Adrian's Undead Diary Enter the World of AUD

Not as good as the comeback but it leads on. Thank-you to those who commented and also to those who continue to read this.

March 2nd 2011: PART FIFTEEN

Skelly practically squeezed the life out of me whilst saying thank-you over and over again through streams of tears. George Precius’ body lay awkwardly in the dirt, one pull of the trigger and it was all over, brains and a life that on any other day could have been saved or at least spared. I had made the right decision, I felt wrong in pulling the trigger but relief from the stress he had caused. Marco turned around to make sure the deed was done but instructed Melanie to keep her back turned, the poor girl had already seen enough. The two I tried to talk to before kept their distance and were frightened by the guns presence, I holstered it away to try and calm their nerves and raised my hands up to show no ill will to anyone else.

"I did what I had to do, for me, for my family and for each and every one of you. If you disagree with that I understand but I suggest you leave the vicinity before the end of the day because here is where I intend to stay."

Skelly tightened her grip even more, any harder and my circulation would of been in trouble. Marco made his way over to me, in the time doing so he guarded Melanie’s eyes away from the mess of what was George.

"We’re with you on this."

"Me too."

Skelly piped in, her muffled words vibrating on my chest. I looked at the other two for their response. What appeared to be the elder of the two looked reluctant to speak, the other pondered her options. They both stood at roughly the same height and were of old age but that is where the similarities ended, one man, one woman. The old man looked in his late seventies, was smartly dressed and propped himself up on a fancy silver tipped oak cane, a fluster came over the brow of his glasses when he noticed me sizing him up. The old lady was a little portly, she was clean but unkempt as if she missed the memo on the rules of lone living, her hair looked like she’d attempted to cut it herself and skewered the effort badly, I guessed she was in early sixties despite her appearance, she wasn’t as flustered as the old man but you could see her concern. I reassured Skelly, Marco and Melanie that we would be fine buying them a few more seconds to think.

"How about you two? In or out?"

"I’m in."

The old lady announced.

"I’m out."

Was the man’s answer, his voice shaky as if he didn’t trust me but didn’t want to face whatever was out there however he had made his choice. It was as they both went back fifty/sixty years to playground days and promised to answer the same time they were that close in saying what they did.

"Fair enough, sorry I haven’t caught your names yet."

"I’m Edna."

Replied the woman who would be staying put, she sauntered over and sheepishly greeted everyone. The man didn’t speak, he was still a tad flustered and was wiping his brow with a tissue from his pocket. He stood across from us looking like a lost lamb.

"And you are sir?"

"I’m on my way so it’s best I just keep to myself, if that is ok."

With that he had got me very suspicious, he didn’t have to tell me his name but I wanted to know why he didn’t.

"Ok, but you don’t have to go."

"I want to."

"That’s fine, if you feel you can’t stay because of my actions then I’m sorry, I’ve explained why I did what I felt I had to do. When do you plan on leaving?"

"Once I’ve got my Bertie settled, is that ok with you?"

"It’s not for me to say, Skelly runs this joint."

Skelly’s head popped up from my chest and she gave me a big smile through her reddened eyes.

"It’s ok but on one condition, we have to know your name."

It was a smart move on the part of Skelly, the man began to pat his brow again.

"I’m G-g-g-g-g…"

He stumbled over saying his name, he looked very nervous in doing so.

"I’m G-g-g…George, there I said it, I’m a George too."

"I looked at the rest of the group and despite what had just happened with the previous George, I began laughing. I got stern looks back but I just could not help myself.

"George, you’ve got to be kidding me fella, really? You have nothing to fear unless you start trying to play around, are you sure you don’t want to stay here?"

George breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"No, no. I must be on my way, can you do me a favour and lead me to my car please."

"My pleasure George."

I had to forcibly remove myself from Skelly’s clutches but still she tried to clasp her arms around me. She panicked as I told her to calm down and placed my hands on her cheeks using my thumbs to rub away the wetness the tears had caused. If we were in a movie we’d have dived into a mushy kiss and everything would of been fine and dandy but it wasn’t. I could see that she was confused in what to do, I reaffirmed her that everything would be ok and was joined by the others in verbal support.

"Don’t leave me, please."

Skelly pleaded and once again we all told her that everything would be ok.

"Skelly, we ain’t going to leave you but we have things we must be getting on with, I need you to be strong for us. Can you please be strong for me… for us?"

I still had hold of her face as I said this, Skelly’s deep hazel eyes glistened whilst making contact with my own. I don’t know what it was about that moment but I felt a very deep connection with her, it wasn’t love or lust, just something very powerful which drew me to her, so much that I can’t exactly explain it. I think she felt it too, the red shade of embarrassment rose on her cheeks as she shyly smiled.

"I can try."

"That’s all I can ask of you."

I let go of her face and hugged her tightly in a warm, comforting manner. Again, this would of been nice scene in the movies but I was snapped back into reality when George number two interrupted with a fake cough, I acknowledged his impatience.

"Yes George?"

"I would like to set off, if you don’t mind."

"Not at all George, just going to sort a few things out here and then we’ll get you on your way."

