Dying to Live

by Roxy De Winter

  5.

  ‘I’m Lucy. I guess everyone else has written their full names. I don’t think last names even matter anymore, but mine’s Jacobs. I’m from England like Frank. I remember that he was the first person I saw when I woke up from the nightmare. I was a wreck and he looked about ready to kill me at first, but I understand that. I’d had to kill too. There would’ve been no statement from Lucy Jacobs if I hadn’t...’

  “GET AWAY FROM ME!” She screamed as she awoke. Her head jerked up. She was sure it had been rested in someone’s lap. That someone was now scurrying backwards rapidly, getting himself away from her. She panted out ragged, panicked breaths as she whipped her head around.

  “Are you okay back there Frank?” A man’s voice called from the front of what she began to recognise as a van.

  “Are you infected?” The man next to her asked, holding a shiny, metal club out in front of himself. She didn’t know what he meant. “Are you... one of them?” He asked, more urgently.

  “You know about them? You mean the crazy people, right?” She whispered anxiously.

  “We’re good,” Frank called back to the driver. He relaxed visibly and offered her a smile. “We were worried about you back there, Lucy.”

  “How do you know my name?” she questioned nervously.

  “It’s okay, you don’t need to worry. We won’t hurt you,” He assured her and then pointed to her chest. “It’s on your badge.”

  Lucy chuckled in relief and lay back on the cool, hard floor of the van.

  “Lord, it’s been a crazy day,” She said. “I turned up for work this morning, after my week off, and everything had gone to rack and ruin.”

  “Do you work at the compound?” Frank asked.

  She sat back up and her eyes darted at him.

  “The compound? Who are you? What do you know?”

  “My name’s Frank and I don’t know anything, except that we’re headed to that compound now.” This was evidently the wrong thing to say. Panic washed over her face.

  “No! We can’t go there! I can’t go back there!”

  “Why not?” Frank frowned. The van pulled to a halt before Lucy could utter another word. She burst into tears and put her head in her hands. Frank hated when girls cried. The last time it had happened was when he had left his girlfriend. When they cried they became unpredictable. His girlfriend had thrown herself into his arms in desperation, before flipping angrily only seconds later and throwing a vase at him. He didn’t know what to do, so he edged forward until he sat close enough to pat her back softly.

  The van doors opened and Pete peered in at the two of them. Frank half shrugged at him under Lucy’s clutching embrace and rolled his eyes.

  “We’re here now...” Pete began to talk but was drowned out by fresh sobs, as Lucy started up all over again.

  “NO! we... have to... leave... NOW!” She heaved, in-between hysterical shudders. Frank helplessly patted her arm again.

  “I think we need to listen to what Lucy can tell us before we do anything else,” Frank told Pete. “I think she worked here.”

  “Okay,” Pete nodded. “Lucy, is it? Do you want me to help you out of the van or can you manage?” He asked, offering her his arm.

  “I’m staying in here!” She said, shuffling backwards in the van. “I don’t want to go back in there, those things... I saw what they did.” Lucy was visibly shaking with fear and Pete sought to reassure her.

  “Hey... Hey Lucy, it’s fine. We’re not going in there, at least not yet. It’s dark and stuffy in the van though and there are a couple more people out here who will need to hear what you have to say. So, will you please come out and talk with us?” Pete asked calmly.

  Lucy looked up at Frank, who gave her a reassuring wink. Then she turned to Pete and nodded. He offered her a hand getting out of the van but she refused it, thinking that she could manage by herself. However, she was dehydrated and wobbly on her legs. Frank was just finding his own legs as she swayed backwards and toppled into him. Fortunately, he managed to prevent them both from falling over. But as they steadied themselves, he realised that his hand was cupped just under one of Lucy’s breasts.

  “Wow. Oh jeez, I’m sorry,” Frank flustered, moving his hand as quickly as if he’d been burned and looking anywhere except Lucy’s face.

