The following day we set off just as the sky had started to lighten. The infected had moved on during the night and all that was left when we looked out the window was a few bodies lying round the A.P.C. Leaving the town was just as easy as our entry the night before. Following the southerly direction that we had taken after leaving Caterrick the day before. There were small pockets of infected along the roads, but they never interfered with our travel. We crested a hill that over looked the City of York and my jaw dropped, in the valley below the historical city was covered in smoke and flames. It had stood for centuries before the outbreak and was now nothing more than charred timbers and burnt out buildings. All that history was gone, and it looked as if the fire was still going well. I remember visiting the city once when I was a child and remembered marvelling at the way you could have reached out from one building and held hands with the person across the street. I supposed that was how the fire had caused so much damage. If you could reach out and hold hands with the person across the street, then the flames of a fire could just as easily jump the same gap. We must have sat there watching the flames flicker through smoke for ten minutes, before Chris pulled the A.P.C on to the ring road round the outskirts of the city.
Chapter Twenty One
The road was had more abandoned cars and vehicles on it than I has seen since the infection had gotten out. Weaving in and out of the vehicles was slow going and it was the first time that I had the chance to look inside some of them. The one that stood out the most was a Ford MPV, now anyone that knew me in the past would have said ‘He doesn’t know shit about makes of car.’ and to tell you the truth it was still the same. Anyway, as we passed it by Chris had to slow to a crawl because he was using the A.P.C to push a truck out of our way. I glance down into the rear of the car and saw some movement and I was about to tell Chris to stop because I instantly thought we had a survivor in there. As I looked closer I could see that the movement was coming from a baby in a car seat, its body was mottled a yellow colour and I could see that it had suffered a horrible death. One of the infected must have gotten in, or someone in the car had turned. The outcome was that they had ripped open the poor child’s stomach and eaten away till they had come to its spine. Instead of the child dying it must have turned near the end, because it thrashed in the car seat trying to get out. Turning away from the side window I looked at the instruments as a way to try and get rid of the horrible image.
“We are going to need some fuel soon.” I said in a quiet voice.
“What’s that Marc?” Chris said not looking at me.
“I said we are going to need some fuel soon. The gauge is saying we have just under a quarter of a tank.” I said raising my voice.
Jay stuck his head in between the seats and said “There’s a service station in about four or five miles, we could try and fill up there.” He said pointing to a roadway sign.
“Sounds like a plan.” Chris said gunning the engine to give the truck one last push out of the way.
Taking a further hour and a half we pulled up in the forecourt of a service station. Chris climbed through to the back and checked his rifle and pulled on his webbing. Jay was stood by the rear doors already suited up, with his hand on the handle. I stumbled into the rear and pulled on my webbing and slung the rifle from my shoulder. Chris had moved to one of the lockers above the seats and was looking around inside. With a grunt he lifted what looked like a hose and small pump from it.
“Ok, we don’t know if there are any infected out there or anyone else for that matter. So this is what I would like us to do, Jay and I well try and find some way to get at the fuel in the tanks. Marc can you stay with the A.P.C and supply covering fire if we need it. It might be best if you use the roof opening that way you have a height advantage and you can drop back inside if you need to. Is that ok with you?” Chris said looking at both myself and Jay.
“I can’t see it being a problem. The only thing that I want to ask is, make sure you’re on the ball Marc.” Jay said.
“Don’t worry I think I can try and keep you alive, especially after out little heart to heart.” I said with a smile tugging at my lips.
Smiling Jay opened the door and jumped out in to the daylight outside. As his feet hit the ground his rifle came up and he started scanning the area, Chris followed quickly and just as quietly and closed the door behind him. I stood on the benches and opened the hole in the roof and then pulled myself on top. From where I stood, I could see all of the service station and the few buildings. Lifting the scope to my eye I watched the area nearest the buildings then moved on to the rest. As my view fell on the pumps, I saw Chris and Jay heading toward the small petrol station office. They had a short conversation and then moved inside. With them out of my line of sight I let the rifle drop on to its sling and kept an eye out from my vantage point.
After a while I started to day dream and ended up sitting cross legged on the roof of the A.P.C. A loud boom and what sounded like someone throwing a handful of small rocks at the A.P.C, pulled me out of my stupor. I dropped fully flat on the roof and lifted the rifle up and looked about for where I was being attacked from.
“Marc you ok?” Chris shouted from the petrol station office.
“Yeah, I think there’s a dickhead out here with a shotgun somewhere.” I shouted back and just as I did there was another boom, but this time the petrol station office window spider webbed from the impact of the shot.
I saw that the shot had come from in between a couple of buildings nearby. Lifting the scope to my eye, I saw two men in what you would call typical bikers gear. You know what I mean, leather biker jackets with patches and jeans. Both had heavy beards, but that was where the similarities ended. The one holding the shotgun was a good six feet tall and had a huge beer belly, his black hair hung greasy from his head and the beard nearly hid the rest of his face. The other held what looked like a small pistol but I didn’t know what make. He was a skinny little shit, again the greasy hair but this time it was a dirty blonde and his beard was a ginger red.
