The Dust: Book Three - Sanctum

by Sharp, David H

  ‘Come now, follow Pip.’ He stopped and beckoned them with both arms, forgetting about Amber. He apologised once again and quickly covered his modesty.

  Jake and Amber didn’t move.

  ‘Come follow Pip.’ He was more insistent this time. ‘Danger out here.’ He looked up at the shops and the first floor windows. ‘Everywhere.’

  ‘Let’s go with him, Daddy.’ Amber pushed her dad in the backside. She didn’t like the dark streets, and she could feel them closing in.

  ‘Pip wants to look after you. Would you like some food? Hot food.’ He turned away again.

  This made Jake think. He hadn’t eaten anything hot since dining with Yanto. They had taken a chance on him and it had paid off.

  ‘Come on.’ Pip waved again, this time one handed. This was followed by a giggle. ‘Apples. I have fresh apples.’

  Jake looked down at Amber.

  ‘I like him.’ She said, smiling. ‘He’s funny.’

  Jake looked around, the clouds were getting darker and lower. The whole place was starting to feel oppressive. ‘Come on then.’ He started to follow Pip. ‘Only for some hot food though. Then we leave.’

  Jake, Amber and Young Red disappeared down the side alley of the butchers shop and into the shadows.

  ***

  Emma Davis slowed down as she reached the check point. This was the fourth one today, and she had only travelled from Bristol to Cirencester.

  The man in white overalls pointed his gun at the car. ‘Open the window.’ He shouted.

  Winding the window down of the Land Rover, Davis handed over the laminated card that had been on the dashboard.

  Willoughby had the idea of identification cards for every member of the Purebloods. This was to make it easy for each of them to travel the country and impossible for those without one. With the right equipment and know-how they were easy to make, but without any power and organisation it was nigh on impossible.

  The Purebloods had the upper hand at the moment and they knew it.

  The checkpoint guard looked at the ID card and passed it back. ‘Okay you’re free to go.’

  Davis released the clutch and wound the window up. It would take another fifteen or so minutes to get to Bourton on the Water, and a meeting with the Doyen and Willoughby.

  She was supposed to be meeting him back at base camp in Bristol, but everyone had moved to Bourton where a large clan of Infected had gathered. It was going to be Showtime and Davis couldn’t wait. The thrill of the fight turned her on, and she felt invincible with a gun at her side and men to order about.

  Christ I love this new world. She couldn’t stop smiling.

  Leaving the Land Rover with the many other vehicles on the outskirts of the picturesque town, she was escorted into the battle area by two young guards.

  ‘Over there.’ One pointed.

  Emma Davis looked over at the small crowd gathered by the memorial statue, just in front of the shallow river.

  Willoughby noticed her marching towards the gathering and met her half way. ‘Emma my dear.’ He shook her hand. ‘Sorry to drag you out here.'

  ‘What’s going down?’ She looked over his shoulder at the many armed Purebloods chomping at the bit.

  ‘We pushed about fifty or so of the Infected up to this town. Little did we know that about the same number had ransacked the town, moving south from the midlands. Now we have a hundred or so mutant savages creating holy hell.’ Willoughby handed her some ammunition. ‘You’ll need some of this.’

  Davis was delighted, she wasn’t sure if she was going to be asked to join the hunt. ‘Thank you sir.’

  ‘You wanted a meeting with the Doyen?’

  ‘Just an update as to what is happening down at Taunton.’ Davis rolled her eyes.

  ‘Trouble?’ Willoughby asked.

  ‘Doctor Robert; he is a law unto himself.’

  ‘That he is.’ Willoughby laughed. ‘The trouble is, he is the highest ranking medical officer we have. That means.’

  Davis cut in, knowing what the next part of Willoughby’s sentence would be. ‘We have to turn a blind eye.’ She sighed. ‘But I honestly think he isn’t doing his job correctly. He is spending way too much time saving people that are of no use to us, and ignoring the other task.’

  ‘To try and control the Infected?’

  ‘Yes. The whole facility is overcrowded, and four of our staff have already been killed in the past three days. It’s a catastrophe waiting to happen.’

