Rogue Evacuation

by Simon Neilson

  She flinched at first but I think she realized I was telling the truth and a smile appeared across her face. Stepping forward she placed her head on my shoulder and began to sob. I didn’t know what to do. Fortunately Rebecca came over and took Joyce to one side to comfort her.

  “Is she on the list?” Lance asked.

  “Yeah,” I replied.

  “How could anyone live like this?” Mike asked.

  It was easy I suppose for Mike to ask this question, the farmhouse had been clean and tidy and he had no idea what it was like in London even before the infection outbreak.

  Lizzie produced a few bottles of water and some disinfectant wipes from her ruck sack. This enabled Joyce to wash and I think she was so relieved to feel water touch her skin once more. She started to open up a little. She explained that two men had been with her inside the police station, she did not know who they were but they spent the last couple of months together. These men, one of whom was responsible for the message we heard on the radio, would go out and hunt for food. One day Joyce demanded to go and that is when she got bitten when one of the infected took her by surprise just outside the police station.

  The men carried her back upstairs, they locked her in the room neither of them could bring themselves to kill her. After a few days of having fevers and feeling ill, Joyce noticed the bite mark start to heal over leaving a scar, just as Maria had described to me that time.

  “What does it mean?” Joyce asked.

  “You are alive, that’s what it means,” Rebecca replied diplomatically.

  I told the rest of the group we needed to get out whilst the metal clanging sound distracted the infected. It was agreed we would move. Mike asked where we were moving to.

  I think the decision had already been made. We had to find the other people on this list, then and only then could we run for freedom.

  In a moment of thought Lizzie’s words that night in the compound came flooding back to me and it was right what she said and her words seemed more truthful now than they ever did.

  Surviving Is The Only Hope We Have Left.

  DIARY ENTRY 59

  The coldness of winter swept through my heart, with the sound of a desperate wind. Desperation moved the trees as the winter bit hard on the putrid existence outside. I saw their faces pressed against the glass. Today used to have a different meaning.

  Merry Christmas.

  I found the date by accident as I looked at Joyce’s personal belongings on the desk. She kept a diary with nothing written inside just the pages torn out for every day that passed by. Today was 25th December.

  Rebecca and Lizzie have taken it upon themselves to make sure Joyce had some proper food and water. Jackson, Lance and Mike looked through the offices to try and find anything of good use. was downstairs whilst the children kept Bruno occupied. That’s when I saw them at the main door, faces compressed against the glass. So that’s one route we won’t be taking.

  Pulling the list from my pocket I stared at the names written down. I ran the thought through my head once more until the scuffing sound behind me caused me to turn sharply. Mike raised his hand at the same time I pulled my gun up. I told him how stupid that idea was and he nodded his head.

  Striding over to me Mike looked down at the list and slowly looks up into my eyes, he could see my decision had already been made.

  “You can’t be serious?” He asked.

  I place my hand on Mike’s shoulder, he just shrugged my hand away and I could see the despair in his eyes.

  “We have to,” I replied.

  “No we bloody don’t. We risked a lot coming here, now you want to take more risks by going off on some wild goose chase.” Mike shouted.

  The sound of our voices had obviously echoed up to the next floor. Rebecca slowly walked down the stairs and stopped at the bottom switching her gaze between us both.

  “We’re ok,” I said.

  “Sounds like it,” Rebecca replied sarcastically.

  “Your husband here has some romantic idea that he can save all the immune people,” Mike said.

  “Stop being so dramatic!” I snapped back.

  “Dramatic! Dramatic! I’m not the one who wants to get us all killed.” Mike slapped the wall with his hand.

  “Stop it, both of you!” Rebecca shouted.

  The rest of the group had gathered at the top of the stairs and were just staring down at us. Bruno had his head cocked to one side which I found quite comical, given the situation. I looked over at Rebecca who just smiled warmly at me.

  “This is madness,” Mike said softly.

  “This whole thing is madness,” Rebecca said moving off the last step.

  She placed her hand on Mike’s shoulder, he turned and smiled bowing his head to the floor.

  “I can’t take this anymore,” Mike cried.

  “Remember how you came to look for me and Amelia when this all started. You kept us safe and reassured us that Kaleb would come for us?” Rebecca said quietly.

  “Of course I do,” Mike replied.

  “Well these people, wherever they are, need us.”

  Mike lifted his head stared at Rebecca in disbelief then over at me. Moving away he shook his head and started to climb the stairs. Lance was on his way down and was knocked to one side as Mike barged his way up.

  “You’re all crazy, this is madness.” His voice echoed as he disappeared up to the next level.

  “You have to do what you think is right,” Lance said smiling at me.

  “Whatever you decide you know I will support you.” Rebecca said.

  I gazed over my shoulder at the infected faces still pressed against the glass panel on the door. My decision was final. We had to find these people, they had no idea they were immune and if the IGS were to find out before us then it would mean a certain death sentence for them.

  “We find them,” I said still staring at the glass panel.