“Hey Chris, there’s a couple of bikers out here.” I shouted.
“Keep your eyes peeled mate because those fuckers never run in ones or twos.” Came the reply.
I watched the bikers having a hurried conversation and the skinny one turned and ran back down the alley between the buildings. After a short while I saw more movement over by the alley. They skinny kid was back and they were again having a conversation.
“You in the petrol station, we want your vehicle.” Came a rough voice.
“Like that’s going to happen.” Chris shouted back.
“If you leave it, we promise to let you go.” The voice said.
I was scanning with my rifle when I saw the glint of something on top of the building directly opposite the petrol station office. Turning my scope on to the roof I saw a man holding what looked like a hunting rifle, he was pointing it at the doors.
“Hey, Chris what would you say if I knew they had a rifle on the doors?” I shouted.
“I’d say they were a lying bunch of shits and to drop the bastard.” Came his reply.
Raising myself up on to my elbows, I placed the scope on the snipers centre mass. Flicked off the safety and pulled the trigger sending three shots into his stomach and chest. His body flopped about as each shot hit and then he seemed to take a header off the roof to the pavement below. Quickly I moved round to cover the bikers in the alley and sure enough there was a boom followed by the short bark of the pistol. Dropping flat against the roof of the A.P.C, I looked through the scope and saw that the two bikers had fled down the alley and out of sight.
“Marc, did you get him.” Jay shouted.
“Yeah, he took a header of the top of the building. The other two have done a runner I think.” I replied.
After a few seconds Jay came running out of the petrol station carrying a large can. He opened the back door and jump in slamming it behind him.
“You might want to come down from
there.” He said.
“What about Chris?”
“He’s gone for a little spot of fresh air.”
What the fuck did that mean? I edged my way back to the opening in the top of the A.P.C and dropped inside feet first. As soon as my feet hit the floor of the cabin, Jay reached up over me and slammed the opening closed.
“So where the fuck has he gone really?” I asked brushing of my clothes.
Jay grinned and said “Well, let’s put it this way. He didn’t think that the ones that you could see were the only ones out there especially after you spotted the sniper. So he’s gone to say hello and that we would appreciate it if they would kindly fuck off.”
“He’s going to need us.” I said grabbing my rifle and heading for the back door.
“Mate, if he thought he was going to need us he would have asked. Don’t worry he’s took on worse. Just sit down and have something to drink.”
I looked at him like he had a second head, but given the fact that he was happy about it then who was I to get upset over it. Sitting down I stripped and cleaned my rifle with the help of Jay, then replaced the round that I had fired. We sat and watched as the sun marched on further in the sky.
Chapter Twenty Two
It was nearly three hours later when we heard a light knock on the back door to the A.P.C.
“Open the fucking door guys it’s me.” Chris said.
I turned the handle and pushed the door open and there was Chris holding the skinny blonde kid by the scruff of his neck. I stepped back as Chris threw the lad inside and climbed in closing the door behind him.
“Guys say hello to shit bag, shit bag say hello to the guys.” Chris said giving the kid a non to gentle kick in the ribs.
“This little waste of space and his mates have been doing some very naughty things.” He said “I managed to get the other fucker, but thought a little information would be nice. Apparently they had seen us go past their little camp earlier today and their boss sent this one and the other two, to see who we were and where we were heading. When they saw it was just the three of us the sniper thought it might hold them in good stead if they could hijack us. If it was up to me I’d kill the little fucker but I want to know where they are based.”
“Why? Why do you want to know that?” I asked.
“Because I am going to go back there and kill the fucking lot of them.” Chris said with an edge to his eyes.
Now I am not one to stand on a high moral platform and these bikers definitely needed taking care of, but there was only the three of us and god knows how many of them.
Before I could even say a word Jay said “Fuck it I’m in.”
“Seeing as you drive Chris I’ll come along and watch the A.P.C.” I said.
“Marc I saw the shot you pulled on the sniper and I think you’ll end up doing more than just watching the vehicle.” Jay said smiling.
“Ok, with that taken care of let’s get this little pile of shit to tell us where they are camped.” Chris said.
Picking the kid up by his shoulders Chris dumped him on one of the benches and bent down so he was eye level.
“Ok shit bag where are you camped out and how many are you?” Chris asked in a quiet voice.
Our little guest lifted his face and said “Fuck you fat boy.”
“Now, now do you talk to your mother with that mouth?” Chris said giving him a backhanded slap that rocked his head back and off the side of the vehicle. A small spray of blood flew out of his mouth and Jay danced back out of the way of it.
“Now that we know each other. I’ll ask you again, where is your camp?”
With blood running from the side of his mouth he said “Fuck off.”
Chris’ hand was like a snake strike and the lads head lolled forward. This time blood welled from a cut above his slowly swelling right eye.
