Rogue Evacuation

by Simon Neilson

  I looked over and could see the nearest infected were about a hundred yards away. Without saying another word I moved off into the wood.

  “What’s happened?” Lizzie cried out noticing the blood smeared across Jackson’s face.

  “No time, infected,” Jackson shouted back.

  “Where’s mummy and daddy?” Jesse asked tearfully.

  I ran over and bent down, placing my hands around the side of her head. I smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

  “Jesse. I need you to listen to me. I need you to take Bruno and follow Lizzie. Hold her hand. Okay?” My words were soft.

  Jesse nodded. She began to cry and I knew at that moment she realised Duncan and Maria were not coming with us. I did not even need to say another word. I looked up at Lizzie. She had placed her hand over her mouth and was crying too.

  “Lizzie, follow Mike and get Jesse back to the truck,” I ordered.

  “What’s the plan?” Jackson asked me. I looked at him puzzled. “Well you’re in charge now,” he continued.

  I looked down at the ground and back up to see Jackson and Lance staring at me and then I nodded.

  “We cover Lizzie and Jesse. We’ll be the last out of the wood back to the truck.”

  As I stood up Lance stepped forward and placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled.

  “You didn’t have to do that, it was my place,” Lance said, referring to Jesse.

  “No offence, Lance, you’re not particularly subtle are you?”

  “Point taken,” Lance replied smiling.

  Mike led Lizzie and Jesse out of the wood. We covered the rear and must have taken out at least twenty to thirty of the infected as they came into the wood from the field. All three of us had run low on ammunition. It was a relief to the reach the cottages by the dirt path leading up to the truck. A few more of the infected stumbled out through the bushes which surrounded one of the farm fields, one of the disgusting figures reached out for Jesse. It was just about to grab hold of her arm when Lance delivered a single shot to the head.

  Jackson opened up on the other six coming from the barn, emptying his entire magazine into their ghastly heads. His gun clicked to inform him he was out of ammo. Jackson tossed the rifle to one side.

  We continued up the dirt path. Mike made it to the truck first and jumped in the driver’s seat. Lizzie lifted Jesse and Bruno up onto the back of the as we came running up, gasping for breath.

  Jackson got into the passenger seat. I saw from another path opposite with some infected approaching and I managed to squeeze off three shots to drop them to the floor, but there were more behind and I was clean out of ammunition. I moved round to the back of the truck and saw Lance dispatch the others before his weapon also ran out of ammo. Lance threw his rifle into a nearby bush and ran to the back of the truck. I put out my hand and he gratefully accepted. I hoisted him up as Mike pulled the truck round and sped up the narrow lane back to the main road.

  “Now!” I said in a stern voice. “Who the fuck are you?”

  “Lance,” he replied with a smile. “Your friendly IGS guard.” He saluted.

  “This is no time for games,” I replied.

  “Well you may know me by a different name.” Lance looked out the back to the horde gathered behind us.

  “Sorry?”

  Lance pushed his hand forward to shake mine. I nervously placed my hand in his and he shook it gently.

  “The name I am known by more is Gov_Block.” Lance smiled.

  My eyes opened wide. The renegade blog I used to read when I sat in my grimy bedsit back in North London. The same site I got my updates from. How could this be?

  “You’re joking?” I gasped.

  “It’s been a bit of a day hasn’t it?” Lance placed his hand inside his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

  Looking down I saw him push it towards me. I waited for a moment and took it from him.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “It was the list inside Maria’s ruck sack.” Lance nodded at the piece of paper. “It’s a list of known immune people.” Lance smiled.

  The list that Jackson had told me about back at the pub was now in my hands. I wasn’t sure what Lance wanted me to do with it. Slowly I gazed down at the piece of paper. Another thought entered my head. In a matter of fifteen minutes or so, I would be seeing my family for the first time since the madness erupted.

  DIARY ENTRY 49

  The farmhouse was set far back off the road, the only way in and out for the truck was the long driveway which I estimated was around two hundred metres long.

