As I look around the flat I soon notice that it is a

pretty modest home to say the least. No real mod cons, a

fairly crap telly- Christ its not even HD, worn carpets

and probably the most old fashioned suite you will ever

see. ****! I've gone back to what I was like before, just interested in the surface, judging people only by their possessions. I pull my stupid self round and try to think about what's important.

     Sylvie is busily scurrying around making sure that

we are all as comfortable as possible. I would even

hazard a bet that she is dying to ask us if we would all

like a nice cup of tea. I snigger to myself about that

but then I admit deep down that I would definitely say

yes if she asked that question.

     We are all now seated in her living room with the

exception of Matt who is standing silently at the large

bay window and just staring at the outside. No doubt he

is trying his best to figure out what the hell we are

going to do next. I get up and go over to join him in his survey of the scary streets outside.

    It's a truly incredible sight, as far as the eye can

see are the masses of the zombies; it looks to me like a

giant sea of squirming dead flesh. As I look around I can also see, not that far away in the distance, the still nearly white roofs of our target; the array of the

hospital buildings. They are so near but yet seemingly so impossibly far.

      I look down at where we entered and see that it is

starting to fill up with the undead as we suspected. I

study the cars and wonder if we can ever get them out in

the streets again but then something else catches my eye.

     I startle myself at the simple beauty of my idea. I need to speak to Matt now.

     "Matt," I whisper "do you happen to remember what I

used to work as before the plague?" He looks back at me

with puzzled expression, "Yeh, a civil engineer, that's

why we picked you to sort out the highway. Why the hell

are you bringing all that up now?" I beckon him over to

the small side window, smile and point down towards the

garage courtyard.

     "Stop ******* me about. What in Gods name am I

supposed to be looking at then Sam?" he abruptly

questions me.

     "I used to work for the local council; in the water

department to be precise. I was in charge of the upkeep

and repairs to the sewer system; around this part of town they are still the old original Victorian system. They sure knew how to build things properly back then as they are about six foot high but more importantly if you look down there again you will see a large drain cover. If we get down there we can get away from here untouched, walk right underneath the zombie army and with a fair bit of guess work and a hell of a lot of luck we can then just get ourselves up and out quite close to the hospital."

    Matt keeps staring out of the window, down at the

drain cover. He turns around and slowly gets a huge big

grin spreading across his face, "You're a genius, I knew

it would be a good idea for me to bring you along! Now

come on let's get everyone together and we can start to

work out how to get the zombies clear of that cover."

    Everyone is standing at the window sorting out a plan to clear out the courtyard. I am not really involved in this part of the escape plan due to my almost total lack of fighting expertise.

    Not everyone is here that is, I notice there is the

notable exception of Sylvie who seems to have quietly

sneaked off to somewhere when we were not looking. I go

and see if I can find her, I can only guess that she is

taking the chance of having one last little look around

her marital home.

     She is nowhere to be found on this floor, its only

two rooms and the kitchen so I go up the stairs to the

second floor, to where the bedrooms are I would guess.

The first room I come across is a bedroom but its empty

but then I strangely find the second door locked. There

is no keyhole so it must be locked from the inside with

some sort of bolt.

    Softly and nervously I knock on the door, "Sylvie,

are you okay in there?" At first there is no reply so I

decide to knock and shout a bit louder this time. She

does eventually answer me this time, "Yes Sam, I'm fine.

Don't you worry about me, I will be coming back down

soon." Her plea doesn't work, I do indeed worry,

something is going on, something that from deep down

inside me I know I don't like.

     I race straight back down the stairs, report to Matt and tell him what exactly what I have found. He of course agrees with me that something is not right and we need to find out what the hell it is, and we need to find out right now.

     The two of us head back up and find that the door

is still securely locked. Matt starts to bang his fist

very heavily and angrily on the door frame and hollers

out "Sylvie you must open up this door now, Sylvie do

what I tell you, that's a ******* order!"

