“You’re not going out there dressed in your underwear, are you?” She said.
“Why not? It’s not like he wouldn’t have heard us.” I said, pushing open the door and leaving her standing in her bra and panties with a bright red face.
I saw Chris lying on his bed with his eyes closed and slowly padded to the bed I had chosen.
“I heard you two making up.” He said without opening his eyes.
“Erm… yeah, we did.” I said feeling, my face getting warm.
This was worse than getting caught whacking one off by your mother. Nah, change that to getting caught by your older brother. Because you just knew the fucker was going to use it whenever he could to blackmail you.
“Good. At least now we can get on and find these Benton arseholes without me worrying about Amy shooting you in the back or worse.” He said, grinning.
I dumped my gear on the bed and turned shocked to look at him and said “You’re not going to drag me back to the bunker?”
He shook his head and said “Nah! We were going to do that but then Jake of all people said that these wankers wouldn’t give up until either all of us were infected or dead. So it was decided a small team might be able to find them and put their boat out of action.”
I sat down on the bed with probably the second shocked look on my face today.
“David and Mike are scouting out a boat for us and Jake is trying to find Benton’s ship on the radio. He said there might be something on the side channels. We are supposed to check in each night so that we know how everyone is doing.” He said, sitting up.
I nodded and started to pull my gear on when the door the toilets opened and Amy walked in wearing the leather biker trousers and a black t-shirt. Everything else she carried in her hands.
“Right. Now that the toilet is free.” Chris said standing up and walking past Amy.
She blushed as he walked past. He laughed at her blushing and patted her on the shoulder. He pushed open the door to the toilet and stepped out of view. Amy walked over to the bed opposite mine and sat on the edge. I watched as she pulled a large black holdall out from underneath the bed.
“Are we ok?” I asked.
“Let’s put it this way, sex is not always the answer, but it is a start.” She said pulling some black cargo pants and a white t-shirt out of the holdall.
Chapter Eight
Spirit came in and went to sit beside Amy’s bed. The bloody dog was giving me the cold shoulder as well. This day seemed to be getting better by the minute. Standing up, I headed back to where we had parked the ATV’s and looked out through the windows in the large doors. Outside looked quiet. But having a closer look I could see movement inside the houses. At first I thought it was survivors but it wasn’t. A door banged open and two infected came lurching out into the street. The echo of the door crashing open was like a starting pistol.
Suddenly there were infected streaming from houses and alleyways. God only knew how we had gotten into the fire station without this lot going nuts. I watched as they all converged into one large group and then moved off down the street away from the fire station. I started to think about Matthew and how I had left his body in that pub. Turning around, I saw Amy leaning against the wall watching me.
“Penny for your thoughts.” She said.
I shrugged my shoulders and looked back out the window. I nearly jumped out of my skin when she placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Come on, Marc, something is on your mind. What is it?” She asked, turning me around gently.
I looked down and said “Matthew.”
“Who’s Matthew?” She asked.
“The lad I left in the pub.” I said, feeling the tears welling up behind my eyes.
Amy pulled me in to a hug and the tears started to flow. The weight of having to shoot him was heavy on my chest. Having Amy here and Chris had brought home to me how much I needed people around me to share things like that. Amy didn’t say anything and just held me until the tears had run their course. I stood wiping my eyes and nose with my sleeve when Chris came walking in.
“Sorry to interrupt your women’s meeting, but we need to call in.” He said.
“Erm, Chris?” I said, walking over.
“Yeah, Marc?”
“Fuck you, Chris!” I said walking past him.
I could hear him saying to Amy behind me “I missed this shit.” I smiled and kept walking because I had missed our banter, too. We sat down on the beds and Chris pulled out the radio and turned it on.
“Bunker, come in Bunker. This is Search calling.” Chris said.
“Seriously you called your team Search?” I said.
“Oh and you would have thought of something better?” He replied, smiling.
“Anything would have been better than Search.” I answered, smiling as well.
This might have gone on for a bit longer when the speaker on the radio squawked.
“This is bunker, come in, Search. Have you managed to find Wayward Child? Over.” Jakes old voice came out of the small speaker.
“Oh fucking come on!” I said, feeling a little pissed off.
“Marc, it’s just a code.” Amy said placing a hand on my arm.
I shut up.
“Search to Bunker. We have found Wayward Child and he is safe. I repeat, he is safe and sound. Well, maybe not sound but he is safe.” Chris said, grinning.
I made a grab for the radio then but he held it away from me and kept me at bay with the other arm. I swear he could keep a tank in place with just one arm.
“Marc, sit down.” Amy said, sounding a little like a mother angry with her child.
I slumped down next to her and Chris leaned back with the radio.
“That’s great news. I’ll let everyone know when we have finished up with the reports.” Jake said.
The radio squawked again and David’s steady voice came out of the speaker “That makes our news just as good then. We have managed to find a working lifeboat. It has a full tank of fuel and is ready.”
“A lifeboat?” I said.