  I could see from the rear of the truck through the front window of the driver’s cab. The first thing I noticed was the high mesh fencing that surrounded the whole farmhouse. This mesh was around ten foot high and at the top was finished off with razor sharp wire.

  The truck came to a stop. We all disembarked and stood there for a moment looking inside this makeshift fortress. In the middle of the mesh fencing was an iron gate, about the size of a normal front door of a house. I saw the semi-circular sand area which curved round from one end of the fence around to the other.

  I walked up to Mike and gazed at the sight in front of me. The farmhouse itself looked a little dirty around the paint work and there were metal grills over the downstairs windows. The grass was faded, but what I noticed was the vegetable patches set to the side of the house. A few yards in front of me I saw the rake lying on the side of the dirt track. I gave Mike a puzzled look. He gazed down and smiled.

  “I used it to rake over the sand area so it’s nice and smooth. That way I can tell if we have had any visitors.” Mike picked up the rake.

  “That’s pretty organised,” I said.

  “Yeah, not too bad,” replied Mike.

  “You did all this?” I asked.

  Mike nodded and smiled. I had always known Mike was good at constructing stuff, whereas I was pretty rubbish. Whenever I needed a hand with building something quite big, or having an appliance fixed I would always call Mike. He never let me down.

  “It’s a three bedroom farmhouse.” Mike pointed towards the structure. “If needed, the front room and back utility room can be converted into sleeping areas.”

  “It’s pretty impressive, mate.” Jackson stepped forward.

  “Round the back by the vegetable patch there is a barn, it’s where I keep the animals.” Mike was trying to point round the side of the house.

  “Animals?” I asked.

  “Chickens, plus there are some ducks that use the pond and a few geese.”

  “You keep chickens, ducks and geese?” Jackson asked.

  “Well it is a farmhouse,” replied Mike with a smile.

  “How long did this all take you?” I asked.

  “Took a few months for me to make the whole place secure.”

  “Is that a garage on the other side of the house?” Jackson asked.

  “Sure is.” Mike looked to the left side of the farmhouse. “Got loads of tools in there and that’s where the generator is.”

  I gazed on this building, a long way from the old bedsit in North London. My thoughts of the farmhouse started to disappear as noise from behind the wire caught my attention.

  The main front door opened slowly. I remembered who else was here at the farmhouse and I felt butterflies inside my stomach.

  “Here take this,” Mike said handing me a key.

  I ran across the sand area and pushed the key into the lock of the iron gate. My hands were shaking but eventually it opened and I slowly walked inside the compound.

  My first reaction was to freeze as I saw the little girl exit the front door of the house. This soon turned to tears when I heard her excitable voice.

  “Daddy!” She cried and ran down the small concrete path towards me.

  My legs began to shake as the tears streamed down my face. Her legs flicked back as she sprinted to me.

  Throwing herself against my body she wrapped her little arms tight around my
neck. We rolled backwards onto the floor and I held her tight against my body. We just lay there hugging for what seemed like ages, the sun so bright in my eyes that I could not open them properly. I felt the sun disappear as the shadow blocked out the rays.

  Slowly I opened my eyes, blurry at first but over the shoulder of my little girl who was screaming ‘Daddy’ excitedly over and over I saw her.

  Amelia climbed off my body and was jumping up and down on the path. I pushed my body up from the floor and gazed at the crying woman standing a few inches from me. Rebecca.

  I moved forward slowly and gently placed my lips against hers. She responded by moving her hands to my face and kissing me back. The embrace filled me with so much happiness the tears streamed down my face even more and I opened my eyes.

  “I thought you were dead,” said Rebecca, choking back the tears.

  “No,” I cried back.

  “I love you.” She pulled me close and began to kiss me again.

  As Rebecca gently released her lips from mine I smiled and tried to speak, but no words would come out. It was as if my whole body had gone into a spasm.

  “I love you too.” I managed to squeeze the words out amongst the sobbing.

