Zombie Castle Series (Book 4): ZC Four Read online

  ZC4

  Zombie Castle Series Book Four

  Chris Harris

  Chapter One

  The celebrations continued for a long time.

  Never wavering from our goal, we’d travelled across hundreds of miles of zombie-infested wastelands, adding to our strength as individuals and other groups of survivors were found; our goal becoming the common goal as the concept of our destination was realised by all.

  The brutal Darwinian nature of the world that was now the norm meant that the ones who had survived had found that something within them that they probably wouldn’t have discovered in normal society. Something that made them endure when millions around them had perished, most screaming in agony as another’s teeth ripped their living flesh from their bodies, before they themselves rose again to join the undead masses.

  These people had not frozen in terror when faced with sights that their worst nightmare couldn’t conjure up. They had done what they needed to do to live; to survive.

  Most of them didn’t know this themselves, just counting themselves lucky to have escaped and found somewhere safe to shelter. But they had it. That special thing that set them apart from others when the chips were down, and action needed to be taken.

  The group was made up of a broad cross-section of society. From a vicar to a carpenter, a soldier to a retired childless housewife, everyone had contributed to the group’s success. People from all walks of life, whose lives were so far apart from one another that they wouldn’t normally even have mixed in the same circles or indeed have thought they could be friends; and we celebrated together as one.

  Families had been torn apart. We knew with heart-breaking certainty that all our blood relatives had probably either succumbed to the virus and turned or had died in the ensuing chaos and panic.

  Those gathered around us were our new family now.

  Maud once again brought order to the group.

  Raising her fingers to her mouth, she emitted a loud shrill whistle that caused all of us who were still laughing, hugging and dancing about to stop immediately and look in her direction.

  “I’m sorry to ruin everybody’s fun, but can we continue the celebrations later when we’ve made sure this place is safe? I can’t let the children out of my sight until I know the whole place is clear.”

  Instantly brought down to earth by the matriarch of the group, most of us looked embarrassed as once again she had got the situation spot on. We did not know what lay behind any of the doors of the castle. And there were a lot of doors!

  The group naturally gathered together and stood silently for a while, most looking around again at the castle, as I was, in a new light.

  Was it safe? It looked it, but for us to truly know, we would have to carefully check every room and nook and cranny of the huge structure to be certain. That was going to be a monumental task that would need a great deal of coordination and organising so we could be sure that nothing was missed.

  I turned to our experts in these matters. Sergeant Dave Eddy and Sergeant Simon Wood.

  “What do you think, guys?”

  Dave turned to Simon.

  “Woody, if you block the gates, I’ll start getting a squad together. I think it’ll be best not to split up because things might get missed that way. If we leave ten on guard duty, do you think that will work?”

  “Yeah, I reckon ten’ll be enough,” Simon replied. “If we’re confident no more can get in and we form the usual square, no harm should come to them. And all they’d need to do is contact us on the radio or sound a horn and we’ll not be far away.”

  Simon turned to me.

  “Tom, let’s have a look at these gateways and work out the best way to block them up.”

  I nodded and together we walked over to the barbican. On the way a thought came into my head.

  “I don’t know why we haven’t had this conversation before. We’ve got two Simons in our group and two Daves. It might avoid confusion if we call you something else. I know Simon’s mates have being calling him Shitty after what happened to him when they first met some zombies, but I don’t think the wife will be too happy if I keep calling him that in front of the children. How about we call you Woody?”

  Simon laughed.

  “I vote for calling him Shitty. But I see your point. I suppose I can settle for Woody. Mind you, if I’d heard any of my men called me Woody before this happened, I’d have ripped them another arsehole. Only my mates and fellow sergeants could call me it. We used to call Dave ‘Eddy’ because sometimes times there’d be a few Daves about, and it sort of made sense then. Once we get settled and safe here and to avoid any confusion, I don’t think he’ll mind either if we call him by his nick name.”

  Of the three gates that led into Warwick Castle, one was already barred with a heavy iron gate. It was as secure as it needed be for the time being, so we moved on. The barbican entrance didn’t have any gates, but it still had the portcullis protruding from the ceiling.

  Looking up, I remembered from my past visits to the castle witnessing it being lowered and raised as one of the attractions they performed. I didn’t know where the mechanism was, and we didn’t want to start opening doors to try to find it without more backup. Finding the winch room and closing the portcullis would be a matter of priority after we had searched the castle properly, but for now we decided that blocking it with a vehicle would suffice. The final gate, the one we’d driven through, was just an open arch built into the curtain wall and could easily be barred by positioning one of the vehicles across it.

  Five minutes later, my Volvo was wedged at an angle into the barbican entrance. The extra sheeting and mesh we had surrounded the vehicle with made it wider and I just had to position it at an angle to block the way completely. I climbed out through the roof and scrambled down the bonnet of the car, had a quick look at my handy work to satisfy myself that the entrance was now completely blocked, and then I re-joined the others. The van was long enough to be parked across the other gate and block that too.