  Willoughby took on a more serious stance. ‘Well that’s different, we can’t have that. Maybe we need to visit Doctor Robert for a little chat.’

  ‘If you think that would help.’ She paused. ‘I doubt it though; the man seems to enjoy antagonising anyone who tries to tell him what to do.’

  ‘Okay, we have a problem, I can see that.’ He smiled at the young, exuberant Emma Davis. What he was about to say next was only going to add to her on-going problems at Taunton. ‘We have more bodies to send down to Robert.’

  Davis said nothing, she just slowly nodded.

  ‘They need to be looked at. Infected bodies that seemed to have died from natural causes.’ Willoughby looked behind him as screams could now be heard.

  ‘Okay, I can see that is urgent. Perhaps you or the Doyen could come with me. Back to Taunton.’

  Willoughby was about to answer when more screams and some shouting were followed by pushing and a few gunshots.

  Davis could see something was happening; steel pipes and planks of wood were flying through the air towards the front line.

  ‘Incoming!’ One of the Purebloods shouted.

  ‘Willoughby.’ The Doyen called over to his number two.

  ‘Come on,’ He took Emma’s arm. ‘It’s all going to kick off.’

  Emma cocked her automatic rifle. Now was the time to forget about Doctor Robert and his insubordination. The time had come to scalp some of the filth that had ruined their sacred land.

  ***

  Jake gazed around at the dark dank stone walls of the cellar. The stench of rotting food was almost unbearable, but Pip had insisted they move deeper into the tunnel where he had something special to show them.

  Young Red had sat in the doorway, crying. He refused to go any further. His nose twitching, he could smell danger. He lay down on the floor, whining after the little girl.

  ‘I don’t like it, daddy.’ Amber felt the cold wet stone as she put her hand out to feel her way. ‘We should stay with Young red.’

  Jake was beginning to think this was a massive mistake. Why follow this stranger into a tunnel?

  It was a major bad call so he stopped. ‘Shall we leave?’

  Amber nodded her head.

  They both turned around when Pip suddenly sprang back into view. ‘We have something for you.’ He scampered around them both, now facing them and grinning like a crazed madman. ‘Look.’ He held out his wrinkly hand; in the middle of it was a fresh, cold apple.

  Jake’s eyes widened. ‘Where did you get that?’

  ‘Follow me, follow me.’ The wild looking stranger tugged at his arm and led them back in the opposite direction.

  They only walked about twenty paces around a sharp bend and they found themselves in a large room. Twenty or so white candles hung on the wall, the hot wax dangling and dripping below each one. Jake could see other figures moving in the murky corners.

  ‘Who’s that?’ He asked.

  ‘Meredith and her baby, she’s feeding it.’ He pointed to a bundle of rags where Jake had seen the initial movement. ‘And that’s big Mike the butcher. This is his shop.’ Pip pointed to another dark corner of the room where the shadows seemed to move.

  Jake could see a very large man, in height and weight. He was lying on a dirty duvet, scratching his stubbled face as he stirred in his sleep. ‘Anyone else?’

  ‘Nope.’Pip jumped into the air again as if receiving an electric shock. ‘Just us.’ He leaped over to the boxes of food and threw Jake an orange. ‘Catch!�
�� He shouted.

  Jake caught it one handed and immediately started to peel the skin off. ‘Where exactly are we?’ He looked around, squinting through the candlelight. It was like one of those underground bunkers you would see in an old black and white war film.

  ‘Under the shops.’ Pip grinned again, his rotting teeth on full show. He sniggered and moved closer to Jake. ‘Where the rats used to live.’

  Jake could hear a rumble, as if a tank was passing on the road above. ‘What’s that noise?’

  ‘Pitter patter, pitter patter. The rain comes today.’ Pip started to dance.

  Amber laughed as she ate a segment of juicy orange. ‘You’re funny.’

  ‘You might as well live with us now.’ Pip pointed a bony finger at Jake. ‘You don’t want to go out there. The rain; it will burn, it will sting. Full of the devils fire.’ He twirled around as if he was a magician about to pull a white dove out of a top hat.

  Jake looked above at the stone ceiling. It sounded as if the rain was hammering down, bouncing off the cobbles. The crazy old man might have a point.

