Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dead End Street

Prologue

It was a hot July afternoon, and Annie Davies was taking down the last bit of her washing from the line. Although it was a beautiful day and she should have been enjoying the sunshine, Annie was much too tired from all the housework she had been catching up on that day.

It was not just the household chores and the heat that had been getting her down, it was the strange stories she had kept hearing on the news for the past week and none of them made any sense.

As Annie un-pegged the last piece of clothing from the line and placed it into the basket, which was piled up to her waist, she took a deep breath, placed her hands on her hips and sighed from exhaustion. She had to take a little break as she was sweating from the unbearable heat and she needed a drink of water.

Annie thought of the two youngest of her eight children, Ray and Dave, and how she was missing them after not seeing her boys for quite a few weeks; she had forgotten how many weeks exactly. Although Annie was proud of what her sons had achieved with their band, the Kinks, she hated the way it kept them away from her for so long, but she always knew that one day she would have to let go.

The hot sun beat down on her with there being no shade, so Annie left the basket where it was for the time being and made her way into the kitchen for a much needed glass of water.

The house was very quiet because she was the only one at home; her husband was at work and was not going to be back until late, and her daughter Rosie, the only one still living at home, was also working that day.

Annie felt a little better after having a refreshing drink of cold water, and made her way back into the garden to bring her washing in to be ironed. She was just about to grab the heavy basket when suddenly, she heard a strange and disturbing sound.

Annie looked around and listened. She had never heard such a sound. As she listened carefully, it seemed that the strange, groaning sound was coming from next door’s garden, but what could be causing it? Was it some poor animal that had been hurt? Yet the groaning sounded too strange for any animal.

Annie left her washing for a moment, and slowly tiptoed over to the bramble bush that separated the Davies garden from that of Mrs Bakewell next door. As she looked through the large gap, what she saw next caused her heart to pound madly and gasp in shock.

On the other side, Annie saw quite clearly her next door neighbour, Mrs Bakewell, wandering around her garden in a very strange manner. This was totally out of character for the lady, who was normally very friendly and chatty. The old lady’s head was bent sideways and she was walking with what Annie thought looked like a limp, and it became clear that the groaning sound that had caught Annie’s attention in the first place was being made by Mrs Bakewell.

Annie had never seen any person behave like that before, least of all good old Mrs Bakewell, who had always been there for her in hard times when her eight children were growing up.

Annie was extremely concerned for her friend and neighbour, so she called out, “Can I help you Mrs Bakewell? Are you all right?”

Mrs Bakewell turned her head and looked straight at Annie, it was clear that the lady was not herself. There was something about her eyes that made Annie take a small step backwards, but although she was nervous, she wanted to help her friend.

Suddenly, Mrs Bakewell began ‘limping’ towards Annie, but her movements looked quite different from the way a person would normally limp if they had hurt their leg or twisted their ankle. Annie’s neighbour was walking with her right foot and dragging her left foot sideways, and as Mrs Bakewell got nearer, Annie did not know why she felt so nervous, but she could not move because of sheer shock at the expression on the woman’s face.

As Mrs Bakewell got nearer to her, Annie saw the look in the old woman’s eyes, which had changed from a lovely hazel brown to a bluey-white with pupils so tiny that Annie could hardly see them.

“Oh my Lord Mrs Bakewell, what’s wrong with you?” Annie cried, trembling with terror and not knowing what to do to help her neighbour, who was now raising her arms to Annie and snarling like some kind of ferocious monster about to eat her...was Mrs Bakewell about to try and eat her? Annie could not believe how a lovely woman like Mrs Bakewell would change so dramatically overnight. Annie had only seen her yesterday and she was fine, her usual self, singing as she watered her garden flowers. Now, right at this moment, Mrs Bakewell’s body seemed to have been taken over by goodness knows what!

Suddenly and before Annie could stop her, Mrs Bakewell grabbed hold of her arm, making Annie scream, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU MAD?!”

Then, before Annie could pull away, she felt the most terrible pain she had experienced in a long time, as Mrs Bakewell sank her teeth into her arm, tearing the flesh right off. Annie screamed so loud that she frightened several birds from their trees. She tried to pull away as Mrs Bakewell...or the ‘thing that had taken over her body’ tore more flesh from Annie's arm and to her horror, she noticed that her neighbour was eating what she had ripped from her. Annie struggled and pulled as best she could, but this thing that used to be her lovely next door neighbour had a very strong grip on her. Still, Annie was not going to let this possessed woman harm her any more than she already had, she needed to get away and fast, she pulled with all her strength until finally she was free from this hideous creature’s grasp.

Annie fell onto the lawn, but Mrs Bakewell...if that thing deserved to have that name anymore, was snarling and trying to get through the gap, with blood all around her mouth and teeth.

Annie no longer felt any pain because of the adrenalin that had set in and thoughts of her husband and children she may never see again if she did not get into the house and lock the door and do it fast. Somehow she managed to get to her feet and run, panting and shaking, back into her kitchen. She quickly locked the door and sank to the floor, sweat dripping from her forehead and blood on her white blouse.

Annie knew she must look a mess, and after a few minutes she painfully pulled herself up and decided she needed to clean her wound, and indeed herself. She staggered to the kitchen sink and looked at the deep wound on her right arm. Annie felt sheer horror as she saw that her arm had been bitten so deep that she could see part of her bone.

She needed to get to a doctor urgently; there was no way she could clean that up herself.

Annie did not have a house phone yet; she had been on at her husband Freddie for weeks about getting one as it would be easier for Ray and Dave to stay in touch when they were away touring, but Freddie had never listened.

She would have to go to the pay phone down the road.

Annie did her best to wash away as much of the blood as she could, but she felt sick at the sight of torn flesh, so she opened a draw, took out some bandages and dressed the wound as best she could, covering it up so at least she would not have to see it. She also felt she should get changed into some fresh clothes because she did not want to be seen with the bloodstained ones she had on. So she staggered through the hallway, trying not to acknowledge that she was beginning to see double. She struggled up the stairs to her bedroom, feeling weaker every moment. However when she got to her room, Annie began to feel very feverish and knew she would not have the energy to even get changed let alone walk out to get help. All Annie could think of doing was collapsing on the bed before everything went black.

Chapter Text

Dave looked at his boyfriend feeling worried. His father never phoned him or Ray when they were away and for him to do that must mean that something was seriously wrong. With a feeling of dread, Dave walked over to the desk and took the phone from Sally, who disappeared into the back room to give Dave some privacy, “Er...hello,” Dave said, not looking forward to what his father was going to say.

“Dave,” the frantic voice of his father on the other end of the line confirmed to a worried Dave that all was not well. “Dave thank God I’ve been able to get hold of you son, oh...oh God something terrible’s happened...I...I came home from work last night to find…”

Dave heard the sound of his father crying on the other end of the phone, he had no idea what he could do to help but he needed his dad to tell him exactly what was wrong because not knowing was frustrating, “Dad...Dad what’s happened? Why are you so upset?”

Indeed, it was out of character for Frederick Davies to be such an emotional wreck, in fact, Dave could not remember a single moment in his life when his father had cried; the man had always seemed so calm and collected about every single thing, which was why it worried Dave so much. Had something happened to one of the family?

“DAD...talk to me, please! ” Dave began to panic. “What the hell is going on?”

After a few more seconds of waiting for his father to calm down, Dave heard him say, “Things are not right here Dave, there is something seriously wrong and I don’t know what it is...I...I think the world’s going to shit!”

“What...what are you talking about Dad?” Dave said in exasperation. “What do you mean? What the fuck is going on?”

“Your sister is DEAD!” Mr Davies answered. “And your mother...your mother is missing!”

Dave did not know what to say to such a thing. How on earth could one of his sisters be dead? It was ridiculous, and his mother would not have any reason to go missing. Dave jumped to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with his father. Was Frederick going off his rocker? Had he been drinking?

“Dad, what the hell are you talking about? Are you mad?” Dave was really beginning to lose his patience, why was his dad talking such rubbish?

“I...found Rosie when...I came home from work...last night,” Frederick sobbed. “She was a mess! Her body had been completely ripped apart...her insides were…”

“DAD!” Dave screamed! “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?”

“I...I called the police,” Mr Davies continued. “They took a long time to come because...they were dealing with so many incidents that were similar to this one and...DAVE, THE DEAD ARE COMING BACK TO LIFE!”

“Dad, please stop it,” Dave begged. “You’re scaring me!”

“Dave this is no joke son,” Frederick really did sound serious this time and not like a raving lunatic as he had when they first began to talk. “Please, be safe, I...wouldn’t advise coming back to Muswell any time soon; it’s not safe here, it’s becoming infested with…”

Frederick’s voice was cut off by a horrifying sound, it sounded to Dave like a mixture of some kind of animal sound and very strange moaning, only Dave did not think he had heard any animal make such a noise before. Then Dave heard a sound even more terrifying, the sound of his father crying out in the background, it was the most bloodcurdling sound that would haunt Dave for the rest of his life, “HELP...NOOOOOOO!!!” Dave heard his father scream.”

“DAD...DAD WHAT’S GOING ON?!” Dave yelled into the phone...and then silence, the phone went dead, and now Dave was shaking in fear.

“Oh...oh fuck what’s happened?” Dave trembled as he thought of the horrifying sounds he had heard at the other end of the phone. Dave dropped the phone, still shivering and panicking, hardly noticing Mick’s arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

“I’m here Dave,” Mick whispered gently. “What happened?”

Dave could hardly talk with trembling and thinking of his father’s terrifying phone call, “I...I...I...don’t know,” Dave just managed to stutter. “I...I think something’s happened at home and...Dad said...something...dead coming back and...I...I don’t know I think my dad’s...I think someone or something...attacked him as he was talking to me...and...”

“Shh...it’s okay Dave,” Mick tried to soothe his boyfriend by rubbing his back and talking in a comforting tone. “I’m here just...try and calm down okay my love.”

“Can I do anything to help?” Sally the receptionist had just reappeared from the back and she saw Mick hugging Dave.

Mick turned to look at Sally, “I don’t know what’s going on but Dave thinks his dad was attacked as they were talking on the phone.”

“I wonder if it has anything to do with…” Sally began but trailed off not knowing what to say next.

“With what?” Mick asked.

“Have you not heard the recent stories on the news?” Sally asked.

“We did hear one or two things yes,” Mick replied. “But if you are talking about dead people coming back to life then of course we didn’t believe any of it.”

“No, the stories are true,” Sally said, wide-eyed. “Apparently it’s been happening in several different countries, of people dying and then waking up again, only they’re not themselves anymore they’re just...well, like in certain films...zombies...and they eat people, they feed on flesh, or if you get bitten by one, you have the zombie virus in your blood and you die and become one of them yourself. Scientists are saying it’s an airborne virus and we are all infected. I didn’t believe it at first but then just yesterday there were stories from the local hospital about patients who apparently died and then roamed the hospital attacking people, it was just…”

“Stop it!” Mick demanded. “Please just stop this nonsense right now, can’t you see Dave’s upset?”

Dave was still trembling in Mick’s arms, clearly very upset by the phone call he had received, then Dave seemed to man up a little and said in a small voice, “I...I could do with a drink of water I think.”

“Come and sit in the dining room,” Sally said kindly. “I will fetch you a glass of water. I’m very sorry if what I said has scared you two but it sounds to me like the virus is affecting everyone and your dad has probably been attacked by one of those things...well, I say things but...well they were people.”

The two said nothing as they made their way into the hotel dining room, which was still empty because no-one apart from them had come down to breakfast as yet. The two sat down at their table in silence until Sally came to them with a jug of cold water and two glasses. Dave did not say or do anything but sat and stared into space, he had clearly been affected by the chilling phone call. Mick poured a glass of water for Dave and handed it to him, Dave said nothing but took the glass and took a tiny sip.

It had all started as just an ordinary morning for Mick, with him waking up ridiculously early and being unable to get back to sleep. Every morning he woke up with Dave next to him, every morning for as long as he could remember they had made love to each other, but it was not every morning that this happened. Had the stories he had been hearing about true? Surely not.

The first story Mick had heard was of a dead woman who came back to life at her own funeral. When they undid the coffin she attacked the first person she saw and the people around her were so horrified that all they could do was watch while she tore at the flesh of the poor man. When someone finally pulled her away she attacked that person and then two more...Mick remembered reading the story and the strange thing was it had supposedly happened not far from where he grew up. Mick had never taken any of it seriously; he even read a few other similar articles, and even when he began to hear talk of it on the radio, he had turned it off in disgust because he was sick of hearing such rubbish.

Mick looked at Dave who was still looking pale, he put his hand on the teenager’s shoulder and asked him, “Dave my love, do you think you can eat something?”

Dave turned slowly to look at him, “Hmm?” he said, in a dreamlike way. “Umm, no. I...I was hungry before but I think I’ve lost my appetite now.”

“You have to keep up your strength,” Mick said gently.

They were then interrupted by Grenville, who was the band’s manager alongside Robert Wace. Mick was worried the minute he saw the expression on his face. Was everything going to go wrong that day?

“Oh Mick, Dave I’m glad I’ve found you two,” he said in a frantic voice. “Robert’s really bad this morning. He went to bed early last night because he wasn’t well as you know and this morning he’s even worse.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Mick asked, standing up from the table he and Dave were sitting at.

“He’s all delirious and feverish,” Grenville explained. “Ray and Pete are sat with him now and I’ve come down to call a doctor but there’s no-one in reception.”

“Well that’s the second thing to go wrong today,” Mick sighed. “Dave’s just had this worrying phone call from his dad, something’s happened in Muswell but...whatever it is, it’s upset Dave a lot; he can hardly speak, look at him.”

“Maybe you should take him upstairs and talk to Ray about it,” the band manager suggested. “Something’s not right around here you know; what I’ve been hearing on the news I never took it seriously but it’s like the world’s going to shit or something.”

At the words, ‘going to shit’, Dave was shaken out of his trance, “That’s what Dad said, that’s just what he said right before...something happened...something got him and now I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again.”

“Have you called the doctor yet?” Someone else had entered the hotel dining room, it was Pete, he looked just as frantic as Grenville. “You really need to because Robert has a really bad wound he needs looking at!”

“What do you mean?” Grenville asked. “I didn’t know anything about any wound, all I knew was he wasn’t himself last night!”

“It’s on his arm,” Pete explained. “Looks like something bit him; there are teeth marks there. I asked him how it happened but he’s too delirious to talk to anyone...I...I don’t get it, why would he not say something in the first place?”

A look of horror crossed Grenville’s face, “Oh no...oh please God no,” he whispered to himself.

“Excuse me,” another party interrupted them. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”

It was Sally the receptionist who had spoken.

“Yes, yes can I use your phone?” Grenville pleaded.

“If it’s what it sounds like then calling a doctor won’t do any good,” Sally said with a sympathetic look. “From what you were describing...I think he’s been bitten by one of the undead.”

“What...what are you talking about?” Pete asked.

“There’s a virus, nobody knows how it came about,” Sally explained. “But it’s airborne and it’s spreading all around the world now. The first country it seemed to have affected was China, then to other parts of the world...now it’s finally here. It affects those who die, they come back to life...in a way, and feed on flesh, if you are bitten you don’t stand a chance; you will die and become one of them...there’s nothing anyone can do for Robert, all you can do now is go and be with him.”

Chapter Text

“I...I want to go back home to Mum and Dad’s house,” Dave said, his voice very dry and cracked. “I want to see if my dad’s okay and...no maybe I should call the police and ask them to check on him.”

They were all making their way back up the stairs now, after Grenville, against Sally’s advice had used the hotel phone and tried to get in touch with a doctor, but every time he tried, the line seemed to be dead.

“Dave, I don’t know if that’s going to help,” Grenville sighed with frustration and worry.

“Well that’s where I want to go, where I need to go,” Dave said, determined. “And I’m worried about Mum too...I...I have to go back home and see...I need to find out if Dad’s okay; I won’t rest until I have. When I tell Ray what happened, he’ll want to go with me.”

“I’ll go with you as well Dave,” Mick reassured him.

Dave turned to hug the drummer, “Thanks Mick,” he whispered, sounding like he was going to cry again.

“It will be okay,” Mick said to his lover. “I’m here for you.”

“Robert!” Ray yelled frantically at the Kinks’ manager, trying to keep him awake. “Stay awake please...here drink some more water!”

Ray had Robert propped up with pillows in the bed in his hotel room; the manager looked deathly pale and was struggling to remain conscious, “It’s okay,” Ray reassured him. “Grenville’s gone to call a doctor...or maybe you need to go to hospital. I’ve never seen anyone look so terrible.”

Robert drank a little of the water that Ray had put to his mouth, then he looked at Ray as he gasped for breath, “R...Ray...I’m...not...going to...survive this.”

“Robert you don’t know what you’re saying,” Ray responded, rolling his eyes. “You’re delirious that’s all; you need some medication or something, then you’ll be fine.”

“Y...you don’t...understand,” Robert struggled with every word he said. “It’s...happening everywhere, I...I was bitten last night...and very soon...I’m going to...become one of them...I’m going to become one of the un-dead...the stories...are true, we just...didn’t believe them...I...I never...believed them either...until...it was...too late.”

Ray was still not taking anything the manager said seriously, he shook his head, sighed and got up to look out of the window. The sooner a doctor came to sort Robert out, the better, because this was getting beyond annoying.

Ray had also become sick of the stories that had been making the headlines and he felt that Robert was just trying to scare him, but deep down, Ray began to wonder if this was true, but he would never admit this to himself.

Where the hell are you Grenville? Ray thought as he gazed out of the window, simply because looking at Robert was making him depressed.

Then suddenly, Ray caught sight of something down in the street below that made him feel uneasy. At first, it simply looked like two people walking by...but Ray looked again, these people were moving about in a very strange way. It was a man and a woman and...the way they were walking made Ray think at first that they were drunk and were walking home after a night of heavy boozing and partying. The woman was wearing a pink floral mini-dress and the man had a Beatle haircut and was wearing a white shirt and jeans and...looking at the man, it looked as though...was that blood on his shirt? Surely not! Ray’s heart began to pound...were the news headlines true? Was there really a zombie outbreak? Were the dead really coming back to life?

Ray looked at the woman, who also appeared to be covered in blood! Both of them were walking with a disturbing limp, using one foot to step forward and dragging the other one behind them, their faces were deathly white, their hands outstretched, their heads to one side...this was NOT normal!

Ray slowly turned to look at Robert, who had told him that he had been bitten the previous night. However, when Ray had looked at the wound earlier that morning, he assumed it had been a dog attack that Robert had not bothered to tell anyone about, which Ray thought was foolish. Robert had simply come back, dressed the wound himself and said nothing to anyone, only that he was feeling unwell and needed to lie down and rest. Robert had only shown Ray and Pete the wound that morning, and they had both had a go at him, because he should have had it seen to straight away. Neither of them had listened to their manager when he had told them there was no point.

Was it a stray dog that bit Robert? Ray thought to himself. Or was it something more like those strange people I’m watching right now?

Just then the door opened and in walked Ray’s brother Dave along with Mick, Pete and Grenville. The distressed look on Dave’s face, and the concerned faces of the other three made Ray think that something was seriously wrong, and that Robert’s condition was in some way connected with it all.

“What’s wrong Dave?” Ray asked, a strong feeling of dread suddenly coming over him.

“We need to go home to Muswell,” Dave said, his voice barely audible, and his face had a look that told Ray he had been through something traumatic. “Dad’s in trouble.”

Ray’s blood ran cold; things really were starting to get weird now, “What do you mean?” he asked, his voice shaking. “What sort of trouble?”

“He...he…” Dave was unable to say anymore, and so Mick put his arm around the younger Davies brother and spoke for him, “There was a phone call,” Mick explained. “It was your dad; he said a few scary things to Dave and...then it sounded like he was being attacked.”

“What ?!” Ray tried his best to remain calm, because he knew that panicking would not do any good, but with Robert looking as though he was at death’s door and this latest revelation about his dad, remaining calm was not the easiest thing to do.

Suddenly, Robert spoke, sounding worryingly as though he was about to take his last breath, “You...you need to leave this room now.”

“What’s...what’s wrong with you Robert?” Mick asked with deep concern. “You look terrible, I didn’t even know you were ill until this morning? What’s this I hear about you being bitten?”

Mick made his way to the bed and sat down next to Robert, took hold of the manager’s hand and Robert answered, “Mick...please...Ray won’t listen! He thinks that I’m...delirious, but I’m not...one of them got me and it’s a wonder I’ve lasted the night...please…please all of you leave before I...change.”

“I’m getting worried now,” Mick admitted. “Are the stories true?”

“Yes,” Robert replied. “But I never...believed them until it was...too late. Hope...you boys know how...proud I am of you. I...I’m so happy to have known you and...please look after yourselves. As...soon as I pass...you...you must leave this room at once...d...don’t know...how long it will take.”

Tears began to well up in Mick’s eyes as he not only took in what Robert was saying, but he could feel how cold the manager’s hand was. Robert’s face was so pale and his eyes had dark rings around them. In fact, looking at Robert reminded Mick of a film he had seen last year about zombies...indeed, every passing second, the band’s manager was beginning to look more and more like one of these zombies that had featured throughout this particular film, he certainly looked a great deal different to someone who just had a fever or a sickness bug.

Mick looked up at their other manager and his band mates, and said, through uncontrollable tears, “What are we going to do?”

Indeed, it did not look as though the rest of them had any idea of what to do; they all looked powerless, as they all seemed to realise that there may be a good deal of truth in what Robert had just been saying.

This ‘airborne zombie virus’ as it had been labelled, really had begun happening in other parts of the world several months ago and now, the virus had spread and was finally here.

Everyone, the whole world, was infected and there was no escaping their doom.

“There’s...nothing you can...do for me,” Robert struggled with every breath and their hearts were beginning to break now. “P...please look after...yourselves and...don’t get bitten...if you...are bitten you don’t...stand a chance...and...you must...leave here...as soon as...I am dead.”

“We’re staying right here with you mate,” Grenville said, determined to be the strong one, even though he was feeling as horrified and heartbroken as the rest of them were.

“Thanks...Gren,” Robert’s voice was now nothing more than a strangled whisper, breathing was becoming harder, and so talking was becoming harder...then all of a sudden, his body fell limp.

Ray was the one who noticed it first; it was something about the way the manager’s eyes were simply staring into space, that was how he knew that Robert was no longer with them.

“Oh my...God...he’s...he’s gone,” Ray sobbed.

Dave also burst into tears and Ray pulled his brother into a hug, which the Davies brothers never did, as normally they were at each other’s throats, but right now they were both united in grief for the man who had helped them achieve fame with their music. Pete, who was sitting on a chair near the bed, was unable to stop the tears and the sobs that soon wracked his body.

It was the first time they had seen a person die, and none of them had been prepared for it.

“I...can’t believe this has happened,” Mick sobbed, still holding onto Robert’s ice cold hand. “This...this is so unfair...why didn’t we listen...to the news? We could have...avoided this...we...we could have...saved him.”

Grenville, crying uncontrollably along with the four Kinks, lifted his hand to Robert's eyes, closing his eyelids so that his co-manager looked more peaceful. He then lay Robert down properly, (because before, he had been propped up with the pillows because of breathing difficulties), then he covered his co-manager’s head with the blankets so that his body could no longer be seen.

There was then nothing but crying for the next twenty minutes, as the Kinks and Grenville tried to take in the horrible situation that had come out of the blue, and all of them blamed themselves as they felt Robert’s death could have been avoided. If only they had listened to what had seemed like the most ridiculous and laughable news on the television, radio and in the papers.

Ray and Dave came and sat on either side of the end of the bed, Mick and Grenville either side of Robert and Pete came to sit with Ray because he needed to be near his best friend right now.

“We...we need to...contact his family,” Grenville was the first one to speak. “They need to know...obviously.”

“If the same thing hasn’t already happened to them,” a woman’s voice suddenly said.

They looked up; it was Sally, the receptionist who had let them in on a few home truths regarding the current state of the world earlier that morning after Dave had got the chilling phone call from his father. Indeed, this young woman seemed to have paid more attention to what had been going on for the past few months.

Sally was standing there at the door now, looking sympathetic but slightly awkward at having interrupted them all in their grief, “I’m...I’m very sorry for your loss,” she said quietly, in almost a whisper. “I’m sorry to have interrupted you but...there’s one thing that needs to be done before you can lay him to rest.”

“What do you mean?” Ray asked, his arm around Pete.

“He’s going to wake again,” Sally stated matter of factly, “and when he does, there will be nothing of the man he was before. He will attack the first person he gets hold of, he will tear you to bits given the chance...to stop that from happening, we must destroy his brain.”

“What?!” Ray said with a look of disbelief, then the Kinks’ lead singer noticed a knife Sally had in her hand. “What are you doing with that?”

“If you have any sense,” Sally said calmly, “you will find weapons to carry with you at all times if you want to survive this, because we’re all in a ‘kill or be killed’ situation now. If you will just let me run this knife through his temple, then you won’t have to worry about him waking up and attacking any of you, because I am sure this is what Robert would have wanted.”

“You will do no such thing!” Pete said, getting up from the bed. “Just leave us alone please, and anyway, when did you become such an expert on this?”

“I’m no expert,” Sally replied. “Only last week I was pretty much as ignorant of this as you all seem to be...but then it happened to my cousin.”

“What happened to your cousin?” Grenville asked, wiping away tears and sighing in despair.

“He came home from school with a nasty wound on his arm, he said some crazy woman had bitten him as he was walking home,” Sally explained. “So anyway my aunt...his mum, she called the doctor, who dressed the wound as best he could but told my aunt and uncle to take Albert to the hospital...but he got no better, and he died in the night...he was just fifteen. Naturally we were all heartbroken; none of us could understand any of it...but as my aunt was saying goodbye to her son at his bedside...that was when it happened.”

“What happened?” Mick asked.

“Albert woke up,” Sally answered, looking and sounding as though she was trying not to cry. “But he wasn’t Albert anymore...he...he was just this...thing that made horrible sounds. I heard the whole story from my uncle...who was unable to save his wife. Poor Uncle Harry came into the room...there was blood everywhere...then he saw it, his son eating the flesh of his own mother.”

“What happened after that?” Ray asked.

“My uncle told everything to all of us,” Sally explained. “He’s staying with us now because he can’t face going back home, but anyway, poor Aunt Penny was screaming for help but Uncle Harry was just frozen in horror. In the end, about five people had to restrain cousin Albert and tie him firmly to the bed. Nobody knew what to do with him. Believe me, I really do know how you feel; my poor mum hasn’t said a word since it happened. She was very close to my aunt, they were sisters. It’s been hard for me having to see my mum like that, which is why I’m choosing to still work while I can...but I was so worried when I saw all of you...as well as being so bloody excited…and starstruck.”

Sally was unable to say any more, because she began to cry, obviously with thoughts of what had happened to her family never being far from her mind. Ray immediately took pity on the poor girl and got up to give her a hug, which Sally gratefully accepted.

“I’m sorry,” Sally sobbed, burying her face in Ray’s chest and getting mascara over his white shirt. “I just haven’t told anyone about it until now, and it’s been so hard on my family, and my dad and me have been the only ones who have been out of the house at all since it happened.”

“It’s okay,” Ray said soothingly. “We have all lost someone we care about and if the stories are true, I suspect there will be many more lives lost.”

“There have been,” Sally told him, not letting Ray go and looking into his eyes, almost as though he were a lover. “The hospital’s been badly affected by it...because if you think about it, that’s where people die...so now people have been stopped from going there because it’s far too dangerous. What we need to do is get out of London.”

“I’m not leaving London ‘til I’ve seen my dad and found my mum!” Dave said adamantly as he wiped away more tears.

“I agree,” Ray said. “I’m not leaving my parents behind; I have to know my family are safe.”

“I have a girlfriend,” Pete said. “I’m not leaving her behind, I have to go and see if she’s okay.”

“How can you not have noticed?” Sally asked them. “There are zombies wandering around London as we speak and their numbers are growing every day! I only come here because my dad can bring me in the car...but...I don’t know for how much longer I can continue coming here; the only people who have turned up for work today have been one of the chambermaids and the hotel chef. Of course the owners of this hotel live here...there’s a couple of more staff that were supposed to come but...they’ve not turned up and that worries me greatly.”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT ZOMBIES!” Dave shouted, starting to cry again. “I’M GOING HOME TO RESCUE MY DAD!”

“Didn’t you say he was attacked?” Sally asked Dave.

“It sounded like something got hold of him yes,” Dave nodded, wiping tears away and allowing Mick to put his arms around him. “He was calling out for help.”

“If one of those...things got him he doesn’t stand…” Sally began, but Dave would not listen.

“MY DAD’S ALIVE OKAY!” Dave got up from the bed and aggressively approached Sally, “WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT ANY OF IT?”

“Dave!” Grenville got up from the bed to try and calm down the youngest member of the Kinks. “Come on, shouting and getting upset won’t help your dad okay...we need a plan of action if we’re going to help anyone, please...I know it’s hard but we need to try and remain calm if we’re going to be rescuing anyone.”

“I don’t know why we stayed in this hotel anyway,” Dave sighed, accepting the hug from Mick, who had also got up to try and calm him. “We flew to London from Germany...we could have gone home after doing last night’s concert.”

“You mean you did a concert last night without any problems?” Sally asked, looking confused. “I can’t believe I made it into work this morning; I don’t know if I will tomorrow the rate things are going.”

“What was it like this morning when you came here?” Grenville asked. “Did you see anything...untoward on your way here?”

“They’ve completely taken over the hospital down the road I know that for sure,” Sally answered, still in Ray’s arms and not looking as if she wanted to let him go. “But they’ve completely boarded that up now in the hope that none of them can escape from there, but it’s far worse in the busiest parts of London for some reason, and I can’t work out where they all came from. Some will have come out of funeral parlours...but...well my dad and I saw a few wandering about on the way here.”

“Things were a bit weird when we got off the plane a couple of days ago,” Grenville admitted. “There was an army truck and quite a few police officers hanging around...looked like they all had guns but...we were so tired and we wanted to just get to the hotel and rest and so we didn’t stop by to ask any questions.”

“We didn’t really think anything of it,” Pete sighed, sounding tired. “But...now I come to think of it, things seemed just as weird in Berlin when we left...like people were becoming...scared or something. I laughed at them for believing what was being said on the news...I mean...it was stupid.”

“But it’s true,” Ray said. “I...I didn’t tell you what I saw earlier when it was just me and Robert in the room. I...I was looking out of that window there and...I saw two people who looked like...well...what you said,” Ray turned to Sally, “they looked like zombies...then Robert was trying to tell me and I thought he was just delirious. I even tried to convince myself that I was just over tired but...I just wouldn’t admit it to myself that something is just not right at all.”

Sally suddenly let out a frightened gasp, and pointed to the bed where Robert’s body lay, covered with the blankets, “Did you see that!?”

“See what?” Ray asked, looking at where she had pointed.

“The blankets just moved!” Sally said in a frightened voice. “Stand back everyone, he’s waking up!”

They looked, and sure enough, to their horror, the blankets were moving...indeed, there was no mistaking it, Robert was stirring under the blankets and the sound he seemed to be making did not sound in the least like their manager; it sounded more like a mixture of a cat being strangled and deep, low groaning...whatever was waking up in that bed, they knew it was not Robert. Then slowly, the blankets were being pushed back, then they got the shock of their lives...Robert (or what used to be him) was awake, in a sense he was breathing, his eyes wide open...only they looked very different. The grey-blue eyes Robert had before were now almost completely white, but if you looked closely you could just about see the blue that was near enough gone, and the pupils were barely visible...yet it was easy enough to tell that they were there and looking all around the room.

None of them could move, as the reality of the situation hit home. What was their zombiefied manager going to do?

Chapter Text

The zombie that only a few minutes ago was Robert made more disturbing sounds; his breathing was nothing more than a loud, low growl and he was becoming more and more unpredictable every second. Robert was looking around at each of them in turn, as if he was wondering which one of them he wanted to taste first.

“I told you we should’ve put this knife through his temple!” Sally said, shaking in fear but trying her best to be brave. “We were too busy talking and wasting time...stand back and let me deal with it!”

Suddenly and without warning, Robert, who was grunting, growling and foaming at the mouth, lunged out of the bed towards Sally, who instinctively fought back with her knife and stabbed the zombie in the chest...but it did no good; Robert did not even let out a cry of pain. Chances were, in his newly un-dead state, he no longer had nerve endings to feel any pain or physical suffering.

The four Kinks were in such a state of shock that they were simply unable to do or say anything at all; they were simply frozen in horror.

Ray knew he should be trying to help and protect Sally, but something was stopping him from reacting to this at all.

Dave, who was still traumatised by the phone call from his father earlier on, felt his heart pounding uncontrollably...was he just having a nightmare? Surely this was not real...surely to God.

Pete was just as scared as the rest of them, and the grief he was feeling at Robert’s passing and the worry he had for his girlfriend Elizabeth was consuming his thoughts. 

Mick so badly wanted to be able to help. There was so much the drummer was taking in, and he was trying to make plans at the same time, plans over what to do. How were they going to get out of this? How was he going to help Ray and Dave get back to Muswell to rescue their parents? Then of course he had to help Pete get to where his girlfriend was.

It saddened Mick that the only people in the world who really cared about him were Dave, Ray, Pete and their managers. In a way the drummer was glad at this point that he had no family to worry about, but to think before Dave came along, he had had no-one at all.

Grenville was the only one of them who really had it together, and he bravely leaped into action, took hold of zombie Robert, and pulled him away from Sally as best he could.

“Hold him still if you can,” Sally requested. “Then I can use the knife to put an end to this.”

“No, let me do it,” Grenville insisted, struggling to hold the wriggling, snarling zombie by the arms. “If someone should...put him down then it should be one of us! We’re his friends...it’s...I’m sure it’s what he would have wanted...boys please don’t just stand there, help me!”

Ray and Pete pulled themselves together despite the trauma they were experiencing and finally jumped in to help, “Here,” Pete said to Sally. “Give me the knife, we’ll deal with it!”

Sally immediately did as Pete asked, she gave him the knife and took a step back; this was only because she had taken a liking to the boys. She really liked Ray and because Pete was his best friend, she respected him too. She went to stand next to Mick and Dave who were still in shock and unable to move, this was understandable as she had had the same reaction when a few similar incidents happened in the area where she lived, and of course after what had happened to her cousin and her aunt.

However, Sally had had to learn fast, and so she wanted to make sure all the Kinks did the same.

Grenville, Ray and Pete struggled to hold Robert down; it almost seemed as if he had gained extra strength after being zombified. It took two of them, Grenville and Ray, to hold down one arm each and that was a struggle in itself. Pete was kneeling over the zombie, knife in hand.

“Go on Pete,” Grenville said encouragingly. “You need to do it now, stab him in the head and put an end to it; we can’t leave Robert like this!”

“He’s right,” Sally pointed out. “There’s nothing left of Robert at all, you’ll be doing him a favour Pete, trust me.”

Pete knew what he had to do, but a sudden feeling of sheer panic all of a sudden consumed him and he was once again froze, not able to move, it was as if something was stopping him doing what was necessary. He had never killed anyone before in his life and what he was about to do suddenly became too much for him, even though technically, Robert himself was already dead.

“Go on Pete, he’s too strong, I can’t hold on to him much longer!” Ray pleaded with his friend, but all Pete found himself doing was shaking uncontrollably and almost hyperventilating, so much so that he dropped the knife and fell backwards, Pete thought he was about to pass out. By this time, Mick had come to his senses and gone to be with Pete, who was clearly struggling with this whole situation...as were all of them.

“Pete what’s wrong?” Ray asked his friend.

Grenville knew what he had to do, he briefly let go of Robert’s arm and reached for the knife that Pete had dropped, but this was the biggest mistake ever! It did seem that in his newly un-dead condition, Robert had indeed gained extra strength, and so now that one of his arms was free, Ray was simply unable to hold onto the other arm anymore...so Robert (or the zombie that used to be him) managed to free himself and jump onto Grenville! Ray tried to pull the zombie off but it was no good; Robert was just too strong, and apart from Sally, the others were just too frozen in horror to be able to be any help. The zombie Robert sank his teeth into his co-manager’s neck!

“Nooooo!” Sally screamed. “OH MY GOD WHY DIDN’T YOU LET ME STAB HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

In a state of panic, Ray ran to the bedside table and took hold of the lamp, and quickly ran back to where Robert had begun to eat Grenville’s flesh, all the while the latter was crying out for help; the pain of being ripped apart must have been unbearable, and there was now blood all over the carpet, all over hyperventilating Pete and over Mick who was unable to do anything but hold his band mate and try to comfort him.

Ray acted fast and whacked Robert over the head with the lamp, which briefly stopped the zombie from devouring the flesh (which was now hanging in chunks from his mouth) of their manager Grenville.

“HIT HIM AGAIN!” Sally screamed as she picked up the knife again, Ray obeyed, bringing the lamp down upon the zombie three times causing Robert’s skull to break so that he was not quite so strong now, yet still he was growling, snorting, moaning...but now Ray was able to hold the zombie down by both hands, and he saw that Sally had the knife in her hand. In his mind, Ray felt that Pete had been foolish to insist on stabbing Robert, when clearly he was not up for the job at all.

“Quick, do it!” Ray said to Sally, holding Robert’s head down firmly. “Let’s get it over with, I can’t take this anymore!”

Without question, Sally raised the knife in her hand and brought it down, piercing Robert’s temple, after a few strangled squeaks from the zombie, Robert’s body finally gave out...this time for good!

Robert was dead, but there was no time for grieving over him right now, not when Grenville was severely injured. A sobbing Ray dragged Robert’s body out of the way and then knelt beside Grenville, there was a huge, open wound on his neck where Robert had torn the flesh with his teeth. Looking at Grenville now, Ray knew he was too far gone for anything to be done for him, he took hold of his injured friend and cradled him in his arms, “I’m so sorry Grenville,” Ray sobbed. “So sorry I couldn’t help you.”

Sally knelt beside Ray and put her arms around him. She wanted to be there for Ray, and this time, she was determined that Grenville would not become un-dead as Robert had done, so she held her knife at the ready so she could run it through Grenville’s head the minute he had passed away.

Suddenly the door of the hotel room opened, and in came Stan Whitley, the Kinks’ road manager, “Robert, you’re not going to believe what’s happening around London, the stories are true, we need to...OH MY...WHAT THE…”

Stan saw the bloodbath he had just walked into, he almost fell back in absolute horror as he saw the body of Robert lying in a corner, Ray with his shirt covered in blood and holding a lifeless Grenville in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably with Sally trying to comfort him. He saw Mick sitting on the floor looking very pale and trying to calm down a shaking and traumatised Pete, both of them had blood on their clothes. Then he spotted Dave, who had found the whole situation too much to take in and was now lying on the floor, because he had fainted in shock at the sight of blood, death and horror.

“What happened?” Stan whispered, bending down to look at Dave and feeling as though he could faint himself. “Dave...Dave wake up...wake up!”

No-one answered, as Sally used her knife to drive it into the side of Grenville’s head, ensuring he would never wake again, then she looked at Stan and said to him, “It’s happening everywhere, we are all infected with a virus and there’s no escaping it, all we can do is find a way to survive.”

Stan nodded his understanding and picked up a still unconscious Dave, “I’m going to take Dave out of this room for a bit of fresh air,” he said. “Then I’ll come back for their bodies...we...we can’t just leave them behind, and then...then we have to make a plan of action about what we’re going to do.”

“Me and Pete will come with you,” Mick said, getting up from the floor and helping Pete up as well. “We could all do with the fresh air; this room is so hot, I feel claustrophobic.”

“I’ll wait here ‘til you come back,” Ray said, his voice obvious that he was numb with grief and shock. “I don’t want to leave Robert and Grenville behind, even if they are dead, I want their bodies laid to rest like they deserve.”

“I will stay here with you Ray,” Sally said kindly, which Ray appreciated.

Stan nodded and carried Dave out of the room, followed behind by Mick and Pete who had their arms around each other.

It was strange how the morning had begun like any other, and yet before afternoon was upon them, things had become weird beyond their imagination.

Dave slowly opened his eyes, and found himself lying on a sofa. For a minute he did not know where he was...but then he remembered what had happened...Robert dying from some horrible and unexplained illness, then he remembered seeing the band’s manager waking up again, only he was not himself, he was just this...thing that only wanted to eat people alive. Then he remembered Robert getting hold of Grenville and biting him, tearing skin and flesh from his co-manager’s body...and that was the last thing Dave remembered. Dave then felt a gentle hand touch his head and stroke his hair, it felt comforting, and he knew whose hand it was instantly. Beautiful Mick was lovingly looking into his eyes; it was a comfort to know the man he loved was still with him, because without Mick, he was nothing.

Dave looked around, and he realised he was in the hotel lobby, where it was light and airy and physically, he felt much better, “Mick,” Dave said quietly. “Mick, how did I get here?”

“You collapsed darling,” Mick told him gently. “I don’t blame you; it was a really horrible thing to see.”

“Is...is Grenville going to be all right?” Dave asked, remembering in full detail what Robert, in his un-dead state, did to his favourite manager.

The sad look on his lover’s face answered Dave’s question immediately, Mick’s eyes were welling up with tears and he shook his head, “Dave, he was bitten,” Mick replied, and Dave could see that his lover was trying desperately to be strong. “Robert got him by the neck and burst an artery, he lost too much blood, there was no way he would have survived.”

Dave nodded his understanding, then burst into tears. Mick pulled him into a hug and Dave sobbed to think neither of the band’s managers would be around anymore, he also began to think of his parents back at home and his sisters and he hoped to God they were safe. Then Dave remembered his father’s phone call, and that made him sob even more, in fact, his body became so wracked with sobs that he could not even talk. Mick held him as he cried, and Dave was grateful that at least he still had Mick, but what was he going to do about his family?

Pete was lying on another sofa nearby, he could hear Dave crying, but he himself was unable to even do that. He was so stunned and traumatised by the horror that had taken place upstairs, that all he could do was lie still and stare into space. Were there going to be more un-dead people out there? Would it be like in the films? Would they be in vast numbers...numbers so large that they would not be able to fight them off?

Pete thought of Elizabeth, his girlfriend he had been dating since college. What if he never saw her again? He had even been planning on asking her to marry him...why had he not asked her before? Suddenly, however traumatised he was, he needed to pull himself together if he was ever going to see the woman he loved again. Pete remembered his brother, David who did not live far from Elizabeth. Since Elizabeth did not have a phone and David did, he decided he needed to call his brother now, and ask him to check on Elizabeth, take care of her until he could get to her.

Pete got up from the sofa, and Mick, who was still holding Dave, looked up and asked his friend, “You okay Pete, where are you going?”

“I need to go and phone my brother,” Pete replied, not looking at the drummer. “I need him to make sure Elizabeth’s okay.”

“Is that phone working?” Mick asked, but Pete did not listen anymore and headed out to the reception desk to use the phone, he did not care whether or not he was allowed to use it; this was an emergency.

Nobody seemed to be about, in fact, for some reason, the whole place was eerily quiet, but all Pete could think of right now was Elizabeth. So he made his way to the desk and found the phone, picked up the receiver and was just about to dial his brother’s number when, to his horror, he did not hear any sound coming from it. Was the phone completely dead?

“Oh...please God, no,” he said to himself, trying his utmost not to panic. “I need to talk to my brother...I have to find out if he’s okay, and Elizabeth too.”

