“No.” However the thought had occurred to Lewis. Since their last visit to the gun store his attitude had hardened somewhat. “I can’t promise anything but we’ll see what we can do.”
They followed the reluctant couple further into the building. The next area was a larger store room. To one side there was a firing range, a bathroom and a workshop, and to the other an opening led to the reception and front of house. They went ahead into a small coffee area which had a couple of closed doors to the side, a sink, some chairs and a computer at a desk. Slumped across one of the couches was a man who looked to be asleep. He was probably in his forties with a shock of ginger hair that was thinning on top and at least a fortnight’s growth of beard. Like the others his clothes were dirty but his blue ACDC T-shirt also had blood stains down the front. It did not need a close medical inspection to see the bite mark on his arm. It had a basic first aid dressing applied to it but the blood had oozed through.
Lewis approached cautiously with his Browning pointing at the man. “Is he awake?”
In answer the man’s eyes flickered open and tried to focus on the figure before him. Alžběta rushed to his side, taking his hand in hers.
“It’s okay Stu, these are soldiers. They’re from a military hospital. They’re here to help,” she sobbed as tears cascaded down her cheeks.
Lewis got down on his haunches, closer to the man’s level. It was clear that his eyes were still vaguely cognisant and he was at least trying to take the information in.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Lewis asked. “What bit you? Was it a dog or… one of the sick people?”
Alžběta went to say something but Lewis silenced her abruptly. Stuart tried to utter a reply but the words caught in his throat. He pushed himself upright and rubbed at his face in irritation and swallowed. Finally, he opened his eyes again and stared at Lewis. His voice was barely audible, just a dried up croak.
“We made it to the supermarket. We were almost done when they attacked, they just rushed at us. We didn’t have a chance. I had to leave Charles and Angie behind, there was nothing I could do. I almost made it before one of them got me. But I left him with more than just a chunk of my arm as a souvenir.” He mimed firing a pistol with his fingers and chuckled softly as his eyes closed once more. Alžběta winced at his words, silently hoping he would have had the wherewithal to lie, but that was obviously beyond him now.
Lewis turned to Singleton but she just shrugged. There was nothing they could do for him. They had seen the same with Darby and until they got to GVF they were helpless. And even then…
Lewis led Alžběta and André away from the supine man. He nodded discreetly at Straddling who took up a subtle position near Stuart, gun loaded and ready.
“You already knew that he was bitten by one of the contaminated, didn’t you?” Lewis asked.
André nodded solemnly. “I thought you’d just kill him without at least taking a look at him otherwise.”
“Hmmm,” Lewis composed his next words carefully. “You know what this means?”
The two of them looked horrified and were clearly finding it hard to accept the truth. Lewis realised that until now they had probably never actually witnessed for themselves the effects of a bite from the infected. They had probably been hoping against hope that their friend was just weak from blood loss and shock, as Lewis himself had done for Darby so very recently.
“I’m so sorry. Your friend is going to turn into one of them. It happened to one of our soldiers, I can show you what it’s like as he’s out on the lorry right now. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. There’s nothing we can do for him, apart from end it quickly.”
“No,” Alžběta yelped. “Please, he’s no danger to anyone just yet. You can see for yourself, at the moment he’s fine. He can still talk and reason. Please, can you not leave it to us, for a while anyway?”
“It’s not a good idea. He could turn at any moment and if he bites anybody else then they’re dead too.”
“You said you have a sick soldier with you,” Alžběta said. “Isn’t he a threat as well?”
“He’s securely bound and under strong sedation.”
“Well couldn’t you at least tie Stuart up for now? That way he can slowly slip away without really knowing anything is actually wrong with him. Then when he starts to become one of them you could sedate him and we could… do whatever is needed. It’d just give us a chance to say our goodbyes first. Please…”
Lewis could see the argument slipping away from him. It was back to the dilemma of weighing up a little compassion and humanity against prudence, and especially given the fact that these people had opened their dwelling up to the soldiers. He sighed. “Okay, we’ll tie him up and give him a sedative for now. But the moment he looks like he’s becoming a danger then I’m sorry, either you, or we, will have to end it. Is that a deal?”
As the evening turned into night they all started to settle down. The soldiers who were not on guard duty set up an area in the store room to rest. Sleeping quarters were devised for Vida, and for the two children with May Williams and Leading Aircraftman Allen remaining close to them. Lewis, Singleton and Straddling sat and chatted with Alžběta and André, swapping horror stories. It was cathartic for all of them to air their woes, especially for these two people who had been living with a community of just the five of them until so very recently.
Initially it had only been André, Alžběta and Stuart, but Charles and Angie had come to them a week previously. Apparently they had been hiding at the top of a block of flats nearby but had run out of food and water and were forced to venture out. It had been pure luck that they had been foraging at exactly the same time, although they had almost shot the two of them when they initially ran up to them. Bonds formed quickly these days and they were extremely distraught to have lost them both. They had had no diseased bothering them at the gun shop so far, although they had seen many on each occasion that they had braved the outside world.
“So when we leave tomorrow,” Lewis said, “can I convince you to come with us?”
