“What problem was that?”
“Philip do you want to tell your mom what you were doing this morning?”
“Erm…I was watching Dad learn how to strip and clean a MP5 in the library.” He said looking at the table.
“What has that got to do with anything?” Jennie asked.
“Chris, quickly go bring a clean MP5 up here as quick as you can.” I asked.
“Sure.” He said turning and running from the room.
“Why is he doing that?” Jennie asked.
“If we wait till he comes back. I’ll answer your question and you’ll have all the answers you’ll need.” I said.
We stood there waiting for Chris to return and in a short while I heard his heavy footsteps running down the hallway. Out of breath he ran through the doors and gave me the brand new MP5.
“Jennie try not to get upset by this and no I haven’t had time to sort this out, but it might show you why I picked Philip.” I said.
Stepping closer to the table I placed the rifle in front of Philip.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jennie shouted leaning over to take the rifle off the table.
“Don’t worry it’s never had any ammo in it and there isn’t a mag in it either.”
Jennie stepped back looking at me like I was the devil trying to temp her son.
“Philip, can you do me a favour, strip and reassemble this rifle for me. Chris time him will you.” I asked.
We all watched as Philips hands flew over the weapon sliding back pieces and unlocking them. Placing the pieces in order on the table in front of him. He stripped the weapon placed it on the table and then proceeded to return it back to working order.
He slid the last piece into the weapon and I called “Time!”
Chris leaned over and showed the time to David. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” David said.
Chris passed me the timer and I said “Looks like he beat you’re record by a minute and three seconds, Chris.”
Standing there Chris smiled at Philip and said “It does look like that.”
Jennie just looked puzzled and asked “What?”
“Look Jennie not one of us here helped Philip do that. The only reason he was able to do it was because he watch his father and Tom doing strip downs all this morning. He never asked for the job and he will never fire any of the weapons. I just think he has the chance to be great at the job we have given him and it will keep him from under everyone’s feet.” I said.
“Jennie, it’s true we never even asked him to join us this morning he just sat behind us and watched.” David said.
Jennie looked at each one of us in turn and then at her son before asking “Philip is this what you want to do?”
“It’s the next best thing mom.” He said looking up at her.
“The next best thing?” She asked.
“Well I think I could be a better shot than Chris or Marc, but they’re right I am too young to go round shooting guns.”
To be honest I thought that was a very adult answer and I think that it was what swayed his mother. I could see it in her eyes before she even opened her mouth.
“If this is what you want then ok. But the first time he gets hurt, I’ll have all your balls in a frying pan.” She said looking at us all.
Tell the truth I was fairly certain that she could do it as well.
Smiling I sat beside Philip and clapped him on the shoulder and he beamed a huge wattage of a smile at me.
Leaning over I whispered to him “See I told you she’d be ok with it.”
Jennie looked at me and said “Don’t think this means I am not pissed off at you for not asking me first.”
I did actually feel like a school boy stealing sweets, I done something and I had ended up with just a slap on the wrist. David went over to his wife and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
Grinning Chris said “I won’t even try to do that.”
“You do and we will have to have words.” Laughed David.
Chapter Sixteen
Jennie left us and went into the kitchen, made a flask of coffee and some potato curry for our afternoon meal. Rosa swanned in and sniffed at the odours coming from the kitchen. Flopping down at a table away from us she cast a glance at Tom. Sighing he got up and went to sit beside her. After a while they started a whispered conversation which gradually got more heated the longer it went on. Rosa stood and glared across at me and then stomped out of the room. Pushing past Jake as he came in through the doors.
“Well excuse me princess!” He said.
All we heard from her was “Fuck you, you old….” as the door closed on her words.
Shaking his head Jake headed over and took a table near to us.
“What’s got her undies all knotted up?” He asked.
“I think she didn’t like the idea of me doing something I wanted to do. That and the fact I’m not there to be her servant anymore. She actually wanted me to help her rearrange furniture and bring her some food down to the room. Honestly does she think that everything is the same as before the infected? What the hell does she think?” Tom said sitting down on Jake’s table.
“Sorry to say young’un but people like her are brought up thinking they are be all and end all.” Jake said looking softly at Tom.
“Ever since the infected started to turn up I have started to see her in a different light all together.” Tom said.
“Well, all ok life changed the day they arrived on the scene.” David said.
I know that because of the infected I had changed. I mean before this I was quite happy to let life just pass me by, but now I was so different. I had changed day by day until I became the leader of a group of survivors. Sitting there I had some many things to be grateful. I had new friends and a secure place to live. The door to the dining room opened and Amy walked inside with a small smile on her face.
“Tom you might want to go and see to your girlfriend.” She said walking over to the tables.
“Why?” Tom replied.
Everyone looked up waiting for the answer.
Amy’s grin just grew larger before she said “I just knocked her on her arse is why.”
Groaning Tom just asked “What the fuck has she done now?”
