I'd Never Thought They'd Get Me Here

Frank's POB

We packed up everything quickly, stuffing the small load of supplies they had into the army bags and packing up the guns and bullets. Lucy ran out the large doors first, checking the place was clear. When we all got out it was dark, it was only around six, but it was winter. Two shapes were lying on the floor not to far away, but I didn’t want to think about it.

“Faster people!” I heard Lucy call as she ran quickly across the grass.

“This it?” Dani asked when we reached the van.

“Yeah.” Bob nodded and got in behind the wheel. “Come on.”

We all threw our bags in and Bob started up the engine.

“Wait…” Ellie placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s dark now, they’ll be more active. The sound of the engine will attract them.”

“So why did you lead us out here?” I asked in confusion.

“Cathedral has lots of doors.” Dani explained. “Not a very easy place to defend.”

“Just drive into there.” Ellie pointed to a gap, just wide enough for the van, between the houses. “Park and we can sleep in the van. They can’t open the car doors because the gaps to narrow and we should be quite well hidden.”

Bob manoeuvred the van into the gap and turned of the engine. We double checked the doors were locked and the windows closed, just in case, before settling down in the van.

“It’s kinda squashed.” Mikey remarked after a moment.

“Don’t complain.” Em muttered. “You were in a van for ages like this, you’ll get used to it again.”

“How’d you know?” Gerard asked.

“We’re all fans, that’s how we recognised you.” Dani told us from somewhere near the back of the van.

“And now you’re stuck with us.” Lucy added. “We should sleep now.”

Rustles filled the van as everyone squirmed to get comfortable. After about an hour I realised I was very close to Gerard, him being sandwiched between me and Mikey.

“This is fucking freaky.” He said quietly.

“Yeah, unreal…”

I felt his breath tickle my cheek as he sighed.

“I don’t want to die like this.” His voice wavered slightly.

“You won’t.” A clearer voice spoke up. I glanced up to see Ellie watching us from the front of the car. “I promise.” She ran a hand through her hair, she looked tired, worn and fed up. All the girls did.

“You can’t promise that.” Gerard pointed out.

“I can and will.” She said firmly. “Now go to sleep, we’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

Gerard’s POV

I awoke as the engine started. Bob starting to drive carefully out where we’d been parked, before turning off onto a bigger road.

“If everyone’s dead, why’s it so empty?” Ray asked after a minute.

“They all seemed to leave last night.” Em said. “When I was on watch they walked past, didn’t even look at us. They were all going in the same direction, like they were being drawn somewhere.”

“Which means this place is empty.” Cat said. “Which means…”

“Shopping!” Dani finished with a grin.

“Take a left.” Lucy instructed. We drove onto the pavement and to where a bunch of shops were. “In here!” We were just outside a CD store, the girls smiled and got out.

“What if there are more?” Mikey asked cautiously.

“Shoot them.” Lucy said, getting guns out their bags. “Here.” She handed us one each. “Point and pull.” And that was our lesson in shooting a gun.

We all entered the CD shop and looked around. It was empty and the plastic boxes were staring at us.

“Rock’s over here!” Cat called from the other end of the shop. We went over and surveyed the CD’s. We just picked them up, it was so simple! I got every CD that looked decent, even if I already had it. I mean, my other CDs were in America, not much use where I was now. Before we left Em went behind the counter to turn off the alarms. We dumped the CD’s in the car and Ellie followed with just about every band t-shirt that had been in the shop.

“You really expect us to find a washing machine on this merry journey?” She asked. “And we need trousers.”

“There’s a clothes shop there…” Ray pointed out. All five of the girls looked at the shop in disgust.

“Ok, if it’s the apocalypse in England we want to go out looking good.” Dani told us. “That does…normal clothes. We need to go to the sharp practise!”

They directed Bob to a small store down the road and we got out again. We gathered up every single item of clothing we could find in that place. The stuff that was necessary and the stuff… not so. I mean, I didn’t really need the super amazing Misfits belt, I just wanted it. Then again we didn’t need half the stuff we took from that shop, it was just such a great shop. One more stop at another shop filled with odd t-shirt bearing logos and spiked wristbands and we were pretty much done with the whole clothes thing. Every one of us could dress head to toe in leather and still have stuff to spare.

“Maybe we should get food as well…” Bob suggested, looking at the small super market across the road.

“Yeah, that would be useful.” Lucy said. “We can’t really eat clothes…”

“Ok, so, arrange the clothes in the boot.” Ellie directed. “And then we’ll go get some food. But we need to keep it tidy, otherwise it’ll take up to much space.”

We folded the clothes and placed them in neatly, stacking the huge amounts of CD’s we had as well. We filled up half the large boot with that, leaving the guns in the main bit of the vehicle for easy access.

“Ok, let’s go get some food…”

We went into the supermarket and ran round. It was really fun, being able to just grab and take what you wanted. I’m pretty sure we took away their whole stock of sweets and stuff, and then we started on the alcohol. We looked down at the food we got, piling up in the trolleys.

“Might not last that long…” Em commented.

“Then let’s go look in here.” Cat led us all down into the huge storeroom. Boxes of food stacked up on the big shelves.

“Whoa…” I turned and smiled as Frank looked around.

“Be quick.” Lucy told us, as her and Ellie stood by the door.

We pulled the packaged food out of the large boxes, adding it to the stuff we had already.

“We need water and stuff like that.” Ellie reminded us.

“Toothpaste!” Dani yelled, coming across a box of it.

I pushed the trolley round a corner, searching for where Dani was and stopped quickly.

“Guys!” I called. “Problem!”

I stared at the mangy dog, its flesh practically hanging off its bones as it looked at me, red eyes gleaming. You could tell it was a zombie, by the way it was rotting and not dying and the blood covering its mouth.

“What is it?” I heard some one call. I couldn’t answer because at that point the dog barked loudly and started running at me.

“Shit!” I yelled, turning and running back the way I came. I could here it coming, paws slapping the floor almost as loud as my shoes did. I turned a corner and I’m pretty sure I felt something near my back, making me quicken my pace.

“A little help here?” I shouted. Lucy and Ellie ran round yet another corner, coming straight towards me. Lucy lifted her gun and Ellie yanked me down as Lu shot.

“Ok, close your eyes and don’t look behind you.” Ellie told me softly when the deafening bang had left my ears. I snapped my eyes shut, feeling her put her hand over them as well as she led me away. “I’m just going to take off your jacket…” She told me. I nodded and she removed the jacket, I assume she threw it away as it landed with a soft thump on the ground. “Good, now I’m going to wash your hair a bit…”

I didn’t even bother to ask why as I felt the cold water trickle through my hair and down my back. After a minute it stopped and I opened my eyes. Ellie handed me a cloth from somewhere to dry my hair and Lucy came back over.

“Whoa!” She said, almost excitedly. “That dog was practically on top of you! When I shot it you got splattered in its brains!”

I briefly saw Ellie smack her head into her palm before I fainted.