George nodded as I let go of Skelly and began wiping his brow again. I signalled for everyone to huddle in as George was right in a way, it was time to be getting on with things.

"Sorry for presuming this but I’m going to take charge here if you don’t mind."

I gave everyone a few seconds to voice their opinion but all I got was approving nods apart from Edna who was half hearted in her response.

"Ok, well this is Skelly’s joint so she has the final say but for now I’d like us to work together and we’ll sort things out better once I’ve got the rest of my family safely here. First off, Skelly, have you got any covers, rags, tarps we could use to cover up the dead?"

"Yeah but the access keys to the sheds are in George’s pocket."

I left the group and went over to his body to where he had hit the dirt heavy and the force of the gunshot left him bent over backwards, it wasn’t a pretty sight. His cold dead eyes matched mine and there and then I knew I did the right thing in killing him, I drew his eyelids shut so he couldn’t eyeball anyone else. I routed through his pockets taking an assortment of keys out of each and every crevice I went through. Using his overalls I pulled his body forward and what little brains he had left ran down his back, for those who watched me, it made them wretch. I took the walkie talkie from one his back pockets and found nothing more. On return to the group I handed Skelly the clump of keys and she began sorting them out.

"Can you do that for us now please Skelly?"

"Y-y-y… you’re not going to be gone when I get back are you?"

"Skelly, I told you I’m not going anywhere, I promise you that. I took the walkie talkie from George so you can speak to us."

"Ok, I just really don’t want to be on my own."

"I know, it’s understandable."

"No, I mean now."

"I’ll go with you."

Melanie said, Marco asked her if she was ok with that and said he’d join them too.

"Marco, we can deal with this, trust me on this. We are safe here."

Marco let Melanie go and she joined hands with Skelly, the two mumbled something between them and darted off down the dirt path running past the dead body of George and didn’t even take notice of it.

"Marco, she will be fine. I know she will."

"I know but she’s all I’ve got now."

"I hear you."

George cleared his throat again. His growing impatience grated on me.

"I’m nearly done here George, you can start walking up on your own if you want."

"No, no, I’ll just wait for you."

"Edna, Marco can you both drive?"

Edna nodded and produced her car keys.

"I can drive but I haven’t got a licence."

"Marco, you don’t have to worry about that now. Just as long as you know how to move a car we’ve got nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, I can do that."

"What have you got in mind?"

Edna threw out.

"Well for now, I’ll head up the path first and make sure that nothing is there and see George off, if it all goes smoothly I want you’s two to bring all the cars in from entrance to the car park. Push’em if needs be."

"So what are you going to be doing then?"

Edna asked in a snarky manner.

"Well once George has gone, I’m going to cover the dead up and then I’m leaving you’s to your own devices and getting my family here."

At that moment I grabbed my phone and checked it, I had three missed calls and a text message, I didn’t even feel the fucker vibrate, I was angry at myself for this. The calls were all from mothers number and about a minute apart. She had rang about ten minutes before I looked at my phone. I checked the text and breathed easy after reading it. Firstly she asked if I was ok since I hadn’t answered my phone, she was just a little worried, she then went on to say that some people had been near but most had fled after meeting the zombies, she said that there was a car parked near the back entrance but so far no-one had moved and they were prepared should anything happen, she also mentioned that the van and cars had been mostly filled up and were ready to go. Aside from more people making themselves known to the spot the most notable remark was that Jake had still not left the car. I wanted to zoom off there and then but I still had a job to do first.

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah, it’s fine fella, let’s get this over and done with."

I radioed over to Skelly and let her know of my plans, she said that herself and Melanie were just about to make their way back. I told her to radio me when she got near and I would come and cover the bodies up. I waved that it was time to move on to George and I walked in front the three of them keeping my hand on the Glock, ready to draw. As we approached the entrance we were alerted by a dogs bark but it turned out it was just George’s dog Bertie being excitable because he had seen his owner return. Nothing had been disturbed. I gave the area a quick once over and seen nothing that alarmed me, I was however disturbed that the animals had seemingly disappeared into thin air and let everyone know that. Edna and Marco called for their pets but there was not a peep. George had already opened his boot and was calming Bertie down, he led the dog from the boot and put him up front. George used his way of getting attention once more as he approached his car door.

"Thank-you."

There wasn’t much sincerity in his voice, I think he was just glad that he and his pet were alive.

"No problem George, you are welcome to stay if you want."

"I just want to go home."

"That’s fine but if you get stuck or decide to change your mind just come back, I’m sure we can find room for you."

"Thank-you, I appreciate what you’ve done for me. I hope all goes well for you."

"And to you George, and to you."