“She had the fucking gall to ask me to wash her sheets and clothes and iron them. When I said no she started to scream in my face. So I planted a fist in her face.” Amy said sitting down beside Jake.
“Jesus will she not fucking learn.” Tom said standing up but then he thought better of it and sat back down.
“You not going to check on her?” I asked.
Tom looked at me then Amy and asked “Did she get up?”
“Well she was trying to when I left her.” Amy said.
“Then she’ll be ok. It’s about time that she learned you can’t push people round without something happening.” He said with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
I just shook my head and turned my attention to Jake.
“Jake anything on the radios this morning?” I asked.
Jay looked at his hands before saying “To tell you the truth there was a very faint sound, but it could be down the road or on the other side of the world. It was so faint, I couldn’t tell if it was a voice or music.”
“Ok mate just keep an ear out and let us know if you come across anything.” I said.
Jennie walked back into the dining room with her daughter Maddie trailing behind her. With everyone sitting down except for Rosa. I decided to have a small meeting.
Clearing my voice I said “Remember that I said we would sort out clothing for the kids?” I got various nods from round the table. “Well if David carries on with his shooting for the rest of the day he might be ready and I thought if that if he is good enough. Then tomorrow Chris, David and I would go out and get them get the clothing we need.”
“There are a few things that we need that the bunker doesn’t have many of as well.” Amy said.
/> Looking at her Chris said “What?”
“Well the women need certain things and when I looked round I only found a few of them.” She answered.
I sat waiting for Chris to put his foot in it, because I knew what she was taking about.
“Oh come on what the hell do you need that we don’t?” He asked.
“Feminine hygiene.” Was the only answer that she gave.
Everyone sat holding our breath waiting to see him work it out. He sat there with a puzzled look on his face. Slowly a light appeared behind his eyes and his face changed.
“Oh!”
Of course everyone burst out laughing at him and he went a burning scarlet colour. This set more people off and after a while he started to laugh along.
“Ok, if there is anything else we need, we’ll have to make a list for them. The next thing will be to figure out where we will be going for the supplies. It will have to be within a day’s travel.” I said.
“And of course I’ll be coming as well.” Amy said surprising everyone and everyone turned to look at her.
“Like fuck you will.” Chris nearly bellowed.
Amy just sat back and crossed her arms under her breasts and looked at him.
“Hold on Chris for a second. Amy what makes you think that you even have the remotest chance in coming with us?” I asked.
She leaned forward and pulled out a wallet from her back pocket. Now for a woman to pull out a wallet is strange enough. But then she flipped it open and showed us an Army ID card.
Now it was my turn to say “What the fuck?”
Chris leaned forward and snatched the ID from her. He looked at it before passing it to me. LT Amy Jamerson (TA) it said with her date of birth and picture. Bloody Territorial Army nothing but weekend warriors the lot of them. I passed her wallet back and sat back looking at her.
“Well?” I asked.
“I was in York at 15 North East Brigade before all this went down and started to head home when York got hit. I made it as far as Thirsk when I saw the A.P.C head into the village. As Chris drove out with the other survivors I decided to join up. I thought that being in a group might give me better chance of survival.” She said looking between Chris and myself.
“Ok.” I said.
Chris just looked at me like I had grown another head.
“Marc, what the fuck mate?” He said with his mouth hanging open.
“To tell you the truth mate, I sort of had a feeling she had been hiding something. That and we could do with another shooter. That way we can have two teams. If Tom had been a better shot I would have taken him, no offence mate.” I said looking at Tom.
“It’s not a problem. I was sort of scared when I was firing that rifle. Stripping it down and seeing how it worked was cool but other than that I’m glad I was a poor shot.” He said.
Amy put her wallet back in her jeans and said “If one of you can get me some BDU’s I’d be grateful. Also any chance of getting a rifle so I can zero in the sights.”
Chris just sat there with his mouth hanging open and David was grinning at him.
“Let’s just have food and sort out the rest later.” I said.
Chapter Seventeen
It was mid-afternoon by the time we had sorted out a uniform and rifle for Amy. After that Chris, David, Amy and I headed to the range to get some practice in before the following day. Jake said he would try and find the signal that had been too faint and make out what it was. Tom and Philip returned to the library to go through more manuals. God only knew where Rosa had gone off to, but she couldn’t get out of the bunker as I had shut down access to the ground floor from the security room. Jennie and Maddie had continued doing an inventory of the kitchen and freezers. I asked Tom and Philip to put off doing an inventory of the armoury until after we had come back from our supply run tomorrow.
We settled in zeroing out the rifles in the range and I think everyone was surprised with how well Amy shot. She was a lot better than David and me, but she was nowhere as good as Chris. After a short while it became clear that they were both trying to out shoot each other. David and I stopped shooting and we stood back and just watched as they were both getting more and more competitive. In the end I had to call an end to it or there would have been fists flying.
