It’s Not Safe Here, A Zombie Blog

Season 1 Episode 4

Wake up! Wake up! shouted Sarah, violently shaking Adam as he lay prostrate on the cold tarmac. A fire had started in two of the cars along Old Kent Road and was now roaring into life, casting an orange glow against the buildings and zombies alike. As Becca looked down the street the scene was something out of a horror film, the dead lay everywhere and the undead were washing over them. This is chaos, this has to stop, something has to stop. This can’t be real she thought as she returned to look at Adam. Sarah and Phil kept shaking him, harder each time, forlornly hoping that somehow he would wake up. The shaking seemed to bring some form of movement and sings of life started to return but they were slow and insufficient. What are we going to do? We can’t stay here, I hope those men don’t come back…Phil gave him a sharp slap to the face which seemed to bring him fully into conscientiousness. He was still dazed and mumbling, but he was awake.

She could hear screams coming from somewhere but she couldn’t tell from where, the turbulent scene before the group was all consuming and the danger was mounting. “We need to get him up, if we stay here we’ll all die!” shouted Phil, “here help me, we need to carry him!”. It took all three of them to pick him up and shoulder his weight on their shoulders. They moved away towards the west of the roundabout, where they soldiers had come from originally, and intended to head towards Elephant and Castle. They were wary as the road had seemed safe but then the soldiers had come, what if there are more of them? The others may not leave us be. They kept walking, dragging Adam while struggling to hold him up, they took it in turns to carry him in the hope of easing the load. They got half way to the next roundabout when Phil buckled under the weight of carrying Adam and thumped into the ground, downing himself, Adam and Sarah. He let out a yelp as his knee smashed into the pavement; he rolled on his back clutching his knee. Miraculously after several minutes had gone by, Phil seemed to be easing in pain. Hazily Adam shook his head in attempt to clear the blurriness from his vision before grabbing the back of his head. “What the hell happened? Where are we? And where is that captain!” he said warily. “You ok? you were knocked out by that captain, they shot some more people and then drove off. We were hidden behind a car so luckily they didn’t see us. We carried you from the roundabout to here” replied Becca. And struggled to do even that, how are we going to escape if we can’t even carry you half a mile? She looked back and could see the glow of fires blazing across the December sky. The night seemed darker these past few hours and suddenly she felt a chill go through her that wasn’t from the frosty weather. She felt as if evil itself had started to crawl up her spine, she still couldn’t get her head around what had happened in the past hour and she had cried enough tears she didn’t know what to do. She felt a tear start to fall down her cheek; she’d cried so much that she felt it was now a tap that couldn’t be turned off. “What are we going to do?” she said, lump in her throat as she thought of Dav dying and then coming back again. Adam checked himself to make sure he was ok before getting onto one knee. Phil was starting to look less in pain as well and was beginning to attempt to stand, wincing as he did so. That fall must have hurt less than it looked. Adam gathered his breath and then began to think. “Well I think our choice has been made for us. We can’t go anywhere excep- aarrggghh” his face screwed up in pain as he went to cradle the back of his head “sorry….we can’t go anywhere except west. I think our best bet lies in getting the hell out of this place, whether that’s by car or any other way. We need to get out now”. “How are we going to get out?” asked Sarah “the roads are getting dangerous and the further west we go the more people we will encounter. It looks like this won’t stay quiet for long”. Becca remembered the New years Eve festivities then, all those people….they have no idea what is coming. “I know there will be more people, and we will warn as many as we can, but something feels wrong. There should be more people about” said Adam. The group looked back towards Old Kent Road as several screams were heard from that direction and a woman ran towards the group then turned into another street. Moments later more of the undead could be seen chasing after her. The group was far enough away that they weren’t seen by them. Even still, it made them think about moving on soon. The road was eerily quiet, all of them felt it, and there usually were cars, buses, bikes, mopeds buzzing around. All manner of vehicles taking people to and from for whatever reason, but this time….”We need to keep moving” said Adam wincing in pain as he tried to stand. “Look at yourself! You can hardly breathe let alone walk! We need to rest” replied Becca, This is hopeless. “I know, I know….but we can’t, we just can’t stop. If we do they will catch up to us and they will eat us” said Adam grimly, his face bleak and fearful. Maybe it was the horror of what had already happened, or maybe it was the ghost like street, but Becca felt truly scared for the first time. The shock of all that had happened to Dav, Hamish and all the other people they had seen just didn’t seem to be processing. But this moment was, she felt it, she felt the cold of the December air moving against her like an intruder, felt her heart beat fast as she began to recuperate after carrying Adam. And the darkness of the street felt threatening and oppressive. “I think your right, we do need to keep moving” she said, and the sooner we are out of here the better. I don’t like this place.

