The Infected (Book 6): Last Shot

by Gowland, Justin

  Chapter Twenty One

  “Do you think we’ll ever be going back?” Mike asked as he stuffed a packet of crisps into his mouth.

  Chris lowered the bottle of water he had been drinking and looked off into the distance. “To be honest, I don’t think so. There are too many variables to consider.”

  I laughed at Chris and said “Oooh! Listen to you and the long words.”

  Chris flipped me his middle finger and smiled.

  “No seriously what do you guys think?” Mike said smiling.

  I sighed “Like Chris said, there are so many things that we don’t know about. I would like to think that we would, but I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that at least one of us won’t be heading back.”

  “Fuck off Marc!” Chris burst out.

  “No hear me out…” I said rubbing my eyes before continuing “You two are the most important members on this team. Chris, you have Tessa and the baby to consider. Mike the same again. Before you say anything, yes I have Amy and she is pregnant, but I don’t have any usable skills unlike you two. I’m just a grunt, a blunt weapon. All anyone has to do is point me in the direction of the bad guys and I’ll head off like the good soldier and fight them. I don’t deserve anything and people would be better off without me around.”

  I sat back and looked up into the sky. Could I really believe what I had just said? I suppose so. Standing I walked back to the A.P.C and climbed in the back, leaving Mike and Chris wondering what I had said.

  Five minutes later they climbed into the A.P.C and Chris turned the engine over. The rest of the day was just us weaving in and out of the traffic left behind by the people trying to run away from in infected. The sky darkened and rain started to hit the windscreen when we decided to call it a day. We found a layby and buttoned up for the night. Chris spread out over the two front seats in his sleeping bag and was soon snoring. Mike lay in his sleeping bag on the floor next to me.

  “You don’t really believe what you said earlier. Do you?” He said in a quiet voice.

  Rolling onto my back I thought about it “Yeah I do!”

  He was quiet for a few minutes before saying “But Amy is pregnant. Don’t you want to see your child?”

  “To be honest mate, if you knew what my family was like before all of this. You’d be saying ‘There is no way he should have any kids, not with parents like his!’” I said with a sad smile on my face.

  “Still I think you would make a good dad!”

  I shrugged my shoulders and looked at the roof of the A.P.C in thought. “Look let’s just see how all this pans out before we write any of us off.”

  Mike grunted and rolled over to face the wall. It wasn’t long before I heard his slow breathing and a low snore coming from his back. I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.

  The next two days followed much of the same pattern. The conversation turned melancholy the nearer to the lifeboat we got. The morning of the third day, we found ourselves at the lifeboat station looking at the rotting bodies of the infected we had killed the last time we had been here. Sitting inside the A.P.C we could smell the stench of their rotting bodies. Flies were everywhere, clouds of them floated through the air. Every now then a mass would land on a corpse only for another mass to lift off from another.

  The lifeboat was moored where we had left it. Chris ground the gears and the A.P.C rumbled forward and stopped just short of the lifeboat. Grabbing our gear we ran from the A.P.C to the lifeboat and jumped the small gap between the shore and the rolling deck. The flies seemed to get agitated when we passed by them and they tried to swarm us, but we were inside the cabin before they came anywhere close. We stacked the rifles against the console in the center of the cabin. I carried the rucksacks down into the kitchen and emptied out the food and water. Leaving the kitchen, I climbed back up to the cabin.

  “So how’s it look Captain Mike?!” I asked grinning.

  Chris burst out laughing “Captain Mike! I like that!” He said holding his sides.

  Mike turned and grinned “Funny fucker! The tanks are still about three quarters full. It should be more than enough to get to the oil rig.”

  “Chris did you bring along those charges you made up?” I said turning to him.

  He lifted one of the ammo crates and opened it for us to look inside. The charges he and I had done were inside. Looking like evil blocks of play dough.

  “There should be enough to take out the oil rig legs, and then gravity should take care of the rest. The only problem is getting in close enough to plant them.” He said closing the crate.