George got in his car and slowly reversed up the path, he didn’t even shoot a wave or bib his horn, he just disappeared out of sight. As soon as he had reversed out we took stock of the cars, along with the Civic, there were three other cars. One was Edna’s and the other two belonged to Marco’s mum and Zach. Marco explained to us that Zach and Lucille tagged along in their car because they were all returning from a camping holiday and Zach didn’t want to get lost because he hadn’t brought his sat nav with him. He cursed himself but in all truth he had no idea that today was going to be like this. I told him that he couldn’t of done nothing to prevent this, it’s just the way the world works as well as consoling him on his losses. He stared into the distance for a good minute or so before composing himself and jumping into his mum’s old car. As Edna started up her engine I went to Zach’s car but it was locked and knew then I would have to route through the remains of him to get the keys. I let Edna pass and watched Marco as he struggled to move the car, he became frustrated and punched the steering wheel. I motioned for him to take the handbrake off and a lightbulb moment flashed upon him. After that it was plain sailing for him as he followed Edna. I took off in the other direction and made my way to the Civic. I checked around the car to make sure for any surprises, nothing was there so I jumped straight in. I started the car up and made my way to where we agreed to park the cars. As I just passed the gate Skelly radioed through that she was waiting for me. I took my eyes off the path as I fumbled for the radio and felt a hefty bump, I had drove over Zach’s remains… nice. I let her know that I was just approaching and she said she could see me. I had no idea why she felt compelled to radio me if she could see me but I all I could guess it that she was nervous and felt reassured in my voice. It felt weird to be trusted and somewhat wanted in way like that but I was doing the same with the others so in a weird way it made a little sense. I parked badly next to where the others had placed the cars and got out.

"Marco I’m sorry about Zach, I didn’t do it intentionally, I was…"

Marco was a little upset but he just shrugged his shoulders at me.

"Don’t worry about it, he’s gone now, least he won’t of felt it."

Marco’s assessment was frank but true. Skelly chucked a bunch of old haggard sheets at me and gave me the thumbs, I returned the favour and mouthed a thank-you to her.

"What’s to do now?"

Asked Melanie. At that moment there was nothing for them to do aside from sit tight.

"Nothing for you’s, I guess we should get bunkered down and see where we’ll be staying though I just need Skelly for a moment though."

"You would!"

Edna burst out. I was perplexed why she felt it was an issue.

"And what’s that supposed to mean eh?"

My response got under her skin.

"You can’t keep your bloody eyes and hands off her you filthy pig!"

Technically she was right but had read it all wrong. I could detect a sense of jealousy from her. Melanie, Skelly and I shot her the daggers, Marco looked drained and didn’t want to get involved.

"She is one who hugged me first and for your information Skelly is the only one here who knows this place really and I need her help if were going to be staying here. I didn’t see you taking charge."

"You never gave anyone a chance."

"Well now is your chance, take the mantle. I’ve got other stuff to do."

She did not expect the response and it threw her off whatever she was trying to accomplish.

"I, I, I, err…"

"Not as easy as you thought it would be. Is it?"

I shot her a sympathetic look and understood some of her frustration.

"No, sorry."

"Meh, least you had the balls to tell me how you feel. We’re all in this together, I don’t want to be seen as a leader, I take umbrage in that. The same applies to everyone else, if I seem a little too big for my boots then call me out on it, I’ll definitely return favour."

We all stood in agreement making light of a situation that needn’t of come around.

"Man, is there anywhere safe to crash? I’m fucked."

Marco looked very strained and tired, Skelly undid a set of keys from a clump she withdrew from a pocket and chucked them at Marco. She pointed to a set of four buildings to our left.

"Those are the keys to the guest house, it’s got it wrote on the wall, you can’t miss it. Its got six bedrooms all ensuite, two separate bathrooms, two reception rooms with freeview tv, a dining room, a large kitchen and should be more than safe. That ok?"

I was impressed even though it hadn’t been used in a while it looked clean and tidy from the outside. Edna, Marco and Melanie trudged off towards the guest house but not before I stopped them and gave them the walkie talkie I took from George. I smiled at Skelly and she blushed.

"You want to stay here while I cover the them up?"

"No, I’ll take George you do the rest."

I chucked her a couple of the sheets and made my way up the path. For the next five minutes we worked in silence with only the breeze whistling in our ears. Lucille’s body was easiest to do, she was very light and I wrapped her whole body in a sheet. Marco and Melanie’s mum was difficult to deal with, although my cleaver was still lodged firmly in her head it gave me chance to search her and take her possessions to give to Marco and Melanie. I took the two locket pendants what adorned her neck and had a real struggle prizing the five rings she had entrenched in her sausage sized fingers. After that I tucked a sheet underneath her and used my cleaver to roll her over, this loosened it enough for me to claim it back. I put another sheet over her and tucked the edges underneath her massive weight. Zach wasn’t as pleasant to deal with given I’d given him a bit of a squishing just a few minutes back. The top of his torso was nearly as flat as a pancake, the ribcage imploded. From Zach I snatched his car keys but there was nothing else of note to take, I wrapped him as quick as I could and headed for the entrance gates to reclaim his car. As I drove down the driveway in Zach’s car I looked on in horror as Skelly was full-on stamping on George’s remains, double footed like a child would do on a bouncy castle. I honked the horn but Skelly continued to savage George’s body, I honked it again and there was still no response from her. I raced out of the car and rugby tackled her into the dirt, it was slightly excessive but it worked, she snapped out of whatever had a hold of her and breathed heavy as I began to pick the pair of us off the ground. She showed no remorse but was shaken, it worried me a little that no tears were shed from her in anger.