“Yeah. Jane said that they are nearly unsinkable so we tried to figure out where one might be and they have been looking for one.” Chris answered.
“That’s great news.” Jake said.
“Where are you, David?” Asked Chris.
“A nature reserve called Spurn Point. It’s on the headway of the Humber just down from Hull. We went to a local library and found it in the yellow pages. Mike said that we would have found it on the internet quicker, but I had to remind him that there is no internet anymore.” David said, laughing.
“That’s great news. We should be able to get there tomorrow. We just need to sort out things here and we’ll head out first thing.” Chris said.
“Mike said to ask Marc if he still has Spirit.” David asked.
“Yeah! The psycho mutt is still following him around. Why?” Chris said.
Spirit lifted her head to look at him and let out a low growl.
“It’s just that we found a male Alsatian on the way here. He’s just a pup but shouldn’t be long before they are the best of friends if you know what I mean.” David replied, laughing.
“That’s good news. Everything here at the Bunker is fine. The fence is fully up and they have started the foundations on some of the external buildings. There have been a few infected come up to the fence and it held up really well.” Jake said.
Chris lifted the radio and asked “How many tried to get in?”
The radio was silent for a while before Jake’s old tones came out of the speaker “Tessa said there were sixteen spread out along a hundred meters of fence. They had them all finished off within twenty minutes.”
“How did the guards do?” Chris asked.
“They did fine. Tessa reckons they could have killed them quicker but all practice is good practice.” Jake said.
“We’re going to have to sign off at our end. The batteries are dying really quick.” David said.
&
nbsp; “No problem, David. We should be heading that way early tomorrow morning. Hopefully if the roads are clear enough we should there around midday.” Chris said.
“Look forward to seeing you all. That’s us signing off then.” David said.
There was a squelch of static from the radio’s speaker. Then Jake’s voice came out “Well, it looks like we are going to signing off as well. But it’s good news that you found Marc and he’s ok.”
“Let everyone know he’s fine and we’ll talk to you all tomorrow.” Chris said.
“This is Bunker signing off. Good night, guys.” Jake said and the radio went silent.
Chris turned off the radio and put it into his rucksack. I stood up and walked down to the toilets and stepped inside. I leaned against the wash basins and looked into the mirror. Looking back was a face that to tell you the truth I barely recognized. The beard that I had grown shadowed my face and the dark circles under my eyes stood out. I shook my head at the image facing me. How could anyone trust me to lead them? And from the radio conversation, my leaving had caused a huge problem.
The way I saw it, I had left with the reasoning that by doing that I was keeping them all safe. The door creaked and I turned to see Chris sticking his head around the door.
“You okay?” He asked.
I looked at him and answered “I suppose so.”
He opened the door further and stepped inside letting the door close slowly behind him.
He leaned his back against the door and said “I know you think that what you were doing was the best for everyone, but what we really needed was you to be there to help pull it all together. Before you go off on one, yes, you were the one that started all this, and it was a huge fucking accident, mate. What you have to also understand is that everyone back at the Bunker became lost the night you fucked off. Nearly everyone was ‘What happens now?’ and ‘Who’s going to save us?’ And shit like that. I have known you the longest and even I was fucking worried and you’re a fucking tit!” he finished grinning.
“Fuck you, too, mate!” I said with a small smile.
“I tell you one thing, if Amy and I hadn’t come looking for you, you would have had Tessa, and, mate, that is the last thing that you would have wanted. She had this long piece of fishing line and she said ‘If you don’t go bring his skinny arse back here, I will find him tie this fishing line around his balls and drag him back. Mate, when I saw her face I knew that she meant every word.”
The thought of someone tying fishing line around my balls and dragging me along like some dog had the effect of shrivelling my pride and joy and making my two best buds try to climb back inside. My face must have shown what I was thinking because Chris just nodded.
“Let’s get some sleep.” Chris said, moving away from the door and pulling it open.
I walked out following him and headed to the bed I had chosen. Amy was already lying down, and by the regular movement of her chest, I guessed that she was asleep. I sat down on the edge and pulled my boots off before lying down. Just as I was closing my eyes I felt the bed dip slightly, and opening my eyes I saw Spirit lay down across my legs. Reaching down, I gave her a gentle pat on her head. I lowered my head and closed my eyes again and this time I let the darkness behind them take me.
Chapter Nine
I woke up to the smell of hot coffee and slowly opened my eyes. I looked around and saw Chris and Amy sitting a few beds down from me with their heads together, whispering. I lay there straining my ears trying to hear what they were talking about but I couldn’t make any of it out. Sitting up, the bed creaked and Chris looked over to me.
“Morning, you two!” I called pulling on my boots.
“Fresh coffee here if you want any.” Amy said, turning around on the bed to look at me.
Standing up, I gently stomped my feet to settle my boots and walked over to them.
Amy passed a cup to me and I said “Thanks.”
Chris stood and went to look out of one of the small windows. From where I was standing, I could see a small piece of grey sky through it.
“Looks like it might rain later.” He said without turning round.
