respond, he was gurgling in his own blood, his windpipe torn apart, his blood mixed with the body of the zombie in a horrible mess, he had only moments to live.
“I’m sorry, Jones, but take relief in the fact that we will not let you become one of those things,” said Dave.
Steve stepped forward, he aimed his shotgun carefully, and squeezed the trigger, Jones’ body went immediately lifeless as the area was coated in yet more blood.
“What the fuck is going on here?” cried Tommy.
“I would say that is quite clear, this boat contained zombies, or people that became infected somehow, the real question is, how many of them are there?” asked Dave.
“How many would you think?” asked Steve.
“Honestly I have no idea, a trawler like that would have a crew of two dozen maybe, I am guessing, maybe more, but in these times, they could have had any number of poor bastards onboard,” said Dave.
“What do we do now, Dave? What can I tell his mother?” Tommy cried, with tears streaming down his face.
“The only thing we can do is get back to town, and hope we get there first.”
He broke open the barrel of his side-by-side shotgun and pulled the smoking empty cartridges from it, throwing them to the ground. As he loaded two new shells in, he heard the resounding clang of the church bells at the opposite end of the island.
“Fuck!” shouted Dave.
“Now we are truly fucked, they must be there already!” said shouted Steve.
* * *
The town was quiet, tired from the repair work they had undertaken, with concern setting in deeply for their missing boys. No one feared the threat of zombies anymore, they were almost a forgotten enemy, but they did fear the misadventure that boys could find with the strong sea around their island.
Travis and Kelly were sitting on the stone wall which surrounded the church, looking out to sea. Most of the other islanders were in their homes getting cleaned up following the work. It was already getting dark and the heavy cloud cover and rain was darkening it further, but Travis and Kelly could not think of anything else but their boy. Roger walked past the couple as he was heading towards the church.
“Hey, Roger, any news?” asked Travis.
“No, nothing yet.”
“Why don’t we get more people out there looking for the boys?” shouted Sandra as she walked by.
“You know that’s just unwise and downright dangerous, we have no idea why they are missing. It’s probably nothing, but we cannot afford to take such large risks. The four men I have sent are capable and will find them,” said Roger.
“Where are you heading?” asked Travis.
“Up to the church, I have a few supplies to drop of there.”
It was indeed true that Roger was carrying supplies to the church, but not the everyday supplies that the couple were thinking, but weapons and ammunition. The large Bergen on Roger’s back contained several handguns and small shotguns from the raiders the week before. He was hoping that Dave would return with the boys, but also already concerned that they had not. The church was a strong defendable position, with good clear visibility all around and tall walls.
“Stop worrying, I’m sure they’ll be back in no time. Now why don’t you get out of this awful weather, go home, get changed, I’ll see you at my house later,” said Roger.
The couple nodded in agreement and got up to head to their home. A few minutes later they were at their front door. The couple were pale and distraught from thinking about their son, when Kelly shot a glimpse down their garden to see the outline of their son Dennis.
“Dennis? Dennis!” shouted Kelly.
The couple ran towards the boy who was stumbling towards the house. In her desperate need to hug her son she paid absolutely no attention to his condition, pale and soulless. The blood running down his body was not visible due to the wound being to the side and back of his neck. As Kelly held him tight she felt his jaw delve into her
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