Suicide Run
Infected Series: Book Five
Written By
Justin Gowland
Edited By
Amy Downs
Copyright © 2015 Justin Gowland
All rights reserved.
Dedication
Dedicated to my readers that have made my writing worthwhile.
Disclaimer
All characters contained herein are fictional and all similarities to actual persons, living or dead are purely coincidental. Places and information, while some may be , have been altered for the story and should be taken as such.
Prelude
Rolling over on my bed I began to wonder why Marc had wanted to have time to himself. Since I have been with him I have never known him to turn me down being in his bed. Sitting up, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Now I was beginning to get worried. The only time in the past I have had this feeling was when I woke up back in Hornsea and Marc had tried to ditch myself and Chris.
Grabbing some jeans and a shirt, I left my room and headed down the hallway to Marc’s room. Knocking on the door, I waited for an answer but there wasn’t any noise from the other side of the door. Opening the door, I looked inside.
“Marc! You in here?” I called out.
With no answer, I stepped inside. Giving the room a quick look I noticed that his webbing and rucksack were gone. Turning round, I ran from the room and started banging on the next door up.
“CHRIS! CHRIS, OPEN THE DOOR!” I shouted.
A sleep tousled head appeared at the opening door.
“Hey, Amy. What’s up?” He said, yawning.
“It’s Marc, he’s not in his bed.” I said.
“Well, he was trying to repair the security system late last night. Maybe he feel asleep in there?” Chris said, stretching.
“Yeah, he might have.” I said, but the tight, cold feeling in my stomach was still there.
I left Chris and rushed up the corridor to the lifts and headed up to the second floor. The tightness got even worse when I saw the door to the security room because whoever had been in there last had left the door open and the keys hanging in the lock. Running inside, I could see that Marc wasn’t asleep inside. I also realised that Spirit hadn’t been in Marc’s room when I looked inside. She wasn’t in here, either. I’d left my room without any shoes or boots so my feet where cold. I stood shivering in the security room trying to wrack my brain as to where Marc and Spirit could be. Leaving the room, I grabbed the keys and slammed the door shut. Heading back down to the fourth floor I stopped at my room and grabbed a pair of socks and my boots before heading to Chris’ room.
This time I knocked a little more gently and was rewarded by Tessa looking out through the opening gap.
“Have you found him?” She asked.
“I haven’t, and whoever was last in the security room had left the door open with the keys in it. The other worrying thing is that Spirit is nowhere to be seen, either.” I said, close to tears.
“Shit.” She said.
I didn’t know what to say or do, and to tell the truth, I felt myself wavering on my feet.
Tessa turned and looked back into the room and said “Chris, get your large arse off the bed and over here.”
I could hear him mumbling as he moved around inside. The door opened further and I saw Chris pulling a shirt on over his head. I waited at the door moving my weight from foot to foot.
“I gather he’s not in the security room?” Chris said walking to the door.
That was when I told him about the keys and the fact that Spirit was missing as well. His head shot up when I said that. Tying his laces as quickly as he could he was soon at the door and we were heading back toward the lifts.
“We’ll head back to the security room and see if we can find out what happened to him last night.” Chris said.
“Did Marc show you how to use the system?” I asked.
“Bugger. He didn’t show you how to use it, did he?” Chris asked.
I shook my head, and as I did, an idea came to mind.
“I think there is someone who might be able to help us out.” I said, running off up the hallway.
I hammered on the last door in the hallway and Rosa opened it looking like she hadn’t even been to bed.
“Morning, Amy.” Rosa said with a cheery smile on her face.
“Hi, Rosa. By any chance could you come up to the security room with me?” I asked her.
“Sure, but why not ask Marc? He knows the system better than I do.” She said, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind her.
“I would have but we can’t find him. That’s why we need you. You’re the only other person in the bunker who knows how to use the security system.” I said, leading her toward the lifts.
As I pressed the button, Chris appeared pulling his webbing on with one hand. We waited for the lift to arrive. My mind was racing and I was beginning to get more and more stressed not knowing what had happened to Marc. Before he came into my life I had always thought I would be single. Then that loony boyfriend of mine blasted into my life and since then he has managed to always keep it interesting.
The lift doors opened and we all stepped inside and Chris pressed the button for the second floor. The lift seemed to take a massive amount of time before they opened again. I dragged Rosa down the hallway and into the security room.
“Find him.” I nearly screamed at her.
My nerves were raw with worry and stress. I stood watching over her shoulder as her hands flew over the keyboard and the picture on the monitor changed. Everything on the monitor seemed to zoom backward as she looked for Marc. My foot started to tap on the floor. It was something my father always said was a fault. He always knew when I was upset because one of my feet would give me away by tapping on the floor.
“There he is.” Rosa said.