“Marc?”
I turned to look at Amy “Yeah? What’s up?” I asked.
“Are you sure that we need to do this?” She asked.
This must have been what they were whispering about as I woke up.
I sighed and took a sip of the hot, bitter coffee trying to figure out what I should say.
“Look, I know that this might just look like I am being paranoid, but if Benton ever manages to get hold of the Bunker and the people there, well, let’s just say that there wouldn’t be many left afterwards, if at all. I set out on my own to try and take them down and I stand by that thought.” I said.
“Look, we are not saying that it shouldn’t be done, just why now?” Chris said, turning away from the window to look at me.
Again I paused before answering “I don’t know! I just thought that if I could take them down now then the rest of you back at the Bunker would be more secure.”
Turning away, I walked back to my rucksack and started to pack the little amount of gear I had pulled out the night before. Spirit trotted in from the other end of the room and headed over to Amy.
“Ok!” Chris said and headed for his own gear.
“Ok?” I said looking up.
“Yeah! Look as long as you think it is worthwhile then that’s good enough for me.” He said, lifting his rucksack onto the bed and shoving a shirt in the open end.
“Amy?” I asked.
Amy stood up and headed for the toilet.
“Amy?” I asked again.
She turned around and said “Oh, for fuck’s sake, ok, let’s get going! And for the sake of argument I would have come anyway.”
I smiled as she turned her back to me and headed into the toilet to empty the coffee into the drains.
“She was all for knocking you out and dragging you back to the Bunker.” Chris said as the toilet door closed behind Amy.
I just shrugged my shoulders and lifted my rucksack off the floor and headed out of the dorm to where we had parked the ATV’s the day before. Putting down my rucksack beside the nearest ATV, I went to the doors and looked out through the small window set in the large doors. Outside looked quiet but I could see shadows moving behind the windows of the buildings opposite. I felt the wet touch of Spirit's nose on my hand and I looked down at her. It then occurred to me that we had no way to carry her on the ATV.
Looking around the room, I saw all the fireman’s duty clothes hanging on racks near the now useless fire engines. Chris came down followed by Amy and her face said it all. Rather than start an argument, I headed over to where the jackets were hanging and pulled down the largest I could find. Calling Spirit over, I measured the jacket and found that if I fastened two of them together using the clasps I could fashion a sort of carryall to hold her in.
“Chris, one of us is going to have to carry Spirit.” I said.
He looked over and then pointed to his arm saying “You’re going to have to do that. My arm is still knackered.”
To be honest, with the way that he moved I had forgot that he had fractured his arm when that infected fell off the boat.
“I’ll ride behind Chris.” Amy said, fastening a rucksack to the back of her ATV.
I looked at Chris and he just shrugged. Using a couple of bungie cords I fastened my rucksack to the small baggage area on the back of the ATV I was going to drive. We all checked to make sure our weapons where locked and loaded. Chris and Amy climbed on to their ATV and waited whilst I slowly opened the large doors enough for us to drive out.
The last couple of inches the door squeaked and grated against the metal runners. The sound echoed off the buildings around the fire station. The shadows that I had seen started to make themselves be known. Infected started to lurch from buildings moaning and groaning. Chris fired up the engine on the ATV and I ran back to mine pausing to lift Spiri
t in her carrier in front of me. With the ATV started Chris shot through the gap and out into the street which was filling up with infected faster than I thought it would. I followed him and was just clearing the doors when I heard a bang and turned slightly to look behind me. There, barrelling out of one of the buildings, were two large infected similar to the ones we had encountered on the ship. Turning the accelerator, I sped up and pulled alongside Chris and Amy. Using one hand and pointing behind us I shouted for Amy to look but the wind whipped the sound of my words away as we sped down the street.
This nearly caused me to crash into the side of their ATV. Amy’s eyes went wide at this and then turned around to look behind at what I had been pointing at. The color drained from her face and she leaned forward to say something into Chris’ ear. He nodded his head and their ATV shot forward. I risked a quick glance and saw the two large infected tossing the slower normal infected to the side like ragdolls trying to catch up. We turned a corner and they were cut from sight.
The rest of the infected city seemed to come alive with the noise from ATV’s engines. Nearly every street we turned into had infected either in it or streaming out of the houses. Then our luck changed and the sky opened and rain poured down.
The last time it had rained the infected stayed under the heavy canopy of a forest to keep from getting wet. But here they had the use of deserted houses and buildings. The streets became slick with rain and the infected all but disappeared from sight. We did run across two more packs of the large infected before we hit the outskirts of Hull, but those huge creatures didn’t seem as bothered by the rain as the small ones were. The edge of the city came into view just as the rain started to slow and then stop. By then we were in an industrial park and there didn’t seem to be any infected.
The road led out into the countryside and we travelled for another five miles before we stopped for something to eat and have a break. I let Spirit out of the homemade carrier and she shot off into the large grass at the side of the road. Chris pulled out some water and we shared a couple of MRE’s.
Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) Page 5