Read Zom-B City for Free Online Page A

are more scathing. They say that residents are treated like cattle, forced to do whatever the soldiers tell them. If they resist, aerial units are sent to blow holes in their defences, to let zombies stream through freely.
    I’m not convinced by the wilder reports, but in this zombie-plagued new world, who knows for sure? I keep an open mind, filing everything away.
    The army’s ultimate aim is to push the zombies back, section them off, then wipe them out. But that will take time. At the moment they’re not equipped to engage in a full-on war with the undead. As stern generals keep explaining, their current focus must be on the three Rs — Reclaim, Recruit, Recover. Reclaim towns, recruit more survivors, recover their strength. Then they can let rip.
    It’s terrifying at first, thinking of humanity reduced to this, living off scraps, penned into grimy hovels, under constant siege by their former colleagues and relatives, knowing that all it takes is a single breach – one lone zombie in the mix – for everything they’ve worked so hard for to come crashing down around them.
    But after a while, I get used to it. This is the norm now. You can only be shocked by a thing for so long before it starts to lose its impact. Yeah, the world’s a dark, terrible place, and it’s horrible listening to stories of children eating their parents or mothers chowing down on their young. But, y’know, when all’s said and done, you’ve got to get on with things.
    I only keep following the news after the first few days because of one particular story. The army has been making rescue attempts recently. Lots of people are trapped in cities, even after so many months, lying low at night, foraging for food and drink in the daytime while the zombies are at rest.
    The military announce a city a few days ahead of a planned mission, telling the people who are listening to get ready. Then, on the morning of the rescue, they declare a meeting point and fly in at an appointed time, usually the middle of the day when the sun is at its strongest. They aren’t always able to rescue everyone who turns up, and sometimes zombies attack, cutting the evacuation short. But they’ve extracted hundreds of refugees and escorted them to secure settlements, and have vowed to carry on.
    Things would be a lot easier if the phones worked, but as I found out early on when I tested ours, they’re even deader than the zombies. All of the landlines are down and all of the mobile networks too. The internet is screwed as well. The only way the army can contact trapped survivors is through the news on the radio, but that’s a one-way means of communication.
    According to the reports, there have been a few rescues in London already. As the capital, it’s been granted priority status. They did trial runs in some of the smaller cities first, but now they’re hitting London regularly, a different part every time, so as to keep one step ahead of the zombies.
    The walking dead aren’t as senseless as they appear. They seem to remember lots of functions, such as how to open doors or operate lifts. They’ve adapted — if they see a car passing a certain spot at a certain time more than once, they can anticipate its reappearance and lie in wait for it.
    But they don’t seem to understand most of what is said to them. They react to certain tones of voice, recognising a variety of commands, the way a baby or a dog can. But they’re not able to listen to a broadcast and pitch up at a scheduled meeting place in advance.
    If the living are to win this war, it will only be because they can out-think their opponents. In every other respect the zombies are a superior force, far greater in number, able to fight without tiring, not needing food or drink to continue. They don’t have any weapons, but their bodies are deadly enough, diseased missiles that are much more effective than a bomb dropped in the middle of a confined group of people.
    There have been two missions to