      She answers him right away, "Please give me just a

minute or so more Matt. I just have some personal stuff I need to finish before we have to leave again. Please wait outside for me, please I beg you."

     Matt doesn't wait, not even for a second and he

pushes me back out of the way and shoulder charges the

door. It flies open easily but once he gets just inside

the room he stops dead in his tracks and stares towards

the far corner of the room.

     I can't see what he is staring at so I move gingerly around and make my way inside. I have to see what the hell it is that has shocked Matt so much.

     Lying on top of the large double bed is a heavily

decomposed but still moving zombie! It is dressed in a

pair of soiled blue striped pyjamas and it is firmly tied to the bed by its hands and feet. It has also been fully gagged with what looks like a towel which is why we didn't hear any of its moans and groans.

     It has now spotted us and that seems to agitate it

greatly and it twitches away in its restraints violently. Sylvie is sitting on a stool by the bed and is gently mopping its grey brow with a white hand towel whilst singing away softly to it, singing to it some sort of sweet lullaby.

     "What the fucks going on here Sylvie?" shrieks a

shocked Matt.

      Sylvie looks up and smiles at us. "Matt and Sam I

would like you to meet Bill, my dear husband. He was

struck down with the virus. Once I saw outside what

the infected people were turning into I tied him up safe

and sound. He is very secure so please there is no need

for you to worry yourself about what he can do; anyway

look, I think he can still recognise me."

     She then starts to once again mop its brow and face

face whilst lovingly looking into its dark grey eyes.

      Matt now has his crossbow up and aimed at the thing that was once called Bill, "Are you ******* crazy woman? Get away from it right now and let me put it out of its misery!"

     "Nooo! You just leave him alone, he is a good man,

he didn't deserve to die! Please get out of here, I just

can't let him die again"

    "He's ******* dead already, that's not your husband

anymore. Now get out of the way Sylvie."

    She throws her body on top of the monster. I can see

its putrid and seeping head jabbing away at her. If it

wasn't already gagged it would by now be chewing happily

away on her grey haired head.

     I think back to my Pamela and what I was like when

she had turned. I also remember Jim and how Matt dealt

with him and again likewise Dawn with Wayne. I do know

what Matt and Dawn had done was only the right thing to

do but I can also deeply sympathise with Sylvie and what

she is now going through.

     I put my body between Matt and the two on the bed.

"Matt, please just leave her be. It's of no risk to us

at the moment, come on lets go back down stairs, we have

more than enough to worry about for now."

     Matt looks at me then back to Sylvie and the thing

that she only remembers as it being once her husband.

"Listen to me. If that zombie even makes one little noise I will kill it. Don't you dare think for a god damned second that I will hesitate."

     He storms off back down the stairs and I quickly

follow right behind him. I sure as **** don't want to be

left alone up here with that.

     Once we are back again in the front room he explains to Ron and the other guys what's been going on upstairs. I can see clearly in Ron's face that he can't believe for one second that Matt has somehow decided to let it live; he wants to say something but he's also so loyal to Matt that he won't even question it.

    "Right guys," Matt says, quickly trying to change the subject, "Let's get this plan finalised so we can get the hell out of this nuthouse as soon as possible."

There must be at least twenty of the zombies still

mulling aimlessly around in the courtyard below us. Some

are still banging on the doors looking for a weak point

so that they can enter but most seem to have lost

interest. That number isn't going to rise by much as they are no longer zombies flooding down the alley but even so it's still way too many of them for us to easily deal with.

      Looking at the location we will probably need at

least thirty seconds of peace, that's the time it will

take for us to get over to the drain, get the cover up

and get all of us down there and away.

      Ron soon comes up with an idea. "Think about it

guys, this is a garage which hopefully means there's got

to be some fuel stored around here somewhere. How about

we make a few petrol bombs, some of those Molotov

cocktail things that we have all seen on the television?