Pete took deep breaths and hung up, trying his best to be rational, though he was finding it very hard. He calmly checked if the phone was plugged in properly; yes it was. He took a deep breath and lifted up the receiver again, and listened...nothing. Fuck, what was going on? Maybe it was just that phone, he could go and find another phone to call David. Yes, that is what he would do, there was a payphone just down the road; he had seen it and had used it to talk to Elizabeth only yesterday.

“Calm down Pete,” the bass player told himself. “Just keep calm; you won’t help Elizabeth by panicking.”

Pete began to make his way to the front door, and was just about to head out into the street, when Mick came out and asked him, “Pete, where are you going?”

Pete turned and replied, “Oh...er, I tried to use that phone to call my brother, but it’s not working, completely dead...so...well I thought I would go and use the payphone down the road.”

“Don’t go out there on your own, please,” Mick begged him. “It’s just not safe.”

“I need to make sure they’re both okay,” Pete insisted. “I won’t rest until I know they’re safe. It’s alright for you Mick, you’ve got…”

Pete stopped himself, thinking it best not to say any more. Yes, he had known what had been going on between Mick and Dave for quite some time, but he had always thought it best to keep it to himself and behave as if he was none the wiser as Ray was.

“Don’t go out there Pete,” a voice said from somewhere above them.

Pete looked, it was Ray, who was making his way downstairs, along with Sally and Stan. “I mean it, not on your own, I saw them from the bedroom window...it’s...it’s very much a reality.”

“Look I just want to call my brother,” Pete sighed. “I want to be sure he’s okay and I want to ask him to check on Elizabeth.”

“Just wait Pete,” Ray said, quickly making his way down the stairs, followed by the road manager and the hotel receptionist. “We’ll go together, all of us. Elizabeth’s place is on the way to Muswell anyway so we can drop by on the way and check on your brother too. We’ll get ready and go there now yeah? But please don’t go out there on your own!”

Ray put his hands on his troubled friend’s shoulder, and looked at Pete in a pleading way, as if to say, ‘Please listen to me...please.’

Pete reluctantly agreed to do as Ray asked of him, realising that he was not the only one who was worried about someone. Risking his life just to make a phone call would not only be foolish, but selfish too, and he would be no good to his girlfriend, or his brother if something nasty happened to him while he was out there by himself.

“That’s good Pete,” Ray said with a look of relief. “Now I need you and Mick to help me and Stan with something.”

“Er...yeah sure,” Pete said obligingly. “What do you want us to do?”

Ray looked at Stan, who was waiting patiently, then looked back at Pete, “We have to carry the bodies outside into the back of the van...we’re not leaving our managers to rot here.”

“I’ve been out in London this morning,” Stan said, grimly. “It’s...it’s completely taken over with...those things that used to be people, and...even the police can’t seem to control it, that’s how bad it’s got since we’ve been away; nobody knows how to stop it. People have been bitten, people have died and...just become...well...un-dead. I actually managed to hear a piece of news on the radio, and they seem to think the whole world’s affected with it now, and so the only thing we can do now is...fight to survive because...the world’s completely going to shit.”

Chapter Text

The bodies of Robert and Grenville were placed in the back of the van with the band’s guitars, drums and amplifiers, but they still had to find somewhere to bury their managers and quickly, especially as it was summer. Fortunately, Stan had heard that people were now burying their dead anywhere they liked before evacuating...at their own risk of course. It was also lucky that the road manager knew his way around London quite well, and they made a plan to stop in Hampstead Heath so that they could lay them both to rest there. Hampstead Heath was such a lovely place and they both deserved a decent burial, even if they could not get a proper funeral because of everything being in chaos.

It was also lucky that Pete’s girlfriend Elizabeth lived in the same area; they could rescue both her and Pete’s younger brother David who lived a few doors away from Elizabeth’s flat.

“You need to be careful,” Sally warned them as they all made ready to leave. “I’m serious because it’s worse than you think; you could be here today and gone tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry,” Ray said, in what Sally thought sounded like a hint of humour. “It’s been that way for us since we first found success with our band...now of course, there’s a different reason altogether.”

As Ray got ready to climb into the front of the van with Pete (Stan was driving, but he was getting ready to open the gate so that he could drive out, and Dave and Mick were sitting in the back), Sally stopped him for a second, “Please look after yourself Ray,” she implored, looking into his eyes. “I especially ask it of you; I can’t bear to think of anything happening to you.”

“I hope you’ll be okay here,” Ray said to Sally. “You seem pretty confident but sometimes...I just feel like I want to look after you...I don’t know why but I just…” Ray found himself unable to say the rest; he was suddenly feeling sad, and he realised it was because he was leaving this girl behind...he did not even know her but...was he developing feelings for Sally?

“My Dad said...he said it was a bad idea me coming into work today and it was selfish of me,” Sally confessed. “But I just had to come...something was telling me that...apart from not wanting to be cooped up in an overcrowded house...oh I just had to see you Ray...I mean...I felt like I wanted to help you.”

“You’ve been more a help to me than anyone so far,” Ray whispered, trying not to cry.

“Come on Ray, let’s open the gate,” Stan called. “We need to get going now, we’ve no time to lose.”

“I’ll help you,” Sally offered, making her way over.

Ray climbed into the front next to Pete, who was determined to get going so he could see if his girlfriend was all right, but Ray was torn. On one hand, he felt the same way as Dave, because he loved his father and was worried sick about him, and God knows what had become of their mother. On the other hand however, Sally was the prettiest girl he had seen in a long time, and so normal, down to Earth and sweet, not to mention brave. She was not like a lot of the models and rich, glamorous women he had met at some showbiz parties, who could be aloof and shallow. Ray wished he could take her with him. He watched sadly as she helped their road manager open the gates to let out the van, but as they did so, he froze in terror at what came next.

“Oh my...God...there’s more of them!” Pete trembled.

Ray could do nothing but watch as both Stan and Sally stepped back in horror as six...no, seven of these un-dead people made their way out of nowhere, through the open gates.

Ray heard Sally shout, “We can’t deal with all of them...RUN!”

“Ray we should help them!” Pete said, and the bassist started to undo his seat belt, but Ray stopped him. “Don’t be stupid Pete!” He hissed. “We can’t deal with all of them by ourselves...fuck ..no offence but you couldn’t even bring yourself to kill Robert could you?”

Pete said nothing in answer to that, he just looked at Ray, his face white as a sheet...it was true. He had failed to kill their zombified manager, resulting in the death of their other one, so how could he expect to take on half a dozen of the things? The two band mates watched, and it was fortunate that these zombies were fairly slow in their movements, so it gave Sally and their road manager enough time to run to the back of the van.

Ray could hear the back doors being opened, and Stan yelling, “Quick love, get in!”

“What’s going on?” They could hear Dave’s scared voice ask.

“There’s a small group of zombies about to surround our van!” Stan answered in a loud voice, then he called out to the two Kinks in the front seat, “Ray, Pete, I need one of you two to get in the driver’s seat and start driving out...now!”

As Pete was the nearest to the driver’s seat, he obliged...but nearly jumped out of his skin when something banged on the side door next to him, so loud and with such force that he felt his heart had literally stopped for a second, and it was not a pleasant feeling!

“What the f…” Pete began. What he saw on the other side of the door, he had never imagined even in his worst nightmares, even after seeing zombie Robert attack Grenville. He heard it too. The screeching, snarling and grunting of a young woman...or what used to be. She had her hands pressed to the glass and was looking straight at him, her eyes...almost completely white, but with very pale blue in the middle, and they were wide, with dark rings around them. Her face was extremely pale, and she kept banging on the door of the van...as if looking for a way to get in. Pete knew this female zombie would eat him alive, given the chance.

Meanwhile in the back, Dave and Mick had been huddled together next to Mick’s drum kit, which was hiding their managers’ bodies that were wrapped from head to toe in bin liners and brown tape as there had been nothing else to use (Sally had informed Stan and Ray earlier on, that many people had been burying their loved ones wrapped up in sheets, bin liners or something similar).

The two had agreed to be in the back, because they just wanted to to be away from prying eyes for a little while. Dave wanted time to take in what had happened, and when he was feeling that way, Mick was the only person he ever wanted to be around, because there was something comforting about the drummer’s presence that he did not feel with anyone else and never had. They had simply climbed into the back and sat down on the soft pillows that were laid out on the floor for whenever the band found themselves there, usually when driving to the airport. Dave had been lying quietly in Mick’s arms, with his lover stroking his hair. He did not mind having two corpses nearby, because whenever Mick was around, nothing seemed to matter, and besides, the managers were both dead...permanently; what harm could they do?

Yet the numbness Dave felt at the unexpected passing of these two men (with whom he had built a close relationship since the Kinks began), and the anxiety over his father’s safety was not going away any time soon, so he just sat in silence, Mick holding him close while they waited for the others to get a move on. That was when they heard the hotel receptionist Sally shouting, and the panicking sound of their two band mates in the front seat, and both looked at each other and knew that something else was happening.

Dave could feel how equally scared his lover was, because Mick was trembling in fear, yet trying to be brave and calm at the same time. Mick told him to stay calm and be quiet, because at the moment there was nothing they could do.

Suddenly, the back doors of the van swung open and Stan, looking rather petrified jumped in. Clearly the road manager had no real idea of what to do, which was quite understandable. Sally was there too, and he told her to get in, so obviously this was a spur of the moment thing, as they were not expecting to be bringing her with them.

Dave’s heart then began pounding in terror, as he caught sight of two zombies that were trying to make their way in, and Stan and Sally desperately trying to shut the doors, kicking the zombies, trying to push them out. That was when Stan shouted to Ray and Pete in the front for one of them to start driving away and quickly. The road manager successfully managed to boot out the first zombie from the van, (a young female with long dark hair), and was now wrestling with the second, a fairly chubby man with a Beatle haircut, who was much stronger, and had managed to climb right in. As scared as Dave was, he knew he had to be brave, and decided he must help Stan before he was bitten.

Pete had already started driving the van forward, but more zombies were making their way towards them and surrounding the van, so it looked like he was going to have to run them over if they wanted to make it out alive.

Dave meanwhile, had grabbed the nearest guitar he could get hold of, Pete’s bass, and began whacking the chubby zombie over the head, knocking him to the floor, but the un-dead man was still in the van, and they needed to kill him, or at least get him out.

Before the zombie could get back up again, Stan acted quickly and placed his foot on top of it’s chest, “Well done Dave,” he panted, with beads of sweat on his forehead. “Now let’s get this thing out of the van!”

In the front, Ray looked at the growing number of un-dead that were slowly surrounding them, their groaning was getting louder and echoing all around, “Go on Pete!” He yelled in encouragement. “Slam your foot down and run them over!”

Pete did not hesitate, he knew what he had to do. He had already let Grenville down because he lost his nerve and failed to kill Robert in time, he was not going to let any of them down again. He put his foot down hard and the van sped forward, knocking down a fair few of the zombies that had surrounded them, unfortunately that also meant that a few of them crashed into the windscreen, cracking it in the middle but not breaking the glass completely.

The other four in the back, who were still trying to tackle the chubby zombie were knocked to the floor at the speed Pete was driving. They lost an amplifier, and they very nearly lost Stan, but Mick quickly took hold of the roadie’s leg before he could fall out. The zombie, that would have bitten Stan if Dave had not acted quickly with the guitar, was still holding on to the edge, clearly they were not going to get rid of it easily. Dave acted fast by whacking it’s hands with Pete’s bass again, but the snarling, un-dead creature still held on, with it’s body dragging along the road, it was now looking at Dave and bearing it’s teeth aggressively, longing to taste his flesh.

“Dave, keep hitting it over the head!” Mick encouraged him when he had helped Stan to safety.

Dave did as he was told and brought the guitar down several times on the zombie’s head, clearly this cannibalistic, un-dead human was not going anywhere without a fight.

“IS THAT MY GUITAR YOU’RE USING?” Pete shouted from the driver’s seat.

“Sorry Pete, it was the nearest one!” Dave called back as he hit the growling zombie again. This time, it worked and the zombie fell into the road, they watched as the thing got further and further away. The van then turned a corner and it was soon out of sight. They were safe...for now.

Dave, Mick, Stan and Sally collapsed onto the floor, exhausted, yet grateful that they had got away; had it not been for Dave’s quick thinking, there may have been a more tragic outcome.

“You okay back there?” A concerned Ray called out from the front.

“Just keep driving!” Stan answered back, his heart still pounding. “Don’t forget...we’re going to Hampstead Heath...you know how to get there I hope.”

“Yeah I do!” Pete called to reassure them all.

“Hampstead Heath?” Sally said, a smile forming on her lips. “I live near there, isn’t that lucky because I’ve been feeling like I want to go home...in a way I wish I’d stayed there now but…”

“But I’m glad you didn’t,” Stan said, still panting for breath. “I don’t know where we’d be right now if you hadn’t been around.”

Sally just smiled, glad she could have been of help...whereas Ray, on knowing his new love interest was still with them, and had not been left behind after all, felt his heart skipping a beat and he smiled to think he had not lost her yet.

Chapter Text

As they travelled out of Islington, both Ray and Pete could see how obvious it was that all was not right with the world. Pete drove the tour van along street after street, and they both saw the carnage that had unfolded over the weeks the band had been away. Some of the sights they saw were terrifying to behold.

Down one street, they drove past what looked like two people bent down over a dead body and...as they looked closer, they saw that these two people were no longer people, how could they be? They were tearing flesh from that dead person and eating it the way a pride of hyenas eat their pray. These two people were also dead, yet not dead...they were un-dead it was decided, and there was nothing that could be done.

They turned a corner, and the next thing they saw was not quite so gruesome, but equally shocking and not what you would expect to see on a normal day...but this sure as hell was not a normal day. There was a little shop, and the windows were completely shattered. It looked as though the front of it had been blown to pieces, and there were shards of glass all over the pavement. How that had happened and who had done it they would probably never know...but Pete took a quick glance as he drove past; he would not have been surprised if the place had not been completely emptied out by looters. It was not surprising really, because people would need supplies if they were evacuating the city. They too would need to do a bit of ‘looting’ before too long if they were going to survive this apocalypse.

The next few streets were very much the same, with a few shops having been raided and more than likely almost empty if not completely empty. It was worrying really, because what were they going to do for food and drink if, in their panic, people had taken everything?

Because of the panic over their van becoming surrounded by un-dead, and his band mates and road manager nearly getting bitten, Pete had taken a wrong turning and now they were going the long way...yet he and Ray were debating now whether it was a good idea to make their way to the A1 that would get them to their destination in less than half an hour. As they were driving along still talking about this, Stan came up behind them and asked if he could climb in the front with them. Ray obligingly moved over to the end so that Stan could sit in the middle.

“What do you think we should do Stan?” Pete asked. “I don’t know if there’s any point in making our way back to the A1 when we’ve already come all this way, we’d have to turn around, and…”

“No...no don’t go on the A1 for fuck’s sake; we’re going the best way,” Stan insisted. “You haven’t heard have you?”

“Heard what?” Ray asked.

“The A1’s blocked completely with people trying to get away,” Stan informed them. “I picked up a signal on the radio this morning; it’s madness.”

“Oh well, the last thing we want is to be stuck in traffic,” Pete sighed. “The roads are pretty quiet so far, but we have seen some pretty disturbing things, Ray and I.”

“Traffic jams?” Stan scoffed. “Fuck, that’s only part of the problem...people have actually... died while trying to get away, either because they’ve been bitten or...well possibly they were on their last legs anyway...and there’s been reports about people attacking family members in their cars. So don’t worry, this may seem like the long way in normal circumstances, but if we went on the A1, chances are we’d never get out of there alive.”

“What...and you heard all of this...on the radio while driving in the van this morning?” Pete asked.

“Some of it yes, but the signal was very poor,” Stan sighed. “Then it went off altogether and...as I was driving this morning, I saw some pretty horrible things...I don’t even want to talk about it right now ‘cos I felt sick...God I feel nauseous just thinking about what I saw. There were a couple of coppers standing out in the street...with guns of all things, so I asked them what was going on because I’ve missed quite a lot with being away with you guys.”

“What did they say?” Ray asked slowly.

“They said to stay indoors at all times,” Stan replied, “with the doors locked and barricaded as securely as I can and not to attempt to reach loved ones at all... fuck if we did as they told me, we’d still be in that hotel!”

“Did they say anything more?” Ray asked.

“Yeah they did,” Stan said quietly. “They said that if I wasn’t going to stay indoors, that I should be with a group...well that’s lucky because I’ve got you lot. They said to make sure I was well armed, not to use a gun unless I had to because...apparently those...things respond to noise, well I don’t have a gun, so I asked them where I could get one...they didn’t know...they only had the guns they’d been given and they were only to use them in an emergency.”

“Well guns aren’t exactly easy to get hold of,” Ray sighed. “At least not in this country, so we’ll just have to do what Dave did and whack them over the head with our guitars.”

The three of them laughed at this joke...then they remembered it was no laughing matter. Dave had managed to use a guitar to knock one zombie from the back of the van, but what would they do if they were suddenly faced yet again with a large number of those things? They certainly needed a plan and fast.

It became apparent that these two police officers Stan had happened to bump into were not able to be very helpful, apart from the useful information they had given him. Two policemen could not stop a herd of zombies by themselves, and they too were also planning to flee the city with their families. They had also told Stan that destroying a zombie’s brain was the only way to kill it, and that this zombie outbreak was now a worldwide pandemic that had begun in China...so it was believed, and had spread rapidly and was now clearly in the UK.

As they continued to drive along, Stan pointed up at the sky, “Have you noticed those clouds?”

Pete did not look, as he was feeling too depressed and wanted to just concentrate on driving, but Ray looked and saw that the sky was covered with what looked like green clouds here and there, “Why does the sky look like that?” He asked. “This is the first time I’ve noticed it!”

“I kind of noticed them while we were in Germany,” Stan shrugged. “But at the time I didn’t think anything of it...I don’t know why really...there was only a very slight green colour to start with so I thought...oh I dunno what i thought it was, I thought maybe I needed glasses, or...I don’t know, but things did start getting weird as we were travelling back to London.”

“But what’s causing it?” Ray asked.

Stan sighed and shook his head, “Hard to say really,” he shrugged. “There were reports a few weeks ago about...nuclear chemicals being misused...or something. Whether or not that’s the reason for this outbreak...no-one’s really sure at the moment.”

Dave, Mick and Sally sat in the back, listening to what Stan was telling Ray. Was it really true? Was the world really coming to an end or was it something that would be over soon?

They listened as Stan named the virus as he had heard from the two police officers, it had apparently been named the CDHD virus, “I wrote it down actually so I could remember,” Stan said, taking a piece of paper from his pocket. “Yeah,” he said as he looked at the paper. “CDHD...stands for Consciousness Deficit Hypoactivity Disorder...so the scientists are calling it but...I don’t know why; ‘un-dead’ would do fine for me, or ‘zombie disorder’ don’t know why they have to come up with these fancy names.”

“What does it matter about any name for this epidemic?” Ray sighed sadly. “Whatever people call it, the fact remains we’re going to be losing a lot of people...we already have, we’ve lost two people we love so far...how many more?”

“Many people have lost loved ones,” Stan reminded him. “Many many people have been lost to this, and by the looks of things, it’s not going to stop, at least not any time soon.”

“The world’s well and truly falling apart!” Pete muttered in a dreamlike manner as he stared out into the road. “What the hell will become of us now?”

As the group continued their journey, what they saw as their van went along did not get any better. As they approached Hampstead Heath, they caught sight of dismembered bodies lying by the side of the road, entrails spread out along the pavement, police officers talking to other people in their cars who were most likely trying to get their families to safety, ushering and guiding them along and trying to help them as best they could. There was even an ambulance parked a little further on and a couple of paramedics tending to what looked like a mother and her young daughter; Ray wondered if they were all alone, or did they have other family around somewhere.

The three men sitting in the front of the van looked at one another and agreed that Mick, Dave and Sally sitting in the back were the lucky ones because they were unable to see these horrific sights.

“Stan, do you think you could take over driving now?” Pete asked in a weak voice. “I’m not feeling too good.”

“We’re about to drive into Hampstead Heath Pete, we’re nearly there,” Stan said, placing his hand on the bassist’s knee in encouragement. “There’s no point in us swapping over now matey.”

“No seriously!” Pete said as he pulled up behind another car. “I feel sick...I think…”

Pete quickly opened the window next to him to get some fresh, air; he really was feeling sick and traumatised by the horrific sights he had seen as he was driving along, and now seeing more body parts and blood everywhere really had done it this time. Just thinking about the two zombies eating that dead corpse earlier, was making the nausea come in waves and now he knew he could not stand it any longer.

Pete leaned his head out of the window and took a few gulps of fresh air, “Pete, you okay?” Ray asked him. Pete could not answer, because he retched out of the window. Luckily, he had not eaten that morning, so very little came out of his mouth, just some water he had drank earlier, and what looked like yellowy-green bile.

In all the horrible and unexpected things that had taken place that morning, none of the Kinks had eaten breakfast, and perhaps it was a blessing they had not, because there was every chance any food would have made a reappearance at some point.

“You okay sir?” A man’s voice said from outside. Pete looked up, and saw a police officer approach the van.

The bassist gave him a weak smile and shook his head, “Er...no...no I’m not,” he answered. “I’ve...seen too much.”

“Where are you heading?” The policeman asked.

“We’re going into the Heath,” Stan called out, rightly assuming Pete was not well enough to talk to the policeman properly. Pete was relieved and leaned his head back into the seat.

“We have two people to bury.” Stan added.

“Do you have any digging equipment?” The officer asked.

“Oh...shit, no we don’t,” Stan sighed. “Do you know where…”

“No problem sir,” The officer said. “We have some you can borrow, but because a lot of people are coming in, we only have a limited amount and so we prefer people to bring their own spades if they can. Is it just you three?”

“No, we have three more people with us in the back,” Stan informed him. “As well as the two men we have to bury.”

“Okay I just need to ask you,” The officer said, making Stan unsure if he was going to like the question. “Have you done what’s necessary to...”

“If you’re asking if they’re going to become zombies, then there’s no need to worry,” Stan answered quickly. “One of them was bitten last night, he turned this morning and attacked the other one, who died from blood loss, we put a knife through both their heads so there’s no need to do anything except lay them to rest now.”

“Just making sure,” The officer sighed with relief. “So many people still don’t know how to deal with it; it’s a fairly new thing here.”

“I would imagine it’s a fairly new thing everywhere!” Stan said, suddenly becoming impatient, because the heat was getting to him as well. “So are you going to let us in or not?”

“Of course sir,” The officer replied. “There should be a couple of spades at the gate, quite a few people have come here today and are using them, we had about twenty of them but people have taken them and we have to make sure they don’t drive off with them.”

“Is it okay if I get out and walk?” Pete pleaded. “I really can’t face driving anymore.”

“Yeah you get out, I’ll drive,” Stan said kindly, seeing that Pete did not look well at all. “That’s okay isn’t it constable?”

“Yeah it’s safe for now,” The policeman said. “We’re still getting a few un-dead turning up; we keep having to axe them in the head and we already have a pile of bodies we have to burn tonight, but the Heath is safe to walk on for now.”

Pete said nothing to this, and just got out of the van, so that Stan could move into the driver’s seat. The police officer moved on to the next vehicle behind them.

It was a relief for Pete to get outside and stretch his legs, and get a breath of fresh air, though he could not help but wonder how fresh and clean the air actually was. It seemed all right at the moment, but if there was an airborne virus spreading like wildfire across the globe, how could they possibly be breathing in healthy air...and what was with the green mist in the sky? Pete tried to make sense of it, but the whole situation seemed like some weird nightmare that he wished he could awaken from. Pete even began hoping that this was indeed all a dream; he had to make sure, so he pinched himself as he was walking along...ouch, it hurt...no he was not dreaming and this was very much real.

Pete sighed as he entered the gates leading into Hampstead Heath, it was a beautiful park and he and Elizabeth had often come here for a picnic. As soon as they had buried their managers, he was going to find her; there was no way he was leaving her behind without knowing whether or not she was alive.

“Hey Pete,” Stan called out from the van as he drove in. “Pick up those spades there.”

Pete looked around and saw two spades leaning against a wall, he grabbed them before anyone else could. Now the next thing to do was to dig two deep holes to place the bodies in; he imagined Robert and Grenville would want to be buried separately.

Stan parked the van next to two cars and the whole group got out, the road manager looked at the gardening spades Pete had, “Looks like we’re going to be busy,” he said. “Digging a hole is much harder work than you might think, trust me I know; I used to be a grave digger.”

“We’ll take it in turns shall we?” Mick suggested. “Let’s go and find somewhere nice to bury them.”

“I’ll stay and help you,” Sally said kindly. “Then I think I ought to be getting home; my Dad’s going to get a lovely surprise when he sees me because it means he won’t have to pick me up from work.”

“I’ll walk you home if you like,” Ray offered.

“Would you?” Sally asked, smiling sweetly. “I would like that very much.”

The gang looked around, trying to decide on a nice spot to bury the Kinks’ managers; they did not want to take too long, because it was hard to tell how long the police were able to keep the un-dead at bay for long. It had been reported that Central London was swarming with them, so how long would it be before they would make their way over to where they were?

It did not take them long to decide where to bury Robert and Grenville; they found a lovely spot under a tree near a small lake, and they all took turns to dig two graves. It was a lot of hard work, and the hot weather did not help one bit. By the time they had dug the graves deep enough, all of them were drenched in sweat and were gasping for water.

Luckily, there were three people going around handing out water; it turned out these kind people were from a church and they were doing their bit to be helpful during the apocalypse, however long they were able to keep it up. It turned out one of them was a minister, who offered to do a small funeral service for their managers, he also recognised the Kinks immediately.

“I am truly sorry for your loss,” the minister said with genuine sadness. “We have also lost members of our church in the past fortnight...none of us understand it. I know the Lord said he would raise the dead at the end of time...but...I always assumed he had something a little different in mind.”

Stan and the boys were grateful for the kind words offered by the minister, who insisted they called him Richard. As Richard was helping them to carry the bodies to be buried, he asked Ray, “So, what are you planning to do now? Have you anywhere to go?”

“My brother and I need to go to our parents’ house to start with,” Ray answered as he and Richard lugged the body of Grenville to where they had dug their graves. “We’re worried about our dad you see; he called us to say our mum was missing and...it sounded like he was being attacked.”

Richard nodded solemnly, and Ray knew the man did not want to say anything more. Ray knew deep down it was unlikely his father would be alive, but he and Dave were determined to make a trip to Muswell Hill just to be sure. If Frederick Davies had been bitten, he did not stand a chance, Ray knew this. Yet if his father was at home, dying from a zombie bite, he would hate to think of his father dying alone and becoming...one of them. Ray tried to shut out the even worse possibility that his father may have been attacked by more than one of them and eaten alive...it did not bear thinking about.

After they had carried their managers’ bodies from the van and placed them in their graves, things got a little easier, covering them up with earth and marking the graves with crosses was pretty much the easy part, and it seemed to take no time at all. However, they were all so emotional and tired after all that effort, and when Minister Richard got out his book to read the prayers, reality really did hit home. Robert and Grenville were gone, and they would never see them or talk to them again.

Because Pete still felt very much responsible for Grenville’s death, he was the first to break down and cry when the minister read out the first words of the funeral service, “We are gathered here today in God’s presence,” Richard read, “to remember the lives of Robert Wace and Grenville Collins, and to commend their souls into the gracious care of our loving saviour, Jesus Christ. We come together in grief, acknowledging our human loss. May God grant us the grace that in pain, we may find comfort, in sorrow, hope and in death, resurrection.”

The minister then read a few words from the scriptures, then Stan wanted to say a few words, “Words can’t really express how I’m feeling...or how all of us our feeling at such an unexpected loss of two brilliant men, who have always been there...they were both great friends to us all and we have so many treasured memories of them both. It seems so unfair that they should be taken from us in this way...but death is a part of life. We’re never gonna forget you guys, thanks for the laughs we had the past couple of years...we’ve...we’ve had some really good times and I’ll never forget them.”

Each of the Kinks said their own words...but Pete was the one who found it the hardest of all, because he still believed they were all pointing the finger at him for not killing Robert before he could attack Grenville, so the only words he could bring himself to say were, “Robert...I’m so sorry this had to happen to you...and...and Grenville...I really am sorry I let you down.”

Pete could stand it no longer, and apologised and said he wanted to be alone for a few minutes, and he would be waiting for them all in the van. Stan tried to stop him, but Pete said he needed some space to get his head around things. The bassist took off on his own, and the rest thought it would be best to let him have a few moments alone; they knew he was feeling responsible, but in reality, many people were finding the apocalypse hard to take and there would have been many like Pete who, in a moment of panic, had failed to keep their shit together and do what was necessary. Pete was by no means to blame for a lapse in judgement. Nobody could be held responsible for any death. Not in this situation.

Not long after Pete had walked off, they thanked the minister and his two companions, and he wished Ray and Dave the best of luck with rescuing their father and finding their mother, even though both brothers knew there was not much hope. They left the graves full of tears, even Sally was tearful for someone who did not know the two deceased men, though she was also crying because she was not sure how much longer she would be able to hang onto Ray.

Stan asked her how far out she lived; she answered she only lived in the next street, but Stan was not going to let her walk home by herself, nor were any of them willing to allow Ray to walk her home like he said he would, because it was just not safe.

The gang found Pete leaning against the van, smoking a cigarette, looking forlorn and in his own world. He smiled faintly as they approached him, Ray came up to him and pulled his friend into a hug, “Hey matey,” Ray said, concerned. “Why did you feel the need to be all by yourself?”

“Because I feel that if it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t have two bodies to bury,” Pete sighed, red from crying. “I know you all blame me for Robert ripping into Grenville’s neck...I could have stopped it...but I dropped the knife and passed out from all the blood...I don’t deserve to survive this apocalypse; maybe you should leave me.”

“Don’t talk such nonsense,” Stan scolded him. “What kind of a thing is that to say? You know something, I don’t even think I could have run that knife into Robert’s head either...or Grenville’s after he died.”

“It was Sally who ended up doing both of them,” Ray pointed out. “And to be honest, I have to admit, I was relieved at not having to do it...though if we want to survive this, we have to learn.”

“I know,” Pete sniffed, wiping his eyes with his sleeves. “You are all very kind not to hold it against me, but I will always feel responsible for Grenville, he would have been here if…”

“Pete stop it!” Stan said firmly. “It’s been stressful for all of us, there’s nothing we can do now. What’s been happening...no-one was expecting...not even in our worst nightmares could we anticipate such a thing could really happen. Having to...to kill someone, especially someone you love...it’s...it’s not an easy thing for anyone to do...and...and beating yourself up isn’t going to change anything, please, for your own sake, and for the sake of those you love, try to forgive yourself.”

“He’s right Pete,” Sally agreed. “You can’t change anything that’s already happened, no matter how much you want to. Besides, don’t you have someone you love you want to save? You have a girlfriend right?”

“Yeah,” Pete smiled. “I want to save her and my brother, I have to know if they are still alive.”

“Then let’s get going,” Stan said. “We’ve no time to lose.”

Mick and Dave came over and both of them pulled Pete into a hug, and Pete was grateful to have such wonderful friends who understood what he was going through and would always be there for him.

It had been a fairly traumatic morning, and the day was nowhere near over. What had happened would haunt them for the rest of their lives, and sadly, it would not be the last horrific thing they would experience. Ray put his arm around Pete and walked with him to the front seat...but then Pete suddenly said, “Actually, I think I’d rather sit in the back if that’s okay; I don’t want to look out and see anything else horrible at the moment, I need a break from it.”

“Come and sit with us then Pete,” Mick said kindly. “Maybe Sally could sit with Ray in the front.”

“A great idea,” Ray said quickly before anyone could protest. “Hey Sally, how about it?”

Sally did not hesitate and got into the front seat with Ray and Stan, who was now back to driving duty. When everyone was ready to go, they felt unbearably sad at leaving their beloved managers buried in the park, but there was nothing they could do about it. There would no doubt have been many many casualties of this global pandemic and Robert and Grenville were tragically the first two of their own loved ones to fall victim.

The next stop was Pete’s girlfriend Elizabeth’s flat, and Pete could only pray that he was not too late to save her.

Chapter Text

Dead end street

Chapter 7

As Stan and the boys continued their dangerous trek across London with Sally in tow, the sights that could be seen were becoming more horrific and disturbing. The green mist in the sky was showing no signs of clearing up. People were running for their lives, there were police trying to control the area, cars had been abandoned and one car was even on fire. They could only guess how that had happened.

The flat where Pete’s girlfriend Elizabeth lived was only a few more streets away, and Pete hoped and prayed it would not be too late to save her. He sat in the back with Mick and Dave, arms wrapped around his legs, his chin on his knees. He did not notice, nor would he have cared that his two band mates were holding hands; Pete already knew about Mick and Dave’s relationship anyway and he had bigger things to worry about. At the rate things were going, there would soon be no laws anymore and the two could do what they wanted. If there was one reason to be thankful for an apocalypse, that would be it.

So many thoughts went through the bassist’s mind over what he might be greeted by when he got to Elizabeth’s flat. The worse scenario being of course that she had either been bitten, been eaten alive or had become a zombie; all of those things were equally horrible.

Although Pete had always tried to stay positive in every situation, he was finding it increasingly difficult in this one for obvious reasons, because of course he had never dealt with the undead before; no-one had. He did not want to know the reason why Ray, Sally and Stan in the front were making horrified sounds and saying worrying things because of what they were seeing, so he kept his head down and said nothing. Pete envied Mick and Dave because they had each other, and had done even before the world as they knew it had started coming to an end, but every time he went away with the Kinks, he would have to leave his girlfriend behind. He loved her so much and if anything had happened to her, he was not sure if he wanted to live. The pain in his heart was becoming unbearable at the very thought of what he would do if he got to her place and she was not there.

“I think our van’s attracting them you know!” Pete heard Stan say, but the bassist chose not to react because he was expecting doom and gloom anyway. He did not care if there were hundreds of undead following; all he cared about was getting to Elizabeth and saving her...and his brother of course, even if David could not be completely trusted around his girlfriend, he wanted them both to be okay.

Pete noticed they were turning a corner now, and he heard Stan call out to him, “Hey Pete, we’re nearly at your girlfriend’s place, do you want to go in by yourself, or shall we all come with you?”

“He might be better off having at least one person with him,” Sally pointed out. “He could run into one or two of those...things, and if it’s a flat, well...for some reason, flats are worse.”

As the van pulled up, Pete got up to make his way out, when he was stopped by Mick, “Hey Pete, be careful,” the drummer told him. “It’s not safe, let me and Dave come with you.”

“No!” Stan called out. “Dave’s the one most likely to fuck up and get eaten...or at least bitten!”

“Er...excuse me, who saved your life?” Dave asked indignantly. “I got that zombie with Pete’s guitar and stopped you getting bitten.”

“You also fainted in the hotel room when…” Stan started to say, but did not want to bring up the upsetting memory of what had happened to the band’s managers.

“Look just let me go okay?” Pete argued, not wanting them to start quarreling; it was not a good time and they all needed to work together.

“Here, take this knife,” Sally handed him the knife she had used to put down zombified Robert, and to prevent Grenville from turning. “You need some kind of weapon to defend yourself with, and don’t forget, get them in the head; it’s the only way to kill them!”

Pete gratefully took the knife from her, though he hoped he would not need it, “Thank you,” he said in a small voice. Then made his way out of the back of the van.

“Wait, we’re coming,” Mick called out. “Come on Dave, we have to help him.”

Pete sighed; he really did not want any of his closest friends risking their lives for him, but to be realistic, he knew he had messed up in the hotel room by almost fainting, and he still felt responsible for Grenville’s death simply because he could not bring himself to stab Robert in the head. So Mick and Dave stepped out of the van with him...only to be greeted by what must have been a horde of around thirty zombies making their way along the road the way they had come. Stan had been right, the sound of their moving van was attracting the undead, but what could they do about it?

“STAY IN THE VAN!” Pete shouted to Ray. “There’s a whole load of them coming this way; keep the doors shut tight!”

“I’LL RUN THE FUCKERS OVER DON’T WORRY!” Stan was heard shouting from the driver’s seat.

The three watched in horror, as the large group of undead slowly made their way towards them, “Maybe we should go inside!” Dave suggested just as Stan started up the van and began reversing it towards the zombies that were making their way towards them.

“Yeah good idea,” Mick agreed. “Pete, let’s go in and get your girlfriend and let’s get out of here.”

As the three made their way up the steps to the front door of the flats, they heard a loud crashing, a screeching of brakes and a cry of, “GOT YA...YA FUCKERS!” Coming from Stan, who had quickly turned his van around and sped towards them.

“Come on,” Pete said, feeling queasy at seeing the undead corpses their road manager had knocked over. “Let’s hope Stan knows what he’s doing.”

“But do any of us know what we’re doing, I mean...really?” Mick asked doubtfully as the three made their way inside.

“Of course we don’t,” Dave muttered, still looking as pale as he had looked since this whole thing had started. “We just improvise as we go along; it’s all we can do in the hope we’ll survive.”

They made their way up the stairs; Elizabeth’s flat was right at the top. Pete ran up three at a time to get to her, making the other two out of breath trying to catch up with him, but he did not care. As they got to the second floor, Dave asked, “Hey, d’ya think we should try and find ourselves some weapons...you know, to defend ourselves with?”

“Yeah...yeah you’re right,” Mick agreed. “One kitchen knife is no good between all of us, especially if there’s a lot of them trying to tear us to bits.”

Suddenly they heard a loud noise that startled them both, it was coming from the other side of the door of the second floor flat. It sounded like someone...or something was banging on the door and trying to get out. Dave took hold of Mick’s arm; they both knew exactly what it was. They could hear it, clearly the person who had lived in that particular flat had died and come back to life (if you could call it life) as one of those...things. They could hear the zombie inside the flat growling and moaning, making the most horrible sounds imaginable. It sounded very much like it was trying to get out but was unable to work out how.

Mick and Dave both looked at each other, and decided the best thing to do was to keep going after Pete, after all they had no weapons if that zombie did manage to get out. So they both ran as fast as they could up to the top, trying to be as brave as they could, yet this had disturbed them greatly as it had not been a very nice sound to hear. They ran all the way up without stopping, and although they did not have too many stairs to climb, they were out of breath by the time they reached the top. They saw that the door to Elizabeth’s flat was ajar, and that gave them hope that Pete had been successful in finding his girlfriend alive and well, or at least getting into the place.

Dave knocked politely on the door. They waited a few seconds, then they heard a young woman’s voice, sounding quite scared and calling out, “Who is it?”

Before they could answer, the door opened and it was Pete, “Where did you two get to?” he asked, though he was not annoyed, in fact he seemed to have cheered up, and the colour had come back in his face. Before they could answer, he told them to come in.

When they were inside, Pete closed the door and made sure it was locked as a precaution; if the rest of the gang decided to follow, they would just have to knock because he was not going to risk any zombies getting in.

They walked through the kitchen and into the small living room; they had been in this flat before and Elizabeth always kept it nice. It was a relief to see that she looked unharmed but was sitting on the sofa looking scared, Pete sat down with her and took her in his arms.

Pete was doubly happy, because his brother was there with them too; it turned out that David had actually done what Pete had been desperate to ask him to do, and had gone to check on Elizabeth. David Quaife was standing by the mantelpiece smoking a cigarette, almost as if he was completely unfazed by what was going on.

Dave did not quite know why, but he had never liked Pete’s brother; he was good looking, but there was something...smarmy about him, almost as if he thought he was God’s gift to women. Yes, David was the the complete opposite of Pete.

“So glad everyone’s okay,” Mick said, relieved. “But listen guys, you need to know that…”

"THERE’S A ZOMBIE IN THE FLAT DOWNSTAIRS!” Dave suddenly shouted without thinking.

“Shh...Dave,” Mick said, gently touching the youngest Kink’s arm as a way of telling him to calm down. “But...yes...yes...er...what Dave just said.”

“We know,” Elizabeth replied, clinging to her boyfriend’s arm, as if she was desperate not to let him go again. “She’s been stuck in there for two days now. When she was alive, her name was Loretta Woods; she and I were quite friendly, though I didn’t see her that much.”

“Is she...do you think it’s just her in there?” Mick asked. “Or did she have anyone else living there?”

“She lived alone, but she had a boyfriend,” Elizabeth answered. “I don’t think he’s there now though, no idea where he is.”

“So what’s the plan then?” David spoke for the first time since Mick and Dave arrived; for some reason, Dave began to think he looked a little...put out by their turning up.

“Well I don’t know about you,” Dave replied in answer to his question. “But my brother and I are going to our mum and dad’s house in Muswell Hill; we want to see if there’s any hope of rescuing them.”

“And we ought to get going soon,” Mick pointed out. “We can’t keep Stan and the others waiting.”

“Are you coming Pete?” Dave asked.

“Yes, and Elizabeth and David are coming too,” Pete said, getting up and pulling his girlfriend to her feet. “They can’t stay here forever; it’s just not safe.”

“Yeah but Pete,” David almost seemed to want to start an argument. “Where exactly do we plan on going eventually?”

“We’ll probably head North or something,” Pete shrugged. “Though I don’t think we’ve really talked about it much. The first place we’re gonna stop at after here is Ray and Dave’s...or...don’t we have to drop Sally off home first?”

“Who’s Sally?” Elizabeth asked curiously.

“Just a girl we brought with us from the hotel love,” Pete said. “She’s all right actually; I think you’ll like her...Ray certainly does, and she seems to know quite a bit about this...situation.”

“Before we go, perhaps we should take a few things with us,” David suggested, throwing his cigarette butt into the fireplace. “You know, food, and weapons to defend ourselves with.”

“We only have this kitchen knife at the moment,” Pete showed them the knife that was tucked into his belt. “It belongs to Sally. So, what do we have here that we could use for protection?”

“I have a few things in the kitchen cupboard,” Elizabeth said, making her way into the kitchen. “You’ll be quite surprised at what I’ve got.”

“We need to load ourselves with as much as we can,” Pete pointed out. “Things that will help us of course.”

“Sharp things we can use as weapons,” Elizabeth said, opening up the cupboard under the kitchen sink. “Though of course if we can find better things that would be great.”

Elizabeth took out a box from the cupboard and placed it on her kitchen table. The first thing she took out of the box was a pair of garden shears; Elizabeth did not have a garden because of living in a flat, but she explained that these were a load of things her father had left for her before he died.

“I don’t know why,” Elizabeth said thoughtfully, “but he said they’d come in useful one day...it’s strange because...he wasn’t a religious man as such, but he talked about the end of the world and how it may come about sooner than we think...of course I didn’t believe him.”

“Yet, he was right,” David laughed. “So what else have you got? These garden shears may be helpful because they look quite sharp, probably because you’ve never had any reason to use them so they haven’t worn down.”

“Let’s see…” Elizabeth rummaged through her box. “We should all be armed with something, and there’s certainly enough in this box for all of us here.”

“Don’t forget there’s Ray, Stan and Sally out there in the van,” Pete reminded her.

“Yes, there’s enough in this box for everyone but...Pete, are they safe out there?” Elizabeth asked with concern. “How come they haven’t come up with you?”

So they told her about what had happened and how they had left Stan running down over thirty zombies with his van, “I hope he’s not losing it...acting like that,” Pete said looking worried. “But I suppose he wants to survive the same as we do.”

“There’ll be more than just those thirty,” Elizabeth pointed out. “Mark my words, the van could be surrounded.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Mick urged. “What else have you got?”

