the corner she stopped and looked both up and down the Prom. She shivered as she remembered the last time she had ventured this close to the sea - there had been a rumour that a ferry had moored nearby and there would be boats to Ireland. She had been with a group of people then, and they had all decided to risk it. When they got to the sea there had been boats, boats filled with men and guns. It had been a ploy to bring the people out of hiding so that any potential carriers could be eliminated. A tall man in a black jacket had announced that the world had decided that Britain should be cleansed, that the danger of the disease escaping was too hazardous. Lily had hidden underneath a dead donkey, hidden in the blood-soaked sand until it had gone quiet. She only just escaped the fire created from the bodies of all her friends.
The lights on the front of North Pier burst into light for a second before fizzing out again. If the pier still had power, then some of the food inside might still be okay. The place scared her for so any reasons - there was no escape if you got trapped, but there were a few places to hide and as long as no one else wanted the place then she should be safe for at least the night. It was a risk, but so was staying out here. Every minute was death now. She put her rucksack on her back, took her knife out of her belt and ran across the Prom.
Ed saw her slip in the door, and he saw her stand in the semi darkness utterly confused and not knowing what to do. The pier had been left in utter confusion. The electricity was still switched on but like most of the country was intermittent. The blips of noise and lights from the games machines were disorientating, although he now heard it as a disjointed symphony.
He watched as she walked over to the kiosk to grab a Mars Bar and tear into it. She pushed more chocolate and a few sticks of rock into a bag she was carrying and then walked forwards out of the arcade. She did not want to be stuck in the darkness, she should be in the light. Ed watched as she stopped by a broken machine with soft toys in it. He did not move yet. There was no point in risking himself before he knew he could trust her. He so wanted to trust somebody.
Lily felt someone watching her. At least that’s what it felt like. It could be a feeling of safety but she could not remember what that felt like. Did it feel like someone watching over you? A guardian angel? No. That would mean God existed, and he very clearly didn’t. She very deliberately dragged her knife across the surface of a table, the sound louder than any other she had made in a long time. She jumped, despite herself, and fell against a broken machine. A toy fell out and she caught it. It was something from her childhood, a yellow creature in blue dungarees that had made her brother laugh.
She caught the sob in her throat and pushed it down. The feel of his body as he pushed her down and lay on top of her. Hiding her as his blood ran over her and he was torn apart. His screams… his…
No. She bent down and looked under the table, suddenly very glad of the hard wearing ankle boots she had ‘borrowed’ from an outdoor store. There. In the corner of the room. Please let this be the last nice person in the world. Please just a few words of conversation. Please…
Slow down Lily. Relationships were short and intense now. Everything was in a day now; if things lasted a day. She swung on a pole on the carousel, trying to portray a carefree demeanour, trying to have one moment of peace before whatever happened took place. The lights flickered for a moment and she saw his face in the mirrors as he revealed himself.
She was playing with him and Ed found that he liked it. It was a moment of levity that he hadn’t felt in many months; and he could feel the pain of his losses leave him. Could he trust his heart with this girl? As she stopped and looked at him his heart felt something he hadn’t felt since the day his wife…
The demons had taken his wife. They had been camping by a lake as a surprise she had arranged. She loved to swim, and even though it was not allowed, she had leapt into the lake and splashed around like a child trying to entice him in the water. He was giving in and was dipping his toe in. His wife had loved to swim. She swam towards him and... He had dragged her away and got her into the car but she died that night as no one could help. He burned her body as the government had advised. That was the day the world fell apart.
He watched as she walked down the length of the pier, looking over the edge and exploring the structures he had never really explored. He had been hiding too long, and moved into the air. He looked up and watched the grey clouds split and the gold shine down for a moment.
The crashing beneath his feet reminded him what he was doing and he fell back against the building on, holding on as the death beneath him splashed.