  “You’d better be!” Lucy said, managing a small laugh and smiling at him. This time she took Pete’s offered hand. She hopped down from the back of the van, onto the dusty ground that she knew so well, and thanked Pete for his help. Frank followed her down, still red faced and mortified by his little mishap.

  It seemed that the group was congregating outside a small and ominously empty guard barracks. They had parked right beside it and glad to discover that he door wasn’t locked. This place would offer them some very convenient shelter, even just temporarily. Lucy was reassured to see that there was another woman amongst them. She was loitering outside in the baked, dusty glare of the sun, whilst Pete, Frank and another man, readied weapons to check the small building out.

  “Hello...” Xin squinted at Lucy’s badge. ‘Ah, Lucy. I’m Xin. It’s nice to meet you. How are you holding up?”

  “I’m okay. A little thirsty though,” Lucy said. She was playing it down, though. She wasn’t just thirsty, she was parched and felt as though any second she may just pass out again. Xin wasn’t stupid; she gave Lucy a knowing look and asked her to wait a second whilst she dashed back to the car. A couple of minutes later, Xin was back and handed Lucy a bottle of mineral water.

  “I’m sorry, it’s probably a bit warm,” Xin apologised. “Even with the windows down, it gets stuffy in there.”

  Lucy had the cap off of the bottle in record time and greedily gulped down more than a third of the water before even taking a breath.

  “Sorry. Where are my manners? Thank you!” Lucy flustered at the look of amusement she was receiving from everyone. “And I mean, not just for the water... It’s been a tough day and I figure you guys saved my life back there. Even if you did bring me back here,” She smiled apologetically.

  Upon finding the coast to be clear, they five of them made their way inside. It was somewhat cramped in the restrictive quarters of the guard house. However, it offered the comfort of air conditioning, which despite the cabins abandonment was still whirring away. It looked as though the guards that had occupied this post had left in a hurry. It didn’t take a genius to guess that they had been called down to the main facility as soon as the breach had occurred. There were mugs of coffee that had long since gone cold, stood besides a checkers board with a half played game still set up. The cabin was all open-plan and at one end was a glass window, with a small panel that controlled access via the gates. Beside the panel was a mounted monitor. It was showing various security camera feeds, most of which displayed scenes of eerie stillness. Others played images of bloody carnage, and a very small number showed staggering, brutalised forms that by all rights should be dead. On the wall to the left of the security set, was a locked cabinet that presumably contained guns and ammunition. This was another source of comfort that their shelter provided. The place was actually fairly well equipped for a short stake out. It had a small bunk area, with enough beds for four people to sleep, and an adequate kitchen area with a kettle, a microwave and miniature fridge. There was also a small TV set, a comfortable sofa and two armchairs that made up a small kind of living area. The main wall of this area had a huge map of the site fixed to it and at a desk in the corner was an old computer.

  “Okay, so we obviously need to figure out our next move. I think this is as good a place as any to do that,” Pete said, looking around. “It offers the necessities. We’re out of the way here and the cameras make it easily defensible. Not to mention the guns that I hope are locked in there,” He added, nodding towards the locker.

  Frank perked up. “Hey, boss. I can get that open and find out if you like?”

  Pete chuckled.

  “Good call. It’s definitely
worth a shot. I’m guessing that you can work on that and still listen while Lucy tells us what she knows?” He asked.

  “Of course. Who said guys can’t multitask?” Frank snorted. Then with a mock salute, he hopped up from his chair and headed over to inspect the lock.

  Everyone else’s eyes came to rest on Lucy.

  “No pressure then, huh?” She laughed tensely.

  “I don’t want to remind you that we could have happily left you out there...” Bao began sharply. He was cut off by one barely noticeable shake of the head from Pete. This sent Bao’s anger bubbling to a point that he could barely keep control of. He pressed his lips to a thin line and prayed that he could keep his calm with this man.

  “No, none at all Lucy,” Pete said sincerely. “Go on.”

