'Helped you see the light. It seems to me you've only found God since I showed you just how worthless your life was. I'm still waiting for a thank you, though I'm not too bothered by that, but I suggest you listen to my words and listen well. You know nothing, Jackson Armitage, no matter what your mama beat into you, and—'
David almost fell off his seat as Jackson surged out of his own chair towards Luke. The huge man swung an equally huge fist towards him. But Luke wasn't there anymore and Jackson lost his balance, punched the back of the chair and tumbled over it.
The thump as he hit the floor echoed around the bus and David pressed himself against the seat as though he could burrow into it, covering his hands with his ears. Jackson scrambled back up and raised his fists, swaying side to side. He had his back to David and he saw the long stripes of blood where he'd beat himself with the belt. How was he even standing after that?
Luke stood in the front of the bus, impassive with his hands by his sides. His voice was soft and compelling. 'Jackson, we need to work together. There is a child we need to rescue. She's one of only seven people alive in England and we cannot allow her to die. You will sit down and calm down and we will be on our way. Understand?'
Jackson's shoulders heaved and his fists tightened. David held his breath. Slowly the big man's breathing became even and he nodded and sat. David wished he could see his face. But he wasn't moving any further down the bus. There were too many people there, people who could ask him who he was and why he was here.
Instead, he slipped quietly to the back and curled up on the seat. A few moments later the bus chugged to life and pulled away. It rocked him gently and he closed his eyes. He dreamed of Amber, crouched in their bed with the covers pulled around her neck, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. He tried to reach out to her, to explain, but his hand was curled into a claw and his skin was pale and cracked.
He woke to the sounds of shouting and screaming. And gunfire.
Alex
He couldn't keep his eyes off Jackson. The guy was huge, unbelievably big, and had this shaved head and massive beard like some redneck from a TV show about the world's craziest rednecks. He even sounded like it, going on about his mission from God. He'd been muttering since Luke got him in his seat, going on and on about God telling him what to do and Luke's lies.
He was equal parts fascinated and horrified. Mostly horrified because of Ed. The kid was crouched as near the door as possible looking at Bayleigh beseechingly, with occasional glances at Jackson. Alex just had to remember that however frightening this was for him, Ed would be far more scared.
Alex climbed from his seat and across the bus to sit blocking Ed's view of Jackson.
'Hey.'
Ed looked at him with eyes that were both younger and older than they should have been. The kid nodded and went back to staring at Bayleigh.
'How you doing?' Alex asked.
'Alright.'
'Where were you?'
'What?'
'When it happened. Where were you?'
Ed blinked and finally took his eyes off Bayleigh. 'We were in Canary Wharf, up in the restaurant. We just watched it.'
'Yeah, that's what I did too. Just had to watch it…'
He trailed off as he thought of Lisa and the baby inside her. He hadn't thought about much of anything in the last week, working just to find the cure. Then Luke took him away to wherever it was the Father lived, and before he knew it the plague was happening. There had been no warning. He thought he'd get time to see Lisa, to tell her how much he loved her. But she was gone.
He rubbed his eyes and realised the kid was looking at him. 'You lost someone?'
The question was so forthright and perceptive that he felt his mouth drop open. Then he nodded. 'Yeah. My girlfriend. My friends, my parents, everyone I've ever known.'
Ed nodded and cocked his head to one side. 'I haven't really thought about it. I mean, I'd given up on my parents anyway, but they're really gone, aren't they?'
Alex nodded, wondering if he should even be talking about it. What the hell were you supposed to say to a twelve year old about why everyone was dead? But he couldn't hide it, or pretend it hadn't happened. So how long did you leave it?
'I think I should be more upset.' Ed said.
Not long, apparently. Alex shrugged. 'I guess you're as upset as you need to be. Everyone's different so you might feel really different to how I feel.'
'How do you feel?'