Elizabeth pulled out a small knife, “This is a trench knife,” she said holding it up. “This was my grandfather’s actually; he fought in the first world war, and he left it to my dad, who then gave it to me. My grandad actually used this on an enemy soldier...a couple of them actually...but anyway, these are perfect for stabbing zombies in the head, because as you know it’s the only way to kill them...so...who wants the trench knife?”

“Me!” David said aggressively, before anyone else could answer, and this annoyed both Dave and Mick.

“Actually I have another trench knife here,” Elizabeth took out a slightly bigger one. “

“Ooh do you want that one Dave?” Mick asked. “Or shall I take it?”

“We’ve both got to be armed,” Dave reminded him. “What do you think, shall I have this one and you have something else?”

“What else have you got?” Mick asked, looking fascinated. “A shame you don’t have more of those trench knives.”

Elizabeth then pulled out a long, thin hammer with a steel head, “This would be very useful,” she said, handing it to Mick to look at. “It’s a medieval war hammer; it was used a lot in the medieval times in battles; that one’s the smallest version.”

“It’s not too heavy either,” Mick smiled, looking satisfied. “Pete, what are you gonna have?”

“Let’s see what else there is,” Elizabeth then pulled out a crowbar and another hammer. “That’s just an ordinary hammer for nails,” she said, placing it on the table beside the crowbar. “It could still be useful though.”

She then pulled out a meat cleaver and a sickle, which Pete seemed interested in because of its curved blade, “That would be a good weapon to have,” Pete said, taking it to look at.

“It’s not really a weapon though,” Elizabeth said, looking doubtful. “Neither is that kitchen knife you’ve got really; what we could do with are a few guns, but we’ll never get hold of any.”

“No I’d say only use a gun when you really have to,” Pete stated. “Guns make a loud noise and the noise can attract them I think.”

“Even so, I want us to be well armed,” Elizabeth sighed. “Oh look, here’s something that may be good for stabbing zombies; an ice pick, it might be better than the sickle.”

“I’ll take both,” Pete said. “I’m sure both of them are better than nothing babe.”

Just then, David came up behind Dave and said, “Let me look at your trench knife.”

“Umm...why?” Dave asked, feeling uncomfortable. “Isn’t yours exactly the same?”

“I think yours is bigger than mine,” David replied, in a domineering, bullying sort of way. “I want yours, you have this one.”

“What does it matter? They’re both the same!” Mick exclaimed. He did not like David’s demeanour, and decided he had to stick up for his boyfriend.

“There’s plenty more things in here David,” Elizabeth pointed out. “Have another one of these things, look, I’ve got a hatchet here, have it, or how about this pick-axe? It might be even better than the trench knife.”

David gave Dave an evil glare, then decided he wanted the pick-axe, because of it’s sharp points that would destroy a zombie brain more easily. Mick took the hatchet before giving Dave a hug; his boyfriend had enough on his plate with worrying about his father, so he did not need a bully getting on to him as well.

“We’ll take everything that’s in this box,” Elizabeth decided. “There’s a frying pan as well, that’ll come in useful.”

“Let’s have a look at what else might be useful,” Pete said, making his way to the kitchen cupboards. “Oh...you’ve got loads of tins of food here Elizabeth; we’ll need those.”

“We’d best take my tin opener then,” Elizabeth said opening her drawer. She took a plastic bag and emptied her cutlery into it too. “It will all come in useful,” she shrugged. “Even though I have no idea where we are staying tonight.”

“Maybe my parents’ place tonight?” Dave suggested, and David sniggered at this, but no-one took any notice of him. “Then tomorrow...well we’ll see what happens.”

“Are your parents willing to put us up?” David asked, a little sarcastically.

This upset Dave, “I would like to think that yes, my mum and dad would do anything for anyone,” he said, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. “But before that, Ray and I want to see if they’re okay, but from what I heard my dad say on the phone, it seems unlikely because he was calling out for help and he was being attacked and…”

“Dave calm down,” Pete said, fearing there was going to be a fight. “And David, try and think before you speak bruv. I’ve been worried sick about you and Elizabeth, but Dave still doesn’t know if his parents are okay, so just try and be a bit more understanding...you were worried about me before I turned up right?”

“Yes if course we were,” Elizabeth said, putting her arms around Pete’s neck and pulling him into a hug. “You’ve no idea how happy I was when I saw you were alive and well, and I’ve missed you so much,” she turned to David and looked at him disappointed. “David, you need to grow up and think of others. Yes, I was more than grateful to you for coming here and making sure I was okay, it was very sweet of you, but why are you acting like this now?”

“I just want us to survive this fucking apocalypse!” David snapped. “If we want to survive, then I don’t think going around London to check on loved ones who are probably dead anyway is the best way to go about surviving it...do you?”

“That’s bloody selfish!” Mick hissed, his arm around a sobbing Dave!

“It’s totally selfish David!” Pete agreed with Mick. “You’re my brother and I love you, understand that, but we all have to work together here. If you’re not willing to think of others then...it pains me to say this but...you’re gonna have to make your own way, I’m sorry. So what’s it to be?”

David looked a little sulky at getting a dressing down from his older brother, he sighed and answered, still sarcastic, “Very well. Muswell, here we come!”

They were still not happy with David however, because Dave was still very upset by his lack of empathy, so Pete made his brother apologise, which he did half-heartedly and sulkily. They all got the feeling that David actually had something on his mind and that for some reason, he was not happy that they had all turned up; it was as if David had made his own plans that involved him and Elizabeth, and Pete and his band mates turning up had ruined that.

Still, there was no time to worry about David’s hidden agenda because, whatever was on his mind, he was not going to have his own way. They gathered everything that was in Elizabeth’s flat that would be useful; their weapons, tins of food, a few plates to eat from, everything that was in Elizabeth’s medicine cabinet that included paracetamols and a first aid box. There was a hell of a lot to carry and they worried that the van would get too full, “Maybe we should try and find a couple of cars so that the van isn’t overloaded,” Pete suggested.

“That would be a good idea because it might be more comfortable than sitting in the back of the van all the time,” Mick agreed. “It’s okay for short journeys, like to the airport, but if we’re heading north and don’t really know where we’re going...well...it might get a bit uncomfortable.”

“Well I haven’t got a car,” David shrugged. “Neither has Elizabeth.”

“We all left our cars at home,” Mick sighed. “And we have to go to Muswell Hill before we do anything else.”

“We’ll work something out,” Elizabeth reassured them. “Positive thinking remember Pete; you’ve always told me to stay positive about everything.”

“Yeah that’s true I did,” Pete sighed. “But that was before I knew the world was coming to an end, so that makes it a bit harder to be positive.”

“A bit harder, but not impossible,” Elizabeth put her arms around his waist and kissed him lovingly, and Dave noticed the pissed off look on Pete’s brother’s face when she did this, and he could not help but think, Maybe he’s jealous, maybe he wants her.

“Do you think we ought to get going now?” David asked, still sounding pissed off. “Hasn’t your band mate got a mum and dad to try and rescue?”

“Yes that’s right, we have,” Mick replied, glaring at David. “Pete, do you think we should ask Stan and the others to give us a hand with all this stuff?”

“Oh fuck that shit!” David snapped before his brother could answer. “We’re not pissing about like that, we can take it all down at once, it might be bit heavy, but we’re blokes, we’re strong enough to carry it all...or perhaps you’re too limp wristed.” David smirked at Mick, who chose not to take any notice.

Pete was not happy with his brother. “David, what the hell is wrong with you?” He sighed. “Stop making snide remarks and let’s get this stuff downstairs and loaded in the van if you think we can handle it ourselves.”

“I wasn’t making snide remarks,” David said, still smirking at Mick and Dave. “Just a bit of banter, and what’s wrong with trying to stay cheerful even during the apocalypse?”

By now, they had all had enough of David’s immaturity, and gathered everything up to take downstairs with them. As they were walking out the door, Elizabeth was about to lock it, then she decided, “You know what, I don’t think I’ll lock this door; someone might need to stay here, I’ll leave the keys in the kitchen.”

“Yeah, I’m guessing people are finding shelter wherever they can,” Pete agreed. “Good thinking sweetheart.”

David shook his head at this, but for a change, said nothing and carried the heavy box down the first flight of stairs with the others following, carrying their share of everything. As they got to the second floor flat, David took no notice of Loretta the zombie, who was still pounding hard on the other side of the door and snarling angrily, he just continued his way down.

However, the others stopped when they heard her moans, and Elizabeth could not help but say, “Do you think we should do something?”

“Like what?” Pete asked, looking puzzled. “She’s dead; there’s nothing of the person she used to be.”

“That’s what I mean,” Elizabeth sighed. “She was my friend...or at least we always said hello when we met; I can’t leave her like that.”

“It’s not worth the risk!” Pete said, sternly. “And how can you be sure she’s the only one in there?”

“I’m...pretty sure she is on her own,” Elizabeth said, looking sad. “It must be an awful existence, just to be craving human flesh and not being able to get it...I feel like...we should put her out of her misery.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Mick said. “If she’s hungry, you don’t know how strong she might be; I saw what Robert did to Grenville, and that still haunts me...probably always will.”

“I agree with Mick and Pete,” Dave said, looking pale. “We shouldn’t risk any of our lives like that, we should only put down zombies if we have to; just think of her as dead.”

Dave and Mick had nothing more to say on the matter, so they left Elizabeth and Pete still debating the issue of whether to end Loretta’s undead situation, as they were walking down the stairs, they could still hear the two arguing, “I don’t care what anyone thinks Pete; I can handle her. I’ll use my sharpest kitchen knife to put an end to her misery.”

“Elizabeth, you’re not thinking straight!” Pete argued. “We can’t risk our lives like this; she may be too quick and strong!”

“I think we’d better take these things to the van and go back to help them,” Mick said to Dave as they made their way through the small corridor; Elizabeth and Pete could still be heard arguing on the matter.

“No way, I’m sorry!” Dave argued. “You and I are staying in the van; we’re not ...I repeat... not going back to face a zombie when we don’t have to!”

“Well at any rate, someone had better go and talk some sense into Elizabeth,” Mick pointed out. “Maybe Sally could talk to her because…”

As they got outside, Mick stopped mid-sentence. What they saw made them drop their bags and stare in horror. Stan had not managed to kill all of the zombies when he ran them over, and now the van was surrounded by five of them, not only that, the windscreen was completely smashed in and one of them had already started to climb inside. Ray, Stan and Sally were all trapped in the back, calling for help, but where was David?

“We’ve gotta help my brother!” Dave cried, he was clearly terrified, but was not going to stand by while Ray was eaten alive, he got his trench knife out ready.

Mick took out his hatchet, “Okay, we need to be brave,” he said, even though he was as scared as Dave.

“I’ll get the one that’s trying to climb in!” Dave said, and pointing to a zombie at the side of the van added, “you get that one there, then we’ll deal with the rest.”

Mick nodded, “You ready?” He asked, trembling.

“As I’ll ever be,” Dave said, smiling in the hope he came across to his lover as brave. “Shame Pete’s brother’s nowhere to be seen, but we can do this, but we must make sure we’re not bitten.”

“One, two, three...let’s go!” Mick shouted, and the two ran towards the van to save their three friends.

Mick ran with his hatchet held out, and smashed it onto the zombie that was lurking at the side of the van. He got it in the back of the neck, which was a start, but that had not killed it. The zombie, which was male, fell backwards for a second, then turned and looked straight at Mick. It snarled and headed towards the drummer, who, as scared stiff as he was, without hesitation, he brought his hatchet onto the zombie’s head. He got it right in the middle of it’s forehead, which broke its skull slightly, but not quite enough to destroy its brain, and it certainly showed no signs of pain.

This zombie needed another whack, so that was just what Mick did. He aimed for the zombie’s neck in the hope he could slice off it’s head; it only slashed its throat...blood was spraying everywhere...all over Mick, but that did not faze the zombie; it only became more aggressive. What Mick was doing was distracting three of the other zombies, who were making their way towards the drummer...slowly, but surely, so that the drummer would have been in serious danger of getting eaten...or at least bitten, had it not been for Ray, Sally and Stan making their way out of the back of the van to help him.

Because Mick’s actions had distracted the other zombies, it had enabled the three in the van to come out and sneak up behind them, each holding a different guitar. Ray had his acoustic which he bashed over the head of the one that would have bitten Mick for sure. Sally hit another over the head...yet again with Pete’s bass. Stan had Dave’s Gibson Flying V that he bashed over the head of the third zombie, which was female, and because Dave’s guitar had those sharp points at the end, Stan was able to stab his zombie straight in the head after he had knocked her to the ground, killing her outright.

While Mick was tackling his zombie, Dave meanwhile had run straight to his target, a female zombie that was making it’s way through the smashed windscreen at the front of the van. The first thing he needed to do was take hold of her legs and pull her right out, which, as this female was a lot lighter, he managed to do quite easily. He pulled her out by the legs and shoved her onto the road, but this zombie was not going to give up without a fight.

As Dave got out his trench knife and was about to stab her, she let out a loud, blood curdling snarl and got straight back up, knocking Dave to the ground. Landing so hard on the curb was painful; it hurt Dave’s back, but the fear of being bitten...or even eaten was so great that he hardly noticed the pain. Another fear Dave had, was that he would die and leave Mick all by himself...either that or he would get bitten and become a zombie himself, and that was one thing he could not bear thinking about. So he was determined to fight this undead corpse, but she was stronger than she looked. She had Dave’s shoulders pinned to the ground, he was fighting as best he could, doing his best to push this zombie off him.

The zombie was staring into his eyes, baring it’s teeth, trying to bite him. Dave was using all his energy, trying to overpower this undead woman, but it seemed impossible. The stench of her rapidly rotting flesh was almost unbearable, and he was scared any minute he would pass out, and then she would tear him to bits. This woman must have been dead for at least two days, and the heat of the summer was speeding up the decaying of her body.

Just as Dave was about to be bitten in the neck, a miracle happened. The zombie was suddenly lifted up by the hair and he could breathe again. His brother Ray had seen that he was about to be bitten and eaten alive, so he had rushed over as quickly as he could to rescue Dave.

Ray whacked the zombie over the head with his guitar and knocked her to the ground, then before she could get up, Ray placed his foot over her chest, “Hold her down Ray!” Dave said, taking out his knife. Ray kept his foot on top of her, but the zombie was still snarling and fighting to get back up and bite the nearest person. Dave then knelt down, took hold of the zombie’s head and brought the knife down, through her left eye, ending her existence. After her body went limp, Dave stood up again and was greeted by Mick, who threw his arms around him. Dave leaned into the hug, relieved that they were both okay.

“Fuck...that was close,” Ray panted.

“You okay?” Mick whispered in Dave’s ear. Dave looked into his eyes and nodded, not wanting to let Mick go ever again.

Sally came up to Ray and he took her in his arms, “Well done,” she told him.

“Thanks for saving me,” Mick said to Ray.

“Thank you, for saving us,” Sally told both Mick and Dave.

“Now the question remains,” Stan said, leaning against the van. “How are we going to get to Muswell Hill now in this smashed up van? That was how the zombies were able to surround us, because it had broken down.”

“You’re joking!” Mick said in disbelief.

No...no I’m not,” Stan sighed. “I don’t think it will go anymore and that’s the truth, so we need to make other arrangements, find another vehicle...or two.”

“Another thing that concerns me,” Dave pointed out. “Where’s Pete’s brother? He came out here before we did.”

“I’m ‘ere it’s okay,” a voice said behind them.

They turned and saw David climbing over the wall nearby.

“Where were you when we were in trouble?” Mick asked, looking and feeling very annoyed, and disliking David more every second.

“Oh...well, I saw the zombies and umm...well I decided to hide,” David chuckled. “I mean, why fight when you don’t need to? Best thing to do when you see those things is…”

“YOU WHAT?! Stan yelled, looking at him in disbelief.

“You’ve got a pickaxe; you could have helped us!” Mick glared at David in disgust.

“Well you can talk,” David replied in a cocky manner. “You refused to help Elizabeth kill that zombie in the flat, so you can’t tell me…”

“THAT’S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND YOU KNOW IT!” Dave yelled, pushing David roughly; David reacted to this by doing the same to Dave.

“Wait ‘til your brother hears about this!” Ray growled, coming between the two of them. “Hey where is Pete anyway?”

Mick and Dave suddenly remembered they had left Pete on the second floor where Elizabeth had wanted to put an end to the zombified state of her friend Loretta. So they told their friends about this incident.

“SERIOUSLY?!” Stan yelled in exasperation. The road manager was already pissed off about the van breaking down, now he wished they had never stopped in the first place. If Elizabeth wanted to risk her life slaying every zombie she came across just because she felt sorry for it, then surely she was too much of a liability.

Still, Pete had not yet come out, and there was no way that Ray would leave without his best friend, so as frustrating as it was for all of them, they had no choice but go back in and help.

Chapter Text

“Don’t worry, it will be fine,” Elizabeth promised, clutching her axe. “Once I break down the door, she’ll come out and see you, then you knock her to the ground with that sledgehammer, then I put her down with this axe.”

“Let’s hope you’re right,” Pete said, taking a deep breath and nervously clutching the hammer in preparation.

“We can do this,” Elizabeth told him. “And besides, we need to practise; you don’t know what we may have to face.”

“I suppose so yes,” Pete sighed. “But come on, let’s get on with it.”

Elizabeth lifted her axe, and bashed it against the door; many times she smashed into it before she finally got the door to open. She kicked the door three times before it opened...they waited...they could hear snarling, grunting and moaning coming from inside. The zombified resident of the flat must have wandered around a little, but they could hear her...she had heard the banging and was now making her way out.

“Move away from the door,” Pete hissed; Elizabeth could tell he was terrified for her, so she moved back a few paces, and they waited as Loretta made her appearance.

Pete’s heart was pounding fast, but he was determined that nothing would happen to either of them. He watched as Loretta slowly turned towards them, making low growls, her head downwards. She had dark, straggly hair that fell over her face, which, when Pete looked at her closely, his heart pounding and unable to stop himself trembling, he saw that her face was gashed down one side; maybe when she had died, she had fallen and hit her head.

Pete wondered for a second how exactly this woman had met her demise, but there was no time to think about that now, because he was bracing himself, ready with his sledgehammer, determined he would not mess up this time. Pete became alarmed as Elizabeth’s undead neighbour looked at his girlfriend, snarled loudly with wide...almost pupil-less eyes, and he knew he had to act fast, “Hey...hey over here!” He called out to zombie Loretta.

This immediately had the desired effect; it took Loretta’s attention away from Elizabeth. The zombie looked at Pete, then slowly made her way towards the bassist, who raised the sledgehammer ready to strike her down. As the zombie was making her way towards him, Pete quickly observed that she had traces of blood on her teeth; he wondered if that meant she had eaten recently, but he did not really want to know. As the undead woman reached out her hands to grab him, Pete immediately swung the sledgehammer into her. It was a fairly heavy piece of equipment, and although Pete had been aiming for her head, he was not used to using a sledgehammer, and it hit Loretta on the shoulder. Still, he could not complain because it knocked her backwards, yet she did not cry out in pain as an ordinary, living person would have done, so it was fairly obvious that zombies could not feel any pain, which Pete was glad about.

“Hit her again Pete; get her on the ground, then I’ll slay her!” Elizabeth encouraged him.

It did seem pointless that Elizabeth had an axe that could quickly have destroyed a zombie brain, and yet she was expecting Pete to whack it to the floor with a sledgehammer so she could then finish the job, but she had planned this. She wanted her boyfriend to practice killing them, and to be prepared for when they may be be faced with more of the undead.

Loretta had been a nice person when she was alive, and so Elizabeth was sure her neighbour would have been cool with them practising on her body. They had once had a conversation that had led to Loretta telling her that when she died, she would not mind donating her body for medical research, so Elizabeth was sure that Loretta would not have minded this. It was the perfect opportunity for Pete to learn after he had lost his shit back at the hotel, the perfect opportunity for them both to increase their chances of surviving the apocalypse, as well as not wanting to leave her friend in that state. Elizabeth imagined that being a zombie, especially one that could not satisfy it’s craving for flesh because it was locked in a flat, was not a very pleasant existence, so she had begged Pete to let her do this.

“Go on Pete, hit her,” Elizabeth urged.

Just as Loretta was about to grab his arm, Pete quickly moved out of the way and swung his sledgehammer again; this time, he did not fail to miss her head, and he hit her just hard enough to knock her to the ground.

Pete hated doing this, he hated it more so because this zombie was...or used to be a woman. Still it was either her or him, and he certainly was not going to risk his girlfriend’s life for the sake of a few principles of ‘not hitting girls’, even though secretly, he could not help but wish Elizabeth had done the whole thing herself.

Yes, zombies were once people, but they could not be considered people now, and in order to avoid getting eaten, Pete knew he would have to kill or be killed, regardless of whether the undead corpse was male or female. As Loretta the zombie fell to the ground, still growling and snarling the same as before, Pete quickly placed his foot over her chest to prevent her from getting up; again, Pete hated himself for it, “Quick sweetheart, kill her, get it over with.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Elizabeth brought her axe down onto her neighbour’s head...and it was all over. There were tears in Pete’s eyes when he saw what a mess the woman’s face looked now, but Elizabeth had been determined not to leave Loretta as a zombie and in a way, he could understand it.

“Thanks for helping me,” she told him when she saw he was crying. “I know you must have found that very hard.”

Just then another voice interrupted them, “I hope you’re satisfied now young lady; I suppose you have your reasons for risking both Pete’s life and your own.”

It was Stan, who, on hearing that Pete’s life could be in danger because of what his girlfriend had wanted to do, had made his way up along with the others to get the bassist out of this predicament, and to give Elizabeth a good talking to.

“It’s okay Stan,” Pete said quietly, because he was feeling quite sick again. “We’re not hurt.”

Ray rushed past Stan to get to Pete, giving Elizabeth a dirty look as he walked past her, “Oh my God Pete, are you okay?” He pulled his friend into a hug. “I was so scared.”

Pete could say nothing while Ray was hugging him; he felt like he was going to retch at any minute, especially as he kept looking at the mess that was lying on the floor, he heard Mick’s voice say, “Oh my g...that’s horrible...Dave let’s go back down and wait outside; I feel sick.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Ray sighed, putting his arm around Pete.

“I’m not leaving her there,” Elizabeth said, determined.

“Well I’m sorry but we’re not taking her out to bury her!” Stan looked sternly at her. “We need to get to Muswell Hill and we’re not being delayed any longer, especially not for someone we don’t know. You can do what you want love, but if you want to come with us, we’re leaving right now.”

“Elizabeth, tell you what,” Pete stopped before Ray could drag him down the stairs. “If you really don’t want to leave her there, why don’t you take her back into the flat and lay her down somewhere? Maybe she has family who might come and find her.”

“Well I’d rather just leave her,” Stan remarked, clearly annoyed with Elizabeth and probably annoyed with Pete for letting her get round him. “But Pete’s got a good heart and clearly loves you enough to respect your opinion on the matter, so yeah, it’s either leave her in the flat or nothing and that’s my final answer.”

“I personally agree with Stan on just leaving her body there and concentrate on rescuing my parents,” Ray sighed. “But as it’s Pete who suggested it...well, I don’t fancy touching that...thing at all but...maybe if we hurry up…”

“That ‘thing’ was once a friend of mine,” Elizabeth said, clearly upset at their attitudes. “But yes, maybe you’re right, we’ll lie her body down on her bed or something, then we’ll go.”

“Is she light enough for you to pick up?” Pete asked his girlfriend. “It’s just...I don’t feel too well; my head’s killing me and I feel sick because of what you and I just did.”

Elizabeth bent down and, although she found it a slight struggle, managed to pick up Loretta’s body. As she started carrying the body into the flat, Stan, who was still pissed off with Elizabeth, but did not like to stand by and watch a woman struggle, said, “Here, let me take her in for you.”

Elizabeth smiled gratefully and thanked the roadie, then followed him inside. Ray and Pete waited outside the flat, sitting at the top of the stairs.

As they walked into Loretta’s flat, they were greeted with the worst stench imaginable; the smell was so bad that they could barely breathe. They walked into the living room and soon realised why. Lying by the sofa, were the remains of a body they could only assume that Loretta, in her zombified state, must have eaten...almost to the bone. Of course with it being summer as well, decomposition was much more rapid.

“Holy...fuck,” Stan gasped; he quickly placed Loretta’s body on the sofa and stepped back. He started to retch, managed to keep it down and wheezed, “Come on...let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Elizabeth just recognised the face of this dead person...only just. It was the remains of Loretta’s boyfriend, Tony. So that was where he was, he had been there with Loretta all along, and she had eaten him. Horrified did not come close to how Elizabeth was feeling right now, but she knew there was nothing more she could do, and she needed to get out of this flat immediately. Before she turned to leave however, something happened that made her gasp.

In spite of the mess Tony’s body was in, with his rib cage exposed and the bottom half of his body actually disconnected from his torso, she noticed Tony’s head making sudden movements...surely not! Surely after having most of his body and insides devoured, he could not possibly turn; yet it was happening. Tony’s eyes were actually open wide and he was moving his head from side to side and making snarling, hissing and groaning sounds.

However, Elizabeth could see that because of the damage that had been done by Loretta, Tony seemed unable to move anything but his head...then there was a slight movement of his hands. He was looking at her now, and the more he looked, the more agitated he seemed to be. Perhaps this was because he was frustrated that he had no legs to move and he was longing to sink his teeth into her, to satisfy his craving for her flesh; then she thought, maybe it was because he still had his brain.

She looked at Tony’s messed up, undead corpse and was filled with deep compassion. Elizabeth knew she could not leave him this way, especially as he would be easier to kill than Loretta had been. She took out a knife that was in her belt; it was a guide’s knife she had had since she was a child and it would be enough to slay an immobile zombie.

She heard Pete’s voice calling from the front door, “Elizabeth, come on darlin’, let’s go; you’ll suffocate in here.”

However, she did not answer, she knelt down beside the dismembered zombie; it was now growling and trying it’s best to reach out and bite her, “Elizabeth are you okay?” Pete called in again.

She thought it best to answer, “I’m just coming,” she called out to her boyfriend.

She then took hold of Tony’s head, held it down with one hand and whispered, “I’m so sorry this happened to you, but it’s all over now; you don’t have to suffer.”

She held the knife against his temple, and as hard as she could because it was quite a tough part of the head but the easiest part to stab apart from the eyes, drove it right in...then the hissing, snarling sound was brought to a halt. What a relief, she had put an end to it.

“May God rest their souls,” Elizabeth whispered to herself. Then, trying not to be sick, she stood up and quickly walked away, closing the front door behind her...or she would have done, if it were not for the fact she had destroyed it earlier with her axe, and so now it would not close properly; they would have to leave it as it was. Pete asked her what had kept her in there, but as Pete had suffered enough horror for today (not that there would be no more of it before sunset), she answered, “Never mind love, come on, let’s go.”

Dave gently rubbed Mick’s back while the drummer was retching onto the ground, then Mick leaned against the wall and held his head in his hands, “You feeling okay now Mick?”

The drummer nodded his head, then he pulled his lover close to him, not wanting to let him go. Dave put his arms around Mick’s waist, “God I’m so scared Mick,” he sighed.

“Me too,” Mick replied. “I don’t even want to think what else we may have to face out there, I don’t even...know…” Mick’s voice became shaky and he was unable to say what else he wanted to say. Dave looked at the drummer’s face and could see that he was crying. He could do nothing but take hold of Mick’s head and hold it against his chest, tears also beginning to form in his own eyes became too much to bear.

It was ridiculous for Dave to promise his lover that everything was going to be okay, when he was not sure that it was. Nobody could predict what could happen to any of them, and if something terrible had happened to his parents, Dave knew that would break his heart and he would never get over it...however, the idea of losing Mick was a completely different thing altogether and he knew he could not go on living without his soulmate by his side.

It had been so strange today, and Dave had had to keep pinching himself several times to make sure he was not just having a nightmare. There had been some bad days in his time, and even some weird days...but this? How could this all be real? How could something that usually only happened in Hollywood films actually be happening to him? None of this was making sense. All Dave could do was hold a sobbing Mick while he gathered his thoughts. Yes, he was determined that as long as he drew breath, he would protect Mick with his life, and he knew Mick would do the same for him...but promising? No...he could never promise, not after what had happened to Robert and Grenville and not after what he had seen on the journey since it had happened.

Dave thought back to before the band left for Germany a few weeks ago. Nothing weird seemed to be happening then. Everything had seemed normal, with his mother kissing him and Ray goodbye and climbing into the back of the van to the airport, which was something they always did when going to the airport because being in a van hid them from their fans who would just hold them up demanding autographs when they had a plane to catch.

Then Dave thought back to when they were in Germany, and yes, again things were normal to begin with. He had started to hear some strange stories on the radio about a few strange goings on in a few different countries; there had even been a story about something bizarre happening in London. As always, Dave took no notice of the news, indeed he never had in his life.

Certainly nothing had happened to them while they had been away playing concerts, nor had they witnessed anything happening to anyone else. When he thought back carefully, he did seem to recall the sky looking just a little bit green, but at the time he had thought nothing of it; if anything, he just put it down to being over-tired. Indeed, Dave had not taken notice of a single thing until this morning when his father had phoned to say the world was going to shit, then poor Robert had met his demise...followed by Grenville...then things had begun to go even more downhill after that.

As Dave continued to hold his lover in his arms as he cried, he had the horrible feeling that today was not going to get any better. In fact, he predicted that before he got any sleep tonight...or rather if, more horrible things were going to happen.

He looked at Mick sobbing in his arms; Mick looked at him, his eyes red from crying, “I’m...I’m sorry,” the drummer said wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “I...sh...should be more of a man!”

“What are you talking about?” Dave asked. “You’ve certainly been more of a man than me; I fainted remember...and I still don’t feel invincible; all I’m doing is trying to be brave because I’ve got to. I mean, look at Sally, look at Elizabeth; they’re women, and they seemed to have got their shit together far more than any of us guys...and fucking David...he’s the worst, fucking coward!”

“Hey...no need for that!” A voice said; the voice of course belonging to David, who had just turned up and was looking at them in an intimidating manner. “My my,” he then said sarcastically. “This is looking quite cosy; mind if I join in for a cuddle?”

“What?!” Mick said to him, looking annoyed at being bothered when he was not in the mood, and just wanted to spend a private moment with Dave.

“Hey...hey no need to get so defensive drummer boy,” David chuckled. “Or maybe that name doesn’t suit you...not now I’ve seen what I’ve seen.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dave scowled at the idiot standing in front of them, wanting to punch him already before he had really done anything. “What’s your fucking problem...why can’t you be more like your brother?”

“More like my brother?” David laughed. “Maybe because I’m not my brother, I’m me, and besides, who wants to be like Pete? He’s a pussy!”

“He’s lovely,” Mick responded without thinking, then realised that may not have been the wisest thing to say to someone like David Quaife, who laughed at these words.

“Oh my...fuck Mick; that’s a classic, ‘he’s lovely’.” David was almost crying with laughter. “Fucking hell, wait til I tell my brother his band mate fancies him!”

“No I don’t!” Mick shouted, his face red, half with embarrassment at what he had said and half with anger.

“Oh Mick,” David laughed. “Look at you, blushing bright red; of course you fancy him, aren’t you jealous Dave?”

“Why don’t you just grow the fuck up?” Dave shook his head at David’s immaturity. “What the fuck’s wrong with you?”

“No...no...it’s what the fuck’s wrong with you two!” David suddenly became less jokey, more aggressive. “Is this what we’re gonna have to put up with while we’re all trying to get away from this...this...whatever it is that’s going on?”

“And what is that exactly?” Dave asked, becoming more confident; he somehow felt safer when Mick was around, though he was not sure why. “What exactly is it about us the you’re gonna have to put up with?”

“You know fucking well what!” David retorted. “You two...hugging and kissing the minute everyone's back is turned...how long has it gone on for?”

“It’s none of your business,” Mick growled; something he rarely did.

“So you admit it?” David persisted in his interrogations, and what angered the pair the most was, he said these things as if he was entitled to do so. “You admit that you two are queer?”

“We don’t have to admit anything to you or explain anything to you!” Dave said, trying to be calm. “Anyway, you don’t get to bully me or Mick, not anymore, not after you failed to help us with those zombies!”

The smirk on David’s face faded after Dave had said this, “F...failed to help you?”

“Yeah that’s right!” Mick agreed. “Where were you when we were getting attacked by those dead people? You were hiding, you admitted that yourself. You were hiding like a coward and expected Ray and the others to use the guitars to hit them with, when you could have come and helped out and used that pickaxe!” Mick pointed to the pickaxe David had by his side. He was not expecting what David would do next; Pete’s brother suddenly raised the axe over his head and said, in a threatening way, “I’ll fucking use it on you in a minute...bummer boy…” He smirked again as he said this, and it infuriated both Mick and Dave. “Yeah...that’s a much better name for you than ‘drummer boy’, suits you much better of you ask me.”

“PUT THAT THING DOWN!” A fourth person who had come along suddenly shouted; David turned to see who is was, and it was Sally. She had been sitting on an amplifier that had fallen out of the van waiting for everyone else to turn up; this was only because Ray had asked her to stay where she was, otherwise she would have gone in with the others. Funny thing was, she had only just got rid of David, who had been sexually harassing her until she threatened to get Ray and the rest of the gang on to him; he had then said, “Fuck you; you’re a stupid bitch anyway!”

Then he had walked off in a huff, and she thought that was the end of it until she could hear him shouting and she thought she heard a couple of the Kinks arguing with him. She sighed and decided she ought to go and see if she could help; anything had to be better than sitting in the searing heat. So that was when she had come across that idiot David wielding his pickaxe and threatening Mick and Dave and she had told him to put it down.

David turned to look at her, “Oh...it’s you again...why don’t you mind your own business?”

“Because now isn’t the time for threatening people and bullying them,” Sally said, annoying David with her sudden confidence now that she was not alone with him. “We need to be working together here; haven’t you seen some of the old zombie films? People like you are usually the ones who get eaten, so why don’t you start acting your age? What exactly is your problem?”

“MY PROBLEM?!” David yelled, stamping his foot like a three year old. “I haven’t got a fucking problem; it’s these two here who’ve got the problem. They think just because it’s the apocalypse that they can get away with being...being queer and that they can shove...whatever they’re doing together in people’s faces...these two should be fed to the zombies...what do you want bummer boy?” David stopped what he was saying because Mick had come right up to him with a face like thunder.

Under normal circumstances, Mick was a gentle soul who would never dream of getting angry or squaring up to anyone, but these were not normal circumstances.

Mick was now tired and emotionally drained and was not in the mood to listen to David’s childish bullshit, however laughable it was, “Do yourself a favour and shut the fuck up! ” He hissed right in David’s face.

“Or what bummer boy?” David did not stop smirking. “What are you going to do? Are you…”

David did not get to finish his sentence, because Mick was becoming so irritated and was so tired of hearing his voice and seeing the smirk on his face, that he put his hand into a fist and hit David right in the face, so hard that he knocked him to the ground.

“That’ll teach him,” Sally muttered, then she added, in a louder voice so David could hear it, “serves you right, nasty piece of work!”

However, David did not respond to this, he just lay there on the ground unresponsive, and Mick began to tremble when he realised what he had done, “Oh...oh no,” he said in a scared voice. “I’ve hurt him.”

“Good!” Was all Dave could say. “He deserves it.”

“No...no you don’t understand,” Mick said, bending down and taking hold of David’s head. “I think...I’ve killed him...oh no!”

“Don’t be stupid!” Dave muttered, but then looked worried when Sally knelt beside David too and placed her head against his chest. “Is he...dead?”

Sally looked up at Mick, and shook her head, “No, you’ve just knocked him out, he’ll come to in a few minutes...or a few hours with a bit of luck; it’ll give us all some peace.”

“Oh my God, what’s happened?” Pete suddenly turned up along with Ray, Stan and Elizabeth. He saw his brother lying unconscious and knelt down beside his brother, “David...David wake up...please!”

“I’m so sorry,” Mick sobbed. “Pete don’t be angry with me please...I...I didn’t mean for it to go that far, really I didn’t; I was just so angry.”

Dave came over to Mick and gave him a hug, “Mick...Dave, what happened?” Ray asked.

“David was asking for it,” Dave said, matter of factly. “It’s his own fault for being such a cunt.”

“What do you mean?” Pete asked, looking at Dave angrily. “What possible excuse could Mick have for knocking my brother out...oh God...David...please...please wake up.”

“He’ll be alright Pete, honest,” Sally reassured him. “And I can vouch for Mick on this one, David really was asking for it.”

“I’m disappointed in you Mick,” Pete said angrily, not listening to Sally. “I would have expected you to behave better than this; never had you down for a violent man!”

“He’s not a violent man!” Dave lost his temper with Pete. “Even if Mick had kept his shit together, chances are I might have knocked him out instead.”

“Come on, calm down everyone!” Stan stepped in to be peacemaker. “What happened exactly?”

“DAVID WAS BEING A CUNT, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED!” Dave shouted at Pete, angry that the bassist was refusing to see things from someone else’s point of view. “Pete...you know what a fucking wanker David has been at times; you saw the way he was behaving back in Elizabeth’s flat, whining about his knife being smaller than mine, but that’s nothing compared to the way he was behaving just now, and Mick lost his cool, and I don’t blame him. David was pissing me off too!”

“And me,” Sally sighed. “But I won’t say anything more Pete, because I know he’s your brother and I don’t want to upset you.”

Pete’s eyes filled with tears, “He’s the only family I’ve got,” he sobbed. “I can’t lose him...and Mick, if he dies, I’ll never speak to you again!”

“Oh for goodness sake Pete, he’s not going to die,” Stan sighed. “Come on, let me carry him somewhere he can recover, we’ll put him on one of those pillows in the back of the van, you can sit and watch him while I find transport for us.”

“I’ll carry him,” Pete said, standing up and lifting David into his arms. “He’s my brother and I don’t trust any of you with him.”

Stan shrugged and sighed at this, and Ray was clearly hurt by his best friend’s words, but tried to convince himself that Pete was upset and traumatised by all that had happened that day. As Pete carried his brother to the van, Elizabeth, who had not said anything yet, followed her boyfriend and tried to reason with him.

Ray then turned to Mick, who was still crying, “Why did you punch David?” He asked the drummer; he was not angry, just curious.

“Look it doesn’t matter,” Dave said, his arm round his lover. “David was being a cunt and that’s all you need to know.”

“I might go home now,” Sally said, taking Ray’s arm. “You still wanna walk me there?”

“Yeah I will,” Ray said, smiling at her. “I would stay for dinner at yours if I didn’t have my parents to rescue; it’s better than having your friends saying they don’t trust you.”

“Pete will come round,” Sally said, touching Ray’s face and smiling. “He’s just upset, she then turned to Mick, Dave and Stan. “It was nice to meet you all, and I want to wish you the best of luck...and Mick, don’t cry.”

Mick smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes, “I won’t,” he sniffed and took out a handkerchief and dried the remaining tears from his eyes, accepting a hug from Sally.

“Here Ray,” Dave said. “Borrow my trench knife until you come back...no, actually you’ll be better off taking that pickaxe David had.” Dave picked it up from the ground and handed it to Ray.

“I might have a walk up the road with you two,” Stan said to Ray and Sally. “Want to see if I can find a vehicle or two; there should be plenty of abandoned ones knockin’ about.”

“You sure you can’t fix the van?” Sally asked.

“I suppose I could,” Stan shrugged. “But thing is it could take up time, time we don’t really have.”

“That’s right,” Dave agreed. “I want to get going as soon as possible.”

“Rightio then, and Ray you need to help me,” Stan said. “We might find another van, maybe a better one...or two cars, in which case one of you will be driving as well as me.”

“Okay,” Ray said. “Just taking Sally home, then I’ll be right with you Stan.”

After the way Pete had spoken to Mick, Dave did not feel like talking to him at all, and so the two of them stayed away from the van where Pete and Elizabeth were doing their best to try and revive David. It was lucky that Elizabeth knew a few basic medical techniques, and as a result, David was slowly starting to come to.

“He’ll be okay now I think,” Elizabeth reassured him. “Let’s go and make sure the others are okay.”

“I’m not really bothered about the others right now,” Pete sighed. “I’m just going to stay here with my brother; I’m too tired to talk to anyone right now.”

“You were a bit hard on Mick,” Elizabeth pointed out. “You didn’t even want to hear his side of the story, you just decided to persecute him.”

“I’m not stupid,” Pete said. “I know what a dick my brother can be, but if anything happens to him...I don’t know any other family, I wouldn’t know where to find them and…”

Elizabeth put her hand in his, “And what about the band?” She asked him. “Aren’t they family? I know Mick sees you guys as his only family, and the brotherly bond you have with Ray, well I would say that is precious. Look at Ray and Dave, they’re blood related but they can’t stand the sight of each other at the best of times.”

“I know,” Pete agreed. “But I still love my brother despite his massive faults, and I know he’s a...a cunt...but I love him, understand that.”

“Of course I do,” Elizabeth moved from her side of David to where Pete was sitting. “I hope you know that I love you, and you don’t know how relieved I was to see you had come for me.”

“I love you too baby,” Pete said, kissing her tenderly. “I’m just...scared for you, scared for everyone I care about.”

“We’re all scared my love,” Elizabeth stroked his hair lovingly. “Which is why we need to work together, not against each other. You should apologise to Mick for the way you spoke to him; you upset him...and come on, he wouldn’t have hit David without reason.”

“I suppose I was shocked because Mick doesn’t normally do things like that,” Pete sighed. “He’s never been one to use his fists, it’s more like something Ray or Dave would do.”

Just then, Ray came in to see them, “Alright guys, how’s he doing?”

“He’ll live,” Elizabeth replied.

“I’m just walking Sally home,” Ray told them. “Then me and Stan are gonna try and find some form of transport, then we can get going.”

“Are you equipped enough to be out on the streets with those...things roaming about?” Elizabeth asked with concern. “I know they haven’t completely taken over here yet, but...here, take this,” she handed Ray a meat cleaver. “That should help you if you run into any.”

“Thanks,” Ray smiled, taking the weapon. “I’m borrowing that pickaxe David had, but I’ll give this to Sally; it might be better than a kitchen knife.”

“Look after yourself,” Pete pleaded with his friend. “Has Stan got a weapon?”

“Stan, have you got a weapon?” Ray called out. They waited a few seconds, then Ray turned back to them and said, “No, he hasn’t.”

Elizabeth rummaged in her brown sack, and took out a sharp ice pick, and handed it to Ray, “There you go,” she said, smiling. “Tell Stan to look after it.”

“Oh he will,” Ray promised. “Just a shame he couldn’t look after this bloody van.”

The three of them laughed at this joke of Ray’s; how they could remain cheerful at such a horrible time was a miracle.

Chapter Text

Dead end street

Chapter 9

“Do you have to go back home?” Ray asked Sally as they turned into the street where she lived. “Are you sure you and your family aren’t better off coming along with us?”

“I don’t know to be honest,” Sally admitted, looking at Ray with a sad and worried expression. “I mean, the thought had occurred to me that we couldn’t stay in that house forever, because it’s only small and with my uncle there...well, it’s just over crowded now. The zombies are getting out of hand in central London and making their way here, and with the fires in Hampstead Heath burning the bodies, it’s actually starting to attract them from miles around; personally I think it’s stupid burning them at night, I think it’s better just doing it in the day.”

