by Jessica Ward
Even before the infection, I saw through her. I saw her for what she was. She was nothing but a selfish, back-stabbing, lying little worm with a serious "I am God" bad attitude.
She was completely false; she acted as if butter wouldn't melt. She made out she was the nicest person in the world, and that she could do no wrong. We all knew the truth, and we knew this was far from. She lied through her teeth as to why Andy left her, so that she could play the victim, and so she would be cast in the best light.
After all we had been through, even if she did miraculously decide to pull her head from her arse, it was too late. The damage had been done; there was no going back. She had spent far too long wrapped up in herself, spending her time gazing at herself in the mirror. I don't think she ever loved Andy in the first place. She married him purely so she would look good. She wanted people to be jealous of her, and of her lifestyle. The reality was, everyone thought it laughable. She didn’t know how to love anyone bar herself.
He knew all this, or so I thought. Now, he had the audacity to defend her. As much as he is entitled to his opinion, it just wasn't sitting well with me at all.
What hurt me the most, was that even Andy hadn't defended her, yet Nick felt the need to. He hadn't asked if Sarah was ok, or even me for that matter. It was just insulting, I thought he knew better.
I left him to his own devices. At least the others understood my reasons behind my earlier outburst. I stayed with Sarah and Lacey, Sarah had just lost one of her best friends. She needed me, and I suppose in a way, I needed her too.
Ryan stepped into the kitchen with a solemn look across his face.
"We will bury them tomorrow. We have a large garden, and we have found a few shovels." Ryan announced.
He walked over to Sarah and put a hand on her shoulder. "We will all say a few words, and Nathan will have a dignified sendoff." He told her.
She nodded as she smiled weakly at Ryan.
We settled down for the night. Lacey, Sarah and I shared a room. After today's events, it seemed we could all use a bit of girl time.
The room we had chosen was one of the biggest. The room was decorated in a deep mahogany brown. The cream bedding and carpet added light to the room. It had its own glass fireplace and even its own seating area. A large TV stood at the end of the room; the door next to it led into the large ensuite.
The three of us were all wearing oversized T-Shirts, all which we had found in the master bedroom.
We all huddled together on the bed as we watched re-runs of Friends. We had found the full box set downstairs, so had claimed it for the night.
Sarah was the first up the next morning. It seemed she had trouble sleeping. It was 7am when I checked the clock on the mahogany bedside table.
Lacey was also starting to stir. I sat up on the bed and looked over to the brown sofa. Sarah had put the DVD back on and was sat in the middle; her legs pulled up to her chest.
"Are you ok sweetie?" I asked her.
Sarah looked up at me and nodded. She looked so fragile and small. The hand mark which Duckface had imprinted on her pale skin was still visible.
I started to think I had been too lenient with her. I should have drop kicked her where she stood. Fuck Nick, and what he thought of it.
"Why don't we go downstairs and get some breakfast?" I asked her.
My head was starting to pound. I had overdone it on the wine the night before. Lacey sat up, as she clutched her head. I could tell she was feeling it the same as me.
"Ok" Sarah murmured. She had been through the wars the poor girl. Death hits us in different ways. I know I'm the type of person to just get on with it. I don't always show my emotions. I have a way of bottling things up and pushing them to one side. Although, when someone crosses the line, and the line varies depending on the day, I snap.
Sarah seemed to be handling Nathan's death a little more traditionally. She was grieving. She had her ups and downs. When she put her concentration into something else, she nearly forgot about it. When she was on her own, and had time to think, she got upset. There is nothing wrong with grieving at all. The problem was, with the infected a great threat, we couldn't take our eye off the game, not even for a second.
Lacey crawled her way into the shower, as Sarah and I made our way downstairs.
It seemed we weren't the only ones up early. The rest of the group were already downstairs busying themselves with various tasks.
I looked out into the garden area. Ryan, Jared and Leon were outside, digging two holes in the garden. A harsh reminder of last nights events.
Chapter 20 - Funeral Arrangements
Nick looked up as he saw me enter the room. He got up and made his way over to me.
"I'm sorry." He blurted out.
"For what?" I asked him; I was testing him to see if he had realised where he went wrong.
"For not supporting you, and for not taking your side when I should have." He replied. At least he was sincere. I still wasn't happy with him, but I had to put it aside. After all, today was a sad day for us all. We had lost one of our youngest members. Everyone was feeling the effects.
I looked to my left. The Professor had thrown himself back into his work. He sat in the corner of the room with Andy and Duckface. I stood with my back to them although I was in earshot of the conversation.
"How do you feel today, Lola?" the Professor asked.
"Well, I'm ok, Thank you for asking. Although my neck's a little sore." She replied sarcastically; she raised her voice slightly so I could hear.
"Carry on with that attitude, and I'll do much worse." I warned her.
"Or I will." Lacey threatened as she walked into the room.
Duckface looked down. She knew she was outnumbered. She inched back in her chair and blanked us as if we weren't there. It was all she could do for now.
