Leaning in through the driver’s window, Chris said “Get going, Marc, and I will catch up.”
David nodded and started the engine. Chris and I stood back as the Land Rover pulled out of the car park.
“Where the fuck did that big bastard come from?” Chris said as we walked over to the ATV’s.
Shrugging my shoulders, I said “What concerns me more was the way they attacked.”
Chris nodded his head as he stepped on to the ATV.
“It did seem a little co-ordinated, didn’t it?”
“More than little.”
“Do you think Mike is going to be ok?”
I sat on the ATV and looked over at the dead giant and said “I don’t know. He’s breathing which is good, but has he been infected. That’s what worries me.”
We started up the ATV’s and started to pull out of the car park when Chris stopped suddenly. I pulled up beside him.
“What’s up?”
He looked at me with a grave look in his eyes “What if he is infected? What would I tell Tessa?”
“Look, we don’t know if he is infected. Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it.” I replied.
Nodding, he turned back to look at the road and pulled away. I followed behind him. My thoughts were jumping all over the place. Mike was a good friend and I loved Tessa like a little sister and Chris like a brother. If Mike ended up being infected, it would tear them all to pieces. Then there was the new running man flavor of infected to deal with. I had no doubt that Benton had been messing around with the virus again. We now had infected, giant infected and running man infected to deal with. What was next, flying infected?
We carried on along the country lanes leading from the lifeboat station. After an hour of hard riding we finally caught up to the Land Rover. David had pulled over in a lay-by, and as we pulled in we could see Amy moving around in the rear. David was standing in the lane with his rifle.
“What’s up?” I asked, pulling alongside him.
“Amy thinks Mike might be infected.” He said, shaking his head.
I jumped off the ATV and ran over to the Land Rover and pulled open the rear door.
“What the fuck is this about Mike being infected?” I nearly shouted.
Amy turned her bruised face toward me and said “Not that kind of infected. At least I hope not.”
Chris appeared at my shoulder and said “Explain.”
“We’ve all seen how the infection spreads. But what’s going on with Mike doesn’t look like it.” Amy said, sitting back on her haunches.
“So what do we do?” I asked.
Amy’s eyes flared “What the fuck? Do I look like a Doctor to you? I haven’t got a fucking clue what to do.”
I stepped back and walked away. What the fuck? I only asked her a question and she went all postal on me. We were all worried about Mike and she blows off at me.
I went and sat on the ATV and watched the grey clouds slide by. The green fields spread out, and from where we were parked it looked like a giant green patchwork quilt. I heard footsteps and turned to see David standing at the rear of the ATV.
“Do you think he’s infected?” He asked with worry etched on his face.
“To be honest, I’m not sure.”
“Is it safe for us to be taking him back to the Bunker?”
“Again, I’m not sure.”
“Come on, Marc, I’m just asking!” He said, sounding deflated.
I sighed and said “I know, mate. It’s just that I don’t know what to do for the best anymore.”
He looked puzzled and asked “What do you mean?”
“I think things are only going to get harder and harder for us all. Even if Mike is ok. Yeah, I know that I say Benton is the fountain of all evil, but you lot may be right. If we hunker down and keep to ourselves, then maybe they won’t find us, and if they do, we can always fight them.”
He cocked his head and looked at me.
“I just sick of running from one problem into another.” I said.
“Half of us wouldn’t be here if you didn’t do that, though.”
“That might be, but it’s because of me that all this happened and now Mike is lying in the back of the Land Rover and he could be infected.”
Chris walked over and stood at the other end of the ATV.
“Amy thinks we need to get him back to the Doc and have Mike checked out. What do you think?”
I shrugged my shoulders and went back to looking at the clouds.
“Marc!” Chris said.
“What? Look, it would be better if you make the decisions. Every time I make them something either goes wrong or someone dies.” I said turning to look into his face.
“Eh?” both he and David said at the same time.
“Just decided amongst yourselves. Just treat me like I am along for the ride. Or better yet, like I am a private in the Army.”
“What’s got into to you?” Chris asked.
“Look, just do what you want.” I said and started the ATV.
Chris jumped out the way as I pulled out of the lay-by and stopped further down the lane. I could see David and Chris talking. There were some gestures towards me. David headed back to the Land Rover and climbed back into the driver’s seat. I saw Chris climb onto his ATV and few seconds later the sound of the two engines starting up reached me. I started the ATV and sat waiting for them. I fell in behind them as they drove past. David in front with Chris and I behind him. We managed to get three quarters of the way back to the Bunker as the light slowly started to fade.
David pulled in at a secluded petrol station and turned off his engine. Chris and I pulled in and I looked at the small building just off the forecourt.
“It’s going to be dark soon.” He said, leaning out of the Land Rover window.
“Ok, we’ll check out the store. It might be an idea if you, Amy and Mike stay in the Land Rover. Marc and I will crash in the shop.” Chris said, turning off the ATV.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we all slept in the shop?” David asked.
