Safe Zone (Book 2): The Descent

by Suzanne Sussex

  “Luca?” I ask with my best astonished voice.

  “Huh?” he turns towards me. The red-faced boy sees his opportunity and lunges at him, planting a punch on the side of Luca’s face. Caught unawares and off balance, Luca falls backwards and lands hard on his backside.

  I don’t mean to, but I just can’t help it. I let out a loud laugh. He looks so funny, just sitting there, stunned.

  “Sorry,” the red-faced boy says with a massive grin. He holds out his hand and Luca takes it to pull himself up. His face almost as crimson as his opponents

  “My fault,” I say, “I shouldn’t have disturbed you.” Red-face looks at me with curiosity but doesn’t say anything.

  “No,” Luca shakes his head, one hand rubbing his left butt cheek, “I shouldn’t have been so easily distracted.”

  The instructors announce it’s the end of lessons for today. Red-face, Luca and I stay where we are, just staring at each other, until eventually Red-face shrugs, “See you tomorrow?” he asks Luca.

  “Yeah, see you tomorrow,” Luca replies.

  Now it’s just Luca and I, in a field that is rapidly emptying. Well, this is awkward.

  “Do you…” he says.

  “What are…” I say at the same time. We both laugh awkwardly, “you first,” I tell him.

  “Do you fancy a tour of the zone?” he offers and my heart leaps.

  “Yeah, alright, I’ve nothing better to do,” I reply trying to sound casual. Then I realise that I just sound rude, “Erm … shoot … sorry, I meant, yes that would be lovely, thank you.” Great, now I just sound like a fool.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Brian paced up and down his office. His mind raced as he thought of the revelation from Zone E. There was, of course, a chance that it was nothing, a hoax.

  No. That made no sense.

  Zone E had no reason to suspect there was anything amiss with their relationship with G. But... it could be a hoax orchestrated by whoever had manufactured the vials; maybe someone trying to profit out of the panic the overseas outbreaks caused before it hit the UK.

  Could be.

  The thought that kept returning, the one forcing its way into the forefront, pushing aside the cynical reasoning, was that it could be genuine. Zone E could have stumbled across a vaccination and were naive enough to tell others about it.

  Getting hold of the vaccination would make him the most powerful man in the U.K. He could ask for anything he wanted in return for a single dose.

  He frowned as he spun round to pace back down the room. What if it was the virus? Then he grinned, it's not just a virus. It is one of the deadliest weapons ever known to man.

  With it, he could take anything he wanted. Just the threat of a new outbreak would be enough for the other zones to tremble in fear.

  Yes, the virus would be infinitely preferable to the cure.

  The original outbreak was thought to have originated from free bottles of water given to commuters in cities across the world. That would mean the virus could be diluted but still hold the same effect. He could threaten the water supply, or perhaps even the crops. Other zones would bend over backwards to give him anything he asked.

  Images of days of grandeur flicked through his mind. He could become the most powerful man in Britain. He saw himself sitting on a throne, with obedient servants catering to his every need. Why stop at Britain though? Europe was easily accessible. Just a short trip across the channel and he could rule there too.

  The dilemma was that it was not he, but Zone E, that held the mysterious vials. No doubt secured safely somewhere. A memory flashed into consciousness. The younger girl had reached for her bag when he asked if they had a sample with them. He was convinced the older woman, Annie was lying. They had at least one vial with them.

  He stalked over to the window and looked out. Petunia was hurrying back across the square, having escorted the two visitors to the guest accommodation. He stared in the direction she had come from, the little street that held the guest accommodation. The prize was so close.

  The plan to invade Zone E was born out of a need to right what was wrong. It wasn’t fair that they were thriving when G was barely scraping by. He had intended to strip them bare and take whatever they need to make Zone G great again. Or perhaps even relocate, taking over the whole zone. The existence of boxes of these vials had become the cherry on the cake.

  The outlines of the plan were already formed in his mind. The zombie army was nearly ready, the residents were fired up and angry, combat training underway. They would be ready soon. Those boxes of vials would be his.

  His thoughts returned to the vial currently in possession of the two visitors. He had to have it. When he retrieved the boxes from Zone E, it would not do for someone else to have access to his virus.

  He pushed away from the window to cross the room, then he leant his head out of the door and called for Petunia.

  The thin-faced woman appeared almost instantly, as though she was waiting for his call.

  “Petunia, are out guests settled into their accommodation?”

  “Yes sir, I’ve given them apartment 1a.”

  “Thank you, I now need you to keep an eye on our guests and let me know when they have both left the apartment.”

  Petunia raised her eyebrows at the strange request, “You want me to spy on them, sir?” she enquired politely.

  Brian frowned, “Yes, Petunia. Will that be a problem?”

  “Of course not, sir,” Petunia replied. Her face returning to its usual pinched, almost arrogant expression. The woman annoyed him. As an assistant, she was efficient, rarely asking questions. But there was something about her. Too polite, too reserved. She never smiled, and he doubted she knew how to laugh. Maybe all she needed was a good fuck to loosen her up. Although, he pitied any man desperate enough to perform such a task.

