Thanks to all who read and reviewed. This chapter has been ready for about a week but I haven't had time to post it but finally I do yay! I love Edgar Allen Poe's writings so there is a reference to "The Masque of the Red Death". Check it out if you like his writings and haven't read it yet. As always let me know what you think. I love reading all your reviews and I'm so happy you enjoy the story.
"Statistically speaking the best place to go in a zombie outbreak would be somewhere with lots of food, possibly a farm, that's far away from the city where there are few people around. Few people means fewer zombies." JJ said as they drove around with no direction.
"A supermarket? There's plenty of food there." Emily suggested.
"There all in the city. There would be too many zombies around."
"The mall? There was a zombie movie where they lived for a while in a mall wasn't there? One of my lame boyfriends made me watch it. Of course we didn't get too far into it before we started to…" Katie said.
"Enough. We don't need the rest of the story." Effy cut in.
Katie blushed.
"Yes Dawn of the Dead but I think there would be too many zombies there too. I fear that we are not qualified to fight zombies and make our way through a crowd of them. You see in that movie they at least had a skilled cop with them and an ex-con and a nurse, much more qualified than five teenagers. I still suggest we find some place far from where most people live."
"Where JJ?" Effy asked becoming exasperated that although he was shooting down everyone's suggestions he wasn't coming up with any real ones of his own.
"I got it. You know the old castle?" JJ said.
"The one in the forest, where this whole thing started?" Naomi asked already not liking where JJ was going.
"Yes precisely. Cook, Freds, and I thought it was haunted when we were younger. We went there one day after school and snuck in the window. Everyone knows that no one lives there but we heard movement. I wanted to leave but Cook made us stay. We found the caretaker in the kitchen. He kept the place clean and stocked with food for when the owner wanted to come back. Of course the owner never did but the caretaker was paid to make sure the place was ready just in case the owner ever did. He is some rich man. It's big, far from the city, and we know there's food there. I'd say it is our safest bet."
"Since we can't think of anything better I say we try it." Effy said and started driving towards the forest.
The farther they drove the fewer zombies they saw. The rest of the drive was in complete silence. JJ lay in the back with an arm covering his eyes silently grieving for the loss of his two best friends and parents. Emily rested her head against Naomi's shoulder with her eyes closed but unable to sleep as Naomi stared out the window her mind racing with too many thoughts to articulate and one that she was too scared to, she wondered how her mum and Kieran were. Katie babbled to Effy in the front seat about all her clothes that she would never see again and Effy listened responding at the appropriate times with sarcastic and smug comments, both of them trying to keep their nerves at bay. They finally pulled up to the outskirts of the forest where they had to leave the car. They all looked out the windows and surveyed their surroundings. As JJ had suspected there were no zombies since no people lived anywhere near here. They grabbed their guns and ammunition and as quietly as possible started their journey into the forest.
It was a decent hike to the castle. It was in the dead center of the forest, literally. The owner had wanted it perfectly centered so he had it built exactly in the middle. Usually when the gang camped they didn't go anywhere near it but stayed more on the outskirts rather than the middle. Luckily JJ knew where to go from memory. He led the silent party through. They were all on high alert constantly looking for any zombies that might be in the forest. Katie heard a noise and grabbed Emily's arm to stop her.
"Wait." She whispered. The rest of the gang froze in place. There was a rustling noise to the left. Katie aimed her gun and fired on instinct not really sure what she was shooting at.
"Holy crap, Katie." Naomi exclaimed in shock that both Katie fired the gun at something unknown and that she actually hit her target. There on their left in a pile of leaves lay a dead rabbit bloody from the single bullet wound in its body. They all went over to examine the rabbit.
"I didn't know. It could've been a zombie. It could've been a zombie rabbit. Aww bunny." Katie said as she frowned and bent over the rabbit.
"So all those leopard prints you wear then, Katie, I'm assuming you actually killed them and made your clothes rather than buying them." Naomi quipped.
"Oh shut up, bitch."
"This could be a good thing. I smell dinner." JJ said proudly as he held up the dead rabbit.
