Chapter 14 The Zombie King

The first sensation to return to James was his hearing. A dull roaring filled his ears which grew loader and more distinct. Then came the pain. A throbbing head ache which make him feel nauseous. Finally the darkness which he had inhabited began to resolve itself into light and dark, followed by a shape which grew sharper at the edges and then gained definition.

A face, a pretty face with piercing green eyes and full red lips. It was Molly and he was lying with his head on her lap.

"Welcome back" she said with a smile.

James tried to raise his head but immediately regretted it as a wave of dizziness overcame him.

"What happened to me?" He managed to croak.

"You lost an argument with a Mark II boss" she replied simply. "But not before you injected one and nearly got another. You've been out cold for about half an hour"

James nodded "where are we?"

"Well" said Molly "we are sort of up shit creek without a paddle"

James looked at her then raised his head slowly taking in his surroundings for the first time. They were sat in what looked like a large holding pen with around 20 men, women and children and guarded by a group of new breed zombies.

The pen was in one corner of a large cavern which seemed to be filled with more zombie in a very agitated state. This was the source of the roaring which had first greeted James when he started to regained consciousness but the cause of their excitement was not immediately obvious.

"Where is everyone else?" Asked James.

At this point Kinders appeared, a small cut above his eye, but otherwise unharmed.

"Good to see you back in the land of the living dead sir" he said with an ironic smile.

"Thank you corporal. What is the situation?" He ordered.

"We are all here and ok except for Smurf and Mansfield Mike who are both MIA" said Kinders "Nude-Nut got a bang on the head when we all slid down the tunnel but he's ok now. I've got the guys checking the perimeter of this holding area to see if there is a way out"

"No one had been...infected?" Asked James anxiously.

Kinders shook his head "when they overpowered us they could easily have done us all sir" he admitted "but they just disarmed us and brought us here."

"But for what purpose?" Said James looking around again.

"Your going to wish you hadn't asked sir" said Kinders "look"

James followed his stare to the front of the pen where a Mark II was opening the door of the enclosure. He surveyed the terrified faces then grabbed the arm of a middle aged man. The unfortunate individual let out a horrified scream and struggled desperately to escape. However his efforts were futile, the zombie was just too strong. He was dragged out of the enclosure and into the main cavern.

The baying crowd parted to let them through. In doing so they revealed, at the centre of the space, a small arena. On three sides the zombie crowd pushed and jostled each other to get a view of the spectacle. On the fourth side was a roaring fire and just beyond on a raised dais sat Badrai, surveying the scene with a face redolent of diabolical pleasure.

James watched in horrified fascination as the captive was pushed into the centre of the arena. The floor of the space was a morass and the man slipped over onto his back sending mud spraying in every direction. He rose to his knees but seemed unable to stand up fully, as if his legs had lost all their strength.

The crowd on the other side of the arena then parted to let through one of the biggest zombies James had ever seen. He was stripped to the waist revealing a well muscled torso which glistened in the light from the fire.

The zombie looked up at Badrai who nodded his ascent and the monster them turned his red orbs on the prisoner. The man seemed transfixed but then screamed and scrabbled up from the mud as the zombie advanced on him. The audience went wild with excitement as the captive was stalked around the arena.

Realising there was nowhere to go the man turned in desperation on the zombie and charged at him arms flailing ineffectively. The zombie caught the mans wrists and forced him down onto his knees before then biting down on the captives neck whose scream was cut short as his windpipe was crushed.

The zombie crowd roared its approval and James looked away in disgust. "This is monstrous" he said.

"I know" Molly confirmed "I haven't seen anything like it since West Ham played away to Millwall last season."

The remaining members of two section then joined them and reported no obvious route of escape. All eyes turned to James who grimaced and watched as the unconscious prisoner was dragged from the arena, a violent twitching indicating that he was already undergoing the transformation.

James then surveyed the crowd of excited zombies. His eyes seemed to suddenly focus on a point in the crowd and his mouth twitched before setting itself into a determined line. He turned back to the others.