Alex squirmed a little and tried to decide how much further he could go with this. 'I feel… tired? I'm drained, you know, just… I should be more upset, too, but it's all happened so recently and I don't have the energy to freak out and stuff. Does that make sense?'
Ed grinned a very adult smile that betrayed a little of what lay below the surface. 'Yeah, that makes sense.'
'What did you mean, you've given up on your parents?'
'I left home six months ago. I've been in hostels and stuff since. Krystal's the first friend I've made, I…'
He drifted off, teeth worrying his lower lip as he blinked hard and stared out the front of the bus. Alex looked away, giving him the space. Nice kid, so far. Better than Jackson. God, what happened to him? David as well. That guy was a fruitcake. It looked like Luke was to blame for that.
He examined his hands, remembering the feeling of staring at his stumps, and swallowed. Whatever it was, he could well imagine it scarring them. He glanced at Bayleigh. Her forehead was creased in concentration, but she still looked amazing. It may be because she was the last woman on Earth, but she had these amazing lips that curved up at the corners and her dyed hair was tied up showing her long neck. Girls who dyed their hair blonde were always up for it. She had the cutest nose as well.
He glanced back at Ed and found him grinning again, a far younger look this time. Alex flushed and cleared his throat.
'That's terrible, I mean, living on the streets.'
'Krystal's been doing it for three years. She's amazing.'
'Yeah, she sounds it.'
It was his turn to smile and Ed blushed. Alex leaned forwards and patted his arm. 'We're going to get her back, alright? You haven't seen Luke in action, but he's pretty amazing as well. Don't worry, okay?'
Ed gave him a grateful smile and put his head back, sweeping his hair out of his eyes. Alex looked back down the bus. David had disappeared, hiding at the back again. Luke was staring out the window, miles away, and Jackson was still grumbling, talking to his hands.
Alex slipped from his seat and crouched beside the driver's door. Bayleigh glanced sideways and gave him a weak grin. 'Alex, right?'
'Yeah. How you doing?'
'Oh, you know, in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, hungry, kinda need to pee… I'm good.' Her smile widened then she seemed to realise what she'd said and blushed. 'Sorry, also losing the plot.'
'Hey, you aren't the only one. After the last couple of weeks I'm ready to collapse.'
'Weeks? It only happened yesterday.'
'Ahh, yeah, well, I've been trying to make a cure for it. And before that we went to try and stop it happening at all.'
'So you knew about it. Why didn't you tell anyone?'
'Who were we going to tell? Knock on the door of MI5. Excuse me but there's a plague that's going to wipe out humanity. We don't know where it is or who's got it. Oh, hang on, you've got it. Well, excuse us.'
'What? You're saying MI5 did this?'
'Nope. They had it to begin with then these other guys, the soldiers of god, stole it and we chased them but they got away.'
'Didn't MI5 try and do something?'
'No idea. I don't work for MI5.'
'Clearly. God, how did it happen? Did MI5 make it or something?'
Alex stared at his shoes. It hadn't escaped his notice that Luke stayed quiet about where the plague came from. Now he'd walked himself into a corner. And with a gorgeous woman as well. He wanted to tell her the truth, but if she knew, everyone would end up knowing, and if tha
t happened, he may as well toss himself out the bus now. He glanced at Jackson and sniffed.
'I don't know. I go to university. I went to university. They do research on this kind of thing and I got wind that someone had managed it and then Luke appeared and gave me some roses and we got talking and…'
He spread his hands flat before him, putting on what he hoped was his best 'I'm innocent' face. Since she wasn't looking at him it was pointless, but she seemed convinced as she nodded. 'At least you tried, I guess.' She raised her voice. 'Luke, we're nearly there.'
They were crossing Farringdon on Fleet Street, the old buildings of the city rising around them. He could see the Gherkin peeping between a couple and the sense of normalcy almost knocked him off his feet. He looked down just as the bus caught a zombie in the shoulder and ripped its arm off, and the world straightened up. How had he got used to them that quick? The others had been fighting them for twenty-four hours straight. How were they sane?
