by Taylor, Dan
Klutz feasted on the bodies. His hunger was as insatiable as the guilt he felt from each bite. The taste was addictive as he madly took bite after bite. The noise of the purple tent unzipping stopped him in his paces. A boy of around seven years old stood at the now open and exposed tent. A light brown teddy beer with a blue hat dropped from his hands and his green eyes grew wide and glassy at the sinister spectacle the camping site had become. Klutz crouched to face the child. It seemed his mad rampage was not over yet as he growled lowly and stooped towards the boy.
Chapter 20
Lydia fought back her scream until she was sure the large man who had mauled the Winnie the Pooh man was gone. When she did finally scream it was faint and restrained which took Abel by surprise and he let go of her to allow her to express her emotions fully. She shook and fell back against the old brick before composing herself. Abel watched but decided not to comfort her, which he regretted. She wasn’t his anymore but he still should be there for her. Without a word, the pair left the dirty building they were in and walked toward the small round corpse. The area from its neck to its cotton bottom were stained in red and there were visible chunks of flesh missing in every limb and neck. The bleeding had stopped to a faint oozing wept from each bite mark. The dead eyes were clouded white. The squeals he made as he died echoed in Lydia and Abel's minds like a broken record. It would forever haunt them but unfortunately it would not be the last screams they would hear today.
Abel noticed silent tears fall from Lydia's face as she dug through her satchel never taking her beautiful eyes off the body. She pulled out a digital camera and flashed three snapshots of the victim. Abel opened his mouth as if about to protest. This was his police instincts kicking in and he realised that this was just her journalistic instincts and something she or he could not change. He instead decided to follow his other police instincts and took out his notepad and made some notes on what just happened.
The white clouds in the eyes of the body were swimming and turning into a storm. The centre of the storm was darkening rapidly and continually swirling until it formed a perfect black pupil. The pupils then seemed to go through a period of nystagmus and shoot from side to side uncontrollably. The violence of this movement seemed to burst the capillaries around the pupil making the eyes swollen and bloodshot. When they eyes did finally settled, the body then made a long raspy breath.
"Ohh my god. He's alive," Lydia shouted in glee and rubbed away her tears. She tried to reach for the reanimated body but something was stopping her. It was Abel who had his arm around her waist and held her firm. Confusion spread across Lydia's face. "What are you doing Abel? This man needs us."
Abel's face was stern. He knew he was going to have a hard time stopping Lydia from touching the body. It went against all human nature not to help someone in need and even Abel needed to fight this urge.
"Those eyes Lydia. I've seen them before. On the scarred mad man who attacked me and on the cultist hotel guests who attacked the hotel. This is starting to make sense. This thing the Army is stopping is a contagion. An outbreak of some new and terrible disease. The guests at the hotel were not a devil worshipping cult. They were sick with this madness. The Army murdered those police officers because they had gotten too close to the infected or had been infected themselves. It's like a human Mad Cow Disease. Do you remember how we stopped Mad Cow Disease? We slaughtered every Cow that was infected. That's exactly what the Army has done. That man running through the woods is heading for Bayhollow and will spread this disease to the town if he is not stopped. The worst part is. I'm sure the Army know this and are taking measures as we speak."
"What? What measures? There is a man dying here Abel he needs my help now let me go!"
Lydia struggled but was unable to move. Abel had her firmly in his grasp. He would not let her become infected.
"How do you stop an outbreak. You quarantine. If we do not leave now, we will be trapped in Bayhollow with this plague. Lydia, we have to go and we have to go now. We will be trapped like rats drowning in a bucket. You've seen what's happened in West Africa with Ebola. Whole nations unable to leave their countries to stop the spread of disease. This is huge we could be trapped here in a town of infected and soon be infected ourselves."
At this moment the short round corpse sat up. He twisted around violently on his stomach and lurched towards Lydia who gave a short scream but was dragged back a step by Abel, just out of the body's stubby reach. Pacing back a few steps the body crawled after them. Its eyes enraged and its mouth drooling in blood. Abel pushed Lydia behind him and screamed for her to get to the car as quick as she could. Lydia fumbled through her satchel for her keys. Once she had them, she ran towards her pickup truck. 'Thank god I am wearing my trainers and not my flats,' she thought as she ran. All instincts of helping the man had vanished. She pressed the button on her keys to unlock her truck and jumped into the driver's seat.
"Wait here and lock the door," Abel instructed. She did not want him to leave her but knew there was no changing his mind.