Peering at the screen, I saw Marc and Spirit in the security room and I could also see Marc’s rucksack leaning against the wall. What worried me even more was the fact that it had been packed. We all watched as Rosa sped up the playback. Marc then stood up and headed for the door, picking up his rucksack as he went. Spirit trailed behind him. Rosa pressed a button and the image change to outside of the security room. She kept pressing buttons to trail Marc as he made his way through the bunker and up into the lobby. I’m sure I was close to passing out when we saw him open the bunker door and head outside. Rosa pressed one last button and we saw the image from outside. He headed to a truck, climbed inside and headed to the gate. Marc got out and opened the gate and drove through, on the other side he climbed out and closed the gate. I watched him cast a sad look back at the bunker before climbing back into the truck. The last thing we saw was the taillights of the truck as it crested the hill and disappeared from view.
“What time was this?” Chris asked in a growling tone.
Rosa keyed a button and said “Looks like it was just after 12 a.m.”
Chris lifted his large arm and looked at his watch and said “It’s 8:45 a.m. So he’s had about an eight hour head start. Fuck, he could be anywhere by now.”
I burst into tears and slumped down on to the floor. He’d just left without saying anything. Why? I sat on the floor with my head in my hands trying to figure what had made him leave.
“When I get my hands on him, he’s going to wish he were dead.” Chris said, shaking his head.
“Why did he leave?” Rosa said quietly.
“If I fucking knew that, I would have gone with him or stopped him.” I screamed.
Rosa started to cry and Chris looked with a shocked expression but didn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry, Rosa
. That was uncalled for.” I said with tears streaming down my face.
Rosa sniffed back the tears and rubbed the sleeve of her top across her eyes before saying “It’s ok. I know how much he means to you. He means a lot to everyone in the bunker.”
Now that was something that I hadn’t considered. How were the rest of the survivors going to react to the fact that Marc had just done a runner during the night?
“Chris, what are we going to do?” I asked, clearing my throat.
He looked off into the distance and said, “First thing is we don’t tell everyone. I want to get the main people together and ask them if Marc had said anything during the last few days that might give us an idea as to where he might have gone. If we do get an idea, I want to go out find him and kick his arse.”
“Well if you don’t I fucking will.” I said heading out of the room.
Chapter One
To tell you the truth, I pretty much had the same idea. I never did like driving at night, and the fact that there were infected out there and they had a habit of walking out in front of the truck. I cast a glance across the cab and saw Spirit fast asleep with her head on her front paws.
Looking back outside, the light from the moon had made driving just about doable. The last thing that I wanted to do was use my headlights. That would be just like casting a great fuck off beacon for every infected in the area.
I’d been driving for about an hour and I could feel the lack of sleep I had tug at my eyes. Leaving the bunker had been one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, but I really need to find out where Benton’s ship was. I was determined to sink the fucker and everyone who was on board. They had taken it upon themselves to create an infection that had brought the world to its knees all because they wanted power. I slowed down for a tight bend and the truck came bonnet to face with a large infected. Its head connected with the bonnet and seemed to just burst like a water balloon. Spraying black blood and green slime up the bonnet and all over the windscreen.
I slammed my foot down on the brake and the body flew six or seven feet further down the road. The smell from the rotting black blood and green slime made my stomach churn. Opening the window, I caught the smell of rotten meat on the breeze and the low moan of other infected. Using the wipers, I sprayed the cleaner onto the windscreen. The blades cleaned most of the mess from the screen so that I could see at least a dozen infected walking across the road.
Not one of them seemed to be interested in me which puzzled me. I looked in the direction that they were heading and saw a dull, flickering yellow light in the distance. I’ll be honest, I sat in the cab deciding on whether to just keep on driving. But the little voice inside my head said that I should at the very least warn whoever it was the infected were heading for.
I crunched the first gear which made me wince inside the cab. Heading down the road, I took the first turn which headed in the right direction. The road brought me toward a small farm with a stone farmhouse. It was from one of the downstairs windows that the flickering yellow light was coming from. Turning off the engine, I slipped out and into the darkness. Spirit, in her wisdom, decided to stay put inside the cab of the truck. I kept to the outer edge of the light and slowly slid along the wall of the farmhouse. Stealing a peek round the frame of the window, I saw a young boy maybe ten or eleven poking at a fire in the hearth.
I could just make out the low moans of the infected. I had roughly five or six minutes to decide on what to do. There was little doubt that I would leave him on his own. But I hadn’t enough ammo to take on the infected and do what I needed to. He would just have to come with me. Now that I had decided what to do, the next problem was getting it done before the infected arrived. Moving quickly to the door, I pushed it open and walked inside. I thought if I behaved like this was my place, the lad wouldn’t cause and trouble. Of course, if it turned out that he lived here, then I was sort of stuck.
Chapter Two
The lad span round to look toward the door. I got a better look at him in the small room. He must have been about ten and had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and was filthy from head to toe.
