David turned to Ciaran.
‘Sound your horn again. That lorry has to start moving.’
Ciaran sounded the horn. It was loud. But nothing happened. The lorry was still stuck. People kept banging. Then someone tried to open the back door.
‘The door,’ said Eleanor. ‘They’re going to get in here.’
David climbed in the back. He held the door handle.
‘No one is opening this door,’ he said.
He looked at the driver.
‘For God’s sake, Ciaran, get us out of here.’
Ciaran made the horn again. Nothing. We were still still. Ciaran bent down. I heard him looking for something.
‘Aha!’ he said.
The ambulance siren started to wail. The lights flashed as well. It was so deafening. Blue flashes span off into the darkness. This was so bad. It was crazy.
David got really angry.
‘Turn that thing off,’ he said. ‘You’ll attract every infected between here and the Channel.’
Ciaran ignored him. He kept the siren going. The sound was so sharp. The blue light was everywhere. The ambulance started to rock. It was like a boat on the sea. There was screaming all outside. There was people shouting. They sounded so scared. It was all bad.
‘Let us in.’
‘Don’t go without us.’
‘Please, take my daughter.’
‘I don’t want to die.’
‘Save us, we’re begging you.’
‘My dad can hardly walk.’
‘For God’s sake, open the door!’
‘We’re never going to make it.’
‘You’ve got to help.’
‘Don’t just leave us here.’
‘Those things are coming.’
‘They’re all around us.’
‘They’re here!’
And then I heard the terrible song of the viros.
Crack
The horrible song. That sound of pain and anger. I knew the nothing in that sound. The nasty blackness at the heart. The dirty darkness deep inside. The song sounded louder in the night than the sirens.
‘Viros,’ I said. ‘A giant swarm. The siren and the flashing lights have helped them find us.’
‘We’re trapped,’ said Ellis.
She sounded scared. Vinnie held her hand. He squeezed it.
‘Will they get us?’ said Florence. ‘Will they get inside and eat us.’
No one could answer that question.
‘We’re like tinned meatballs in this thing,’ said Abe. ‘All ready to be served up for supper.’
All the kids were screaming. My head was swimmy with the noise of everything.
David looked very worried. He had no words for all of us. He had no time. He turned to the soldier.
‘For the love of Christ, Ciaran,’ he said, ‘get this thing out of here.’
Ciaran didn’t speak. He was shaking.
The ambulance started to rock really hard. It was like we were in a storm. One side lifted up and then the other. Everyone fell everywhere. It was awful.
‘This thing is going to tip over,’ Vinnie said to David. David couldn’t answer because Ciaran screamed. We all looked.
Five viros were pushed against the windscreen. They were all trying to bite the glass. I saw their broken teeth all bloody. The sound was bad. One of the viros started to hit the windscreen with its head.
Bang.
A puddle of blood appeared.
Bang.
It hit the glass again.
Bang.
‘Hold this door handle,’ David said to Vinnie.
David jumped back in the front. He shook Ciaran. He grabbed his shirt. David looked hard at Ciaran’s eyes. David shouted.
‘Get. Us. Out. Of. Here.’
Bang.
The windscreen had a small crack.
Bang.
They would get through. I knew they would.
‘We’re going to die,’ said Damian.
‘They’ll eat us all,’ Emily said.
David slapped Ciaran hard on the face. Ciaran woke up. He revved the engine. We started to move. I felt a bump. And then another. One more. We were driving over the viros. The ambulance got faster. We felt more bumps. I didn’t want to think what we were driving over. Or who?
Ciaran didn’t stop again. He kept going. The ambulance was moving faster now. There was still screaming. There was another bump. That was definitely a person. The banging stopped. The screaming got quieter. I couldn’t hear the viros singing anymore
‘Good work, Ciaran,’ said David. ‘Let’s catch up with the rest of the convoy.’
Plan
Everyone felt a bit better. The kids stopped screaming. David looked over his shoulder.
‘Is everyone alright?’
Vinnie nodded. He was breathing heavy.
‘I think so. I think we’re alright.’
‘We will be,’ said Amber, ‘once we get far away from here.’
‘Where is here?’ said Abe. ‘Where are we going?’
‘The convoy is headed for Pett Aerodrome,’ said Ciaran. ‘Once there, the plan is to evacuate by helicopter to the small fleet of ships waiting off shore.’
‘What about the asylum?’ I said. ‘Is that by the aerodrome?’
David shook his head.
‘It is twenty-three miles north of the aerodrome and so my plan is to head there first, grab anyone who’s still there and then get back to the aerodrome.’
David smiled.
‘The evacuation is going to take forty-eight hours to complete so that should give us plenty of time.’
‘Do we all have to go?’ I said. ‘Couldn’t we drop people off first?’
‘Once we get to the aerodrome we may never get out again,’ said David. ‘We can’t run the risk of being stuck there and not get to the asylum and back before the evacuation is complete.’
David looked at his watch.
‘It is 4.40 am now and Ciaran reckons that the asylum is only an hour’s drive from here so we could be there and back by early afternoon at the latest.’