"Gross I am not eating that. What if it's infected with the zombie virus or whatever?"
"It doesn't matter. Even if it is infected after skinning and cooking it, it won't matter. You need a direct transfer of their blood or saliva straight to your blood so once it is cooked, if it was indeed infected with the virus, it will be no threat. Besides it's not still alive now despite the fact that you didn't sever the brain activity so I think that proves that it is not infected." JJ smiled triumphantly.
"There's food at the castle, right? So this is unnecessary." Effy said trying to help Katie out.
"Eventually the food will run out and these woods provide a great place to hunt. I think this rabbit here is the perfect experiment." He stuffed it into one of the empty compartments of the ammunition bag. He continued his journey not leaving the subject for further debate.
Naomi opened her mouth to make another smart-ass comment but Katie stopped her before a word even left her mouth, "Don't even think about it Campbell or I'll shoot you next, which apparently isn't an empty threat." Naomi closed her mouth but smirked nonetheless.
The five of them stood outside the castle, looking up at it.
"So how exactly do we get in?" Naomi asked.
"There's a key under the welcome mat." JJ stated.
"There's a key under the welcome mat?" Naomi asked incredulously.
"For the caretaker. No one ever comes out this far so the owner never thought to worry about anyone sneaking in. We had to sneak in the window when we were younger because the caretaker had the key with him because he was already inside."
"You sure know a lot about this place, Jay." Emily said looking up at him.
"Yes well when we had snuck in before we had a nice conversation with the caretaker who apparently liked to hit the whiskey as he took care of the place. He was very forthcoming with the information and I just filed it away until I needed it." JJ walked up to the front door and picked up the welcome mat but there was nothing there. He turned around empty handed to face the girls. "Maybe he forgot and took it with him last time he was here." JJ stood there, welcome mat in hand, with a thoughtful look on his face. He turned back to the door and started knocking.
"JJ, what are you doing? There's no one here." Effy said but the boy didn't listen to her just continued to knock.
To all five of their surprise a girl answered, a blue-eyed girl with her blonde hair done up in pigtails.
"Panda?" Effy said as she walked up the stairs towards her best friend.
"I saw you guys through the window when I heard the knocking. Whizzer cool that you showed up here. None of you are infected though right? Aunt Lizzie won't let you stay if you are."
"Aunt Lizzie?" Katie questioned.
"Yeah she owns this place. When she found out about the zombie outbreak on the news she took her tank and came and picked up me and Tommo. Mum's out of town with our neighbor on some business trip or something boring like that. So she picked us up and brought us here to be safe. Pretty bitchin' huh?"
"Tank?" Emily asked but before Pandora could answer JJ interfered. "None of us are infected. You can examine us but we came to seek shelter. I thought this would be the safest place."
"Well you'd be right about that. Come on. Tommo and Lizzie-poo are making some soup." Pandora said as she turned around and led them into the house.
Bewildered the five teenagers followed their friend inside the big front doors. They entered into a big room with two identical staircases that lined the walls leading to the upstairs. They had mahogany hand railings and a red carpet with an ornate pattern in gold. They curled so each of their first steps were only centimeters apart and they stood not far from the front door. Along the walls underneath the stairs were two lines of suits of armor. In the center of the ceiling was one giant, shiny chandelier and surrounding it in concentric circles were plants hanging from the ceiling. The walls curved giving the room a circular appearance and they closed on one normal sized door, which looked tiny surrounded by this high ceilinged and vast room.
The six of them made their way through the room, a bouncing Pandora leading the way humming a tune, the rest of them transfixed by the room trying to take in all the details. Through the door was a short hallway with three doors to each wall. Also adorning the walls were pictures of…castles, four altogether in between the doors. Pandora explained that behind each of these doors were storage rooms for extra food. They continued on to the end of the hallway and went through the door there. It led into the kitchen.
The kitchen was surprisingly normal looking and small in comparison with the first room. The appliances, the refrigerator, the stove, and all the other appliances, lined the walls and in the center was a counter with stools on one side like you would see in a diner. They found Aunt Liz and Thomas sitting there and laughing as the soup cooked on the stove.