"What the hell got into you?"

"I don’t want to talk about it, let’s just say it was a long time coming."

I didn’t want to pry any further at that moment in time but something serious must of gone on between the two. She eerily stood over George’s body burning holes with her eyes as I put a good few sheets over him. I was just about to ask Skelly a question when my phone began vibrating, with the silence we had I was able to hear it against my pants. It was mother.

"What’s up?"

"I don’t want to alarm you but it’s not as quiet as we thought, we’re ok for now…"

"Say no more, I’ll be with you a.s.a.p."

With that I put the phone down and began doing a once over of what I still had on me. Skelly looked at me as if I had ants in my pants.

"I know we’ve only just met but do you fancy meeting my family?"

I played as a half joke and half seriously, the little humour in there went straight over Skelly’s head. I fumbled through a pocket and withdrew the Civic keys, Skelly’s face dropped in fear.

" You’re not leaving me!"

"I never said I was, I asked you if you want to come a meet my family, I’ve got to get going quickly."

"What about the others?"

"They’ll be fine here just lock the gates."

"Ok but we’re not taking that car…"

I'm liking this more and more shaine . the flow is getting smoother and the people are starting to fill out .. very good.

Thank-you for the kind words Mr Killswitch, when are you getting back to writing? I intend to get something up by the end of the week as well.

lol.. I wrote something last week ( it was about 20 pages) but after leaving it a few days and re reading I deleted over half and started again..

I do want to do something and write the whole thing before posting it in parts , doing it in bits is good but if something gets in the way or best case a ZA happens no body would see the end..lol

I think with yours I'm liking it because of the british cast...lol  I like that there are little phrases in there that I know I get and that others might not..lol

keep up the good work..

Shaine, you have done a fantastic job. Don't sweat being stuck on day one. Really who cares? Heck if this is just part of day one that means we get to enjoy a big long story as the days roll by in the story. Love what you are doing. Quick question. You keep talking about estates. I have never been to England so I am not quite sure what you are referring to. Do you mean like some type of large country estate for the rich or are estates that you mention like neighborhoods?
 

Good...bad...it doesn't matter. I am the mother fucker with the gun.
 

housing estates are like neighborhoods densely packed housing with the odd shop complex ,school and recreational ground. 

Because we are on an Island we have what they call green belt land protected for farming and recreation , this means that when housing is needed it tends to be grouped quite closely together and usually around a shop or civic center , The town I grew up in (Partington) had 3 or 4 estates radiating from a shopping area in the center  and each estate has it's own identity ,rivalry and usually Pub..lol

I said I had intentions of getting something up by the end of the week... sorry for the shortness and quality, I have an extremely stressful couple of days coming up (Monday and Tuesday.) and my head isn't where it should be. Thank-you for the kind words and for those who continue to read this. If you have any questions or feedback, just shout out and I'll do my best to answer them for you.

@Jeff1969: Killswitch does a great job of explaining the estate situation so I'll go no further on that, you were spot on with neighbour-hood analogy. Thanks for the kind words as well.

@Killswitch: Cheers for the explanation and the kind words.

March 2nd 2011: Part Sixteen

"Fucking hell!"

Skelly opened up the doors to the large semi-converted barn we’d just spent five minutes walking to and another five minutes getting open. I’d hit transportation jackpot, staring across from me was an array of vehicles all which I had no doubts would be useful to me down the line. Not one but two new Mercedes Olympic 7.5 ton trucks which had been converted to carry horses were lined up. I thought it was a bit strange to have them at this sort of business but Skelly explained that George was in the process of venturing out into stablery as he thought that was an easier and quicker way of making money. It figured with a man like George. Also in the barn were two additional horse trailers to hook up to the trucks, a transit van and three old mini’s in various stages of repair, Skelly noted that they were her projects, I wanted to pry further into it but hadn’t the time. After figuring out which keys were which from the myriad I took from George we quickly checked the trucks and both ran smooth and had fuel in them even though the speedometers said that they had virtually been nowhere. I asked Skelly if she could drive one of them and she told me she was unsure and didn’t want to try it on the fly. I respected her wishes but quickly moved on to the transit van, as I was giving it the once over I asked if she could drive that, she said that she could but didn’t understand why we’d need it, I told her that it would be useful but didn’t go into full detail for what I had planned. With a bit of pressure I opened the back of one of the trucks and slid out the ramps, my logical was if they can hold a horses or two’s weight then a transit van would fly up it no problem, I was right. Skelly watched on as I did my best impersonation of a bluebottle fly and buzzed about the barn loading the transit van into the truck and then working my way out in the truck itself. At first the truck was an absolute bastard to drive, the gearstick was stiff, the seat was out of position and its outswing was hard to handle but I tried not to let it show that it was my first time handling that type of vehicle.