“Oh I don’t think so,” André quickly replied. “It’s safer staying here.”
“But surely you’d be better off in a larger group? The labs are comfortable with decent sleeping quarters. We’ll have the opportunity to make a life and we hope we may even create some kind of cure. What have you got to look forward to here? What plans for your future can you possibly make?”
“We’ll stay in here, safe from all the crazies. Then when they finally die off we’ll come out and rebuild a society with all the other survivors. We’ve seen what it’s like out there. It’s the best way.”
Private Bruce Matthews of the Supply and Logistics Section had been slouched against the wall beside Alžběta. He leaned forwards now and patted her leg. “Don’t you think you’d feel safer with a few big, strong soldiers around to protect you, darlin’?” he said with a grin. He was a handsome young man with strong cheekbones, a ready smile and closely-cropped curls. He was of African descent but his accent was from central London, and the cockney twang made him sound cheeky and playful, regardless of whatever he was saying.
In an instant she had whipped out a pistol from its holster at her side. A long knife appeared in her other hand before he could even react. She held it to his throat forcing his head back. “Oh, I think I’ll do just fine as I am,” she said with a flush to her cheeks. “But thanks, darlin’.”
The other soldiers collapsed in laughter as Matthews blushed and looked foolish. For once he was lost for words.
Wood and Collins were sitting near Bannister, on the edge of the group. Bannister’s head hung and he was not talking to anyone. Wood stirred and glanced over at him.
“So Bannister,” he said quietly.
Bannister raised his head and stared at him suspiciously, but said nothing.
“How did it feel, being under the spell of the vampire? Could you not think for yourself? Could you not resist her?”
�
��Look, you have no idea what it was like so don’t give me a hard time,” Bannister scowled defensively. “I feel bad enough as it is without you, of all people, hassling me.”
“No seriously, I’m curious, that’s all.”
Bannister regarded him warily before answering. “Well if you must know, it was like I knew what I was doing but it all appeared to be correct. I could still think and reason but the thoughts were not entirely my own, and it seemed as though I was doing the right thing.”
“But how did it actually feel? Inside you - was it like you were drunk?”
“Yeah, kind of I suppose. It was all a bit fuzzy and dreamlike…”
“…Sort of a warm tingling all over your body?” Wood interrupted and Charlotte Collins raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Bannister eyed him suspiciously. “Yeah. When I was with her I guess. Warm pins and needles.”
Wood said nothing for a few seconds but just sat nodding, tugging at his bottom lip. “Yeah,” he said finally. “That exactly how I felt too.”
“What?” Bannister exploded. “When?”
“In the church. When I was up in the choir she landed on the bench next to me. I mean, I was pretty startled but she must have put me under her spell, just a little bit, and only for a second or two. So I kinda know how you felt.”
“Well bugger me!” Bannister snorted. “Who’d have thought it was even possible to hypnotise the ice-man?” and the two of them laughed.
“What do you miss most?” Wood asked after a few moments of contemplation. “From life before…”
“Cujo,” Collins answered immediately. “I miss Cujo.”
Wood took her hand in his but said nothing, letting her talk.
“It’s just the little things, small reminders of his presence, like the sound of his claws scratching on the tiles of the dining room floor as he walked beside me. It brings it home to me that he’s gone. Or at night in the mess he would sleep beside my bed. If I woke up I could just hang my hand out and stroke him or he would lick it. It’s silly really but that’s what I miss.”
“What about you?” Wood asked.
“I miss reading,” Bannister said.
Both Wood and Collins reacted together, a mixture of choking and laughing.
“What?” Bannister feigned anger. “You don’t think I can read?”
“No it’s not that,” Collins replied apologetically. “It’s just that, well, you have more of a… a rebellious image. I mean, you were a young offender, weren’t you?”
“Who told you that?” Bannister asked sounding affronted.
“Dean Millington.”
“Ahh, that mouthy git, God rest his soul - and his gob. Well, yes okay, I was a young offender and well on my way to a life of crime an’ all that clichéd rubbish. But that doesn’t mean I can’t read. I love a good book but just don’t feel much like getting into a novel these days. There doesn’t seem much point when I don’t know if I’ll even be around long enough to finish it.”
“And the young offender bit? What was that all about?” Wood asked gently.
“Well actually if you must know I was really bright when I was younger. Yeah, I was,” he said when he saw their quizzical looks. “I didn’t go to a good school, the other kids were all really slow and I was way ahead of everyone else in my classes. The teachers were bobbins, and I just got bored. So at first I started to play up in class. Then I started to bunk off and got in with the ‘wrong crowd’, and it just went from there. But I told you once before,” he finished, looking at Collins, “I’m not quite as stupid as I look.”
“So I guess one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” Wood said.
“No - if that expression even still applies in this technological world of the Kindle,” Bannister replied. “So Wood - how about you? What do you miss?”
“I miss music. I miss playing the harmonica,” Wood said.
“You? Musical?” It was Bannister’s turn to be surprised. “Who’d have guessed? Surely music requires some sort of feelings and emotions. I thought you were going to say something like you miss going hunting or having your head shaved into a crew-cut, or something else suitably hard-core military. I’d never have pegged you as a musician.”