“You’re telling me; it seems they’re burning them twenty-four-seven.” Ray said as he looked in the direction of Hampstead Heath, and noticed smoke rising up into the sky, where bodies were being burned, bodies of people who were more than likely slain zombies, shot by police or the army and piled up on top of each other, simply because there was no time to track down each of their families as there were far too many of them.

“We need to get out of London that’s for sure,” Ray insisted. “I don’t think you and your family should stay here; come with us.” He said this with a pleading expression, and as Sally looked into his eyes, she knew it was more than just concern for her family. What Ray was asking of her was far more personal. They had only known each other for a day, and already they were both feeling a connection with one another, a connection that was more than just platonic.

“Okay I’ll talk to my family when I…” Sally began, but she was cut off by a sudden gunshot that rang out, making them both jump out of their skin, but that was the least of their worries, because the reason for the gunshot was even more terrifying.

Slowly making their way towards them down the street, were a hoard of what must have been at least sixty zombies...possibly more. The gunshot had come from the open window of one of the houses, and had shot one of them dead. Now the person, who was firing from an upstairs window with a long rifle was shouting to the undead, “DIE YOU FUCKERS!”

BANG! Another zombie was shot down.

“Oh my gosh!” Sally said, horrified. “It’s my dad, he’s shooting at them!”

“Well that’s good isn’t it?” Ray said, confused. “That’s just the kind of gun needed. Just hope he’s got plenty of ammo.”

“You don’t understand,” Sally said, trying not to panic. “The noise could attract other zombies into the street; you should only ever use a gun if you really have to!”

“Shit...hadn’t thought of that!” Ray gasped.

Sally ran as fast as she could up the road to her house, and shouted up to her father, who did not notice her as he was too busy firing shots, and had now managed to put down at least five undead corpses. However, the ones he had missed were making their way to the front door, “DAD WHAT D’YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” She screamed. “STOP; THE SOUND WILL ATTRACT MORE INTO THE STREET!”

Sally’s father stopped shooting like a madman when he saw his daughter, and Ray, who had run after her, took hold of her and tried to get her to go back the way they came, “Now you’re shouting and distracting them Sally,” Ray pointed out. “Quick we need to get away and fast; look, some of them are coming to us!”

“I’m not leaving my family!” Sally insisted, refusing to be dragged away anywhere. “Dad should’ve just let them walk past the house instead of shooting at them.”

A large number of the zombies were surrounding Sally’s front door; the chorus of moans impossible not to notice. The rest were approaching Ray and Sally, who tried to decide what to do; clearly they did not have much time.

As the two were approached by about half of them, Sally’s father shouted to her, “Sally love,” he called out as they got their weapons and tried to fight them off. “Go round the back and get in the back garden; I’ll make sure someone lets you in!”

Luckily, some of the zombies that had been approaching Ray and Sally were distracted by the man’s shouting and started to retreat back to the house. Although Ray managed to put down two of them with his pickaxe and Sally had defended herself against one of them with the meat cleaver Ray had given her earlier, but there were too many of them to fight them all, and so they had no choice but to run.

“Quick Ray, this way,” Sally said, and she led him back the way they had come along the street and down an alleyway between two houses a few doors down from Sally’s home. They ran as fast as they could to the end, and because they were a lot faster than the zombies, who were exceptionally slow, it looked like for now they had lost them...however, it was not over yet. The passage had led them to a long path at the back of the row of terraced houses, and unfortunately, as soon as they were about to head in the direction of Sally’s back garden, they were greeted by two more zombies coming their way; a male and female.

“Shit,” Ray hissed. “What do we do now?”

“There’s only two of them,” Sally said, brandishing both her knife and meat cleaver. “We can handle them!”

“Okay,” Ray nodded, wielding his pickaxe. “I’ll get the man, you get the woman!”

“Okay," Sally agreed as the zombies approached them, arms outstretched. “GO!”

They both leaped bravely into action; Ray made a run for the male zombie, whacking it in the chest with the pickaxe, even though he knew he needed to get it in the head. Swinging a pickaxe was certainly not as easy as it looked, and sometimes Ray wished he had got his hands dirty a little more as a teenager. The weapon seemed to be stuck in the undead man’s ribcage, and Ray tried desperately to pull it out as the zombie snarled and hissed at him, in no pain at all from a sharp blade being buried in it’s chest.

While Ray was struggling with his zombie, Sally raised her meat cleaver, held it up and as her zombie (that was far more aggressive than she first thought) came at her, she brought it down, and chopped off it’s left hand. However that did not faze the undead woman who gave no cry of pain as her severed hand fell to the ground. Sally quickly took hold of the other hand and sliced that one off too, but the zombie kept coming for her as though Sally had done nothing.

Sally then came up with another plan. She ran a few yards back the way they had come so that the zombie followed her, then she turned to face it again; the woman (who looked around forty, had long, wavy dark hair and greying skin) was growling, hissing and baring her teeth. Her eyes, pale blue, seemingly without pupils focusing on Sally, longing to feast on her, but Sally had no intention of becoming this zombie’s dinner. She threw the meat cleaver as hard as she could so that it spun through the air...Sally watched, hoping to goodness that it would get the zombie in the head. The meat cleaver did hit the zombie, but not in the head; in the shoulder blade...shit!

On to plan B Sally thought. Which unfortunately had to be her trusty kitchen knife as she had no other weapon. She looked over to Ray, who thankfully had control of his zombie by holding it to the ground with the pickaxe stuck into it.

Ray looked back at Sally, and became worried when he saw she was struggling to kill her zombie. He pulled at the pickaxe with all his strength; he knew he had to act fast if he wanted to help Sally. He finally managed to wrench the weapon free, tearing out some of the undead man’s flesh in the process, but again, the zombie felt no pain. Just as it tried to get up again, Ray quickly placed his foot on top of its chest, brought down his pickaxe and buried it into the zombie’s head, cracking its skull and causing part of its brain to splurt out onto the path. As gruesome as it was and as much as Ray wanted to vomit at the gruesome sight (he retched a little but nothing came out as he had not eaten all day), it was at least one less zombie to worry about. Now he could focus on helping Sally with her zombie, but luckily, she had just managed to stab the undead female right through the eye, and now the woman’s body was lying on the path.

“Come on, quick let’s go!” Ray called out to her, shouldering his pickaxe.

Sally placed her knife into her pocket, pulled the meat cleaver from the dead woman’s shoulder and took Ray’s hand. However, as they began making their way along the back alley to get to Sally’s back garden, the hoard of zombies that they had met out in the street suddenly made an appearance; they had slowly been following them as they had run round the back.

“Oh...shit!” Ray groaned, but he held up his pickaxe again.

“There’s too many of them,” Sally said, squeezing Ray’s hand tight. “Come on, let’s run!”

Sally pulled Ray in the direction of her back garden gate, closely dodging one of the zombies that made a grab for Ray’s shirt but just missed by an inch. It really was a good thing that zombies were slow and that the two of them ran very fast. As they ran, Ray could not help but quickly glance behind him and instantly regretted it; there seemed to be more of them now than there had been out in the street! Luckily, Sally’s back gate was not too far away, and she quickly opened it and ushered Ray to follow her in.

“Quick before they catch up with us!” She said, frantically.

Ray followed her into the garden, and Sally quickly shut the gate and bolted it, then she leaned on the gate and breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s a good thing nobody locked the gate,” she panted, out of breath from running so fast.

“Actually, I did lock it,” a woman, who had suddenly appeared out of the back door was the one who spoke. “But I unlocked it again when your dad said you were coming round the back.”

“MUM!” Sally ran over to the woman, and the two embraced as though they had not seen each other for years; it had really only been one day.

“Thank goodness you’re okay my love,” Sally’s mother cried. “And now you’re not leaving us ever again young lady, do you understand me?” As Sally’s mother said these words, she looked her daughter straight in the eye, and shook her firmly by the shoulders, as though Sally was a naughty seven year old instead of the young woman that she really was.

“Mum,” Sally said in surprise. “This is the first time I’ve heard you say anything since…”

“Only because I was frightened for you,” her mother said. “I was so scared you’d get caught by one of those things...or get turned like your cousin.”

The older woman pulled her daughter into an embrace again.

“It’s okay Mum,” Sally murmured. “I’m safe now.”

“We ought to go indoors,” Ray pointed out. “There’s a load of them coming down the path out there; I can hear them, can’t you?”

“Who are you?” Sally’s mother asked, curiously looking at Ray after he had spoken. “Come to think of it,” she added, “you look familiar.”

“Mum, this is is Ray Davies,” Sally said proudly. “He looks familiar because he’s from the Kinks; you’ve seen pictures of them on the record covers I showed you.”

Sally’s mother’s eyes widened with awe; she looked almost as though she was going to faint, “Mercy me!” She gasped in disbelief.

Ray smiled at her politely; he was used to this sort of reaction from strangers, “Nice to meet you Mrs...umm…” Ray blushed as he realised he had no idea what Sally’s surname was, so as he did not know what to call this woman, he stupidly mumbled, “...Mrs Sally.” Then he cursed himself under his breath; why did he always do that?

“Pickering,” Sally’s mother corrected him, looking amused. “My name’s Idina Pickering, but call me Idina please.”

“Mum, we need to go inside,” Sally warned. “The zombies are coming, can you hear them? Come on Ray.”

She gestured for Ray to join them inside the house, which he did. Once they got in, Idina closed the door quickly, locked it and bolted it.

“It’s been so crazy all day Sally love,” Idina said anxiously. “We’ve had Army trucks drive past the house, we’ve heard gunshots all day, sometimes machine guns; it’s crazy...it’s crazier than the air raids we had during the war, and that’s saying something I can tell you.”

“I know Mum,” Sally said. “We’ve had to bury two bodies today in Hampstead Heath, and they’re burning bodies there too...Central London’s supposed to be worse.”

“I had a go at your dad this morning when he said he’d taken you to work,” Idina told her daughter. “It’s starting to get too dangerous to go out anywhere...and bodies?”

“Yeah that’s right,” Ray said, feeling heartbroken at the reminder. “Our managers they…” Ray could not say the rest as a lump came to his throat, but Sally’s mother seemed to understand.

“I’m sorry,” she said kindly. “I truly am sorry,” Mrs Pickering walked over to Ray and pulled him into a hug. “I know how you feel; it happened to my sister Penny and nephew Albert.”

“Sally mentioned it before,” Ray said sympathetically. “I really am sorry.”

“Thank you,” Idina whispered. “I know I’ll never get over it, and I don’t feel any better now, even though I might look it.”

“Mum, tell Dad and Uncle Harry to come downstairs,” Sally requested. “We need to make plans because we can’t stay here it’s not safe...for a start, our food will run out before too long, and already people have raided a few shops; we need to get out of London.”

“I know,” Idina whispered again, looking forlorn.

“Our road manager’s out looking for another vehicle,” Ray said. “As soon as we have one, we’re going to see if there’s any hope of rescuing my mum and dad, then we’re heading North...at least...I think that’s the plan.”

Idina nodded her understanding, “Yes, we were actually waiting for Sally to come home,” she said quietly. “Then we were thinking of leaving if we can.”

“Mum, you know it’s safer if we’re in a group,” Sally pointed out. “And we’d be with the Kinks; you’d like that wouldn’t you?”

Idina said nothing, just nodded and called out, “BERT, HARRY, COME DOWN HERE; SALLY’S BACK!”

“All right, all right,” A middle aged man entered the kitchen immediately after she had finished shouting. “Sally, so glad you made it round the back!”

Sally ran towards her dad, and embraced him, “Dad,” she cried. “Don’t ever do that again do you hear me? Yes we made it but we nearly didn’t; there were two more zombies waiting in the back alley, and we had to act quickly so they didn’t eat us. Good thing there were only two, but then those others followed us and they’re making their way towards our back garden...listen you can probably hear them.”

They all listened hard, and sure enough, the moans of the undead could be heard as they got nearer to the back of the house. It was uncertain whether they would wander straight past or try to get in, and the fence at the back was not very strong, so if the zombies sensed there was anyone in their house, they would use all their strength to push it down, break into the back garden and before they knew it, they would be at the kitchen window trying to break the glass.

“So what’s the plan now that you’re here Sally?” Bert asked, looking at Ray with suspicion but unlike his wife, did not bother to ask who he was.

“Get Uncle Harry,” Sally instructed him. “Then we get as many supplies as we can carry and we get out of here; we’re heading to Muswell Hill to begin with.”

Mr Pickering frowned, “Muswell Hill?” He queried. “It’s swarming with zombies there, why on God’s earth are we going there?”

“It’s where my parents live,” Ray replied. “I want to see if they’re okay.”

“And I want to be there for Ray,” Sally told him, looking into the singer’s eyes and smiling affectionately. “I might not have got home today if Ray and his lot hadn’t given me a lift; the least I could do is be there for him and his brother, and there’s strength in numbers Dad, you know that. You fought in the war and so did Uncle Harry; if you survived that, there’s a chance you’ll survive this too especially with the weapons you both have, but we have to stick together.”

“All right,” Bert nodded his understanding. “We can’t stay here; I know a lot of the neighbours have either fled, been eaten alive or been turned. If we don’t get out of here soon it could be us next. Okay, Sally, Idina, pack your bags and I’m going to get Harry and tell him we’re leaving tonight.”

Idina turned to Ray, “You couldn’t be a dear and gather a few things that might be useful from the kitchen cupboards while the rest of us pack?” She asked.

“Of course,” Ray agreed obligingly, and he got to it straight away.

“Thanks love,” Idina said gratefully. “Sometimes it helps to have a spare pair of hands in times like this, and there’s a few empty boxes over there,” she pointed to the corner, where there were some plastic and cardboard boxes piled on top of each other. “Fill them up with as much as you can while we all go and pack.”

“Oh shit!” Sally suddenly said as she looked out of the kitchen window.

“How many times have I told you about that language young lady?” Idina scolded her daughter. “You’re as bad as your father!”

“Sorry Mum but look,” Sally said, fearfully. “We need to hurry; the zombies are here and trying to break down the fence!”

“Go on!” Ray said as he picked up one of the boxes and placed it on the kitchen table. “Go and get your things together while I fill up some boxes.”

The two women hastily left the kitchen, while Ray began to look in all the cupboards to see what would be useful.

In the first cupboard, he found a large box of teabags unopened, two jars of coffee and a bag of sugar. He decided to take them, even though eventually, there would be no milk to have with it, if what he suspected would happen actually happened, that is, if eventually all electrical sources would fail, then there would be nothing to keep milk refrigerated. Also, there would be no more gas to boil a kettle on a stove. There would also be no guarantee they would be staying in any house; they may have to camp out, in which case, he was glad he had learned a few survival skills from his time with the boy scouts when he was younger.

Ray looked in the next cupboard and found three packets of biscuits, one of them being his favourite, Malted Milk; he would definitely be taking those. He then looked in the drawers, and found cutlery, which also would come in useful. Ray remembered that Elizabeth had packed all of hers too, but there was no knowing how large their little group was going to get, after all, his parents would be joining them too...hopefully, and so he figured they could never have too much cutlery and plates. He put all of the things he had found into the box and another tin opener, which again you could never have too many of, Ray thought.

After packing a few cups and plates, he got another box and decided to look for tinned food. It was lucky that Sally’s family had a good supply of things like soup, baked beans, tinned spaghetti, tinned tomatoes and tuna, all of which he took out of the cupboards and placed into the second box. There was also a set of kitchen knives; Ray thought it seemed a shame that these knives, which were very sharp and were meant for chopping up various kinds of food for cooking, would more than likely have to be used to kill if necessary, but needs must, he thought.

Anything he found that would be useful for survival all went into these boxes. So far he had filled up two; he got out a third box and placed that on the table, then looked in another cupboard. There was a first aid box, which they would more than likely need at some point, then he thought, medicines. Perhaps there were some paracetamols knocking around somewhere. He took out the first aid box and had a look at what was behind it...yes, there seemed to be different bottles of medications of all kinds; they would also go in the box.

Suddenly, Ray was startled by a loud crash, it was coming from the back garden! He looked out of the window, his heart racing, and to his horror, the zombies had managed to bring down the fence and had got into the garden. They were making their way to the back door...they needed to leave and fast!

After Stan Whitley had parted ways temporarily with Ray, he began to worry about what the group were going to do about transport to Muswell Hill and then later out of London altogether; the van he had been driving seemed to have well and truly had it, and he was annoyed with himself for getting so carried away earlier with running over the zombies that had showed up. As a result, there were now several bodies lying in the road and it was not a pretty sight.

Stan turned around and looked back at the mess; it was a good thing he had always had a strong stomach, because there was blood, entrails and body parts scattered here and there, and he had even run over the head of one zombie, so that it’s brains had spilled out onto the road. Stan sighed; he knew he had gone over the top, and the windscreen of the van had completely come away and shattered so that there was glass all over the front seats.

It had been a wonder that neither himself, Ray or Sally had been injured when the glass had broken and sprayed all over them, but Stan knew that there would be worse to come when they eventually got to Muswell...if they did, because when he had heard about the phone call Dave had received that morning from his father, he got the horrible feeling that they were not going to be greeted by anything good, and that more bodies were going to have to be laid to rest before they left London.

Still, he decided he must be strong for the sake of the boys; now that Robert and Grenville were no longer with them, he felt he had a duty of care towards the Kinks and anyone else who was to cross their path during this apocalypse. So the road manager turned around, took a deep breath and headed in the opposite direction that Ray had gone with Sally. He was going to get the Davies brothers to Muswell Hill if it killed him; even if their journey ended in heartbreak for both Ray and Dave, at least then they would know they had done all they could to try and save their parents. Stan took out the ice pick that Ray had given him as a weapon; he looked at it and it seemed sharp, so he hoped that this would be sufficient to kill any zombies that came his way, but he knew that if he bumped into a large group of undead, then the only thing he would be able to do would be to run back the way he came as fast as he could.

As Stan walked along, so far the road seemed eerily quiet, even though it was normally a fairly quiet area anyway, there was something altogether different about the atmosphere right now. He was also disturbed to notice the thick smoke that was rising into the air coming from Hampstead Heath; more bodies of slain zombies were being burned, and he shuddered to think that anyone at all, even himself or someone he knew could end up as one of those people who had to be shot dead and burned along with many others, simply because they had to dispose of them quickly, especially with it being a hot summer. One thing however that Stan was grateful for, was that as it was summer, it stayed lighter for longer, so that gave him more time to find a vehicle before dark.

Suddenly, the depressing silence was broken by the sound of a vehicle coming up behind him, he looked around and to his surprise saw an army truck of all things...then Stan thought to himself that with all that was happening, he should not really be that surprised. He decided to go after it.

“HEY...HEY STOP!” He called out, waving his arms as he ran.

The driver of the truck must have seen him anyway, because it pulled up just a few yards ahead of him, and a soldier wearing a combat uniform who could not have been much older than Ray, Pete or Mick, got out from the driver’s seat to come and talk to him.

“Oh thank God,” Stan sighed with relief that maybe someone could possibly help them, he stopped running and panted, out of breath even though he had not run that far.

“Hey what are you doing out here by yourself Sir?” The soldier asked him, he had a look of genuine concern for Stan. “Don’t you know what’s happening around here? What weapons do you have to defend yourself with? The name’s Corporal Adam Jones by the way.”

The soldier held out his hand and Stan shook it, then replied, “I’m Stan Whitley, and in answer to your question, I’ve just got this ice pick,” he showed his ‘weapon’ to the corporal. “And I’m looking for transport; do you think you could help me?”

“We have been helping transport people to safety,” Corporal Jones stated. “But at the moment, our truck is piled up with bodies that need to be burned as soon as possible; we’ve been shooting zombies or just finding dead corpses lying in the road. What’s your plan? If you have any sense you’ll get out of London.”

“I had a van, but it’s broken down,” Stan told him. “I have a group of people with me back there,” he gestured with his thumb the direction in which he had come from. “We need to get to Muswell Hill before we think about evacuating London.”

“We’re always trying to help people where we can,” the soldier told him. “Shelters have been set up around what are considered the safer parts of London, which people are staying in until we are able to evacuate them to safety...although I’m afraid Muswell Hill isn’t one of the safest parts.”

“All the same, I have to take my chances,” Stan told him matter of factly. “Two members of my group are brothers and their parents live there; they want to make sure they’re all right.”

“Hate to say this, but they’ll be lucky,” the corporal said, giving Stan a pointed look. “Zombies have completely taken over the Fortis Green area.”

A feeling of horror came over Stan; that was where Mr and Mrs Davies lived!

“Have you been there then?” Stan asked Corporal Jones, trying not to show his emotions. “What about Denmark Terrace? That’s where their parents live.”

“Some of my colleagues have,” Corporal Jones replied. “They gunned down a load of undead in that very area and burned them in the park nearby...but more of them keep coming and...let’s just say it’s keeping the Army, the Police and the Fire Brigade very busy at the moment, and what’s making it harder for us is, some of our soldiers are deserting us to go and find their families, and we’ve had to shoot a couple of our own because they were bitten.”

“I’m sorry,” Stan was becoming more depressed listening to this man, because from what he was saying, it sounded like there was a high percent chance that Ray and Dave’s parents may not be alive, or even if they were, they may have evacuated, and then where would they look for them?

“All the same if you really have to go,” the corporal told him, then he lowered his voice, “well...we only just this minute retrieved the body of a bus driver from an abandoned bus just up that road...a little further on from where you came. Now...it wouldn’t look good with me if I told you to use that bus to get there, but I have a lot to do before I can get any sleep tonight and it’s the best way I can help you.”

“What?” Stan said in disbelief. “Are you...are you saying I can drive that bus!”

“I’m saying I’ll happily turn a blind eye,” Corporal Jones said, in almost a whisper. “Just so you know,” he added, “when we removed the man’s body from the driver’s seat, I saw the keys still in the ignition.” The soldier then said in a louder voice, “So we actually have a few firearms to spare; if you like, I will give you a loaded gun. You know how to use one?”

Stan was so glad he had learned to shoot when he was younger, not that he expected to find the need to use a gun again...ever. He nodded in answer to the young man’s question, though in truth, he had not seen or held a gun in years and hoped the skill would come back to him. The soldier headed over to the man in the passenger seat and spoke to him, and the other soldier handed the corporal a small pistol, which the corporal then brought over to Stan, who felt nervous actually taking hold of it.

“Okay, so we are giving out just one of these per family or group,” Corporal Jones told him. “It’s fully loaded and please, only use it if you really have to, and if you are faced with having to shoot a zombie, always go for the head; destroying the brain is the only way to kill them, it’s exactly like in all the films.”

“Thank you,” Stan said gratefully. “I’d best be getting back to my group then.”

As Stan turned to leave, Corporal Jones added, “But please, get out of London and head for the country; we don’t actually know when this whole situation is ever going to blow over or if it ever will at all...it’s believed to be the end of civilisation.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Mick gave Dave a gentle kiss on the forehead, then the two of them decided it was time to go and face the music after the drummer had knocked Pete’s brother out.

They had both felt they were not wanted at the moment, so decided that while Ray and Stan were out looking for transport, they would spend a few minutes alone hidden amongst a few trees round the side of the flats out of sight.

“Come on babe,” Mick said, rubbing his nose lovingly against Dave’s. “Let’s go and see if I’m still in the doghouse.”

“If we’re still in the doghouse,” Dave corrected him. “Your problems are also my problems remember.”

Mick smiled and gave his lover a chaste kiss on the lips, “That’s very sweet of you,” Mick chuckled. “I’ll try and remember that next time someone’s mad at you .”

David slowly began to come to; he opened his eyes and for a minute had no idea where he was, then he sat up and realised he was in the back of the van that his brother had travelled in with the Kinks. He was lying on a pillow, with a wet cloth on his forehead. He sat up and looked out to see if anyone was there. He could hear talking outside, and it sounded like Pete and Elizabeth.

“Hey,” he called out in a weak voice. “Why am I here?”

Pete then looked in, “Oh...he’s awake,” the bassist said to his girlfriend.

“How are you feeling David?” Elizabeth asked him, her beautiful looks and caring nature catching David’s attention. The sooner Elizabeth was his, the better.

“Okay,” David muttered as he slowly moved to get out in the fresh air, not that it was particularly fresh because of the stench of death that was all around them. “Where is he?”

“Who?” Pete and Elizabeth both asked him together.

“Mick,” David grumbled as he slowly put his legs outside and rested for a minute. “It was him that knocked me out wasn’t it?”

“Didn’t take long for it to register did it?” Elizabeth said suspiciously. “What...are you going to be out for revenge now?”

“David...just leave it yeah?” Pete pleaded to his brother. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about than a few childish squabbles. How old are you now?”

“He did knock you out didn’t he?” Elizabeth queried. “You didn’t pretend to be knocked out so that I’d play nurse to you?”

“Don’t be stupid you daft bitch. Why would I do that?” David snapped.

“Hey don’t talk to her like that!” Pete defended his girlfriend. “And yeah, come to think of it David, I wouldn’t put it past you; you’ve pulled that stunt several times before so that Elizabeth would take care of you...like that time you paid a twelve year old boy to kick you in the shin so that she’d tend to your injury.”

“Yeah he’s done that several times,” Elizabeth confessed to Pete. “I just didn’t want to bother you with it darling, though I believed it to be genuine this time because I saw Mick punch him, though he probably deserved it.”

“Will you stop picking on me!” David whined, folding his arms like a child in a sulk. “I don’t do that anymore okay? I’m different now...and when I see Mick I’m gonna…”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Pete said, looking pointedly at his brother.

“I was gonna say I’ll apologise to him for provoking him,” David shrugged. “But hey if you’d rather I didn’t that’s fine.”

“Oh yeah you can apologise,” Pete said, determined. “Also David, this apocalypse isn’t a game you know, it’s really a matter of life and death. We really do need to work together not against each other, so please put your personal feelings aside and grow up...for my sake if nothing else.”

“Whatever,” David shrugged, still in a sulk. He really had no intention of apologising to Mick...at least not sincerely. “And that faggot can apologise to me too for knocking me out,” he spat, annoying Pete and Elizabeth further.

“Shut up!” They both shouted.

“Does David need putting down yet?” Dave joked as he came over with Mick to join them. “If so I’ll happily run him through with my trench knife.”

“That isn’t funny Dave,” Pete sighed. “And sorry to disappoint you both, but my brother’s regained consciousness and he’s very much alive...see?”

“Oh what a shame,” Dave laughed when he saw Pete’s brother sitting by the door of the van, with a bruise on his cheek, looking pale and sulky. “I was going to use this trench knife on him.” Dave held up the trench knife and pretended to be stabbing a zombie in the head.

“We shouldn’t be joking about this Dave,” Mick pointed out. “It’s serious and we should all be working together.” The drummer then turned to Pete’s brother. “David, I’m sorry I lost my temper and it won’t happen again, but if you’ve nothing nice to say to me or Dave, then we’d both rather you didn’t talk to us at all.”

“Fine I won’t then,” David sulked, showing no real remorse for upsetting Mick with his comments earlier. “And I’m sorry for what I called you both, even though it’s true.”

“DAVID!” Pete raged. “How many times…”

“All right, all right,” David waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah I promise that from now on I’ll work with all of you, scout’s honour.” David made the three finger salute he had learned at the boy scouts years ago, though he had never taken it as seriously as Pete.

“Good,” Pete said, feeling hopeful that there would be no more arguments. “Now then, how about we all have a walk up the road and see if Ray and Stan are coming back?” He suggested. “I mean, it looks pretty safe at the moment and we’re armed with weapons so…”

“I’m not,” David said. “I had a pickaxe earlier, who’s nicked it?”

“Oh I gave it to Ray,” Dave said, trying not to show how happy it made him to see David’s pissed off face. “I just thought while you were unconscious that he’d need it more than you.”

“Fucking fucker,” David growled, glaring at the guitarist. “That was mine!”

“David don’t start again,” Elizabeth warned. “If you look in that bag in the van, there might be another pickaxe in there...or something even better possibly, but don’t get childish again.”

David grumpily looked around him, found the brown bag Elizabeth had mentioned and looked inside. He took out a small axe and after examining it carefully, decided it would do, though he was still pissed off that his pickaxe had been taken, so he made up his mind to somehow get his own back later.

“Hey guys,” a voice said from behind them. “I’ve got some good news!”

It was Stan making his way towards them, “Come on I need you all to help me; I’ve found transport!”

“What, did you find another van like this one?” Mick asked him.

“Better than that,” Stan beamed. “A bus!”

“A BUS?!” They all said in surprise.

“A double decker bus of all things!” The road manager said excitedly. He then told them about the soldier he had met while looking for a vehicle, and about the gun the young man had given him. “It’s only to be used when we really need to though,” Stan said, showing them the weapon. “There’s only six bullets in it, so we need to use it wisely.”

“Oh put it away Stan please,” Mick shuddered at the sight of an actual gun. He had heard horror stories about guns firing accidentally by themselves and killing people, so he was uncomfortable seeing a loaded one up close; he felt such things only belonged in films and on television...but then so did zombies.

Of course, Mick was aware that Stan knew a thing or two about firearms, and so he trusted their road manager to look after it properly, but he was afraid that if Stan forgot to guard it well, then it might fall into the wrong hands...like David for instance. There was something about him that Mick did not trust, but for the sake of his band mate Pete, he tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, though Mick was finding that increasingly hard with the way David’s eyes glared at the gun, as if he was longing to get hold of it.

“I’m sorry Mick, but don’t worry,” Stan said and he put the gun back into the pocket inside his jacket. “This gun will only be used in desperate need; I won’t be firing it willy nilly.”

“So where’s this bus then?” Pete asked.

“Just up this road,” Stan said, gesturing with his head. “Come on, let’s get all your instruments out of the van and load them onto the upper deck; I’ve managed to drive the bus to the top of this road, then all we have to do is wait for Ray.”

“Hope he’s okay,” Dave said, concerned as he went into the van to retrieve both his and Ray’s guitars, and Pete rescued his bass which, on inspection, he was relieved to find it had not been broken when Dave had used it to knock a zombie into the road earlier.

"We’ll load everything onto the bus and then if he’s not back, we’ll go and look for him,” Stan said as he pulled out some parts of Mick’s drum kit to carry: the Floor tom and the drum stool. “We might have to come back for a few things though, and we need to keep our eyes out for zombies as we’re walking along; don’t forget our lives are more important than our possessions.”

“It’s a shame we don’t have a trolley or something to carry it all on,” Mick said as he heaved his bass drum out. He turned to David and Elizabeth, “Could you two help me carry my drums?” He asked them, even though he did not trust David, if Elizabeth kept an eye on him, Mick would not have to worry.

“Of course,” Elizabeth said kindly, and she went into the van.

David muttered something that sounded very much like, “Yes, your majesty,” but Mick ignored him and proceeded up the road after Mick and Stan, hoping to God they would not have to walk too far.

As luck would have it, Stan had parked the bus just at the end of the road; they could not actually believe that their road manager had been able to get hold of a bus just like that and actually drive it as well.

Mick looked back and felt bad when he saw Elizabeth lugging both his tom toms and the snare drum as well, and all David was carrying was one crash cymbal; he was really beginning to dislike Pete’s brother more every minute. Still, he had Dave, and perhaps David would change his ways as they all got to know each other better.

Mick got to the bus, and Dave was just coming down the stairs from the upper deck, “All our stuff’s going upstairs Mick,” Dave smiled.

Mick noticed his boyfriend seemed to have cheered up considerably, though the drummer had the horrid feeling that would change once they got to Muswell Hill, and so he decided to make the most of Dave’s cheerfulness.

Mick smiled and asked his lover, “Okay can you come with me to get the rest of my stuff babe?”

“Course,” Dave nodded, then his face fell when he saw David coming along ahead of Elizabeth. “You’re not letting him carry your stuff are you?” Dave asked. “I wouldn’t trust David Quaife any further than...”

“Shhh,” Mick warned Dave to stop talking as he spied Pete making his way down the stairs.

“Too late Mick; I already heard him.” the bassist remarked. “Do you want me and Stan to put those things upstairs for you? Then you can concentrate on getting the rest of the stuff we need.”

“Where’s Stan?” Mick asked.

“Upstairs being lazy,” Dave muttered.

“No he’s not,” Pete said, annoyed. “We just thought that as he went to the trouble of finding this bus, he deserved to sit down for a few minutes; there’s a good view from the top deck and he can look out for zombies while the rest of you empty that van.”

“Okay fair enough,” Mick agreed. “Come on Dave, let’s get my other stuff.”

The drummer looked disapprovingly at David, who was still letting Elizabeth struggle with the stuff she was carrying while he had the easy, light stuff. He was half tempted to ask Pete to have a word with his brother and tell him to be more of a gentleman, but then decided against it; he was still not Pete’s favourite person after knocking David out, so decided to say nothing. Mick ran over to relieve Elizabeth of carrying three drum parts. “Elizabeth, here, let me take those love,” Mick said when he got to her.

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth smiled as she struggled breathlessly to carry the equipment. “I’m stronger than I look.”

“You’re out of breath,” Mick told her, then he said in a whisper. “Why isn’t David carrying some of this?”

“No idea,” Elizabeth sighed. “That’s David for you.” She shrugged her shoulders and watched Pete’s brother as he carried Mick’s cymbals onto the bus and handed them to Pete to take to the top deck.

Mick sighed; they were going to be walking back and forth several times before they had everything.

“GUYS!” Ray called up the stairs to Sally and her family. “COME ON WE NEED TO HURRY; THEY’VE GOT INTO THE BACK YARD!”

“WHAT?!” Sally ran to the landing and looked down at Ray. “What do you mean?” She asked him, looking horrified.

“I mean, they managed to knock down the fence and get into the garden,” Ray explained. “Which is why we need to hurry up and get out of here.”

“Did I hear right just then?” Another older man who Ray had not been introduced to yet suddenly appeared behind Sally, clutching a rifle. He looked down the stairs towards Ray and asked him, “Who are you?”

“No time to explain who he is now Uncle Harry,” Sally said, her voice in a panic. “We need to get going before they break the glass on the window and get in somehow. COME ON MUM AND DAD; WE NEED TO GO!”

Ray had filled five boxes in the kitchen with everything he thought would be helpful for their survival, but now he was worried about whether they would manage to transport it all. He also hoped Sally’s family were clear that he was not going anywhere without his band mates and road managers, and that their next destination would not be anywhere but Muswell Hill.

Ray had quickly shut the blind on the kitchen window as soon as he had seen the zombies coming over, but that did not seem to stop the undead from knowing that there were people inside the house. Ray walked into the kitchen to collect the boxes he had filled; the blind was shut but the setting sun was shining through, showing several silhouettes of hands on the glass, desperately trying to find a way to get in. He looked at the back door that was locked and bolted, but there were hands all over the glass on the door too, which worried him more, because it was thin glass that could be broken any second, which was why he was determined to get himself and this family to safety as quickly as possible.

He picked up one of the boxes and proceeded to carry it to the front door. Just then, Sally came in to help him; she saw the situation they were in, “Oh my...life!” She gasped.

“I know,” Ray said. “But come on, it’s best we don’t panic, grab a box for me Sally.”

“We’re lucky that we have a camper van,” Sally said as they carried the boxes to the door. “Though I don’t know if there’ll be room for everyone; so I’m going to ask Dad to drive his car as well for anyone else who’s coming with us.”

“Hopefully, Stan will find another van or something as well,” Ray said as they went back to the kitchen for the other boxes. “So we’ll be all right, we have to be.”

“Hope so,” Sally said. “We’ll load up the camper van and the boot of Dad’s car, then we’ll worry about it all later.”

“I agree,” Ray said as he picked up another box from the kitchen table. “We deal with one problem at a time; it’s the only way to stay calm.”

Twenty minutes later, Sally’s uncle Harry carefully opened the front door, holding his rifle in one hand ready to shoot any zombie that tried to get in. They had closed the kitchen door and barricaded it with a heavy chest of drawers to give them more time if the undead somehow managed to get into the kitchen. They could still hear them banging, snarling and groaning away in the back, but they all tried not to let the fear get to them, as they waited for Harry to tell them the coast was clear. Harry opened the front door and looked out, then they jumped as he fired his rifle; obviously there were more zombies outside, though they hoped there would not be too many.

Ray hated the sound of guns going off, especially up close; they were a lot louder than in the cowboy films he used to go and see at the pictures.

Uncle Harry turned to them all, “It’s okay; there was just one outside and I’ve just put it down,” he said. “But we need to get going before more of the fuckers show up, come on, grab the stuff and let’s load it into the car and camper van!”

Elizabeth and the boys had finally emptied the broken down van of all the band’s equipment and carried them all the way to the bus. Surprisingly, it had only taken Mick and Dave two trips to do so, but they were both still annoyed with David, who they felt could have helped them more. Still, they had to count their blessings, as so far, they had done what had to be done without running into a single zombie. Indeed, they all noticed how eerily quiet Hampstead was, which was why they were keen to get moving just as soon as Ray got back.

Dave was worried to discover his brother had not returned, and he suggested to Stan that they should go and look for him.

“Do you know which road he went down?” Dave anxiously asked the road manager.

“Not entirely sure,” Stan shook his head, looking equally worried. “We both headed in the opposite direction; it could be that the reason for him being late, is that he’s sweet on Sally and he doesn’t want to leave her behind.”

“Then why the hell couldn’t he have just brought her with us?” Pete asked, annoyed that Ray would put himself in danger for a girl he hardly knew and had only met that day.

“Well she mentioned she had a family,” Stan shrugged. “She wanted to go back for them obviously. It could be that they’ll all be coming along with us and Ray’s helping them get their things together, in which case it’s a good thing we have this bus.”

“Well I say a few of us should go and look for him,” Dave stressed. “I think Sally said she doesn’t live that far from here at all so...wait...who’s waving at us in that camper van? Looks like Ray!”

Dave was right; a camper van of all things pulled up just by the road a few yards behind where the bus was parked. Ray and Sally were in the front and a man they did not recognise was driving it. Behind the camper van was a black car with a man and woman in the front seat. They all assumed these people to be members of Sally’s family.

Dave went to greet his older brother as he got out. Ray looked in surprise at the red double decker London bus that his band mates were standing next to.

“Ray, thank God I was so worried about you,” Dave said, hugging his brother, something he never did. “Stan’s managed to find this baby!” Dave pointed to the bus Stan had found.

Ray nodded, looking quite overwhelmed and said, “I noticed; it certainly is hard to miss.”

“And you’ve found yet more transport?” Stan chuckled in disbelief.

“That’s because we have more people coming with us,” Ray pointed out. “As you will have noticed.”

“Well we need to get going now,” Stan pointed out. “We’ve been here long enough. Climb aboard guys.”

“I’m coming on the bus!” Sally said as she got out of the camper van after Ray.

“Me too,” Idina had just got out of the car and had come to meet Ray’s band mates, who she was desperate to talk to and ask how they were coping now that the world was coming to an end. Idina’s husband Bert was sat in the driver’s seat of his car, shaking his head.

“Oh Mum just because it’s the Kinks,” Sally rolled her eyes.

“Look don’t mean to be bossy but whoever’s coming on the bus get on now ‘cos we’re going!” Dave called out impatiently.

Sally and her mother immediately did as Dave asked, but before Ray got onto the bus with the others, he quickly told Harry in the camper van to just follow the bus, then told Bert in the car to do the same. Both men thought it was a bit silly to travel on a stolen bus just for the sake of it, but they said nothing and decided for now, given the circumstances to just to go with the flow, though they would certainly be having a word with the driver of that bus later. Hell they thought the second world war had been crazy enough, but it had nothing on the zombie apocalypse.

The journey to Muswell Hill was straightforward but not uneventful. Every minute they travelled, it became more and more evident that the world as they knew it was indeed coming to an end.

It was noticeable that as it was starting to get dark, the street lamps were not coming on as they normally did, and they knew that would be a problem in the winter if things were going to carry on as they were, that is, if this whole zombie virus thing was not going to go away.

As he was driving, Stan thought back to what Corporal Jones had told him, that many believed that it was the end of civilisation, and that the world would eventually have to be rebuilt. It was hard, but Stan knew he would have to remain positive. After all, perhaps the main problem (apart from the undead) would be finding a way to live without modern things like electricity, a thing that humans were now used to and seemingly could not live without. Then he thought, people had lived for centuries without electricity, hot water and television; maybe humanity would just have to go back to the dark ages if they could stand it.

Perhaps he and the boys...along with the others, could live out in the country and rear cows and chickens and grow crops. Maybe Ray and Sally and Pete and Elizabeth would have children which would help repopulate the Earth...then again...was it practical? Going back to the dark ages may not be a good thing when it came to women giving birth, and with zombies roaming about, was it safe?

Stan decided not to think too much about what they would do in the future and take it one step at a time...after all, there was a chance that this whole crazy nightmare could all blow over and perhaps things could go back to the way they were...right?

One step at a time, Stan thought to himself as he drove the bus. He was right to be sceptical that they could survive this forever.

Once they finally arrived in Muswell Hill, the Davies brothers barely recognised the place. The things they had seen since they had set out from the hotel had been horrific enough, but for Ray and Dave to see the place they had grown up in completely thrown into chaos was heartbreaking. The sun was setting now, and their hometown no longer had the same warm welcoming, and it gave the brothers no pleasure to arrive home as it used to. The place looked not unlike a war zone, and as the bus made it’s way towards Denmark Terrace, it drove past an army tank of all things; they could only imagine what that had been used for all day. Still, that was nothing compared to the carnage that had unfolded as the bus turned a corner into the road where Mr and Mrs Davies resided.

More members of the Army were there, piling their trucks with bodies of people they had shot. They hoped that these bodies had been undead before they had shot them...or was it possible that if someone was bitten, that they too would be shot by the Army?

As the Kinks and the rest of them got off the bus to make their way into Ray and Dave’s childhood home (Bert followed them after parking his car and Harry parked his camper van in a safe enough place), they were horrified to notice that one house across the road from them a few yards down had been completely burnt out...what had happened there? They were not sure they wanted to know.

Dave clung to Ray as the two brothers approached their parents’ house, “Oh God Ray,” he said, trembling and trying not to cry. “I’m scared...so scared of what we’re going to find in there!”

“Me too Dave,” Ray admitted as they approached the front door. “But we’ve come this far; we need to do this.”

It was lucky that Ray had a spare key to their parents’ house, because otherwise they may have had to break down the door to discover the horror that they would soon find inside, but just as he was about to unlock it, someone suddenly roared, “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

The voice was so loud, aggressive and demanding that it made everyone stand still and pay attention. They all turned to see who it was; a man from the Army, approaching them with a large shotgun, “HAS ANYONE BEEN BITTEN?!”

All anyone was able to do in that moment was simply shake their heads, because none of them were quite used to being approached by someone pointing a gun at them. However, the large, scary man did not seem to understand and repeated, sounding even more alarming, “HAS ANYONE BEEN BITTEN?!”

“N...no...no no-one has,” Stan managed to stutter, trying desperately to be the strong one of the group, feeling it was his duty.

“Please,” Ray called out, causing the man to jump and turn his weapon towards him. “I’m here with...with my brother,” he said, gesturing to a trembling Dave, who also looked as though he was trying to be courageous enough not to cry, but it was obvious with the pale look in the young man’s eyes and the way Mick was trying to calm him that the soldier seemed convinced that Dave needed putting down.