"Auntie Lizzie, look what I found at the door." Pandora said. Aunt Liz and Thomas swiveled around in their seats to face the group. While Thomas continued to smile, Aunt Liz's smile froze and then turned down into a frown.
"While it is wonderful that now your friends are here, love, I hope they know this means I'll have to inspect them." Aunt Liz directed to Pandora.
"Of course, Lizzie, I told them they couldn't stay if they were infected. The inspection was implied you see? Don't worry the three of us already were so we're safe." Pandora said as she stood in between Thomas legs, his arms around her.
"What exactly does this inspection entail?" Naomi asked all business.
"Your standard strip search. I need to make sure there are no bites or scratches on you. I'll be waiting in the dining room." Aunt Liz stood up from her seat and went through the door to what the group presumed was the dining room.
"I'm not stripping for her." Katie decided.
"You have to. She won't let you stay if you don't. Thomas and I did and then I inspected Aunt Lizzie so it's not like we're discriminating against you or anything." Pandora suggested.
"Fine but I'm not going in there with all of you and I'm not going in there alone." Katie added. There were only two people she would want to go with her. Either Emily or Effy and she preferred the latter.
"Come on Katiekins. We can go together. Nothing we haven't already seen right?" Effy said as she grabbed Katie's hand and led her through the door to the dining room.
"Will you be alright going in alone, JJ?" Emily asked as she laid a comforting hand on his arm.
"Yes getting naked is extremely easy. I find it better than having innumerable doctors trying to poke around inside my head." He smiled kindly at Emily.
Minutes later Effy and Katie emerged through the door. Their clothes slightly askew and messed up as if they had thrown them on quickly.
"That was slightly degrading." Effy stated. "But we passed."
JJ went next and then Naomi and Emily. All of them passed happily. When the food was ready they all filed into the dining room. It was another big room with dark wood paneling on three of the walls. The fourth consisted of a huge bay window looking out on a beautiful garden. During this breakfast Aunt Liz described the structure of the castle a bit so her guests could get used to it. It was made of four wings, north, south, east, and west. It was a giant square and in the center as they could now see was the garden, so they could go outside and still be safely inside the castle walls, Liz informed them. When JJ asked if she too had anticipated some kind of apocalypse as the reason for the castle, Liz responded by saying she just liked her privacy. She was a bit of an eccentric recluse but the gang expected nothing else from a relative of Panda's. Towards the end of their breakfast Aunt Liz did have some bad news to break to them.
"The caretaker, Jackson, stocked the place with food, you know nonperishables and he froze things like bread and steaks. In theory we would be able to live here for quite some time had the place been fully stocked like it usually is. But I began to skeeve the thought of ever having to eat that food so I had Jackson clean it all out. He could use what he wanted and discard the rest so he could start from scratch. Well I came to visit him during one of his trips here as he was restocking and we got a bit distracted. I thought of another job he had yet to do that required both of our presences…" At this point Aunt Liz looked around to see if they all had gotten the reference. She wasn't convinced they had. "Breaking in the master bed. A bed's only good to sleep on after it had been broken in and I do need my beauty sleep so I need a good bed. We properly shagged the day away so he didn't have time to completely restock and as anyone knows it takes more than one session to break in a bed so the next time he came we had to continue the process. Long story short he never did get around to completely restocking the place. We have some food but I'm afraid you young folks will have to make a trip to the grocery store." She said this last sentence as casually as she would have if there wasn't a zombie outbreak outside these walls. "You can decide who amongst you will go. I'll leave money in the kitchen for you to take."
Naomi couldn't let the ridiculousness go on, "I don't think we're going to need money with everyone being dead and all."
"Ha-ha yes well. I'll be in the garden taking my after breakfast walk. Do be safe and get some good food." Aunt Liz said as she exited the room.
"You're aunt is one loony bird." Naomi said to Pandora. "Looks like things didn't go according to plan huh, Jay?"
"No. At least we have some food and Katie's rabbit." He said as he went into the kitchen to put it into the refrigerator.