They rested only a few more moments for fear of the undead horde descending upon them. They talked about where to head once they reached Elephant and Castle which was only half a mile away now. They talked about what to do if they were attacked and what they should do if the worst should happen or one of them should get bitten or killed. It was extremely uncomfortable to talk about as the thought was morbid and unnerving. But Becca was coming to the realization that death was a very real threat that could come at any time for any of them. “Ok so we all know what to do when we get to Elephant and Castle?” asked Adam. “Yes” concurred the group. “We try and see if the tube is working, if it is we see if we can use it to get away from the city. I know its not great as the idea of being trapped down there is horrible, but its fast and we could potentially help others. If it isn’t then we make for the river and try and find a boat to take us up stream” said Sarah. They talked about a car but with London quickly spiraling out of control and with no emergency services arriving they thought it unwise. They all agreed that they should stick together and stay as close as possible; they wouldn’t split up for anything and certainly no more heroics of talking to men in uniform. “Ok now we are all relatively unhurt, Phil how’s your knee?” said Adam “it’s ok” he replied, his small frame shaking in the cold, “good, now that we are ok lets try to keep moving swiftly and get the hell out of the forsaken city”. They moved out and Becca felt good for leaving the dark and foreboding streets behind them and heading west on the road again to the lights of Elephant and Castle. She hoped that there would be some form of salvation there for them, she hoped some police or other emergency service would be there guiding people and setting up a quarantine. But when they reached it there wasn’t anyone but a few people and the roundabout itself. As they passed them the group tried to warn people of the dangers of what was coming their way, but many were jovial and drunk, and didn’t take what they said seriously. Some looked at Adam strangely, his white top hardly visible with all the blood around it, but nobody thought to ask if he was injured. Most just simply ignored him, one man shouted out “It aint Halloween! Wrong party mate!” before walking off without a care in the world. There all going to die They reached the underground station and found it open with two underground staff manning the barriers. When the group came in the two looked at them with shock, they stood there for a moment in stunned silence looking at Adam and Phil, who were both covered in blood. “Can you help us?” asked Phil after there was a pause of silence. “The underground staff member on their side of the barrier spoke first, a heavy set black man who Becca guessed was in his fifties. “Oh my God, are you ok? What happened?” “Your not going to believe us when we tell you, but we swear this is completely true. But first can you ring the police or an ambulance at least. We need help, and there are many people who need help on Old Kent Road” if there’s still anybody left… “We’ve….We’ve been attacked by……well…..zombies” said Adam. The staff members couldn’t believe what he was saying and stood there looking at him for a moment with a look that said ‘this man is crazy’. “Ok…well I’ll ring for an ambulance and we’ll see about getting you some help ok? Bill can you pass me the phone” said the staff member looking at his colleague with an outstretched arm waiting for the phone. The group looked at each other with a mix of worry and relief on their faces. He doesn’t believe us, but that won’t matter soon, they will be here soon. He better start ringing faster.

“Hmm, that’s funny the line seems to be down…..Bill, have a go for me would you?” he said to the other staff member. It was then that Becca heard the scream, a shrill in the cold night air that pierced through her, all in the station looked at the open entrance and silence fell among them. Oh my God, they are here, how could they catch up so quickly? She heard more screams and frightened shouts, we are going to die, this station will be our tomb. Her thoughts went to Dav and the man biting chunks of flesh from his body, blood pouring out of his wounds. She attached those thoughts to the screams she heard becoming more regular. “What was that?” said the underground staff member. “Like we said, zombies! Now have you gotten through to anyone? Ambulance, fire, police, anyone!?” said Adam frantically. The staff member on the groups side of the barrier seemed confused and in shock, the sounds he was hearing were horrifying and seemed to paralyze him for a second. “Bill….have you, have. Ha-ha ha-have you got through?” he said looking at his counterpart. “No……there’s….there’s no ring tone……the lines dead”. “Is the tube working? We need to get out of here and save as many people as we can!” shouted Phil. Becca looked at the entrance; people were starting to run past, those who were drunk came soon after stumbling and falling all over the place. We need to go “we need to get out of here guys” she said to the group, her eyes still fixed on the entrance. “Bill, BILL! Look at me! Is it working!” shouted Adam. “Yes…ye-yes its working, the lifts coming up now, we can go down and use the trains to get away” replied Bill who was turning white with fear. “Look here it is!” he said with hopefulness in his voice. As the doors opened his face turned even whiter as the body of a man flopped out of the door like a sack of potatoes. “He’s dead!” shouted Bill. Becca swung round, transfixed on what came next. As the blood began to pool around the dead mans body the undead came pouring out of the lift and descended on Bill. He didn’t stand a chance; they closed on him before anyone could do anything to help him, Becca and the group watched in horror as zombie after zombie bit into Bills flesh and ripped chunks of tissue and meat off of arm, back and neck. More were clambering over the barriers and sprawling up the stairs. “Go! Now!” shouted Adam as the group started to hurriedly exit the station. “Quickly! Follow me!” shouted Phil who reached the exit first.

