Rise and Fall

Chapter 3

“What’s the matter?” Pat asks, startled by his girlfriend bursting into the small entrance hall.

   “There’s a zombie in your garden!” Becky blurts as she pushes her glasses back up her nose, unable to believe what she’s just seen.

   Jess reappears, trotting down the stairs. “Really? I’ve got to see this.” There’s a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

   Blocking her exit from the staircase, Pat says, “You can’t be serious? It could kill you! Don’t give it the chance!”

   As Jess opens her mouth to argue with her brother, Becky cuts in. “Pat’s right, it’s too risky. We need to get out of here.”

   “And where are we meant to go?” Jess asks tartly, crossing her arms over her chest.

  The three of them are silent for a moment, weighing their options. Then, failing to think of anything else to suggest, Becky says, “We’ll go to Josh’s. Strength in numbers, right?”

   “Okay,” Jess begins, unimpressed by this idea, “and how will we get there?”

   “We’ll drive, won’t we?” Pat asks, as though this should have been obvious.

   Jess’s face falls. “But I’m not insured!” she squeaks.

   Pat and Becky give her the same incredulous look. “Are you fucking serious?” Becky explodes. Jess flinches. “There are dead people walking the streets! Do you think the police are going to give a toss about an uninsured driver?”

   Shaking her head, Jess jumps into action. “No, no, of course they’re not,” she says to herself, descending the final steps and slipping her shoes on.

   It takes less than fifteen seconds for the three of them to assemble in a line by the front door, ready to run. Snatching her car keys from the windowsill next to the door, Jess inserts the appropriate key into the lock. Before she can turn it, though, the heart-stopping sound of shattering glass resounds through the house.

   “Was that - ?” Pat whispers, but a groan so low that it would make your insides vibrate cuts him off.

   “We need to get out of here,” Becky mutters through gritted teeth. “Go!”

   The three of them tumble through the door without bothering to shut it. With a whir, Jess unlocks her car and they clamber in, becoming clumsy in their haste. Jess slams her foot on the accelerator and the little Ford Fiesta shoots backwards off the drive, hitting the kerb on the opposite side of the road. With a squeal, they move away, but they don’t get far.

   Halfway down the road, they are stopped by the sight of two grey-skinned human forms staggering towards them. Speechless, Jess pushes her door handle, locking the car. All three stare at the undead creatures lazily making their way up the road.

   “Are they what I think they are?” Jess asks conversationally, as though checking if it’s raining.

   “Yeah, and I wouldn’t hang about watching them. We’ve got a follower,” Becky says from the back seat, her eyes locked on the rear view mirror.

   The zombie that broke through the conservatory door has picked up speed and followed them through the house. It walks with more purpose than its companions down the road, the smell of living flesh giving it drive. Through the mirror, its milky-white eyes connect with Becky’s green ones, and her insides contract with a wave of nausea.

   “Here we go,” Jess murmurs.

   Slamming the car into reverse, she mows down the following zombie. The bang is deafening and the body flies ungracefully through the air, landing as heavily as a bowling ball. The blow does not kill it, but it takes its time sitting up, disorientated.

   But the threesome has no time to watch the zombie’s recovery process. Shifting gear, Jess powers the car forward, aiming directly for the gruesome twosome that block their path. Jess wears a determined expression, her eyes set on her targets; Becky and Pat grimace, preparing for the double collision.

   It’s twice as loud this time. Whilst one zombie gets clipped by a headlight and is thrown to the right-hand side, the other is hit with such force that it rolls up the bonnet and across the roof before being reunited with the tarmac. The thuds travel the length of the car; the two passengers’ eyes travel the length of the roof, following the zombie’s bumpy path with both their eyes and ears.

   They don’t have chance to see where it lands, though. Jess is driving too quickly, and they’ve turned the corner before they are able to see what destruction they have left in their wake.

   “Becky, give Josh a call, will you? Let him know we’re on our way,” Jess instructs, eerily calm after the improvised demolition derby.

   Jiggling her phone out of her pocket, Becky dials Josh’s number. When he picks up, he answers with a bored, “Hello?”

   “What’s the undead situation like at your place?”

   “Er,” surprised by the question, “quiet, at the moment. Why?”

   “Because one just broke into Jess and Pat’s house, so we’re on our way to yours as we speak. Just thought I’d let you know, okay?”  

    Josh splutters, unable to find words to respond. “Okay,” he manages, submitting to the situation.

   They pull onto his drive within two minutes. Getting out of the car, all three of them cast wary glances over their shoulders at Coppynook field, where the footage shown on the news was captured. Jess reaches the front door first. She does not bother to knock, simply walks into Josh’s house; she’s spent enough time there over the years to call it her second home.

   Weaving their way through the kitchen, they enter the living room. Josh, and Becky and Jess’s other best friend, Tony, are seated on stone-coloured sofas, flicking their way through the multitude of music channels.

   “You two seem very relaxed,” Jess observes enviously.

   “I was expecting you to be a hysterical mess,” Becky says to Josh, whose irrational fear of zombies doesn’t seem quite so irrational anymore.

   “It doesn’t feel real, yet, so I’m all right at the moment,” he replies, eyes still glued to the TV as he rapidly changes the channel.

   “Ha!” Jess barks humourlessly. “Trust me, it’s real!”

   And so Jess, Becky and Pat recall their ordeal. Yet the more they speak, the more illusory the whole escapade seems, so much so that they are joking about it by the time they’ve finished. The group of five are in the middle of devising rules for the automobile version of Whack-A-Zombie, when Pat’s phone starts to ring.

   Looking at the caller ID, he presses the ‘accept’ button. “Y’all right, Burns?” he answers with a grin. It vanishes immediately. “Whoa, mate, calm down. What’s going on?” He pauses, listening to his friend. The other four can hear Burns’s irate voice from their own seats, and the phone isn’t on loudspeaker. He sounds terrified.

   “Okay, don’t worry, we’ll come over now. Stay where you are, all right?” Pat sounds as though he’s trying to convince himself of this, as well as Burns. Disconnecting the call, he looks at his companions in desperation. “Burns is trapped in his loft and there are zombies in his house. We’ve got to get over there, now!”