Day 324 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 1.5 - (1,043 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

Chapter 1.5

"What if they were on the level? Did you think about that?” James was sulking, Derek had not wanted to go with their erstwhile saviours and had elected to stay in the town, albeit with a few new extra ‘toys’ that the City Dwellers had left fpor them.

“Even if they were, so what?” Derek returned his position, it was unchanged and he mistrusted the intentions of the City Folk.

“Well we could be safe and secure and… we could find people and not be alone anymore?” James had not fell so acutely alone as he did when their new friends, or his new friends at least, left them behind and carried on with whatever mission they had.

“People? People are over-rated.” Derek dismissed the idea.

“But you’ll take their gear quite happily yeah?”

Derek said nothing but he still had the device in his hands and they were still under the protection of the ones in the street not far from the building where they had taken cover.

When they had all come around the corner the first of a line of devices was stuck, forcefully into the ground, each device was a small box on top of a solid metal spike that was driven into the ground. The ‘gunfire’ that they had head was in fact a pneumatic device used to punch the hole in the road surface to fix the spike to the ground; each one was done in quick succession by the team. The Rat-tat-tat of the drill bit slamming into the breaking road and the cracking of the surface gave the impression of a series of bullets being fired, especially as some of the spikes were done in overlapping succession, as they spread out the devices into a line. 

The line lead along the street to an open area a roundabout intersection where there was a final device in the line that was on the small mound in the center, slightly higher than the others but in all other respects, exactly the same. The box’s were ultra sonic emitters according to Ben, and it transmitted on a frequency that only the undead were interested in. It was too low for dogs and too low for ordinary humans to hear, but something in the physiology of the recently deceased allowed them to hear it and flock towards the sound.

There was a theory, according to Ben anyway, that as the human ear deteriorated more and more the tympanic membrane became hypersensitive to the vibrations at that frequency. The scientists they had in the City that they had gathered together over time had been working on ways to eliminate the undead threat, when the unlikely combination of radio engineer and Veterinarian came up with the elegant discovery that they could be baited and waylaid with sound.

The idea that you could easily distract and confuse them was hardly anything new of course, but the ingeniously simple devices that the two men came up with was the thing that sealed the deal.  The vet discovered the frequency and the first test device they put into operation yielded amazing results.

The noise pacified them as well as distracting the undead.

The sonic devices made everyone who felt the vibration, alive and undead alike, calmed down and took things a little less seriously. They were all armed to the teeth and not once did they seem threatening or militant. It was hard to believe that any one among them had ever fired a gun in defence let alone in anger or aggression.

“They’re all brain washed into being passive while the world falls apart! Is that what you want? Really?” Derek was looking inside the device he had pried from the ground.

The thing was he knew that the device was trying to give his mind a pasting right now, he could sense the edges of his mind being poked and prodded, he felt sleepy like he was very tired and ready to have a nap. He knew it was un real, that was why he fought against it, unlike his brother and the cadre of people who had come to rescues them.

These boxes worked well enough to flock the Zombies to one spot, but what to do with them then? They still had a hundred or more of the undead nuisances assembled around this roundabout, and the scouting team looking for a new location for their second city had long gone. They had left the devices and explained the science behind them. Derek pretended to understand what it was all about, but ultimately he saw the devices as only half the job.

“We could do it manually you know, how’re your arms office boy?” Derek was referring to the clearing of the zombies around the corner. According to the team who had captured them with these devices, they had slung a temporary fence around the group. That was unnecessary because as long as the devices were transmitting there was no way they were going anywhere, but it did give a sense of security.

The fence would never have held against the combined strength of the horde, but it kept the stragglers in check and within a contained perimeter.

Ben had made an offer to rid the town of the zombies, pied piper style. “We could lead them out with a sonic procession of the boxes, the emitters on sticks you know the things in the ground? We could prise them up and move them too you know? And we totally have more of them, the sticks I mean.”

“Thanks but no.” Derek was firm in his rejection and the relief was noticeable in Ben’s face, not because it was a daunting job but because it was a laborious one and he did not want to do it. Another side effect of the sonic emitters was a depleted social conscience. It was not gone, not exactly, but it was much lower than it had been before the device had turned on.

James wanted to see the City, see what they had to offer, but family came first. It had to, Derek was the only link to his heritage, outside of the old homestead, that was left to James, and James to Derek.