  “What’s your name?” Amelia’s voice broke me from my thoughts and I looked down.

  Standing next to me was Jesse. She looked dirty and under nourished compared to Amelia. Jesse looked up at me for what I think was a bit of comfort. I smiled and nodded at her.

  “My name is Jesse and I’m eight years old,” she replied, just the way she had done back at the warehouse to me all that time ago.

  “My name is Amelia and I’m eight years old too,” replied Amelia with a cute giggle.

  “Take Jesse inside and show her around. I need to talk to Daddy,” said Rebecca.

  “But Mummy….”

  “You can have Daddy all to yourself later,” Rebecca interrupted with a smile.

  The two girls went skipping off towards the house. I heard Amelia telling Jesse excitedly about the dolls she had and how they could dress them up.

  “Where are her parents?” Rebecca asked.

  That question filled me with sadness and I just looked down at the ground. Rebecca took hold of my face and lifted it up to hers. I wanted to tell her there and then that she and Amelia were immune to this infection.

  “There’s so much to tell you,” I said quietly.

  “He’s right. There is a lot to tell you, but first let’s get inside before any of them things come visiting,” said Mike.

  I nodded as Rebecca looked at Jackson, Lizzie, Lance and Bruno filing through the iron-gate. Mike waited until the last person was inside the compound and double checked the gate to make sure it locked. We all walked towards the house and I spent this time pointing to people giving Rebecca their names.

  “And this is my wife…” I paused to look lovingly at her. “Rebecca.”

  My wife and daughter. Two people I thought I would never ever see again. This made me happier than I could ever remember.

  DIARY ENTRY 50

  The inside of the farmhouse was clean and tidy. Rebecca was always a house-proud person and I could tell from the cleanliness of the interior that she had a hand in that department.

  There was the hallway which stretched down to the backdoor. Halfway down the hallways was a set of stairs which led upstairs. Situated off to the left was the kitchen and dining area, to the right were two rooms, the living area and the back utility room.

  Mike took me upstairs and showed me the three bedrooms and the bathroom set directly off from the top of the stairs. I was very impressed with the layout of the place. From upstairs I could see the small barn areas out the back and a little pond which had ducks and geese casually bobbing on the water completely oblivious to the madness going on all around us. I could hear Amelia and Jesse playing in one of the bedrooms.

  Back downstairs the rest of the group were having a look around the farmhouse. Jackson gave me the thumbs up to what he thought of the place.

  Rebecca appeared with a tray of glasses filled to the brim with orange juice. These glasses were not full for very long as we threw the sweet drink down our necks.

  Mike had made his apologies and disappeared. A few moments later he returned carrying two huge black sports bags. He threw them onto the floor and we all stared down at them.

  “Some IGS issue machine guns, magazines, a few grenades some other bits and pieces. I’m not a military man so I’m sure you guys can make better use of this stuff than me,” he said to Jackson and Lance.

  It was like a military Christmas for these two as they sat in the utility room sorting through all the equipment. They initially were going to start in the living area until ordered into the back room by Rebecca so they would not make a mess. That’s my girl, I thought.

  I sat at the dining table in the huge kitchen, Rebecca sat next to me. We continued to kiss and hold hands. Mike popped in twice, once to grab the girls a drink who we had forgotten were playing upstairs and the other time to hand me a fully loaded machine gun. Rebecca gave me a curious stare and I gently squeezed her hand.

  “Difficult times,” I said.

  “You’re telling me,” she replied. “What happened to that little girl’s parents?”

  It was an intense time for me sitting at the dining table and extremely emotional as I relayed my story to Rebecca. I started from when I first met Duncan until the madness in the wood a couple of miles down the road. At times my story was quite poignant on how I constantly thought of Rebecca and Amelia. Other times it sounded depressing and dark as I heard myself speak the words. I told her about Lana and how she trusted in me that she was immune. Rebecca only stopped me when it came to the point when I explained to her what Jackson had told me in the pub about her and Amelia.