"Be ready to get these people out of here when I give the word" he said.

They all stared at him in confusion "what are you going to do sir?" Asked Molly clearly concerned.

"What needs to be done" he said and, placing his hands on either side of her face, he pulled her close and kissed her passionately.

The remaining members of two section looked at each other uncomfortably. "Ummm, he's not going to do that to all of us is he corp.?" Asked Fingers clearly uncomfortable.

Kinders shrugged and wet his lips. "Just close your eyes and think of England lad"

James smiled "I have no intention of kissing anyone else". He then stripped off his top in one fluid movement and passed the clothing to Molly. He nodded to them all, took one more look at Molly and strode to the front of the enclosure.

James stared at the zombie guards and nodded at the arena. "Let's stop pissing around shall we and get on with the main event" he said.

One of the zombie guards looked over at the figure on the dais who was watching James closely. Badrai slowly nodded, an unsettling leer on his face, and the guard quickly unlocked the door.

James walked calmly out into the mass of zombies and headed straight to the arena. As he approached, he noted the expanse of thick, clinging mud on the floor of the open space and looked up to the ceiling in search of the source of the moisture . A network of rusty, leaking pipes spread across the upper levels of the cavern, a remnant James supposed, of the underground room's original use - some sort of pumping station associated with the nearby river and system of ditches which surrounded it.

James trudged to the centre of the arena and stood legs apart and hands on hips. The massive zombie fighter reappeared from the crowd to his left and immediately started to stalk him. James crouched low as they circled each other then made a charge at the zombie who swatted him away with ease.

James went flying into the crowd. He had had to pick his spot carefully so that when he crashed into the disguised Smurf it appeared completely random. They both fell to the ground and grappled with each other, giving enough time for Smurf to pass James two antidote wands and the Captain to whisper a series of short instructions to the private.

James then rolled away from the zombie and back into the arena where he had to dive to his left quickly to avoid a lunge from his original opponent. Smurf for his part slowly stood and shuffled from the room unnoticed.

James again circled the arena, watching his opponent closely and trying to keep upright in the clinging quagmire.

They grappled again. James straining every sinew to avoid being pulled in towards the snapping teeth of the zombie.

For one heart stopping moment James lost his footing and slid under his opponent who fell to his knees to trap the soldier with his full weight. However the mud came to James' aid making it impossible for the zombie to gain a proper grip and allowing the soldier to slip through the powerful grasping hands before they could take a full hold.

The zombie grunted his frustration and made to stand but was momentarily caught in the sucking morass. James saw his chance and grabbed one of the concealed wands from his belt, swinging it in a wide arc to plunge it deep into the back of his opponents neck.

The zombie stiffened then rose slowly and turned to face James, a look of surprise on its gruesome face. It then staggered and fell forwards into the mud before starting to flail madly as the antidote took effect.

The zombie crowd fell silent as they realised what had happened and watched in shock as the massive figure convulsed one last time then lay still. There was a long moment when no one moved before pandemonium broke out in the cavern, the crowd roaring as one as they spilled into the arena and converged on James. Then suddenly a high pitched scream pierced the air and the zombies froze in unison and turned mechanically towards the dais.

Badrai was standing, eyes like death rays pointing at James, chest heaving, fists clenched in barely suppressed fury. In one leap he left the dais, cleared the intervening fire pit and landed a few paces from the captain

"This one is mine!" He said in English.

James looked surprised and Badrai threw back his head to release a humourless cackling.

"You are surprised Captain James, Why? Surely you know that the only way to win a war is to know and understand your enemy" said Badrai

"The Taliban will never win this war" said James defiantly.

"The Taliban!" Screeched Basrai "who said anything about the Taliban? They were a means to an end, to be disposed of when they had fulfilled their purpose"

"Their purpose?" Said James

"Why, to provide me with the means to produce my army of course. The army with which I will conquer the world and ensure the zombie hegemony" declared Badrai.

James shifted his weight slowly and moved his hand to where his final antidote wand lay hidden.