“I can’t they’ll kill me if I say anything.” He nearly screamed.
Chris just lifted his head with his hand and said “That’s a given mate. All that should bother you between now and then is the amount of pain you have to go through before it happens.”
The young man’s head snapped up with that and said “But you said you’d let me go if I told you what you wanted.” I could see the panic behind his eyes and he was looking from Jay to me and then back at Chris.
“I don’t think I did. Did I say I would let this shit bag go if he told us what we wanted, Jay?” Chris asked looking up at Jay.
“Nope you never said anything about letting him go.” Jay said with a smile at the corner of his lips.”
“But, but….” the lad cried.
“I might be swayed if you tell me everything about your little band of fuckwits.” Chris said.
A glimmer of hope crawled its way into his eyes and for the next twenty minutes he told us about how their leader, called Smoke had seen what was happening and pulled their little band of outlaws together. They had taken over a small factory unit about two miles from here and they had taken to highway robbery. That wasn’t the best of it though, if the group they jumped had females they would try to take the women alive for what he called shits and giggles. All the men they came across were killed and that also included any children. With that little revelation I wanted to gut the little shit there and then. There was only fifteen in their group, but with us killing two of them and had this little bag of filth, there was only twelve left at their camp. They had two on guard duty at all times, but they all drank when not on any kind of duty. The women were kept in a shed outside and used whenever a member of the gang felt the need.
After he had finished the light outside had started to fade. Chris motioned for us to step up to the front of the cabin and said “If we do this right we could save those women and make this area safe for others.”
Jay looked at the lad sat on the bench and said “If they’re anything like him it should be easy.”
Chris looked at me and said “Well Marc what do you want to do now that you’ve heard what he has to say?”
I looked at my hands and found that I had them clenched into fists, looking up I said “If anything I want to kill them all. They have been killing kids, fucking killing kids, bastards like that don’t deserve to live no matter how the world has changed.”
Chris just nodded and clapped me on the shoulder and turned to our captive.
“Ok little man, have you told us everything? If I find out you have been lying…” Chris said.
“Look I’ve told you everything, please I don’t want to die.” Shit bag said.
Chris’ grinned at him and I hope that he never grins at me in the same way, because I nearly shit myself. He walked up and pulled shit bag to his feet and pushed him toward the back door of the A.P.C. Opening the door he gave shit bag a huge push that sent him sprawling on the ground. Before he had a chance to get his hands under him, Chris was sat on his back and had his arms pinned beneath his legs looking at his feet which I thought was funny.
“Now I said, I could be persuaded into letting you go if your information was good enough and…” Chris pulled a combat knife from his boot “it has been. But here’s the kicker I can’t really let you go and tell your friends about us.”
Chris grabbed one leg and pulled it up so that shit bags foot was level with his head. With a practiced swipe of the blade, Chris severed his tendon behind shit bags ankle and moved quickly to the other and did the same. The howling that came out of shit bag made my stomach clench and eyes water. Chris climbed to his feet and put the combat knife back in his boot and climbed back inside the A.P.C. I could see shit bag crawling away using his hands on the tarmac groaning and crying every time he tried to use his ruined feet. Closing the door drowned out some of it but we could still here those cries from the next few hours.
Darkness had fell by then and we settled I down for the night, we had agreed that we would talk about the rescue/elimination mission in the day light and then move to where shit bag had mentioned the bikers’ camp was before going i
n during the night. Sometime during the night I heard a scream come from outside and I pictured shit bag still trying to move on his hands and knees in the dark. I never heard anything else after that one scream and fell back asleep.
Chapter Twenty Three
Daylight came and streamed in through the windshield and woke us up. Stretching I decided to head outside for some fresh air. We hadn’t seen any of the infected in two days, but I couldn’t chance opening the door and finding one stood there. Looking in the side mirrors and out the front I saw no activity and decided it was safe enough. Opening the rear door I climbed down and took a few deep breaths whilst looking round the car park. I noticed a couple of bodies a short distance away and I couldn’t remember if they had been there the day before or not. Reaching inside I grabbed my rifle and slung it over my shoulder.
“What’s up Marc?” Jay asked rubbing his eyes.
“Probably nothing but I want to check something out, I’ll be right back.” I said setting off toward the two bodies.
The first seemed to be lying on her back looking at the sky, and I could tell that she was an infected. She had been wearing some dark almost black trousers and a cream blouse of some sort that had been ripped apart. I could see one mottled breast behind the left hand side of the shredded blouse, but the other side had been devoured and the blood had soaked that side of the blouse to a dark reddish brown. She might have been what you classed as pretty before, but now she looked like all the other infected, with the green slime running from her eyes and ears. What surprised me was that she had finally been killed by something that had managed to rip her throat out, to the point of nearly severing her head from her body. All that was left was a small amount of tissue.
Pet From Hell (Infected Series Book 1) Page 9