  Dave in the meantime had organised who was doing what.

  Maud and the children were asked to stay in the trailer that formed one side of the triangle of vehicles we’d created using the tractor, the Land Rover and the bus. Ten were chosen to remain and help to guard them and to keep the castle courtyard secured. For all we knew, zombies could appear out of any of the myriad of doors that opened onto it while we were searching other areas.

  They were told not to take any risks and to get our attention if they thought they couldn’t deal with a threat, and to wait for the main force to arrive. After all, they’d only be a few minutes away at most.

  Jim was satisfied that he could leave the two we’d rescued from the retail park in the care of Maud and the others in the trailer. They were gaining strength with every hour that passed and had been able to tell us their story. It didn’t take long to tell.

  They’d all been on the early shift, restocking the shop before it opened. Unaware that anything was amiss, a few of them had opened the front door of the shop and stepped out for a cigarette break when a lone person staggered towards them from across the car park.

  They were busy laughing at his antics as he approached, thinking he was a lost drunk still trying to find his way home after having way more than one too many. But as the man got nearer, they noticed the wounds on his face and the blood that was splashed over most of his clothes. Their mirth changed to concern as his UDIs (Unidentified Drinking Injuries) did seem serious.

  A few called out to him, asking if he was okay but got no response. It was when he tripped up the kerb and fell flat on his face in front of them all that they went to his aid,
with the now inevitable consequences. Thirty minutes later the three survivors found themselves trapped on top of some racking in the shop, surrounded by their former work colleagues. Unable to escape, what had kept them alive for so long was that the high racking they found themselves on contained some overstock for the shop. Amongst the boxes, they found a small quantity of energy drinks and protein bars which they had eked out for as long as they could. By the time we found them though, their supplies had long been consumed and they’d resigned themselves to a long, slow, lingering death by dehydration and starvation. Unaware even that their colleague who had been on the racking with them had died until we told them the sad news, they were unsure what emotion they felt more. Happiness to have been rescued and have a chance to live or sadness that their work colleagues and most likely their families had all gone.

  Survivors’ guilt was probably the best way to describe it. It was an emotion I didn’t think any of us had had time to dwell upon much yet. In quiet times I found my mind wandering and the enormity of what had happened loomed large in my thoughts, as it probably did with all of us. But we had been continually busy and on the go so much that even the day of rest we’d had at the farm after the failed attempt to rescue Louise’s parents was filled with many little jobs that kept our busy minds from wandering too far.

  They weren’t strong enough yet to do anything but lie down and take small, controlled sips of water and bites from energy bars. Jim assured us that they’d be back on their feet in no time if we continued what we were doing and didn’t rush them or allow them to try to speed their own recovery along.

  Those chosen to clear the castle gathered around Dave and Simon.

  Simon began the briefing.

  “Right then, ladies and gents. We have a massive task ahead of us.” He waved his arms at the buildings surrounding us. “This place is freaking massive and until we’ve checked every single nook, cranny and cupboard, we’ll not know if it’s safe. I don’t think we should split up but instead, we should work together to clear each area. I imagine that once we get a workable system sorted out, we should be able to check more than one room at a time, if we maintain communication and stay within easy reach of each other.”

  Then he looked at us all.

  “Who’s been here before and has an idea of the layout?”

  Chet, Becky and I raised our hands.

  “Great. Can you all give us a rundown of what you remember about the place, please? It’ll help us build up an idea of what we might expect.”

  I stepped forward and was about to speak when Becky put her hand on my shoulder and stopped me.

  “Tom, what do you think you’re doing, dear?” she asked softly with a smile on her face.

  “I’m… er… going to tell them about the layout of the place. We were here last summer, if you remember,” I replied, a little confused.

  She laughed. “Right then. The person who forgets how old he is and what he ate for breakfast is going to give a guided tour from memory, when we last came here two years ago. Tom, do you want to leave it to someone who was actually paying attention when we did the guided tour and not just looking at the swords and guns?”

  Again, I looked confused. “Did we have a tour?” My memory then returned, and I continued with a satisfied look spreading across my face. “Oh, yes we did, didn’t we?”

  “Exactly my point,” she answered, before turning to Simon. “Shall I begin, Simon?”

  Chuckling along with everyone else, he smiled and indicated for her to continue.

  Becky then gave everyone a detailed description of the interior of the castle, describing each room the public was allowed in and pointing to their rough location in the structure.

  I had to admit to myself her memory was impressive as she described each room and the different areas of the castle, from the state rooms to the restaurant, to what was in each of the towers that rose above the high curtain wall that surrounded the whole place. Her vivid descriptions even jogged my memory on rooms I’d forgotten about.

  Once she’d finished, we all stood in silence as we looked around and tried to visualise and commit to memory all the information we’d just been given.