The crawling body, having lost sight of Lydia, started for Abel who had spun on his heels and ran into the barn. The body seemed to have an unnatural speed and Abel could not believe that if he was not infected, he would be able to crawl this fast. At the back of the barn the body blocked the only exit. Able looked around for a weapon but could only find a rusted watering can which he threw at the crawling madman with little effect. Instinctively he reached down and grabbed his truncheon. He flicked it out fully extended and crawled onto a waist height chest of draws. Behind the draws was the window. It was locked. The body had now crawled up to the chest of draws was and trying to pull himself up to Abel. The draws rocked on their feet and the body snarled ferociously. Abel banged on the glass with his truncheon and it cracked. He could not get a full swing. He banged again and the glass cracked some more. The infected Winnie the Pooh pulled out the top draw and threw it across the room. Abel felt the top of the draw bow and splinter from his weight. One more hit with the truncheon and the window gave way. Able cleared as much glass as he could. He zipped up his stab proof vest and crawled out. The body continued to try to climb the chest of draws to get to Abel but without the use of its legs was struggling. Abel by this point had ran around the barn to the front door. Before the body had time to react, Abel had slammed the front door closed and wedged a broken rake through the door handle effectively trapping his pursuer.
With the man contained Abel could jump in the pickup truck which had its engine running and was waiting in reverse. Before he had time to put on his seatbelt. Lydia had whizzed away. In the rear-view mirror Lydia spotted the barn door shaking as the dirty crazed man was trying desperately to free itself.
"Ok, we have to move fast if we are going to get out of here," Lydia said matter-of-factly as she concentrated on the dirt track. She wanted to get clear of these woods as much as Abel. "We need to make a few stops first. We have to get to my apartment for a few things and then to your place for your things then we go to the outskirts of this thing just outside whatever quarantine you think they will set up."
"No Lydia. We need to get as far away as possible and I don't think I can go to my place I'm sure the Army will be waiting for me there. What is at your apartment worth risking being trapped for?"
"If I'm leaving town, I need my stuff. My clothes, my Laptop it's all at the apartment! There is no use arguing that point I will be going there! And we only need to go as far as the quarantine as this is the biggest story of the year and I have a duty to report the facts to the public. I know what you're thinking. I must be crazy and we should get as far away as possible. That's understandable as you live to protect others. But I live for the truth. I may be the only person who will be able to find out the truth. This is bound to be something that will be swept up and pushed under the rug by the government. The facts will never get out unless I can find out what's really going on in Bayhollow and being as close to the quarantine, if a quarantine does happen,
is where I need to be.” Abel gave her a horrified stare. “I can tell by the look on your face you understand me completely." Abel’s face was not understanding, but she knew that by saying this it would at least soften his resolve.
She smiled sweetly at Able knowing he could not say no to her and drove off towards Bayhollow and her Apartment.
Chapter 21
Bayhollow is a medium sized town situated in the rural English countryside. Surrounded by woods on all sides and dissected by a dual carriageway. This dual carriageway was the only way in and out the town. If you exited the town one way and followed the road you would be taken to London, the other direction would take you to Portsmouth. The town is an old one and was built around the Saint Bartholomew's church which is predicted to be seven hundred years old. Its grey stone bell tower could be seen above all buildings that surround it and can be heard by all the residents of Bayhollow when it is rung. Inside the church was a grim stained-glass window depicting the saint who is the is the churches namesake, skinned alive and carrying his skin wrapped around his body like a scarf. The locals often preyed in front of the grim window during Sunday mass. Outside the church the large graveyard span fifty feet with tombstones and crypts sticking out the ground like the earth's crooked grey teeth. A small path from the church would take you to the town centre, which was once thriving but now was occupied by takeaways, bookies, pound shops and a small supermarket. In the centre of the town centre stood an eight-foot marble obelisk. A memorial to the twenty servicemen in the town who had given their lives during World War Two.
The town could be politely described as quiet. Others would call it a boring or dull. The residents would be found in their homes, shuffling around the shops or quietly drinking a pint in one of the pubs. People tended not to hang around on the streets and crime was a rarity. When it did happen, it was hushed up to reduce the public shaming. The town had several parks and fields. One full of allotments for the locals with green fingers whose produce was sold on the Sunday market in the town centre. Another had a fishing lake and was a good place for walking the dogs or going for a romantic stroll. Neighbouring these parks and fields were the estates where twelve thousand locals called home. The estates were slowly growing as keen-eyed developers plotted to tear down woodland to build more homes. They were successful in most cases but their ambitions had been thwarted on many occasions by the Royal Duchess Hotel which tirelessly campaigned to protect the woods that separated themselves from Bayhollow on the grounds it may harm business and destroy their picturesque country retreat appeal.
On this calm spring day there were strange goings on as the town seamed to suddenly be populated by Army Soldiers. There was an Army base thirty miles away so often large green trucks and Jeeps could be seen driving through their one entrance and out their one exit. However, this was the first time the Army had stopped in the town and it puzzled and worried the Bayhollow residents who wandered out their homes and shops and pubs to quietly discuss what might or might not be happening. The soldiers stood their ground when questioned about their unusual arrival which made the residents worried. The soldiers tried to placate these questions by reassuring that everything was OK and they would be informed if anything was to happen. Their orders were on a strict need to know basis and the Bayhollow locals did not need to know. This did not calm the mood of the town and tension continued to build. Soon there were whispers which passed rumours around of a fire at the Hotel and these became more and more exaggerated as time moved on. With the arrival of the suspicious Army, the schools and St. Bartholomew Church, closed their weekend school clubs and phoned the parents to come pick up their children. No one wanted to be without their families in case the rumoured fire spread.