"It's not my rabbit." Katie yelled after him.
He returned and continued as if he didn't hear Katie's comment. "Even with the food I think we should address the problem sooner rather than later. There's too much that can go wrong. The power could go out and even if she has some external one those are never completely reliable and there's the risk that even though the food is rather new it could be no good so we should get some instant stuff like…"
"JJ," Naomi cut him off. "You're getting locked on again. We will address the problem of food later. We have all been awake for over twenty-four hours. We need some sleep. We can discuss this later, yeah?"
"Actually Tommo and I had a super night's sleep. I mean we didn't sleep the whole time. We…" Pandora started but his time it was Thomas's time to do the cutting off.
"Yes we slept very well, Panda, but our friend's have not. We shall lead them to their rooms and let them rest."
"He's so brainy, isn't he?" Pandora said a big goofy smile on her face as she looked up at Thomas.
Pandora led them out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
"We sleep in the east wing. That's where Aunt Lizzie's master bedroom is and we figured it would be safer to be close and there are enough bedrooms for you guys too. Whizzer cool, yeah, it's almost like being in boarding school." Pandora said excitedly.
"Except without the actual school." Naomi said under her breath only loud enough for Emily to her who gave her a small smile but her eyes held a warning, 'Don't crush Panda's dreams. The situation is bad enough.'
As they walked to their bedrooms Thomas attempted to explain some more about the house that Aunt Liz had told him and Panda.
"We haven't heard much about the north or south wings and we haven't done much exploring yet but Panda's aunt did tell us that the west wing is modeled after Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Masque of the Red Death.' I'm afraid that I'm not exactly sure what that means." Thomas admitted.
Effy decided to help him since Poe was one of her favorites. "It is a story about a prince who locked himself inside his palace with many servants and revelers to escape the red death. There is a great ballroom with seven suites. Each suite is themed with a color and adorned with stain glass windows that when the fires around are lit they project those colors and illuminate the rooms with extravagant appearances. The colors of the rooms are blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and the seventh was black but its windows were a deep blood red. The revelers loved the room except for the last one, which also contained an ebony clock that on each hour would strike and everyone in the party would stop because it was such an ominous sound. One day an extremely grotesque guest joins the party and he is infected with the red death and the prince chases him to the black room to murder him. However, when prince confronts the guest, he dies and the revelers see there is no one beneath the cloak of the mysterious guest. The red death had gotten inside and everyone ends up dying." As she had started this story the group had stopped walking to listen to it.
"Not a very hopeful coincidence considering the situation we're in now. I suggest we stay away from the west wing." Naomi said. The rest of the group nodded and continued their journey in silence all of them thinking about the story.
After that comparison no one knew what to expect from the bedrooms they were staying in but were relived when Pandora showed them surprisingly normal looking rooms. They chose rooms close to each other and went to rest as Pandora and Thomas decided to explore the garden.
Naomi sat on the king-sized bed taking off her shoes as Emily looked around the huge room and opened the door. After a few minutes she reentered the room.
"We have our own bathroom. If this wasn't so horrible, it would actually be extremely romantic and beautiful. I think I'm going to shower."
"Good idea, Ems. I don't think you have in ages."
"And what about you Ms. Campbell? Look at yourself. There is Jason's blood on your clothes."
"Darn I didn't pack my overnight bag so I have nothing glamorous to change in to."
At this comment Emily decided to look around some more and found another door that led to a walk-in-closet.
"We're in luck. Clothes for every gender and size. I don't know what Aunt Liz expected to do with this place but she sure was prepared. We're lucky she is one loony bird. Now I'm going to shower. Are you going to join or not?" Emily asked facing Naomi with her arms crossed over her chest and an insistent look on her face.
"I can't believe you're still thinking about that with all that's going on."