The group ran for their lives; Becca looked behind her to see the zombies from Old Kent Road had begun to swarm over the entire area behind them. She saw two drunken people try to fight a group of them off, but in their inebriate state were too weak to resist them. As he turned to face the group again she heard a scream be cut off by the stomach gurgling sound of blood filling a windpipe which had been ripped open. They kept running, across the roundabout and towards Vauxhall. They ran and ran and ran, past office buildings, car parks, theaters, pub, clubs and bus stops, never looking back. The past tiredness seemed to dissipate and be replaced by a burning desire to escape the doom which seemed to have fallen on London. When they finally stopped they had reached the MI6 building on the banks of the river Thames. Things were quiet here as well, although there were a few more people than at Elephant and Castle there were not many more. There seemed to be stirrings of trouble however. The jovial spirit that had been found earlier was fading fast. As they caught their breath they noticed fights breaking out in corner shops and convenience stores. They all guessed that word was now spreading rapidly of something horrible going on in south east London and panic was setting in. They should not be fighting, but fleeing, the longer they delay the less chance they’ll have. After seeing what had happened at the underground station she knew now that things were hopeless, the army wasn’t going to help, and the emergency services were unavailable, which was still confusing and worrying. Why had nobody picked up? Surely there must be someone. As the situation around them seemed to be worsening Becca thought for a moment to end it all. Find some way in which this could all be over quickly. She had hoped that something, or someone, would save them, that this would all be a freak accident or better yet, a dream. But when the reality and full weight of what was truly happening hit her it became almost too much to bear. I could just walk into the Thames, let the murky brown water wash over me. It seemed almost peaceful to her. “Now we are at the river we need to find a boat, anything that is relatively fast and can hold all four of us. We need to stick together though, I don’t want anyone to get hurt” said Adam looking into Phil, Sarah and Becca’s eyes. It was moments like this that brought her back, she knew that the three of them cared about her, and that made her want to survive. Who knows, things might be better outside the city. Things seemed to be crumbling around her and the others but she had a feeling that if she was with them, she would be ok. “I know there is a dock near by for the clipper boast service, perhaps there will be something small there as well?” said Phil. “Its as good a plan as any, Phil lead the way” replied Adam. There was a hesitation in Phil however, for a moment he just stood there, surveying the unfolding carnage of panic driven fights. In the past few minutes they had been talking and resting, the tension and fear had risen, more people were running and scrambling for escape or food. Adam put a blood soaked hand on Phil’s shoulder, “You ok? You can do this, just one foot in front of the other. We need to find a boat”. “Yeah, I’m fine….I just had a moment where I thought about my sister, do you think she’s safe?” replied Phil. “I don’t know…but we can look for her later, right now we need to leave before its too late”. Sarah touched his shoulder, Becca could see tears starting to form on her flushed cheeks. It made her think of her own family and whether she would see them again. She took comfort in the fact that they were in Kent and hopefully that was still safe. An explosion snapped them all out of the moment and back to the present. The group looked round and saw a car had exploded. In a frantic speed to escape, a man had crashed the car into a bus which such force that the car had burst into flames. “We need to go” said Adam, his tone giving away his fear. Out of the corner of her eye Becca glimpsed something swaying forward. As she turned to look at it she heard a woman give out a scream. Zombies were coming up the road and were making their way towards the people and the flames. “quickly lets go!” shouted Adam.