Skelly closed up the barn as I angled the truck onto the dirt track, she then jumped in and scooted up close to me moving my removed cleaver to the end seat and out of my grasp. I stopped and lent over Skelly to get it and ended up with a face full of boobs as she was startled by my quick movement, I quickly grabbed the cleaver, tossing it on the dash before apologising to Skelly who had gone bright red. In all honesty I couldn’t of been less sorrier at the time, it was the closest I’d been to a women’s touch in nearly three months and my balls were changing shades of blue every passing day. I apologised again before jerking the truck forward at a slow speed, getting the feel of it as such. Just as we passed through the entrance gates Skelly radioed through to the trio in the guest house about what we were going to be up to as I got out and closed them. Marco had already crashed out and was deep asleep according to Melanie, she was worried that something would happen in our absence but Skelly reassured her that something or someone would have to find the place for that to happen and she didn’t think that would be happening at anypoint soon. I jumped in the cab just as Edna was making her views known, she was quite unhappy at being left behind with no protection but I told her that she’d be no better if she ventured out into the world alone, it was lose-lose, she gave up on that point and took another snide dig at the pair of us thinking that she’s turned the walkie talkie off. Melanie took back over and wished us luck, I shot back and said that we’d keep in touch as best we could hoping that the signal wouldn’t give out easily.

We left after those words and crept up the rest of the track. Getting round the sharp bend was a pain in the arse and in the end I flattened the corner of the bushes, ploughing through them. I gently manoeuvred through the small cul-de-sac and wondered how the hell they got them through there in the first place. I sensed the mood had changed a lot, some houses shown signs of frantic movement, others had been abandoned in hastily fashion and the rest either hadn’t woke up or they were hiding from the rest of the world. I maintained a slow pace driving up the road and rolled down the window to listen out for anything, there were feint screams and I could just make out the sirens I could hear from the roundabout earlier still blaring out. As we reached the end of the road  to cross over to head for Dragel’s we witnessed the horrors that had amassed in short time since I’d passed by before. Skelly put one hand over her eyes and pointed with the other, across the road from our view a group of zombies lay waste to a woman, she had froze upon hearing the truck and the zombies pounced on their next meal, she lasted seconds before they had killed her, her clothes, throat and anything the zombies could get their teeth into were torn apart. I looked up and down the road but there was only signs of death, a steady amount of zombies had built up as far as I could see, at least sixty were spaced out over the course of the four lanes of the road and had and were making their way down from the roundabout, it worried me slightly as I knew it would only get worse. Skelly still peeked through her hands as I drove the truck across the road and headed down the adjoining road to Dragel’s alerting the closest zombies with the noise of the engine but it wasn’t enough to distract them away from the area they stood.

I slapped the brakes on hard as I came down the small dip and into the back car park of the precinct, the situation was a lot worse than my mother made out. I watched intently as a car reversed back a good ten metres, revved up with the handbrake on causing tyre smoke to bellow out before screeching and thrusting forwards head on with the back gates of Dragel’s, a man of about forty-five and no bigger than six foot tall stood cheering the figure behind the wheel encouraging them to take another bash at the rapidly failing gates. Another two cars lay behind him and they were chock full of the same type. A lone car sat just off the middle of car park, in the drivers seat sat a woman, about thirty to thirty five years old with long brown hair. She had her head in her hands, tears streamed from her face and it was only then was that I noticed the baby seat in the back seat. I couldn’t get a clear enough view to see much but I knew there was something in the seat as the woman kept talking behind herself. Skelly finally took her hands away from her eyes but she looked worried, she pointed forward and I took note. The revving had stopped and the man was wandering over to us…

Killswitch, thanks for the info that puts things in perspective for me.

Shaine, please do me a favor and have our dear hero act like white trash and let him knock the living hell out of Edna. The woman has already gotten under my skin and I don't even know her that well LOL
 

Good...bad...it doesn't matter. I am the mother fucker with the gun.
 

getting very interesting Shaine this guy sounds like a no shit badass ..my vote goes for caping Edna or using her as bait..lol the guy walking towards the truck should get one between the eyes without a warning just as a warning to the others..that should stop any heros..lol

And I think Georges character is getting better now he's dead , funny how you can learn more about people from the stuff they leave behind than the people themselves..

keep up the good work . And I hope you don't mind me answering jeffs question.. 

Nice post and story, Shaine! Keep up the good work and don't worry about the prose. It will come with practice. Looking forward to reading more.

After reading the recent comments I feel I must be doing something good for people to keep reading and the characters I write have an affect on you. As you can tell I'm a little unsure of my writing capabilities but your kind words make me more determined to carry on and deliver a story, I hope, is worthy of your readership. As mentioned I'm having an absolute crappy time (Going for custody of my son and it's a nightmare on the mind and the pocket.) and it shows no signs of easing up but I will try and at least get something up once or twice a week. 

Thank-you for your comments and for reading the story, if you have any comments, feedback or questions then shout it out and I will do my best to answer you. (Although I can't give any timescale on when they will be answered.)

@Jeff1969: I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out about Edna! Thank-you for reading the story.

@Killswitch: As I'm somewhat devoid of mass creativity I selfishly named the main character after myself as he is a very (And please take emphasis on the word very, here.) amped up extension of oneself. I thought about changing the characters name but I didn't think people would take to the story and it would die on its arse. Also why would I mind you answering Jeff's question? That's what I love about AUD, the people who frequent here are considerate, helpful, kind and knowledgeable, I would do the same in your position so don't even worry about it. It saved him waiting an age for me to answer. (But it wasn't because I was being ignorant.) On a final note, thank-you for the kind words and as with Jeff1969, you'll have to read on to find out what happens next!

