Post by roch on Aug 19, 2007 17:54:40 GMT 1
I think this is the penultimate episode in the story now, so things are hotting up a bit! Just the end to write. Who will survive? And why has all this happened in sleepy little Emmerdale? Soon you'll find out... 
==============================================
Part IX
“Why don’t you...” Marlon trailed off, and Zack turned to him inquisitively. “Oh, Uncle Zack, this is madness!” he cried with a sudden burst of emotion. “Why don’t you go now and get the van? It’ll speed things up and then we can get away from here. I can make sure Donna’s OK, and you can check on Lisa and Belle...”
Diane, Daz and Scarlet were dumbfounded, realising that what Marlon was suggesting wasn’t at all in line with the plan. But they all wanted this over with, and it couldn’t do any harm to get the van there early, after all.
Zack gave a manly nod, patted Marlon on the shoulder, and opened the pub’s back door.
***
Jack was first to swing his weapon, the huge farm implement that took some strength to wield, and strike one of the tourists, causing it to fall back but not apparently doing it any harm.
The creatures had gone into a frenzy, coming right up to the bar and madly swiping their hands at their prey. Apparently they had not yet realised that they could come round the side of the bar, but how long could it be before they did? Three more of them had entered the door now, one of whom was an empty-eyed Val.
Matthew twisted awkwardly to avoid the claw-like fingernails of one of them, remembering that it wasn’t entirely impossible that getting scratched might turn you into one of them. He swung his axe, damaging the wrist of the offending tourist so badly that it was almost severed, and the hand hung there limply as the creature flailed.
Carl was holding Chas in his arms and didn’t know what to do. But then Matthew shouted to him desperately. “Now! Carl, go and tell Zack to get the van!”
***
Zack’s walk to the van had been entirely uneventful, and he was thankful for the fact. Everywhere was dark, but there was no sign of the tourists. He took the key out of his pocket and went round to the driver’s side.
There, Shadrach was waiting. As Zack rounded the van, his brother shambled forward. He was slow, even slower than the others who were new to undeath. But he seemed intent on attacking.
Putting up his fists, since he had no other weapon, Zack remembered what Matthew had said about Jimmy, remarking on the fact that he had been in the office. Perhaps their old personalities were not completely erased, and they looked for places or things that they vaguely recognised. That might mean...
***
“Where’s Zack?” Carl asked, putting Chas gently down on the floor. She did not stir, and her breathing was rather shallow. “He has to get the van!”
“He already went to get it,” Diane said.
Carl just shrugged. He gave no thought to his brother’s plan and whether it was being put into action correctly. He just wanted to keep Chas safe.
***
“We can’t hold them much longer!” Jack said breathlessly, swinging his heavy farm implement again.
Matthew was grappling with a male tourist who had hold of his shirt sleeve, trying desperately to keep its teeth away from him as well as trying to unhook its talons from his clothes. He elbowed it in the face as hard as he could, causing it to lose its balance and fall, taking half his sleeve with it.
“We’ll have to make a run for it!” Matthew finally replied. He hoped the lighter had not fallen from his pocket during the fighting but had no time to check.
***
Though he knew it was what he should do, Zack did not have it in him to kill his brother. Nor did he have a means of doing so, since beheading was so far the only proven means of killing the creatures.
Shadrach, fortunately, was not the most effective zombie in the world. He shambled and made an unnatural deep-throated growling noise, but generally looked as though he wanted human flesh but could not be bothered to make much effort to get it. Yet more proof that they retained some of their personality after they were turned.
As Shadrach opened his mouth wide, presumably with the intention of biting his brother if he was stupid enough to come close and let himself be attacked, Zack punched him squarely in the face.
As Zack drove the van away, Shadrach was lying on his back groaning.
***
While most of the tourists flailed madly but rather ineffectively at their prey across the bar, it was Val and Jimmy who first realised that there was a way round. They headed for the side of the bar, held back only by the other creatures in their frenzy.
“Are you ready?” Matthew asked Jack, knowing that they would have to make a run for it together if they were to stand a chance of surviving.
Jack could not answer for a moment as he tried to fight off a tourist who was leaning right over the bar, mouth wide open and ready to bite. He hit it in the face. “Yes!”