  She coughed politely, bringing him back to the moment, “Will that be all?”

  “Yes,” she turned from him, “Actually, no, send Gary in, will you?”

  She nodded, curtly, “Of course, sir,”

  A few minutes later came a knock on the office door.

  “Come in,”

  The door swung open, and Gary stepped in, “You asked for me?” he said, looking at Brian, but failing to make eye contact. He seemed uncomfortable, fidgety. As though he would rather be anywhere else in the world right now.

  “Is everything okay?” Brian asked. He had no personal concern for the man, but he was loyal and useful and needed him to stay that way.

  “Yes, fine,” Gary replied stiffly. Brian wondered briefly if the incident with Joan had provoked this reaction. In hindsight, although the act he committed was justified and deserved, perhaps performing it in front of the other man had been a mistake. Maybe Gary did not understand the need to assert his dominance on the two prisoners. He resolved to keep an eye on him over the coming days.

  “Glad to hear it, I need to speak to David Smeadly as a matter of urgency, Locate him and send him to me.”

  “Course,” Gary nodded gruffly.

  “Thank you, that will be all.”

  Gary left the office, closing the door behind him. The school block where David worked was a few minutes from the town hall. It should not be long before the man arrived. Brian went back to pacing around his office. His mind now turned to another problem. How to lead the zombies to Zone E without losing too many of his own men.

  He sighed, because it was a dilemma; zebs couldn’t be trained, they would attack anyone without prejudice. If they had access to diesel and haulage lorries, he could ship them all in those. But even if he could negotiate with one of the zones that still had access to fuel, to give it away, he had no haulage lorries. Most now would have rusted away with age and lack of use.

  He supposed cages could be constructed on the back of carts, then horses could take them, but they don’t have enough horses to transport five thousand of them. Maybe he'd share the problem with Jay and Gary, sometimes three heads a
re better than one.

  Another knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, “Come in.”

  The door creaked open, and a grey-haired man entered, “Mr Crowe,” the man nodded respectfully at Brian. Holding out a hand to shake.

  Brian shook his hand, “David, please do take a seat.”

  Brian watched as David sat down and then adjusted the chair, so the pair were at eye level.

  “Now, David, what …”

  “Doctor,” David interrupted.

  “Er … pardon?”

  “I prefer to be called Doctor.”

  Brian held back the sigh of irritation and maintained the friendly façade. “Of course. Now, Doctor …” he emphasised the word, “What I am about to share with you is extremely confidential. The consequences of this information becoming known to anyone else will be …” he paused for effect, “severe. Do you understand?”

  The doctor regarded him, “Yes Mr Crowe, I believe I do. But you have nothing to worry about, I can assure you of my discretion.”

  “Excellent,” Brian smiled, “I will shortly come into possession of a vial of fluid which is believed to relate to the ZN-134 virus.”

  “Improbable,” the doctor interrupted, with a wry smile, “but go on.”

  “Improbable?” Brian asked, fighting his annoyance at the obnoxious man before him.

  The doctor sighed and smiled patronisingly at Brian.

  A look that the children he taught must be familiar with, “As you know, I was working for the ECDC, that is the acronym for the European Centre for Disease Contr …”

  Brian gritted his teeth, “I am aware of what ECDC stands for, thank you.”

  “Naturally,” the doctor nodded amicably, “As I was saying, I was working for them during the outbreak, you may remember me from my television appearances at the time,” he paused and looked at Brian expectantly.

  “I do,” Brian nodded begrudgingly.

  “Right from the early outbreaks in South America, we were working on the virus, concerning ourselves with finding at best a vaccination and at worst, a cure. As the situation we now find ourselves in makes apparent, we were unsuccessful. The greatest minds in our field from across the globe were involved in the research. Sadly, when the virus was unleashed on a mass scale, we had to evacuate our research facility and ended up here. The priority back then was basic survival. We were assured that eventually, we could resume our research, but regretfully this commitment never came to fruition.”

  Brian smiled thinly, “Thank you for the history lesson, but I fail to understand how that is relevant.”

  “Ah,” the doctor said and waggled a finger in the air, “On the contrary, it is very relevant. You see, while we public servants worked on the disease, at the same time a private drugs manufacturing company was also working on it. There was no co-operation between the private and public sectors. However, the world of virology was small, and people talked. I would probably have been made aware of any breakthrough.”

  Brian leant back in his chair and scratched his chin thoughtfully, “Your choice of words interests me, Doctor. You used the term ‘improbable’ not ‘impossible’.”

  “I am a scientist, I believe that very few things are impossible, it is merely that the answers just have not been found yet.”

  Brian perked up, “So you are suggesting, that while unlikely, what I will soon have could be significant.”

  “Yes, but it’s …”

  “Improbable, I know,” Brian sighed, “However, when this substance comes into my possession, what would you need to prove or disprove its relative value?”

  The doctor massaged his temple, “That would depend.”

  “On what?” Brian asked, impatience bubbling inside him.