The look on Emily's face fell and was replaced by a frown and her arms dropped to her side. "All I can think about is what's going on and how awful it is. I don't know what is going on outside of Bristol or what happened to my parents or James or what happened to your mum and Kieran. And it's horrible to think about Cook and Freddie because they were fine only two days ago and then seeing Freddie like that…and I'm scared that something is going to happen to me or you cause I'm one-hundred percent sure I can't live without you. I'm trying to enjoy the time we do have and keep my thoughts positive because I feel very close to breaking down. Don't let me break down." Emily finished tears running down her cheeks. Naomi went over and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. Emily buried her face in Naomi's neck and held her tightly.
"I'm sorry. I'm just…stressed and I'm not strong like you, Em. You're always positive, like this big ball of sunshine and I'm like this dark cloud that ruins your mood with all my stupid thoughts that I can't stop."
Emily pulled away from Naomi to look up at her. "You're like Eeyore." She said with a smile. Although there were still traces of tears on her face no new ones had fallen. Naomi frowned at this notion and thought for a moment.
"I always pictured myself more as Rabbit."
"Don't tell Katie she'll shoot you."
"As if she needs anymore reason to."
Emily giggled at this and leaned up to kiss Naomi on the cheek. "How about that shower now?" She whispered into Naomi's ear and she could feel the shiver that traveled down the other girl's body. She pulled completely away from Naomi and bounced toward the bathroom a self-satisfied smirk on her face. Naomi heard the shower turn on and all other thoughts besides the redhead immediately left her head. She followed and shut the door behind her.
They didn't speak another word until they were cuddled up in their king-sized bed.
"Ems," Naomi said softly as she played with her girlfriend's hair, "you think my mum and Kieran are alright?"
Emily, who had been drifting off, was now wide-awake. She could hear the scared almost childlike tone in Naomi's voice. It wasn't one she heard often. It was usually her who asked these types of questions.
"I'm sure they're fine. I can just see them now blockading the doors and windows as Kieran yells 'You right bunch of ugly fuckers, if those good for nothing students couldn't break me, you bastards sure won't." Emily attempted her best imitation of Kieran's Irish accent, which received a laugh from Naomi. "And your mum will support him. She's become quite the fighter from attending all those protests and having to keep the sodden cops off her not mention handling all the squatters that used to live in your house. She's strong like you. You're strong like her."
Naomi thought about this for a moment. "Emily?"
"Yeah."
"I love you."
"I know." Emily answered with a smile.
The next thing Naomi knew there was a frantic knocking on the door and she jumped out of bed with a start. She found a robe and wrapped it around herself. Emily merely turned over in bed but stayed asleep. Naomi smiled at the sight. Not even the end of the world could wake that girl up. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway to meet the source of the noise, Katie.
"Yes? Can I help you with something?" Naomi asked a bit irritated not too keen on being woken up especially by Katie Fitch.
"You lezzers ever wake up?"
"I'm not sure if it's more okay for you to say that now that your dating Effy or less."
"Really not the point Campbell. We have a problem. Aunt Liz is throwing a fucking temper tantrum about this food shopping bullshit. She's convinced we're all going to die if we don't go today."
"What time is it?" Naomi asked confused. She thought Aunt Liz had seemed calm if not crazy when they had gone to sleep only a few hours ago.
"Half-past nine…in the morning. You slept for almost twenty-four hours."
"Oh."
"Yeah. So can you get my slag of a sister up and come join us? We're deciding who's going to go."
Emily and Naomi were the last two to wander into the dining room. The rest of gang was already in what looked like a heated debate. Naomi did notice that Aunt Liz was missing. When she asked about it, Effy was the one to answer. "She's taking her after breakfast walk. She seemed to be satisfied that we were finally making progress on the food situation. She only made one rule-Pandora is not to go."
Naomi looked over at Pandora and noticed she was crying.
"Tommo wants to go." Pandora said.
"I run fast, like a dog. I'll be useful and safe. Pandora, I'll be safe." Thomas said as he kneeled down in front of her and held her face in his big hands. He nodded and smiled at her and she nodded back.
"I think I should go." Katie spoke up uncharacteristically serious. "That shot in the forest wasn't just lucky. Me and Ems have been to the shooting range quite a bit. Dad wants us to know how to protect ourselves. Even though Emily was complete shit at it, I am a fucking fantastic shot."
