Lewis clapped him on the shoulder, impressed with the man’s bravery and wishing that certain other members of his team were as compliant and willing to be of assistance. “You already have helped me my friend. More than you know, but this one is not for you. No disrespect but we need the most battle-experienced soldiers out there. You can best aid us by making sure those vehicles run like dreams. We don’t want any problems with them when we’re off station.”
Walkden beamed. “Well that I can do for you, yes indeed.”
Lewis was about to follow him out of the conference room when he noticed, like the time before, that Denny had not moved and was still sat at the table, staring out of the window.
“Sir?” He paused and addressed his commanding officer.
Denny did not look round but mumbled faintly, as though to himself. “They’ll never take this base you know. Never.”
Lewis frowned, puzzled but was too distracted and did not have time to stop and question the matter further, and by the time he would remember the comment it would already be too late.
The day was spent in a blur with much activity and preparation. Just before dinner Lewis summoned everyone on base, other than the guard at the front gate, into the dining area for a briefing. Denny was noticeably absent. There was a hush as Lewis outlined the plan for the following day and the moment he stopped speaking there was a murmur of anxious chatter. Vallage had outdone himself and somehow created a huge pan of steaming chilli, although nobody dared to ask him what he had used for the meat. For once he was in a good mood and actually emerged from the kitchen himself in order to serve the diners.
When Wood went up to him for food Vallage grasped him by the arm. “Good luck tomorrow sonny. I know you’ll keep them safe.”
He slapped an extra-large dollop of chilli on Wood’s plate.
“Hmmm, someone’s flavour of the day,” Collins teased him as they walked back to their table, “although if that means you have to eat more of that slop then I’m quite glad it’s you and not me.”
Collins and Wood spent another evening together, but as she was not going on the mission the following day, she had been assigned guard duty for later that night. In order to let him sleep she slipped out of his room at around midnight with a kiss. Although she was quiet and discreet her exit did not go entirely unnoticed.
The atmosphere had been virtually like a party with just about everyone in the dining hall together for once. Lewis and Singleton had gone in search of Denny at various times during the night but his office always looked as though he had just vacated it. On each occasion they found his window open and the curtains flapping but no sign of the man himself.
Singleton was clearly on edge. Lewis stopped her in the corridor as they walked towards Denny’s office for the last time. The light from his candle cast eerie, dancing shadows on the wall like a cadaverous puppet show.
He placed a hand on her arm. “Are you okay?”
She smiled, looking a little embarrassed. “Yeah I guess so. I think that the reality is starting to hit home. It’s one thing to be brave and volunteer for this mission when it’s just a remote possibility but now that we are actually going to go I guess I’m a little frightened.”
He grinned reassuringly. “It’s okay to be frightened.”
“Really?”
“Yeah sure. I’m scared every time I leave the base. In fact if I’m honest with you I’m completely scared witless. It’s natural; you’d have to be a fool not to be. And anyway, it’s a good thing.”
“How’s that?”
“It keeps you sharp and focussed and that keeps you safe. If you weren’t at least a little bit scared then you’d probably be careless and that would get people killed. So I suggest you don’t try and fight it too much, recognise that your fear may just keep you alive and be thankful for it.”
She released a large sigh and let her shoulders drop. “Okay, that makes me feel a bit better. Thanks.”
“And if it makes you feel better still, I’m gonna put you in my Land Rover so I’ll look after you. Just stay close, don’t do anything silly, and for heaven’s sake, don’t accidentally shoot me in the back.”
She laughed. “Well, all right, I’ll try not to, but only because you ask so nicely.”
They were standing close to each other, huddled in the small flickering halo of light. Lewis was suddenly aware that this was about as close as their bodies had ever been to each other for any length of time. He could feel her breath on his cheek, smell the faint hint of dried sweat that lingered around them all these days, the cloying scent of stale perfume and the smell of the gum that she chewed to clean the remains of chilli from her teeth. He could even see how dilated her pupils were in the dim light. It was the first time he could recall ever noticing the colour of her eyes. For a moment they held each other’s gaze and he thought that she might just be having a similar realisation. In fact for the past couple of days he thought they had probably got along better than ever before.
“Huh!” He smiled, stepped back slightly and broke the moment.
“What?”
“I never knew before what colour your eyes were.”
She too smiled, although her smile was a little sheepish and embarrassed. “Yep, plain old brown, all my life, although I used to want blue eyes. In fact when I was at med school I used to wear coloured contact lenses. That’s pretty sad, I know.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I thought that piercing blue eyes would be much more desirable. I guess you always want what you haven’t got.”
“Well I think yours look really quite nice as they are.”
“Is that a compliment, Captain Lewis?” She pronounced his title somewhat deliberately, feeling very self-conscious.
Now it was his turn to look embarrassed. “Well, I guess it is, Squadron Leader Singleton.” Both of them realised, although neither said it, that it was actually the first compliment he had ever paid her.
Once again Denny’s office was empty when they arrived and again the window was ajar, although again Lewis closed it.