  Chapter Two

  Room by room, we cleared the castle. Listening carefully at closed doors before opening them, we worked our way through the vast structure, slowly at first, but speeding up as our experience grew. Windows overlooking the courtyard gave us a clear view of the others waiting in the vehicles, so we didn’t feel the need to check up on them or inform them of our progress as they could see us too and waved back when we got their attention.

  The cellars proved to be the most daunting part. Pitch black due to no natural light entering them, we had to check each of the multitude of rooms by torchlight. Most of the rooms were used as part of the attractions of the place and so there were a lot of realistic dummies dressed in a variety of outfits going back through history, from knights in suits of armour to smaller ones portraying the children who used to work in the castle.

  If it hadn’t been so tense and scary it could have been funny, as many times we were shocked by seemingly lifelike characters ‘jumping out’ at us when suddenly lit by a passing beam of a torch. Geoff, on one occasion and much to our amusement afterwards when we eventually emerged into the sunlight, smashed the head off a mannequin that gave him a shock as he rounded a corner, and he didn’t stop hitting it until his mace had turned the dressed-up dummy into a splintered pile of plastic and clothes as he vented his fear and shock on the inanimate object.

  I called for a break when we had cleared the main building. We still had the towers and other rooms in the walls to clear. I didn’t know about everyone else but the last few hours of tense searching, expecting to be attacked by a horde of flesh eaters at any moment, had taken it out of me.

  Feeling secure enough, we sat on the open, grassed area by the vehicles. All the buildings we still had to check were a good distance away over the expansive inner court, so we would have plenty of warning if any zombies appeared. Opening the back of the trailer, we let the children and the dogs out so they could run around and expend some energy for a while. Of course, we needlessly warned them not to stray too far and to stay away from any of the buildings we had yet to search. With a chorus of agreement, they started to throw some tennis balls I had grabbed from the sports shop for this very purpose for the dogs to chase.

  Horace, after a few minutes of what he obviously decided was unnecessary effort, came to join the adults sitting on the grass because he’d spotted Maud handing out mugs of hot drinks and snacks which he decided we needed to share with him. Once he’d received what he considered his rightful allocation, he lay content in the sun, his tail wagging lazily as he watched the children and Princess still happily playing.

  “Well, what do you think of what we’ve seen so far, guys?” I asked with a smile as I sipped on my mug of tea.

  Marc spoke. I hadn’t had many opportunities to talk to him yet, but he seemed a really nice bloke. He was a distant acquaintance of the knights, but like Alex, not as close as the rest who had lived together for years. We’d heard his heart-breaking story of how he came to join them and so his quietness was understandable. But he was also often overshadowed by the larger than life personalities of Ian and the rest of the tight knit group of friends who were continually joking and trying to outdo each other on who seemed to be either the funniest or stupidest of the gang; that was, until they were brought back into line by the ever-present Maud. He didn’t seem to mind not taking the limelight and had fought as hard and as well as the rest of them when needed.

  “This place is better than I could ever have hoped for. It’s bloody perfect! For God’s sake, it’s a fully functional working castle. What more could we want? It’s big enough to house us all ten times over, easily. The walls, once we block the gates up properly… well, they were built to withstand a siege after all, they’ll keep us safe for as long as we need them to.”

  Ever
yone agreed with his summary and we spent the rest of the time while we finished the mugs of tea and snacks chatting about the castle; particularly, from what we’d seen so far, how we could make the castle liveable and more secure.

  Becky had found a guidebook when we were searching which had a detailed map of the castle, including all the rooms it contained. She marked on it all the rooms we’d searched so far. If anything, it showed us how much ground we had still to cover and reminded us we’d better get on with it. Despite their protests, we insisted the children return to the safety of the trailer until we knew it was completely clear of any zombies.

  Working clockwise around the walls, we continued the task. Investigating the mound, we discovered much to our chagrin a missed archway in the walls at the top of the mound: the original part of the castle dating from the Norman conquest of England in the eleventh century. It had been hidden behind the ornamental bushes that had been planted on the steep conical hill so we couldn’t see it from the inner court below.

  Becky, Chet and I, had all been to the castle before and we apologised for forgetting about the potentially dangerous error in our memory.

  It did have a steel, hinged gate which in the past would have been used to close it but it was rusted up and even though we all tried, none of us could free it from its years of neglect.

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Woody as he walked through the archway and from our elevated position, surveyed the grounds that stretched out before us. “No harm done. This little hill has got such steep sides, I imagine it’d be hard for those bastards to climb it anyway. With the stuff we have with us, we should be able to block this up easily.” He turned and looked at the archway and then looked at Shawn. “Can you have a go at it now, mate?”

  Shawn replied as he looked at the six-foot-wide gap. “No problems. If I drag the genny up here along with some timber and some sheeting, I can block it up in no time. Who can I have to help me? It’ll take two of us to get the genny up here.”