“Well don’t judge a Kindle by its title screen then,” he smiled.
“Touché,” Bannister replied. “Why the harmonica? Bit of an odd choice, that.”
“I guess it’s just portable. I like the idea of being able to play it wherever I am, at a moment’s notice, whether that’s just jamming along with a band in some dingy blues bar in the deep south, or banged up in solitary confinement in an enemy prison. I saw that in an old film once and it appealed. It’s a surprisingly versatile instrument.”
There was silence between the three of them for a moment.
“Look, it’s been nice chatting and all,” Bannister said eventually, “but don’t go thinking this means we’re friends or anything.”
“No?” Wood asked with a slight smirk. “What’ll that take?”
“Ah, I guess you’d have to save my life a couple more times first.”
A while into the night Private Bruce Matthews was sitting leant against the wall. A solitary candle threw shadows over the slumbering soldiers.
“Can’t you sleep?” Alžběta asked quietly as she eased herself down beside him.
“Nope.” He smiled at her. He liked her accent. It sounded Eastern European and seemed so out of place in this small English town. He wondered, not for the first time, how she had ended up there. What twists and turns of fate had led her to be there, with him, at that very moment. “Too much going on in here,” he tapped his forehead.
“I wanted to say sorry for making you look silly earlier,” she said. “That was uncalled for and wasn’t my intention.”
“No problemo…” he replied.
“For the past couple of weeks” she continued without pause, “it’s just been us. We’ve had to become totally self-sufficient for food, defence, for everything. But as well as that, I have had to face the possibility that at any stage the others could all be taken from me and I’d have to look after myself. It’s no good relying on them. I have to be capable. So I guess you touched on a sore point. It really hit home and I felt as though I had something to prove. But I didn’t mean to embarrass you and I apologise.”
“It’s okay,” he said gently. “No harm done. You were pretty impressive. So are you and André, like, an item?”
She smiled and shook her head, and they were both silent for a moment before she started to rise.
“Hey,” he said, arresting her departure, “I meant to say, you don’t have to remain here. You could come with us, both of you. Captain Lewis, you know, he’s a really good leader. He’s taken good care of us so far. If there’s anybody who’ll keep us safe it’s him. It doesn’t have to be just the two of you, there are a load of good people here that you can rely on. We would look after you. I’d look after you.”
“That’s really kind of you,” she said slowly, “and it’s not that I don’t want to, but…”
“But what?”
“But it’s André. He won’t leave. He thinks it’s too dangerous out there. He says that you have already lost some of your soldiers. More of you may well die and it’s more secure in here. I’ve got to stay, for him.”
“You don’t owe him anything,” Matthews urged. “You have to look after yourself. You’d be safer with me, with us. We can protect you.”
She put a hand on his arm. “You’re really sweet but you’re wrong. I do owe him. I owe him everything. He’s saved my life more than once already. At times like these the people you are with become family. If he’s going to stay, then I have to stay with him. We’re a unit now. But thanks. I appreciate your caring.”
She leaned across and kissed him, just once, on the cheek. Then she stood and was gone before he could protest further. He watched her go reluctantly, trying to think of anything he could do or say to convince her to go, kno
wing that her chances of survival were not great if she remained. Passions were easily roused in the face of the apocalypse.
A little later on Lewis was trying to sleep when he felt someone nudging him. Immediately alarmed, he sat bolt upright only to find Matthews leaning over him.
“Can I have a quick word sir?” Matthews whispered and did not wait for Lewis to reply before he continued. “It’s about Alžběta. I don’t think she really wants to remain here sir. I think she’s only staying through some misplaced sense of loyalty.”
Lewis rubbed his eyes and sat up. “That’s as maybe, but what are you suggesting I do about it?” he asked quietly.
“I think you should convince them sir, and if they don’t listen then we should kidnap her. I’m sure as soon as we’re away from here she’d be really glad we had. We’d be saving her life sir. It’s the right thing to do.”
Lewis pondered for a moment. He did not entirely disagree with Matthews. “I have already tried to convince them,” he said gently. “I’m afraid they’re not going to change their minds, that’s pretty clear to me.”
“Then we’ll take her by force” Matthews blurted out.
“No, I’m sorry but we can’t do that. If she came to me out of earshot of André and asked for help then of course I would, but she hasn’t. She’s made her decision and we’ve got to respect that.”
“But…” Matthews started but Lewis cut him short.
“I’m sorry but we can’t do anything for her. I’ll talk to them again tomorrow and try my best to persuade them both, but that’s all I can do. I’m sorry.”
He watched with a sinking heart as the young soldier trudged away, wishing he could do more but knowing he could not.
Daylight approached, grudgingly. Lying on the hard floor had not been kind to anyone and sleep had been scarce, but better inside a secure building than outside amongst the diseased. Lewis found Alžběta and André sat beside the bound body of Stuart. His breathing was shallow and irregular and his skin was clammy and flushed. Both looked up with the last remnants of hope still glimmering in their eyes.
The Blood of the Infected (Book 3): Twice Bitten, Twice Die Page 14