“Look, if anything happens, I want you Amy and Mike to be able to get out of here quickly and we won’t be able to do that if we are all stuck inside there.” Chris said.
I climbed off my ATV, lifting my rifle I headed for the small shop. I stood waiting for Chris. Looking in through the dirty windows I could see things thrown onto the floor and a few of the shelving units had been tipped over. That could mean one of two things, this place had been looted or there were infected inside.
Chris stood on the other side of the doors and said “You ready?”
I just nodded.
Chapter Eighteen
Pushing open the door with my foot I slowly eased inside. Chris followed behind me. The smell hit us first, rotten food and meat seemed to come from every corner of the small building. Chris pointed to the right and then at me and the left. I nodded and headed off toward where the checkout was. Sliding around each corner I made it to the front and looked over the checkout. In one corner there was the half eaten remains of someone. Their ribcage had been torn into and all the soft flesh had been stripped from the bones. His or her face had been stripped clean and the eyes had been plucked out leaving a ragged torn skull staring up at me.
Turning to shout a warning to Chris, there was a bang and then the grunt of something hitting the floor. I ran down the aisles checking each as I went. Chris was bent over looking at an infected woman. The grey skin covering her face was pulled tight against her skull, and the more I looked, the more I noticed that she looked like a skeleton with a grey wrapping of skin. How the hell something like that could move was beyond me. Chris had caught her just above her right eye and the black and green soup that had been her brain was slowly making a halo round her skull.
“She nearly had me.” Chris said, standing back upright.
“You ok?”
“Yeah, just scared the shit out of me. Never seen an infected that looked like her. Thought it was the
grim reaper at first.” He said with a short laugh.
I looked down at her and said “That would be one fucked up grim reaper.”
We split up and checked the rest of the store and found nothing more. Pulling the dead infected outside, we dumped her around the side of the building and then moved the half eaten corpse out there as well. Using some air freshener, we managed to make the place smell a little better. Chris grabbed our rucksacks from the Land Rover and came back inside with two extra guests. Spirit and the pup must have wanted out of the Land Rover. They started sniffing as soon as they were through the doors and headed off for a look around the small store.
We opened some MRE’s and ate them cold. I gave some of mine to Spirit and the pup then spread out my sleeping bag. We had decided to take shifts on guard duty. Chris would take the first four hours and I would take the second. I crawled inside my sleeping bag and the two dogs lay on either side of me. I was soon asleep and dreaming of a time before the infected.
Chris woke me after four hours. Stretching, I pulled my boots back on and watched as Chris got settled. Spirit and the pup moved to lay down beside him. It wasn’t long before he was snoring. I laughed softly when Spirit and the pup moved away from the large snoring sleeping bag. They both lay down cuddled up on my sleeping bag. The night passed slowly and I even went out to look in the Land Rover a couple of times to make sure the others were ok.
Light slowly came back into the world and I let Spirit and the pup out of the shop so that they could do their business. When the sun was just above the horizon I woke Chris up and then woke the others and was surprised to see Mike awake and looking around.
Opening the rear doors to the Land Rover I asked “Morning, sleepyhead, are you ok?”
Bleary eyed, he turned to look at me and blinked a few times before saying “Marc….Sorry, mate…..I feel like shit.”
“Amy said you have caught an infection somehow.”
His face dropped and he looked panicked “I’m infected?”
I laughed softly “No, that you have an infection, not that you are infected.” at least I hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Thank fuck for that!” He said, slumping back.
I saw David and Amy stirring in the front.
“Morning, you two. Guess who decided to grace us with his presence.” I said.
They both turned and I saw the looks of relief on their faces as they saw Mike looking at them. The door to the shop opened and Chris walked out stretching his arms above his head.
“Mike’s awake.” I called out.
Chris smiled and jogged over to the Land Rover.
“You gave us quite a scare.” Chris said, smiling at Mike.
Mike let out a small laugh “I gave you quite a scare? I nearly shit myself when I saw how big that infected was.”
“Yeah, we heard how scared you were.” David said from the front of the Land Rover.
Mike looked over at him with a puzzled expression.
“You scream like a girl.” David said, laughing.
Amy punched David in the shoulder and said “He did not scream like a girl. It was more like a baby wanting a bottle.”
Mike slumped further down and said “Fuck off!”
“Honestly, mate, it’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?” Chris said, smiling at Mike.
“Not great, my head is pounding and I feel like I have a furnace in my chest and I am finding it hard to straighten out my thoughts.” Mike replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Ok! When we get back I’ll get the Doc to check you over.” Chris said, smiling.
We sat near the Land Rover and had a cold breakfast. When I had finished, I walked to the edge of the car park looking for Spirit and the pup. Nothing stirred in the long grass and I was starting to get slightly worried.
Walking back to the Land Rover “Has anyone seen Spirit or the pup?”
Everyone shook their heads and looked toward the long grass. We sat waiting for an hour before anyone said anything.
