Chapter 1 #2
I try to avoid the blood and gore splashed across the pavement, but there’s so much that I end up stepping in it anyway.
A shudder of revulsion shivers down my spine as it soaks the bottom of my white wedding dress and squelches between my bare toes, some of it still warm.
I gag and stumble, only saved from falling into a large bloody puddle by Tobias’s grip on my arm.
Finally, we reach their Range Rover and he shoves me into the back seat, red smearing across the cream leather seats. The door slams behind me, and Tobias skirts around the car as Lauren climbs in the passenger seat at the front. With everyone inside, the car hums to life.
And so does the familiar panic of being in an enclosed metal box. I swallow hard around the tightness in my throat and instead focus on the present to keep memories of screeching metal and terrified screams from my mind. Like the horror film we just stepped in to.
“Anyone else realising we’re in the middle of the zombie apocalypse? Because I’m really glad I’m not a blond right now,” I say, trying to lighten the sombre mood in the car, but my joke falls flat.
The car pulls away from the curb and Tobias navigates around several abandoned cars, only to slam the brakes when several people shuffle into the road, all wearing suits and dresses…
My heart sinks and bile burns my throat.
The wedding guests are streaming out of the church, covered in gore.
They snap their terrifying eyes toward us and begin shuffling to the car.
Tobias curses and reverses the car down the street. Only to stop again when we round the corner and find the entire road blocked by cars. He drives forward, stamping down on the throttle just as the wedding guests emerge from around the corner.
“Hang on!” he shouts just before we plough straight through them.
Lauren and I scream as the car jerks and bounces over the bodies of the people caught beneath the vehicle.
Blood splatters across the front window, obscuring the road ahead as Tobias keeps driving.
More wedding guests are streaming out from the church and with a glance behind, I see the ones that weren’t killed by the car chase after us.
“Fuck!” Tobias snarls suddenly as he jerks the wheel to the side, barely dodging a parked car.
I’m thrown against the door and slam my head against the glass. Pain rockets across my skull and down my neck, adding to the headache I’m already sporting. Lauren groans, apparently having done the same, although there’s a smear of blood on her window.
“Shit. Lauren, baby, you okay?” my brother asks as he flicks his eyes from his wife to the road ahead.
“Yeah,” Lauren answers after a moment with a wince. “Just warn us next time.”
“I’m fine, too. Thanks for asking,” I deadpan.
Tobias at least looks a little guilty as he glances at me in the mirror. “Sorry, Liv,” he says sheepishly. His eyes flick back to the front and immediately widen as he curses again. “No, no! There has to be… fuck!” He slams the brakes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, peering around the seat.
“This way is blocked, too. And there’s no side street off this main road. I don’t know…” He trails off just before the first person bangs their fist against the back window.
I yelp and whirl around to see several gory people behind the car with their feral eyes, yellow teeth and black gums. They hammer their fists and hands on the rear window, groaning and moaning as they look straight at me.
More hands bang on the front and side windows, more terrifying eyes and open mouths until all I can see and hear is them.
And then, because whoever is running this shit show hates me, the car’s engine dies.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Tobias shouts as he tries and fails to start the car. “Shit, we’re surrounded. We’ll need to wait them out before we can get out of the car.”
My breathing gets erratic as our situation presses heavily against my shoulders.
We’re surrounded by people who want to harm us, trapped in this metal and glass box.
Memories of screeching metal and bloodcurdling screams fill my ears as panic tightens around my chest like a vise.
My vision flickers and darkness encroaches around the edges of my eyesight.
Distantly, I hear someone curse and hands fall on my shoulders, shaking me. “Liv! Look at me!”
I blink and my eyes focus on the concerned face of my brother.
“There you go. Lauren and me are right here, you’re fine. Just hang on for a few hours. It’ll be alright.” Tobias keeps a steady stream of words, his voice low, and soothing, but it only barely keeps the panic at bay.