  Lucy inhaled a deep breath as she pulled her thoughts together and wondered where to begin. Her eyes fell on the map occupying the stretch of wall across from where she sat. With a strike of inspiration, she got up and went to stand in front of it. Spotting a marker pen in a jar beside the computer, she picked that up too.

  “Alright, this will make it easier for you to understand,” She said. “This square here...” As she spoke she drew a big red circle around a small box towards the bottom of the map. “...is this hut. So, that’s where we are now.”

  The box was miniscule compared to the sheer scale of the map. It gave them some idea of how big the set up here really was.

  “Of course,” Lucy continued. “This map doesn’t show any of the most secret labs and a huge portion of the underground base is missing. That’s because this one is for the security personnel and it’s all kept on a strictly ‘need to know’ basis. I myself don’t know the location of half of the zones within this compound.”

  Lucy realised that she was drifting slightly off course. She knew what she was meant to be telling them, but this information was useful to them none the less.

  “I came into work this morning after a week off visiting my sister...” Lucy gulped. “Oh, God. My sister, do you think she’s okay?”

  “Lucy, with all due respect, we can’t really afford to think about things like that just yet. We need to establish what’s going on,”

  Xin tried to gently set her back on track.

  “You said that you came into work this morning? But the security failures had already happened, so it must have already progressed quite drastically by the time you got here?”

  “Well, the gates were open,” Lucy said. “The gates are never open. I poked my head round into here and it was exactly like this.” She gestured around them. “My workspace is in this hangar here...” Lucy circled a larger rectangle, a fair way up the map from the circle signifying the cabin. “I’m an engineer. I don’t do anything secret or amazing here. I just work on any mechanical gear that needs fixing, like vehicles, generators and quite often the key card scanners.”

  With this revelation, even Frank looked up from the padlock he was working on. The fragile, young woman with porcelain skin, such dainty features, a slender waist and delicate little hands, did a more masculine job than any of the men in the room.

  “I know, I know, not what you expected. I’m full of surprises.” Lucy rolled her eyes.

  “You’re not... uh... I mean are you... a lesbian?” Frank asked innocently. “I mean, not that it matters if you are... It’s just...”

  “Frank!” Xin spluttered. “That is so... politically incorrect. You can’t just assume...”

  “It’s fine. I get this a lot; even my parents had the talk with me when I first applied for an engineering course.” Lucy sighed with exasperation. “No, I’m not gay. I just don’t subscribe to gender stereotypes, and while I’m willing to accept that you didn’t intend to offend me, I’d appreciate if you could try a more open minded approach towards gender roles in future.”

  Suitably chastised, Frank turned his attention back to the lock and tried to disguise a smirk. Internally he was fist pumping in victory, at the presence of such an intriguing and pretty, young, heterosexual female.

  “Anyway, like I said. I got here and the gates were open. This place was empty but still, I headed for the hangar. It felt kind of strange but didn’t seem that scary. It was just empty and quiet.” Lucy shut her eyes and paused for a second. Then she turned and drew another circle around a square building, not far away from the building she had circled as the hangar she worked in. “I got to this building, here. It’s one of the food halls and I call in for breakfast some mornings. I didn’t go in today though. I could hear the screams from outside.”

  “Wait,” Bao frowned, standing up and walking over to the map. He pointed at the food hall and trailed a finger down the map. There wasn’t much beyond the circled building, just the one long track down to the cabin. “This is right on the edge of the base, correct? How did it spread so far? Lucy, could you hazard a guess as to where they may carry out any work with extra-terrestrials or disease research?”

  Lucy puzzled for a moment. “I don’t know of any extra-terrestrial work going on here. No doubt it was, but I couldn’t guess where. All the biological labs are up this way though.” Lucy drew a big circle around ten big buildings towards the top right hand side of the map. Far away from the circles she had already drawn.

  “It makes no sense!” Bao pounded the wall in frustration as he spoke. “The military came. They found that some of the... infected, had already escaped when they got here and they supposedly took care of any remaining problem. How could they have missed anyone?”