“I ASK AGAIN, HAS ANYONE BEEN BITTEN?!” The soldier kept the gun pointed towards Dave as he barked out these words and looked menacingly at each member of the group in turn. Mick however, was not going to put up with his boyfriend being the main target just because of how ill he was looking now; Dave had never coped very well with going all day on an empty stomach, and Mick worried he would faint any moment.

“Don’t you dare shoot Dave!” Mick said angrily, stepping in front of the youngest member of the Kinks and shielding him.

“Don’t you dare shoot my brother or anyone else!” Ray said, angry at being bullied by this man, worried sick about his dad and just as tired and hungry as the rest of them. “We’re here to rescue my dad, nothing else, and Dave and I grew up in this house, so we have every right to be here!”

“Please Sir,” added Stan. “We’ve already had to bury two people today and we’re tired; if you don’t believe us you can check us all over for bite marks but please, stop pointing the gun at us.”

“Are you all together?” The soldier asked; he seemed to have calmed down slightly. “There’s an awful lot of you going into one small house.”

“We’re here as a group,” Ray told him. “We won’t be staying here for more than one night.”

“Our home and our whole street’s been taken over by zombies,” Bert piped up. “We’ve got nowhere else to go at the moment.”

The soldier turned to Ray and asked him, “Is there anyone in that house now?”

“My dad...I hope,” Ray answered, feeling they ought to co-operate with him at least. “We just want to see if he’s okay...we don’t know about anyone else in our family...I...I mean if they’re alive or not.”

“D...Dad...told me this morning…” Dave stuttered, unable to control the trembling, though he did not know why; he had seen many horrible things that day and yet was completely freaked out by a man with a gun, perhaps because he did not feel ready to die.

When Dave was unable to finish the sentence, the soldier, who had now decided to stop barking aggressively and try and be rational, pushed for the youngest of the Kinks to finish what he was trying to say, “What did your dad tell you this morning?”

“Th...that...my...mum’s missing,” Dave managed to say, after an encouraging look from Mick.

Dave had been unable to talk an awful lot about his father’s phone call, because it had been so traumatic for him. The guitarist still heard his father’s terrified voice ringing in his ears, indeed he had been hearing it over and over in his mind all day, but had tried his best to conceal it because he wanted to be strong.

“If she’s missing, she’s either evacuated, been killed or turned,” the soldier said, bluntly.

“Evacuated?” Ray said in a quiet, dangerous voice; he was feeling angry at the mere suggestion. “NO! No...Mum wouldn’t just abandon my Dad like that...she wouldn’t abandon any of us.”

“She’s more than likely dead then,” the soldier pointed out. “Not a nice thing to hear, but if she’s missing and you think she wouldn’t just walk out on you...all right, if your dad’s in that house, then I’ll let you both go in...but if he’s been bitten, I’ll need to know.”

The soldier then turned on his heel and left; clearly he was somehow convinced that no-one among them had been bitten and he had other pressing matters that meant for now, the Army would leave the group alone. Ray glared angrily after the man who had dared to make such assumptions about his mother; he would have lost his temper altogether if Pete had not stopped him and told him he needed to calm down and be there for his dad.

“Come on Ray, you’re here now,” Pete said, hoping his friend would calm down. “Go in the house and see if your dad’s there.”

Ray sighed and turned the key in the lock, his heart pounding with fear and praying that he would find his father alive...at least so they could talk one last time.

Chapter Text

Dead end street

Chapter 11

Ray turned the key in the lock on the front door, his heart racing with fear of what he was about to see. He could hear Dave sobbing behind him, and as much as he wanted to tell his little brother to be a man, he found he could not, because in reality, Ray was feeling exactly the same. He still lived in hope even now that this was just some horrible vivid nightmare that he would wake up from at any minute and everything would be back to normal. They would wake up in the hotel, the sun would be shining and they would all go down to breakfast. Robert and Grenville would still be very much alive and looking after them as always...all this zombie apocalypse malarkey would be complete nonsense and all down to something he ate the night before.

If only, Ray thought as he opened the front door wide, and as soon as he did, he wished he had not. Ray gasped and his heart almost stopped as he saw that the hallway carpet was stained with blood...but whose was it? That was not the worst thing he could see as he stepped in; as well as the blood, his stomach turned as he also saw what looked like a severed finger, but where was the rest of the body? He would have been sick if there had been any food inside him, but none of them had had the chance to eat at all that day; it was a miracle they had been able to carry on for as long as they did. There were also traces of blood on the stairs and smeared on the banister rail...there were also some bloody hand prints on the wall going up the stairs. This was his childhood home; how could this be happening? Ray could not move as he looked around at the mess; what else was he going to see in this house before the day was out?

“Oh...no...oh my God,” he heard his brother’s trembling voice say. “This...this can’t be real...this can’t be real!”

Ray was frozen like a statue and he could not think straight, even when he heard Mick doing his best to comfort Dave, who was retching bile on the step outside the front door, and even when he felt Pete’s hand on his shoulder saying, “Come on Ray, let’s make sure there’s no-one here.”

He also heard voices of other members of their group, one of them saying, “Mum it’s okay, I’ll stay here and help Ray.” This was obviously Sally, the only person at the moment keeping him sane. “He might need me; this is his parents’ house and something’s obviously happened to one of his family. Why don’t you all wait on the bus for a while?”

Although Ray was hearing people speak, and they were speaking to him too, he was unable to react at all as he took in the reality of what he had come home to. In fact, he did not react at all until he heard a weak and scared voice coming from the front room; this shook him out of his trance, because he immediately recognised the voice as that of his father, “Ray...Dave...is...is that you?”

“It’s Dad,” Dave whimpered as he came in. “It’s all right Dad I’m here...you’re gonna be okay!”

Ray followed his brother into the small sitting room at the front of the house; the others, that is Pete, Mick, Elizabeth, David, Sally and Stan waited outside in the hallway, keeping watch just in case there were any undead lurking around in the house. Sally’s family had gone to sit on the bus, her father and uncle armed with their weapons, until they were told what to do next.

The two brothers walked into the room to find their father lying on the sofa, his face extremely pale, looking as though he had been drained of all his blood. He had a blanket over him and was resting his head on a pillow.

“Oh Dad,” Dave sobbed. “You look terrible, we’re so sorry we didn’t get here sooner but we ran into a few problems on the way here, that’s why it’s taken us all day. But we’re here now and we’ll nurse you back to health.”

“No Dave,” Fred whispered to his youngest son. “I’ve been bitten in several different places; it’s too late to save me...your mother...she was the one who...attacked me this morning when I was talking...to you.”

“So Mum’s...she’s a zombie?” Ray said quietly, unable to stop the tears.

“Was,” their father whispered weakly. “The only reason she didn’t….eat...me was because...the army came and...shot her...they...saw I’d...been attacked...my injuries...and were going to...shoot...me too because of it...but someone else...talked them out of it.”

“I’m so glad,” Ray whispered. “At least that meant...we got to see you again.”

“I knew you would...make it...before the day was out,” their father whispered. “Your sister...Rosie...I buried her...in the back garden...p...please...bury me beside her...but d...don’t...let me turn into one of them.”

“Is...that whose blood is on the carpet out there?” Dave said in horror. “Was it...Mum who attacked her?”

“I think...more than one of those things ate her,” Mr Davies whispered as loud as he could. “I...I came home and...I’m glad you weren’t there...to see what kind of mess...your sister was in.”

The brothers did not know what to say to this; already they were numb with grief from knowing they would not see their mother again, and one of their sisters was also dead...they wondered about their other five sisters, were they safe? They lived in different parts of the country and there was no way of knowing if it was possible to save them, in fact really, they had no idea what they were going to do at all after tonight.

Mr Davies was becoming weaker every minute and the boys knew that their father was not long for this world, but the worst part was, he was going to come back unless they did something about it. Their father would come back...but it would no longer be their father, just his shell, taken over by a flesh eating...thing. Ray and Dave sat in silence and waited, Dave holding his father’s hand, and Ray wiping the sweat from Frederick’s brow, as if he hoped that would do any good, but they both knew now there was nothing to be done except be with their dad until the end.

Before he passed, Mr Davies managed to say some last words to his boys, “Listen...to me...Ray...Dave...please...take care of each other. D...do...everything you...can to survive...please...never give up...never stop...fighting. I...love you...both…” Frederick stared into space for a few moments; they thought he was gone, but then he managed to say one last thing, “Annie...I’m coming…” Then his body fell limp.

The pain Dave felt in that moment was so overwhelming, he thought he was going to pass out. He was unable to speak; tears fell from his eyes and his body became wracked with sobs...where was Mick? He needed his Mick...yet he did not feel that even his lover would be able to take this pain away tonight. Their crying must have been heard by the others because the door flung open, but neither of the brothers cared who saw or heard them crying at this point in time; the grief of losing three members of their family was too much to bear already.

Dave felt these strong, yet warm and gentle arms being wrapped around him, and Mick’s familiar fragrance surrounding him. Dave was glad to have the man he loved comforting him, even though he knew it was not possible for his pain to be taken away tonight...perhaps it would never go away, but all the same it felt better to be crying in the arms of the one he loved the most in the whole world than it would have been to cry alone.

“I’m so sorry Ray,” Sally said as she pulled the older of the two brothers into a hug. “I truly am sorry...but when you’re ready…”

“I...I know, I know,” Ray whispered as he tried to control his sobbing, but was failing miserably. “We...can’t let my dad turn into one of them...just...please give me a second.”

Mick held Dave, Sally held Ray. Stan, Pete and Elizabeth looked on, all three of them also moved to tears by this heartbreaking sight.

David had chosen not to come in and was waiting out in the hallway, sitting at the bottom of the stairs...perhaps it was better that way as he did not know how he could possibly help with the situation anyway.

As Sally was holding Ray, she looked at Stan, who nodded to remind her that they could not waste any more time. Sally took out the knife from her belt and after stroking Ray’s hair, she got his attention, he looked at her and she showed him the knife, “He was your father,” she whispered kindly. “Maybe you should be the one to do it.”

Still crying, Ray nodded, wiped away more tears even though they continued to fall, then accepted the knife from Sally.

“Just push it through his temple,” she said quietly. “That’s all you have to do.”

Ray understood there was not much time now, and any minute their father was going to come back from the dead, and he knew he had to prevent that from happening. Summoning all the strength he could, which he felt was not great, Ray pushed Frederick’s head so that it was facing the other way, then he drove the knife into his father’s temple. It was not as difficult as he thought it was going to be, yet it felt so final as he ran the knife right in, as far as it would go, then pulled it back out, covered in blood and parts of his father’s brain. It was not a pleasant thing to see, but Ray knew that at least he had done what their father had asked and ensured he was never coming back. As painful as that seemed, it was far better than the alternative. Now Mr Davies could be laid to rest.

There was so little time for the brothers to even grieve for their father as they knew they needed to bury him as soon as possible. Even though it was dark now, they could not put it off because it was hard to know exactly how long this neighbourhood was going to be zombie free, so they decided to bury the body immediately.

Sally called her family to come and help dig a hole in the back garden with the equipment they had brought from their house. Ray and Dave were far too numb with grief to do any digging, so Stan and Pete, along with Sally’s father and uncle worked together for an hour to dig as deep a grave as was possible. This took them about an hour, during which time, Mick came to help, and also David reluctantly did the last bit of digging on Pete’s insistence.

Burying their father was very traumatic for the Davies brothers, who both felt a sense of despair, as though all the happiness had gone from the world and from their lives. They did however, remain thankful to have such wonderful, supportive companions, in particular, Dave was grateful to have Mick, the love of his life. Ray was liking Sally more and more with every passing minute.

During their little memorial service, they lit candles and placed them beside both Frederick’s and Rosie’s graves. By the end, there was not a dry eye in the Davies family garden, except David who had stayed indoors the whole time and chosen to have no further part in it; he felt there was no need for him to be there because he did not know Mr Davies. In his opinion, they could not complain because he had helped to dig and so had done his bit, although in reality, even though he would never admit this, David had not helped much with digging the grave; he had only climbed in and dug three spadefuls of soil out, then left the rest to Mick.

Later that night after everyone shared a few tins of tomato soup that had to be warmed up using a paraffin stove, Sally and her family agreed that they should sleep downstairs using the sleeping bags they had brought, with at least two people keeping watch all night in case any zombies tried to break in. They did of course lock and barricade the front and back door, but there was still the risk of a horde of them putting pressure on the windows and breaking the glass.

Because Harry and Bert were older and not good sleepers anyway, they agreed to keep the first watch. Harry had slept very little anyway since losing his wife and son, and Bert had for years stayed up extremely late because he never seemed to need a lot of sleep, and he often took a short nap in the day. Stan (who was sleeping in a room that had once been shared by two of Ray and Dave’s sisters) told them both to wake him up about three in the morning so he could take over, and chances were he would already be awake anyway.

Pete and Elizabeth were sharing the attic room at the top (the other four sisters had once slept there) and Ray decided to sleep in his old bed in the room he used to share with Dave, even though he had offered to keep watch initially because he felt he would never sleep that night, but Stan refused to allow this, telling Ray that he needed to rest even if he did not sleep. Dave however, wanted to be in his parents’ room, where he believed his poor mother may have met her demise before becoming undead. He did not know why, but somehow, despite the blood stained carpet and bed sheets, he felt there was something about this room that was comforting, almost as if somehow, his mother was still with him.

He did of course want Mick to share the bed with him, and Mick was of course, more than happy to do this, but the drummer insisted on changing the bed. Luckily, there was plenty of clean bed linen in the cupboard out on the landing and so Mick changed the bed, telling Dave he did not need to help but to just relax because of all he had been through that day. Dave was in no position to do anything anyway, mentally or physically, and so sat by the window in his mother’s favourite chair which he had always found comfortable, just staring into space, feeling numb and like he never wanted to leave this room or this house again.

Mick had always been very efficient with anything to do with housekeeping, including bed making, so it did not take him long to change the bed. Dave often wondered where his boyfriend had learned it all, because Mick had grown up in a pretty toxic and dysfunctional family. Mick had once explained to him that if he wanted to survive, he needed to learn to do things himself, including cleaning and cooking...well if Mick really had taught himself everything he knew, he must have taught himself pretty well. However, Dave could not think of any of those things now, because he was feeling a grief he had never felt before and it hurt more than any physical pain he had ever felt. He could feel it right in his chest and in his throat, like a painful lump that would not go away. Why was this happening? Surely this was all a terrible dream...surely...yet he had been pinching himself all day and every time it had hurt...how could this be?

He felt a gentle hand on his arm, and Mick’s gentle voice saying to him, “Hey Dave, get ready for bed, then come and lie down with me; you need to try and sleep.”

Only Mick would be able to talk any sense into him that night; anyone else he would have told to fuck off and leave him alone, but his beautiful boyfriend always had a way of getting round him, even in his lowest moments, and boy he had had a few in his time, but nothing that came close to this. This was a living nightmare, and he could see no chance of waking up from it, or things getting better. Dave slowly looked up at Mick, gazed into his kind eyes, looking at him now, Dave just wanted to lay in his arms all night, because it was the best thing for him. What else was there to do? This pain was not going to go away, and so he may as well endure his grief in the arms of the one he loved.

Dave stripped down to his underwear, as did Mick, and the two of them cuddled up in the freshly made bed together. It was comforting to know that his mother would have approved of Mick changing the bed...in fact, sometimes, Dave felt that she would have approved of Mick; she had often commented on what a good looking, sweet natured young man he was and she was not wrong. Dave had never met anyone like him, male or female, and he knew that he never would again. Thinking of his mother made the tears well up in his eyes again, even after he thought he had no tears left to shed. He lay with his head on Mick’s chest and let the tears fall; the tears fell onto Mick, who held him as he wept.

Mick stroked his hair and held him tightly, softly speaking comforting words to him and shedding tears himself, for Mick had always felt others’ pain; he had the softest heart and the most beautiful soul. Dave knew in this moment that Mick was the only reason he would carry on living, indeed, Mick was the only person for whom he would fight to the bitter end.

“We’re going to be okay Dave,” Mick whispered in the quiet, candlelit room (there was no electricity now). “We’re going to look after each other and never give up.”

Dave was comforted by these words, but the more he thought of his mother and father, and the siblings who had grown up with him in this house and who he would probably never see again, the more he cried, “Mick...this sadness won’t seem to go away,” he sobbed, feeling that he would never stop crying. “My family are gone, and this house will never again be the happy home it once was, not ever again...and...and I...I think you’re the only one who...you’re the only reason I won’t join my mum and dad...and Rosie.”

“I love you Dave,” Mick whispered, a lump in his throat and knowing right now that he needed to be the strong one, though he felt anything but strong. “Your family are the people who are with us in this house right now, and don’t forget, you still have Ray, your brother. Always fight for the ones you hold dear...I...I know this seems easy for me to say because I never had a loving family...not really, and I think of you, Ray and Pete as my family, and Stan, and I will never stop missing Robert and Grenville for as long as I live, but I can’t even imagine the pain you are going through with having lost your parents and one of your sisters, but I’m still here for you.”

“I don’t see how it will ever stop hurting,” Dave cried, as he held onto Mick tightly, hearing the comforting sound of Mick’s heartbeat, but unable to block out the pain and sadness and despair.

“I don’t think the pain of losing someone ever goes away,” Mick sniffed as more tears fell down his face and into Dave’s hair. “But as time goes on, it becomes more bearable and you’re able to live with it...but you will never fully heal. But know this, as long as I draw breath in my body, I will be here for you, I will do all I can to protect you, and I know you’ll do the same for me.”

“Always,” Dave whispered, then they both held each other tightly and cried in each other’s arms for what must have been a good two hours, before they both cried themselves to sleep in each other’s arms.

Sally could not sleep that night, she lay there on the sofa, eyes wide open, listening to her father and her uncle Harry talking quietly in the kitchen.

Her mother was in her sleeping bag on the floor, and by the sound of it, Idina had managed to fall asleep, although it had taken her quite a while before drifting off.

Sally however, felt she would be awake all night with the thoughts that were going through her head. She was thinking of her aunt and cousin whose lives had been cut short by this outbreak, but mostly she was thinking of Ray, alone in the bedroom upstairs. She wondered if she should go and keep him company, or would he be asleep? Well, she did not want to disturb him if he was, but really, what were the chances of the Kinks’ lead singer having a good night’s sleep after losing both his parents and one of his sisters?

Sally felt guilty for wanting to be with Ray when the whole world was going to shit; she wondered if the feelings she had for him were selfish, but she could not help it. The poor guy had enough on his plate with all that was happening, so why would he be thinking of starting a relationship? Then again, everyone was having a rough time, everyone in the world with all the craziness that was going on...surely Ray would not object to at least some female company every now and again.

She was sure that Ray liked her as much as she liked him, and although she could not expect him to fall madly in love with her...at least not immediately, she liked him enough to at least take some of that stress off his mind for an hour or two. She had never been with a man before, and she always wanted her first time to be special, but Ray was special, and even if afterwards, he decided he did not want anything serious with her, she at least wanted to show him that she could be there for him at any time. Ray was the only man she would allow to use her in that way, and she so badly wanted to find out if sex really was as wonderful as people made it out to be. Whether Ray rejected her afterwards or not, she wanted Ray to be the one to take her virginity; she felt she ought to take this opportunity before it was too late, after all, with things the way they were, she could be here today and gone tomorrow, so why should she not go up to Ray and offer to keep him company that night?

When she was sure that her father and uncle would not be able to see or hear her disappearing up the stairs, Sally slowly and quietly sat up on the sofa, stood up and swiftly crept out into the hallway and began to make her way up the stairs. As she tiptoed up, she looked through the kitchen door that was open just a crack, and she could just make out the flickering of a candle. Her father and uncle did not talk very loud at all and so she could not hear what was being said, but it did sound like they were having an in depth conversation. She smiled, because it was nice that they were passing the time by talking, as in the past few days, Uncle Harry had understandably shut himself away from everyone.

The young woman got to the top of the stairs; the landing was dark and she did not know which of the doors to knock on. Then she noticed that one of them was ajar and she caught sight of a candle flickering, so someone must be up. She hoped it was Ray, but decided that just in case it was someone else, to make an excuse as to why she was disturbing them...then it dawned on her, the only excuse she could think of was that she was looking for Ray because she wanted to talk to him if possible, and if the person asked the reason, she would simply reply with, ‘Just something private between me and Ray.”

After all, that would not exactly be a lie would it? It was nobody else’s business whether Ray wanted to talk to her or not; if anyone was to tell her to ‘give the poor guy some space, he’s lost members of his family’, then she would tell them that if he wanted space, she would respect that, but she wanted Ray to make that decision himself and not for others to decide for him what was best for him, after all he was a grown man, and she was a grown woman, so no-one had the right to say whether or not they should be talking to each other no matter how late it was. So Sally decided to knock on the door that was ajar, hoping against hope that it was Ray in there and no-one else. To her delight, Ray’s voice answered, “Wh...who is it?”

Sally pushed the door open a little, “Ray,” she said in almost a whisper. “Are you in there by yourself?”

“Is that you Sally?” Ray asked after a pause for a few seconds.

“Can I come in for a minute?” She asked hopefully.

She then heard him getting up and his footsteps coming to the door; her heart began pounding with nerves and excitement. Then the door opened and Ray appeared, looking tired and weary, and Sally also could tell he had been crying to himself, “Sorry to interrupt,” she apologised, feeling a little awkward. “I couldn’t sleep, and just wanted to see if you’re...no...that’s silly...of course you’re not okay...but…”

“You can come in if you like,” Ray smiled, opening the door wider for her to come in. “But I won’t be much company for you.”

Sally walked in after being invited, and as Ray was closing the door, she replied with, “It’s okay, I don’t expect you to be the perfect host, not after today, but I just want you to know that...well I’m here any time if you want to talk.”

“Thank you Sally,” Ray smiled gratefully. “I appreciate it, and you’ve been great today.”

“Thank you,” Sally said as she sat on the bed, Ray sitting there beside her. “I know...I know you’re going through a really difficult time at the moment…”

“So are you Sally,” Ray pointed out. “So is everyone; there will be many others who’ve lost loved ones to this...whatever it is that’s happening.”

“If...if you want me to go then I will,” Sally said, deciding she must be considerate as there was every chance that Ray wanted to be on his own.

“No...please stay,” Ray begged her. “I...I feel like I...I need someone to talk to because I can’t sleep and I feel like I’m going out of my mind with everything that’s going on.”

“Of course,” Sally said, and without thinking put her hand on his arm. “That’s why I came here really, because I just got the instinct feeling that you wouldn’t be asleep tonight and...as I couldn’t sleep either…”

“I appreciate it Sally,” Ray smiled weakly. “Right now I feel like I...I don’t know what to feel...like I’m part of some...horror story.”

“We all feel that way,” Sally reassured him. “You’re not alone...it’s...taken me weeks to get my head round it but it’s got far worse today, and I never thought when I came to work this morning that I’d end up travelling home with the Kinks, or that I’d end up in a bedroom talking alone with…” Sally blushed, unable to say the rest. “Are you...don’t you have a girlfriend Ray? You...I know not that long ago you were going out with…”

“Yvonne and I broke up about two months ago,” Ray told her. “It’s okay, it wasn’t working out and we were just arguing all the time...then she cheated on me...I think everyone thinks me and her are still together but...well I’ve kind of kept it quiet to the public about our break up because...well I just felt like it wasn’t anyone else’s business...then again...I don’t think it matters anymore because my fans and the press have got far more important things to worry about than me and my love life and…”

“But surely it still matters to you,” Sally said. “I’m sorry to hear about her cheating on you; it must have hurt…”

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me now,” Ray reassured her. “I don’t even think about her anymore...I mean yes, we were engaged but...to be honest, I don’t think we would have made each other very happy. We weren’t right for each other in the end, I mean, that doesn’t mean to say that I don’t worry about her, of course I do and I hope she’s safe, but I don’t know where she is and...well right now I need to take care of Dave and...I have to think of the people I have around me.”

“Of course,” Sally agreed, feeling secretly glad that he was not desperate to go looking for his ex-girlfriend, and then somehow feeling guilty for feeling this way because she did not like to be selfish. “I’m glad I met you...I’m glad I met all of you and that I was able to help you; you’ve all had a really traumatic day and I don’t even know if things are going to get any better from here.”

“All we can do is take each day as it comes,” Ray said, then looked at her. Sally really was the prettiest girl he had seen in a long time, and he knew it was wrong to feel this way for her when he had only just met her that day, but he could not help it. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her and...he knew it was wrong to have these thoughts, but even after just one day together, this girl did something for him that no other girl had ever done, and he had been with a few very pretty ones, but there was something special and unique about Sally. Not only was she beautiful but she was brave, unselfish and kind. He had never fallen for any girl after just one day, sure he had fancied many young women at first sight, but never had he felt so deeply for a girl so quickly.

She looked at him, and he noticed her beautiful, clear blue eyes, shining like crystal clear water, her lips, how full and soft they looked...and he wanted to kiss her, to hold her heart shaped face in his hands...but he did not dare, just in case she did not want it. He had made this mistake before of misreading the signals from a girl and since then he had never dared to make the first move, but he could not resist asking her if there was a special young man in her life.

“No,” she replied shyly. “Well...there kind of is but...I don’t know if he’ll ever feel the way I do for him, and even if he does, I think now might not be a good time because...because he’s got too much on his plate and he doesn’t need me bothering him with my probably unrequited feelings, because why would such an amazing and talented guy fall for the likes of me?”

“How do you know he doesn’t like you in the same way?” Ray asked her.

“Because he’s way out of my league,” Sally giggled. “He’s far too good for me.”

“No, you’re too good for him,” Ray told her, holding her chin so that she would look at him. “I think any guy would fall for such a pretty girl and if he doesn’t then he’s stupid.”

Sally felt her heart racing; she was of course, talking about Ray himself and she could not believe that he had called her ‘a pretty girl’. She did not quite know what to say to this because she was overwhelmed that this was even happening. She never dreamed that the first man to say such sweet things to her would be Ray Davies, the man she had idolised for so long and even when she met him, she never thought for one minute that she would ever stand the smallest chance with him.

“I’m sorry,” Ray said, suddenly turning away from her and burying his face in his hands. “I’ve embarrassed you, please forgive me it’s just been a really awful day...worse than awful...and you’re the only one that…”

“No...no you didn’t embarrass me at all!” Sally exclaimed, realising that maybe she had looked embarrassed simply because being with Ray and hearing such lovely things coming from him was so overwhelming and seemed too wonderful to be true. “What you said was...lovely...more than lovely…”

“I know I know,” Ray said, his head still in his hands. “You’re too stuck on this other guy you were telling me about, the one you said was out of your league, I’m sorry, I do hope you find him.”

“What?” Sally said, confused, then she realised, Ray actually thought she really was talking about some other man out there somewhere.

“I know we’ve only known each other for a day Sally,” Ray sighed, tears welling up in his eyes. “But I really like you, more than I should and...well you’re in love with someone else and…”

“No Ray you don’t understand…” Sally tried to explain but Ray carried on.

“It’s okay Sally,” the singer said, trying to hold back the tears. “I don’t expect you to fancy me at all; I’m just a loser and every girl I’ve been with has either cheated on me or just got bored with me.”

“I don’t believe that to be true,” Sally said, putting her arm round him. “Ray, you’re wonderful, and you deserve the best. I was talking about you, you idiot...you’re the guy I meant, but I was too shy to tell you!”

Ray looked up at her, “Really?” He said in disbelief. “But why would you like me? I’m not exactly the best looking member of the Kinks, and there are other guys out there who are far more…”

“I don’t care about ‘other guys out there’ Ray,” Sally told him. “And to me, you are the best looking member of the band; you’re the one I’ve been obsessing about for months, but then I heard you were going to marry Yvonne Gunner and I thought my chance was gone...then I met you and…”

“And the world’s going to shit,” Ray said quietly. “And I’m single now, and there’s no stopping you.”

“Oh my gosh,” Sally whispered, half to herself. “Can’t believe this is happening; dreams can come true.”

“They certainly can,” Ray agreed, cupping her face in his hands and leaning forward to kiss her. Sally responded to the kiss, putting her arms around him and enjoying the feeling of his lips on hers. She had often wondered what it felt like to feel a man’s lips against her own; she could feel their softness, plus it felt a little rough too with his stubble brushing against her. Ray’s mouth tasted amazing, and she hoped her mouth tasted good to him, but whether it did or not, Ray would not stop kissing her, nor would he let her go.

Before she knew it, Sally was on top of Ray, her legs wrapped around him and his hands made their way underneath her pyjama top. Her heart was beating fast as she threw her head back and he felt his lips kissing her neck, then he pulled her down onto the bed so that he was on top of her. She was excited and scared all at the same time, and she wondered if she should tell him it was her first time...but decided she liked Ray enough to relax and let him take full control; she was sure he would be gentle, “Do you want this?” he asked her.

She immediately nodded, “Yes I do,” she whispered, and undid the top button of his shirt. “You shouldn’t be wearing that,” she said. “You need to be comfortable.”

He allowed her to undo his shirt, then he took it off, throwing it on the bedroom floor, then she sat up and kissed him again and undid the flies on his trousers. Ray quickly took them off too and made Sally lay down again, he stroked her hair and looked into her eyes; she smiled at him, but she could not help saying, “Please be gentle with me Ray; it’s my first time.”

“Really?” Ray asked, wide eyed.

“Yeah,” she said, blushing. “Sorry, I hope that doesn’t disappoint you.”

“Never,” Ray said, kissing her. “I’m glad, so glad.”

“Don’t go telling everyone though,” Sally begged him. “Let’s keep it between us two, please.”

“Of course,” Ray agreed, and kissed her again, and as he was kissing her, began to gently take off her pyjamas so that all she had on was her underwear, and he noticed how sexy it was, pale pink and frilly, an innocent colour for an innocent girl...she would not be so innocent by tomorrow morning though, he thought.

She sat up so that he could undo her bra, then he slowly took it off, revealing her breasts, a nice, normal size, not too large, not too small, but he thought they were perfect and a beautiful shape. He had seen nude models at art college but none of them had assets like Sally’s...hers seemed to him to be...pretty, whereas every other woman’s breasts he had seen had been...well...pornographic...if that was the right word, but only Sally’s breasts were ones that he could stare at all night, because there was something beautiful about them that he could not explain.

It was not long before they were both naked together, Ray on top of Sally, kissing her passionately, Sally responding to the kiss with equal fire and equal passion, both of them wanting to take their time. For the first fifteen minutes they both just enjoyed the feeling of each other’s bodies against one another, exploring each other’s bodies, until Ray could not hold himself back anymore and wanted to take it further.

Sally, although excited and aroused, still felt the need to remind Ray not to be rough with her, and Ray promised he would not hurt her for the world and she told him she trusted him to make it good for her. Sally relaxed, spread her legs and closed her eyes, hoping her first time would be all she had ever dreamed of, Ray held onto Sally’s hips, then took his time as he entered her.

Chapter Text

It was almost five o’clock and Mick had been awake for a whole hour, still in disbelief over all that had happened the previous day. He remembered how blissful things had been this time yesterday morning, waking up next to Dave, the fun they had had in the shower and how he had been looking forward to another day with his beloved...then he remembered how quickly everything had gone downhill the minute they had gone downstairs to the hotel reception.

Mick still could not believe this global outbreak was not a dream, but waking up in Dave’s deceased parents’ bedroom proved that this living nightmare was going to continue today as well. It could possibly continue for as long as he lived, which may not be long at all. He did not want to move for fear of waking up Dave, who was sleeping surprisingly peacefully in spite of everything he had been through last night with having to bury his father. Mick knew that Dave needed the sleep, because today was going to be at least as stressful as yesterday, and there was no knowing what other horrors they would encounter as they made their escape and did their best to survive.

Even though Mick was thankful that he had no-one out there he personally worried or cared about, he felt guilty about this too. The only people he was genuinely concerned for were in this house with him...plus a few others they had picked up along the way, namely Sally and her family, who of course he did not know at all.

Mick hoped to God he could trust these people, especially as Sally’s father and uncle were too fond of guns for his liking...or at least that was the impression he got, and in the circumstances that was not a bad thing, in fact it would come in useful; these men had fought in the second world war over twenty years ago and so had experience of highly dangerous and life threatening situations. However, even if they could be trusted and they were good men, would they prove to be helpful in their chances of survival? What if these men were simply concerned for their own survival? What if Sally and her mother were just a burden they did not need? What if his band mates and Stan were better off without all of them?

No, Mick could not think that way; it was just not in his nature to assume the worst of people, yet all the same, Mick knew he could not afford to trust anybody one hundred percent, and Pete’s brother David was the one he trusted least of all; there was just something about this young man that Mick knew he had to be wary of. He was determined that the ones he loved the most would be protected so long as he had breath in his body.

Dave was the centre of his universe, but it broke his heart that his lover was hurting so much because of the loved ones he had lost. Mick had naturally been distraught by the deaths of the band’s managers, but he also knew that as long as he had Dave with him, everything would be all right in the end. Dave was truly the only one he could never live without, and Dave was in a very dark place right now, so Mick knew he needed to look after him and be strong for him. Mick also knew he must protect everyone else who was important to Dave, and if that meant searching for the rest of the Davies family, then so be it. However, that would prove to be difficult to say the least, for the simple reason that Dave’s other five sisters had long moved to other parts of the country and there was no guarantee they would still be alive, and the same for anyone associated with them.

Mick lay there stroking Dave’s hair as his boyfriend slept on. The poor thing had simply worn himself out by crying and no doubt Dave would cry as soon as he woke up; it broke Mick’s heart to think there was very little he could do to ease Dave’s pain. He knew that Dave had been very close to both his parents, and although Mick envied this because he would have loved a more conventional upbringing, he was now glad that he would not have to worry about his own family, because they had never worried or cared about him.

Though Mick never liked to hold grudges or come across as the bad one, as his toxic parents had often painted him, he had decided a few years ago to break off all ties with his family, not because he was selfish or unkind, nor was he being childish as they said he was, but simply because he needed to do it for himself and for the sake of his own mental health. Mick’s parents and siblings had managed to manipulate everyone who knew him about how ‘flawed’ the drummer really was. Luckily for Mick however, Dave, Ray and Pete had seen right through their lies, as had Robert, Grenville and Stan, and so Mick now thought of all these guys as his family, especially his beautiful Dave.

The only thing he resented was the fact he and Dave had to hide their relationship, as after all it was illegal, and he and Dave had done some extremely illegal things in the past couple of years they had been together. None of the Kinks or their management knew what was going on between them...at least not officially, although sometimes Mick was sure that Pete secretly knew about them, but had chosen to mind his own business and keep his suspicions to himself. Whether or not Pete actually approved of it, Mick could not say, but Pete had always been the sort of guy to live and let live if it did not affect him in any way, and they were not doing any harm to anyone else.

Mick also began to wonder if the world going to shit might, in the end, be a blessing to him and Dave, because the way things seemed to be going, there may very soon be no laws they would have to abide by, so perhaps they could both live as they wanted. Maybe they could be together without anyone trying to take what they had away from them. Mick sighed as he thought that perhaps he was deluded, because this whole zombie crisis could still be put right, who knows? Then he began to feel incredibly guilty for feeling this way, because of course the apocalypse was not a good thing; he could be here today and gone tomorrow, and there was no guarantee Dave would survive this either. No doubt many people were choosing to take their own lives rather than try to live through this nightmare, and though Mick could not really blame them, he believed in fighting for as long as you were alive, because only God could decide when your life was over...then again if anything happened to Dave, it would be a different matter for him, that he was certain of.

The Kinks’ drummer lay deep in thought as the sun became brighter. He had always loved the summer and it’s early sunrise, and he had often lain awake as early as three in the morning listening to the dawn chorus. This morning however, he could not hear the birds singing as he usually did, and he knew the reason for this; all was not well with the world. As long as he woke up to the birds singing, Mick had always believed that everything was going to be all right...but now, the street outside was deadly silent, no dawn chorus...nothing.

Even the sunlight could not lift his spirits as it usually did, plus, although there was still some beauty to it, there was something different about even the sun’s rays; they were ever so slightly a greenish colour, and this was not normal, Mick knew this. The many times he had taken everything for granted, even nature, and now it could all be lost forever, and there was not a thing he could do.

A feeling of sadness and loss came over him, and tears began welling up in his eyes and falling down the side of his face, trickling into his ears and wetting his hair. He did not want to wake Dave with his crying, so he tried to control it, but a sob escaped him suddenly, causing Dave to stir. Mick felt annoyed with himself because he wanted to be strong for Dave, but the sadness and near despair was simply too much and all he could do was cry uncontrollably. He suddenly felt Dave’s arm tighten around him, and he knew he had woken his lover.

Dave awoke to the sound of someone crying right beside him, and for a second, it did not register what had happened the previous night. Then the horrid memories came back to him in an instant and he suddenly remembered what it was that had distressed him so horribly last night, although in truth, that was an understatement. His heart broke as he heard Mick’s sobs and Dave wanted to comfort him, even though he knew he was in need of comforting himself. Feeling sick at heart, he put his arm around Mick’s waist and snuggled close to him, placing a kiss on his cheek and feeling how wet it was with his tears; a tear drop fell into Dave’s mouth and it tasted salty, but he did not mind because it was Mick.

“I’m...I’m sorry I woke you...Dave,” Mick sobbed as he desperately tried to make his tears subside, but failed miserably.

“It’s okay,” Dave whispered, beginning to cry himself and wishing with all his heart to wake up from this nightmare and not even remember it. “I...I love you Mick, and you’re the only reason I’m not going to end it all, but I’m sick of feeling like this already and it’s only been one night.”

“I...I want to be brave for you,” Mick sighed, sitting up and wiping away his tears, only for more to fall from his eyes. “But...but I really don’t have any idea what I’m doing or what plans to make. I’d...d...do anything to protect you so we both survive this.”

“I know,” Dave sat up and pulled Mick into a hug. “Don’t think anyone really knows what they’re doing, everyone’s in it together and everyone’s in the same boat; I hope we can all work together.”

“Me too,” Mick whispered in a weak voice. “I’ve...I’ve been awake for hours and I don’t think I can sleep anymore. I’m going to get up and get dressed; we can’t really waste time because we all have plans to make.”

Dave did not want to get out of bed at all, he just wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up-with Mick beside him, then he would never have to leave this house, but he knew even now that he still had to consider others, because he was not the only one who was suffering. He had to be brave and, like Mick, put on the clothes he had been wearing yesterday. They had left a lot of their clothes at the hotel, and what they had brought with them had been left on the bus.

Dave decided to look in the bedroom he used to share with Ray, in the hope that there would be a few spare clothes still left in the wardrobe they had used when they lived here. He felt he had no physical or emotional strength to try and get a shower, and the water would be cold anyway and Dave hated cold showers even in summer, but taking a change of clothes and underwear would be useful later on. So he quickly told Mick where he was going and made his way across the landing to his old bedroom.

As Ray had said he would be sleeping in there, Dave saw no reason to knock before entering, after all, it was strictly speaking his bedroom too and he had never had to knock before. Whether Ray was asleep or not, he was going in to get what he needed, but nothing prepared Dave for what he saw when he opened the door and walked in.

Ray was lying there asleep, but Dave saw red to see that his brother was not alone. In the bed next to him was the young lady they had brought here last night, Sally from the hotel...if she could be called a lady; what decent, self respecting girl would spend the night with a man she had just met?  Also, what decent man would be having sex on the same day he had buried his father?

What the fuck?! Dave thought to himself, glaring at his older brother in disgust, his heart racing wildly with furious anger.

How dare Ray do such a thing when their father had only just died...how dare he? Dave was stood on the spot, trembling with rage, his blood boiling but he had no idea what to do. Then he decided, no he was not going to take this calmly and act like a mature adult, he was going to let fucking rip, he was going to humiliate both Ray and Sally for the thoughtless, selfish thing they had done together.

Dave angrily grabbed the bed cover and pulled it right off the sleeping pair, causing them both to wake up with a start to find their naked bodies completely exposed. Sally screamed and grabbed hold of the sheet that luckily had not come away with the duvet and covered herself and Ray.

“What the f…” Ray muttered, after being woken by Sally’s loud scream, then looked up to see his younger brother glaring down at him, “D...Dave...what...what the hell are you doing?”

“What the hell are you doing you mean!” Dave growled, then he angrily slapped his brother with the back of his hand.

“OUCH!” Ray yelled, grabbing his face in pain where Dave’s hand had struck him.

Dave then saw what must be Sally’s clothes on the floor, he picked them up and threw them at her, screaming, “GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE YA BITCH!”

“Hey, don’t you talk to her like that!” Ray hissed, defending Sally, who looked like she was going to cry. “If you’ve got a problem then you and I will talk but at least let us get dressed first you idiot!”

“So that’s why you brought her to our house?” Dave spat. “So you could fuck her? May I remind you that we buried our father only last night? Fuck I know you and I don’t always get on, but I’m actually really disappointed in you Ray; thought even you were better than that!”

“What I do is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” Ray yelled. “What the FUCK did you come in here for anyway?”

“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL I HAVE AS MUCH A RIGHT TO BE IN THIS ROOM AS YOU!” Dave screamed. “THIS IS WHERE I USED TO SLEEP AND YOU’VE NO RIGHT TO BRING WOMEN UP HERE...have you...HAVE YOU GOT NO FUCKING RESPECT?!”

“P...please...Dave,” Sally stuttered, terrified of Dave’s anger.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Dave yelled at the terrified young woman. “I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT ANYWAY!”

“She’s not going anywhere!” Ray stated. “YOU GET OUT DAVE SO WE CAN GET DRESSED.”

“It was...m...my fault okay!” Sally managed to stammer. “Please Dave...p...please don’t be mad at Ray; it was me...I came up here last night to see Ray...h...he wasn’t expecting me...I...I just...I couldn’t sleep and…”

“It’s okay Sally,” Ray said, gently putting his arm around her to comfort her. “This is between me and Dave okay, and it wasn’t all your fault, it was me as well.”

Just then they heard a knock on their bedroom door, and whoever had knocked opened the door ever so slightly, “Dave, come out here now,” it was Mick’s voice, but he did not look into the bedroom which was just as well because Dave would have hated for his boyfriend to see the ‘disgusting’ sight that he was witnessing now. “Come on, calm down and come back to our room, at least give them a chance to get dressed before you have it out with your brother.”

Dave sighed; Mick was the only one who was able to reason with him and get round him. He glared at his brother, then at a still shaking Sally, “This isn’t over!” He hissed, then he turned and left the room.

“What was all that about?” Mick asked gently when they got back to their room? “Why were you shouting like that? You’ve probably woke everyone else up now!”

“I have every right to be angry!” Dave snapped, unable to sit or stand still and pacing up and down not knowing what to do with himself. “Who does my brother think he is? Thinking it’s okay to fuck some bird the same night our father died!”

Mick sighed, “Dave calm dow…”

“NO...NO I DON’T WANT TO FUCKING CALM DOWN!” Dave screamed. “AND I DON’T CARE IF I WAKE UP EVERY FUCKER IN THE HOUSE...IN...IN FACT I HOPE I DO!”

“I’m quite sure Ray’s hurting just as much,” Mick said, still calmly and gently. “People deal with their grief in different ways you know.”

“Yeah, trust my fucking brother to deal with it that way! ” Dave ranted. “I hope that girl’s father comes up here looking for her, then he’ll find out that Ray FUCKED HIS DAUGHTER LAST NIGHT...THEN...then he’ll take her away and the whole lot of them can FUCK THE HELL OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE!”

