by R J Murray
“Way I figure it, lass. There were some soldiers here, probably overseeing the evacuation. The town infected.” He waved at the bodies surrounding them. “Were gunned down.”
He turned his head, paying attention to every detail of the open area and nodded slowly. He pointed to a road leading off to the north.
“There. They went that way and it was as they were leaving that the infected caught up with them. There’s probably a trail of bodies all the way out of town.”
“You sure?”
“Aye, lass. If there weren’t so much snow, we’d have seen more signs of them already.”
“We would?”
“You didn’t notice the lumps in the snow?” he asked with surprise in his voice.
“If you thought they were dead bodies why didn’t you check them?”
“I wanted to make sure I knew where the majority were first.”
She looked around, her nerves clear on her face for the older man to read and he smiled in what he hoped was a comforting manner.
“Do you think there’s more of them?”
“Some,” he admitted. “But not many I don’t think. These bodies don’t show any real signs of being used as food.”
Elsie shuddered at that and unconsciously moved a little closer to the man she saw as a protector. He smiled indulgently and hefted his rifle.
“We should head back to the others. I figure we head north then we might find more signs of where they were going.”
“What about the plane? You said…”
“That’s still the plan but we need an airfield to find one of them and I’m not that familiar with the area around here.”
“Okay.”
He led the way back towards the house where they had left the others. His rifle was held ready in his arms with an easy familiarity that she struggled to emulate. His head seemed to constantly move, eyes taking in everything they saw and assessing for potential threats.
She knew that she would do well to learn from him, especially if she wanted to survive for long. There were no illusions held that she would be capable of lasting long on her own and she was smart enough to know that her only chance lay with staying with the others.
For some reason that he didn’t explain, he took several side streets that they hadn’t travelled up on their way through the town. She watched him curiously, wondering if he would explain but he just stared stoically around, watching for danger.
“Hold,” he said suddenly, his voice quiet but commanding.
“What is it?”
“Tracks.”
Just that. One word, but enough to set her heart beating faster and have the hairs on the back of her neck standing to attention. She sucked in a breath, hands tightening their hold on the rifle she held as she mentally counted the bullets remaining in her pocket. Seven. It wasn’t a good number and she began to realise how screwed she would be when she ran out.
Jacob, showing no outward signs of concern, scanned the surrounding houses for several long minutes before slowly making his way forward. Elise followed, wondering what to expect.
When they reached the tracks, he crouched down, studying them. Then, with a nod, he rose to his feet and set off following them without a word. Elise hesitated for just a moment, giving a nervous look at the surrounding houses before following.
It didn’t take them long to reach the end of the tracks, two streets away. If not for the break in the recent snowfall, those tracks would have likely been covered long before they could be followed back to their origin.
“Wait here,” Jacob said without so much as a backwards glance.
He pushed open the garden gate and walked slowly up to the door. His rifle butt was pressed into his hip, the barrel raised to the sky as he held it with one hand. With the other, he rapped sharply on the door.
Elise stared, mouth open, as she finally realised that he knew the tracks belonged to someone who wasn’t infected.
“How...?”
“Boot prints in the snow. You can tell the difference between a foot and a boot if you look closely,” he said without turning.
He knocked once more on the door and Elise noticed the twitching of a curtain as it was moved aside just enough for someone to peer through. She painted on her brightest smile and waved towards the window in an effort to appear as unthreatening as a girl with a gun could look.
The door opened, not much, just a few inches. Enough that she could see the chain that was in place, preventing it from opening further.
“Bonjour,” a male voice said quietly.
“Parlez vous Anglais?” Jacob responded.
“Ah… non. S’il vous plaît attendez.”
The door closed and Jacob turned to look back at her with a little shrug of his shoulders. He should have brought Mandy with him, she realized that at the same time as she realized he was probably thinking the same thing. Her cheeks heated once more.
When the door next opened, a girl stood there. She had long dark hair that had been brushed neatly to hang loose around her shoulders. Big brown eyes looked up at Jacob and she smiled brightly as she smoothed down her plain white dress.
“Hello.”
“You speak English,” Jacob said, sounding a little surprised. “That’s good.”
The man standing behind the girl spoke rapidly in French as he eyed them suspiciously. He reached up one hand to rub at a hooked nose that dominated his narrow face. There was heavy stubble on his chin, black with a touch of white and his hair had long since left the top of his head.
“Daddy asked, what do you want?”
“We’re passing through and don’t mean any harm. We’d like any information you can share with us about what happened here.”
The girl turned and relayed that to her father, waiting with a surprising patience as he replied. Elise looked up and down the road. She felt that she should keep an eye out for trouble.
“People got sick.”
Her face fell as she said that and Elise turned to look at her as she couldn’t help but wonder where the mother was.
“They started to hurt each other,” she continued. “Then the soldiers came. They said they were taking everyone to safety.”