That should hopefully keep those fuckers back out of our

way long enough for us to get away from here."

     We look around at each other for a few seconds and

then all nod to agree with him; well it seems the thing

to do as no one else has come up with anything which is

even remotely better. Matt then pipes up, "Okay let's get it all ready, everyone start looking around for what we need, we shall go ahead with Rons plan."

    Soon we are all back down in the garage and hunting

around in the dark with our torches for the petrol and

also for some bottles to make our new weapons. We find a

couple of full petrol canisters pretty quickly but no

suitable bottles are to be found anywhere down in the

garage below.

    We decide that we will now have to raid Sylvie's

drinks cabinet and empty out some of her spirit supplies. Thankfully not all of the drink is thrown down the sink as some of it is used to settle our nerves. Matt stands by and watches us closely to make sure that we don't take too much. Its okay having a mouthful or two but we sure don't need anyone being even slightly drunk.

    Ron then cuts up her white tablecloth and sticks

about twelve inch strips half in and half out of each of

the now three quarters full of petrol bottles. We have

our new toys and are ready to proceed with the plan.

     Ron goes through the final plan one more time before we make our move. "From the first floor window we will throw down most of the bombs at the car that is jamming the alleyway; that will stop anymore of them getting over and joining our little party".

     He picks up one of the bombs, "I want us to keep a

few of these back for now, just in case we need them

later. We will then have to crossbow as many as we can

from up here before we can even think about opening up

the doors. Once that's done we then have to go out in the open so we finish off any that's left and then we can get the **** away from here."

    "Sam you will go down the sewer first as you are the

expert, we will then follow you and secure the cover

behind us. That's it guys, now wind up your torches as we go in five minutes."

      The bombs are being carefully lined up on a table

by the window with a candle at the ready to light the

home made fuses. At the moment I am not really required

again, I am now getting used to always being left out.

The rest of the guys have taken over due to the lack of

space by the window and the lack of my skill at actually

hitting anything.

     Ron smashes the window out with a chair and clears

away any shards that are left sticking out. In a few

short seconds after that the first of our new bombs goes

flying out towards their target.

     The target of the second car is pretty far away and

the first four attempts miss and hit the buildings to

either side. Once the guys do get their range the car is

soon well ablaze. The only slight problem is that we now

have only three of those Molotov cocktails left.

     Then as I look out of the other window I can now see a big problem is starting to form and I quickly relay this back to the others. The surrounding buildings on either side of the car are also now heavily ablaze, and spreading around the semi circular area and towards us very rapidly.

    The four guys start firing their crossbows as fast as they can but even so they are only able to do it for

about a minute as the black smoke filling up the area is

now getting far too thick for them to pick out any of

their targets.

     We need to get ourselves onto the next stage and we

need to do it quickly. Ron gives the order "Time to go

now boys. I'm not sure how many of them are left as the

visibility is crap so just remember everyone- be

careful!"

     The guys start running down the stairs but as I am

just about to follow them a hand firmly grabs me by the

shoulder and stops me moving.

     "Help me please Sam," its Sylvie, she has tears in

her puffy swollen eyes. "I can't leave Bill here to

slowly burn to death. Please Sam, please set him free."

She now has her two hands firmly clasped out in front of

her as if she is praying.

     I'm taken more than aback with the shock and the

absurdity of her request. "No way Sylvie, I am sorry but

think about it, there's no way we can take him with us.

Its just way too dangerous for the rest of us; anyway

Matt would never agree to it in a million years." I take

her shoulders in my hands and try and give her at least

some comfort and reassurance.

     She is vigorously shaking her head, "I do understand that Sam, of course I realise he can't possibly come along with us. But I also know I can't face the thought of him having to burn. I am asking you to free him, not from his bed, but from this existence. I have had to deserted him once before and I just can't possibly bear to do that again."