“Well with your shouting, chances are you may well get your wish,” Mick sighed. “I’m surprised nobody’s come upstairs already, and I bet you’ve woken up Pete and Elizabeth too.”

“Well I don’t give a shit! ” Dave hissed, sitting down on the bed. “The way I’m feeling right now I want to kill every fucker in this house, especially fucking Ray and that whore of his!”

Mick crouched down so he could meet Dave’s eyes, then calmly asked him, “How do you know that she’s a whore?”

“Course she is,” Dave huffed, folding his arms like a child in a sulk. “And Ray’s a dick!”

“Dave,” Mick said calmly, hoping he could try to talk some sense into his boyfriend. “I saw how Ray was last night, just like you he was completely broken, and I could tell just by looking at him he’s as distraught about your dad as you are, as well as your mum and sister. Have you never thought that what happened between Ray and Sally wasn’t planned at all? Do you really think that ‘fucking’ Sally as you say was the last thing on Ray’s mind when he came here?”

Dave said nothing, so Mick continued, “Ray was probably feeling completely alone last night; he had nobody to talk to. You have me, Pete has Elizabeth; surely Ray has a right to turn to someone. Sally was probably offering a shoulder to cry on, and I know they’ve only just met, but I could see from the way Ray looked at her, and the way she looked at him too...that they liked each other. Come on Dave, even putting this whole zombie thing aside, Ray’s not had a very good few months has he? His fiancee was unfaithful, and he wasn’t in a very good place during the tour.”

Dave shrugged, suddenly feeling ashamed of his behaviour but not particularly wanting to admit it just yet, “I know...but...why did he have to...it’s like…”

Dave’s eyes filled with tears as he realised how disgracefully he had behaved. He had of course known all along that losing his temper was not the best thing to do, and he had known even as he was throwing his huge tantrum, likely as not waking up everyone in the house and potentially attracting zombies from out in the street, that he was behaving immaturely. His anger in that moment however, had been too strong and too great to control; screaming and yelling seemed like the only thing he could do to prevent himself going crazy.

Mick continued to be gentle with him, which Dave appreciated but knew he did not deserve...not really, “You know that you owe your brother an apology,” the drummer stated kindly, “and Sally too...I understand why you were upset, really I do; you’ve suffered a terrible loss, and the last thing you needed to see this morning was your brother in bed with some girl he’s just met...I mean...yes, you would think having sex was the last thing on his mind after all he’d been through yesterday, same with everyone else too, and maybe it was a bit insensitive after three members of your family have just died so horribly. But think about it, Ray was all alone, and probably prepared to accept any comfort offered to him, and you never know, Sally might be good for him.”

Dave sighed, “You really think now’s a good time for my brother to be starting a new relationship?”

“Why not?” Mick asked. “Surely your Dad...and your Mum as well...surely they’d want Ray to be happy, and you too. Why not say yes to any chance of happiness you can get? Dave, we just don’t know how long we have to be alive, especially not now. Life’s too short to get angry with those we love. When you get a chance, have a talk with Ray.”

“What if he never wants to talk to me again?” Dave asked.

“Oh come on,” Mick said, almost laughing. “You and him have had many many fights, really bad ones, and you’ve always made up. Your brother still loves you. He’s probably going to be angry and upset by the way you behaved, but if he’s got any sense then he’ll forgive you.”

“Maybe,” Dave shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Just talk to Ray yeah?” Mick smiled, holding Dave’s face in his hands. “Let him know that you’re sorry for losing your temper. Please don’t let this come between you.”

Dave smiled; he loved Mick more than anything and anyone else in the world, and without him, he could not survive. Mick could talk him into doing absolutely anything, and so when he had the chance, he was going to talk with Ray. He was feeling a lot calmer now, and he soon realised that the reason for getting angry was not just about his father.

When he had caught Ray with Sally, seeing them together reminded him what a straight man like his brother could get away with in life, be it marrying the woman of his dreams and having children, or sleeping around with whomever he felt like, and Dave had been quite sure that Ray and Sally had only been having casual sex...it had to be...right? After all, the two of them had only met the previous day. Still, casual or not, Dave had been angry and deep down, slightly jealous because no matter how deeply he loved Mick, his relationship with the beautiful drummer would never be celebrated the way Ray’s relationship with Sally or any other pretty girl would be, and this was so unfair, so unjust and so wrong. He and Mick had the most beautiful love in all the history of the world and Dave was sure the only people who would ever think so were him and Mick.

Ray was standing outside his bedroom, smoking a cigarette, waiting for Dave when he and Mick finally emerged from the bedroom an hour later. Sally had gone downstairs and she was already having to put up with her parents asking her what she had been doing upstairs with ‘those men’ and wanting to know what ‘one of them’ had been shouting about. She could be heard arguing with her mother, but all Dave was concerned about was talking to Ray and trying to make things right again. Pete and Elizabeth, along with David (who had insisted on going up into the attic with his brother because he did not really know anyone else who was here, and apparently the couple were happy with this for the time being) had also been awoken by Dave’s shouting and were out on the landing with Ray, listening to Sally arguing with her parents.

They could hear words such as, “I’M A GROWN WOMAN FOR FUCK’S SAKE, I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT, MAKE FRIENDS WITH WHOEVER I WANT AND SEE WHOEVER I WANT!”

“I ALREADY TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT LANGUAGE YOUNG LADY!” This was obviously Idina, Sally’s mother.

“WELL STOP MAKING ME ANGRY AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!” Sally screamed, it was obvious from her voice that she was in tears.

Suddenly, Stan appeared from the bedroom he had been sleeping in, his face deathly pale, “They need to stop shouting at each other right now!” The roadie said with deep concern in his voice, and as he made to go downstairs, added, “I’ve just looked out the window; there’s a large number of...dead people out in the street and they’re gonna hear all this shouting!”

Ray, Pete, Elizabeth, David, Mick and Dave all looked at one another with alarmed expressions, then as Stan was rushing down the stairs and telling Sally and her mother to ‘be quiet and make sure the bloody curtains were closed’, Ray rushed into the little room that looked out onto Denmark Terrace, the others following him.

“Oh my life!” Ray gasped in horror as he looked out of the window. “Where did they all come from?”

The rest of the six gathered at the window, looked out into the street and were instantly horrified to see it was swarming with zombies of all ages, shapes and sizes, some of them with blood and flesh caked over their clothes and around their mouths, obviously meaning more people had recently met their doom. Others looked a little more desperate for a feed; these would probably be the more dangerous ones, being more hungry, which would possibly make them more aggressive.

“How many are there?” Elizabeth whispered, half to herself, half to her companions.

“Too many for just us to cope with that’s for sure,” Pete replied, staring at the horror in the street below. “Where are the army when you need them?”

“Well there’s one of them right there!” David said in answer to his brother’s question, and pointed at one zombie in particular.

At first, none of them knew which one he meant, but then David told them he was looking at the zombie with the bloodied army jacket that was coming towards the front gate. That was when they saw him. It was the same man, the army soldier who had stopped them last night as they were coming into the house, the same one who had bullied and harassed them before deciding to leave them alone. Well he was dead now, so would not be bullying anyone again, but he would be feared in a completely different way now...and he was of course not the only one they had to worry about and try to get away from. Many other zombies followed the zombified soldier to the front gate where he was pushing it and trying to open it.

Obviously zombies were unaware that to open a gate, all you had to do was lift the latch and push. The other zombies were right behind the soldier, and others were...not climbing over the wall; they were too stupid for that, they were walking into the wall, bumping into it and some of them fell back, while others were actually managing to ‘fall’ forwards into the small front garden.

“Do you think they know we’re here?” Elizabeth whispered, clinging to Pete.

“I don’t know,” Pete said fearfully. “I’m wondering if they can smell living people.”

“OH GOD!” Ray suddenly shouted in alarm. “Get away from the window; that soldier guy just saw me...he...he looked right up to this window. Come on guys, let’s find everyone else and talk about what to do.”

They ran downstairs and the first person they saw was Stan being helped by Sally’s uncle Harry to barricade the front door with the bureau that had always been kept in the living room.

“We’d best find something else as well,” Harry pointed out. “Not sure this writing desk’s gonna be strong enough.”

“You guys go and sit in there with the others,” Stan instructed. “We need to stop them trying to get in; hopefully we’ll be able to escape out the back...hopefully.”

Bert Pickering was bringing out some chairs from the kitchen, “Will these be any good?” He asked Stan.

“They’ll have to be,” Stan replied, taking the chairs and placing them in front of the bureau. “Anything’s better than nothing!”

A sudden bang against the front door made everyone in the house jump out of their skin; it was obvious the ravenous zombies could sense there were people in here. The loud bang made Sally and her mother scream, “Quiet you two!” Harry hissed, not wanting to shout and make even more noise. “It was screaming and shouting that attracted them here in the first place!”

“This is your fault! ” Ray growled at his brother. “If you hadn’t yelled at me and Sally earlier we wouldn’t…”

“We may well be,” Sally interrupted the Kinks’ lead singer, not wanting any more Davies fights that morning. “I think zombies are able to smell people out...somehow.”

The group looked at the window where the curtains were drawn; they could see many scary silhouettes and hear the blood curdling groans and the grunting sounds the undead were making as they pressed their hands to the glass, desperately trying to find a way to break in.

“Right that’s the front door barricaded,” Stan announced as he and Bert came to join them in the main living room. “It should make it harder for them to get in, or at least give us more time.”

“We won’t keep them out forever,” Harry stressed. “With the pressure they’re putting on the window they’ll eventually break the glass and get in.”

“Okay,” Stan said, determined to be organised with this, after all he wanted to live, and any way he could survive, he would. “Then we go into the kitchen and barricade both doors...quickly now!” (By ‘both doors’ he meant the door that lead into this living room and the one that led from the kitchen into the hallway)

Before anyone could move however, they were startled by the sound of a loud crack; the zombies had managed to break the glass, which was very thin, quicker than any of them expected. It made them all freeze in fear, then everyone started to panic as the curtains were suddenly pulled down and the snarling zombies tumbled into the front room, shards of glass shattering all over the carpet. Some of these people must have been dead for some time because, especially in the heat of the summer, the stench was unbearable, but that was the least of their worries right now. They needed to get away immediately before they were caught and eaten alive. As they quickly made their escape into the kitchen, the zombies proved to be a lot quicker than expected (perhaps because they were hungry and their large number made them more powerful), and Ray was very nearly bitten as he was the last one to make it to the kitchen. As he got to the door, two zombies took hold of him as he was the nearest person they could get to. However, Ray acted quickly, determined not to be bitten, fought them off, but it was extremely close and a terrifying moment for Ray.

“RAY!” Dave screamed as he thought for one horrid moment he had lost his brother.

Then there was the deafening sound of a gunshot making them all jump out of their skin; Bert had stood on the kitchen table and with his rifle, shot dead the zombie who was about to sink it’s teeth into Ray’s shoulder.

“DON’T WASTE AMMO!” Stan yelled as Ray quickly pushed the kitchen door with all his strength, but there were too many zombies trying to push their way in, and so he needed help from the others. Stan, Mick, Dave and Pete rushed to help Ray and together all five of them were able to hold the door shut, but they would not be able to hold it for much longer; the hoard of undead was too strong.

Harry quickly grabbed a chair and said, “Quick lads, put this against the door!”

The chair was not going to hold the door forever, and they were running out of time. They needed to escape through the backdoor and fast. With another chair, Sally barricaded the other door leading into the hallway, because some of the zombies were bound to make their way into there if they had not already done so.

“Okay, backdoor everyone quick!” Ray panted, frantically looking for the keys that he usually kept in his pocket. “Shit, where are the keys...Dave have you got the backdoor key?”

“No...no I haven’t!” Dave said, worried. “There should be a spare key hanging up by the door though.”

While the others were trying to put bigger furniture in front of both doors, the younger Davies brother went to look for the key that had always been hung up by the back door, but it was not there now.

“FUCK WHERE IS IT?!” Dave screamed, the most overwhelming fear suddenly coming over him.

“If you can’t find any key we’ll just have to break out!” Sally advised, sounding no braver than Dave with her shaky voice.

“Has everyone got their weapons in case those horrible things manage to break through?” Bert asked them. “Harry and I have our guns but we can’t keep them all under control.”

“I have the gun that soldier gave me yesterday,” Stan replied. “But there’s only a few bullets in it and should only be used in desperate need; we can’t afford to waste ammo if we don’t have to.”

“You may need to use it now,” Harry pointed out.

“I still have my weapon,” Pete said indignantly. “So does my girlfriend and my brother, don’t know about anyone else, but at any rate we need to get out of here.”

There was a sound of breaking glass yet again, which startled them all, but thankfully it was only Ray, who had used a hammer to smash the glass part of the back door, he then grabbed another kitchen chair, put it against the door and climbed onto it, “Come on everyone, out before it’s too late.”

As Ray climbed through the back door, he then helped Sally to get through, followed by Idina, then David who pushed past Dave and Mick to make sure he got to safety before they did.

Stan reluctantly agreed to stand by alongside the other two older men with his small gun, just in case the zombies managed to make it through any of the doors while everyone else made their escape out the back. It was a daunting time for the road manager as he hoped he would not have to use up any of his bullets...then again, when exactly would be a good time to use them?

Harry and Bert stood with their rifles at the ready; both kitchen doors were rattling dangerously now and it was obvious from the terrifying sounds on the other side that all of the downstairs part of the house apart from the kitchen was swarming with undead. Stan watched as his boys the Kinks climbed into the back garden; he would not feel satisfied until all four of them were safely out of the house.

Suddenly, the table that was barricading one of the doors moved worryingly forward, “Come on you two, let's get out of here!” Stan yelled, making his way to the back door to climb out. “

Bert made haste to follow Stan, but Harry stood there on the spot, clutching his rifle, looking to the other two pretty much like he was waiting for them to come.

“Come on Harry,” Stan said as he was hastily climbing out. “You need to get out before they break through!”

“We may be faced with a lot more than this,” Harry muttered, all but staring at the hallway door. “We need to learn how to put these things down.”

“Don’t put yourself in danger unnecessarily Harry please !” Bert pleaded. “Come on, the best way we can survive right now is to run...and fast!”

However, for some reason that the other two could not fathom, Harry was stood rooted to the spot, and seemed to be waiting until they broke through, waiting for danger.

Bert told Stan to leave, which the road manager did because he wanted to get to safety with his boys even if Harry did not.

When the two middle aged men were alone in the kitchen; Bert tried to talk sense into Harry, who was simply staring at the doors, waiting to shoot whatever came in.

“Harry come on!” Bert said frantically. “Why are you just stood there with your gun?”

“Because…” Harry whispered. “I want to take them down...as many of those fuckers as I can!”

“There’s too many of them can’t you hear them?” Bert pleaded, knowing he needed to get out but not wanting to leave his best friend. “Come on let’s go!”

Suddenly the dresser that had been placed in front of the door to the living room was knocked  to the floor, there was a loud crash and the large hoard of zombies flooded into the kitchen.

There was loud banging on the kitchen window; Stan was shouting at them both to get the hell out, and Idina and Sally could be heard crying. Bert was trying to talk sense into Harry to stop messing around and to get out before it was too late, but Harry seemed to have lost it, and although Bert could understand this as Harry had suffered a terrible loss with losing the two people he loved in the world, his wife and son, he was still not prepared to let his friend risk his life for the sake of revenge. What good would it do anyway?

“HARRY COME ON!” Bert yelled frantically.

Harry did not listen and as soon as he saw the zombies come through the door, he immediately began firing his rifle, which sounded horribly loud inside the house. He took down a fair number of undead, remembering always to go for the head. Blood and brains were spattering everywhere, all over the walls and floor, but it did not deter the zombies that had not been shot from making their way to Harry and Bert, who now had no choice but to join in with the shooting as there was no way Harry could handle them all on his own; zombies kept making their way from the living room and the number of them just did not seem to end.

Meanwhile, in the back garden, the Kinks and their road manager were trying to calm down Sally and Idina, who were both freaking out big time to think that Harry and Bert had not yet made it out of the house. They could obviously hear the gunshots coming from the kitchen and knew there were far too many zombies for any of them to deal with and the best thing all of them could do was run for their lives. They all had a chance to escape through the back gate but understandably, Idina did not want to leave her husband and Sally did not want to leave her father to die, nor did either of them particularly want to leave Harry, although they were extremely angry with him for his behaviour and if he got out of this alive, he would not get away with putting Bert’s life in danger.

They could hear Bert begging Harry to stop shooting and run, and all of them thought Harry was being incredibly selfish and stupid. What was he trying to achieve from risking his life just to try and put down more zombies than any of them could handle?

“For fuck’s sake! David groaned. “We should just leave them to it and get out of here; why should our lives be put in danger for those two idiots?”

“It’s not my dad it’s my uncle!” Sally protested, defending her father. “Uncle Harry’s just angry at everything and isn’t thinking rationally!”

“Well I’m not fucking going in there to help them!” David argued. “If they want to risk their own lives, that’s their problem and if they get eaten it’s their own fault.”

“Of course you’re not going in there David,” Pete said, extremely agitated. “Why would anyone even suggest such a thing? We need to get going, we can’t risk anyone else’s life!”

“Pete’s right,” Stan said. “Bert’s trying to talk sense into Harry but seems to be having no luck at all and for any of us to go back for them would be suicide!”

“But that’s my father and my uncle!” Sally sobbed. “We can’t just leave them to die!”

“BERT!” Idina ran to the back door and called in. “PLEASE COME OUT; LEAVE HARRY IF HE DOESN’T CARE FOR HIS OWN LIFE!”

“YEAH LEAVE THE FUCKING IDIOT!” David called from where he was standing at the gate, just waiting for everyone else to follow him. “COME ON YOU LOT LET’S GO!”

“NOT ‘TIL MY DAD’S HERE WITH US!” Sally screamed.

More gunshots were heard from inside the house, and Bert could be heard shouting, “COME ON HARRY WE’VE SHOT ENOUGH OF THEM NOW; WE CAN’T DO ANY MORE; LET’S GET OUT!”

Bert finally managed to convince his lifelong friend to stop shooting because there was not nearly enough ammo to kill every single zombie and there seemed to be no end to them; very soon, there was a pile of bodies on the kitchen floor that had been shot by either Harry or Bert, who pushed the table forwards with extreme force to try and trap the zombies and stop them from getting any nearer. Bert then pulled Harry towards the back door, but unfortunately, some of the zombies had managed to get under the table and grab both of them by the legs. Almost tripping up, Bert acted quickly and shot the zombie before it could bite him.

Unable to stand by and allow Harry and Bert to be eaten alive, Stan ran towards the door and kicked it several times, intending to break it down; this did not go down well with the rest of them, and David shouted, “WHAT YA DOIN’? YOU’LL SET THE ZOMBIES FREE!”

Even Idina and Sally (who desperately wanted Harry and Bert to escape as quickly as possible) thought the road manager was doing an extremely foolish thing because it was giving the zombies a way out, however it was too late now. Stan stuck his head in the door and called to the two men, “Come on, get out of here quick!”

Then the roadie heard a loud cry of pain; a zombie had caught hold of Harry and before he could escape, sank it’s teeth into the man’s leg.

Chapter Text

Dead end street

Chapter 13

Bert struggled through the now broken down door along with Harry, who was leaning on him and limping in extreme pain from his leg being bitten.

“Just...just leave me here!” Harry wheezed. “Save yourselves...I’ve been bitten...just let them have me!”

“Never!” Bert said stubbornly. “Friends don’t abandon each other; we promised each other that during the war!”

“Come on quick you two, through the back gate!” Stan said, once again feeling like the group’s leader who had to be strong for everyone, though in truth, he did wonder if...practically...they would be better off leaving the injured man behind.

Stan watched as the two friends struggled along the garden path, still hearing Harry’s cries of pain ringing in his ears and knowing from just hearing it that one of them had been seriously injured in some way. After he had heard the scream coming from inside, Stan had quickly rounded up the group, quickly checked the alleyway outside the garden gate to make sure it was zombie free (it was for now) and told them all to wait there while he went in to see if he could help. Ray however had refused to let the road manager deal with this alone and after making sure the others got out, had smashed open the garden shed and brought out two axes that had been in there for goodness knows how many years but were still in good condition, telling Stan to help him break down the back door so the two men could get out more easily.

Stan had pointed out that doing so would make it easier for the zombies to come out after all of them, but Ray had refused to listen, because he wanted to make sure Sally’s father made it out alive. He had not been able to bear the look of distress on the faces of both Sally and her mother. Despite only having met Sally yesterday and spending just one night with her, already he wanted to marry the girl. He cared about Sally and her feelings and wanted to save her from as much heartache as possible for as long as he could. So Ray had leaped into action, smashing down the back door.

He should rightfully have been horrified to see the carnage and the bodies all over the kitchen, but he was far too preoccupied with saving Sally’s father and uncle. The zombie that had attacked Harry had quickly been eliminated by Bert, but there were at least five other undead trying to get to them. Bert had acted quickly and pushed the kitchen dresser on top of them all.

It really was a blessing that Ray had other things on his mind, because otherwise it would have been heartbreaking to see the messed up kitchen with blood, brains and other body parts splattered over the walls and windows. This was his childhood home after all, but right now it was only a house, just a building; human lives were far more important.

Ray made sure the two older men got safely through the garden gate, then took one last look at the house he would probably never see again. He then turned to look at the graves of his father and sister he had buried only last night. His heart broke to think of the people he had lost and he was once again reminded of the pain that had remained inside him all night and had never gone away. Tears began welling up in his eyes as he walked away from the life he once knew, not knowing if he would ever meet any of his other family members again.

Ray knew however that he had to think of the people around him; as heartbroken as he was, his parents and sister would want him to focus on the living.

“Goodbye Dad, goodbye Rosie,” he whispered as he walked past the graves with a heavy heart, then exited the garden through the back gate, also silently whispering, “Goodbye Mum,” before leaving that place forever.

None of them really knew where they were going, but Stan had a plan in his head that for starters, they would make their way back to where they had parked the bus and the other means of transport and mentioned this plan to the rest of them, who agreed. The road manager took a quick glance at Harry, who despite what had just happened, seemed to be soldiering on. Stan decided he was content for injured Harry to slow them all up for now, so long as no zombies decided to show up; he was not going to risk anyone else’s life for a man who had brought his injury on himself. Harry had after all chosen to get out his gun when there had been no need to. This man’s decision to start shooting zombies when they all needed to just get out of the house was a foolish one that was definitely going to have consequences, and Stan guessed that Harry had done this out of sheer anger and grief after losing his wife and son to this epidemic.

The road manager kept the pistol the army soldier had given him in his pocket, choosing instead to carry the axe Ray had handed to him from the garden shed, and continued on, knowing he must only use a gun if he really had to because there was only limited ammo. He knew he must be extra vigilant because of what could be lurking around the corners. He kept looking back at the group; some were struggling to keep up, especially Harry, who was still being supported by his best friend Bert.

Idina and Sally were clutching their weapons and looking all around them as they kept a watch for anything undead that may appear at any moment, and of course they wanted to protect the ones they loved as well as themselves. Stan had also worked out by now that Ray was sweet on Bert and Idina’s daughter, and he had immediately guessed what the row earlier that morning was about. Stan wondered if he had done the right thing bringing Sally along with them, because he worried that her and the rest of her family were going to slow them up and put his boys in danger as a result. Of course there was nothing he could do to change that now, so there was no point in dwelling on it. Stan had made the decision to take Sally along, because he could not bear to leave her behind to more than likely get eaten or at least bitten; he had not wanted that on his conscience, but because Sally was now with them, she was keeping Ray fairly distracted.

This reminded Stan of a quote from the film The wizard of Oz. “Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable,” and this was so true. He worried that in the end, emotions would get in the way of common sense.

Pete was so far keeping up nicely and so was Elizabeth. Stan was surprised to see that Mick and Dave were right at the back and he could sense that Dave was really struggling with this whole situation; he worried the Kinks’ youngest member was going to be as weak as the women of the group if not worse. He appreciated that Dave was grieving the loss of three members of his family just as Ray was; Stan also accepted that this new situation the whole world was in would take some getting used to...if getting used to the world going to shit was even possible. Still, the fact remained that if any of them wanted to survive, they would all need to toughen up considerably, whether they were male or female, old or young and whether or not they had lost loved ones.

Stan was particularly wary of Pete’s brother David, who had something about him that was not entirely trustworthy. He remembered David’s cowardice yesterday when he had hidden behind a wall while everyone else was fighting off the zombies, but because David was Pete’s brother, Stan had kept quiet about his disapproval of him. However, if this young man continued to display cowardly behaviour, Stan knew that he could not allow it to go on. He was determined that this would be a strong group and he was not under any circumstances going to allow cowards to drag the rest of them down. He would talk to Pete about it if need be, but Stan was determined now that everyone in the group played their part in supporting and protecting one another.

The walk along the alleyway seemed to take forever, but this was merely because they were all constantly looking over their shoulders for fear of what could appear out of nowhere at any minute and attack them, that and Sally’s family slowing them up. As heartless as this seemed, if any zombies were to appear, Stan knew he would not be going out of his way to save anyone but his boys. As they walked past the many back gardens, they even heard grunting, snarling sounds coming from behind bushes and garden fences that sent shivers down the spine of each one of them. The sounds of people who had died in their homes, victims of this cruel epidemic. Just hearing these sounds prompted everyone to walk faster; even Harry told Mick and Dave to hurry up as he hobbled along, no longer supported by Bert or anyone else, in fact he even urged them all to run as he limped at the fastest speed he was able to.

After what seemed like hours when really it was only a matter of minutes (fifteen at the most), the group reached the end of the path and found themselves out in the next street. The place was eerie, deathly silent, and the green mist that was covering the sky was also hovering over the ground...just like fog...only...green. What caused it was of course a mystery, but all of them suspected it to be a pollution of some kind; maybe it was this pollution that caused the outbreak in the first place. Strange thing was, the sun was also shining brightly...but had no cheerfulness to it as morning sunshine was supposed to...there was something...depressing to this sun light. It did not help that there were no birds singing...the world seemed to have been drained of all its happiness.

Just to sense the emptiness and gloom of the place was heartbreaking, so maybe what happened next was a blessing, because it broke the deadly silence all around them and distracted them from the dark thoughts that were consuming them all.

Chapter Text

Dead end street

Chapter 14

“PLEASE ADAM!” A woman’s distressed voice suddenly broke the eerie silence. “PLEASE...WE’VE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH TOGETHER. DON’T DO THIS TO US NOW!”

Even though it was, of course, none of their business; the group had to stand and watch as a man, roughly in his mid thirties, emerged from one of the houses carrying a travel bag and what looked like a rifle over his shoulder.

“I’M SORRY ELEANOR REALLY I AM!” The man, obviously named Adam, shouted back at the woman who was crying and trying her best to stop him from leaving. “BUT WE CAN’T TAKE HER WITH US...SHE’S ONE OF THEM. YOU WON’T LET ME KILL HER, YOU REFUSE TO LAY HER TO REST. SO...EITHER YOU COME WITH ME NOW OR STAY BEHIND WITH THAT...THING!”

“She’s my daughter,” the woman sobbed, and she had now got down on her knees and was begging the man to change his mind about leaving. “Maybe...maybe someone can help her...if she’s moving about and making those noises how can she be dead?”

The couple continued to argue loud enough for the group to hear all that was being said. From what they could gather, it sounded like they had an undead child; the woman, in her grief could not bring herself to lay the child to rest and the man was at the end of his tether with her refusal to see sense.

None of them felt comfortable allowing themselves to be seen by this couple when they were obviously in the middle of a domestic...well...worse than that, so Stan indicated for them all to keep themselves out of sight while this couple continued to fight verbally. They could not help but listen as the argument continued for at least a couple more minutes...possibly a little longer because the couple seemed to then calm down and talk rationally; it became clear that the woman (clearly named Eleanor) did indeed have a zombified child, the man was not the child’s real father, just her stepfather and he was about to walk out on them both.

Stan and the others watched as the man got into the car; the woman, having seemingly calmed down, watched him drive off, but as the car was leaving, she suddenly screamed, “DON’T YOU EVER COME BACK DO YOU HEAR ME? I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL FOR THIS...BASTARD!!!” She then fell to her knees in utter despair and cried uncontrollably.

The woman clearly needed someone to help her. Stan looked at the rest of the group, “Do you think we should go and talk to her?”

“Don’t be so bloody stupid!” David spat, a scornful expression on his face. “She’s a nutcase and whatever her problem is, it’s nothing to do with us.”

“From what she said, and what he said, sounds like...they have a zombie in their home,” Elizabeth pointed out. “And from what I gathered, the zombie’s a little girl...or used to be. That’s what makes me want to go over and help her; I have no children...not yet, but she must be going through hell and the very thought just...pulls on my heartstrings.”

David made a rude and scornful noise at what his brother’s girlfriend had just said, “For fuck’s sake,” he hissed. “Don’t you realise if we get involved in other people’s problems it might decrease our chances of survival...and fuck...with something like this...well it’s survival of the fittest.”

“You would say something like that David,” Pete sighed. “Survival of the fittest you say? I disagree. In a situation like this, we need to learn to work together and help those in need. That woman probably has nothing left now her husband’s walked out on her...and now all she’s got is her...undead child.”

“I’m a mother myself,” Idina said, looking at Sally, whose face was pale and forlorn; the girl was clearly still upset over the argument earlier, as well as all that the group had been through yesterday and that morning with having to run for their lives. “I still have my daughter with me, but I can only imagine the pain that woman is going through...not only that, I’ve not long since lost my sister and nephew...but I’m fortunate enough to still have some of my family with me...but this woman’s all alone. We should try and help her.”

“But we don’t know her,” David grumbled. “Fuck’s sake shouldn’t we just look after each other? We can’t help everyone!”

“I’m not sure myself to be honest,” Stan sighed. “My heart says go and help her; my head says to go back the way we came and find another way out through someone else’s back yard or something.”

“There seems to be zombies in every other garden at least,” Pete pointed out. “It’s too risky heading back...I can still hear a few of them...can’t you? Besides, we’ve got plenty of room on the bus for another person and maybe a few others if need be.”

“We’ll ‘ave a bus full of people before you know it at this rate,” David grumbled.

“Well maybe we should have a vote on it,” Stan said.

“Fuck the vote,” Bert said. “I say we help the poor cow...at any rate I’m not going back that way to risk anyone else getting bitten...or eaten.” He looked at his friend Harry, who, in spite of having been bitten, seemed to be coping really well for now...maybe it was the soldier in him, maybe the adrenaline...or both.

“No, I think we should have a vote,” David said. “I vote against helping but I’m also not going back that way. We ignore that unstable woman and make our way to the bus.”

“No way!” Elizabeth growled at David. “In fact...I’m going to help her even if no-one else is!”

“In that case I want to help her too,” Pete said. “Who’s with us?”

“Not me!” David mumbled sulkily. “I’m not setting foot in that house if there’s a zombie there!”

“Well...maybe Harry and I should stay outside the house with our rifles anyway,” Bert said. “There’s no point in all of us going in.”

“But you don’t want to use them unless you have to,” Stan stressed to the two former soldiers. “Don’t waste any more bullets for goodness sake...you two have wasted enough.”

“Yes I know,” Bert sighed. “I’ll use my army knife on any lone zombies that show up.”

“Mick, Ray, Dave...are you with us on this?” Pete asked. “You guys haven’t said a word on this yet. Do you agree we should try and help that woman?”

“Yeah,” Ray nodded, but did not seem completely sure. He looked at Sally, almost as if he wanted to get her approval on whatever opinion he had on their plight.

Fortunately for him, Sally gave him a weak but almost loving smile and nodded her head, “I agree,” she said in a weak, scared voice. “No-one deserves to be left alone like that.”

“I don’t blame that woman one bit for what she said to that man,” Mick interjected. “What kind of a coward abandons his wife to almost certain death?”

Dave said nothing, but he was, in all honesty, quite neutral to whatever decision was made, for the simple reason that he was tired, depressed and deeply traumatised by all he had seen so far. The pain he felt from losing his parents and sister was almost unbearable. He was also unsure about the woman’s sanity if she was refusing to allow a zombie to be laid to rest even if it was her own child. What kind of a person would refuse to let someone they love rest in peace? However, he was too tired to speak his mind completely so he simply nodded and agreed with Mick.

“Well...if we are going to help her,” Stan said. “We have to talk her into laying the child to rest. If she won’t listen, we’ll have no choice but to leave her to it.”

“Agreed,” Pete said. “Because we have to get out of here soon.”

David was furious to be outnumbered, but he did not show it. In his head, he kept himself sane with secret plans for revenge, especially on Mick, who he was particularly nursing a grudge against after the Kinks’ drummer had knocked him out yesterday.

The group approached the grieving mother, who had, by now, got back to her feet and was slowly making her way into her backyard, reeling from her husband’s departure.

“Excuse me,” Stan said politely.

“Leave me alone,” the woman said without even turning round to face them.

“We just want to help,” Elizabeth said kindly. “Please let us; we’d feel so much better.”

The woman made her way through the gate into her backyard, clearly not wanting to take notice of any of them or even acknowledge their presence. She was not in a hurry to listen to them or accept any help.

Stan looked at the group awkwardly, held out his hands as if to say, “Well, what more can we do?”

Elizabeth however, was not going to give up that easily and followed the woman before she could get to her back door, with Pete trying to stop her, but failing.

“Please,” she said, stopping the woman in her tracks. “Let us help you. That’s all we want to do; we’re not against you.”

“I don’t need help,” Eleanor whispered, clearly meaning it in her own mind. “I have a child to look after, now leave me alone.”

“It’s not safe here for you or your child,” Elizabeth told her, firmly but kindly. “Haven’t you noticed what’s been happening in the past few weeks? It’s not just Muswell Hill, it’s the whole of London, the whole country and...well the world...the world has…”

“Gone to shit, I know,” Eleanor agreed. “But my Bella is very sick; I will not abandon her... I won’t!”

“No-one’s saying you have to,” Elizabeth reassured her. “Tell you what, I don’t know where the nearest doctor can be found, but...well I am a nurse in training, so maybe I could go in and see your daughter...how old is she?”

“Elizabeth no!” Pete said, determined not to let his girlfriend risk her life again by getting up close and personal with another zombie, just like yesterday with Loretta.

“She’s twelve,” Eleanor replied to Elizabeth’s question. “Look, I just need to get back to her all right...don’t try to take her away...she’s...she’s all I’ve got left.”

Eleanor began to cry again, and Elizabeth pulled the grieving mother into a hug.

Pete looked on, having always been so proud to call Elizabeth his girlfriend. He had fallen in love with her for her kindness and her honest heart. She would do anything to help anyone, but he knew in this case, he must protect her. Yet Elizabeth would not rest until she had done something for this woman...but what could they do?

The next thing Elizabeth said made Pete’s heart pound with nerves and fear for the woman he loved, “Take me to Bella,” he heard her say to the mother.

“Promise me you won’t hurt her!” Eleanor begged.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Elizabeth promised. “Come on, take me up to Bella’s room so I can see her.”

“I’m coming with you,” Pete said, determined not to let his girlfriend out of his sight, especially if she was going to be meeting another zombie.

“No!” Eleanor insisted. “No-one else, just her.”

“I’ll be fine Pete,” Elizabeth said as she followed the woman inside her house. “It’s only a child.”

“But it’s also a…” Pete could not bring himself to say the rest, and as Elizabeth disappeared into the house, a feeling of panic came over him.

“What do we do?” He asked Stan.

“We’ll wait about half a minute and then you and I will go in after them,” Stan replied. “I don’t know what your girlfriend’s trying to achieve, but if that woman’s own husband couldn’t talk her into putting down a zombie, how the hell will Elizabeth?”

“I’m going in now!” Pete insisted. “I can’t let her get bitten.”

“Pete, no!” Ray protested against his friend’s decision. "You might get bitten!”

“Look Ray,” Pete sighed as he took his knife from his belt. “I managed to bring down an adult zombie yesterday, don’t you think I can handle a child?”

“Will you have the heart to kill a child?” Stan asked.

“The child is already dead. It is the kindest thing to do,” Pete replied. “And in the long run, I hope her mother sees that too. The child doesn’t deserve to just exist like that...no-one does.”

David leaned against a lamp post, and looked at the loaded rifle that was leaning against the wall. He was annoyed that his brother’s girlfriend was once again delaying their escape to waste time helping someone who really was more trouble than they were worth. If a mother was refusing to end her child’s undead existence, then what the hell did that have to do with them?

Why would Elizabeth be so stupid, so inconsiderate of everyone else to take care of a total stranger? The others were almost as bad. Why concern yourself with someone else’s business? Why could his brother not see anything from his point of view? He had even had this conversation...or rather argument with Pete only last night as they were lying in bed, asking Pete what the hell they were doing staying the night in the Davies home when they could have been out of London by now?

He was pissed off with pretty much everyone in the group. David listened as his brother tried to talk Elizabeth out of going into the stranger’s house; he knew Pete was wasting his breath because when had Elizabeth ever listened to anyone? If she was determined to do something, she would do it and damn the consequences. Pete always seemed to give in and say yes to everything she wanted to do.

Maybe he should take this into his own hands. Maybe he should be in charge of the group, because Stan sure as hell was no leader; if he were, he would be putting his foot down and saying no to unnecessary delays like this.

Thoughts of wanting to take Elizabeth as his own also consumed him, because secretly he had always wanted her. How dare she choose his soppy brother over him? In his mind, he wanted to fuck her, dominate her, put her in her place...and Pete? He would soon have revenge on him, that was for sure. He had always been jealous of his brother, of his talent, the friends he had made, the girl he had in his life...whereas he had few prospects. This was one of the reasons he had always spent his time and money getting pissed and getting laid. He had also never understood why his brother never took advantage of the girls who would throw themselves at him. He was also annoyed at Pete’s loyalty to Elizabeth, because that meant she trusted Pete one hundred per cent, so why would she ditch her lovely bassist for a loser like him?

That was when David decided, in his anger and frustration, that he was going to grab the rifle he was looking at now, march straight into that house and shoot dead the zombie child and the crazy mother too. That would end their problem there and then and show Elizabeth that the softly softly approach would never work.

Elizabeth followed Eleanor into her house, then in silence, the woman led her up the stairs. She did not quite know why her heart fluttered with nerves as Eleanor led her to the bedroom at the very end of the landing. Maybe the reason was that she had not yet seen such a young zombie, and so did not quite know how it was going to affect her. This apocalypse had been going on for weeks now and yet until this moment, she had not yet seen a zombie child in the flesh, although she had indeed heard about a few cases from different parts of the world.

For some reason, Eleanor knocked on the door of her daughter’s bedroom, “Bella darling,” she called in. “I’ve brought a nice lady to see you. She’s going to help you.”

Oh shit, Elizabeth thought, her heart really pounding now. She really does think her child can be cured of this, what have I let myself in for?

Elizabeth was unable to move as Eleanor opened the door wider and walked into the room. Immediately, she was hit by a most revolting stench that almost knocked her out. It was just like the smell yesterday in Loretta’s flat, but rotting flesh was one of those odours that you could not quite get used to no matter how long you were exposed to it. It was a wonder that the whole house did not have that smell to it, especially as it was summer.

There was no getting out of this now, so she had no choice but to enter the bedroom. The moment she followed Eleanor in, Elizabeth wanted to scream and run away, not because she was afraid of getting bitten, but simply because she had never seen a child in such a state before...this was abuse.

Zombie Bella was chained to her bed by her hands and feet, presumably so she could not bite anyone...well Elizabeth supposed that was a relief because at least that meant the undead child could not lunge at her or anyone else...but still...why do this?

Elizabeth could see that she had once been a beautiful child; she had long, nut brown hair and was wearing a blue dress with pretty white flowers on...or it would look pretty had it not been for the blood stains that were on it, but where had the blood come from?

“I know it looks bad,” Eleanor laughed awkwardly. “But I had no choice but to tie her to her bed until she can be healed of this...whatever it is that’s wrong with her. She’s been like this for over a week now. She was out playing in the street with her friends, then later she came in with an injured arm. She was hysterical, she said somebody bit her. ‘Somebody?’ I said, thinking that surely an injury like that can only be caused by a dog or some other animal, but no, she insisted it was a person.”

“Then...then what did you do?” Elizabeth asked, trying her best to remain as calm as she could, but inside, she was feeling anything but calm.

“I rang the doctor of course,” the woman replied, more calmly than Elizabeth was comfortable with, but when I explained what had happened, they refused to send anyone out. Everyone was starting to act really strange and I don’t know why. I drove her to the hospital, but they refused to let us in, telling me there was no hope for her and that she was going to die...they said that without even looking at her. I had no choice but to bring my Bella home and nurse her myself. I used all the home remedies I could think of to try and get her back to normal, I cleaned and dressed her arm as best I could. My mother was a nurse, so was my auntie, so I know quite a lot of first aid techniques...yet...she continued to get worse until...until last week I woke up and...and she was dead. She looked dead anyway. I screamed and cried, called Adam, he couldn’t wake her either...she was just lying in her bed, lifeless. There was nothing we could do, she was gone...but then...an hour later...a miracle happened!”

Oh no, Elizabeth thought, then stuttered out loud, “M...miracle?”

“I went back upstairs to sit by my daughter’s dead body...but when I got to her room, there she was, sitting up in bed,” Eleanor was scaring Elizabeth more every second. “She...she couldn’t talk, all she did was make the noises that she’s making now...but...she was alive, my Bella is alive. She isn’t right of course, she isn’t the same as she used to be...but...but she’s still here. Trouble is, I don’t know how to cure her of...whatever’s wrong with her...but I won’t give up on her!”

Elizabeth knew she had to break the news to this poor, deluded mother that the Bella she knew was never coming back, that all she had was the outer shell, nothing else and never would again...but how?

“Eleanor...just out of interest,” she began, trying be as tactful as she could, “has...has Bella actually...eaten since...well...since she...well...woke up?”

“Oh yes,” Eleanor laughed. “I’m not daft, I’m not going to let her starve.”

“What...what did you give her?” Elizabeth asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

“Well...she seems happy just to eat raw meat like all the others who’ve caught this...whatever it is,” Eleanor replied. “I’m not daft you know, I know what’s been going on in the world, I know people are dying and coming back to life wanting to eat flesh, and I know that as yet, no-one’s been cured of...whatever this thing is. I don’t want Bella to kill anyone so I started buying meat from the local butchers...only problem is, that shop was abandoned a couple of days ago, so I got my husband to catch her anything he could find: a few rabbits, squirrels...she’ll eat anything...but he’s walked out on us now.”

Elizabeth had no idea what to make of this; she was speechless. Even though it was good to find out that zombies did not only eat human flesh, but any flesh they could find, it was also a shock to discover that someone would be willing to actually accept a zombie as a member of their family instead of laying them to rest as was the kindest, most dignified thing to do for that person. Was there any way of reasoning with this woman?

Before Elizabeth could say any more however, there were footsteps coming up the stairs. She guessed it was probably Pete.

“I thought I said no-one else was to come!” Eleanor said abruptly, making Elizabeth scared of her tone of voice and making it even harder to remain calm.

“Y...you did...indeed you did and I respect that,” Elizabeth trembled. “Who...whoever it is I’ll tell them to go away, even if it’s my boyfriend...he’s just scared for me that’s all.”

“THERE’S NO REASON TO BE SCARED OF MY BELLA!” Eleanor screamed. “SHE’S CHAINED TO HER BED!”

“PETE IT’S OKAY I’M FINE GO BACK AND WAIT OUTSIDE!” Elizabeth called out.