“There was a fight, yes? With the infected.”
“Lots of people were hurt,” she replied after a brief exchange with her father. “But after, most of the people went with the soldiers.”
“Where to?”
“Lyon.”
Jacob scratched his head, mouth working as he thought through what she’d said. It was clear he was confused by that.
“What’s wrong?” Elise asked.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“What? The soldiers helping people?”
“No, taking them to Lyon. It’s maybe ninety kilometres from here, with dozens of towns and villages between here and there. There’s no reason to take them anywhere.”
“That’s what daddy said.” He looked back at the girl as she continued. “Some of the others didn’t believe them either. They stayed in town.”
“You didn’t stay together?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Daddy said it was better to stay in our own house.”
Jacob scratched his head once more, clearly unsure about what was going on. He looked down at the girl and said, “ask if he knows of any airfields nearby.”
She spoke rapidly in French and he replied with a simple one-word answer that they didn’t need her to translate.
“He said, no.”
“Yeah, we got that. Thanks.”
He nodded to the father and turned to leave, pausing and glancing back.
“We’re going to be leaving,” he said. “You’re welcome to join us.”
The little girl shook her head and didn’t bother to translate that to her father.
“We will stay. To be near mummy.”
Jacob hesitated for just a moment but then gave a curt nod and walked back to where Elise stood. The door closed behind him with a sol
id and final sounding thud.
“We should get back to the others.”
“Sure,” she said, watching him.
He was concerned, she could see that and not just because of the lack of any nearby airfield. It was what the man had said about the soldiers. Something was wrong about that and as she followed him, she couldn’t shake the terrible feeling that she would find out why soon enough.
Chapter 10
Terri curled up on the couch, watching the TV while Clive sat on the floor organising the foodstuffs they had found. Mandy had vanished into the bedroom and not come out since they had returned to the house.
They both looked up as the front door opened and Clive reached for his rifle as Terri half-rose from her seated position. They relaxed as Jacob called out a greeting.
“Yeah, we’re in here,” Terri replied, knowing that he would be standing by the open door with his weapon ready until someone answered.
She settled back down onto the couch as Jacob came in, snowmelt still on his boots and his jeans soaked through. Elise followed after, her clothing in much the same condition and she smiled a greeting.
“There’s blankets on that chair,” Terri said with a nod towards the piled of looted blankets. She pulled her own tighter around her shoulders. “Take your wet clothes off and let them dry off.”
“No houses with a fireplace?” Jacob asked and she shook her head. He let out a sigh and nodded to the piled food. “At least you found plenty to eat.”
“Can cook it too,” Clive said with a grin. “The oven’s electric.”
“Hallelujah for small fucking mercies,” Jacob said.
He set his rifle down, propping it against the wall and sat on the edge of the couch to pull off his boots while Elise did the same. Jeans next, though they kept their waterproof coats on for the warmth.
They each grabbed a thick blanket and wrapped it around their shoulders as Jacob relayed what they had discovered. He was clearly preoccupied and in no mood for questions he couldn’t answer, so when he was finished, he nodded at the TV.
“Anything new on there?”
“Well we managed to get subtitles so we know what they’re saying but it isn’t great. Barcelona has been declared lost,” Clive said. “Nantes, Rennes, Tours too.”
“Fucking great.”
“North-west France,” Terri added. “Including Paris and the surrounding areas are considered lost. The military are holding the infected back for the moment but they’re exhausted and running low on pretty much everything.”
“Will be just a matter of time before they’re overrun and the infected move south then,” Jacob said. “Towards us.”
“Calais is north of Paris,” Terri said. “That means we definitely need a plane.”
“Aye, well no luck there, lass.”
“They’re evacuating Rome,” Clive said. “In a couple of days, they reckon any part of Italy that’s south of Florence will be lost.”
“What about further south?” Elise asked. “Africa?”
“Doing better than us,” Terri said with a sour grin. “Lots more weapons available in some of those countries. The militia groups and warlords have stopped killing each other and are fighting the infected.”
“Japan has declared itself free of infection,” Clive added. “Which is good news. Some of the other small island nations have managed the same.”
“Well, they’re fucked then.”
“What makes you say that?”
“They’ve just announced that they’re safe,” Jacob said with a mirthless grin. “They’ll have everyone who can grab a boat heading there. Those refugees will either bring the infection with them or they will need more resources than those countries have.”
“Maybe they won’t,” Terri said. “Maybe they are a sign that things are turning around.”
“Doubt it.”
“Any news on England?” Elise asked to fill the awkward silence.
“Few reports so far. London has been evacuated,” Terri said.
“Fuck!” Jacob said, flopping back on the couch.
“The worst of the infected areas seem to be in the south. The north is holding its own though,” Terri assured him. “People are actually listening and staying indoors, avoiding being infected.”
“Well then, we might just have a chance, lass.”