  “That’s it then, we’ll pack up,” Rebecca replied walking up the stairs and ushering everybody else on to the next level.

  Lance remained and walked over to stand next to the panel as we both gazed at the putrid creatures on the other side of the glass.

  “Disgusting aren’t they?” He asked with a smile.

  “I’d give anything for life to go back to how it was,” I replied.

  Lance did not reply but just nodded in agreement with me. I could tell he, at least, was very comfortable with my decision to find the other people on the list. All I needed to do now was to formulate a plan and although I knew where in the country these people were it would still be like finding a needle in a haystack, especially if they had moved on or at worst been captured by the IGS. I still felt we had to try and as Rebecca had explained, Mike had done a similar thing for my family, now it was our turn to help the others out there.

  “I’ll see if there is still a terminal in the police station working,” Lance said eventually.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “I still have security access and I can find you the exact addresses of these people, every citizen of this country is logged on the government database.” He paused and looked at me. “Unless of course you want to go hunting blind?” Lance smiled.

  I nodded and agreed the information would be extremely helpful. Lance patted me on the back and made his way upstairs to the next level.

  For a moment I just stood there and gazed at the creatures. One of them twitched and I could tell more were pouring in behind. This being the same doorway we had come in I doubted it would be the same way we would be leaving.

  My thoughts returned to Joyce’s diary and today’s date. I turned slowly and made my way up to the next level. It was Christmas Day and in a moment of sarcastic thought I muttered, “And not one bloody Christmas card this year, bah-humbug.”

  DIARY ENTRY 60

  Christmas Day – Afternoon

  “Merry Christmas everybody,” I shouted as I walked into the office.

  “What!” Jackson replied.


  “Merry Christmas,” I repeated.

  “It can’t be,” Lizzie screamed with excitement.

  Walking over to the desk I picked up Joyce’s diary and turned to the last torn out page and showed the rest of the group.

  “Well fuck me,” Jackson said, but then apologised straight away as he noticed the children were looking on.

  “Is Santa sick as well?” Amelia asked.

  “Santa lives in Lapland,” Jesse replied.

  “I’m sure Santa is fine, sweetheart,” I said bending down to cuddle them both.

  “So why hasn’t he brought me any presents?” Amelia asked again.

  Talk about asking difficult questions. I paused for a moment and was just about to come out with some rubbish answer when Joyce stepped forward.

  “You see children, Santa doesn’t know where everybody lives because with all that’s going on lots of people have moved from their homes, like you two. So once all this is sorted out and people can return home then Santa can deliver the presents.” Joyce looked at me and smiled.

  “That makes sense,” Jesse replied.

  Both the girls went skipping off with Bruno to the other side of the office singing a Christmas song.

  “Thank you,” I said to Joyce.

  “That’s ok my dear. But thank you for coming to help me.” Joyce smiled.

  Mike looked up as Joyce spoke. I had a feeling she knew he was looking at her by the she way she quickly glanced in his direction and smiled.

  “It was no trouble at all,” I replied.

  “It appears there is nobody else out there willing to take a chance on those who are, how shall I put it, as fortunate as me to be able to survive this nightmare.” Joyce’s voice was extremely polite and well spoken.

  Smiling she turned and walked over towards the children, glaring at Mike as she walked by.

  “And a round of applause for the hero,” Mike said sarcastically.

  I shook my head at Mike and made my way over to where Lance and Jackson were standing. Jackson commented that he was concerned about Mike’s welfare. I tried to convince him that I would take care of everything. Lance, however, was more concerned than Jackson. He told me how he had seen IGS officers who could not handle the pressures of what was going on just crack, mentally.

  I looked over as Lance spoke. Mike was crouched on the floor with his head in his hands. During this nightmare I had gone through similar emotions, when I felt that finding my family was all but lost. Selfishly I had not thought how it would affect anybody else, least of all Mike who I looked upon as a big, strong person. Maybe Lance was right.

  I told them that I would keep an eye on Mike, but in the meantime we had more pressing matters to concentrate on. Firstly, we had to get out of the police station safely and the next move would be where to go next. Lance got busy on one of the police computer systems, his security access was still working and he was able to run the names on the list to find out where exactly they could be.

  That was the important word, could! Even though we were going to try and help these people there was no guarantee they would be where they were supposed to be.

  Rebecca, Lizzie and Joyce went through the supplies, it was evident we were running low, the children packed away some clothes into the rucksacks as the rest of us checked weapons and the medical kit. Mike was helping, but more lethargic than the rest of us.

  I looked out the window. The horde of infected were now in the hundreds, piling out the main entrance door onto the street. We needed some kind of diversion. I looked through another window at the side and saw the vehicle gate into the back yard where, when the station was operational, the cars and vans would be parked.

  Our truck was parked directly in front of the police station entrance. That was our way out, but if we were able to open the vehicle gates we could herd the infected inside. Sounded very easy inside my mind, but I knew the gate would have to be manually opened. This would mean somebody going down to do it whilst another caused some commotion inside the back yard. That was the dangerous bit.