I nodded. It all sounded good. I hoped that the asylum was easy to find. I didn’t want to get over-excited. She might be there. I shut my eyes. Someone held my hand. It was Ellis.
‘This might be it,’ Jake,’ she said. ‘She might be there waiting for you.’
I had no words in my mouth. That thinking was too hard. It was so long now. It meant too much. Amber smiled at me.
‘You never know,’ she said. ‘Things could turn out okay.’
‘For you,’ said a voice from the blankets.
It was Oscar. His face was red with crying.
‘What about my friend, Eric?’ he said. ‘His daddy came back to find him and bit him dead. Eric is now one of those things.’
Oscar shivered.
‘Eric knows all of us. What if he comes looking for us? What if he wants to bite us? Who’s going to stop that?’
Florence spoke. She was kind.
‘We won’t let that happen, Oscar,’ she said. ‘Eric is not going to find you and bite you.’
‘Do you promise?’ said Eleanor. ‘Do you promise that?’
Vinnie looked at Florence. He shook his head. The kids didn’t see. Florence did. She shook her head as well. Florence held Eleanor’s hand. Her voice was soft and nice.
‘I promise that Eric won’t ever bite you.’
Scientists
Ciaran was driving carefully. The convoy was in front of us. Most everybody dozed off. I was too awake. David was sitting quietly. I moved over to him.
‘What has happened?’
David smiled.
‘To the world? I honestly have no idea.’
‘But you’re a doctor. You must know things we don’t?’
‘I do, or, at least, I thought I did, but I cannot be sure now and with everything broken and society gone, we may never know the truth.’
I wanted the truth. It was what we needed. It was all
we needed. It had to be there somewhere.
‘What about scientists?’ I said. ‘They must know.’
David nodded. I could see he was trying to find good words.
‘Some scientists somewhere probably did know but they are more than likely dead now, especially if they were at the source of the problem.’
‘Problem sounds funny,’ I said. ‘It sounds so gentle.’
‘Perhaps ‘tragedy’ is a better word,’ David said, ‘because no matter what has caused all this to happen, the event that has taken place, whatever it actually is, has, according to dictionary definitions of the word, caused great suffering, destruction and distress.’
David’s words were very heavy to hear. He paused to let them hit the ground. I waited before I spoke again.
‘How did the army know what do?’
‘Sheer bloody luck,’ said David. ‘A combination of Cold War paranoia and the Army’s love of keeping its soldiers busy on manoeuvres meant that everyone was already on standby when the virus hit the world.’
David laughed.
‘Not that it made any difference. The virus spread too quick for anyone to really make a difference. No one can accurately say where it comes from and I haven’t heard of anybody being able to fully understand the nature of the thing. All anybody knows is that it has rapidly spread through the human population and that the ratio of infected to non-infected multiplied at such a colossal rate that no country in the world was able to put a proper plan into place.’
David looked behind us.
‘That camp back there was thrown together too quickly. That’s why it got overrun so easily.’
‘Some soldiers told us that the camp would be safe. That’s why they took us there.’
David shook his head.
‘Nowhere is safe now. Nowhere. Not even out at sea because eventually we’ll need to come back to land for supplies and things.’
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ Ciaran said, ‘but you need to see this, David.’
We stopped talking. We both looked out the windscreen.
‘Oh, my God!’ said David.
Storm
Ciaran stopped the ambulance. The road ahead of us flashed with bright gunfire. It was like the biggest storm I ever saw. There must have been a thousand guns all firing at once. All pops and bangs and bursts. It looked like a war film.
‘This isn’t good,’ said Ciaran. ‘This isn’t good at all.’
Vinnie woke up. He came to the front.
‘What’s happening?’ he said.
‘Looks like a heavy fire fight,’ said David. ‘The convoy must have run into a swarm.’
David looked at the sleeping kids. He looked at us. He said quietly.
‘We need to keep everyone calm.’
He looked at Ciaran.
‘I’m going to take a look. Keep the engine running, we might need to get away in a hurry.’
I didn’t want David to go. It was a bad idea. He might not come back.
‘We should stay together,’ I said. ‘Don’t leave us, David.’
David looked at me. He saw my worries.
‘Jake, I’ll be right back. I just need to see what’s happening. We don’t have a radio and if there’s an alternate route being planned then I need to make sure that we know about it.’
David pointed at the trucks ahead.
‘I’m only going as far as the first set of trucks. I have no plans to get caught up in the fire fight.’
David looked at Ciaran.
‘Let’s synchronise watches. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, then you should proceed to the asylum and I’ll meet you all there.’
Ciaran nodded.
‘Roger that,’ he said. ‘Good luck.’
David got out the ambulance. He took the rifle with him. I looked at Vinnie.
‘Will he come back?’
Vinnie nodded.
‘He knows what he’s doing, Jake.’
Abe woke up as well. He came over.
‘What’s happening?’ he said.
‘There’s a fire fight up ahead,’ said Vinnie. ‘David’s gone to see what’s happening.’
‘Then we should go too,’ said Abe. ‘We can’t wait here. We’re sitting ducks.’
Vinnie shook his head.
