The Infected (Book 4): Wrecked

by Justin Gowland

  “Do you want to go have a look?” I asked.

  Chris looked at the drag marks and said “I think we should.”

  “Why?” Amy asked.

  I turned to look at her and said “We need to know if the infected dragged the bodies away, and if they did, why? The same goes if any living people did this.”

  I headed back to the A.P.C. and grabbed my rifle and webbing. Turning around, I could see Chris and Amy still standing and looking at where the bodies had been the night before.

  I walked over and said “Wait here. I should be back soon. Spirit, you coming, girl?”

  Spirit looked up yawned jumped down from the A.P.C. and trotted over to me.

  “But, Marc!” Was all I heard as I walked away with Spirit following me.

  Standing at the corner of the building I took a quick look around the corner. Not seeing anything, I walked around and into the back garden. The drag marks changed from the concrete to the overgrown lawn. I was grateful for the long grass which was bent over showing me the way that the bodies had been dragged. The drag marks went to the open rear gate and into the small alleyway behind the houses. The fence separating the gardens from the alleyway were small enough that I could see over them. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, I stepped out into the alleyway. I looked in both directions and there were infected in the alley. The drag marks headed away from the garden and toward the edge of the small village. Following the marks would have been hard if not for the green and black slime left behind by the bodies.

  Spirit moved ahead but kept within sight of me. She ran forward along the trail and waited for me to catch up before moving ahead again. After a short while we came to the end of the alley and the edge of the village. Across a small road were some a double line of garages. The drag marks looked as though they headed to the end of them and around the corner. I could hear faint noises coming from behind the first row of garages. Slowly edging along the front of them I could hear the faint noises grow gradually louder. With Spirit behind me, I stopped at the corner and then risked a quick dash around the end of the garages, raising my rifle as I came around the other side. Looking down the row I saw a garage with its door raised and the car pulled outside. There was an open passenger door and from where I was stood a lot of blood on the interior. The noises I had heard seemed to be coming from the open garage. I crossed over to the other side so that as I walked down I would get a better view of inside the garage without having to actually stick my head inside.

  Spirit had her tail between her legs as we moved down toward the garage, and to tell you the truth I felt pretty much the same way. All the way down the noise became clearer. It was a sort of slapping sound, a bit like someone slapping their hand against their thigh. Spirit whined and stopped dead still about halfway down. I looked at her and I knew that she wasn’t going to follow me any further.

  I got close to the front of the car and tried to look inside the garage, but because of my angle and the darkness inside, I couldn’t make anything out. My only choice was to creep over and see if by getting closer, I could get a better look. Edging alongside the car I came to the open doorway. I could either risk trying to close it or edge out and around it. I chose the latter and had to step around the large pool of blacked blood that was near the open door. Looking over the boot, I could see inside the garage and it was then that I saw what had been making the slapping sound and what had happened to the three bodies from last night. There were at least ten to fifteen infected lying face down in rows on the floor in front of the three bodies. I could see just from where I was that they had been feasted on by the other infected. The slapping noise came from another infected that had recently lost its lower half. It was slapping it hands on the floor and issuing a low moan. The green slime that we had witnessed on so many of them seemed to run from the three dead infected and the infected that were lying down were lapping it from the floor.

  Backing up slowly, I decided that it might be better if I headed back to the A.P.C. Reaching Spirit, I reached down and gave her a rub before moving off again. This was a strange outcome. Not only were the infected quite happy to snack on each other, they were drinking that green slime for some reason. The route back to the A.P.C. took a little less time. Rounding the corner I saw Chris standing at the rear of the A.P.C. Seeing me, he waved and I quickened my pace. Spirit ran ahead and jumped inside.

  “What’s got her spooked?” He asked as I got close.

  I just shook my head. “I’ll tell you when we’re inside. Where’s Amy?” I said.

  “She’s checking the map.” He said.

  I climbed in and shrugged out of my webbing and harness. Chris climbed inside and pulled the door closed behind him. He walked passed and clapped me on the shoulder as he did and squeezed himself between the front seats and sat down in the driver’s seat.

  Amy leaned around in her seat and asked “What did you find out?”

  “Let’s get going first. I have wasted enough time this morning.” I said.

  Chris started the engine and we pulled away. Peering through the rear window I was sure that I saw an infected looking at us from the corner of the building. Turning back around I saw Amy looking at me with a puzzled expression.

  “Well?” She said.

  “I’ll tell you what I saw and you can try and tell me what you think.” I said, and then went on to tell them about the partially eaten infected and the others drinking the green slime. I couldn’t think of why they would either eat their own dead or lap up that green slime.

  “I’ll tell you what, this infected crap gets more fucked up each day.” Chris said.

  Amy looked like she had an idea, so I said “Amy?”

  She looked at Chris and then me before saying “I think I understand the eating of their dead, but drinking that green stuff...” She shrugged her shoulders.

  “Okay. Let’s put the green slime on hold for now. So why do you think they were eating their dead?” I asked her.

  “Well, the only obvious answer would be because they have run out of their usual food source.” She said.