  I gathered everybody together and told them my plan. Rebecca shook her head. She knew this was the only way for us to get out but like me she knew how dangerous it would be for two people down in the yard.

  I didn’t want to put anybody in a position of feeling bad by not volunteering, so I decided that between the four men we would draw straws. The two shortest would go down into the yard.

  Although I felt bad I drew a long straw, Lance drew next and got a short one. The next hand came forward and snatched the straw out, a short one. We all looked up and saw Lizzie standing there.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

  “So you think that just because I’m a girl I can’t do this?”

  I gazed around the group. Jackson shrugged his shoulders and Mike just looked on aimlessly.

  “It’s me and you then girl,” Lance said smiling.

  Lance formulated the plan which would mean he would be in control of the vehicle gate. Lizzie’s job would be going down the back staircase to the fire door and the rear of the back yard. It would be here she would cause some kind of commotion, but at this stage we were not entirely sure what she would do. Lizzie informed us cheerily she would think of something.

  The rest of us would be positioned on the stairs near the front entrance ready for when the infected piled out and headed towards the vehicle gate. That’s if they bought the bait, I could not see any reason why they wouldn’t, these creatures were just eating machines.

  We waited whilst Lance and Lizzie got into position. Jackson gazed out the side window looking down on the back yard and when he got the thumbs up from Lance we began to move to the stairs. I could hear the gate creaking outside as Lance winched it open.

  It felt like an age waiting on the stairs and I could still see the faces pressed up against the glass panel of the door.

  Suddenly, we heard a high pitched scream from the other side of the building and the sound of smashing glass. It made us all jump, although Jackson tried to hide his fright.

  “What the hell’s happened?” Mike asked.

  “I’m assuming that’s the diversion,” I replied.

  “You hope it is,” Jackson said.

  Within a few minutes the faces peeled off the glass panel of the door and began to make their way out of the front entrance. This was our moment.

  Once the front entrance was free of the infected we made our way out on to the street, after Jackson had checked the coast was clear. We filed out and hoisted the children, Bruno, Rebecca and Joyce up into the back of the truck. Mike decided to join them. I could hear the creaking of the gate again as it closed, there was more smashing of glass and within a few moments Lance and Lizzie came sprinting out the gates.

  Jackson took up the position in the driver’s seat and I waited by the passenger door. The gate was not completely closed and it was not long before the horde filtered out two by two due to the width of the opening.

  “Come on!” I shouted.

  Lance and Lizzie scrambled into the back of the truck, I had to open fire on the nearest infected as they were too close for Jackson to spin the truck round. Their heads exploded with the impact of the bullets. I jumped up into the passenger seat and Jackson hurriedly performed a three point turn. The truck faced the other direction and we screeched away. I could hear the sound of machine guns from the back of the truck as Lance and Mike opened fire.

  “Where are we going?” Jackson asked.

  “Head north,” I replied. “Merry bloody Christmas!” I whispered.

  Jackson laughed.

  DIARY ENTRY 61

  25th December – Evening

  The group, with the exception of Mike, appeared quite happy to go ahead with the plan to find the last four people on the immune list. If we found them we would need to make further plans to get out of this mess. When that moment arrived then I hoped we had a plan in place to succeed.

  We were low of fuel,
Jackson pointed out the needle on the petrol tank was near empty, we were also low on supplies. I gazed into the wing mirror of the truck as we trundled down the road and caught sight of the hair spreading across my face.

  Heading north towards the area which used to be known as Holloway, we had to pick up the long stretch of motorway that would take us to Leeds, our first port of call. After Leeds our next stops would be Liverpool, Bristol, and Brighton where there were two immune people. The decision was made to move north first and work our way back down south so we were greater in number. Jackson was still of the thought that we could pick up a boat from one of the ports on the south coast, so Brighton it would be.

  We pulled out onto Holloway Road and drove down the deserted, long stretch. It once would have been a bustling area, traffic jams backing up all the way from Angel Islington to the top of Archway. Now, it was ghost town. I looked out at the usual sight of abandoned vehicles. Jackson had to zig-zag through the carnage, burnt out shops and buildings crumbling where they had been destroyed by explosions.

  I saw a couple of infected as we passed the junction of Tufnell Park. They stopped and twitched but we were long gone before they could head in our direction.

  It took around ten minutes to get to the top of Archway. Jackson slowed the truck down and eventually stopped at the junction of a large, gothic style building. We both glanced at each other as the figure came staggering around the corner.

  “Lance, Mike. Out!” I shouted back.

  I jumped out with Jackson exiting the driver’s seat and the four of us walked forward. Looking at the figure coming towards us I could tell he was a priest by the clothes he wore.

  “Father! Are you ok?” Lance shouted.

  The figure stopped a few feet in front of us, his head bowed down. Jackson raised his rifle slowly. I glanced down and that’s when I saw the blood dripping on the floor beneath him. I followed the drip up to his arm and in the dimming light I could just make out the wound to his arm. A bite mark!