WalkerZ - A Zombie Apocalypse Story

Chapter 21 - Turn it Up to 11

"Mobile 1, this is Scout 2, do you read me over?"

"Scout 2, this is Mobile 1. We're in position and ready to start playing some bouncing tunes."

"You sound like you're enjoying yourself there Mobile 1."

"Looking forward to some loud music Scout 2, it's been a long time since we were allowed to crank it up to 11. Where are you?"

"We're on the road above you Mobile 1, about two hundred metres up the side of the valley. Your disco goers are close behind us, and looking like they might start to veer east, so now might be a good time to turn on the pop music."

"Pop? Sorry Scout 2, we're a pair of old rockers in this van, so we'll be hitting the walkers with some proper music."

"You'll get no complaints from me, Mobile 1, sounds like my sort of playlist."

A few seconds later there was a horrible shriek of feedback as long unused equipment protested being brought back to life and then an impressive-sounding guitar riff broached the peace of the countryside.

As one, the horde stopped, lifted their heads and moaned along in chorus turning to follow the noise.

"Mobile 1, I don't know if you can hear me, but watch your rearview mirror, your new fans are following you."

Merryn and Eddie kept watch as the van moved along the narrow country road towards the coast, keeping pace on their bikes on the road higher up the valley. The swarm began to string out more as it was confined by the high hedges of the country roads, and houses in the villages lining the route, but every now and again it would spill over into side streets, gardens and fields.

Eddie pointed. "Look."

"Where the hell did they find that?" muttered Merryn as with a roar of an old diesel engine, a tank ploughed into the front of the swarm from a side street and proceeded to drive along the entire route the walkers had followed, squashing scores of them under its tracks as it went. "It's not sounding too healthy though, look at that plume of black smoke."

A few hundred yards later, the tank stopped and a wave of zombies flowed over and around it.

"I wouldn't want to be inside that thing," said Eddie.

"Well if they've buttoned it up, then they should be able to wait until the swarm passes then get the hell out of it, but I can't imagine it'd be a fun experience. Ah, here we go with the silent weapons the captain mentioned."

As the walkers marched through a village, upstairs windows opened and a group of soldiers began picking off deadheads using crossbows, silenced rifles, and blocks of stone.

"Well that's a few more," muttered Eddie. "We're going to be coming under the motorway bridge in a moment. Do you reckon Summers has anything planned there?"

"I reckon the captain will be using everything he can. As soon as those folks in the houses there are out of targets or ammunition, they'll be hightailing it cross-country to the next ambush point I'll wager.

Merryn squinted up into the sun at the bridge above her. "There's a lookout there, let's get through and look back and see what they're up to."

Once they were on the other side of the overbridge, Eddie grinned "Well I wasn't expecting that. Is that a minibus teetering on the edge there?"

"It looks like it. Ready? There she goes!" Merryn winced as the minibus hit the road underneath the motorway bridge, squashing a handful of walkers and pinning several more to the tarmac.

"Looks like a Volvo next, that's a well-constructed zombie squasher if ever I saw one."

A group of soldiers was working at speed to manhandle cars over the edge of the bridge onto the swarm below, but still the walkers came, flowing over their downed colleagues without any change in their pace.