“She’s not there” by The Zombies

Ok…..so we went on a grand adventure. Went everywhere, warded off the zombies, and found hummus. What else could one ask for in an evening? Well one more thing is always important, good company. And good company was had this evening. Splendid company in the form of Gabrielle and Neil…and Ellie for a spell.

It all began with French class, as any great story does. There was Neil, Ellie, a polish girl I never caught the name of, Gabrielle and myself. Not much French was actually learnt but that made not much difference. We started with the alphabet, as any great lesson should. This adventure is doing everything a good adventure should. As the attempted learning of the French language petered out, idle chat commenced.

I drifted in and out of myself and floated around the room in-between other conversations while continuing to give non committal grunts to any comments aimed my way. As the evening wore on I looked down upon myself and took note in an imaginary jotter: “I need a hair cut”. With that out of the way I began formulating ideas of my future, all of which can be viewed above. With all these heavy thoughts weighing down my soul I returned to myself and suggested the adventure.

With excitement brimming and all involved, bar Ela, the polish girl I have since learnt the name of who regretfully had work early in the morn and departed our vicinity. With provisions packed along with a torch, hats and gloves, we set off.

Noting the height of the challenge ahead of us I was daunted, or was it the height of the wall in front of us? Needless to say we surmounted the challenge, with the help of a few distractions so suspicion would not be roused by those in the corner shop loaded with porn. Up and over the wall into the courtyard we entered a new world. Everything was dark, derelict and daunting. Shadows abounded at every turn and it was impossible to penetrate the gloom or accustom the eyes to see what lay inches out of sight.

Odd scurrying sounds and the rustle of things, or people in the distance brought us all together in a protective circle which nothing could break through. We slowly became braver and ventured from the circle, leaving gaps, and spreading fear. That which lay in the gloom new that there were fresh souls to be chewed upon and used as tooth picks.

As the pressure grew heavy on our shoulders, Ellie had to head back to the safety of the flat. Neil and Gabrielle ventured off in the search for something to keep their interest piqued, while I helped Ellie over the wall to safety.

With Ellie safe and me on my own, I felt the dark grow deeper. I could see but yards in front of me but I knew there were good people near by, I could feel their presence. A shout came from the dark and a light shone.

The torch, I had forgotten. But where were they, it seemed the light came from above like a celestial being trying to bring me towards it. I tried to resist the power of the light but with the light came safety and I ventured forward with blatant disregard for what might happen as I went towards the light.

If you ever wondered what would happen when you reach the light, I have the answer: you will stub your toe. And so I did. I stubbed my toe with such pain an expletive crossed my lips and echoed in the darkness. It turned out Gabrielle and Neil had merely climbed a fire escape and waited for me to return. I pulled myself up and followed as they led me to the roof of this abandoned building I didn’t know existed just moments before.

We were, what seemed like, stories up in a deserted setting that one would expect from a film like 28 days later or from the game resident evil, but not the films, they’re just crap. That same feeling of nobody around and yet something lurked behind every corner. We could see away into the distance and nothing moved save a plastic bag.

We looked knowingly at each other, as all 3 of us had the same thought, we need to adventure and this is the perfect setting. We headed back down to ground level and began taking in all we could. Our eyes had still not fully accustomed to the lack of light and the torch made it even harder. Whenever we shone it in one place something seemed to move elsewhere else.

Neil seemed the most daring of us and headed into a building to our left. It was a large entrance way to a 6 story factory. There was an empty lift shaft on the far wall and remnants of what used to be strewn around. I didn’t like the feel of the place and was open with my thoughts. No point of being manly and showing off when an evil zombie was just ahead waiting for us to climb the stairs.

We didn’t leave just yet but gladly we didn’t proceed further. On the wall we could see the safety code printed in 99′ and we wondered how such could happen in so little a space of time. I convinced them to leave the building and we proceeded into the seemingly endless expanses of the grounds.

Around every corner was a wonder to behold but around every corner was also the possibility of the impossible. We came to a bizarre area where the only things standing were two great big oak trees in an otherwise concrete jungle. We wondered at the people who must once have worked here and I let the thought linger.

We saw a blocked exit to the outside world and it all seemed as dead as the world we were in, with only the faint buzz of the street light the difference. Back toward the expanse we set of in search, but of what I do not know. Each building we came to seemed to surpass the one before for pure surrealism.

There was what appeared to be a loading bay for trucks. Becoming bold we ventured in, joking about the presence of zombies and using the protecting spell of holding our noses so they could not attack. It seemed to work for no zombies appeared.

Down a Dickensian cobbled street we went, under overhead pathways and being careful not to lose footing into a hole in the ground. We came to what seemed like our starting point but then came the point that always happens in horror movies, when one individual needs to pee.

In this case it was myself and I ventured off to relieve myself. This is the moment when the monsters reveal themselves but thankfully in our story it did not happen.

We were indeed back where we began but there were still places unseen by our eyes. We ventured forward and found a secret garden. This seemed a magic place where the impossible happened. Grass grew where none should and trees grew from the walls.

It was a wonderful place and that such a place exists counters all the gloom that came before and as with life, we found the thing we were searching for, even if we did not know we were looking for it in the first place. And now as I sit here writing this story with a snoring Gabrielle near by and the memories of the adventure reverberating in my head, I wonder…where were the zombies hiding?