@Sepharich: Thank-you for the kind words. As they say "Practice makes perfect." but that requires effort! Haha

Shaine - I am really getting into this story. I like the details and descriptions. It's almost as if I'm there watching every unfold. The main character is far more in control than he thinks and I'm beginning to expect greater and greater things every entry.  I look forward to seeing how things develop with Skelly also, she seems tender yet tough, though capable and determined.

I hope things go well with you and your son. Been there, it's rough, but hang in there and fight the good fight.

When it comes to gear - Remember - 2 is one and 1 is none
 

 Another quick piece, hope it is ok for you all. Thank-you for reading on!

March 2nd 2011: Part Seventeen

The group who were clearly banded together had some organisation aside from having a leader. Behind the two cars full of meat-head clones they had parked a car across the pedestrian entrance to the precinct which acted as a barrier between them and the zombies drawn forth by the noise they had made. Two zombies bounced back and forth off the side of the car unable to gain any further ground forward and left to salivate over the meal tormenting them yards away. The man moved closer to the truck but stopped ten feet short after noticing the cleaver which I’d put on the dashboard. His head was completely bald and he was outfitted in what I can only describe as lumberjacks gear, the rest of his features I couldn’t make out so clear as his face was encrusted with blood and dirt, it was hard to tell if it was his own or not but he didn’t seem concerned on that front. He nodded at me and awaited a response, I ignored it and focused on Skelly, she was clearly nervous.

"Everything will be ok, I’m going to get out and have a little chat with him…"

"Bu…"

"I’m not leaving you, I’m not going anywhere and I’ll be ok."

"I wasn’t even going to say that! Why are you even bothering to deal with him when he’s clearly out to get your family?!?"

She was right, I could and should have just pulled out the Glock and gone gung-ho, in one way it seemed as if he was going after my family but I didn’t know the full story just yet.

"Skelly?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever played poker?"

"No but what’s that got to do with this?"

"You’re about to get an introduction. If things go south, do what is best for you."

With that I winked at her and exited the cab, I left the cleaver on the dashboard as to make it appear I was not a threat and kept my coat pulled together as if to indicate I was cold. I half-heartedly waved at the guy in front of me as I kept eye contact but also stared past him at the rest his kind. Skelly budged herself over to the driver’s sea in the cab and placed both hands on steering wheel, the truck engine hummed in the background. The gatecrasher revved his engine but cut it completely when the man signalled.

"What brings you here sailor?"

His tone was aggravated and his body matched the pitch. I read too much into the sailor tag and I assumed he was calling me a faggot as that was used by the elder generation around here as polite slang.

"Got a bit hot and heavy out there guv’nor and this was the first place that the heat was off the beat."

I threw him a highly dubious mockney accent; it was so bad that even Dick Van Dyke’s Mary Poppins performance wiped the floor with it. He looked me up and down and then stared at Skelly.

"Yeah… it’s getting a bit lairy out here but its best you move on unless you wanna help."

I nodded at him as he gestured to his backup behind him. I showed no signs of intimidation and shot another wink at Skelly, it eased her tension but not the atmosphere which heightened with every blink.

"So what’s the apple and jack then?"

I did my best to keep the charade up that he had no choice but to buy the ludicrously bad accent as my true voice. I pointed to the overall picture and made sure to include the woman in the car.

"Get this, these cunts in here have the shop on lockdown and won’t share a crumb with us and her, well she ain’t stop cryin’ since we saw ‘er as we pulled in. Forget her, once we get in here were gonna have a party, these are gonna pay big-time."

"Yeah? Who and how many?"

I got irate, he was gunning for my family and that was his first and last mistake where I was concerned. He didn’t notice the drop in my tone.

"Don’t know who and how many, they say they are armed but I call bullshit, we got enough to take care of ‘em and if you help us through the gate with that truck of yours we’ll let you in on it."

We stood for a good thirty seconds as I faux pondered the offer.

"I’ll talk to the mare and we’ll get the horse and cart on start, tell your bruv to have one last bash and reverse to save his engine."

"Good idea."

He wandered over to his associate and I saw the pair jaw-jack until the guy in the car turned his engine on and began positioning the car. I opened the cab door and kept it open to hide what I was about to say to Skelly.

"It’s going to get ugly in a minute, get off if you want, you don’t need to see this shit."

She stared at me with no emotion and just sucked every word from the air.

"You going to kill them just like you did with George?"

I knew that George’s death had and would continue to affect her so I didn’t take it as an insult towards myself. Skelly spoke into the distance rather than directly at me.

"It’s not as black and white as it’s made out but yeah, them two are dead meat, the others, I may not have any problems with but I’m damn prepared."