The soldiers were tense and this tension spread throughout the town. If a fire was the problem then why were they not just at the boarder of the woods? Why did they need rifles and handguns? Why were no fire brigade present? Fire trucks had been spotted heading to the hotel but if the fire was spreading why weren't they here protecting Bayhollow?
This didn't sit too well the residents whose angst was rising to a critical level. The whispers started to spread more extreme explanations like a terrorism plot and a bomb at the hotel. News crews were showing up too. Not just local but national and multi-national. At 4.30pm the church bells rung which silenced the whispering town folk. An Army truck equipped with a loudspeaker PA system drove the streets informing the town in an unapologetic voice of an emergency and mandatory town meeting to be held in the town centre in half an hour. The town Mayor and the General chief of defence staff would be in attendance.
Within half an hour the entire town had shown up full of anticipation and anxiety. A small platform had been set up next to the obelisk war memorial which was now surrounded by armed men in camouflage. On the stage was a microphone and stand connected to speakers on each side of the stage. News crews were in the forefront among many residents. The mayor, an elderly man dressed in livery collar, opened proceedings. He stepped up to the microphone to address the edgy crowd.
"Hello all and thank you for coming at such short notice." He waved his hand and had his politician’s smile plastered on his face. He looked magnanimous although in truth not many of the residents in Bayhollow even knew who their Mayor was. "The General Chief has news which will affect us all. I'm sure you are all aware of the Army's presence in our little town and the smoke which has been rising from the Royal Duchess Hotel. I will let him inform you all of the developments which have been occurring, but I want you to please remain calm and do not panic. I have faith in our armed forces and I am certain they have everything under control." Sensing the crown were waiting for him to sop waffling on so they could hear the General speak, the Mayor simply took a step back and waved the suitably decorated General forward.
"Now what I am about to say is very important," the General started. He had a very clear, although slightly gruff voice. The way he walked and his accent reflected his private education and his Army upbringing. He was stood straight but not rigid and he was forceful with his words but not bossy. "At around midday today we had a terrorist attack at the Royal Duchess Hotel. It is not clear why the Hotel was targeted and who is behind the attack." He paused as if considering whether he should say the next sentence or not. It needed to be said. "The attack was of a biological nature an unfortunately no-one who was at the time working or staying at the Hotel has survived and a large number of police officers who turned up at the scene have also died in this devastating attack. I do not have the exact numbers. The biological weapon used is a new virus which replicated human cells, killing the host in the process. Anyone who is infected with this virus will most likely be erratic, bleeding from the mouth and in a fit of rage. I know you all must have a lot of questions but we must move quickly to ensure everyone here is safe. We believe the situation is under control but to be sure we are working on a full evacuation of the Bayhollow area and bringing scientists in to assess if it is still safe to be here. The main road though this town has been cut off and there is a checkpoint at each end." He gestured with his hands as if they didn't know where the one main road led. "No one is allowed into the checkpoint but you will be allowed out. At the check point, you will be screened for any injuries. As we speak a large fence is being built around a three-kilometre radius of the hotel. Behind that fence a wall is being built. Within that three Kilometres is Bayhollow. Please do not go home to get your things, time is of the essence. You must go in your vehicles or walk to the exits as soon as you can. If you loved ones are currently outside that radius you need not worry, they will not be able to get back in. If you need assistance evacuating please see one of the many Army and HIVE officers stationed throughout the town. That is all, we are not taking any questions."
The stunned crowd looked around briefly. No one said and word as they slowly moved away from the stage. Gently nudges became pushes and shoves, and the polite silence was quickly replaced with panicked shouting as the people
who turned up desperately tried to make it to their cars and away. The mayor stood up to the microphone to try to calm the town down when a badly injured woman stepped out from behind one of the shops. She wore a grey t-shirt and denim jeans. Her hair was bedraggled and had large chunks missing from her legs. Her face was covered in blood and she snarled like a feral dog. People around her paused at first unsure if to help. The woman pounced on a passer-by in a blue hoody tearing at his face with her fingers. She then turned on middle aged young couple, biting both partners as they fought her off. A soldier hesitantly ran over, pulled out a Glock 17 from his waist and shot the crazed woman in the head. More soldiers pounced on the hooded man and the middle-aged couple and dragged them away. This scene caused a full-scale panic as the town desperately fought tooth and nail to leave the town centre and make their way to the checkpoints.