Lily shielded her eyes against the sun and looked back to see if he was finally coming to talk to her. The fact that he had not rushed at her and tried to end her life gave her the tiniest glimmer of hope. As his face turned to horror she started towards him and almost didn’t feel the barest touch on her back. His hoarse shouts accompanied her movement as she was pulled into a dance with the ending she always knew was coming. Swinging out with her knife helplessly, the hand on her shoulder tried to pull her back. She tripped over a low bench and smacked her head on the rails. Twisting to look at the glinting water she tried to get up.
Was there hope? If she jumped…
Ed held out his hand to stop her, watching as more of the demons came out of the theatre towards them both. He could run, he could save himself, but what for? Too much time alone.
If he jumped...
Lily looked over to the man as he awkwardly climbed up onto the rail and waited for her. She copied him as the creatures pulled at her back, her bag and jacket being taken by them.
There was hope, they would make it. This would be another start. If it only lasted a day, what a day it would be. The waves looked so inviting, with the sparkles from the increasing sun, and the cool spray.
She nodded at the man and he jumped. She closed her eyes and flew, her tears hitting the outstretched arms from beneath.
Bec Pearce is a geek of epic proportions. She loves writing and reading and watching writing being performed in all its mediums. Although originally from Surrey, Bec lives in Preston, Lancashire with her husband, Neil, and their enormous dog, Jack. Neil and Bec released their first book, Nemesis, in January 2015, and hope to have another out as soon as they stop watching television. She hopes that one day she will be able to fund her book buying habits with her writing.
Day One
by Richard Southworth
Sunday, 1st March, 2015
This is the invasion diary of Lily Bracken (and Ed Morrison, looking over her shoulder with his own pen – we’re sharing).
I’m starting up this diary now that the invasion proper has started – it’s not just little pockets of infection from airline passengers anymore, the bloody zombies are here. I’m keeping this record in case it proves something useful in the future. Maybe when you’re reading it, the zombies are all over Britain and you just want to find out how it started here. Or maybe it’s in a museum cos everything turned out OK, you never know.
Anyway, just yesterday, we knew the zombies were going to turn up in Great Britain somewhere – on the west coast, where Ed and I live, of course, because that’s the way my life works. It was a couple of days before that when the hordes in Ireland started swarming into the Irish Sea; nobody knew just where they were gonna pop up.
This was a proper job for the army because they had to spread out all over the northern end of the west coast. So we got a few soldiers and jeeps coming into Blackpool – everyone was crowding about to watch them putting up their barricades around the beach. The tourists weren’t happy. The football fans were annoyed too; cos the next home game was called off just in case.
Blackpool FC would be better off with a team of zombies, the way they’re playing at the moment. Or rather, were playing. I can’t see the Football League being a priority anymore.
A few people we know started heading inland just in case, and Ed and I stayed up all night talking about what we were gonna do. I said to him, ‘
There’s only a little chance they’re gonna come here anyway. You think they’re looking for donkey rides?’
And I said, ‘Fine, we’ll stay, but it’s as well to be prepared.’
We ended up leaving scraps of paper all over the living room because we kept thinking of new things: what kind of food we’d need, how we were going to fight off zombies, where we’d go, whether we’d go anywhere at all. Ed went over the idea that maybe we should stay put and prepare for a siege, seeing as how everybody else would be running and the zombies would be swarming after them. Our problem was we lived on Braithwaite Street which isn’t too far from the sea – right on the front line.
I suggested that if the zombies came, we should try and hole up in Blackpool Tower. Ed just looked at me funny.
I was trying to have a serious conversation – it wasn’t the time for jokes.
I wasn’t joking! Blackpool Tower has a few things going for it. Lots of stairs to hem the zombies in, good supplies and equipment –
I dismissed it as a) it was directly in the line of fire, as it were, and b) God knows how many people would have the same idea.
In the end, we decided Plan A would be to leave Blackpool if the zombies turned up, and Plan B would be to stay put with a few supplies: gather weapons, block the