  “Immune?” She asked wide-eyed.

  I nodded and gently caressed her hand. I continued with the story and when I spoke of the incident in the wood with Duncan and Maria I saw Rebecca cry.

  “This is so shit,” she said. A typical Rebecca reply.

  “Yes, it is.” I didn’t know what else to say.

  “So the security forces will be looking for us?”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t know if they realise the list exists,” I said.

  “What list?” Rebecca asked.

  I produced the piece of paper from my pocket and we looked at it together. The list included sample numbers, locations and the names of the people tested. It was a hand written list. I could only assume this was done by Maria. The names of Lana, Maria, Jesse, Rebecca and Amelia appeared on this piece of paper along with six other names and locations.

  “And to think these people don’t even know,” I said.

  “And they….” Rebecca paused. “We, have to die?” Rebecca asked.

  “That’s what I was told,” I replied sadly. “I can’t believe Duncan and Maria were even thinking of this.” I took hold of Rebecca’s hand. “But I’m not going to let them get anywhere near you.”

  “Sounds to me like Jesse had some crazy parents.” Rebecca squeezed my hand. “Amelia will help her settle in,” she continued.

  “Talking of Amelia,” I said getting up from the table.

  I smiled at Rebecca, leant forward and kissed her tenderly on the lips. She smiled back at me to let me know that it was fine for me to disappear upstairs to see my daughter.

  Walking up the stairs I could hear the giggling in the bedroom opposite the bathroom. Amelia had the loudest laugh, but then she was Rebecca’s daughter and a chip off the old block.

  I entered the bedroom, dolls and their little clothes strewn across the floor.

  “Daddy!” Amelia shouted out and ran at me.

  I took hold and spun her round in the air. She giggled which in turn made me laugh. I gazed down at Jesse who was looking up at me smiling.

  “There are some sweets downstairs,” I said to her.

  Jesse shot up off the floor and disappeared downstai
rs, Amelia wriggled in my arms to indicate that she wanted some sweets too, but I walked over to the pink covered bed and threw her down.I blew a raspberry on her cheek and her infectious giggle was the most wonderful sound.

  “Are you okay, Princess?” I asked.

  Amelia nodded and sat up on the bed. She gave me a big hug.

  “Are the nasty people going to go away?” Amelia asked.

  My facial expression changed. I paused for a moment and told her that everything was going to be alright. Deep down I had no idea what was going to happen or how we were going to get out of this mess.

  “I won’t let them hurt you,” I said.

  “Okay, Daddy.” Amelia smiled. “Can I go get some sweets now?” She asked.

  I nodded, smiling. Amelia sprung off the bed and went running down the stairs to join her new found friend. As I turned to get off the bed I saw Lance standing in the doorway.

  “You okay?” He asked.

  “I am now,” I replied.

  “What are you going to do with that list?” Lance asked.

  “There’s nothing I can do with it.”

  “I trust you will do the right thing. I think you know what that is,” replied Lance before leaving.

  I stared into the empty space he left.

  I knew what he was getting at.

  DIARY ENTRY 51

  The evening light settled in. Amelia and Jesse had great pleasure in playing with Bruno who appeared to enjoy their affection.

  Most of my time was spent cuddled up on the sofa with Rebecca. We would talk, mostly about how our separate journeys brought us to this farmhouse but in other more sensual moments we would just gazed lovingly at each other or tenderly kiss.

  Mike had made his way to our house, this is what Rebecca told me. He managed to get them both out whilst dodging the infected and IGS patrols which were rounding up healthy citizens. It had been a harrowing journey, especially for Amelia. I felt the sorrow build up inside me as Rebecca explained to me how scared my little girl was every time one of those things appeared.

  Mike made it to the farmhouse and that is where they stayed. There was another person who they met on the way, Mr. Farrow who used to run the corner shop near to where we lived. She couldn’t tell me what happened to him as Mike refused to tell her. I’m sure he had his reasons.