‘We can’t all get out. There’s too many of us. We’d never get back in if we got overrun. Then we really would be sitting ducks.’
Abe didn’t like that answer.
‘You’re wrong, Vinnie. We need to know what’s going on. We can’t keep relying on other people. They always let us down. We need to look after ourselves.’
Abe climbed into the front seat. Vinnie tried to grab him. He couldn’t reach. Abe opened the ambulance door.
‘I’m going to see what’s happening.’
Abe stepped out. Vinnie swore. I climbed over as well. Vinnie grabbed my arm.
‘No, Jake, don’t go out there.’
I opened the door.
‘Trust me, Vinnie. You stay here with the others. I’ll get Abe to come back.’
Reinforcements
The night was cold. The gunfire was so loud. I kept jumping. I was all flinchy. I looked ahead. Abe was nowhere. The road had hedges either side. Fields and darkness were beyond them. Anything could jump on me from anywhere. This was crazy. I kept walking.
I got to the first truck. It was empty. There was no one there. I looked underneath. Nothing. I looked back at the ambulance. The lights were on. I wanted to run back there. But I had to find Abe. I thought he needed me.
Past the truck there was an Army jeep. It was also empty. There was a radio in the front. It was crackling. I knew what the handset looked like. I picked it up. I pressed the button.
‘Is anyone out here?’
I let go of the button. I could hear hissing. There was no voices. I pressed it again.
‘Can anyone hear me?’
I let go again. The radio got loud.
‘Who is this? Where are you? Are the reinforcements on their way?’
The voice sounded scared. I imagined their face. Hiding somewhere and hoping to be rescued.
I dropped the handset. What could I tell to them? I was silly to speak on the radio. I didn’t know who or what.
I stepped away from the jeep. The viros might hear the radio. They liked the noise we made. It helped them find us.
It felt silly to be walking towards the fighting. Anyone else would run the other way. But I wasn’t anyone else. I had to find Abe. David might need me as well. They could both be in trouble.
Then I stopped.
Someone was walking towards me. They were limping badly. I thought it was a viro.
I stood still.
The person kept coming towards me. I had no weapon. I was in real danger. The person got closer. It was a soldier. I couldn’t see a rifle. I thought they were definitely a viro. I got ready to run.
Then they saw me.
Gun
‘Help me,’ said the soldier. His voice was so weak. ‘Help me, please.’
I stood still. It could have been a trap. The soldier got closer to me. He held out his arm.
‘Please help me, Sonny,’ he said. ‘I’ve been badly bitten.’
‘Are you one of those things?’ I said. I was scared.
‘Not yet,’ said the soldier, ‘but probably soon.’
I stepped towards the soldier. He leaned on my shoulder.
‘There’s a jeep back there,’ I said. ‘I’ll take you there.’
The soldier tried to smile. He was really hurt.
We went back to the jeep. It was very hard. Every step was so difficult. We fell over once. I pulled the soldier back up. We kept walking.
Once we got the jeep the soldier sat on the road.
‘I’m done,’ he said. His voice was so faint. It was all whispery. ‘I can’t go any further.’
I stood next to him. I kept looking back up the road. I thought he would be followed.
‘What happened?
’ I said.
The soldier shook his head. He shuddered. His pain was massive.
‘One of the coaches at the front of the convoy rolled into a ditch. It was blocking the road, so we had to try and get it out. Luckily, a team of Army engineers were driving a bulldozer as part of the convoy. We threw up a cordon while they tried to pull the coach out the way.’
The soldier shuddered again.
‘It was too quick and there was too many of them. They came at us like a wave of broken flesh. All biting and ripping. We had to fall back behind the coach and then it all kicked off.’
The soldier looked back down the road.
‘They’ll be here any minute. We won’t hold them for long.’
The soldier pulled a gun out of his holster. He looked at me.
‘You’ve got to shoot me,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to stop me from becoming one of them.’
The soldier wanted me to take the gun.
‘Take it, Sonny. Do it. Shoot me, I’m begging you.’
I didn’t move. How could I shoot him? I didn’t speak. The soldier got angry. He grabbed my arm. His grip was tight. I tried to pull away. I couldn’t. His breath was hot in my ear.
‘Perhaps I should shoot you, too? You’re too young to become one of those things.’
His voice was soft.
‘Are you alone, Sonny? Where are your parents?’
I tried to pull away. I still couldn’t. I couldn’t speak properly.
‘My mum is missing. I don’t know where she is.’
The soldier shrugged.
‘She’s probably dead, Sonny. She’s probably one of those things by now.’
I shook my head. The soldier was wrong. I knew he was wrong. The soldier kept whispering.
‘I’m doing you a favour, Sonny. I’m saving you from having to become one of those creatures. I’m saving you from becoming a cannibal.’
I shook my head. That wasn’t going to happen.
‘I won’t eat people,’ I said to the soldier. ‘I promise I won’t.’
The soldier didn’t let go. He shuddered.
‘We’ll call it a suicide pact. I need to die so that I don’t turn into one of those things. You need to die for the exact same reason.’
Viro (Book 3): Viro Page 8