“Look, we are going to have to move if we want to get back to the Bunker today.” Amy said.
I shook my head “Look, why don’t you lot go on ahead and I’ll wait here and catch up when they come back.”
Chris looked at me “How the hell are you going to carry the two dogs on the ATV?”
“I just thought Spirit could run alongside and I would carry the pup somehow.”
David leaned out of the driver’s window and said “There is no way we are leaving you here after all the effort we put into finding you.”
Chapter Nineteen
I was about to tell them to fuck off because there was no way I was leaving that dog behind. When the pup limped out of the long grass and fell on to his side, I ran across to where he was lying and I could see blood on his chest. Chris arrived beside me and looked him over.
“He’s been shot. Look there!” He said, pointing at a small round entry wound.
“That can’t be a gunshot wound!” I said looking at the hole.
Chris shook his head and said “It’s not a gunshot wound, it’s an air rifle wound. The pellet is probably still in there.”
Looking back to the Land Rover, I shouted out for David. He climbed out and ran over. I stood up and looked out the way the pup had come and saw a ragged path that he must have caused in the long grass.
“Spirit!” I called.
There was no movement in the grass. My heart was pounding and I was starting to see red. If anything had happened to her, I would kill whoever it was that had harmed her.
David’s voice made me look down “I think he’ll be ok. The pellet is near the top and I should be able to pull it out.”
“Good.” I said, turning and walking back toward the shop.
“What you doing, Marc?” Chris called.
I kept on walking but called out “I’m going to find my dog.”
Grabbing my rifle and a couple of extra mags I checked it and my pistol before leaving the shop. David had moved the pup over to the Land Rover and had the rear door open and was leaning over the dog. I could hear the whimpers of pain coming from the open door. Chris was standing at the edge of the grass.
“Mate, I hate to sound heartless, but it’s only a dog.” He said, as I got closer.
“Fuck you, Chris. That dog is one of the best things to happen to me since all this started and I am not going to lose her as well.” I shouted and barged past him and into the grass.
Following the trail wasn’t too hard. I either followed the crushed grass that the pup had stood on or the traces of fresh blood. I lost sight of the petrol station and kept walking. After what seemed to be half an hour, I saw a row of six houses. The grass trail took me between two of them and then stopped at the road that the houses were on. I walked slowly up the street and saw two small pools of blood on the road. Lifting my rifle, I looked around the six houses were all in different states. Two had all their windows smashed and two had no doors but the last two in the row looked habitable.
Starting to walk down the road I felt like I had been punched in my tactical vest. It felt like I had been knocked back a couple of steps. I looked down to see a small ragged hole in my vest. I realised that I was being shot at by the same air rifle that had shot the pup. I knew that they had very little chance of getting through my vest with an air rifle, but a lucky shot to my head and I could be in real trouble. Turning, I ran toward the nearest house. At the side I hugged the wall and listened for any footsteps or sign that I was being followed. The street was silent again and all I could hear was my breathing. Looking down the side of the building I could only see the bins left by the previous owners and the garden at the rear. I started side step toward the rear of the property when a figure stepped out.
“Marc?” The figure whispered.
“Chris, you dumb fuck, I could have shot you.” I shot back.
He moved up the side of the house and stood beside me.
“I followed your trail here and
was about to shout to you in the street when you ran here. I thought it might be an idea to get out of the street and find my way to you.”
I nodded and pointed to my vest “Was shot with an air rifle.”
Chris looked at the small hole in my vest and chuckled.
“An air rifle wouldn’t get through your vest. So why run here like your life depended on it?”
“Ok, so it might not get through the vest, but if they manage to get a lucky shot off and it caught me in the eye or neck. Well, let’s just say that I might be in a lot of trouble.”
“Hmmm… you might be right.”
I went back to the corner of the house and crouched down near the ground and quickly looked out into the street. Nothing seemed any different than before. I looked at the last two houses and I could see that the nearest had one of the upstairs windows open. The room was dark and I couldn’t see anything or anyone inside, but my best guess would have been that the shooter was in that room.
Ducking back, I looked at Chris “It looks like the shooter is in the nearest house. There is a window open upstairs.”
“Ok, so what do you want to do?”
“The best thing would be to cause a distraction whilst one of us circles around and the other comes at it from the other way.”
“Sounds like a plan. I call dibs on the assault.” He said, grinning.
“Fucker!” Was all I could say.
“Give me ten minutes to circle around and then do your distraction.” He said heading off down the side of the house.
“Twat!” I whispered and watched as he raised his hand and flashed his middle finger.
Chris disappeared around the corner and I stood waiting. After what I thought was ten minutes I ran out across the street and fired two shots at the window. Both of which shattered the glass. I dove into the long grass on the other side of the road and laid flat on my stomach. After a few seconds I heard five or six shots come from the direction of the house. Jumping up, I ran up the street to the house.
Chris stepped out on to the porch “Marc, you don’t really want to go in there.”
Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) Page 9