     It now dawns on me exactly what she's been asking me to do. I look out the window and see that the fire is

still spreading away quickly, it will soon be here at the flat. I can, from my own horrible experience, understand how hard it must be to kill a loved one, even one that has turned. I know what needs to be done and I nod to her and head off up the stairs to the bedroom whilst arming my crossbow.

     I throw open the door of their bedroom and aim

straight at Bill, he or it just looks straight back at

me, twitching its whole body and trying its best to break away from its restraints.

    "Christ, stop it," I tell myself out loud. "Its not

someone called Bill, it's a ******* flesh eating

monster, its not a human being anymore." I take aim, try

and remember all my training from Keith and hold my

breath whilst I fire. The bolt goes straight into that

things eye. It twitches just once more then finally and

thankfully stops moving.

     I can hear Matt calling franticly for me and Sylvie

to hurry up. I take one last look at the zombie before  

I run back down the stairs to pick up Sylvie and get the

hell out of here. As I reach the bottom of the stairs I

see she is now seated alone by the window and crying away like a new born baby.

     I tell her "Its all over. He is at rest now, come

on lets get out of here." I help her up and we make our

way down through the garage to the outside. Just as we

reach the gates to leave the workshop she stops me, grabs both my hands and whilst on her tiptoes she kisses me gently on the cheek.

     Matt is still screaming, "Sam, Sylvie get your

******* arses out here now before its too late!" We get

outside just as he stops hollering, he spots me and

proceeds to give me one of his looks, one which feels

like it could kill.

     After a quick scan around I can't see any zombies

around but the fires are almost right upon us, the heat

being given off is almost unbearable now. "Get down that

bloody hole right now Sam." Matt seems to have lost all

his patience with me. I flick the button to turn on my

torch, get down the long ladder as fast as I can and once I am at the bottom I start to try and get my bearings.

     I am quickly joined by the rest of the team and we

are soon heading off in a silent single file along the

dark and damp tunnel.

     It's now that I realise that it's probably a bit too late to tell the others what I have been dreading. How will I tell them that I may have slightly exaggerated my knowledge of the geography of this sewer system.

Keyword: The Church- Part 12- Sylvies Flat

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Comments (5)

Posted by Zombie Punk 2008-09-20 09:57:42 Sylvies Flat Ha! Man, i can only imagine where the hell Sam is going to lead the group. I kind of wish they used some of those power tools, though, but that's just wishful gore thinking. I like gore alot. Don't you? Anyways ... the chapter was a little dry in the way it was written, but that could be fixed with a simple reread (read it outloud) and fixing any sentences or words that seem awkward. Other than that I really liked this. This is truely one fantastic story for sure. I like the whole shooting Bill (no, he's not Bill anymore!) in the eyeball. That was pretty cool. I'm left wondering on just how far are going to take this story. Is it near the end, or only just beginning? I'm really hoping for the latter. Looking forward for the next installment. Man, I love gore. + Report this comment
Posted by The 13th 2008-09-20 11:50:18 .... John, you should be so proud of this fecking story.Its a pleasure to read, and a great story.Youre so right about the victorian sewers, worked near hyde park years ago and went ghost hunting down one of them.Some of the old sewers were used for illigal activities.Blind drunk and came up smelling of shit, but hey that whats drugs do to ya kids... Anyway I sound mad now so back to the story.Gotta to be one of the best zombie stories ever so far.Characters are fab and just cannot wait for the next + Report this comment
Posted by The 13th 2008-09-20 11:50:59 .... Gotta rate it. + Report this comment
Posted by Something Indecent 2008-10-05 00:41:37 .... Another great chapter! I love how this story keeps evolving with every predicament. Thinking about where you started from and are now I cann't help but marvel at the progress. You could easily make this into a book. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next 28 chapters because that's how many you have left right? Right? + Report this comment
Posted by celtic1888 2008-10-07 11:55:20 ------- I have done about a dozen more chapters, got a bit carried away! The story does thankfully end there but not after a few more little twists. John + Report this comment

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