Matthew shifted the axe to his left hand as he reached into his pocket for the lighter. At first he held his breath, thinking it really had fallen out after all. But then his fingers closed around it and he breathed a sigh of relief.
But just as he was off guard, Jimmy appeared at the side of the bar.
***
The others were nervous as they waited for Zack to come with the van. It had been a few minutes, they reckoned, though in truth every moment of waiting felt like an hour. Diane tapped her foot nervously, irritating Daz, who told her to be quiet.
Then Zack came round the corner in the van, pulling up close to the door.
“Thank God for that!” Marlon exclaimed, going out.
The others seemed similarly relieved, enough that they were glad to run to the prospect of safety.
All except Scarlet. “We have to go and get Matt and Mr Sugden now!” she exclaimed.
***
Matthew had never got on with Jimmy really, even before Sadie complicated matters. He had always let his big brother take the blame for things, always put him down, always kept things to himself and never shared them. But he had loved him, in his own way. It saddened him to see Jimmy like that – he seemed to be alive, and yet his eyes were empty of any emotion they had ever contained, except anger.
It was with regret that Matthew raised his axe, giving it an almighty swing.
Scarlet screamed as Jimmy’s head rolled past her feet.
***
Just then, as if it was all a dream, a strangely out of place sound was heard. It was a tune, horribly inappropriate, and yet somehow it roused the spirit. Grayson stopped the ice cream van near Zack’s van.
“I knew there would be more survivors!” he said as he got out of the cab. “Diane, are you alright?”
Suddenly she began to sob. “Jack’s still in there!”
Raising his head proudly, Grayson mentally prepared himself to launch back into the fighting. “Don’t you worry, I’ll do my best to get him out.”
Before anyone could tell him any more about what had been happening, Grayson went from the back door into the bar.
***
“You killed him!” Scarlet protested, disbelieving. “How could you do that?”
Matthew, however, did not have time to answer. Val was the first of the creatures to follow in Jimmy’s path and come round the side of the bar, and more of the tourists were beginning to follow her.
Just then, Grayson burst in. He held his hand out to Jack, trying to take the farm implement from him. “Diane needs you,” he said. “Go to her.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he was hardly going to refuse the reprieve, and so he let Grayson have the farm implement and went through to the back door.
“You shouldn’t be in here!” Grayson told Scarlet, before going forward to take on a tourist who had got past Matthew, hitting it in the face but finding it very difficult to wield his heavy weapon.
***
When Jack got to the back door, he found that people already inside the van, though its big door at the rear was standing open. Diane was in the back, and reached out her hand to Jack. “Get in!”
“Hang on!” Jack said, going to help Carl, who was carrying a still unconscious Chas.
But Zack got out of the driver’s seat and walked over to them. “I’m sorry, Carl lad, but you can’t bring her. She might be one of them.”
Grudgingly, Jack admitted this might very well be the case. No matter how much Carl pleaded with them, they firmly insisted that they could not endanger the others by taking her with them.
“You get in, lad,” Zack said to Carl.
But Carl held her close to him. “I’m staying with her. You’ll have to leave us both.”
Just as Jack was shrugging his shoulders, Shadrach appeared from around the side of the van. And he was not alone.
***
“Get back!” Matthew shouted angrily at Grayson, who had accidentally hit him on the arm. Scarlet lingered in the doorway, knowing she should run but unable to tear her eyes away from the chaos and unwilling to leave her brother behind.
Grayson took a couple of steps backwards, and Matthew hit a tourist in the face with the handle of his axe. Scarlet backed away a little to make sure she didn’t get in the way.
Knowing this was the only chance, Matthew flicked the lighter and a little flame appeared. Grayson marvelled at it for a moment, thinking how history seemed to be repeating itself, but Matthew just threw it at the alcohol-drenched bar. A row of flames shot up, making the tourists give a strange, unearthly cry.
Matthew grabbed his sister’s arm and the three of them ran through to the back, not waiting to see if the tourists had been held back or not.
They emerged from the back door just in time to see Zack driving away in the van, and Carl trying to keep an undead Shadrach away from Chas, who was lying unconscious on the tarmac.
Matthew rushed forward with his axe and beheaded Shadrach without a second thought. “Thanks,” Carl whispered, and for a moment the brothers embraced, knowing they had survived.