  “On how quickly you would like an answer. For example, I could inject the fluid into a test subject. If that person changes, we would know it was the virus. If they did not, we would need to arrange for them to be bitten. If after that, the subject does not change, we will know it’s a vaccination. If there is no change in the subject, we would then need to find an infected and inject them to see if it’s a cure. If that does not prove fruitful, then we will know that what you have is nothing." he paused to check that Brian had been following his long explanation. "Of course, finding a subject agreeable to these tests could prove problematic.”

  “I can see to that,” Brian replied. “However, for a short while, I will only have access to one vial of the fluid; therefore your method would be ineffective.”

  “In which case, I would need the necessary equipment to break down the formula, and replicate before performing tests.”

  “Okay, then,” Brian smiled with the feeling that they were eventually getting there. “Write down a list of everything you need and give it to me by tonight. In the meantime, Petunia will show you a selection of rooms within the town hall.

  Please select as many as you feel are suitable for this research. For your own safety, I would insist that you turn one of these rooms into a living area. It will be best for all involved if you do not leave until your research is complete.”

  Brian waited for the inevitable challenge and was surprised when none came. Instead, the doctor smiled, “I agree, and I must say, it will be most pleasurable to put the old grey matter to use again.”

  “Excellent,” Brian said dismissively and rose from his chair, extending his hand out to the doctor. The doctor stood and shook it vigorously.

  “I’ll have the list on your desk shortly.”

  “Thank you, and I should have the first vial with you in the morning.”

  As he closed the door behind the doctor, Brian smiled broadly. Despite the doctor’s smug negativity, he was convinced that the vials were genuine. Everything was coming together nicely.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Offering a tour had been a mistake. The second Luca escorted Sammie away from the field he realised that to be fact. Tour? Of what? As he saw his home through this stranger's eyes, he realised what an absolute dump it was.

  “So... erm... that was the exercise field,” he told her.

  “Really?” she asked in surprise.

  “Yeah,” he glanced at her and saw her lips curled up into a smile and her eyebrows raised in amusement, “Okay so that may have been pretty obvious.”

  “Just a little,” she teased, “but it’s nice that you have group activities like that.”

  He shrugged, unwilling to share the reason for the new found sense of community with the zone, “It’s new, only started yesterday.”

  “Thank God for that,” she smiled again. “Most people out there were terrible.”

  He nodded and laughed, “Yeah, we’re not a very fit zone.”

  “You were good, though.”

  “I think that’s because Danny is so bad.”

  “Well yeah, but I did I notice the way you let Danny hit you a few times, when you could easily have avoided some of his punches.”

  His heart leapt, “So you were watching me?” he asked, teasingly.

  “Um … maybe … just a little,” she stuttered.

  He laughed at the flush rising up her cheeks, and without thinking, he stretched his arm out around her shoulders and pulled her close, squeezing her, “I’m just kidding, no need to be embarrassed.”

  For a second, she leant into his grasp, then they both froze with the realisation of what they were doing. He quickly released her

  “Um, so what’s that?” She asked and pointed at a house in the middle of a row of terraces.

  “Ah, I’m glad you ask,” he said gravely, “That is what we, in the zone call a house," using humour to break through the tension his impromptu embrace had created.

  “Idiot,” she laughed and gave him a small shove in his shoulder.

  They walked in silence until they reached the Town Hall.

  “Ah ha, finally something interesting to show you. This …” he dramatically swept his arms and points towards the building, “is the Town Hall.”
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  She giggled at his enthusiasm, “Yeah I know, I’ve been inside.”

  Luca stopped walking and swung round to look at Sammie, “What?”

  “I had a meeting with Brian earlier,” she said, as though having a meeting with the leader of a zone was an everyday occurrence for her.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it immediately. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her where she was from and what the meeting had been about. But he quickly decided against it. He would rather not know. Instead he grinned, “Damn, that was the climax of the whole tour.”

  “I’m sure there’s more to see … actually, could you take me to the stables?”

  “Sure, this way M'lady,” he bowed low, extending his arms.

  “Why, thank you, kind sir,” she laughed in reply.

  At the stables, she introduced him to her horses, Robbie and Petunia. He let out a massive belly laugh, “That’s Brian’s assistant's name.”

  “I know,” she said and stood back, studying the female horse, “In fact, they do look a bit alike, don’t they?” she glanced sideways at him, with a sly smile.

  He laughed, “Yeah a little.”

  After petting the horses, they headed back into the town.

  Luca pointed out the school, the stores and other random buildings, and she showed sufficient enthusiasm, but he could tell, that this was not an exciting tour.

  “Where do you live?” she asked.

  “About a mile away from here,” he paused, then on impulse added, “Would you like to come to dinner?”

  “That would be great,” she said and beamed at him, “Oh, but I’d better check with Annie first.”

  “Who’s Annie?”

  “Oh, she’s my b…” she started, then corrected herself, “friend.”

  Was she about to say “boss”? If she was, then it would mean she was from a zone. Nozos didn’t have jobs and by definition, didn’t have bosses. He was tempted to ask but again stopped himself. He was enjoying her company too much to ruin it by asking too many questions.