  Jake had never heard of the devil’s fire. It might be the acid in the rain from the volcanic ash fallout. He wasn’t sure and he wasn’t going to find out. For now, in the short term, he and Amber would remain underground. As soon as the rain passed though, they would be out of this cellar and moving south.

  ***

  Emma Davis ran through the shallow stream in pursuit of the two naked figures; only moments before they had been attacking one of her fellow Pureblood soldiers. If it wasn’t for her short burst of gunfire above the melee they would have surely killed him.

  She stopped, steadied her aim and fired again. Both the infected bodies burst like water balloons; the water beneath them filled with blood and shattered bone.

  ‘Davis!’

  The shout came from her right and she immediately looked across.

  It was Waters. A shaven headed, six foot three, mean, lean fighting machine. They had met a week earlier, when they had been clearing out the centre of Bristol. The guy was an animal; an arrogant, cold blooded murderer who, like herself, relished this new harsh world where the Purebloods were kings.

  Emma Davis could see him pointing over at two white buildings that lay on the left hand side of the stream. She nodded. Stepping out of the cold water, she ran up behind him to give covering fire.

  As he bounded towards the old bakery Emma Davis shadowed him, shooting anything with bare flesh that dared to move.

  Waters, crouching like a Puma, slowed down as he reached the door. Davis stopped about thirty meters behind him, all her senses honed in on the one building.

  He kicked down the door with one mighty boot, and let out a blast from his gun. He disappeared inside, and Davis, her automatic rifle held up so she could see straight down the barrel, followed.

  Screams came from the kitchen as Davis entered; one of the Purebloods, who had gone in earlier, was down.

  Waters squeezed the trigger and took two infected bodies out. Gliding across the slate floor he clubbed the third aggressor with his gun, the head exploding on impact.

  ‘Get a medic!’ He shouted at Davis. ‘Man down, abdominal wound.’ He looked back down to his fellow Pureblood. ‘He’s losing too much blood.’

  Davis was just about to leave when another two naked females rushed the kitchen from the back door. ‘Get down!’ She screamed.

  Waters hit the deck.

  A short, sharp blast from the gun and the two advancing bodies flew backwards, congealed blood spraying everything in its path.

  Davis, her gun still smoking, moved quickly to the back door. She needed to clear the area.

  Kicking one of the heads of the dead as she ran past, she spun out of the doorway, letting off another volley of gunfire. She looked skywards. There was movement on the flat roof.

  Feet tapping as she ran up the metal fire escape, she leapt from the top and rolled across the tar and gravel roof. A naked male tried to grab her, but she was too fast. Swinging her leg around to catch his, he was brought crashing down to the sticky surface.

  Using her boot, she pressed hard on his throat. This kept him down on the ground. She used just one bullet in the forehead to finish him off.

  The fire escape started to tap once more, and Davis took aim, but lowered when she could see it was Waters who had followed her to the sheltered roof top.

  ‘You okay?’ He asked, wiping blood from his cheek.

  ‘Of course, it was a good job I was covering you.’ She smiled.

  ‘You had my back, I’ll give you that.’ He removed his gloves. ‘The all clear has been given. The area is safe.’

  ‘Damn.’ Davis put her gun down. ‘I was enjoying that.’ She unzipped her overall to let some air in.

  Waters laughed. ‘You are something else. I can see you love the thrill of the fight.’

  Davis’s heart was still pounding, he was right. She had never felt anything quite like it. Being so close to death but refusing to lie down. It was if you could peer over to the other side, knowing it could be the last minute of your life.

  She took a deep breath, she felt exhilarated. It was like every minute on this fucked up planet your senses were magnified. Live life to it’s fullest. Tomorrow you could be dead.

  Waters walked over to her with a swagger; he liked Davis, and she turned him on. He started to smile and gave her a wink.

  ‘You think you can just take me, do you?’ Emma Davis could see what he wanted and pushed him back aggressively.

  ‘Anytime I want.’ He unzipped his white overall and walked back towards her.

  ‘Oh yeah.’ Davis went to slap him. She was loving this feisty foreplay.