  “You mean us?” Chris said.

  “No, I mean the man in the fucking moon.” She said, getting slightly upset.

  “Hey!” I said.

  “Look, I’m sorry, Chris. This morning has been slightly nerve wracking.” She apologised, holding her hands to her head.

  I sat back and thought back to when I looked into the garage and the infected that had been watching us leave the village. Then again, it might not have been an infected. By the time I had looked up, it might have just been a survivor watching us leave. From that kind of distance a person standing and an infected may look the same. What didn’t sit right with me was the fact that if it was an infected, then it had learned to watch, and that was something that Jay had said they shouldn’t be able to do.

  “It’s okay, Amy. I blame that idiot sitting in the back, and I don’t mean the dog.” Chris said.

  Amy laughed.

  I looked up and said “Chris?”

  “What?” He said.

  “Fuck off.” I replied.

  Which set Amy off in a fit of giggles.

  When she got herself under control she turned to look at both of us and said “You two are a pair of big kids. Do you know that?”

  Chris casually lifted his hand off of the steering wheel and flipped his middle finger at her, which of course set me away laughing. After a couple of seconds Chris joined in and Amy started to go a nice red in her cheeks.

  She lowered her head and said “Bastards.”

  Chapter Three

  Which made us laugh even more. I think if we didn’t have Amy up front when we did, we might have ploughed straight into the back of the bus that was in the middle of the road. With Amy shouting out loud about the bus, Chris managed to slow and stop the A.P.C. with about four feet of space between us and it. We were all thrown forward and managed to stop ourselves from getting hurt. Spirit, on the other hand, bounced
off the back of Chris’ seat with a loud yelp.

  Kneeling down beside her, I checked to see if she had any injuries that stood out. With nothing apparent, I picked her up and started checking her bones. After about half an hour I came to the conclusion that she had probably just had a large shock.

  Amy climbed through and said “How’s she doing?”

  Spirit licked Amy’s face and I replied, “I think she’s ok. She probably got a big shock. I wish I had left her back at the bunker.”

  “I don’t think she would have been too happy about that.” Amy said, sitting down beside me.

  “What’s it look like, Chris?” I asked.

  “The tires on the back look ok. I can’t see the front ones, though.” He said.

  “Do you think we can push it out of the way?” I asked.

  “Only one way to find out.” He said, gunning the engine.

  The A.P.C. pushed squarely against the rear of the bus, and whilst it did move, it didn’t exactly roll along. In fact, we could feel a juddering coming from the bus in front. It was as if the handbrake was on. We carried on like this for a few minutes before I decided that someone needed to go outside and find out what the problem was.

  “Hold up here, Chris. Amy and I will head outside and see what is stopping the bus.” I said, opening the rear door and hoping out.

  Amy followed me outside and we left Chris and Spirit to look after things whilst we checked out why the bus wasn’t moving. We closed the door and headed around to the front of the A.P.C. and down the side of the bus. At the front we could see why the bus wasn’t moving. It had slammed head-on with the side of a car. The resulting fire had virtually welded the two vehicles together. The A.P.C. was pushing against the bus which in turn was pushing against a car that had no tires due to them melting to the road because of the fire. It was then that we heard the banging coming from behind us. I turned around and saw the windscreen crowded with infected. Each of them pushing against the ones in the front. Green slime was being pushed out of the ones at the front and on to the windscreen.

  “We need to get back to the A.P.C. now!” I said.

  We started to run and we could hear the cracking of the windscreen. As we got half way down the bus there was the sound of glass shattering and falling to the ground. The air around us was suddenly filled with the moans of the infected. I yanked open the back door of the A.P.C. as the first rotting corpses lurched around the front of the bus.

  “Get into the fields.” Amy shouted at Chris.

  “Why?” He said gunning the engine and yanking the steering wheel over to the right and aiming toward the fields.

  He got his answer when the first three infected were ploughed under the front of the A.P.C. We all felt the A.P.C. lose traction as the tires got coated in the pulped bodies of the infected. We all lurched forward as we slid into the fence surrounding the field. Chris revved the engine and slowly we pushed through the fence and into the field. The infected had caught up to us and were banging on the outside of the vehicle with rotten green hands. Keeping the A.P.C. in lower gears we steadily pulled out into the field and smashed more of the infected as we did. The bus must have been full of infected when it had hit the car. From the skin and muscle falling off them, they must have been stuck on that bus from the very beginning of the infection.

  Being jostled around in the back of the A.P.C. wasn’t improving Spirit's mood. She whined and growled every time we hit a dip in the field. Fastening myself in with the straps, I leaned forward and scooped up Spirit. I held her in my arms and I couldn’t believe how heavy she was. It was steady going, and when I looked out the rear window I saw that the infected falling further and further behind. I also saw the tracks the large tires of the A.P.C. were leaving behind in the field. I slammed into the side in the back as Chris swung out of the field and onto the road again. I lowered Spirit back down on to the floor. She looked back up at me and whined.

  “I know, girl. We should be ok now.” I said, stroking her head.