I withdrew the Glock and took the safety off, CLUNK! meat-head number two had just again attempted to bust open the gates of Dragel’s. I nodded to Skelly it was time and slammed the cab door shut. Meat-heads one and two were talking about finishing the job with the truck when they noticed me storming straight at them. Meat-head one who I initially had contact with immediately raised his hands, meat-head two fired up the engine to his battered Ford Mondeo but stopped when I pointed directly at him. The two cars packed with the rest of the meat-heads began shouting amongst themselves, I couldn’t tell if they were ready to fight or panicking.

"We’ve been stitched up!"

"Like a kipper fella, like a kipper."

I gave up on the mockney accent and returned to my plain self.

"Yeah like a kipper, should of got rid soon as we seen you."

"Like you could have done that?"

I used the power of the gun to illustrate how I would have and had turned the tide; he did a dry gulp as I alternated between him and his partner in crime.

"Maybe we just got off on the wrong foot?"

I shook my head.

"No?"

"No, you got out of the wrong side of bed buddy; you should have listened to what my folks were telling you."

"We’re sorry…"

"No you’re not. Don’t even pretend to be, you have no idea what I’ve been through today and I don’t think I’m keen on letting you find out. I could smell the bullshit emanating from you before I even got close to here."

"It doesn’t have to be like that…"

With the gun still pointed at the pair and the others in the car showing no threat I scanned the area to see if anything else was going on. Nothing was but I noticed that the solitary women in the car park was still bawling her eyes out, in the backseats of her car was a baby carrier and what looked to be a new-born baby and that itself was balling its little eyes out. I froze for a second and tripped myself up with guilt, what if these people had families? Was it right to start shooting left, right and centre? I decided on a different approach. I gave the thumbs up to Skelly and she nervously smiled back.

"You got kids fella?"

Meat-head number one pointed at himself as if to say ‘me?’, yes you dumbfuck I thought, who else had I spoken to…

"I don’t have any."

In my mind his fate was sealed, how I’d do it was undetermined at that moment, I needed more answers.

"What about you Crashy McCrasherson?"

"I gots fam, gots a little boy."

He said in a frightened toned, unsure of what was going to happen. Despite his lack of the English language I could somewhat understand.

"And who’s car is it you’re driving?"

"It’s my own."

I nodded along with what he said and turned my attention back on to meat-head one. I had something in mind but his next answer was to determine if I’d do that or not.

"So where’s your car then?"

"It’s there."

He pointed at the car parked across the pedestrian walkway where a few zombies had gathered.

"So why didn’t you use your car for to ram the gate? Seems like it was your plan."

"‘T’was."

Meat-head number two blurted out, I don’t know whether he was trying to save his own skin and was telling the truth but at least I had got an answer. Meat-head number one became angry at meat-head two but kept his lip.

"So I take it you was the commander and these would do the dirty work for you, eh? Making a guy sacrifice his families’ car for your greed…"

"What’s it gotta do with you?"

He became angry and fidgeative, I hadn’t much patience and was wasting more time than I’d have liked to.

"Everything! What about the guys in the cars, what are their stories?"

"Dey jus’ did the same as me."

 Meat-head number two said.

"And that was?"

"Stu told us to get our arses down ‘ere have the store over, we dint wanna hurt ne-one and he said it was easy money."

"So what’s Stu, leader, bully… what?"

"Stu…is… wel de ting about Stu…"

He didn’t say anything more and I don’t think he could bring himself to go any further. The man formerly known as meat-head number one, Stu, scowled and seethed at meat-head two and it said all I needed to know.

"Stu, your car keys please."

"Fuck-off, who the fuck do you think you are? Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah you’re are Stu, soon to be dead Stu and a lot quicker if those keys don’t come my way."

"Car keys Stu, I will not ask again."

"Fuck off you cunt."

I took two steps forward with the Glock directly pointed and Stu caved in. He threw the keys in my general direction but with no effort or regard, I used my foot to drag them back a few yards and picked them up. Stu looked around and settled on his ‘homeboys’ in the cars, he mouthed something to them and both sets shook their heads simultaneously. The game was up. I signalled at the two cars to wind their windows down to which they did.

"Listen up lads, I’m prepared to do a deal here. You’s can all go apart from Stu, me and him have business to tie up. Is this something you’re all happy with?"

There was a good minute or two of silence and I watched as they discussed the matter quickly.

"And?"

"We just wanna go."

One of the various men in the car shouted it out. Stu was damned and it was mostly his own doing. He couldn’t believe what had just been said and rage bottled throughout his body, he began cracking his knuckles trying to save face but I ignored what he was doing for the most part.

"That’s it then but it’s my terms. Crashy here will be the first to go and after that one of you can leave every thirty seconds, the cars stay put, you can get them tomorrow if you wish to do so. Leave any offensive articles where they are and be warned, next time I won’t be as nice."

"Is that why Stu’s staying put? He’s a fucking weapon."

The comment from one of the cars broke the tension and got a laugh out of a few people. I wanted to chuckle along too but remained straight faced.

"Come on, let’s get this show on the road, Crashy your up."

Crashy as I called him started his battered car and chugged slowly up to me. As he did I chucked him the keys to Stu’s car. He looked at me a bit befuddled.

"These are Stu’s…"

"The cars yours now, that is if you’re brave enough to come back and get it. Look after your family now."