'We'll stop here. Pull up and switch it off.'
Bayleigh did as Luke instructed and soon the bus was silent. They all peered through the front window, trying to see around the corner to St Paul's. They were like that when the truck came around the corner. Bayleigh said things Lisa would never have dreamed of and Alex grinned. Then the front window shattered and Luke shoved him to the ground.
He swore as his knee caught the front seat. He lost all balance and slammed into the floor. Bayleigh tried to open the driver's door but he was in the way and she slammed it against his feet. He swore and yanked his legs in, then the door swung open and Bayleigh dived on top of him. The sound of gunfire was impossibly loud, so much louder than he'd ever expected. The sound of them hitting the bus was like someone pouring nails onto a tin roof.
The gunfire stopped abruptly and silence reigned, save for occasional cracks and plonks as shards of glass and metal fell. He had a minute to appreciate the warm body lying atop him before Bayleigh rolled off onto the floor. He thought he should make some sort of wisecrack but nothing sprang to mind. It never did.
He pushed himself up and stared through the remains of the front window. There were four soldiers beside the van, and all four were floundering. One stared at his hands, tears streaming down his face, and Alex realised what Luke had done. This guy had the same fear as he did. Harder to fire a gun when you don't have any fingers. Another was thumping himself and screaming and jumping up and down in the air. Bugs of some sort. Spiders maybe.
It made his skin crawl, but they weren't shooting anymore and that had to be a good thing. Bayleigh sat up and took one look at them, then turned to him, eyebrows drawn together.
'What's wrong with them?'
'It's what he does.' Alex nodded at Luke. 'One of the things he does. I think it's what happened to Jackson and David. He showed them their worst fear.'
'That doesn't sound that bad, I mean, facing your fear isn't a bad thing, is it?'
'Depends how long you have to face it.' Jackson looked down at them from the aisle where he now stood. 'Spent three days with my fears and it changed me. I found the Lord.'
'Ahh.' Alex exchanged a look with Bayleigh who made the smallest nod and bit her lip.
'Them out there,' Jackson went on, 'They've been looking at it for a couple of minutes at most. Imagine leaving them like that, permanently.'
Luke cleared his throat. 'I never leave anyone like it forever. I merely introduce them to the idea and if they choose to stay there, that's their lookout.'
Bayleigh stared at him, scowling. 'You were really nice to me. When did you become such a dick?'
Alex sniggered and covered his mouth. Luke smiled sweetly. 'Since I was sent here to look after you lot. But also, you made the right choice. If you'd used that bank account and run off, you might not think so highly of me now.'
Bayleigh went white and put her hands to her cheeks. Then she shoved past him and fled to the back of the bus. Luke watched her go, eyebrows raised slightly.
'What was that about?' Alex asked.
'Every one of you was on the edge, Alex. It's all about which direction you take when you leave it.'
'I wasn't on the edge.'
'But you had a life-changing decision. You were at the beginning of two very different paths. You chose the right one, although, as it happens, it made no difference in the end.'
Luke shook his head and they turned back to the soldiers. The spider guy was on the floor, shaking and kicking feebly with his feet. Hands man had disappeared somewhere, which left the other two. They were both on their knees, one staring blindly up into the sky, the other covering his face. Alex tried to imagine their nightmares and see what they saw. Then he realised he didn't want to.
He realised something else as well. The zombies weren't attacking the defenceless soldiers. In fact, they were very obviously avoiding them. It meant, however, that in the brief moments since the firing had stopped, a number of them had been driven towards the front of the bus.
He looked down just as the first hand came over the shattered glass and reached for him.
Krystal
They got her. How the hell did she let that happen? She dodged zombies like she'd been doing it all her life and then some prick in a uniform grabbed her like she was standing still. She wriggled and squirmed, and he put a gloved hand over her mouth and nose until her head went light.
