Zombie Castle (Book 1) by Chris Harris Page B

confirmed the scale of the outbreak; it just had to be everywhere. The radio report had spoken of it being a global event and that had to be true. It couldn’t just be confined to this remote part of Cornwall. Logic dictated that the infection rate in the towns and cities must be almost 100% if we were coming across them in reasonably remote places.
    I took a deep breath and spoke. ‘What do you want to do lads? Neither of you has a Scottish accent so why were you driving from there? My name’s Tom by the way, and this is Shawn.’
    They both looked relieved. ‘Hi,’ said one. ‘I’m Andy and this is Chet. We’ve been in Scotland for the past week or so checking out the surfing and sleeping in the car. Chet got a call from a mate of his telling him how great it was round here so last night we decided to pack up and head down.’
    ‘If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t look like typical surfers,’ I said, eyeing them both.
    ‘Why?’ Chet replied indignantly, ‘Because I’m Indian and he’s overweight?’
    I had to laugh. I shook my head. ‘No! Well there is that, BUT I was about to say you both look too sensible to be sleeping in cars and chasing the surf.’
    Andy chipped in, ‘I’ll have you know weight’s an advantage when it comes to surfing! But to be fair Tom, you’re right. We were both getting fed up with sleeping in the car; it just sounded fun when we came up with the idea. Chet’s mate is staying at his parents’ holiday home and he’s got spare bedrooms, so we jumped at the chance of a soft mattress.’
    Shawn looked at them. ‘Where were you going to go when you decided to turn round?’
    ‘We’d decided to head back to the student house we share in Birmingham. We haven’t got any family around. Chet’s still live in India and my parents have buggered off on a round the world cruise.’ He paused then looked upset, saying quietly, ‘I hope they’re ok.’
    ‘Zombies!’ shouted Becky suddenly, and we all started and looked round. A zombie was pushing its way through the hedge close to the car. Looking through the gap we could see more behind it. Chet and Andy watched open mouthed as I ran up to it, gripped it tightly by the hair with one hand and drove my knife through the side of its head with the other. I examined it as it lay sprawled on the ground. It was female and was dressed like a serious rambler with walking boots and proper hiking trousers. There was even a rucksack on its back.
    ‘Look Shawn,’ I pointed out, ‘She hasn’t been bitten as far as I can tell. She must have been infected another way. This virus is out of control! You haven’t been near anyone who’s infected and neither apparently have these guys (I pointed to Andy and Chet). We must have been incredibly lucky not to pick it up back at that campsite we were on. We need to set off for the moors now so that we can get ourselves organised.’
    I turned to Andy and Chet and for the first time, noticed their faces. ‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘I couldn’t have done that two hours ago either. It gets easier.’ Coming to a quick decision I continued, ‘Look, do you want to come with us? We’re from Birmingham as well, so we may try to get back there….’
    Shawn shouting, ‘Tom!’ made me turn. The other zombies must have been closer than I’d realised as more of them were now forcing their way through the hedge. It was a hawthorn and the vicious thorns were ripping through their flesh and their clothing. Oblivious to this, their horribly blank faces set in a kind of mute obstinacy, they pushed even harder in their desperation to reach us. I swallowed hard and Shawn and I stepped forward with our knives held ready.
    The first few were relatively easy to kill because they were caught up in the thorns but more kept on coming. It dawned on me with horror that there were far too many of them and I started to panic. Frantically, I killed one and pushed it away and then just managed to get another