  Waters stopped her hand and pushed her over to the brick wall. ‘You want it?’ He asked with a steely glare.

  ‘You haven’t got the tools to do it.’ Davis growled back. Her heart now thumping out of her heaving chest.

  Waters pinned her up against the wall and lowered both her hands behind her back. He roughly kissed her neck, licking every inch.

  Davis tried to push him away but she was enjoying it too much, it took her breath away.

  Waters moved upwards, licking and kissing her chin and then her mouth.

  Davis bit hard. Deep into his bottom lip.

  Waters moved away and with his index finger touched his lip; blood was on the end of it.

  ‘Don’t be a pussy.’ Davis grabbed Waters by the back of the head and pulled him back in. ‘Give Mamma what she wants.’

  In seconds both pairs of white overalls were lying discarded on the flat tar roof.

  Chapter Eight

  The next seven hours were spent sat in the damp cellar, watching the rain water trickle down the stone walls. Rats had started to scurry back indoors, out of the storm. Pip, armed with a small rusty spade, had soon sent them back the other way, only this time three or four down in numbers.

  ‘Daddy, I don’t like it here. I want to leave.’ This wasn’t the first time Amber had urged her father to move out of the cellar and back up onto the streets.

  ‘It’s raining sweetheart, we have to wait.’ Jake watched as Meredith nursed her baby, who was wrapped up in dirty rags.

  ‘Michael’s awake.’ Pip came bounding into the store area. ‘Don’t tell Michael I have given you oranges.’ He got down on his knees and clasped his hands together, as if he was begging. ‘Michael says we must leave the food for the others. Not to waste it.’

  Jake looked at the wiry haired old man kneeling in front of him. Who were the others?

  ‘Get up Pip.’ Amber didn’t like to see him sat on the damp floor.

  ‘Yes, don’t be silly.’ Jake grabbed the bony arm and helped the old boy up.

  ‘Peregrine!’ A big deep booming voice echoed through the cellar.

  Pip, agitated by the call, started to stumble about and stutter. ‘He’s awake, he’s a a a awake.’ He was visibly very scared.

  ‘Calm down Pip.’ Jake went over to
him, but the old man backed away.

  ‘Peregrine!’ This time the voice was louder and the large heavy footsteps drew closer. A long shadow appeared on the wet wall in the candlelight. The figure was tall and round.

  Pip started to whimper and looked across at Jake and Amber. Tears welled in his eyes.

  Jake could see the old man shaking and he noticed the water trickling down his legs. Pip had wet himself.

  ‘Get over here you useless bag of shit.’ An apple shot out of the shadows and narrowly missed Pip’s head, smashing against the stone behind.

  Pip clamped his hands over his face and started to shake his head. ‘I didn’t give them anything to eat Michael, I promise. I didn’t give them anything.’

  The large butcher slowly entered the storeroom. He must have stood at six foot four and weighed around twenty five stone. His bloodied apron was tied tight around his waist and his big hairy hands were closed tight, forming two massive fists. ‘Who the fuck are you talking about?’ His deep West Country drawl stopped as he looked over at the two figures stood to his left.

  His eyes widened, as if he couldn’t quite believe Pip had been so stupid as to bring strangers into his cellar.

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ Peregrine threw himself at the butcher’s feet, and he clung with all his might to his old black boots.

  ‘Who are you?’ Michael pointed a large, chubby finger at Jake.

  ‘Jake Meadows, Sir. And my daughter, Amber.’

  The butcher’s eyes looked the little girl up and down, and for a split second a smile adorned his rotund, stubbly face. He kicked out at the pathetic Pip, who was wrapped around his ankles.

  ‘Get off me, you parasite.’ One boot sent the old man tumbling across the floor.

  Jake went to help him. Picking up Pip he looked over to the butcher. ‘There is no need for that.’

  The butcher’s face changed. Who was this intruder telling him what he could and couldn’t do in his cellar? He withdrew a large carving knife from its leather sheath.

  Jake swallowed hard; he had nothing to defend himself with. Everything was in the next room, where he had left it.

  ‘You have said your last words, boy.’ The butcher edged towards Jake, the huge blade thrust out in front of him.