  “We’ll probably never know, Bao,” Xin almost whispered, trying to piece it together herself.

  “Well, I don’t know what you guys know, but I can tell you that some of those... things, were wearing military uniforms. From the food hall, I ran back a bit. To about here...” Again she circled another small building. “It’s what we call a security pod, much smaller than this but usually manned by one guy with a radio and a gun. I figured that I could get help...” Lucy began to tear up a little at that point.

  “I got there and the security guy wasn’t there. His torch and his gun were in the corridor and I grabbed them up, but as I rounded the corner one of... them, was on him. He was definitely dead. It was just... chewing him up and gulping him down like it couldn’t get enough. It was awful!” Lucy began to cry freely and struggled to finish her story. “It saw me watching it and kind of, went into a frenzy. It struggled to its feet and lunged at me. I didn’t even know what to do, except from make sure it didn’t get a chance to chew me up. I just... shot, and then I ran back to my car,” Lucy finished.

  The scene replayed in her mind, seeing every moment in slow motion. The dead, grey eyes had met her own. Again, she saw it looking at her over the oozing, mangled corpse that it had been devouring with such pleasure. Its snarl revealed bloodied teeth and half a mouthful of human flesh flopping from its parted jaws. She thought it might have been missing a hand, but her memory had been too busy storing away the details of its gory meal to recall for sure. As soon as it had gotten close enough that she could smell the metallic scent of blood soaking every inch of it, she had shot. She had not just shot once though. She had fired until the gun was empty. There were only four bullets, but none of them had taken it down. One tore through its chest, another through its stomach, its shoulder, its leg. The terror had only set in fully, once she had realised that there were no bullets left and the thing was still alive. She threw the gun at its head and turned and ran, but it followed.

  She didn’t tell the group the all of these details of her story. She barely wanted to remember it for herself. None the less, she did. Images burned in her mind, reminding her that she turned a corner and found her friend and colleague lying there, blood-soaked and growling pitifully. He had been trapped beneath one of the trolleys they used for transporting heavier equipment. The trolley was laden with crates but balanced on top had been a tool box. Lucy had clawed it open and her hand had reached inside and clenched around a screwdriver. She had s
wung around, wielding it in front of her like a lifeline. Moments later, the pursuing Zombie had crashed around the corner. In a flurry of motions that she was not sure she ordered her body to make, she lodged the screwdriver upwards through its chin, up through the mouth cavity and then further still, until blood had streamed down her hand and arm. The body finally slumped to the ground at her feet. After that, she had ran the whole way back to the car park. She had found her car and thrown off her bloodied coat. Exchanging it for the clean one, which she always kept in the back of her car, had made her feel less connected to what had just happened but not removed her panic.

  “When I was driving off, back down towards the gates... I hit another one of those walking monsters... veered off the track and into a concrete post. After that, all I remember is running. I guess I passed out and that’s how you guy eventually found me, at the side of the road.”

  The room was quiet when Lucy snapped out of her reverie and finished the tale. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts. Frank was still tinkering with the lock. Lucy listened to the gentle scratching noises it made as he tried to pick it. The click of the lock popping open seemed like a thunder clap in the silence. All heads turned his way and a triumphant smile snuck onto his face.

  “Oh yeah. That’s right,” Frank laughed, forcing himself to resist the urge to dance. He unhooked the padlock and threw open the cupboard. There was a collective intake of breath and everyone gawped at the small arsenal before them. There were two shotguns, two precision rifles with telescopic sights and four hand guns. Not to mention, stacks and stacks of ammunition, an assortment of blades and knives and even a small supply of explosives.

  “Oh my God! They really take the security of this place seriously, don’t they?” Frank asked the room at large.

  “We have a lot to think about before we do anything and before we even think about needing to use these, but I don’t think it would hurt for us all to carry a loaded hand gun around, just to be safe,” Pete suggested.