The Falling Stars (The Vamps and One Direction Zombie Apocalypse)

Chapter 16- The Unexpected Visitor

I had come to hate the cottage in such a very short time. The cottage was a problem place, tinged with sadness and the memories of a happier time. We would have gone back to 1, but not only did it hold our worst memories from this dreadful time, but it also held the zombies and dead bodies we sealed in. We left them all inside, so we could never go back. We didn’t want to go to 2. They were all up tight and would ask too many questions about everyone. We’d only just got James properly talking again since the battle.

We’d got him talking, sure, but we hadn’t got him really saying anything. He would comment on the food we ate and the clothes we scavenged from the house and the tooth that a zombie had left in the wooden barricade on the front door. He would never say anything about how he felt, or mentioned 1, and he didn’t even mention Taylor Swift, which was totally weird for James. He usually couldn’t go ten minutes without wondering aloud if she was alive. But Lucy loved Taylor Swift, and he was avoiding all things Lucy.

I lay on the floor and put my feet on the wall, reading one of the books on the shelf. It was very old and very hard to read but despite the fact I didn’t understand it I liked the way the words flowed together into a sort of pattern like music or art. Casey was playing with Rex, who was looking happier now, and James and Jake were staring out of the window again. I didn’t know where Brad and Ellie were, but I quite frankly didn’t care, and more prominently, I didn’t want to know.

For the third week in the cottage, I was bored to death. I’d read all the old books at least once and tested the rooms in the house and even broken down in tears a few times after coming across a bright and shiny drum kit in the attic and deciding it was just too Tristan for its own good.

I even got bored with the radio. It was just white noise. All day, every day, white noise.

I passed the wall we had written all the names of who died at the battle of Army Base 1 on, when I heard the noise. Quick breathing. Now usually, I’d just say a zombie, but the breath was too fast. It was unmistakeably, human.

“Hello” My voice was a bit gruff from lack of use as I had not spoken for around 2 days. I saw eyes peaking through the gap in the barricade on the back window. Living human eyes, in a pretty shade of dark brown.

“Connor!” She yelled “My god, you damn boybands get around!” I laughed a bit as her voice sounded familiar. She disappeared, and a second later a fist came barging through the wooden slats and pushed them all down and out of the way. The girl climbed through the gap and landed cat-like on the carpet. I blinked in disbelief. It was Ava Rose. ½ of the weird girls at Army Base 1.

“Hi...” I said

“Hey! You haven’t happened to have seen two guys and a girl, one guy brown hair one guy blonde hair and this girl about this tall with pink hair brown roots??” She asked, gesturing heights with her hands.

“No sorry”

“Fuck” She swore “I’ve been trying to track them for weeks! Their all a bit” she twirled her finger around her ear to represent crazy “Well, the blonde, not so much, but I didn’t see or speak to him properly, but the others” She spoke quickly, and upbeat. “Hey I thought you were at army base anyway?”

“No” I pursed my lips and gestured at the wall with the names “They all died. There was a huge battle”

Ava’s eyes filled with tears when she saw Madeline and Megan’s names, and she sniffed a bit to hold them back.

“Ahh well that’s kind of how it’s going to be for as long as this goes on I guess” she said, and I nodded. Casey must have got bored of Rex or one of the others got fed up with being depressed as someone was playing with the radio. I could hear the monotonous white noise blaring from its ever persistent amplifiers.

“Great!” Ava’s eyes lit up when she heard the sound “I know of a frequency where we get people sometimes!”

“What?!” I yelled “Who? And what frequency, we have to get them!”

“Last time I tuned it properly this girl called Carrie answered. We talked for a bit but she had to go and I could hear all this moaning in the background.”

“Zombies?” I asked

“Ha, no!” Laughed Ava quickly “It was men!”

“Gonna let that comment slide!” I laughed “Hey guys!” I projected my voice into the next room “We’ve got Ava!”

Jake appeared beside us like he teleported from his spot at the window.

“Hi Ava Rose,” He said in a low voice “How you been?”

“Good, good” She replied “Everyone keeps running off though, can I stay here a bit?”

“Ava knows an active frequency for the radio, so we can communicate with outsiders!” I cut in just as Jake was about to reply, a disdainful expression plastered across his face.

“Really?!” He asked, eyebrows almost disappearing into his light brown hair. Ava Rose nodded, and Casey showed her the radio.

“Yep, just one second” said Ava, fiddling with the radio, her tongue poking out from between her teeth in concentration as she wiggled the dial with absolute precision. It was obvious she knew what she was doing and me and the others just gawped in awe as she connected us up to the system.

“There!” She smiled proudly after about 2 minutes of pressing buttons and twiddling dials. The sound on the radio wasn’t much different from white noise, but it was quieter. There was less of just blank sounds drowning out all else, and more like someone had just stopped for breath.

I listened for a little longer, and someone started to speak.

“I don’t even know how long we’ve been here now. It’s getting crowded the more people we take in, but the zombies are persistent. They track us like a hunter tracks prey and there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”

The voice sounded horribly familiar. And those were definitely not the words we wanted to hear from him.

“Thank god we found the tunnel out, we can use the vans at least. But anyone, if anyone’s out there, please help us. We need you”

Without any further thought I grabbed the microphone from the holder on the ham radio and clicked broadcast.

“Hello, can you hear me?” I asked

“Connor?” The voice replied, as Ellie and Brad walked down the stairs.

“Dougie?”