Later that night Lewis lay on his bed wearing only his boxer shorts. The curtains were open and the light from a pale moon illuminated him. It was a cool night but he had a high metabolism and usually found that he felt warm while those around him shivered. Tonight, especially with so much going round and round in his head, he was sweating slightly and could not sleep. He was going over the plan for the next day, mentally checking that they had prepared as best as they could, had chosen the right people for the sortie, which vehicles to have them all in and so on. He thought he heard a soft knocking at his door and sat up. There was no sound. Thinking he must have imagined it he sank back down but again, a hesitant, uncertain knocking, as though whoever it was did not want to actually wake him up if he was asleep, but was also fairly insistent and was not going away unanswered. He got up and opened the door. Singleton stood there wearing only a thin, pale vest and skimpy knickers. The gossamer top followed the silhouette of her otherwise naked figure closely, subtle details being picked out by the moonlight. She was a slim lady, she had very obviously kept herself in good shape and it was the first time he had ever thought about her body in such a way. She looked apologetic and embarrassed as she hugged herself, for once a shy teenager rather than the brash, authoritative medical officer that she normally portrayed.
“Sorry to disturb you, I can’t sleep. Guess I’m a bit more scared than I thought.”
Lewis was surprised to see her and did not immediately respond which she took as a rebuff and started to recoil, stammering.
“Look this is a really bad idea, I shouldn’t have come. I’m just going to go back to my room and try to sleep. Forget I was here.”
“Hey.” He said nothing else but it was enough to stop her backing away. In times such as these, each new day brought the very real possibility that any one of them might face their doom. The mission to the GVF laboratories the next day had brought that fact sharply into f
ocus. Whilst it was something that was clearly vitally important, nevertheless they all appreciated that it may very well bring with it more deaths. The thought of it was praying on the minds and souls of everyone on base. Every last chance to embrace the fact that they were still alive was to be celebrated. Every opportunity for levity, every moment of compassion - or of passion - was one not to be wasted. He opened the door a fraction more and moved aside to allow her in before closing the door gently behind her.
After the jovial atmosphere that had momentarily prevailed, the base was now quiet. Not everybody had been in a party spirit however; Bannister had been in a foul mood all day. His headache had not shifted and he had tried his best to avoid company, although Millington had infuriatingly been keeping a close eye on him. Bannister had also been involved with preparations for the forthcoming mission. Now that he had been released from quarantine he was one of the more experienced soldiers and was an obvious choice to go, along with his frustrating friend.
Tonight however Millington had retired to bed, as had most people, and at around midnight Bannister found it easy to slip out of his room unnoticed. His brain pulsed with strange thoughts that did not entirely feel his own. His torch was not turned on and so when he practically bumped into Collins as she vacated Wood’s room, she fortunately did not see him. He froze to the wall and held his breath as she turned away and shone her torch down the opposite length of the corridor, in too much of a contented daze to consider the fact that she was not alone. He watched her pert buttocks bob away into the darkness with the soft, swish-swish sound of starched military trousers. Although theoretically he was not yet doing anything wrong he still felt like a criminal and his heart was racing.
He stared at the door to the room she had just vacated. Wood! He always seemed so smug and self-assured, so patronising and judgemental. At that moment Bannister truly loathed him. He paused outside the door as the alien thoughts throbbing in his skull filled with anger and violence, and he actually half-considered going into the room and sinking a knife deep into the man’s throat. He would be able to do it whilst his unsuspecting victim slept, no problem. See how smug he would be then, huh? But his interests were elsewhere tonight and at that moment he could not have cared less about Corporal Collins and her firm little rump.
Like a panther he stalked through the corridors of the mess, freezing at every creak of floorboard or sigh of settling beam. In a fuzzy, dream-like state he found himself outside and gasping down the cold air as his breath formed vapour in front of him. The night came to him in brief glimpses of clarity, interspersed with a confused jumble of images. He was astride the perimeter wall at the back of the mess as far away from the main guardroom as possible with a ladder propped up just below him. A moment later and he was outside the station and walking along the grassy verge, his Browning held listlessly in front of him, guiding his way. On some level of consciousness he knew that what he was doing was incredibly unsafe and he really should be afraid for his life, but he just could not muster the enthusiasm for fear, so consumed was he by his own private mission and so scrambled was his reasoning.
He carefully avoided the guardroom and the next glimpse of clarity had him out on the open road heading towards town. A moment later and he was further from the base near some houses with parked and abandoned vehicles. On the lawn of the closest was a Ford Fiesta. Amongst other crimes Bannister had committed during his misspent youth, he had stolen various cars, and this skill was to come in handy now. Fords were renowned for being the easiest to hotwire and this one presented him with little problem. Before he knew it he was proceeding sedately along the road as though he were out for a drive in the country. His actions were slow and ponderous and he could barely remember smashing the window and forcing the ignition. In truth he did not even manage to get the car out of first gear, although he was completely unaware of that fact.
Sat once again on her perch overlooking the petrol station Flavia saw the lights of the car before she could hear the sound of the engine. “At last. What took you so long?” She smiled a thin, self-satisfied smile revealing long, sharp incisors at the corners of her red lips and stood to flex her elegant limbs.