  We moved along without hitting any further blockages for the next few hours. Daylight was fading and Amy pointed out that we were quite a distance from the nearest village or town so we would have to camp out in the A.P.C. again. Pulling over at the side of the road I clambered to the rear and opened the back door. Spirit squeezed past and disappeared into the bushes. I guess she needed to go or something. I climbed down out of the back and stretched. Amy and Chris came outside and we set up a camping stove so that we could have something warm. The bushes rustled and Spirit came trotting out and over to where we were sitting. I waited for the water to heat up before pouring it into the MRE’s. Hot food was much better than the dry stuff we would normally have for supper. Spirit made her way around to where I was eating and sat down, panting. I knew she was wanting to eat my meal but I had been smart enough to prepare a separate meal just for her. Standing up, I pulled a plastic bowl out of my rucksack and poured the beef meal into it and placed the bowl down for her to eat. We sat in silence having our food as the sun fell behind the trees.

  Chris finished his food and asked “Any idea how much further we have to go?”

  Amy pulled the map from her thigh pocket. Opening it up, she looked at it for a few minutes before saying “Looks like we have another eighty miles to go. If we keep up the pace we have and don’t run into anything else, we should be there by tomorrow night.”

  “If we get there by tomorrow night, it might be an idea to sleep in the A.P.C. rather than try to look for a boat at night.” I said.

  Chris looked up grinned and said “Obviously.”

  “Fuck off” I said, laughing.

  Light finally faded and we all climbed back inside the A.P.C. and set up for the night.

  Sometime during the night there was a wet ripping sound and a stench akin to a dead animal filled the inside of the cabin. Choking on it, I struggled to climb out of my sleeping bag in the dark. Pushing open the roof hatch I turned to grope for the interior light. When my hand met the large meaty paw of Chris, he flicked on the interior light.

  “What the fuck?” Chris said, gagging.

  Amy had rolled over and started coughing.

  “Chris, mate, you could have done us all a favour and taken a shit before bed!” I said, taking deep breaths of the fresh air.

  “Mate, that wasn’t me.” Chris exclaimed.

  Amy had stopped coughing and said “I don’t think that was human.”

  I instantly grabbed my rifle.

  “I mean I think Spirit let rip.” Amy said looking at me and Chris struggle to breath.

  I looked at Spirit who was still stretched out near the rear door. She looked up at me and her look seemed to say ‘Hey, don’t blame me you fed me that MRE crap.’

  “That fucking dog nearly killed me with that fart!” Chris said bent over at the waist.

  I laughed and went to open the back door when something slammed against it. Peering through the small window I could just make out a human looking shape.

  Taking a step back, I said “Chris, turn off the light. Amy, pass me a pair of the night vision goggles.”

  Amy started going through one of the carryalls and passed me the night vision goggles just as Chris turned off the light and everything went pitch black. Lifting the goggles to my eyes, I flicked the on switch and was granted with the hazy green interior of the A.P.C. Edging my way to the rear and being careful not to stand on any part of Spirit, I looked through the small window at the figure. What greeted me was the rotting face of an infected. His eyes seemed to bulge from the sunken sockets of a slowly rotting face. There were tears visible on its cheeks and one ear seemed to be held on by a sliver of skin. Patches of his hair looked like they had been torn from his scalp. Even through the goggles I could see the slime oozing from his eyes and other openings on his head. The shirt he wore seemed to be torn but I couldn’t see beyond his head and shoulders because of the small window. Not seeing any other infected from that position, I moved back to where Chris a
nd Amy were standing.

  “What’s out there?” Amy whispered.

  “Looks like a single infected. I couldn’t see any more of them through the window. I’m going to climb out onto the roof and have a look.” I said, heading to the hatch.

  Pulling myself onto the roof of the A.P.C. I only heard a single low moan coming from the rear. Edging slowly forward and watching where I was placing my feet, I glanced over the edge and looked down on the infected as it slowly raised its rotting hands and beat on the rear of the A.P.C. Looking out into the darkness I looked for any other infected that may be close by. The goggles didn’t give me anywhere near the distance that I would have been happy with under normal circumstances, but they were better than stumbling around in the dark and had helped in lots of ways since we started to use them.

  I now had the choice of did we deal with our little visitor, did we just leave him alone and hope that he didn’t attract any more infected, or did we move on and find somewhere else to sleep for the rest of the night?

  My answer was quite easy and it created very little noise. I jumped down from the rear and landed with both feet squarely on the head of the infected. I felt the skull crush beneath my boots as his head was caught between me and the ground. I heard the splatter of his brains as they were squashed onto the road. I have to admit I nearly fell down but I managed to keep upright. The smell from the infected at my feet was fresher than the smell that had come from Spirit not five minutes ago. I stood there, boots covered with the brain of an infected as I heard the rear door to the A.P.C. open.

  “You ok, mate?” Chris said from the open door.

  I turned around in the mess and said “Yeah. Its head smashed a lot easier than I thought it would.”

  “Tell you the truth, when I saw you come past the window, I thought you had fallen off the roof.” He said.