Sarah was now sat by Jared, who had now come back inside. They both looked utterly defeated.
"Come on you two. I know you're upset about your friend. He was a good lad. But we will give him a proper sendoff today." George told them.
Jared looked up. He nodded in agreement, but his words did nothing to lift Jared's spirits.
Andy got up off the sofa behind us. "Lola, you stay with the Professor for now. I'm going outside to see if I can give them a hand." Andy told her.
He was trying to make an effort with the rest of us.
"Why?" Duckface asked with a disapproving tone to her voice.
"Because I am." Andy snapped. "Problem?" He added with a sarcastic tone in his voice.
"Well, now that you mention it, yes. I don't think I feel comfortable left alone here with these people." She replied as she pointed her bony fingers in our direction.
"You should have thought of that when you left them to die." Andy replied bluntly. With that, he was on his way.
"You carry on pissing everyone off, you'll have no-one left. And wouldn't that be a shame." Lacey retorted.
"What would you know." Duckface replied in a huff.
She turned to the Professor. "Sorry, about that. Now, where were we?" she asked in her sickening, sweet voice.
There was no use; she couldn't hide behind her false exterior. We had all already seen her true colours.
Lacey and I headed into the kitchen to see what we could rustle up for breakfast. The mouldy foods had already been removed from the fridge. We went to check the freezer. This homeowner must have been a fan of Costco, by the looks of it, whatever he bought, he bought in bulk. That was great news for us. It took some doing, cooking for 12. The American style fridge freezer was packed with joints of meat, pizzas, and frozen veg.
Lacey managed to rescue a family size pack of bacon, along with a loaf of bread.
"Bacon butties it is then." She announced.
We busied ourselves around the kitchen, the smell of bacon soon filled the air. That was enough to wake Nick and Paul as they came to investigate.
"Is that bacon?" Paul asked eagerly.
"Smell
s like it." Nick replied. He walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Smells really good." he told me.
He was trying to make up for our previous disagreement. I still held a bit of a grudge; I wasn't the most forgiving, which isn't the best trait to have. But we are who we are I suppose.
I gazed out the window as I watched the boys lower the two bodies into the graves. The bodies were covered in white dustsheets; they had found them in the garage. Blood stained parts of the sheets. I felt a pain in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly, I didn't feel very hungry.
After a few minutes, they came back inside.
"Shall we go outside and say a few words?" Ryan asked the rest of the group.
We all made our way outside, over to the freshly dug graves. We gathered around as Ryan started the proceedings.
"We are here today to say goodbye, but also to give our thanks." Ryan started.
"We say goodbye to our new found friend, Nathan. He was taken from us far too soon. We also say goodbye to this man here. I am ashamed to say I do not know his name. We thank him for the roof he has provided us with. We did not know him in life, but none the less, we are grateful he has provided us his home." Ryan continued.
"We pay our respects, and we hope you have both found peace in the afterlife." Ryan finished.
George stepped up. "Let us pray." he announced.
"We pray that young Nathan is watched over and that he finds peace and serenity. We also pray for this man, we pray for forgiveness. For he did not know his actions as the virus consumed his body. We pray that he too, finds peace. We also pray for the lives we have lost. Greg, Josh and the Sergeant who cannot be with us today. We pray for the people who have suffered the infection. Finally, we pray for ourselves. We pray that we are watched over, and guided on the rightful path." George finished.
"Rest in Peace, Nathan." Ryan whispered.
Sarah and Jared walked over to Natha's grave. With his skateboard in hand, they lowered it into the grave.
We all pulled out flowers, from the nearby flower bed and threw them into both graves. We each took a handful of dirt and placed them on the bodies.
After that, we headed back inside. Lacey and I served breakfast; we all ate in silence. After we had finished, George took the first watch. Nick and Paul helped the rest of the team cover the graves as Lacey, and I started to clean up.
Duckface spent the rest of the day, keeping well out of our way. She took herself back to her room and locked herself away. Andy must have taken in what Lacey and I had said, he started to distance himself from her.
"Andy, what exactly happened when you left?" I asked him as we all sat around as a group.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Did you try and find your family?" I replied.
Andy sighed. "Yes, I did. I drove to my mum's house first. The cars were still in the drive, so I thought they might be ok. The house was still locked. I pulled out a spare key above the doorway and let myself in." he told us.
"When I got inside, the whole house was a mess. everything was smashed up. There was blood everywhere. All over the walls, the carpet, the doors. It looked like there had been a struggle." He carried on.
"I went into the living room; the sofas were turned over, and the TV was broken, smashed to bits on the floor. I walked into the kitchen, and it was the same. Complete chaos. It was then I heard small footsteps upstairs.They sounded so light, I thought it was my little sister. I ran upstairs, hoping she was ok." He stopped; I could see the pain in his eyes.
"When I got upstairs, I saw them. I pushed open the door to my sister's room, and there they were. Mum was on the floor; she was so disfigured I couldn't make her out at first. Her face had been completely chewed off. Blood covered the carpet and the walls. My sister was leaned over her, chewing on the remains of her leg." Andy screwed his face up, reliving the memory.