Badrai laughed mirthlessly once more then focussed his gaze on James. He moved slowly towards the soldier, teeth bared. Then suddenly shots rang out in the cavern and Mansfield Mine stood on the dais, rifle smoking.

"No way are we going to let you make a zombie hedge thingy or any other sort of funny shaped bush" said Mansfield Mike defiantly.

Badrai turned to snarl at the figure on the dais and in that instant James made his move. He leapt at the zombie, at the same time pulling the antidote wand from his belt. James landed on Badrai's back, driving him to his knees and pressed the wand against the back of his neck.

The zombie shouted in surprise and anger, whirling around to try and dislodge his attacker.

"Stay still or I will send you back to hell!" shouted James, pushing the point of the wand harder against the telltale dark patch of skin.

Badrai reluctantly came to a stop breathing heavily.

"Ok, now I want you to let the civilians go"

Badrai growled then nodded to the zombie guards who opened the door to the holding pen.

"Right lads, let's get them out of here quick smart" he called to two section who began to shepherd the people out of the cavern.

"The exit is just to the left of those doors, up a flight of metal steps. ANA are waiting at the top" called out Mansfield Mike. "Oi, where are you going sunshine!" He then said, pointing his rifle at a zombie who had been edging behind James with clear ill intent. The figure stopped dead and smiled innocently.

Badrai then addressed James "a well thought out plan Captain with one obvious flaw. How are you going to escape?"

James watched as the last of the civilians left the cavern. Molly was the last to leave, throwing James a worried look which he answered with a reassuring wink and a nod. James then turned to face Mansfield Mike who was listening to a message coming over his headset. The private acknowledged the message then gave James a thumbs up. The Captain nodded then jerked his head towards the door, indicating that Mansfield Mike should leave which he did by jumping down from the dais and backing out rifle at the ready.

It was only then that James responded to Badrai's question "I hadn't really thought that far ahead" he said.

Badrai cackled "well Captain it occurs to me that whatever happens you die. Kill me and my zombies will rip you apart; don't kill me I will do it myself."

"There is a third way" said James calmly "You can all surrender to me and walk out into the custody of the ANA"

Badrai laughed aloud. "Oh Captain, I do love your English sense of humour! You are like Benny Hill no?"

James grimaced "we are both occasionally seen wearing a black beret but that is were the similarity ends. If you are not going to surrender then I have only one recourse." With that James leapt onto Badrai's shoulders and then up onto the network of water pipes running across the ceiling.

"Leave him to me" cried Badrai and jumped up after him. The whole structure started to creak as ancient joints were put under strain and couplings started to give way. Suddenly a jet of liquid sprang from a ruptured pipe spraying the zombies beneath. Then

another joined it further drenching the watching crowd. James hung on desperately as the network of pipes started to disintegrate around him and the zombies were subjected to a deluge which quickly filled the cavern to knee height.

Badrai too clung on waiting for the structure to stabilise so he could start working his way towards James.

Then from below the roaring of the zombies started to subside. As James watched groups of them started to stagger and fall into the fluid where they began to convulse.

Badrai looked down in disbelief "nooooo!" He wailed as the realisation hit him that the liquid was not water at all. He then glared at James who smiled back calmly.

"I appear to have discovered the antidote to my predicament" said James.

Badrai launched himself at James across the ceiling, the pipe network collapsing around him as he swung from handhold to handhold. James scrambled to escape but was a fraction too slow to avoid a final fierce lunge and the zombie managed to catch hold of his right leg.

James clung to the remaining pipe work desperately while Badrai tried to bring his mouth up level with James' leg to administer the transforming bite.

Just as Bardai flexed his neck to help drive his hideous teeth through clothing, skin and muscle a bellow resounded in the cavern and Smurf came swinging across the fractured metalwork and threw himself at Badrai. The zombie king was ripped away from James leg by the impact of the soldiers body. For a split second both zombies seemed to hang in mid air before they began to plummet towards the floor which was still awash with the antidote solution.

"Smurf nooo!" Said James desperately as they plunged towards their doom...