“Who the fuck are you?” He asked, reaching for the poker in the fireplace.
“Well, I’m not fucking Santa Claus.” I said, tapping my hand on the pistol holstered at my hip.
His eyes went wide when he saw the pistol and his hand stopped moving toward the poker.
“Sorry, mister, I didn’t think anyone lived here.” He said.
I shook my head before saying “Look, I don’t live here, either. I saw the light of the fire on the main road and so did about a dozen infected.”
“Infected?”
“You know, the ‘Zombies’.” I said.
A light sort of appeared in his eyes and he said “You mean the moaners.”
Come to think of it, the name did sort of fit.
I nodded and said “Yeah, they must have seen the light like I had and they were heading this way. Look, I know you don’t know me but they are going to be here soon. I have a truck outside. If we leave now, we can be away before they arrive.”
His eye flashed with panic and he grabbed a small backpack and stood up.
“Okay.” He said, watching me.
I headed out the doorway and he followed me across the yard to the truck. I was about to get in when I remembered something.
“Watch your feet when you get in. My dog won’t like to be stepped on.” I said, as I pulled myself behind the wheel.
The lad opened the door and came face-to-face with Spirit. She took one look and the lad and gave him a lick from his chin to his brow before moving away from the door to let the boy inside. I could hear the moaning of the infected out there in the darkness. Starting the engine, I pulled out of the yard and headed back up the track to the main road. In the rear-view mirror I could see dark patches moving across the yard toward the open doorway. We had left just at the right time. Our little journey to the main road went quickly and we both sat quietly all the time.
“What’s your name? And what were you doing out here on your own?” I asked.
“Matthew and I do better on my own than with others.” He said, looking out of the passenger window.
Now what do I do? I had never had kids, so I didn’t have a clue as what I should do with Matthew. There was the bunker. I could take him there and leave him for the others to deal with. But who was I kidding? As soon as I turned up they would figure out some way to stop me leaving again, and that was only if Amy and Chris didn’t kill me first.
Matthew’s voice broke me out of my thoughts “So what’s your name then, mister?”
“Marc, and the dog is called Spirit.” I said, smiling.
“He’s a nice looking dog.” He said, rubbing his hand in Spirit’s fur.
“She.” I replied.
“What?”
“My dog is a she not a he.”
“Really?”
Nodding my head, I watched the road and had to swerve to miss a couple of wrecked cars. These small back roads between the villages and towns had very little traffic at the best of times. I would have hated having to use the motorways. We came to the next village.
When I say village, I mean a few houses on either side of the road and a pub. I slowed down and looked at the pub. All the ground floor windows that I could see looked intact and the doors looked okay as well.
“Look, Matthew, I don’t know what you want to do, but I’m knackered. The pub looks okay and this village is too small to have too many infected, so I’m going to try to get inside and get some rest.” I said, pulling the truck into the small car park at the side.
Matthew looked out of the window and into the darkness outside. I turned the engine off and climbed out. Leaning into the back, I pulled out my rucksack and my rifle. I was about to call Spirit out of the truck when I heard a low moan come from behind me. I felt a tug at my collar, but what really sent me spinning to the floor was the flash of white fur the passed by my
face making me tumble to the floor.
Rolling on to my front, I pushed myself to my knees as I watched Spirit rip into the throat and face of an elderly infected. The thing rolled around on the floor trying to get Spirit off, but every time he moved she would leap clear and then dart back in again for another bite. I pulled myself back up using the side of the tuck and reached into the bend and pulled out a tire iron that had been in the back.
The infected was having a hard time trying to get back up because every time it tried to push up off the floor Spirit would race in and tear at its face and end up knocking it back down. I stood looking down at the thrashing creature and placed my booted foot on its chest, whilst lifting the tire iron in the air. Bringing it down like a golfing stroke, I caught in the temple and there was a sickening crack followed by another as I snapped the neck of the infected. Spirit had retreated a little and sat on her haunches watching me. Matthew had slid across the front seat and was looking out the open door at the infected and then at me.
“If it’s okay with you….can I tag along?” He said.
“You can hang around until I can get you somewhere safe. When that happens, then I am sorry to say but that will be when we part our ways.” I said, picking up my rucksack and gear.
He clambered out of the cab and jumped down. His eyes were wide and he couldn’t keep his head still. I smiled at this because I couldn’t hear any other infected.
“Come on, let’s get inside.” I said walking over the nearest door.
I tried the handle and found the door locked. We headed around the side of the building till we came to the rear of the pub. There was a small fenced off area where there were some benches and tables.
Helping Matthew over the fence wasn’t much of a problem. The problem was trying to figure out how to get Spirit over the fence without dropping her in a way that hurt her on the other side. I heard a creak and turned to see part of the fence opening and Matthew’s face peering out at me.
Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) Page 1