But then the first of the tourists emerged from the pub’s back door.
==============================================
Part IX
“Why don’t you...” Marlon trailed off, and Zack turned to him inquisitively. “Oh, Uncle Zack, this is madness!” he cried with a sudden burst of emotion. “Why don’t you go now and get the van? It’ll speed things up and then we can get away from here. I can make sure Donna’s OK, and you can check on Lisa and Belle...”
Diane, Daz and Scarlet were dumbfounded, realising that what Marlon was suggesting wasn’t at all in line with the plan. But they all wanted this over with, and it couldn’t do any harm to get the van there early, after all.
Zack gave a manly nod, patted Marlon on the shoulder, and opened the pub’s back door.
***
Jack was first to swing his weapon, the huge farm implement that took some strength to wield, and strike one of the tourists, causing it to fall back but not apparently doing it any harm.
The creatures had gone into a frenzy, coming right up to the bar and madly swiping their hands at their prey. Apparently they had not yet realised that they could come round the side of the bar, but how long could it be before they did? Three more of them had entered the door now, one of whom was an empty-eyed Val.
Matthew twisted awkwardly to avoid the claw-like fingernails of one of them, remembering that it wasn’t entirely impossible that getting scratched might turn you into one of them. He swung his axe, damaging the wrist of the offending tourist so badly that it was almost severed, and the hand hung there limply as the creature flailed.
Carl was holding Chas in his arms and didn’t know what to do. But then Matthew shouted to him desperately. “Now! Carl, go and tell Zack to get the van!”
***
Zack’s walk to the van had been entirely uneventful, and he was thankful for the fact. Everywhere was dark, but there was no sign of the tourists. He took the key out of his pocket and went round to the driver’s side.
There, Shadrach was waiting. As Zack rounded the van, his brother shambled forward. He was slow, even slower than the others who were new to undeath. But he seemed intent on attacking.
Putting up his fists, since he had no other weapon, Zack remembered what Matthew had said about Jimmy, remarking on the fact that he had been in the office. Perhaps their old personalities were not completely erased, and they looked for places or things that they vaguely recognised. That might mean...
***
“Where’s Zack?” Carl asked, putting Chas gently down on the floor. She did not stir, and her breathing was rather shallow. “He has to get the van!”
“He already went to get it,” Diane said.
Carl just shrugged. He gave no thought to his brother’s plan and whether it was being put into action correctly. He just wanted to keep Chas safe.
***
“We can’t hold them much longer!” Jack said breathlessly, swinging his heavy farm implement again.
Matthew was grappling with a male tourist who had hold of his shirt sleeve, trying desperately to keep its teeth away from him as well as trying to unhook its talons from his clothes. He elbowed it in the face as hard as he could, causing it to lose its balance and fall, taking half his sleeve with it.
“We’ll have to make a run for it!” Matthew finally replied. He hoped the lighter had not fallen from his pocket during the fighting but had no time to check.
***
Though he knew it was what he should do, Zack did not have it in him to kill his brother. Nor did he have a means of doing so, since beheading was so far the only proven means of killing the creatures.
Shadrach, fortunately, was not the most effective zombie in the world. He shambled and made an unnatural deep-throated growling noise, but generally looked as though he wanted human flesh but could not be bothered to make much effort to get it. Yet more proof that they retained some of their personality after they were turned.
As Shadrach opened his mouth wide, presumably with the intention of biting his brother if he was stupid enough to come close and let himself be attacked, Zack punched him squarely in the face.
As Zack drove the van away, Shadrach was lying on his back groaning.
***
While most of the tourists flailed madly but rather ineffectively at their prey across the bar, it was Val and Jimmy who first realised that there was a way round. They headed for the side of the bar, held back only by the other creatures in their frenzy.
“Are you ready?” Matthew asked Jack, knowing that they would have to make a run for it together if they were to stand a chance of surviving.
Jack could not answer for a moment as he tried to fight off a tourist who was leaning right over the bar, mouth wide open and ready to bite. He hit it in the face. “Yes!”
Matthew shifted the axe to his left hand as he reached into his pocket for the lighter. At first he held his breath, thinking it really had fallen out after all. But then his fingers closed around it and he breathed a sigh of relief.