However, it did no good. She heard Pete’s voice shouting, “DAVID, GET BACK HERE, DON’T WASTE BULLETS!”

The next thing she knew was the feeling of a sharp, stinging, burning pain in her right side. Elizabeth looked down...a knife was sticking into her...blood was gushing out and staining her white blouse. This woman had stabbed her!

She looked at Eleanor, who pulled the knife out with a hateful expression. She was unable to say anything...she collapsed to the floor in pain. It was agony that she had never felt before.

She was looking up at the ceiling...everything was blurry...fading. Then somewhere in her subconscious, she thought she heard the loud sound of a gunshot, Pete’s voice, sounding somewhat distant, yet close, “Elizabeth...Elizabeth please stay awake...stay with me!”

Then another loud gunshot, “That’s the zombie girl dead!” This sounded...if she was not mistaken...like David.

“Never mind that,” came Pete’s devastated, terrified voice. “Just help me get her out of here!”

After that, the voices faded and everything went black.

The rest of the group had been in a panic since Pete’s brother had decided to go beserk, grab Bert’s gun and angrily storm into the house saying, “I’ll sort this shit out once and for all!”

The others had been frozen in shock and Pete had been the only one brave enough to go in after his brother. There was nothing they could do, because David had gone in there so fast that there was no stopping him.

They heard shouting, they heard screams, they heard two gun shots...then the worst sound of all, Pete’s panicking voice saying frantically, “She’s been hurt...help guys please!”

Then David emerged out of the back door, followed by Pete...with Elizabeth in his arms.

“What happened?” Idina asked, looking horrified, as were all of them when they saw that one of them had been badly hurt.

“I told you she was unstable!” David raged, still clutching the rifle. “Elizabeth wouldn’t listen, none of you would!”

“We need to get help!” Stan said as he looked at Elizabeth’s blood stained blouse. “Pete, you need to keep pressure on that stab wound; she could bleed to death otherwise!”

“I’ll take that!” Bert said sternly, grabbing the rifle from David.

“She needs to see a doctor!” Pete said as they hurried along.

“If we can find one,” Stan said matter of factly. “In the meantime we need to make sure that wound is kept as clean as possible. It looks like she was stabbed in the lower abdomen, so it might just have gone in the lower intestine, in which case it should give us more time...but she could get an infection and if left untreated…”

“STOP IT!” Pete shouted, bursting into tears. “She’s not going to die I won’t let her!”

“We have a few things in the camper van don’t we Mum?” Sally said. “First aid stuff I mean...if it will help her until we can get her to a hospital...or somewhere where someone can treat her”

“I’ll dress the wound as best I can,” Idina replied, then turning to Pete, she reassured him, “Don’t worry, I’m a nurse. I know what to do.”

Pete was relieved to know there was at least one person among them apart from his girlfriend who knew how to treat injuries, and he hoped they would not be too late to save her. Elizabeth was the only girl he had ever loved and had worried about her constantly since finding out the world was in crisis. He had been relieved to have found her alive and well yesterday, and now he was cursing himself for not doing his job and protecting her today. Why did he let her go into that house? Why did he give in to that woman so easily when she said she wanted no-one else in her home? Why did he not stand up to her? Why did he not stop his brother? If Elizabeth died, he would never forgive himself.

Fortunately, it did not take them long to get back to where their getaway vehicles were parked. Unfortunately , Denmark Terrace was still not zombie free and where they needed to get was, to their horror, blocked by what must have been about fifty or more undead hovering around; also the Davies house they had escaped from earlier was still swarming with them. There were zombies trying to get out of the broken window; some of them had succeeded and were now trying to somehow get over the garden wall, which fortunately was not easy for them to do. The group looked on in horror, trying to think of a plan of how they were going to get rid of them all and make their escape.

“Okay,” Stan said quietly. “We need to get Elizabeth to that camper van so we can tend to her injury...I have an idea. What we need to do is distract the zombies to get them away from our vehicles.”

“Is that even possible?” Ray asked.

“I’m no expert,” Stan said. “But I think these creatures are easily distracted, and as dangerous as they are, they are also pretty stupid.”

“What do we do?” Bert asked.

“Yes, tell us your plan,” Pete said as he held Elizabeth tightly, and she was beginning to slowly regain consciousness. “Before they see us and start going for us...oh no, they’ve seen us already and they’re coming over!”

“Idina, you go with Pete to the camper van…” Stan began.

“But there’s a fair few of them surrounding it,” Idina protested. “How can we…”

“The rest of us will distract them,” Stan explained. “Ray, Dave, you know this area well. Is there a route we can lead them? Make them follow us, then somehow we can end up back where we are and...shit, there’s more of the fuckers coming up the road.”

“We can lead them to the park,” Ray said. “Which is this way...HEY...HEY ZOMBIES...OVER HERE!”

“Ray what are you doing?” Dave said...then realised what Stan had meant and what Ray had in mind.

Dave, Mick Sally, Bert and Stan joined in with Ray, shouting and waving their hands to get the attention of every zombie that was there...and it was working. Harry tried to join in too, but Bert insisted that because of his injury, he should stay with Idina, Pete and Elizabeth and try to stay safe, “I’m feeling okay at the moment!” Harry protested as the zombies slowly approached them, and it was a good thing that undead people were pretty slow, but not such a good thing that there were more of them than they first thought.

“Guys, follow me,” Ray said, then turned his attention back to the zombies, “HEY OVER HERE!”

While the undead were being successfully distracted, Pete, who still had Elizabeth and was trying to keep his hand (which was now covered in her blood) firmly pressed against her stab wound while carrying her (which was far from easy), beckoned with his head to Idina and Harry (who, in spite of his leg injury, still seemed able to walk pretty well even with a limp) and led them behind a burnt out car where they could hide, hoping the zombies would pass them without seeing them. The only thing that worried them was the possibility of being smelled out by them. Yet Ray and the others kept calling out to the zombies and whistling. He did worry when he saw a few come out from alleyways, and his heart pounded with fear when one zombie looked right at him, began walking towards them but fortunately was distracted by a “HEY OVER HERE!” This sounded like Mick; whoever it was, he was grateful.

“Pete,” a weak voice said right next to him. “Where am I?” It was Elizabeth; she had come to but was very pale.

“It’s okay darling,” he whispered. “You’re going to be okay but you’ve been hurt really bad.”

He lay her on the ground and placed her head on his knee, while his hand was still pressed over her injury, “I’m going to get you to safety.”

“Shh,” Idina whispered. “They’re not all gone yet...but don’t worry love, we’ll dress that wound just as soon as we can get you to Harry’s camper van.”

“What happened?” Elizabeth asked, dreamily. “Did we sort out Eleanor and her daughter?”

“Yes we did love, don’t worry about them,” Harry said as he looked over from where he was uncomfortably crouching; it must have been a hard thing to do with the injury to his leg. “Hey guys...not sure but...I think the coast might be clear.”

“Are you sure?” Pete asked. “There did seem to be quite a lot of them and I can still hear some.”

Harry stood up and looked around, “There are some that are trapped in the houses all around us,” he replied. “Look, there’s one in that house.”

“OH!” Idina said, startled as she saw a female zombie inside the house nearby, looking at them, banging on the window trying to get outside.

Pete also stood up, helped Elizabeth to her feet while trying to keep the pressure against her wound with his hand, “It’s okay Pete,” she whispered very weakly to her boyfriend. “I’ll do it.”

A fair amount of her blood trickled from where the injury was and spilt onto the pavement below.

“Keep pressure on it love,” Idina said matter of factly. “Here take this handkerchief and hold that on it.”

Elizabeth did as she was instructed; she did after all want to live.

“Come on, the zombies are gone for now,” Idina said. “I just hope the others manage to lose them, but they did a great job getting them away from us.”

They made their way across the road to Harry’s camper van, then Pete had a horrid thought. Where was David?

He did not recall seeing him distracting the zombies along with the others...but then he had been too busy worrying himself to death about his girlfriend. He now hoped and prayed that his brother was pulling his weight in helping the others. If the rest of them got back and David was not with them, that would be the time to panic, but right now, Elizabeth was his priority.

The hoard of hungry zombies continued to follow Ray, Dave, Mick, Stan, Sally and Bert as they continued to call out to the undead...a bit like rounding up sheep...in a weird way. They made sure at all times the zombies could see them as they allowed the undead to follow them along the road all the way to the park. They would then run as fast as they could, taking advantage of how slow these dead people were...yet they did not want to give them a chance to catch up with them. There was also the worrying possibility of meeting another hoard coming the other way, then they would be surrounded by the things and then their chances of getting away from them would not be so good, their chances of getting eaten far more likely, but they could not think about that now.

“Okay, we’re doing well,” Ray told them as they all stopped for breath. “Once we get to the park, we run like hell, then hopefully we’ll lose them...then we can get out of here!”

“Look, they’re still following us,” Dave panted. “Should we start running again?”

“Not yet,” Stan said. “Give them a chance to catch up with us a bit, then we shout to them again.”

“Yeah then we run to the park without stopping,” Ray said, then pointed to a path that led to the park he and Dave used to play in when they were boys. “But we have to make sure they can see where we’re running to, so they’ll follow us and once we’re at the park, we can run all the way up the main road, then back onto our road.”

“Is it a long way to run?” Bert asked.

“Kinda, but not too far really,” Ray replied. “Don’t you think you’re up for running?”

“We’ve got no choice now,” Sally said. “It’s either run or let them catch us; zombies may be slow but running’s the best chance of getting away from them if they’re following you.”

“And look no offence,” Stan said, turning to Bert. “But if you’re too old and weak to run then you should have maybe stayed with Harry, cos we’re not letting you slow us up!”

“HEY, that’s my dad!” Sally said crossly, defending her father.

“I’m sorry but these boys are my priority,” Stan said, meaning of course the Kinks. “I’m not risking their lives for anyone, especially not people who bring problems on themselves!”

“It was Uncle Harry who started shooting in the kitchen!” Sally informed him.

“And he chose to join in!” Stan argued, pointing to Bert. “They’re both nutters!”

“Hey that’s enough!” Ray interjected. “Look, they’re starting to get closer; get ready to run down this path...wait til I tell you all to go!”

“I’m ready!” Bert said, giving Stan a look that said, ‘I’m going to prove you wrong about me!’ Then he could not resist adding out loud, “You’re not exactly a spring chicken either you know, so best of luck to you too.”

“I’m younger than you though,” Stan said, then realised how childish that comment was, and felt himself blushing at how silly they were both being.

“GO!” Mick suddenly shouted, and they all looked and realised that as they had been arguing, the zombies had got closer and they were only a matter of feet away from them now. They ran...and it was surprising how fast both Bert and Stan were able to run, despite being quite a lot older than the other four who were with them now. Mick took hold of Dave’s arm and together they ran like the wind down the shortcut path that led to Muswell Park, although because they were running for their lives and because they were desperate to get back to where Pete, Idina, Harry and hopefully David were, it seemed like they had many miles to run. Still it was probably the fear of being caught and eaten that kept them all going, so the adrenaline was kicking in and they would not notice how out of breath all this running would make them. Chances were that until now, they had never before run so much in their lives.

Once they had reached the park, (Mick, Dave and Ray were the first to get there, followed by Sally, then the two older men) they stopped and waited, listening out for the groaning of the undead. Once they heard them following, they would be able to run as fast as they could up the main road until they reached Denmark Terrace again. Hopefully if they came across any other zombies, there would not be so many and they would be able to deal with them accordingly.

“Hey guys I was just thinking,” Ray said after they had all stopped running and once he had got his breath back. “I hope David’s with Pete...he is isn’t he?”

“He should have come with us, to help us divert these zombies,” Mick sighed. “But as he’s not with us, I do hope he’s with Pete.”

“Where else would he be?” Dave asked.

“I just don’t remember seeing him when Pete took Elizabeth and Harry to hide behind that car,” Ray said.

“Oh gosh, I hope he hasn’t been caught,” Sally gasped.

“Let’s hope not,” Mick said. “For Pete’s sake because he made enough fuss when I got angry and knocked David out yesterday...saying David was the only family he’s got, so just think what it will do to Pete if anything bad happens to his brother.”

“No such luck,” Stan muttered. “Bad things never happen to guys like David, so I wouldn’t worry. He’s probably hiding somewhere, like the coward he is.”

Stan was correct. David was hiding. When he had seen the zombies approaching them, he had panicked and, without any of the others noticing, had crawled underneath the bus.

David watched, his heart pounding fast as the feet of the undead slowly limped past him. He wondered if he had done the right thing by hiding here, because what if these things could smell living people? It was too late now though. He listened as his brother’s band mates continued to call out to the zombies in loud voices. Hopefully, that would keep the whole lot of them distracted from him...and with a bit of luck, maybe Mick and Dave would get caught and eaten. He was pretty indifferent to what happened to the others too, but Mick especially was one person he wished would fall victim to this apocalypse, because then it would save him a job. He had been wracking his brains all night over how he could get revenge on Mick for knocking him out; nobody took away his dignity like that and got away with it. Right now, it made David grin to remember what had happened to the last guy who had crossed him in such a way. If Mick was not caught today, then the drummer was going to suffer the consequences at some point.

Trouble was that the drummer was a good friend of Pete’s and so he was going to have to really think about this, but he would be glad if Mick died while trying to lead the zombies away, because then he could not be blamed for it.

He hated Mick, and he did not think much of the Davies brothers either...truth be told, he cared very little for his own brother, but he did not really fancy his chances of making it through the apocalypse without him.

In truth, David had been disappointed that his long lost brother was not as fun as he imagined he would be. Sure, he supposed it was commendable that Pete respected women and that he only had eyes for one girl, but where was the harm of having a bit of fun? Why did Pete never want to go out and get drunk with him and get laid occasionally like his mates from college always did? Still, Pete may have been a bit of a pussy, but one good thing that had come out of meeting his brother after years of not knowing he existed was that he would always be looked after, financially and in other ways. Pete was a member of a successful band after all and that meant David would possibly get to meet some very famous people, go to celebrity parties and maybe pull a glamourous bird or two...not that there was much chance of that happening at the moment with the world going to shit and all.

He also could not understand why Elizabeth stayed with Pete when she could have someone like him. Sure, Pete was the perfect gentleman but where was the fun in that? A lot of women he met liked a bit of adventure, a bit of rough, but oh no, not Elizabeth. Typical, there was one girl he really wanted but she was his brother’s girlfriend and boring as fuck, wanting safety, security...shit like that.

When David could see that the zombies had been successfully led away by Ray, Dave and co, he looked over to where his brother had gone to hide with Elizabeth, Harry and Idina. He could hear them talking, then he saw that Elizabeth had come to but was struggling to walk. He watched as, supported by Pete, she struggled across the road to the camper van. Seeing the blood on her blouse and how pale her face was reminded David of how utterly stupid she was. Trying to play the kind little nurse as usual by going into a stranger’s house to try and help...only this time, she had got herself stabbed in the gut. David rolled his eyes at the thought that Elizabeth was the kind of woman he wanted...she would be a good fuck though, if only she would be a bit more adventurous and go for a bit more danger. Perhaps he would convince her yet of how amazing he was...if she survived being stabbed.

Chapter Text

Dead end street

Chapter 15

Even though he knew he had no choice, that last thing Dave felt like doing at that moment in time was running; all he wanted to do was lie down somewhere and die, but the only thing stopping him doing that was Mick.

It was in fact a wonder any of them had the strength and the stamina to run as far and as fast as they did, but somehow they did it because they wanted to live, though they all questioned themselves why. Pure adrenaline had simply kicked in, and almost made up for the lack of food. They seemed to have lost the zombies for now, but for some reason, they did not want to stop running until they had got back to where they had started, Denmark Terrace, where they hoped Elizabeth was still hanging in there. They finally stopped for breath as they approached their parked vehicles.

Harry was sitting outside the camper van, looking relieved to see they had all returned safely; he looked pale and weak and was probably in great pain from his injury, but it did not stop him smiling and praising them for their efforts to get rid of the zombies, “You all did a great job,” he said. “Well done; I just wish I could have been able to help too.”

“How’s Elizabeth?” Sally panted as she leaned on the side of the camper van to get her breath back.

“She’s still hanging in there,” Harry told her. “She’s awake but we need to get some help for her soon.”

Pete stuck his head out of the van, and would also have been pleased to see they had all returned if he was not worrying himself to death over his girlfriend’s serious injury and his missing brother, “Where’s David?” He asked them.

The group looked around; none of them knew where Pete’s younger brother had gone. The bassist could not help but say the next sentence with obvious panic in his voice, “He didn’t go with you?”

“No,” Stan answered, still out of breath. “We assumed...well hoped anyway that he’d decided to stay behind with you but…”

“DAVID WHERE ARE YOU?!” Pete jumped out of the camper van and started shouting at the top of his voice, desperate for David to answer.

“Pete be careful!” Stan warned. “You might attract more zombies over!”

“We need to find him and get out of here!” Sally stressed.

“Yes,” Idina stepped out of the van, wiping blood from her hands with a towel. Her clothes were covered in Elizabeth’s blood and she also looked relatively concerned. “We need to get away from here and get some help for Elizabeth. I’ve luckily managed to stop the bleeding and dressed the wound as best I can but...I think she needs to see a doctor; she may need some antibiotics. I don’t think the knife hit any vital organs luckily but...it’s hard for me to say whether it’s done any serious damage yet, but I wouldn’t want to leave her as she is for too long...she really should be in hospital!”

“DAVID PLEASE COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!” Pete shouted as he frantically looked around. “IF YOU’RE HIDING JUST COME OUT OKAY; WE NEED TO LEAVE AND I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO GO WITHOUT YOU!”

David watched from his hiding place underneath the bus, annoyed to see they had all returned safely; he had hoped at least that they might be missing a drummer...no such luck, and now his older brother...or half brother to be more exact because they had different mothers, was calling out to him. David felt annoyed that Pete would assume he was hiding, but he supposed as he was just as desperate to get away from danger as the rest of them were, and as the zombies all seemed to have gone...for now, he had better come out, “I’M HERE PETE!” He called out and began to wriggle his way out into the eerie green daylight.

Pete watched, half relieved, half infuriated as his brother emerged from underneath the bus, “What the hell were you doing under there?” The bassist demanded as David struggled to his feet, looking quite dirty, as expected.

“What do you think?” David snapped as he grumpily brushed off the grime from his shirt as best he could. “I thought it was the safest place to be until those zombies had gone.”

“You were hiding...again?” Pete asked him in disbelief.

“Oh you’re annoyed with me now because I didn’t risk my own life like those idiots did?” David rudely gestured with his head towards the group. “I thought you wanted me to be safe Pete.”

Pete had not the energy to argue with his brother, “Whatever,” he sighed. “We need to get going; Elizabeth’s in a pretty bad way and we need to get help.”

“Come on you two,” Stan called out to the Quaife brothers as he made his way to the front of the bus. “We need to get out of here before those zombies come back.”

David watched as Ray, Dave, Mick and Sally boarded the bus; he assumed his brother would want to stay with his injured girlfriend and so had no desire to be with that lot.

“If you’re going in the camper van then I am as well!” David insisted.

“Whatever,” Pete said once again with a sigh. “I would ask you to do the driving but you can’t drive.”

“Umm...well actually I can drive but just haven’t passed my test yet...not officially anyway.”

“Well that’s settled then,” Pete decided. “You can do the driving and I’ll sit in the back with Elizabeth. I don’t care if you haven’t passed your test because it doesn’t matter now the world’s gone to shit; no-one will care anymore!”

“Really?” David said excitedly. “You’ll really let me drive that...that thing!”

“Well Stan decided to break the law by stealing a bus,” Pete shrugged. “So you wouldn’t be the only one doing something you shouldn’t, but I don’t think anyone cares about the law at this moment in time, plus I don’t think I can concentrate on driving right now because my mind’s everywhere, so yes I’ll be happy to let you drive; you can help out for once!”

As they made their way back to the camper van, Pete did wonder what Sally’s family would think of someone different driving their camper van, but luckily, Idina, Harry and Bert had already got into the car and were waiting for the bus to leave so they could follow. Idina had already told him she was happy to let him drive the van and that Bert would be fine with it too; he was not sure how they would react once they knew he was letting David drive it, but he did not care because driving was the last thing he felt like doing.

Stan called out to Pete from the driver’s seat on the bus, “Hey Pete, just follow me; I think I know where the nearest hospital is okay?”

“Okay,” Pete replied, feeling reassured that at least one of them had some idea where they were going.

Dave and Mick decided to go on the top deck of the bus where they could be alone and hopefully nobody would find out that they were sat together, cuddling up, completely exhausted, tired and emotional, also hoping they would not have to get up again any time soon. Dave leaned his head on Mick’s shoulder as the bus drove away, clinging onto the only comfort blanket he had left.

Chapter Text

Dead end street

Chapter 16

The place was eerie silent. Dave had no idea where he was or where he had been for the past few hours...or days...or maybe weeks. All he knew was that he had been asleep...or unconscious for a long time and had just come to. He was lying face down and felt the coldness of the ground against his face. Wherever he was, it was dark and there was no sound. His whole body ached and he did not want to move at all, but he could not stay where he was; somehow he sensed that he needed to get to his feet and get away from wherever he was. Dave was confused...just where was he?

He slowly forced himself to his feet; for some reason that seemed to be the hardest thing in the world to do and it would have been easier to just stay where he was and lay there forever...but something was telling him no; he must get to his feet. As he did so, he looked around him, and somehow the place seemed familiar to him...but he could not put his finger on exactly where it was. He seemed to be inside a house, but it was hardly lit at all, just very dimly so he could only just see. Had he lived here before? Nothing seemed to make sense. He looked in front of him...then realised he was standing in front of a mirror...at least he thought it was a mirror but...he could not see his own reflection! He put his hands against the glass and touched it; still no reflection.

He looked once again into the mirror; what he could see was a door leading into a dark room...something was telling him to go into that room...the door was slightly ajar...and it looked dark inside. He did not dare look away from the mirror. He did not even know why he was afraid of where he was. He was afraid to move or do anything at all, but at the same time he did not want to stand in front of that creepy mirror for any longer.

With his heart beating so loudly that he could feel and hear it, he slowly...ever so slowly turned to the door that seemed to be calling him, although he could hear no sound. He was afraid that at any moment something bad could happen. With his face covered in sweat, yet at the same time shivering with cold and fear, Dave paced slowly towards the door.

His legs felt as though they were made of lead, yet at the same time he was still able to move...slowly, fearfully towards that creepy and mysterious room. Dave knew...he just knew he was not going to like what he saw on the other side of that door. Dave got closer and closer to the door, feeling more afraid every second, his hand outstretched, ready as he would ever be to face what was on the other side. Slowly...slowly pushing the door open, knowing...just knowing he was not going to like what he saw. As he opened the door, the room was not dark like he thought it was going to be...in fact...was it even a room at all?

It seemed to be opening up into sunlight...well...daylight anyway. Yes, the door led him outdoors. For some reason he thought nothing of the fact that when he had suddenly found himself in this strange place, it had been dark.

Dave was now walking into a garden that somehow seemed familiar to him...or not familiar...Dave was not really sure, but being out in a garden had to be better than being in a dark and creepy house...right? As Dave looked around him, he noticed that the garden was overgrown with weeds...and...why was the sunlight so green and eerie? Come to think of it, right before his eyes the light was getting less cheerful every minute, not that it was cheerful before. Then he heard a bird sound, and looking up, he saw a black crow perched high above the thorny bushes. This crow was also beginning to give him the creeps because of the loud and haunting sound it was making...but even scarier than that, it suddenly looked right at him...a piercing stare which frightened him to his very core.

The crow then made an even harsher ‘CAW’ and before Dave knew what was happening, the bird spread its wings and soared in Dave’s direction. It’s wingspan was larger than any bird he had ever seen up close. The huge black creature soared towards Dave, who found he could not move; something was stopping him. Before Dave knew it, the bird dug it’s talons into his face.

He tried to fight the crow, to make it go away, but the bird would not let go. In fact, the more he tried, the tighter it gripped him, and then suddenly the crow gruesomely pecked out his right eye; Dave was unable to scream, shout or even talk as the bird then left him alone, flew back to where it had been perched before and simply held his eye in its beak...before devouring it!

The weird thing was, it did not feel as though he had just had his eye gouged out by a scary jet black bird; he still seemed able to see perfectly. Then suddenly Dave felt the ground beneath him shake and the sky became covered in grey clouds, but that was not the scariest thing to happen. The crow began to ‘caw’ louder than ever, lightning began flashing violently across the sky, the loudest lightning that Dave had ever heard.

Then right before his eyes the ground appeared to be opening in one corner of the overgrown garden. An arm appeared, then another, then a head and then a whole human body crawled out of the ground towards him. It looked like an old woman...yes it was. She got to her feet, literally looking as though she had come back from the dead...Dave thought he recognised this old woman from somewhere. Did she used to live next door to him? Yet this woman did not look as friendly as he seemed to remember. As she hobbled towards him, she did not keep her eyes off him. When she got near him she simply stared at him with a blank expression; Dave could do nothing.

The ground began opening again in another part of the garden, and another dead person climbed out; this time Dave recognised her! Surely it could not be his mother. She looked exactly like her anyway, but she did not have the sweet, loving expression on her face that Dave was used to; she looked the complete opposite, like her mind had been altered. Dave also noticed that one of her arms was severed and seemed to be hanging off by just a shred of skin. He expected her to simply come over to him and stare at him also, but when she got to him she actually spoke.

Her eyes, expressionless, cold, “Where were you Dave?” She said to him in a hoarse whisper.

Dave could not answer...he could not speak. His mother continued to stare at him, as did the other woman who had come before her, they both whispered together, “Where were you Dave? Where were you Dave?”

As both of these dead women continued to repeat these words over and over, a terrified Dave witnessed the ground opening up in another spot...but he still could not move or speak. The next person to rise from the ground was his dead sister Rosie. Even though her flesh was hanging from her body, her insides also hanging out, her bones completely visible, she still hobbled towards him, her eyes completely fixed on his.

Rosie then joined in, “Where were you Dave? Where were you Dave?”

Lightning continued to flash, the sky covered in grey clouds, the crow continued to ‘caw’ as loudly as the storm in the sky and it was almost deafening.

The three women chanting, “Where were you Dave?” Over and over and their voices growing louder too. Dave could do nothing. He still could not move or speak, all he could do was endure it all...but it was not over; the ground opened up again. This time his father...surely his father would not be haunting him like this too, but yes, just like his mother and sister...and for some reason their next door neighbour, their father was doing the same thing, saying the same words. Frederick Davies looked similar to how he had looked just before he died; extremely pale, but no loving expression this time.

Dave trembled violently, his heart pounding harder and louder than it had ever done before as all four repeated over and over, “Where were you Dave? Where were you Dave? Where were you Dave? Where WERE YOU DAVE? WHERE WERE YOU DAVE? WHERE WERE YOU DAVE?” Over and over, again and again...and still Dave could do nothing but watch and listen as the thunder roared, the sky was dark with moving grey and black clouds.

Then the black crow came for him again. Unable to raise his hands to defend himself, Dave actually felt the bird’s sharp beak as it stabbed into his left eye...then everything went black...and then he heard a familiar and less threatening sounding voice somewhere in the distance…

“DAVE!” Mick shook his lover to try and wake him. Dave was clearly having a nightmare. “Dave wake up...it’s okay honey.”

“Uh...no...n...no...please…” Dave woke up with a start. He was covered in sweat, his clothes completely drenched! It had all been a horrible dream, but it had felt so real. He then remembered where he was and all that had happened yesterday and that morning. He looked around him. He was travelling on the double decker bus that Stan had stolen and he and Mick were alone together on the top deck.

“Dave sweetie are you okay?” Mick asked him, gently pulling Dave up from the seat he had been sleeping on and taking him into his arms.

“Oh...oh God...Mick!” Dave was trembling with fear, but was also relieved that the whole thing had been a terrible nightmare. He clung tightly to Mick and cried, “Oh God...Mick it was so horrible.”

“Shh,” Mick held a terrified Dave in his arms, rocked him gently like a child and rubbed his back. “It’s okay Dave, it was just a dream. I’m here. I love you.”

Dave could say nothing; he was still trying to calm down. He had never had a dream like it. It had all seemed so real. He leaned into Mick, just resting in his arms. He felt completely helpless and just wanted Mick to hold him tight. He felt no braver than a child and just wanted Mick to soothe him, to stroke his hair, even sing to him. Come to think of it, he wanted his mother too, his mother who he had not seen since before he left to go on tour. If only he knew it would be the last time he would ever see her, chances are he would never have left.

She had even asked both him and Ray, “Do you boys have to go?”

Dave started tearing up again as he thought of the last thing he had said to her before they left. His very words had been, “Stop being stupid Mum!” Before storming out.

It broke his heart.

“Oh Mick,” he sobbed. “Why is this happening?”

“I don’t know,” Mick replied as he gently held Dave’s head against his chest. Then he could say no more as he tried his best not to cry because he wanted to be strong for Dave, but he could not hold back his tears.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was feeling no better. The painkillers Idina had given her had not yet kicked in and so she was still suffering with the stab wound. If it were not for the pain, she would have been cursing herself for being so stupid, because she had no-one to blame but herself.

Pete held her hand for the whole journey, praying to God the woman he loved would live, and cursing himself for giving in to her so easily. Twice now...twice he had said yes to her, and the second time she had not been so lucky...and it had not even been a zombie that attacked her, it was a living person who was clearly not right in the head. That was what you got for trying to help someone.

He hoped that if his girlfriend lived, as he had to keep believing that she would, that she would start listening to reason and accept that some people were beyond help. He lifted up her bloodied shirt to look at the wound that Idina had dressed, and she seemed to have done a good job, and it seemed to be helping to stop the bleeding, but it could only be a temporary solution. She needed someone with the right medical equipment and skills to treat her. Idina had told him that her skills as a nurse could only go so far. Elizabeth probably needed surgery, and she would need help quickly.

Bert Pickering was becoming more anxious every minute he was driving.

Was it really true that if you were bitten by a zombie you would die? Was that really how Harry’s son Albert had died? He had been unable to believe it when he heard about Albert eating his own mother, but Harry had apparently seen it with his own eyes, and Harry had never been known to lie. Why on Earth would he?

He had to believe there was hope for his best friend Harry, someone he had known since his school days and they had gone through so much over the years.

He had been bitten on the leg...maybe that meant the virus would take longer to spread to his heart. Maybe he could get his leg amputated...but would having just one leg really be helpful? Harry would surely slow up the group...but still he could not lose his best friend.

Harry was not the only one Bert was worried about. His daughter, Sally had obviously been with one of those young men the previous night, and although it angered him, he was more fearful of losing Harry.

Although he wished his daughter had not freely given herself to someone, he did think Idina had been a bit harsh in the way she spoke to Sally that morning. He was also unsure about the Kinks full stop, especially after hearing one of them shouting at his daughter and calling her names...seriously? Only he himself was allowed to comment on the matter.

Bert appreciated that both the brothers were grieving for their father, but he had still been less than impressed with the behaviour of both of them.

He glanced briefly at his wife, who had only started talking again yesterday as soon as Sally had come home, which had been a relief as she had not spoken a word since Penny and Albert had met their tragic deaths. She had gone silent again now. Her clothing was stained with blood. Maybe she was tired from the job she had just had to do, plus it was hard for anyone to really be cheerful under the circumstances of all that was happening.

Stan was relieved that at present the roads seemed clear. Since setting off from Muswell Hill they had been lucky to drive past just one small bunch of zombies that tried to follow them, but of course the undead were too slow to keep up with the vehicles so there was really no cause for alarm just yet.

The parts of London they were travelling through seemed to have been abandoned altogether, because obviously everyone had evacuated these parts as they had become too unsafe. The reason the place seemed quiet was obviously because many of the zombies that had swarmed around here had been shot by the Army and their bodies taken away to be burned. It was obvious that many awful things had already happened around here. Stan noticed abandoned vehicles left here and there, some of them not even parked correctly and just left in the middle of the road. He could only just get past one of them and was worried that if there were too many cars and other vehicles in the way, they would have to stop and move them somehow. Luckily there was just enough space to get past them. What worried him more was that a zombie...or several of them could come out of any of those vehicles. It was certainly safer to stay on the bus.

Ray and Sally were travelling on the lower deck, and did not miss any of the devastation as they travelled on. London was such a depressing sight to see as they travelled. No problems as yet but they were prepared with their weapons just in case any zombie managed to make its way onto the bus...if that was at all possible.

All the time they were travelling, they kept their eyes to the rear of the bus; they did not know why, because the undead were just too slow to catch up with a moving vehicle. Maybe they just felt unsafe because being a London bus, there was no door at the back and so it was open constantly. If the bus stopped any time, a zombie could climb aboard...and what if there was more than one? What if there was a horde of them? What if there were hundreds? They would not stand a chance!

Sally sat there, staring at the road, weapon in hand, and did not seem to want to talk...in fact she had been in a very low mood since Dave had lost his temper when he caught her in bed with his brother. Then after that, her mum had started on her over it. Ray decided he must talk to her...but what should he say? He got up and went to sit by her on the side seat she was sitting on. She did not seem to notice his presence and was just staring out of the exit, just watching the road.

“Sally,” Ray touched her arm and she jumped. “Oh...sorry hon...didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Oh...it’s...it’s okay Ray,” she said, still not looking at him. “I was...miles away.”

“So I noticed,” Ray said, smiling a very weak smile. “We need to talk though.”

“Do we?” Sally asked. “What...what about exactly?”

Ray sighed, “Sally come on I think you know.”

“Look...I know what you’re going to say anyway,” she said sadly. “You just want to make yourself feel better by making sure I’m okay with what happened last night.”

“What...make sure you’re okay with it?” Ray was confused. “What do you mean?”

“It’s okay Ray,” Sally said, and this time she actually looked at him. “I chose to come up to you. I planned to...offer myself to you knowing you might only be after some company because you were lonely and grieving for your father. I did it because I liked you and trust me, I would only have done it for you, none of the others but…”

“And I like you too Sally,” Ray replied before she could say any more. “I started to like you as soon as we left the hotel yesterday, and I was so grateful for all your support with burying my father, and yes I was lonely...I had no-one. I didn’t think I would sleep last night. I was all alone with my thoughts. My parents and sister are dead, and I’ve no idea where my other sisters are. I was so glad you came to see me. I was glad to have your company.”

“You don’t regret it then?” Sally’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Not a moment of it,” Ray reassured her.

“I loved every minute of it too,” Sally told him, smiling warmly at him. “I just...didn’t know if you would...ever want to do it again...well...obviously you will want to do it again but...not necessarily with me, with someone else.”

“Why would you think that?” Ray asked. “Right now you’re the only one keeping me sane Sally and I...I’d really like to get to know you properly.”

“Would you really?” Sally asked, still unable to believe he would want to know her after last night. “I’d really like to get to know you too...I...I think the whole lot of us are going to get to know each other better aren’t we...but I especially want to connect with you most of all. I just didn’t know if...we’d be serious...that you’d be serious about me.”

“Sally I…” Before Ray could finish what he was going to say, the bus suddenly screeched to a halt. In fact it stopped so abruptly that both of them were thrown from their seat.

They could hear the vehicles behind them screeching to a halt too, the camper van behind them and the car behind that. Just what had happened?

“BLOODY HELL!” They heard Stan shout from the driver’s seat. “WHAT THE FUCK?”

The two got up and ran to the front of the bus to see what had brought it to a halt.

“Stan what’s going on?” Ray asked, trying to see what was happening.

Stan however had got out from the driver’s seat and did not seem to have heard them.

The two looked out of the window and instantly regretted it; right before them were what looked like a good few hundred undead zombies and the only thing that separated them from the group was a thick barbed wire fence that looked as though it could be brought down at any minute by the forceful strength of their number. How could someone put up a fence going right across the road to stop vehicles travelling through? Was it to stop the zombies coming out any further? Was it to try and keep them all in one place? As Stan had stepped outside, both Ray and Sally thought that for the time being it must be safe for them too.

“We...we can’t go any further,” Stan said in disbelief. “They’ve completely blocked the road off...and this road leads to the hospital.”

“Maybe that’s where all these zombies have come from,” Sally suggested. “Maybe the hospital’s where they died and...nobody knew what to do about it so...they fled from the hospital and blocked the road off in case the zombies managed to escape the hospital...which they have.”

They were just about two arms lengths away from the zombies that were snarling, groaning and reaching for them through the thick wire fence, longing to feast on them. The smell was incredible. Just how long had these people been dead?

The three were joined by Mick and Dave who, on realising something was wrong, had made their way down from the top deck to see if they could be of any help. Pete’s brother David had got out of the camper van to see what was going on. Pete had decided to stay with Elizabeth, terrified that at any minute her injury from being stabbed might claim her life. Idina and Bert had left a suffering Harry in the car to see what could possibly be done.

“What in blue blazes are we going to do now?” Idina asked, quite rhetorically.

Stan however, snapped in frustration, “How the FUCK am I meant to know? Any of you have any ideas?”

“I’m not sure if there’s any other way to get to the hospital,” Ray said, looking worried. “Even if there is...I...I don’t think there’s going to be anyone there to help...no-one alive anyway.”

“We have two people with us who could die at any minute,” Idina stated bluntly. “If we can’t get to the hospital, we need to find a doctor somewhere but...goodness me look at that zombie there...he looks like a doctor with the clothing he has on!”

They all looked among the vast hoard of ravenous undead, and sure enough, there was one among them in a doctor’s uniform...with a stethoscope still round his neck. He was not the only one who had obviously been one of the hospital staff; there were others too, some in nurses’ uniforms, some in scrubs. Also many of the zombies had obviously been patients and were wearing hospital gowns. How on Earth had all these people met their demise? Although really there was no surprise with it being a hospital, a place where people died all the time. Chances were that someone died, turned and attacked someone else...and it all would have gone from there...and chances were, none of them fully knew how to deal with it, which was why there had ended up being so many of them.

“He ain’t no good to us now. Suppose we’ll just have to turn back and look for help somewhere else,” Bert sighed in frustration. “There’s no way we can get past them.”

“We certainly can’t waste any time here just standing about and wondering what to do,” Idina insisted. “Harry’s looking really bad now...so pale.”

“He has the virus then,” Stan said bluntly. “He’s been bitten and will die!”

“Shut up!” Bert warned the road manager and looked him straight in the eye.

“Then he’ll wake up and attack the nearest person,” Stan did not take heed of the dangerous tone of the ex soldier’s voice. “What if he turns while you’re driving?”

“I warned you to shut up!” Bert growled and pointed a finger at Stan. “You don’t talk about my friend like that...he’ll be fine...it’s...it’s just a leg injury that’s all. He’s been through many things...as have I, but we’ve always come out fighting me and Harry, and this time won’t be any exception!”

“This time is an exception can’t you see that?” Stan argued. “He was bitten by a zombie; the virus is spreading through his veins...soon it will reach his heart and…”

Before Stan could say anymore however, Bert suddenly lunged at the road manager with an angry roar and shoved him against the bus, “I SAID SHUDDUP!”

“OI!” Mick shouted and tried to pull Bert away from Stan. “STOP IT NOW!”

“Dad what’s got into you?” Sally demanded.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP SALLY!” Bert roared at his daughter, and as he held Stan against the side of the bus, he pointed his finger at her. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about what you did last night with HIM!”

Bert pointed accusingly at Mick because he was unsure which of the Kinks Sally had slept with, even though he had worked out it was one of the Davies brothers, he still had no idea who was who, and just because he thought Mick was the best looking, he automatically assumed it was him.

“What are you talking about?” Mick said in disbelief. “With me? NO...IT WASN’T ME...I was with…”

Mick trailed off as he realised he was about to blurt out that he was with Dave.

“It wasn’t Mick I was with!” Sally furiously informed her father.

“Oh…” Bert blushed with embarrassment. “Umm...sorry Mick.”

“That’s okay,” Mick said calmly. “Now can you please let go of Stan?”

Bert had the roadie by the shirt, and Stan was trying to set himself free, but the ex soldier was fairly strong, and so Stan was struggling a little, “Fuck’s sake get off me!”

An angry Bert glared at Stan one last time, then reluctantly let him go.

“Gawd’s sake!” Stan said in exasperation. “Grow the fuck up and let’s work together here yeah?”

“What are we going to do now then?” Mick sighed, looking at the zombies. There were hundreds of them trying to get through the barbed wire. “I don’t think there’s any choice but to turn back really.”

“Maybe you and Dave could climb over there and try and kill them all Mick,” David said sarcastically. “You were both pretty good yesterday.”

“Not helpful David,” Stan said, shaking his head at such a snide remark. “I think Mick is right, turning back is the only option. I’ll just try and turn the bus round.”

Elizabeth was feeling weaker with every passing minute. The heat of the day was becoming unbearable and she kept asking Pete for water.

“There’s not much water left honey,” he told her, placing a hip flask to her lips and holding her head up so she could drink. “You’ve drunk most of it.”

“Sorry,” she managed to whisper. “I’m just so thirsty and I feel like I’m dying.”

“You’ll be fine lovely,” Pete reassured her, desperately hoping he was right and that she would live...and secretly terrified that she would not. “We’re going to get help for you...please just hang in there.”

“Why...have we stopped?” She asked after she had taken another small drink of what was left.

“Don’t worry about it,” Pete told her, quickly glancing out of the window and seeing that the group were arguing again...though it was understandable given the circumstances they had just found themselves in.

Elizabeth however, as weak as she felt, could not lie still any longer; she needed some fresh air...if there actually was any, “Can you take me outside please?” She tried to sit up.

“Don’t be silly!” Pete said firmly. “You rest.”

“Please I feel so uncomfortable here,” She begged. “Let me rest in a shade.”

She tried to get up, but winced in pain.

If she was uncomfortable where she was, Pete did not want to force her to stay there. Feeling sorry for her, he helped Elizabeth to her feet. She grabbed hold of her side where she had been stabbed and allowed Pete to help her to step outside. Yes it was still painful to move, but she just needed to get out of the stifling heat of the camper van, otherwise she felt she would die from the heat if not from the stab wound. Not that it was really any cooler outside.

Even with this pollution that seemed to literally turn the air green, it did not keep the summer away. The weather was still as expected for that time of year. It was the end of July, going into August and the heat was becoming unbearable.

“Take me into those trees there,” Elizabeth pleaded with her boyfriend. “I’m sorry but I can’t stand this heat any longer.”

Pete was worried that more zombies could be lurking about among the trees, but he would deal with them as and when they came; he was also becoming pretty exhausted with the hot weather. As he helped walk his girlfriend to a more shady spot, he suddenly thought of Harry who was still in the car. Maybe the poor man should get out into the shade too. Yes he had been bitten and maybe he was at risk of turning any minute, but surely he had a right to die with dignity. After all, he had once fought for the country; if he was going to die, he deserved to die as a brave soldier should.

He did not struggle too badly with Elizabeth; she was still able to walk but with much pain because of her injury. As he was walking with her, he looked over to where the bus had stopped and where the rest of them were all stood there conversing about what to do with the situation. He did not want to leave Elizabeth to go over there and talk to them, so decided that unless they needed him, he would just leave them to it.

They came to a nice shady spot just by the road and Elizabeth was more than happy just to sit in the shade and not go in too deep amongst the trees; there was no knowing what could be lurking about, “I’ll just rest here,” she told him, her face extremely pale from loss of blood, but she was also sweating from the searing heat. She smiled at him weakly. “Go and see what the others are up to babe.”