  I looked out of the windows and said “We’ll look into that when we get within sight of the rig.”

  “I suppose we should get moving,” Mike said turning to the controls. We felt the engines start through the floor. “Be nice if one of you went out and cast us off.” He said looking over his shoulder at Chris and me.

  I felt my face flushed, opening the door I grabbed the rail and worked my way to the front and pulled the line free. Heading toward the back I heard the familiar moan of the infected. I looked toward the lifeboat station and saw a small horde of infected stumbling toward us. Moving as fast as I could I headed to the rear of the lifeboat and pulled free the remaining line and staggered back to the cabin. The infected were about ten meters away and they looked to be speeding up.

  “Mike get us the fuck away from here!” I shouted into the cabin.

  The engine noise changed and the lifeboat pulled away from the mooring and out into the depths of the North Sea. I turned to look at the mooring as the first infected halted at the edge of the mooring only to be pushed off the edge by the ones crowding in from behind. Watching the water turning white as the infected thrashed out and slipped under the waves made me think back to when we had gone to save Jane and her team from the ship in Hull harbor. Here we were heading off on a mission and not knowing what to expect when we got there.

  The lifeboat pulled out into the waves and I instantly started to feel sea sick, I hadn’t been on board for more than ten minutes and my stomach was rolling like the sea.

  Staggering inside Mike was watching the waves and looking every now and then at a small screen. I couldn’t make head or tails out of what was displayed, but I knew that he did; so I didn’t interrupt. I staggered past him and down into the kitchen which in truth was something I shouldn’t have done. Chris was standing at the counter making coffee and the smell made my stomach roll even more.

  “What’s the matter with you?” He asked when he saw me stagger into the room.

  I gently shook my head “Seasick!”

  “Shit, I forgot about that!” He said laughing.

  I picked my rucksack up and headed for one of the small bunk rooms. Opening the small door, I put my rucksack on the floor and then threw myself onto the bottom bunk. I lay on my back and looked up at the bottom of the bunk above me. The lifeboat was rolling in the sea and I could feel myself move with it. Closing my eyes I felt a little better, I just hoped that I could pull it together before we got to the oil rig. This would be the first actual sea voyage I’d been on and it could be my last.

  I must have drifted off because the next time I opened my eyes it was dark outside of the small porthole and the engine noise was gone. Standing up the deck only moved slightly beneath my feet. Pulling the door open I heard Mike and Chris talking and a glow from near the kitchen. I walked down the small corridor and into the kitchen.

  “Hey, Marc glad to see you up and about!” Mike said smiling.

  I grunted and headed to the small fridge and pulled a bottle of water out.

  Chris cleared his throat “Look, mate, we’re about four hours away from the oil rig. Mike says we should be able to see it about ten in the morning.”

  I took a swig of water before trusting myself to say anything. “Have you seen anything on the water or on the radar?”

  Mike shook his head “Nah we’re too far away at the moment. Maybe in the morning.”

&n
bsp; “So what do you want to do?” Chris asked taking a drink from a mug that was on the table in front of him.

  I sat down on one of the chairs “Get close enough to see the oil rig but hopefully not too close to be seen. See if they have anything patrolling the sea around them. If they don’t we move in at night place the charges and blow the fuckers back to hell.”

  “What do we do if they see us?” Mike asked with concern on his face.

  “Not sure, but that oil rig and those bastards need taking down,” I replied.

  Chris placed his mug down and said “Look I don’t disagree but we need to have a backup plan, just in case.”

  Mike just nodded.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose before saying anything “I agree, but we don’t even know if they’re still out there on the oil rig. For all we know they could be back in Durham. Or worse yet moved somewhere in Europe.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that!” Chris said looking down at the mug in his hands.

  “Look there is no point in worrying about any of this yet. Let’s get some sleep and when we get eyes on the oil rig, we can devise a better plan.” I said standing up.

  Chris drank the last of his coffee and headed back toward the bunks. Mike stayed seated.