He looked Stu up and down with disappointment, these two were close it seemed but he knew what was going to happen. He drove off as fast as the car would let him letting off a solitary bib as he exited from view.

"Next one please!"

The trend continued for around a further five minutes or so. Everyone of them who passed looked distinctly the same, we didn’t bother with names or manners, they knew their role and I stuck to mine. During this Stu had built up quite a temper and cussed threats there was no way he was going to deliver on, to the people that passed him. In total ten people, including Crashy went by, none of them angry or vengeful, mostly relieved. I kept the Glock pointed at Stu and went over to the two cars to see what they had left, mainly wooden baseball bats similar to my own but what stood out to me was a three foot long piece of lead piping someone had brought. I took that out and holstered the Glock, Stu looked like he was plotting an escape but turned white when I began approaching him.

"Sit down."

"Wha…wha…what are you going to do with me?"

"We’re going to have a ‘party’. SIT DOWN!"

Stu backed up and came to rest against the bashed gates which he and his associates tried to break through.

"SIT DOWN OR I WILL MAKE YOU SIT DOWN!"

Stu stood in silence and refused to comply, I had ran far out of patience with him by now and swung directly at his knee caps taking them out in the process. Stu went down like a fallen tree and screamed out in pain, the zombies blocked off by his car could sense bloodlust and began rabidly pounding on the side of it. I waylaid a couple of shots into his midsection making him reel on the tarmac beneath him. At this point I decided not to drag it out any further.

"Get up!"

"I can't!"

Stu screamed at me, some of it in anger, some pain. Instead of asking him again and wasting more time I used the lead pipe one last time and blasted Stu on the right side his temple sending him crashing to the tarmac once more and into a state of bloody unconsciousness. Skelly looked at me in horror as I threw the pipe down, huffing and puffing. I signalled to Skelly for some help but she did not move, I signalled once more and she slowly got out of the cab and cautiously made her way over to me.

"What the fuck Shaine?"

I just shrugged my shoulders at her, I wasn't wasting my time giving a verbal explanation when a visual one was just given.

"You need to calm down, you could have just shot him and have done with it."

Her words were so cold and eerie that it scared me that she thought putting a bullet in him would of been the better method. In one way I could see her point but it still shook me up a little.

"What we doing with him anyway?"

"We?"

"Yeah, WE... you know, you called for my help."

Fair point.

"Well let’s just say he's been invited to a party, it's a bit lifeless if you ask me, but once he gets there, it will be a scream!"

Skelly looked at me with HUH? written all over her face, I laughed at how the pun went straight over her head but also realised that I should maybe give up on the comedy.

"Still not helping me..."

"Skelly were going to feed him to the zombies there."

"You're a fucking sick one you are."

"Yep, gotta a problem with that?"

Skelly and I both laughed weirdly at the same time before I pointed for her to take his legs, after a bit of hustle and bustle we threw Stu on to his car bonnet and I joined him on it. I dragged his limp body to the edge nearest the zombies and watch them go mental like a pack of piranhas. I slapped his face to see if he would come round for his final moments but he didn't, blood slowly trickled from a small puncture on his temple on to the bonnet, the zombies grew impatient. I lined Stu up and with no hesitation volleyed his face into next year, his body slumped to edge of his car and the weight took it over, the zombies finally had their feast. I turned to Skelly and before I could even speak another word I saw myself falling uncontrollably downwards into the harsh metal body of Stu's car roof...

Well I suppose Skelly decided to feed him to the zombies as well. I hope his mother's partner comes out with the 12 guage to save the day. Or maybe dear old grandpa up in the apartments looking over the store has on old British Enfield 303 from WWII.

Shaine on a side note I know yall don't have a lot of firearms in England but the Glock does not have a safety in the usual sense. There is no thumb safety. There is a trigger safety but it is located on the trigger itself. It is disengaged by depressing the trigger. You might want to edit the story to reflect that or take a look on Glock home page to see what I am talking about. You have a great story so far and If it is gonna be great it might as well be accurate :). I am really loving your point of view from a perspective in England. Any ZA we have here in the states everyone has a gun and things are so much easier LOL

Good...bad...it doesn't matter. I am the mother fucker with the gun.
 

I've fixed the error which underlined everything in my last post. I would have done it last night but I wasn't using my computer and the page script would not co-operate with me. Thank-you to those who have read on.

@Gunner: Thank-you for the kind words and for reading. I hope your custody proceedings were nothing like what I'm being rung through, as long as I can breathe I will not give up on my son.

@Jeff1969: Again, with the story, you'll have to keep tuning in! In regards to the Glock, despite not owning a gun for a good couple of years now (Shotgun.) I put research into the guns I will/would be using throughout the story thoroughly and knew that the safety is incorporated into the trigger. However I have an explanation for this which will be used later in the story. I fully understand your point and agree on it wholeheartedly, it was only a matter of time before I got called on it.

Thank-you for the kind words once more and for reading, I originally intended on using no guns in the story but changed my mind and went for the cop out on it. That's not to say it's easy pickings and ridings for my character... or anyone else for that matter.

I intend to get something up by the end of the week.