Simultaneously above a nearby house another shadow detached itself from the rooftop and keeping low to the building, slid carefully away into the night, out of sight and hearing even of Flavia’s acute senses.
When she had bitten into Bannister’s neck before, Flavia had taken blood from him but she left a little something nestling deep in his soul. Once under her enchantment it was like a drug that Bannister found very hard to fight against, just as she herself could barely resist the allure of human blood. Flavia had known that sooner or later he would return to her at the place she had told him to come to, just as Sebastian had also guessed. So now Sebastian noted where he first glimpsed the lights of the car and made his way to that spot to wait. At some stage later that night he realised Bannister would return to the military base. Sebastian did not have the use of a vehicle himself at this time. He knew it was unlikely that he would be able to keep pace with this car. However, he reasoned that if he went now to wait just beyond the spot where he first saw its lights, when it later came past him on its return journey to Headley Court that would give him an advantage and he may just be able to track it all the way back.
As the car approached the petrol station Bannister’s head was pounding. He felt his body start to gently throb. He got out of the car. The unnerving way his breath curled around him in the headlights just added to the surreal shroud that the night had donned. There was a slight fragrance of flowers. Immediately he sensed, rather than felt, the presence of another person standing behind him. In a sudden panic he span around.
“Fear not my little one, ‘tis I.”
And there she was, a vision, or perhaps an apparition. She loomed closer and closer in the still night and then his brief moment of awareness became a blur. At some stage on some level he heard her talking to him, whispering in his ear with her mouth rubbing against him, brushing him tantalizingly with murmurings of seduction and half promises and he answered; he mentioned the base and the people within and the mission to the laboratories and felt her lips caress and pull at his neck as they had done before, and then her lips pressed against his and her strong, cold arms wrapped firmly about his back, preventing him from struggling, although to struggle was the last thing on his half-crazed mind, and he felt his body relax and the pounding in his head retreated and he pressed himself against her and the shaking in his limbs subsided, and then, eventually, even the dreamlike blur dimmed and faded.
Some long time later but all too soon he realised he was back in the car and already driving home towards the base although he had no recollection of their parting. He found himself approaching Headley Court and then he was outside the car and trudging through the undergrowth, and a moment later he was at the foot of the ladder. It was propped against the wall allowing him to climb back into the base although he could not actually recall having hoisted it over, so long ago now, and then he was back in his room and nobody had seen him and he was tired, oh so tired, and then finally, at long, long last, he slept, blissfully unaware of the damage he had already done.
The alarm sounded like a claxon violently ending her slumber for the night. Collins groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. It felt as though she had only been asleep for a few minutes and she cursed whilst fumbling for her torch. The walkie-talkie on the bedside table crackled into life.
“Collins, Collins, you awake?”
“Yes, I’m awake Gillen,” she replied somewhat grumpily.
“Your turn. You’ve got fifteen minutes to get here.”
“Right, I’ll be there.”
She lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes for a moment, coming round slowly. The radio crackled and blared out again.
“What was that?”
“Yes, I heard. Fifteen minutes, copy, roger, wilco, whatever. I’ll be there.” She swung her legs off the bed and
shivered. It was cold.
She had had strange dreams where she had been in an unfamiliar house and was searching unsuccessfully for something. A dark figure with piercing eyes had been present and nearby although he remained largely unseen. No matter how hard she tried to turn and see where he was, he stayed one step ahead, in the shadows and constantly out of her field of vision. She could not remember if the individual had been intimidating or protecting her but it had left her feeling anxious. There were other horrible manifestations with bits of rotting flesh hanging off their faces and hands, all chasing her. She was aware that if ever they touched her she was doomed to suffer the same plight. At one stage she was with another soldier but he disappeared and she was totally alone. She just accepted that it was useless to search for him. He was gone and would never return. Somewhere in the dream Cujo had been with her. He had been dragged into another room that she could not enter and his screams haunted her from behind closed doors. She had woken with her heart racing and was not upset to leave the dream behind.
Gillen was delighted when she poked her head through the guardroom door. “Ah, there, you are. Thought you’d gone back to sleep for a mo.” He was way too cheerful for someone who had been awake all night. “There’s nothing to report here, it’s just a quiet and chilly night. I’m off. Have fun, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” she said but he was already gone. He could not get out of the guardroom fast enough. She closed the door behind him and sat down, rubbing her hands together and blowing into them before reaching for a thermos flask of coffee that he had left behind. She stared out into the night and could feel her eye-lids becoming heavy as she struggled to throw off the tiredness. Her dream bothered her as it reminded her of the unanswered questions that had been all but forgotten on base, questions about the missing bodies of Sinna and Rohith and about the strange couple that had saved them at the petrol station. Since no one could provide any answers to either conundrum and there was already enough to preoccupy everyone, both issues had died a death on the station and had hardly been mentioned since.
The Blood of the Infected (Book 1): Once Bitten, Twice Die Page 33