  “What’s up Mike?!”

  He looked up at me “You think this can be pulled off?” he asked with red-rimmed eyes.

  “To be honest I hope it can be. Look, go lay your head down and I’ll go and sit watch. I had enough sleep to last awhile.”

  Chapter Twenty Two

  He got to his feet and walked passed me in the same direction that Chris had taken. With the bottle of water in hand, I staggered up into the cabin and looked out into the darkness. It must have been a cloudy night because the stars only peeked through the clouds every now and again. The moon was hidden behind them as well so there was no light. The lifeboat rocked side to side, forward and back with the waves that I could hear gently slapping against the hull.

  My mind wandered and I could almost hear Tony’s voice shouting out of the darkness. I did miss the fat git, and when I thought of Tony I thought of Jay. The way those bitches had gutted him when we first got to the Bunker made my blood boil. Breathing slowly I managed to get myself under control and for the rest of the night I stood or sat waiting for the day to break and for us to finally get to see the oil rig.

  Orange light slowly started to appear along the horizon and the sun slowly peeked over it. I headed back down to the kitchen and started another pot of coffee, I would have started to make food, but I didn’t trust my stomach.

  “Mike! Chris! Get your lazy fucking arses out of bed!” I shouted.

  I heard a thump and string of curses come from where the bunk rooms were. If I had to guess Chris sat up a little too quick and whacked his head on the underside of a bunk. With that image in mind, my stomach actually started to feel a little better. I wouldn’t say it was a hundred percent, but it was better than the night before.

  Mike walked into the kitchen sniggering.

  “Did he whack his head?” I asked him.

  He just nodded his head and started to laugh out loud. Chris followed him with a huge red welt on his forehead. He glared at Mike, which only set Mike off even more.

  I smiled “Get a good night’s sleep?”

  “Fuck you, Marc! You try sleeping in those small fucking beds!” Chris growled grabbing the pot of coffee and pouring a mug.

  “I did they’re very comfortable,” I said trying not to laugh at his discomfort.

  “Ha, fucking Ha! You twat!” He said sitting down.

  The rest of the morning was pretty much taking the piss out of Chris. By noon, we were headed toward the oil rig. We had left it till then to head there because the sun would be setting roughly around the time we got there. Chris had said it would make it harder for any guards to spot us. The reason he gave was that the human eye finds it hard to go from the light sky to the dark of the sea very well. I thought it was bullshit, but he had been in the Army longer than I had and must have picked up a few things along the way. Mike kept the lifeboat moving at a steady pace and I was finally starting to feel my sea legs. I spotted the oil rig first, a couple of lights out on the horizon. Mike slowed the lifeboat and I stepped outside with a pair of binoculars and lifted them up. The oil rig stood on four legs and seemed to be roughly a hundred feet from the surface of the ocean. The life boat’s engine stopped and I was joined by Mike and Chris at the rail.

  “I hope those charges do their jobs!” Mike said looking out toward the large oil rig.

  “They should do. I heard somewhere that the legs are hollow. All the charges need to do is breach them, then the ocean will do the rest for us.” Chris said holding out his hand for the binoculars.

  I passed the binoculars to him and turned to watch the sun slowly slipping behind the horizon. The sun had turned the sky the color of burnt orange. The sea was the black blanket that the sun was sliding behind.

  “There’s a small boat out next to the rig,” Chris said from behind me.

  Turning round I asked “How small?”

  “Looks like a zodiac. It has two people inside.” He said handing me the binoculars.

  I lifted them and looked down between the legs of the oil rig. It took a while before I saw the zodiac motoring in between the legs of the oil rig.

  “Looks like a patrol of some sort,” I said watching the zodiac make a second pass between the legs.

  “Can I have a look?” Mike asked.

  Passing him the binoculars I turned to look at Chris. “Do you think it’s going to be a problem?”

  “It will be unless we can take them out first. The shots are going to be heard, not to mention trying to get close enough on this.” He replied tapping the deck with his foot.

