Free I Dream of Zombies (Book 2): Haven by Vickie Johnstone Page A

gardens and alleys, they do – dark hiding places,” he added.
    “We had a bad encounter near some garages behind a pub,” Marla remembered.
    The man nodded. “You see… Have you ever been to Stonehenge, girly?” he asked.
    Marla shook her head. “Can’t say I have.”
    “You should. It’s beautiful, mystical, but not at night time… anymore. Never go by night,” he said, staring off out the window.
    M arla studied the buildings: everyday houses; some with their curtains drawn and others open. A couple of windows were boarded up, which could be promising, she thought, but the church was first. She wondered how many people had managed to leave this town. “Did you say this place wasn’t evacuated?” she asked, looking at Caballero.
    He shook his head. “We were too late here. Anyone who made it out did so of their own accord.”
    “And there was me thinking London was bad,” Tommy stated.
    “No, that’s the tragedy of it. People were concentrating too much on the capital. The army and police were focused there.”
    “You think the government strategy was wrong?” asked Marla.
    Caballero sighed. “Doesn’t matter what I think. We just have to clean up the mess now.”
    Marla glanced at Tommy who shrugged. “Nearly there now,” mumbled Nick.
    “Great,” she replied. “Thanks.”
    As they entered Church Street and the tower of the building came into view, her heart sank. A crowd of gruesome dead-lookers jammed the road in front of them.
    “They know,” commented Nick.
    Tommy looked at him. “You knew they’d be here?”
    “Always. They can smell the people. I could’ve told you if you’d asked.”
    Caballero kept the engine running and radioed back: “Undead in the road. Do not leave your vehicles.”
    “What’s your plan?” Marla asked him.
    “We take them out. All of them,” he replied coldly.
    “Really?”
    “Yes, unless they’re living, we take them out. Who wants to use the machine gun?”
    Tommy nodded and switched positions. “I’m on it.”
    As the gun fired into the crowd, it began raining blood, or so it seemed to Marla. The dead-lookers juddered on the spot and fell into one another, some catapulted backwards by the force of the shots, their lack of coordination and speed making them easy targets. They collapsed like bloody dominoes until there was a carpet of bodies decorating the front of the grey stone church. Caballero drove the Panther across them and Marla’s attention was caught by Nick clapping loudly. She took a deep breath and then regretted it as the aroma of rotting flesh greeted her senses like a wave, falling around her head and pulling her under.
    “You alright, Marla?”
    She glanced at Caballero. “Fine, sir. The smell…”
    “Yes, it isn’t something you get used to either, I’m afraid,” he stated matter-of-factly as he drove over the last of the bodies to gain a clear view of the side of the church.
    From the pavement the abbey stood proudly, its brownish, slanted roof stretching upwards. It was a wondrous building. Marla had always admired churches because of their gothic air and shape. Three main arched windows rested above the dark blue door, which was closed. The nave cut across, with windows scattered throughout the grey stone. Shards of sunlight bounced off the panes, highlighting the gravestones sticking out of the overgrown grass here and there, becoming more plentiful towards the side where the cemetery rested. Marla shuddered as she looked. It was full of dead-lookers, as if they had returned to pay their respects to their ancestors.
    Caballero reversed the Panther and straightened it up alongside the pavement. The driver of the second Panther had turned it around to face the opposite direction, preparing to take down any zombies that appeared on the street. The Vector and bus were parked in between the two.
    “Is it blasphemy to fire on church property?” asked Marla.
    “Are you religious?” asked Caballero.
    “No,” she