The next few hours are agony as the moaning wedding guests continue to bang and claw at the car. None of them seem to lose interest and as the sun dips beneath the horizon, it only gets worse. The thick darkness and their glowing eyes only add to my panic until I’m panting and sweating.
Lauren and Tobias try their best to calm me, but eventually the panic wins and I pass out.
The next time I open my eyes, it’s daytime, and the zombies are gone. The windows are smeared with blood and gore, causing the weak winter sunlight to take a sickly red hue. I’m curled up in a ball, my body shivering as my breath comes out in puffs of white steam.
“Toby? Lauren?” I croak, my throat sore and my mouth dry.
There’s a heavy sigh of relief before my brother’s face peers from between the front seats. “You’re awake,” he says with a small smile.
“Yeah. What happened?”
“The zombies finally got bored and moved on,” Lauren says as she reaches through the gap between the seats and squeezes my hand. “Not sure where they’ve gone, but anywhere’s better than here.”
Tobias nods. “It’s been about an hour since I’ve seen movement outside, so we should be good to get out and walk to your cottage.”
I frown. “My cottage? Why? Your house is bigger.”
“Our house is also fifty miles away, in the middle of a populated town, and you have animals at home.”
Shit. In the midst of this nightmare that’s become our reality, I completely forgot about my three ponies; Bean, Apple and Cinnamon. Fuck, I hope they’re okay and haven’t become zombies, if horses can even become zombies…
Tobias nudges me. “Come on. We should get moving before we’re noticed again.” He steps out of the car and Lauren follows without saying a word.
I’m torn between wanting to race out of this metal death trap and terrified of what I’m going to see if I open that door. The choice gets taken away from me as Tobias wrenches my door open and hauls me out of the car.
The air outside is icy cold and I’m instantly chilled to the bone, since all I’m wearing is my ruined wedding dress.
Outside looks just as horrific as it did yesterday; only this time the bloody puddles are frozen and there’s a layer of frost over the half-eaten bodies.
I’m still blinking at the ruined corpse of a man, wondering if it’s Gale, when Tobias drags me along with him.
“Hurry up, sis,” he orders before towing me behind him.
I stumble after him, still only wearing one shoe, as I barely keep up with his giant strides.
Lauren also appears to struggle with his speed, but neither of us complains.
There’s a thick blanket of silence in the once vibrant village, with only the sounds of flames crackling in the distance from nearby burning buildings.
The sirens, moans and screams from the previous day are gone, and it feels like we’re the only people alive.
Fuck. Maybe we are. It’s a good thing I’ve sworn off men because I have a feeling my dating life went from poor to non-existent.
Pain slices through my chest as I remember the reason. I still can’t believe Gale was about to leave me at the altar after humiliating me in front of everyone. I knew he could be an asshole, but I never expected him to act like that.
Although maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. Now I don’t have to endure the apocalypse with a man who thinks so little of me.
The walk to my small cottage that sits in the middle of the British countryside is agonising and takes several hours.
And during those several hours, we see not one living person.
There’s plenty of dead ones and even a few…
not-so-dead ones that we have to hide from.
It quickly becomes apparent that we may be the only survivors left.
By the time we reach the familiar lane that leads to my cottage, I’m sore as hell and hobbling. Lauren isn’t doing much better since heels are not for hiking. At least we’re mostly unharmed, safe and home.
Using his keys—since I don’t have mine—Tobias opens the door and lets us into my small, cosy cottage.
The familiarity is enough to settle my nerves even if it’s fucking freezing in here.
I go about feeding wood into my AGA oven and the wood burner in the living room to heat the house.
Tobias and Lauren meet me in the kitchen after getting both fires going.
“Go grab a shower and some clean clothes, Liv, and then we can plan,” my brother orders as he rummages through my kitchen for tea.
I blink at him. “Plan?”
“Yep. We’re in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. It’s best we start acting like it if we want to survive.” With those lovely words, he ushers me out of the kitchen.
As I follow his orders, I’m left to wonder just how what should have been the happiest day of my life turned into the worst.