We all listened intently, horrified at the events he had recounted.
"I shouted for her to stop. It was then she looked up at me. As she opened her mouth, blood dripped down her front. Her hair was a complete mess; her skin was so pale. Her eyes were black. She screeched this strange high pitched scream and ran at me. That was it. I closed the door and ran straight out the house. There was nothing more I could do." Andy finished.
"That thing. It wasn't my sister. It looked like her; it dressed like her, but it wasn't her. I can't explain it; it just wasn't her." Andy explained.
"Why didn't you comeback?" Paul asked.
"I wanted to, I really did. I felt like I needed some time on my own first. I drove somewhere safe, and I just sat in the car. I stayed there all day and night. I just couldn't get the picture of my little sister out of my head." Andy replied.
"I eventually decided to go back to the house. I wanted to see if it was still in one piece. That's when I found Lola. She told me she was the only one to get out alive, and that the base had been overrun. She showed me the bite on her arm, and she told me that she had escaped and had been attacked at the house. She told me that as soon as the infected had bitten her arm, it ran off as if it didn't like the taste of her." He finished.
Lacey sniggered. "Sorry, its just I can almost feel sorry for the infected. Even if I were infected, I wouldn't go near her."
Andy smiled. "Anyway, I didn't know what else to do, I stayed with her, waiting for her to change. She never did. That's when I figured; she must be immune. She was all I had left, so I stayed with her. We went out on the search for food one day, and when we came back, I saw your note. I questioned her about it, and she seemed shocked. I dragged her into the car, and we went off to find you guys." Andy finished.
We sat there, opened mouthed, as he revealed to us the events that had taken place. I started to understand where he was coming from, but something still wasn't quite right.
"So once you found out what really happened, why did you still stay with her?" I asked.
"I knew if I said anything to her, she would run. If she is the cure, I needed her on side. For my sake and yours, I put it all behind me." Andy explained.
I understood where he was coming from; I did. But no matter what she was, I just didn't have it in me to put it behind me.
"She will get what she deserves soon enough." The Professor announced.
I was about to ask the Professor what he meant by that when George came in, interrupting our conversation.
"We seem to have attracted some attention." George announced.
"In what way?" Leon asked.
"Come look." George replied.
We made our way to the dining room window, it gave us the best viewing spot and it was what we had been using for the lookout point.
Sure enough, a small crowd of the infected were gathering. They hadn't figured out where we were, as of yet, but they certainly knew we were in the area.
They wandered around like vultures, scouring the area for their next meal. The infection seemed to be evolving at a particularly fast rate. The sores which were previously evident had turned into what looked like some kind of fungus. yellow and brown sprouts shot out from beneath the flesh, encased in black thick liquid.
The black veins were much more predominant as the cold dead eyes searched the area in a desperate attempt to sustain themselves.
"What do we do now?" I whispered my eyes following the infected.
"We stay away from the windows and doors. We stay quiet and hidden" George replied.
"The longer we stay out of sight, the more of a chance we have of staying alive." Ryan replied agreeing with Georges answer.
"Go and warn the rest. no loud noises, no lights, we stay in the shadows as of now." George finished.
We gathered together once again in the living area at the back of the house. The front was now off limits. When the infected wandered out of sight, we closed each and every curtain of the house.
"We still need to refuel." Leon pointed out.
"Yes, and we will. I think perhaps drawing the infected's attenti
on away from us, and to an alternative location would do us some good." George advised.
We decided to lay low for the rest of the day. It wasn't exactly a hard task. Our group had already been deflated since Nathan's sudden passing. We weren't exactly in the most talkative of moods.
When night fell, we scrambled around in the dark. Nick, Paul, Lacey and I had found solace in one of the en-suite bathrooms. As it had no windows, we were able to keep the lights on, even in the dark.
The four of us sat with two bottles of wine, and a rather large bag of kettle chips we had found in one of the cupboard's downstairs.
It was a sight to see. Lacey and I sat in the empty bath, whilst Paul and Nick sat on the floor. We had all pulled cushions and pillows out from the bedroom and had made ourselves a nice little set up.
"I swear to god, I don't know how long I can cope with Duckface." Lacey moaned.
"I know, if we have to take much more of this, I'll throw her over the fence myself." I replied.
"Fat lot of good it would do. Apparently the infected can't stand her either." Paul joked.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this whole cure business is a load of bullshit." Lacey replied.
"Agreed." Paul piped up.
"Well, you all know my feelings." I told them.
We spent the rest of the night in our own little world, closed off from the rest of the group. It was like old times although we had never hung out together in the bathroom before. It was usually a night in, Lacey and I would take turns in hosting; the boys just went where they were told.
On the odd occasion, we would all meet up in Alderley Edge for a few drinks in the Bubble Room or dinner at the Merlin. Regardless of the occasion or where we were, the four of us always got on extremely well. Even when spending day after day together, we never once got on each others nerves. It was a mark of true friendship.