She relaxed, letting her body go limp, and he let go of her head. The moment her feet touched the floor she spun in his grip and rammed her foot into his crotch as hard as she could. It was like kicking a wall. She lashed out with her free hand and got the same response from his stomach. His uniform was like some kind of bloody armour.
She hissed and struggled some more. He responded by clouting her across the face and she shouted as her head exploded. She blinked as the darkness threatened and managed to drive it away by digging her nails into her palms. Someone took her other hand and they dragged her around the side of St Paul's. The zombies were still keeping their distance, which was better than nothing.
Who were these guys? She'd asked Ed and herself enough times but still she kept asking.
'Who are you?'
The men in gas masks said nothing. Their eyes were hidden by massive sunglasses and the rest of their face was obscured by the masks, so she had no idea what they were thinking. And they didn't seem inclined to talk. She lifted her feet off the floor and made them carry her. Not that it made any difference to the speed.
They mounted the steps and dumped her at the top, forcing her to stand. She decided to shout, calling them every word she could think of, and a few she made up on the spot. They responded with silence. Another of them waiting at the door saw her, cocked his head to one side and disappeared into the cathedral.
What were they going to do? If they were going to kill her, would they have done it already? She'd never watched a movie where the hero was just summarily executed, but her life stopped being a movie a long time ago. She'd never seen people be utterly hopeless in movies either, and she'd seen plenty of that in the last three years.
The soldier came back out and nodded. He was followed by another man looking quite different from the soldiers. He wore white robes like he was a monk. Still had the gas mask and shades, though. He took the glasses off and she stared into his eyes, challenging him. He stared right back and she could tell from the wrinkles that he was smiling.
'Welcome to the new world, young lady. Where have you been?'
'Oh, you know, around. I've been up to London to visit the Queen, but unfortunately, she was a dried up zombie. But then, you already knew that, didn't you?'
She stuck her chin out and sneered at him. His smile spread to his eyes and he chuckled. Through the gas mask it sounded like he was having a fit.
'Well, I must say meeting you has brightened my day. It will be intriguing to find out why you are still fit and healthy. I use the term 'fit' lightly, of course. You look terrible.' He nodded and paced around her, peering at her like she was i
n a cage. It was something she was used to, but his eyes were worse than most.
He came back to stand before her. 'You aren't a zombie. Y—'
'You're amazing. No wonder you work here, with observation skills like that.'
He chuckled again and shook his head. 'Perhaps your complete lack of manners disgusted the plague so much it left you alone.'
'Who are you?'
'Me? I'm Etienne. But you don't mean me, do you? You mean us.'
He spread his arms wide to indicate the soldiers milling around at the bottom of the steps and the ones she assumed were hiding inside as well.
'We are the soldiers of god. We have been given a sacred task and for centuries we have failed. Until yesterday. Now, everything is changing.'
He smiled and spread his arms again, like he was about to hug her. She betted he didn't have the armour on underneath the robes. Come closer, just a little closer. But he turned away, robes swishing across the stone.
'Come on in, come and see what we are doing with this new world.'
He swept away from her, through the enormous archway and into St Paul's. Her bearers dragged her in before handing her off to two others. It was difficult to be sure in the change of light, but she thought the soldiers inside wore lighter colours than those outside. This was all some big pissing contest for who was most important.
Etienne strode away, robes flapping out behind, so she lifted her feet up and let her carriers bear her into the darkness. There were lights on, but not many, and most of the roof of the cathedral was in darkness. It was disappointing, really. She'd never been in here.
'Hey, any chance you could switch the lights on?'
Etienne stopped and waited for her to catch up. 'The lights must remain off so we do not disturb our ladies in waiting.'
The way he said 'ladies' made her skin crawl. Maybe it was better with the lights off. It meant she didn't have to see who or whatever the ladies were. As they went deeper into the cathedral she got a sense of something huge and hulking, filling the space to her right. She stared into the gloom and caught the slightest hints of light reflecting off something.
Thirteen Roses Book Two: After: A Paranormal Zombie Saga Page 11