"She hit all the targets in the right spots or whatever." Emily added.
"So I'm going but Ems you're not."
Emily opened her mouth to protest but before Katie could stop her Naomi did.
"She's right, Emily, you're staying here. It's not really your scene anyway." Naomi said trying to soften the blow. She really meant that if they knew for a fact Emily couldn't shoot then she wouldn't be much help. Plus Naomi suspected that Katie like herself didn't want to have to worry about Emily.
"I don't understand why we all aren't going, besides Pandora. Strength in numbers, right?"
"Not if some of us aren't useful. We don't need useless people Ems." Katie said to her sister.
Naomi shot daggers to Katie. "We're just creating a small concise group that we'll be able to protect and…keep track of. If there are too many people it'll be hard to stay together." Naomi rationalized.
"So you're going then?" Emily asked her.
Naomi looked down at the ground unable to make a verbal answer but still staying yes with her actions.
"Then I'm going." Emily said.
"No, there will be none of this Titanic lovers bullshit if you jump I jump rubbish. Ems you're staying. Naomi is coming with Thomas, Effy, and me. Pandora and JJ will stay too." Katie ordered.
"How come you and Effy get to go?" Emily asked.
"It's her car." Katie said.
"Plus I know how to handle a gun." Effy added and winked at Emily.
"What about JJ's hunting idea?" Emily asked with a start as if a light bulb had just lit up in her head.
"Aunt Liz shot it down. Apparently she doesn't trust the animals in the forest either." JJ explained dejectedly. "I think you guys should go now. You don't know how long it'll take and I suggest you try getting back before dark."
The group made their way to the front door.
"Don't worry. I'm coming back. Katie's got my back. Right Katiekins?" Naomi called out as she hugged Emily goodbye.
"Right. Not cause I like you or anything just cause I don't want to have to listen to Ems."
"Thanks for clearing that up. I'm sure we would've wondered if you didn't."
Katie smirked at Naomi and went back to checking the guns and ammunition with Effy. Naomi kissed Emily's lips slowly trying to commit the way it felt to memory. Even though she didn't want Emily to know it might be there last kiss she wondered if it would be.
"All right let's do this bitches." Katie said breaking both Pandora and JJ and Naomi and Emily out of their moments.
Effy, Katie, Naomi, and Thomas left the castle as Pandora locked the door behind them. Thomas led them through the forest and they saw the zombies still hadn't inhabited it, which they took as a good sign. They made it back to the car that was still there and Effy began driving back towards the city. As they got closer they saw more zombies then when they had left. They were large clusters and masses of them on sidewalks and in the streets.
"I don't know if we're going to make it. Maybe we should…" Effy's sentence was cutoff as the car was jerked and she turned the wheel sharply to try and right it. The car swerved into a nearby lamppost. The four teens were tossed around from the impact. Effy was the first one to recover herself. She had a gash on her forehead from where she hit the steering wheel.
"Is everyone alright?" She asked as she reached over to Katie in the passenger seat.
The other three answered her. Apart from an assortment of minor cuts and bruises they all were intact.
"What was that?" Naomi asked rubbing her head.
"You must have hit something. It sounded like you popped a tire." Thomas offered.
"Well what are we supposed to do now?" Katie asked.
"Guys…" Naomi said as she looked out the rear window. They all turned and saw a female zombie pressing her face and hands against the window. All the skin on her face was missing and all that was left was a bright red bloody mess. She left streaks of blood on the window as she swayed back and forth and her tongue darted out to lick up the traces of it as she swayed. One of her hands looked like hamburger meat from being run over and the other's fingers were bent at grotesque angles. She made growling noises and her white eyes never left the four teens in the car.
"We can handle just one…" Effy started to say but there was a loud bang on her left where two more zombies were banging their fists against the door. Before anyone could really register the two newcomers there was a swarm of zombies surrounding the car. They were all pushing on it and making it rock. The noise had drawn them to the car crash.
So not too much zombie action in this chapter but I had to set up a place for them to stay. Next chapter there will be more I promise. So who thinks the castle is actually safe?