But just as he was off guard, Jimmy appeared at the side of the bar.
***
The others were nervous as they waited for Zack to come with the van. It had been a few minutes, they reckoned, though in truth every moment of waiting felt like an hour. Diane tapped her foot nervously, irritating Daz, who told her to be quiet.
Then Zack came round the corner in the van, pulling up close to the door.
“Thank God for that!” Marlon exclaimed, going out.
The others seemed similarly relieved, enough that they were glad to run to the prospect of safety.
All except Scarlet. “We have to go and get Matt and Mr Sugden now!” she exclaimed.
***
Matthew had never got on with Jimmy really, even before Sadie complicated matters. He had always let his big brother take the blame for things, always put him down, always kept things to himself and never shared them. But he had loved him, in his own way. It saddened him to see Jimmy like that – he seemed to be alive, and yet his eyes were empty of any emotion they had ever contained, except anger.
It was with regret that Matthew raised his axe, giving it an almighty swing.
Scarlet screamed as Jimmy’s head rolled past her feet.
***
Just then, as if it was all a dream, a strangely out of place sound was heard. It was a tune, horribly inappropriate, and yet somehow it roused the spirit. Grayson stopped the ice cream van near Zack’s van.
“I knew there would be more survivors!” he said as he got out of the cab. “Diane, are you alright?”
Suddenly she began to sob. “Jack’s still in there!”
Raising his head proudly, Grayson mentally prepared himself to launch back into the fighting. “Don’t you worry, I’ll do my best to get him out.”
Before anyone could tell him any more about what had been happening, Grayson went from the back door into the bar.
***
“You killed him!” Scarlet protested, disbelieving. “How could you do that?”
Matthew, however, did not have time to answer. Val was the first of the creatures to follow in Jimmy’s path and come round the side of the bar, and more of the tourists were beginning to follow her.
Just then, Grayson burst in. He held his hand out to Jack, trying to take the farm implement from him. “Diane needs you,” he said. “Go to her.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he was hardly going to refuse the reprieve, and so he let Grayson have the farm implement and went through to the back door.
“You shouldn’t be in here!” Grayson told Scarlet, before going forward to take on a tourist who had got past Matthew, hitting it in the face but finding it very difficult to wield his heavy weapon.
***
When Jack got to the back door, he found that people already inside the van, though its big door at the rear was standing open. Diane was in the back, and reached out her hand to Jack. “Get in!”
“Hang on!” Jack said, going to help Carl, who was carrying a still unconscious Chas.
But Zack got out of the driver’s seat and walked over to them. “I’m sorry, Carl lad, but you can’t bring her. She might be one of them.”
Grudgingly, Jack admitted this might very well be the case. No matter how much Carl pleaded with them, they firmly insisted that they could not endanger the others by taking her with them.
“You get in, lad,” Zack said to Carl.
But Carl held her close to him. “I’m staying with her. You’ll have to leave us both.”
Just as Jack was shrugging his shoulders, Shadrach appeared from around the side of the van. And he was not alone.
***
“Get back!” Matthew shouted angrily at Grayson, who had accidentally hit him on the arm. Scarlet lingered in the doorway, knowing she should run but unable to tear her eyes away from the chaos and unwilling to leave her brother behind.
Grayson took a couple of steps backwards, and Matthew hit a tourist in the face with the handle of his axe. Scarlet backed away a little to make sure she didn’t get in the way.
Knowing this was the only chance, Matthew flicked the lighter and a little flame appeared. Grayson marvelled at it for a moment, thinking how history seemed to be repeating itself, but Matthew just threw it at the alcohol-drenched bar. A row of flames shot up, making the tourists give a strange, unearthly cry.
Matthew grabbed his sister’s arm and the three of them ran through to the back, not waiting to see if the tourists had been held back or not.
They emerged from the back door just in time to see Zack driving away in the van, and Carl trying to keep an undead Shadrach away from Chas, who was lying unconscious on the tarmac.
Matthew rushed forward with his axe and beheaded Shadrach without a second thought. “Thanks,” Carl whispered, and for a moment the brothers embraced, knowing they had survived.
But then the first of the tourists emerged from the pub’s back door.