They moved out again, following the river bank until they came across the small dock where the Thames clipper river service pulled in and out daily. The large high seed transport boat wasn’t there but another boat was moored up on the left of the dock. It was a royal national life boat institution vessel, nothing too big as it seemed to be servicing just the Thames only, but it would suit the group’s needs. As the descended the pier the wind was howling and an icy winter’s chill crept across Becca’s face. “Does anyone know where the keys would be!? More importantly, does anyone know how to drive this thing?” asked Adam. “You mean you don’t know how to drive this!” shouted Becca, This is just what we need. What a stupid idea, we are going to die here, “why didn’t you think of that before you led us into a death spot!” “Hey I’m trying my best! I’m sure it can’t be that hard! Unless you have a better idea pipe down and help me find the keys!” snapped back Adam. “I might be able to work it” said Sarah. The group stopped and all looked at her, Adam in hope, Phil and Becca in surprise. “How? Have you driven a boat before?” asked Adam intently. “Well, not as big as this but my dad used to have a boat when me, my sister and brother were younger. He taught us how to drive it. It was only a small boat but the mechanics of it should roughly be the same” she replied, her black hair ruffling in the winter wind. “Your full of surprises aren’t you Miss Jones” said Phil, a smile beginning to cross his face. Even in all the chaos and horror that was happening, there were still nice moments and joy to be found Becca noticed. “Well then lets get moving, Sarah tell us what to do” said Adam. They found the keys in a lock box which they had to smash open and Sarah directed them on what to do to make the boat ready to launch, while she got to grips with the controls. Once all was ready to go Sarah turned the keys and the boat roared into life. They heard screams and shouts coming from the beyond the pier “Go!” shouted Adam as he and Becca saw a man tumble down the pier covered in blood and bleeding from his shoulder. Following him were three zombies who closed on him when he reached the bottom and slipped on the frosty dock. The engine sped up and the boat launched from the dock with jerk that nearly knocked Becca over. As she looked around the boat they saw that where they were standing was the most spacious on the boat, it had a flat deck which she guessed must be used for when the lifeboat rescued someone. There was a small staircase to the right of the control box which led below deck that Phil was checking out. As he emerged they heard more explosions and a riot of noise coming from the banks of the river. Becca looked at her watch, in all the chaos of the night she had forgotten the time and even to some degree that it was New years Eve. Ten minutes to go…

The boat meandered up the river, “where are we going?” shouted Sarah from the controls. “Head east passing Westminster towards the Tower of London, we need to get to the Thames Estuary and head for the coast!” shouted Adam in reply. “The coast!” said Phil, “yes the coast, we can’t stay here! Anywhere in the city will be overrun soon enough! Our best chance is to head out and away from the it” replied Adam. Sarah put the boat to going faster, but that will mean going back the way we came…into the heart of the city! “We can’t go there! We have just run from Bermondsey! They’ll have reached Tower Bridge by now!” shouted Becca. “I know, but we have to go that way, we will be safe on the boat I hope” replied Adam. This didn’t fill Becca with confidence and the thought of dying again came back to her on the cold windswept deck of the lifeboat. The boat went under Vauxhall Bridge and began to steam ahead towards Westminster Bridge and the lit up parliament building by it. As she looked on the banks of the river she could see people running, fighting or dying, chaos was now beginning to spread across both banks and she saw more of the undead crossing the bridges to the north bank of the river. Oh my God, we are going to die; we won’t be able to make it. They’ll spread to Oxford Circus and from there they’ll head west to marble arch. Oh dear God no… As they crossed under the bridge before Westminster they saw a man and woman jump into the Thames in the forlorn hope that the water would save them. She watched as the shock of the cold water hit them like a punch in the mouth. She watched as the struggled to stay afloat and then went under the water; she didn’t see them come back up… They pressed on under Westminster Bridge and a sick feeling went through Becca as they passed the thought that someone or a zombie would try and jump onto the boat was terrifying. She wanted to help people, get them on the boat but she didn’t know how. The idea of mooring the boat up against the bank came to her, but then she didn’t know if they would get off it again. Not to mention that the sight of the boat could cause a stampede, causing more harm than good. I have to trust Adam, although that’s hard right now, he seems to know what he’s doing. Nobody did jump but she did hear the screams of the dying and wounded, as well as the snarls and unearthly sounds of the undead marching ever onwards. As they passed the other side of Westminster Bridge Becca heard her watch beep, she looked and saw that it was now midnight.