“I’m not leaving you here all by yourself!” Pete said sternly as he looked deep into the trees in a paranoid fashion. “There could be more zombies. What I am going to do is get that poor guy out of the car; he must be sweating buckets in there. I mean...you wouldn’t leave a dog in a hot car; why leave a person in there?”

“Good idea sweetie,” she smiled at him lovingly. “Get him out and bring him here.”

“I’ll just be two minutes,” he promised her. Elizabeth nodded her understanding and he made to go to the car where Harry had been left in the back.

Meanwhile, after deciding that fighting with the Kinks’ road manager was going to get him and the group nowhere, Bert decided to go and see how his injured friend Harry was doing. There was no way he would accept that being bitten by a zombie meant the end of your life; that was just ridiculous. Zombies were people. A zombie bite on the leg was treatable just like if a dog had bitten him...surely.

He still could not believe this was real...but it was and he was right in the middle of it. Bert had never seen any of the horror films that had been made; he had seen enough real life horror...but now he was thinking...should he have? Would he have more idea of how to deal with the situation? He thought that having fought in a war would mean he would have all the training he needed. He had seen many dreadful things...but this? Nobody knew how to deal with it.

As a young man who had gone to war reluctantly over twenty years ago, Bert had come face to face with death, devastation and violence and he still suffered the effects of it to this day...and so he really did not need this shit! The combat fatigue he suffered from being in the war was still there and he knew it would never go away...and having to go through more horror now he was older would not help him or Harry at all. As he made his way to the car, he saw that another member of the Kinks was lurking around it. He sighed because he had by now had enough of the whole lot of them. Bert was even more annoyed seeing this band member opening one of the back passenger doors of his car... seriously? In that moment, it did not occur to him that there might be something wrong.

“What are you doing?” He said aggressively as Pete looked into the car to talk to Harry. “Fucking stay away from my car...fuck’s sake just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you get to do what you want when you want...yeah you’re right to look scared!”

It did not occur to Bert at that moment in time that the reason for Pete quickly slamming the door shut and his extremely pale face was something far more serious than his making threats towards him for touching his car.

“Leave Harry alone!” Bert demanded. “He doesn’t need the likes of you bothering him. Now clear off!”

“D...don’t...whatever you do stay away from him!” Pete stuttered.

“What the fuck do you mean?” Bert said as he made his way to the other side of the car. “He’s going to be fine okay it’s just a small bite for crying out loud.

Bert made to open the door on the other side, “NO... whatever you do don’t open the door !”

“Just mind your own business yeah!” Bert said indignantly. “If we’re gonna be travelling together don’t think you lot get to throw your weight about and tell me and Harry what to do!”

“HE’S DEAD!” Pete shouted when it was clear that Bert was not going to listen. “He died in the car okay. You’ve got to listen to me Mr Pickering. I was going to ask him if he wanted to get out of that hot car into the trees where it’s cool and shady...thought it might be better than staying in that hot car...but then when I opened the door he was...he’s TURNED!”

“Wha...what do you mean?” Bert’s blood ran cold as he realised what an idiot he was being. Of course Pete had not been lurking round his car trying to cause trouble...he had simply been trying to help...but still Bert was not prepared to accept that yet.

“Look through the window,” Pete told him. “Then you’ll see that he’s a zombie now. He was bitten so he died in the car and now he’s turned. He’s one of them.”

Bert did not want to believe this...not his lifelong friend Harry...but if he really was dead, he was not going to leave him to rot in that car. Bert slowly leaned in to look through the window...just to see...hoping and praying that this young man had made some mistake...hell he would even have been relieved just to find out that it had been some sick joke and that Pete had just been taking the piss...that was how much he longed for this to be untrue...but no!

“AAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHMMMMMMM!” This was the noise that made Bert jump back with sheer alarm and horror. Harry’s face immediately appeared at the window, paler than it had ever been before. His friend’s eyes were no longer the friendly greeny brown that they always used to be; they were now a deathly white and extremely pale blue that were almost without pupils. Harry had indeed changed...yet Bert was not prepared to accept that his friend was gone altogether, especially if he was not lying still as a dead person should be.

“What the...what the fuck this can’t be happening!” Bert began shaking uncontrollably and started to cry as he desperately tried to think of a way to help his friend. “Maybe...maybe it’s not too late...he could...he could be cured...he could…”

“No...he’s dead I’m sorry!” Pete made his way to where Bert was. Bert had now completely broken down and had dropped to his knees in a state of utter grief and despair. Pete crouched down next to a grief stricken Bert to try and comfort him, but the former soldier pushed him away, not wanting Pete or anyone else to touch him. He just wanted to be left alone.

“GO AWAY!” He shouted, then continued sobbing and shaking. “You DON’T get to tell me he’s dead...YOU KNOW NOTHING!”

“It happened to our manager only the other day,” Pete explained as he too began to tear up as he thought of Robert. “He was bitten the night before he died and then he turned...we had to kill Robert because he attacked our other manager Grenville who also died because of that.”

“No...no you KILLED HIM PROBABLY BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T KNOW HOW YOU COULD HELP HIM!” Bert raged. This attracted the attention of the rest of the group.

“What’s going on?” Idina said as she ran over to them. “Why are you shouting?”

She came over and saw her husband on the ground crying. She seemed to guess the reason why. She crouched down and put her arm around Bert.

“He’s gone then,” she whispered.

“No...no no he’s...he’s not gone,” Bert sobbed. “He’s still here...look at him...he’s moving about. He’s alive. He...he wants to get out of the car.”

The rest of the group had, by now also made their way over. Stan decided it was not yet a good idea to try to turn the bus round yet because he too had noticed something was happening involving Bert.

“If you let him out of the car he will try to attack you darling,” Idina said gently. “He will try to bite the first person he gets close to.”

“But we can’t leave him in that car,” Sally was also crying and Ray had his arm around her. “Dad...you’ve known him the longest out of all of us and…”

“And that’s why I should be the one to shoot him dead is that what you mean?” Bert glared at his daughter.

“He’s already dead Dad and you know it,” Sally said through her tears. “So no you can’t shoot him dead, you can just put him down so that we can lay him to rest.”

“Sally’s right my love,” Idina told him, she was also crying. “Harry should be laid to rest like the brave soldier he is.”

“And what if there’s a way we can cure him?” Bert asked. “What if there’s a way to cure all the poor people who turned.”

“Just look at the zombies over there,” Stan pointed to the barbed wire fence where the hundred or more zombies were trying to break through...with no success as yet. “They may be moving about and making noise but they are decaying...you can see it, you can smell it. They are literally rotting corpses that can move about, make noise and tear any living thing to bits...but they are still decomposing and very fast with this heatwave. Are you really going to let that happen to Harry too just because you think there might be a way to cure him? Because believe me, that is what will happen...and even if there is a cure, chances are it hasn’t been found yet and may not be found for many years. Tell me Bert, just tell all of us...just how long are you going to wait until a cure can be found to unzombify Harry?”

“Are you taking the piss?” Bert suddenly got up and began to square up to Stan again, infuriated at his use of the word ‘unzombify’.

“Bert please!” Idina said to her irate and heartbroken husband. “Picking another fight isn’t going to help Harry is it? And Stan wasn’t making fun of you or Harry. He was just telling it like it is. Do you think I wouldn’t have liked my nephew to have been cured of this? I also lost my sister...I still had to accept she was gone...so you need to accept that Harry is gone too.”

“He isn’t gone,” Bert sobbed. “H...he isn’t…”

“Yes...he is Dad,” Sally approached her father in an attempt to talk some sense into him. “You’ve seen what’s been happening to people in the last few weeks, and it’s happened very quickly. We were the last family on our street to leave. You saw what happened to our neighbours...you accepted that when they turned there was nothing left of the people they were before...and now poor Uncle Harry’s the same. He wouldn’t want to be left the way he is. You know that. He’s gone and he isn’t coming back, whether you keep him around in that state or do the right thing and lay him to rest. He doesn’t deserve to stay that way.”

“But he’s...he’s my best...friend,” Bert sobbed. “If I shoot him...it just seems...so final. Everything we’ve been through together...will be gone...just like that!”

Sally hugged her father and said, “You will always have those memories of him Dad, nothing will ever take those away, but you know he’s gone and leaving him the way he is will not change that.”

“Sally’s right love,” Idina said, also crying and coming up to hug Bert. “It’s the kindest and most decent thing you can do for your best friend right now, and he will be with Penny and Albert again. Think of that, the three of them together again, forever and always.”

“But what about me?” Bert said as he once again glanced at his undead friend, then quickly looked away again; he could not bare to see his closest friend in such a disturbing way. “He’s leaving me behind. We fought a war together...and we were supposed to fight this together too.”

“Harry’s fighting days are over,” Idina replied. “I understand you will miss him but he’d want you to continue this journey without him. He would want to see you surviving with us. You have us Bert. Just think, you still had us before, but Harry had lost his wife and son, and now they can be together again...think of that. Do what your best friend would’ve wanted. Take your gun and end it now so we can bury him.”

Bert looked back at his friend who was still snarling, groaning and violently fighting to get out of the car. He knew his wife and daughter were right. Looking at Harry now, there was nothing of the dear friend and brother he once knew. Harry was now gone and his brain and body had now been taken over by a flesh hungry outer shell. He knew that given the chance, this zombie that used to be Harry would tear him, Sally, Idina and any other living thing he could get hold of to bits. No matter how hard it was going to be to shoot Harry, it was no good leaving him the way he was in the hope of a cure that was never going to happen.

Wiping away a tear, he stepped closer to the car and said, “You’re right, he is my best friend and I can’t leave him like this.”

Bert walked toward the car and began to open the front passenger door, “Dad what are you doing?” Sally asked, feeling alarmed.

“It’s okay love,” Bert replied calmly. “Just getting my gun it was left in the car.”

“Be careful,” Idina warned her husband. “He might grab you.”

Bert took a deep breath, then was about to open the door when Stan stopped him, “Wait, here use this!” Stan handed him the small pistol he had been given the previous day. After all, Harry and Bert had plenty of their own ammo so the bullets did not need to be used so sparingly anymore. “Saves time and you don’t know how hard it’s going to be to grab your gun when there’s a zombie trying to get you.” 

Bert was too stricken with grief to be annoyed at the roadie anymore, and so took it as a kind gesture and said a quiet, “Thanks.” Then took the gun. “Stand back everyone!”

“Be careful Dad,” Sally called out as Bert got ready to open the car door that zombie Harry was so desperate to break open.

With his heart pounding so fast and hard, terrified at what he was about to do, Bert just wanted to get the whole thing out of the way. He knew he was the one who had to put down Harry, but he also knew he was going to hate every minute of it, and so wanted to make it as quick as he could. As he opened the door and the zombie that had been his best friend for so many years tumbled out, Bert felt his heart breaking all over again, but he knew he needed to do this. He allowed the zombie to get to its feet, just to make it easier to aim for the head, as he knew that was the only way to kill Harry, as upsetting as it was to think he was about to blow his best friend’s brains out. However, even when Harry’s undead corpse stared right into his eyes and started making its way towards Bert, he was still reluctant to shoot him and began trembling.

“Go on Dad please,” he heard his daughter say. “

“Bert don’t hesitate,” Idina begged. “Shoot him now!”

By now, zombie Harry’s arms were outstretched as he limped his way towards Bert, intending to grab him and sink his teeth into him. It did not seem to occur to this zombie at all that Bert was about to shoot him in the head. All a zombie seemed to know about was being hungry for human flesh...or any flesh...but nothing else.

Bert continued talking to the zombie to keep it distracted from the rest of the group, who were standing back with their hands over their ears just waiting for a loud gunshot, “I’m so sorry Harry old friend,” he said, still unable to keep back the tears. “I’m so sorry it’s come to this...I wasn’t planning after all we’ve been through together to have to shoot you...but you’re already dead...all the same...I’m so sorry…”

Bert, hating how final this was but not wanting to put it off any longer, slowly pulled back the trigger, “I’m so sorry...I’m doing this so you can be at peace…”

Then as the bullet was released, an ear splitting bang suddenly sliced through the air. Because Bert aimed for Harry’s head perfectly, the bullet hit him straight in the middle of his forehead, straight through his skull. Blood and brains splattered out behind Harry, onto the car and onto the road. Harry immediately fell backwards, landing on the ground...then it was all over. Harry would not wake again.

The echo of the gunshot carried on for a good minute. Bert dropped the gun and fell to his knees, unable to take in what he had just done.

Chapter Text

Despite the scorching heat of the day, Peg Davies had no choice but to run for her life. 

She was not running from zombies. Zombies she knew how to deal with. Zombies she could cope with. She could no longer cope with the vile company she had been forced to be in for the past few weeks. 

These men from the Army were supposed to be helping and supporting those who had fled from their homes because they were no longer safe. She, her sister Dolly and her best friend Sue had counted on them to provide shelter, somewhere to rest, somewhere safe.

Instead, the three of them had been subjected to maltreatment of the worst kind. Peg had kept track of what had gone on since they first arrived. 

They had been told they would be kept safe from certain death if they provided special favours in return. By ‘special favours’, the three young women had assumed it would be household chores, cooking, washing, cleaning, ironing…anything that meant they could earn an honest keep…and they had seriously thought that anyone from the Army could be trusted. How wrong they had been. 

The ‘special favours’ asked of them instead, were, of a sexual nature and there had been no way for them to escape. Despite having asked to leave several times, saying that they would take their chances in the outside world, this had not been allowed, the reason being, they were told, was that they would only go out and warn other women not to come to this dreadful place.

Now Peg, the only one of them still alive, had finally managed to escape from the Castle, and unfortunately, she had been caught doing so and was now being chased. She could hear the barking of the dogs and the cruel voices of her captors calling her…not by her name of course…just ‘BITCH’.

There was no way she was going to let them win, no way they were going to take her back alive. If it meant being eaten by dogs then so be it. She was now only able to run on pure adrenaline, the determination to get away, to show them that she was one woman they would never control. She was going to do it for Dolly and Sue. Not that they were alive to see it happen of course, but to prove to them in their memory she could be a survivor. She had to do what they had been unable to do.

She was now halfway through an empty field that was covered with brown, dead grass because of the heat, lack of rain and lack of maintenance due to the terrible circumstances that had fallen on the entire world.

She was completely barefoot. Despite her feet being sore and bleeding, she barely noticed the pain. 

All she had on was the dress she had been forced to wear during her captivity (and that was only if she was good, otherwise she had to be naked) and the belt around her waist that held a knife that she had stolen from the man whose trust she had managed to gain. This was how she had gained access to privileges that she would not have received otherwise and how she had been able to plan her escape. It was also how she was spared the evil treatment that her best friend Sue had been subject to.

Peg had cleverly found a way to ‘get round’ Ted Phelps, the ring leader of this evil group of so-called human beings. She even said she would marry him if he wanted it, just to keep him sweet.

Suddenly she heard an angry voice coming from amongst the trees behind her; it sounded as though the unbearable heat had come in useful at last.

The angry voice of Phelps shouted, “GET THE FUCK UP, YOU LAZY USELESS MUTTS!”

By ‘mutts’ she knew he meant the dogs, that had been victims of their cruelty as she and her companions had. The poor animals had been starved and beaten which had made them aggressive, meaning they would feed off of anything, even a still-living human if that was all they had to eat!

Peg turned and craned her neck to see if she could see what was happening; she could see some movements in amongst the trees but could see very little, again she heard the voice of Phelps.

“Dogs are down!” She heard him say. “The heat’s too much for them now…we’ll just have to get the bitch ourselves!

She hoped this meant she had a better chance now the dogs had collapsed in the heat…because she could no longer be sniffed out…then she remembered, these men had guns! Peg froze for a few seconds as she realised this, then as she saw a figure emerging from the woods, she turned quickly and began to run again.

“SHE’S GETTING AWAY; SHOOT HER!”

As she ran mindlessly, Peg knew she would soon hear a gunshot. So she began to run in a zig-zag sort of fashion to make it difficult for them to aim at her.

As she ran she heard a shot ring out…she froze for a few seconds and screamed in fear…but felt nothing. So they had not got her…this time. 

As Peg continued to run she heard the voice of Ted Phelps yell angrily at his men, “What the hell was that?”

Another voice, the voice of the sick and depraved Joe Thompson then yelled, “Run after her, idiots she’s getting away, then aim again!” 

Peg did not think twice about how painful the grass was against her feet, or even how out of breath she was becoming. The heat was intense but she had to get away or die trying.

She came to a dirt track and despite the pain her feet were in, she ran. She had never run so much in her entire life; she had never needed to. 

She briefly looked back and saw that her relentless running was paying off…but quickly saw the men emerging in the distance. There were five of them including Ted and the heat was getting to them which made it easier for her to get away from them, though she knew her energy would not last much longer. She panted and looked on in fear as they approached; she knew she must begin to run again before they saw her and pointed their guns at her.

As she ran, she could see the end of the dirt track open into a field. She hoped that it would provide her with some respite and somewhere to hide. She knew that if she did not, she would eventually be caught.

Suddenly, her foot was caught on a piece of metal that was somehow sticking out of the ground. Peg tripped and fell, which injured her even more. Her body was now in even more pain, she struggled to even push up on her hands to get to her knees, but she knew she must, otherwise, she would surely die…if she was lucky. If she was not lucky, they would catch her, rape her, take her back and do to her what they had done to poor Sue.

Sue was tortured before they eventually became bored with her, no longer found her attractive, and fed her to their starving dogs.

She could not risk this happening to her. However, as she was just about to get to her knees to try and stand, a sudden and painful weight came down on her back, forcing her back onto the ground. She knew immediately what it was. His foot!

The man who made her skin crawl but she had pretended to enjoy every second of his company and the company of his evil companions had caught up to her and now had her trapped under his foot.

With a bit of luck, he would shoot her dead there and then. By now she no longer cared what was done to her body, so long as she was no longer alive and breathing.

She heard his voice shout to the men who had also been chasing her, “Stay back there for a minute you lot; I just want to be alone with her for a minute!”

She then felt her hair being yanked back and her body being pulled upwards, the weight of her body was exceedingly painful on her scalp. 

Her heart was pounding in her chest, she could then feel his heavy breathing on her as he whispered in her ear, “Did you think you could get away from me bitch? Did you think you would escape? Well, you’ve lost the privileges you had before. Now you’re coming back with me and you’re going to experience the same as what your friend went through. That’s what happens to women who step out of line. Do you hear me bitch?”

He then pushed her roughly to the ground, the dirt going into her mouth as her face hit the stones, soil and gravel. She once again felt his heavy foot against her back. She then heard some grumbling sounds coming from him. He was dropping everything he had onto the ground as he was…NO…to her horror, she heard that all familiar sound of him undoing his belt so that he could undress from the waist down… he was going to rape her!

Peg screamed which made him shout, “Shut up bitch, it won’t do you any good; no one’s coming to save you! There’s no knight in shining armour. Men like that only exist in fairy tales that your mother used to read to you…and I wouldn’t class them as real men anyway!”

“Please, give me another chance!” She begged him, not because she wanted to go back with him, or even because she wanted another chance to be treated marginally well (although she had still been a sex slave; at least she had not been tortured like Sue), it was just to give her a little more time to try and get away again, a chance to use the knife that was in her belt if only she got a chance.

At hearing her words, Ted began to laugh hysterically, and all she could do was listen to it and try to struggle from where her petite body was trapped under his heavy boot.

Then suddenly something unexpected happened, just as she was preparing herself for more pain, a sudden loud bang was heard. She was too terrified to look and see where it was coming from. However, she did notice that Ted’s foot was no longer trapping her and she was able to curl up into a ball, though she did not quite know why she was doing that. Peg trembled in fear as she then heard the dreaded sounds of Ted’s evil accomplices, Brady and Thompson (she had learned their names in captivity and only because Ted wanted her to know who was who).

She then heard a voice she did not recognise. 

It was that of another man, and the sound of his voice gave her a glimmer of hope because it was obvious he was shouting at her captors, telling them to drop their weapons or he would shoot them too…she did not know quite who had been shot but…was she finally free of Phelps at last?

Although Peg remained in the position she was in, curled in a ball and terrified, not daring to look to see what had happened, another loud gunshot startled her for a second and made her shriek in fear.

“DROP THAT GUN NOW!” The unfamiliar voice yelled again. “DO YOU WANT TO DIE LIKE YOUR MATES?”

Peg then became a little braver and peered out from where she was hiding. All she could see was the ground and a pair of legs wearing strong boots and…were other people there too? Had they come to help her?

She then heard another unexpected sound, it was…surely not. It was the sound of one of her captors, Brady…she thought…sobbing uncontrollably.

“Please…please mister…d…don’t…kill me…I’ve never done her any harm…I was just scared of the other guys and didn’t know what else to do!”

Peg would have rolled her eyes had it not been for the pain she was in and for being so terrified, after all, she could not be completely sure these new people who had just turned up could be trusted. Brady was not the most savage and cruel of the men, but he was far from innocent and had indeed taken part in Dolly’s murder, Sue’s torture, and some disgusting acts that Phelps had allowed them to inflict on herself.

“A likely story!” She heard the new man’s voice say. “Get him and let’s take him back. We’ll hold him captive until we decide what’s to be done with him.”

Peg began to feel a little braver now and lifted her head to see what was happening.

About four people walked past her presumably to deal with Brady. She then felt a gentle hand around her waist, lifting her slightly so they could place a bottle of cool water in her dry mouth.

“This poor girl’s really been through something,” a woman’s voice said. “We need to take her to see one of the doctors; I don’t know if she will survive.”

She could hear more voices talking too, but suddenly, everything became a blur until she passed out from sheer exhaustion.

********************************************

It had now been two days since they had buried their unfortunate companion, the former soldier Harry Slack.

The Kinks and their road manager, Stan, along with their companions, Pete’s younger brother David, Sally, Idina, Bert, and the still critically injured Elizabeth had settled at a camp about two miles from the hospital. 

This camp was the nearest place they could find where they had somewhere to rest. The place had been made ‘zombie proof’ surrounded by a fortress made with sharp metal spikes that stuck out all around it in such a way that if any zombie approached, it would simply be impaled on the spikes. So far, the nearest zombies they knew of were confined to the hospital but it was inevitable that there would soon be others wandering about coming from other places.

Even though it was a relief to at last find somewhere relatively safe to rest, eat and even wash and get a change of clothes, the trauma and anxiety about their new and possibly lifelong situation laid heavily on all of them. This camp had been set up by some locals. Some of them had worked in the hospital nearby and were the ones lucky enough not to have been working that day when the whole place had suddenly landed in chaos, with those who had died waking up, attacking staff, patients and visitors until eventually the place could no longer be used for anything and had been abandoned. Leaving the undead trapped inside the building or around the hospital grounds.

Elizabeth was lucky enough that there were two trained doctors there, and three other nurses besides Idina, but even then, it was still touch and go. She had sadly developed an infection from her stab wound and was also delirious. Pete barely left her side; he was sure that if the woman he loved did not pull through, he would be ending his own life right there and then.

Pete sat by Elizabeth, constantly wiping her face with a wet cloth, talking to her in a soothing voice. Telling her to stay with him. He refused to listen to any of the doctors when they said he ought to prepare himself for the worst and had even shouted at one of them for suggesting that she may die.

Mick and Dave as always stayed together, with Dave’s terrible nightmares continuing every time he closed his eyes. The same bird appeared every time and the same people; his mother, father, sister and next-door neighbour repeated to him again and again, the words “WHERE WERE YOU DAVE?”

If it had not been for Mick he would surely go completely insane and do something stupid. 

But Mick was the love of his life and Dave could not abandon him.

Things were as awkward as ever between Ray and Sally. Ray felt that Sally was avoiding him and all she did was stay close to her parents, who he felt had not liked him since they found out he had slept with their daughter. 

Her father, Bert was grieving the loss of his best friend, so he was little to no use to anyone unless he was specifically asked. For example, this afternoon he had gone with his wife Idina and Stan to try to find other supplies for the camp and to see if any still-living people needed rescuing. He had only agreed to this to keep his mind off things. 

The three of them had gone off with a party of four other men; they only allowed Idina to go with them because she was a nurse and because she had proven to be tough for a woman, and in these circumstances, they could not afford to be sexist. Whether you were male or female, you had to pull your weight. Plus they needed all the help they could get. However, Stan had refused to allow any of the Kinks to go with them; he was not ready to lose them just yet.

Ray could see that Sally was alone in her tent now that her parents had gone out. He wondered if he dared go and talk to her…but he was not sure what he wanted to say. She had refused to see him since losing her uncle and knew her parents did not like him which was why she stuck by them all the time…at least that was how it came across to Ray.

Ray looked up at the sky, and he could see from the positioning of the Sun that it was some time in the afternoon, possibly about three o’clock. The sky still had a green hint to it and the whole atmosphere was still polluted with that green mist. He was surprised they were still able to breathe normally.

With his best friend Pete refusing to leave his girlfriend’s side and was not in the mood to talk to anyone, and the fact he did not know any of the other people in the camp. His options were limited to either his brother Dave and their drummer Mick…or Sally. Now he had the chance, he wanted to try and get around her again. 

“Fuck it,” he muttered to himself. “I’m going to talk to her whether she likes it or not. She doesn’t get to avoid me and her parents can’t stop me from seeing her. She’s the one who came to me not the other way round. She can’t mess me about like this!”

He got up and marched over to her tent, “Sally,” he called out, shaking the tent a little to get her attention. “Sally let me in I want to talk to you. You can’t avoid me forever!”

“Please Ray,” Sally replied from inside the tent, “my parents don’t want me to talk to you; they aren’t happy with you and they’re making it really awkward for me making me feel bad so please don’t make it any worse.”

“I don’t care what your parents think and you’re a grown woman, not a teenage girl now come out and talk to me; I’m not going away until you do!”

He then heard a familiar voice behind him, “Ray just leave it yeah?” It was Mick.

Ray turned to face his friend and bandmate, “You mind your own business Mick it’s nothing to do with you!” 

“Sally’s Dad doesn’t like any of us thanks to you…” Mick began.

But Ray interrupted, “I COULDN’T GIVE TWO SHITS HOW SALLY’S DAD FEELS ABOUT US!” He shouted as he pushed Mick backward slightly. “Now just go and do what you always do and hang around with my brother… Christ… you spend so much time with him anyone’d think something more than friendship was going on between the two of you.”

He then turned away and ignored Mick, who shook his head and went back to the tent he was sharing with Dave.

Ray then continued calling to Sally, “Sally I’m still here and I’m not going away now let me in or I’ll keep shouting and I don’t care who hears it!”

He then heard the zip being undone and the sound of someone sighing, “All right all right come in just stop drawing attention.”

“Thank you,” Ray said with a smile as he went inside.”

“Ray, what do you want?” Sally sighed again as she sat crossed-legged on her sleeping bag. “I don’t know how long Mum and Dad are going to be and…”

“I don’t care if they come back in the next few minutes!” Ray said stubbornly as he sat beside her. “They can’t tell me what to do and they can’t tell you what to do. I want to know why you’ve been avoiding me and I want to know now!”

“I haven’t been avoiding you Ray,” Sally replied looking harassed. “You know Dad’s been going through a hard time because Uncle Harry died and…”

“Excuse me but absolutely everyone is going through a hard time!” Ray said in disbelief at what he saw as her pathetic excuses. “I’ve lost my parents, I’ve lost one of my sisters, I don’t know if anyone else in my family is still alive!”

“And I’m sorry about that Ray I really am,” Sally said, trying to look sympathetic but still looking at Ray like she did not want him there. “But my Dad’s been worse than ever since we lost Uncle Harry and Mum hasn’t been much better. She doesn’t even know Pete’s girlfriend Elizabeth and already she’s implying that she would have preferred her as a daughter. She’s making me feel like I’m a complete disgrace and all because of you.”

“All because of me?” Ray scoffed in complete disbelief. “Oh my life , it was YOU that knocked on MY FUCKING door in the first place and pretty much offered yourself on a plate. I never forced you to get into bed with me. And…and now you’re telling me it meant NOTHING?”

Sally remained silent and did not know what to say. She did not want to lie and say she had no feelings for Ray at all, but at the same time, she did not want to upset her parents any more than she had already.

“I don’t understand you Sally,” Ray said sadly. “You seemed like such a nice girl, not at all the kind who sleeps with someone and then says it meant nothing like it was just a bit of fun. Have you played this game with other guys then?”

“No, I haven’t!” Sally protested. “How dare you say that. You’re the only man I’ve ever been with and I never said it meant nothing. I came to you because you seemed lonely and I didn’t want you to be on your own or do anything stupid. I didn’t think you’d want anything serious because I knew that you’d just been through a bad breakup and also lost your parents. You seemed to have nobody. Pete had Elizabeth and by God, I do hope he doesn’t lose her. Your brother Dave seems very close to Mick and you seemed alone. And yes, I did…no I do…fancy you and have done for a long time even before I met you. However I didn’t think you’d want anything more than a one-night stand because…well let’s face it, it’s hardly the best time to get into a relationship. I came to you not just because I felt sorry for you, and not just because I fancied you, but also because I’ve never…I was a virgin, and I didn’t know how long I would have left to live. None of us do. You are gentle and kind and not like the other men I’ve met. I wanted my first time to be with someone special, even if it was going to be my first and last time with them!”

Ray did not know what to say for a minute. He was unsure whether Sally was telling him that yes she wanted him or yes what happened between them meant something to her but nothing else could happen because what was the point? He knew what he wanted so he decided to ask her.

“I know we hardly know each other Sally,” he acknowledged. “But what if I said I wanted more than what happened the other night? Would you be up for that?”

He took hold of her hands and held them gently in his. She looked into his kind eyes and felt as though she could just melt. All she could do was smile and nod her head.

Ray ran his fingers through her short, blonde hair. It sent shivers down her spine. At that moment in time, they seemed to forget they were in the middle of an apocalypse. 

Sally could not deny her feelings anymore and moved in slowly, closing her eyes and waiting for the feeling of his lips against her own. She just forgot herself and everything else around her.

Before anything else could happen, they were interrupted by some shouting from outside.

“Quick, we need a doctor right now!”

Ray felt worried; he hoped Elizabeth had not taken a turn for the worst.

He took hold of Sally’s hand and led her outside. The large gates had been opened and Stan had returned along with the group he had gone out with. He was carrying what looked like a bundle in his arms. He ran straight to the medical facility, which was a large marquee tent where the few doctors they had were treating the sick and injured, carrying the bundle with him. Looking again. Ray could see that he was carrying a person. Sally saw her mother and ran up to her asking what had happened.

“We found this young girl about half a mile from here,” she replied, looking in concern after Stan. “We don’t know if she’s been bitten at all but whatever has happened to her, she is in a bad way.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Sally asked with concern.

“Not at the moment my darling,” Idina replied. “We had to fight off a few zombies coming back, but luckily no more than we could handle. No, and I’m not sure you’ll want to see her in the state she’s in…she’s been running for miles. With her injuries though, I’m surprised she was able to walk, let alone run.”

“What happens if she has been bitten?” Sally asked. “Won’t it be dangerous?”

“It’s ok I’ve been in the medical tent,” Idina said reassuringly. “All the patients are kept separate and in cages, just in case they die and become zombies. Don’t worry they are treated well, it’s just a precaution. Then if they die, the cage is locked until they return from the dead, then…well they are treated accordingly if you know what I mean.”

Sally’s father, Bert approached, looking hot and flustered from having fought off two zombies on his way back, and the heat which did not help in a situation like this.

“Are you okay Dad?” Sally asked. “Let me get you some water.”

Ray was once again back to being ignored by the woman he was falling in love with more and more. Sadly it did not look like things were going to change at this point in time, but at least he seemed to have got somewhere with Sally and he was glad he had spoken to her.

He decided to leave her to take care of her father for a while. He went over to Mick and Dave’s tent to talk to them. Any company was better than nothing. Mick was sitting outside the tent which was luckily under the shade of a large tree. The drummer was reading a book. Ray asked where Dave was. Mick told him that Dave was trying to catch up on sleep because he wasn’t sleeping well at night.

Ray apologised to Mick for having a go at him earlier.

“Oh it’s okay forget it,” Mick said kindly. “You’re upset, I understand.”

“Not as upset as I was before,” Ray said, sitting down near his friend. “Not now that I’ve spoken to Sally.”

I’m glad,” Mick responded. “As long as you’re okay.”

“Well, I’m certainly better than the poor woman they brought in just now,” Ray said, shaking his head sadly. “She looked pretty much, dead…in fact, I didn’t even realise it was a person that Stan was carrying until I looked more closely.”

“God…I wonder how many people they’ve got in that hospital tent…or whatever they call it,”  Mick said looking thoughtful. 

“What are you reading?” Ray asked the drummer.

“Oh just a book I picked up from that tent over there,” Mick replied pointing with his finger at a large, red tent at the other end of the camp. “It’s like a mini library and you’re allowed to go and borrow a book and put it back when you’ve finished it.”

“Oh right, maybe I’ll go and get one,” Ray said thoughtfully.

“I’d have thought you’d have lots of song ideas in your head by now,” Mick said with a smile.

“Not sure there’s any point now I won’t be able to record them,” Ray shrugged. “But yeah maybe I will write them anyway.”

“Oh look, Stan’s coming over,” Mick said looking up. “Hope he’s all right.”

Stan looked far from all right. He came over to where the two men were sitting on the grass, looking tired from the heat, traumatised and in need of rest. He sat on one of the deckchairs nearby, clutching a cup of water in his hand.

“You okay Stan?” Mick asked, knowing it was a silly question.

“No not really,” the road manager replied in a weak voice. “I seriously hope I don’t have to go out there again today; it’s so dangerous and you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes I don’t even know if I can cope with it all and just want to opt-out.”

“Opt-out?” Mick asked, not sure he liked the sound of those words.

“Yeah…end it all!” Stan said, taking a sip of water.

“What?” Ray and Mick both said together.

“I know I’m supposed to be the strong one,” Stan said in a sad voice. “And I’m sorry to make everything about me but after everything that’s happened, I can’t help but wonder how much more of this I can take. If anything happened to you boys, I don’t know how I’d cope and the fear of losing any of you four boys just scares me so much and…”

“Hey stop right there!” Mick protested, getting up and going to where the roadie was sitting. “We are grown men okay! We’re not little boys you need to watch over! We are just as strong as you! Actually…no scratch that, we are younger and fitter than you! Those two men may have fought in the last world war, and you may have some experience with…military or whatever but you know, myself, Ray and Dave and Pete…oh and his brother David if he tried hard enough…we are all younger and stronger. And I think we’re sort of getting the hang of fighting off these zombies. Don’t you remember how brave we were in dealing with them at Ray and Dave’s house? If we can survive that, then I think we’ve got a chance of surviving a lot more!”

“Mick’s right,” Ray agreed, nodding his head. “Stan you’ve got to stop treating us like kids okay; you’re not helping anyone. Yeah, you can feel down sometimes like you’re feeling down now but…”

They were interrupted by Pete who had finally decided to come and see them, “All right you guys, thought I’d join you for a bit.”

“Hey Pete,” Ray said, pleased to see his friend come out at last. “How’s Elizabeth doing?”

“She’s sleeping,” Pete informed. “I thought I’d come out and stretch my legs but I don’t like to leave her too long. She seemed to have come down with something and that’s why she was so ill but she looks a lot better.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Ray said, smiling. He had cheered up considerably since talking to Sally and he felt he was getting somewhere with her. “You know, I’m sure she’ll be fine. I think she would have died by now after being stabbed, but maybe she wasn’t stabbed deep enough.”

“Course she’s going to be fine!” Pete retorted as he joined his friend on the grass in the cool shade. “My girl is a fighter; it’s going to take more than a stab wound to stop her. Anyway haven’t we got someone missing? Where’s Dave?”

“Oh, he’s asleep,” Mick smiled, with a serene look at the mention of Dave. “He hardly got a wink of sleep last night; he’s been having really bad nightmares since all this.”

“Poor Dave,” Pete sighed and shook his head. “When is all this going to end?”

“We’re all going through it though,” Ray shrugged. “I don’t think anyone is suffering more than anyone else.”

As the three of them were talking, they did not notice that Stan had suddenly gotten up and was reaching into his belt for a knife. 

They also did not hear him when he said in a quiet, scared voice, “Boys!”

The three Kinks had now started talking about the laughs they would have in the recording studio and even the fights Ray and Dave sometimes had so they did not take any notice when Stan crept past them or even when Stan said, “Pete I’m so sorry but you need to listen to me!”

Just as the boys began talking about their first tour, Pete’s brother David came running up to them looking panicked, “Pete you need to stop talking and get up right now!”

“What do you want now David?” Pete said, looking annoyed. “I’m talking with my mates so if you…”

“Pete, Elizabeth’s out of her tent!” David hissed, shaking his older brother in a panicked sort of way that Pete could not make sense of. “She’s a…”

“Elizabeth’s up?” Pete said in surprise. He turned around and sure enough, his girlfriend had got up from her sick bed and seemed to be limping towards them, which at first he thought nothing of, after all, she had been stabbed, and walking may still be painful for her, plus the heat was still intense.

Pete smiled and began to walk toward her, then was completely taken by surprise when his brother took hold of him, “NO PETE, STAY AWAY FROM HER!”

Then Stan responded with, “Don’t raise your voice!”

“What’s wrong with you?” Pete became annoyed at his brother and Stan. “Why are you both acting like this? Stan, why are you staring at her like that? She’s allowed to come out for some fresh air isn’t she?”

“SHE’S A ZOMBIE PETE!” David yelled in his brother’s face.

“Stay back,” Stan said as calmly as ever. “Ray, Mick, go into the tent and protect Dave!”

“Protect Dave from what?” Pete demanded. “Why are you acting like this? It’s ELIZABETH! She’s my girl she’s…”

As Elizabeth limped closer to them, a grunting sound could be heard coming from her mouth, then a moan. By this time, Sally and her father had come out to see what was going on.

“Oh my goodness!” Sally said with a horrified gasp. “She died…I’m so sorry Pete!”

“It’s all right,” Pete said calmly. “She knows me, she wouldn’t hurt me. Elizabeth, honey it’s me. You’re going to be okay you’re just…”

“It doesn’t work like that!” Sally tried to tell him but Pete was not having it.

“SHUT UP!” Pete yelled, still refusing to take his eyes off his undead girlfriend. “SHE WOULDN’T JUST TURN INTO A ZOMBIE…NOT MY ELIZABETH.”

They were then interrupted by several screams of, “ZOMBIE!”

By now, other dwellers of the camp had emerged from their tents to see what the shouting was about, and some of them had gotten into a panic.

A woman was heard shouting, “THERE’S A ZOMBIE LOOSE SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!”

All this noise was causing the zombie that used to be Elizabeth to look around in confusion with all the distractions and the noise coming from all around her. 

Stan decided to take charge of the frightened inhabitants of the camp, “It’s all right everyone, go back to your tents,” he said as he walked around ushering them all away.”

Then two men armed with rifles turned up. They had been alerted to all the noise.

“Did someone say 'zombie?'” One of them asked.

These men were from the Army and were helping to keep the camp safe.

“Please,” Stan implored the two men. “It’s just one zombie and it’s someone we care about. Can you please let us as a group deal with it? I promise no one is going to get hurt.”

The two men looked at one another doubtfully, then the second man, who had by now noticed how upset Pete was at realising his girlfriend really was dead and was not coming back, said, “Well all right but we are going to have to stick around just to be on the safe side, and she needs to be put down within the next five minutes otherwise we’ll have to do it.”

Stan nodded to show he understood. Then he turned to see that Pete was crying and shaking inconsolably. Sally had managed to tackle zombie Elizabeth and was holding her hands behind her back. Bert then ran to help his daughter. 

Ray, seeing how distraught his best friend was, could not simply sit in the tent as Stan had instructed, so he ran up to Pete and put his arm around him.

“Pete, listen,” Ray said as he started to cry too. “I’m so sorry Elizabeth died, but look at her. She’s not Elizabeth anymore. Seeing that thing now, there’s nothing left of the woman you love. We can’t leave her like that.”

Pete looked through his tears, he saw that by now, Bert and Sally had wrestled the zombie to the ground, with Bert securely holding her down with his foot on her chest.

“Give her some dignity Pete,” Bert pleaded with him. “I don’t want to be holding her down like this, but she’s getting more aggressive; I don’t have a choice.”

Mick, now he could see that the zombie had been restrained, felt confident enough to leave Dave who was still sleeping. He had been afraid she would come near the tent so he made sure he kept watch with his weapon.

He came over to Pete so that he too could show support to his bandmate.

“We’re here for you Pete,” Mick whispered soothingly. 

“I…d…don’t think I can do it,” Pete sobbed. “I can’t bring myself to kill her.”

“She’s already dead Pete,” Ray said, rubbing his friend’s back. “You can’t kill someone who’s already dead.”

“She would want you to do this Pete,” Sally said soothingly. “If you loved her, you would.”

The men from the Army called out three other strong-looking men to bring out three small sacks full of something heavy that was placed over Elizabeth’s arms, chest and legs to stop her from moving so that Bert did not have to hold her down. It was such a sad sight to see her like that. 

‘The longer you leave it the more aggressive she’ll become,” the second Army soldier informed Pete, kindly but in a matter-of-fact manner.

Stan took the pistol from his belt and handed it to a still sobbing Pete, “Here Pete,” he said gently. “There’s about two bullets left; all you have to do is point it to the side of her head and pull the trigger. Firing a gun isn’t hard once you get used to it.”

Pete blindly took the gun, then gazed at his undead girlfriend. He could barely think. She was wriggling about under the heavy sacks, her eyes that had once been a beautiful brown were now white and pale blue with no pupils. Pete remembered how he had tried to put down the band’s undead manager Robert and had failed miserably, resulting in Grenville being bitten. He could not fail Elizabeth as he had failed those two.

He knew that they were right, he knew there was no bringing his girlfriend back, and to leave her in the state she was in would be cruel and an insult to her memory. She needed to be all the way dead and buried in a dignified way. 

Pete, although he was still sobbing, composed himself and approached her. He knelt down next to Elizabeth’s writhing, snarling body. She looked at him and he knew at once that she did not recognise him. All he was to her now was a meal that she so desperately wanted to sink her teeth into.

The rest of the group watched, Stan, Ray and Mick stood together, arms around each other, crying. Then Stan told them, “You might want to cover your ears.”

“Look where you’re stubbornness has got you babe,” Pete said as he tried to stroke her hair, but all she did was try to bite his hand. He moved it away quickly.

Pete, who could not bear to see her in this way anymore, quickly pointed the gun at her head, but he struggled to keep her head still. One wrong move and he would be bitten.

Then unexpectedly. Elizabeth’s undead corpse became stronger somehow, and she managed to wriggle her way out from under the heavy sacks placed on top of her.

“Pete what are you doing? Don’t waste time!” Stan warned him.

The zombie grabbed hold of Pete’s arm, causing panic in everyone and the Army men to get ready their weapons. Before Elizabeth could bite him, Pete pushed her back down, she still had hold of one of his arms. He quickly put the gun to her head once again, this time pulling at the trigger.

When you have never fired a gun before as Pete had never, it’s surprising how different it is from all the Hollywood movies and nowhere near as easy as it looks. It felt like that for Pete now, and he was scared he would not be able to do it, but he could not fail Elizabeth as he had failed Robert and Grenville. He pulled the trigger as hard as he could, waiting…then suddenly…BANG!!!

The noise made several birds fly from their trees. It was all over!