“Guys it might be best if we split you two up tomorrow.” I said laughing.
“I could see tomorrow being a problem if we kept them together.” David said smiling.
“Fine! I go with Marc tomorrow.” Amy said.
“Hey hang on. We hadn’t decided who was going with who tomorrow.” I said.
“Too late mate.” Chris said laughing as he walked out of the range.
Sticking my head out of the doorway I called after him “Be ready early in the morning fuck wit.”
He just held up his hand with the middle finger sticking up.
Ducking back inside Amy was talking to David about his stance and was giving near enough the same pointers Chris and I gave him earlier in the day.
“We’ll meet in the dining room in the morning and head out from there.” I said to them.
“Cool. I’ll see you in the morning” David said.
I walked out the range and headed for the lifts. My cleaning kit was in my room. And after the near mutiny by the women, I kept either the MP5 or SA80 in my room.
Standing at the lift doors Amy came running up the hallway “Marc!” she shouted.
I turned to look at her “What?”
“I’ve got a question to ask.”
“Again what?”
“Is it right to take David with us tomorrow? I mean he is almost as good with the rifle as you, but I don’t think he has ever had to fight for anything. I mean just look at the size of him.” She said.
“No, I don’t think it’s right to have him outside yet but we need supplies. Chris will look after him. He did a great job getting me here.” I said as we stepped into the lift.
“The way he tells it, it was you that got him and Jay here.” She said pressing the fourth floor button and standing back.
“Yeah, I got us here and then got one of us killed.” I said looking at the floor. I suddenly felt down.
“That was never your fault. Those women must have been broken before you got to them.” She said.
“Still it didn’t help that I had to kill most of them.” I replied.
The lift stopped and the door opened and we stepped out into the hallway. She kept quiet until we reached her door.
Turning she looked at me and said “Look we all know what happened and we all know what you had to do. Chris wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t done what you had. And neither would we if you hadn’t done what you had back in Thirsk.”
“Maybe. I’ll see you in the morning.” I said and headed off down the hallway to my room.
I could hear her sigh as I walked away. I really didn’t want to be talking about what had happened. To tell the truth I was still trying to get it all straight in my own head. That’s probably why I had taken such a big risk when rescuing the other survivors. Opening my door I walked inside. Placing my rifle next to the door as usual. Dropping on to the bed I pulled my boots off and lay back. After a while I pulled my dirty shirt and jeans off and headed for the shower. Cleaning all the sweat and smell of cordite from my flesh had me feeling better.
Drying myself I walked to the cabinets in the kitchenette and pulled out a bottle of water. I sat in the chair thinking of what we were going to do in the morning. Was Amy right in asking about David? The thing was if we did have to split up tomorrow I would rather that we each had backup in case anything happened. The fact David had family here in the bunker did sway my thoughts for asking him to stay here tomorrow, but I knew he wouldn’t want to do that. All in all I just wanted to fall a sleep tonight and wake in my own bed at home and this whole nightmare be just a bad dream. Getting up I headed over to get some clothes on and head to the dining room for some food, when I thought better of it and decided to j
ust lie on the bed and get some sleep. Tomorrow would come in its own time and for the moment the silence of my room and the softness of my bed beckoned me. Sliding between the sheets I closed my eyes and again let sleep claim me.
Knocking on the door to my room woke me from a deep sleep. Opening my gunky eyes I looked round the dark room.
“Ok, Ok. Who’s there?” I shouted sitting up.
The knocking stopped “Its David. Jennie was up early to make us some breakfast before we leave. So I thought I should get up as well.” He said.
“Thanks for giving me the early morning wakeup call.” I said standing and heading for the wardrobe.
“I’ll see you up in the dining room.” He said through the door.
I listened as his footsteps headed back up the hallway. Grabbing a clean set of BDU’s from the wardrobe I got dressed. Picking up my webbing from the back of my chair I put it on and fastened the belt. Making sure the straps were tight and all the pockets were secure I headed to the door, picking up the rifle as I opened it. Stepping out into the hallway I heard Chris’ door open and he walked, out rubbing his eyes and looking around.
“Morning.” He said.
“Morning. Any ideas of where we might find the stuff we need?” I asked as we headed to the dining room.
He rubbed the back of his head before answering “There’s a small village not too far from here called Thorne. I know how to get there and they have a few shops that might have the supplies we need.”
“When was the last time you were through there?” I asked when we got to the lifts.
He looked at the ceiling before saying “It was about eight months ago.”
“Ok sounds like Thorne is the best place for the time being. Unless the other two have any ideas?” I said and we stepped into the lift.
Chapter Eighteen
Just as the door was closing a hand stuck in between the doors, making them open again. Standing with her hands on her hips was Rosa and she didn’t look too happy. Not to mention her hair was a mess and her makeup was smeared.
The Bunker (The Infected Series Book 2) Page 9