Happy New Year…. She looked at both sides of the banks of the River Thames, they were awash with people and commotion, both sides now were being overrun with the undead and people were running and trampling on each other to escape. The screams seemed to reach an unbearable level as hundreds of thousands of people tried to escape the evil which was lumbering after them. It seemed no matter what they did the undead seemed to just keep coming, there must be hundreds of them now, if not thousands! She saw many try to fight them off only to become overpowered by the horde of the undead. As they continued to the London eye Big Ben on its automatic timer chimed in the New Year in the most solemn tolling of the bells she had ever heard. At the same time boats moored in the Thames itself began to spark into life. The firework display which happens every year was on an automatic timer as well and suddenly the cold New Year air was awash with colours of green, yellow and red. The eruption of noise from the fireworks seemed to mask the sound of the dying but did nothing for the horror they saw with their eyes. The group watched as limbs were torn from bodies and flesh was gnawed and ripped, blood pouring out of open, festering wounds. As the firework display raged on they passed by it, the group’s faces thinking they had seen all the horror possible were pale with shock at the amount of death erupting around them. It was total chaos and anarchy as the passed under Waterloo Bridge. All along both sides the horror continued, fires were erupting everywhere and the noise was deafening again, now that they had passed the immediate area of the firework display. “If this thing can go any faster make it!” shouted Adam to Sarah, “This is all it has!” she shouted back. Becca watched as men and women tried desperately to escape. She watched a man tried to climb a tree only to be kicked down by someone who was already in it. He fell with a thud to the ground and was consumed by a group of zombies who had been closing in on him. As they passed under the Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern gallery people saw their lifeboat and tried to land on it. Frantically trying to escape the horde of zombies which were infesting both sides of the bridge, many mistimed their jump and splashed into the water either side of the boat, a number of zombies followed them and screams could be heard as the murky brown waters were turned red. “Here help me!” shouted Adam to Becca as one person hit the side of the boat before going into the water, he only had a moment but had grasped onto the side of the boat with all his might. She could se his face was turning cold due to the icy water as Becca and Adam pulled him up and onboard the boat. Others continued to try when they came through the other side but again mistimed the jump and landed in the water instead. “Thank you!” he said as he began to shiver from the cold water and raw wind blowing through the river. Becca was feeling cold now as well; they had been active up to the point of getting on the boat which had staved it off, but not any longer. Standing still on the boat had meant the warmth had left her rapidly and the sweat on her body had turned to icicles. The boat continued to traverse through the Thames as Adam and Phil looked for a blanket for the man who looked to be getting worse by the minute.

The boat passed under Southwark Bridge and London Bridge with similar scenes of horror on both. As they passed under London Bridge a man was bent halfway over the side, his throat was covered in blood and most was dripping down into the Thames. The group saw it too late to react and it poured over the boat in a long line of dark red from bow to stern. There was a frantic sense of panic and frustration bubbling up in Becca, they had made it this far but Tower Bridge was coming up, its lights shining out amongst the gore and death being played out on it. As they approached, the scene seemed worse; Becca looked up and saw a group of people become hemmed in to one of the sides. The front two people held up their arms to shield themselves from the undead but to no avail, they bit into the forearm flesh like a hot knife through butter. One of those at the back saw their approaching boat and jumped to save himself, only to land on the bow and break both his legs before keeling over and slipping it into the water. Becca let out a scream at the sounds of his bones cracking upon impact. Phil and Adam kept watch to see if anyone else would try and jump for the boat, but nobody else did, they were running for their lives or dying as they tried. As they reached other side of that massive structural bridge she felt a sigh of relief mix into the frustration and fear. There were no more bridges to pass under, which meant no more people trying to get on board. “Here mate come down to the lower part of the boat, you need to keep warm. What’s your name?” said Adam putting his arm around the shivering man who by now looked terrible. “Da-Dan-Da-Daniel” he replied. As Phil and Adam were taking him below decks Becca moved into the control box where Sarah was gripping the wheel, her knuckles white from holding it so hard. “Are you ok?” asked Becca. Sarah began to cry, “I tried to keep my eyes fixed on the river, just keep looking forward. But I couldn’t…..did you see that man who jumped and broke his legs when he hit the boat?” replied Sarah. “Yeah….I did…” said Becca. They stood in silence for a while, both trying to think of other things than the horror that they had just witnessed. Becca looked towards the rear of the boat, as they continued to move through the river, the sounds of horror could still be heard as more fire seemed to be engulfing the city. The river was giving a panoramic view to the carnage that was now overwhelming the capital; it was becoming hard for her to take it all in. As the cold dark night replaced the fireworks and lights of the embankment, all she kept thinking of was that this nightmare was not over, it was only just beginning. And even though they were on a boat, it wasn’t safe here anymore.