  “I might have an idea!” Mike said lowering the binoculars.

  “I’m all ears!” Chris said.

  “There are some scuba tanks and a couple of wetsuits down in a storage locker. Could we swim in and set the charges?” Mike replied.

  Chris shook his head “Nope they’re remote detonated and the detonators need to be kept as dry as possible.”

  “Fuck!” I said watching the oil rig slowly fade into the oncoming night.

  “Hold on before you give up!” Chris said with a thoughtful look on his face.

  Mike and I waited whilst Chris was thinking. Lights started to appear on the oil rig and soon enough it looked like a Christmas tree standing out in the dark. The zodiac must have had a light because a small light flitted around under the oil rig.

  “Ok I have a plan but it might have to wait till later on tonight,” Chris mumbled.

  “Let’s get inside and have a chat,” I said head back inside.

  Mike and Chris followed me into the kitchen. I sat down after pulling a breakfast bar from my rucksack. It was the first time since stepping on the lifeboat that I felt like I could eat something.

  Mike went for some coffee and Chris sat down opposite me.

  “Spill,” I said.

  “Ok we have the problem with the zodiac, but I think we might have a way to take care of that.” He said as Mike placed a mug in the table in front of him.

  “Go on!” Mike said sitting down at the table.

  Chris sipped at the coffee and then lowered it saying “We need to come up on the zodiac quietly so here’s what we do. Mike, you pilot the lifeboat toward the oil rig and when we have enough momentum cut the engines. We’ll float straight in between the legs. Marc and I will be at the bow with the rifles and before you say anything. I have brought some suppressors just in case. We’ll take out the patrol boat hopefully without making too much noise. Then it’s time to plant the charges get the fuck out of here. When we are a safe distance I’ll detonate and bye, bye fuckers.”

  I had to admit it was going to be the only way to get it done.

  “What happens if they raise the alarm before you take them out?” Mike asked.

  “The
n we still take them out, plant the charges and hope that when we are trying to get away they don’t have a fucking RPG!” Chris replied.

  I nodded and said “Sounds good.”

  Mike just nodded, I could tell he was nervous, but this might be our only chance to take them out.

  “Ok, we get ready and go at about three in the morning,” Chris said standing up.

  Mike looked up at him with a puzzled expression “Why three? Why not now?”

  I answered “Three is supposed to be the best time to do a night attack because the body is at what’s called the low ebb. Don’t ask me why it just is.”

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chris left to get the suppressors and attach them to the rifles. I sat eating the breakfast bar and actually had myself two cups of coffee. With the food and warm drink in my stomach, I felt better. Mike went up the cabin and started to do some checks. Time dragged on. At ten, I headed for the bunk room after asking Chris to wake me near to go time. I knew that if I didn’t get some sleep before we attacked, every one of my shots would miss their mark.

  No sooner had my eyes closed than I was getting shook awake. Chris loomed over me with a dopey grin plastered on his face.

  “It’s two o’clock sleeping beauty.” His voice rumbled.

  I sat up and whacked my head on the bunk above me. Of course, he started to fucking laugh which didn’t improve my mood.

  “Now you know how I felt.” He said between heaving laughs.

  Despite the ringing of my head, I smiled into the darkness of the room.

  “Ok brother let’s get these fucker’s,” He said holding his hand out to help me up.

  I grasped his rough hand and he pulled me to my feet. “Yeah let’s go and light these fuckers up, brother.”

  Heading through the kitchen we grabbed the two silenced rifles. Mike already had the engines started and as we exited the cabin onto the deck, he started to move toward the oil rig. Chris and I took opposite sides of the bow and lay with our rifles pointed forward. I could see the oil rig slowly loom up in front of us. Mike cut the engines and the lifeboat slowly drifted toward it. Then we heard the engine of the zodiac out in the darkness. I saw it first the light coming round one of the large legs. I trained my rifle just in front of the light. Chris and I had decided that I would try for the guard with the light and he would go for the pilot.