“If we can get a plane.”
Elise shrugged apologetically as all eyes turned to her. She wasn’t wrong, but no one really wanted to hear that just then.
“Mainland Europe is gone,” Jacob said quietly. He gestured to the TV and the presenter who was talking rapidly. “They will fight it, but there’s too many people already infected. When they say a city is lost then they are talking about hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions.”
He shook his head and set his jaw, there was something in his eyes that seemed close to despair and it shook the others.
“The islands… they might do okay. But this is a world-ending event.”
“We can hope though,” Terri said softly. “If England contains the infection, do you think they will sit back and let the rest of the world die? We’re better than that. I have to believe that our country is better than that.”
The older man just shrugged, a sense of sorrow settling around him. He wouldn’t hold out hope but saw no reason to belabour the point. The others were too young, too idealistic to realise the enormity of the task that any survivors would have.
He’d been in the forces, been in countries where columns of refugees stretched for miles. That was only tens of thousands. When a million or more infected left the cities in search of food, the ground would tremble beneath them.
“We’ll stay here tonight,” he said finally. “Have a hot meal and let our clothes dry. Tomorrow we set off.”
“Where?” Clive asked.
“North,” he said, softly. They would see what he meant, even if he had to take them all the way to Lyon to do so. “We go north.”
He pushed himself up from the couch and left them there in the living room. His back straight and his gaze set on the doorway, he clearly didn’t want to be followed. The others exchanged looks and settled back in to watching the TV and inventorying the food items.
Jacob let the door close behind him and headed to the bedroom. It had been a long night and he knew that they would need to remain on watch throughout the night so a nap was needed. Besides, he thought, it would be warmer under the covers on the bed.
He stopped as he opened the bedroom door, gazing at the sight before him, his eyes widening and a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“You like?” Mandy asked with a sultry smile.
She was seated on the edge of the bed, clad only in sheer black stockings and a black, lace thong with matching bra that pushed her breasts up and together pleasingly. She’d applied her makeup carefully, using mascara and eyeliner to emphasise her eyes with just a touch of colour for her cheeks. Her lips were the shade of red she preferred and she licked them suggestively as he stepped into the room.
“I do,” he said with a lascivious grin. “I really do.”
“Then come and enjoy me,” she practically purred to him, letting herself fall gently back to the bed as she uncrossed her legs.
He dropped the blanket and pulled off his coat, heedless of the cold as a different sort of heat grew within him. He knelt before her, his hands running up her stocking clad legs until he reached her knees. With a single motion, he jerked her legs apart.
His fingers moved up her thighs as she shivered. He hooked his thumbs beneath the thin material of her thong and pulled it down her thighs, then calves until he freed her legs from them. He moved her legs further apart, his head moving down, planting kisses on her thighs.
His tongue licked out, tasting her wetness. She arched her back as his hands moved up across her stomach, squeezing her breasts as he worked his jaw and tongue. A gasp of pleasure escaped her as his fingers found her nipples.
She
pressed her hands against his head, lifting her hips as she pushed him down against her, seeking to take as much pleasure as she could from him. She bit her lip, the burst of pain adding a sublime pleasure to what he was giving her.
Mandy lifted his head so that she could look into his eyes, her juices around his mouth a pleasing sight. She urged him up and he complied, dropping his own pants, his manhood hard and eager to be inside of her.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before planting a kiss on her stomach, moving up across her body. He nuzzled her neck, teeth biting down on her skin in the way that she liked. She caressed the side of his face and he turned, placing kisses along her arm.
“What…” she said as he pulled back suddenly.
His grip on her wrist tightened as he stared down at the angry red marks on her arm. His gaze turned to hers, full of fury as tears came unbidden to her eyes. She tried to pull her arm away, to hide it from his sight but he held it tight.
“You’re infected?” he asked, his passion dying before her eyes.
“I’m… I’m not sure,” she stammered as the fury grew in him.
His free hand circled her throat as his face twisted in rage. She gasped out a cry as he began to squeeze.
Chapter 11
Jacob stormed from the room, the door slamming against the wall as he yanked it open. His mind raced. Could he become infected with what he had done? Blood and saliva, that carried the infection, he was sure of that but the other bodily fluids? That was a question he had no answer for.
“Hey mate, you alright?” Clive said as he poked his head out through the living room doorway.
The older man turned his head to look at him and just stared. There was nothing he could think to say at that moment. His mind was consumed with thoughts of what might be happening to him.
“Piss and shit,” he said when Clive stepped out of the living room and into the hallway towards him.
“Huh?”
“The infection. It won’t be in their piss and shit, right?”
“I don’t know, why?”
“It can’t be,” Jacob said, ignoring him. “Whoever infected everyone would want to survive it, right? If their piss and shit was infected with the same virus or whatever, it could potentially get into the ecosystem if it was released every time one of them had a piss.”