but I think there are zombies in there. I can smell them. Promise you won't go running in there,' he whispered into her ear.

'Promise, but I can't smell anything and I can't see anything in there either,' she whispered back.

'Trust me. I get this kind of feeling. I know when they're around.'

He softly put the straps of the sled down on the short turf and grabbed his rifle from where it was slung over his back.

He gestured Kendra to stay where she was, and crept forward towards the trees.

As he got closer the sweet, foetid smell of rotting meat became stronger and he could pick up low zombie moans mixed in with the sound of the wind sighing through the leaves. Every step he took was carefully thought out, as the sound of a twig cracking or a stone rattling could bring the undead down on him in less than a heartbeat.

He managed to get to the first line of trees without incident and as his eyes became accustomed to the gloom and dappled shadows he found he could pick out the red of the land cruiser.

He caught his breath as he counted eight zombies pressed up against the bodywork, moaning softly and scrabbling at the windows with decaying fingers.

He backed up as carefully as he had advanced until he was standing next to Kendra again.

'Eight of them,' he murmured in a low tone. 'Whether they were attracted by the heat of the engine after I parked, or they can smell humans on it I don't know, but they're hugging that thing like it's their momma. We're going to have to get them to move somehow.

Kendra glanced up the slope where she could see Tate and Buddy sitting with the kitten. Tate was staring at her intently, as if he was already aware something was going wrong.

'We can't risk it Rich. If they realise Tate and Buddy are up there, they could be in real danger. Tate still can't move very far or very fast.'

'Do you think a zombie could get up a slope that sleep? They're kind of clumsy.'

'Do you want to risk it? They're literally sitting ducks up there.'

'Look we have to do something and fast. We haven't got a lot of daylight left and those bastards seem to have some kind of a flocking instinct. Who knows how many of them are being drawn here. I'd rather deal with eight than thirty.'

'Tate's watching us. How are we going to stop him doing something stupid like trying to help?'

'We need a plan before we can worry about that, they're going to scent us soon even though we're downwind of them.'