by Aline Riva
She was still there. Tara was on that icy floor in the cave, left with the bodies of Justin and Samantha...
He wanted to jump out of the truck and run back across the ice, go back to that cave and scoop her up in his arms and carry her back to base, he would have done it, too – if it could have been possible, but they had to leave urgently, Vince was critical and they had just one plane that wouldn't wait...
She was still there in the cave, dead on the floor and he had to leave her there...
That thought stayed with him as his heart ached sharply and he pictured her body in the blue haze of ice, alone with two dead monsters, his Tara, dead and left behind...
Then they approached the gates and the truck slowed long enough for the gates to be opened and the Captain explained the tank would be stopping by shortly, then they were through the gates and back to base, and David felt that ache in his heart grow deeper still. He would be going home soon – home, without Tara...
The truck came to a stop at the slope that led to the hostel. Vince was taken out first and then carried on a stretcher up the hillside, where the soldiers guarding the base opened up the door and the injured man was taken inside. Then the others got out, there was no mood of victory or jubilation, only a feeling of devastation to think so many had been lost on this day.
“The flight leaves in one hour,” the Captain said.
“The flight leaves after the tank stops by with Flossie,” David replied as they headed for the hostel.
“Don't worry, David. The tank won't be long. The snow plough's on the way now with the animals, they're on the way to the ship. Flossie should be back in around ten minutes.”
David went through the door of the hostel, looking gratefully to Tina Swan.
“Thanks, Captain. I'll go and tell Rick and Lois the good news - they must be worried out of their minds.”
Then as the last of the group came in, the door was closed and the Captain led the others down a corridor towards a ground floor wash room, where they could get cleaned up before the flight home.
David was still feeling like his shattered heart would never mend as that thought stayed heavy on his mind – Tara was dead. But then he went around the desk area and into the communications room, knowing at least Rick and Lois would be getting some good news.
He walked into a heated debate as Lois and Lauren stood either side of Rick, who had his back turned to the door.
“Just think about this, okay?” Lauren said urgently, “We don't know for sure, we don't know anything yet -”
“She's right,” Lois told him, “We don't know!”
“I saw the truck pull in,” Rick said tearfully, “She wasn't there!”
Then as the two women looked to David, Rick slowly turned around, then with his sights set him, he walked over to him, tearful and furious.
“You said you'd look after her!” he said bitterly as rage fired up in his hazel eyes, “She was just a little girl and you let her die out there, you bastard! You'll fucking pay for this!”
And he raised his loaded gun.
As David stared down the barrel that was inches from his face, fury glittered darkly in Rick's eyes. It was a look David had only seen once before – it had been set in his gaze on the day he had killed Mortiz...
Chapter 11: The Price
“Don't do this, Rick!” David said in alarm, his eyes wide as he looked past the barrel to the grief stricken gaze of his close friend.
“You let her die!” Rick said tearfully, his finger a fraction from the trigger as he held the gun in his shaking undamaged hand while the metallic one stayed at his side, balled into a fist of anger.
“She's alive!”David exclaimed.
“You're lying!” he stepped closer, preparing to fire.
Then through the open doorway, Lois caught sight of the view from the window beyond that looked out down the hillside.
“Flossie!” she yelled excitedly, and dashed from the room. Lauren looked out, then to Rick, whose eyes had clouded with confusion.
“She's okay!” she said to him.
Rick dropped the gun, shoved David aside and ran out the door and over to the window, where he looked on in amazement to see the tank rolling up the hillside, Flossie was standing on the top of it, smiling towards the window, her little hands together in the shape of a heart.
Rick grabbed his coat and hat and gloves as Lois did the same, then Lauren hurriedly dressed too, keen to brave the zero degrees to greet the little girl who had come back from the battle.
As the tank stopped, Rick ran down the slope, half slipping on the ice as he stopped beside the tank, holding his arms out to Flossie. She jumped down, he caught her and she laughed as he spun her around and gave her a hug.
“Oh Flossie, we've been so worried about you!” he said, setting her down on the ground once more.
Lois took her by the hand, leading her inside.
Lauren glanced to Rick.
“You owe David an apology!”was all she said.
Moments later they were all back in the warmth of the hostel with the door closed and the chill of the Arctic shut firmly outside.
As Lois fussed over Flossie, brushing snow from her gloves and her coat, Rick turned to David apologetically.
“I'm sorry. I thought...I know I was wrong but I thought she was gone. I thought everyone was gone...”
David nodded, accepting his apology.
“It's okay, I understand,” he replied, “I know how it looked...But I kept my promise, she was safe.”
“And she was no trouble at all?” Rick asked in surprise.
David paused for thought, recalling Flossie eating yellow snow, then hanging off the side of the slope above the water, Flossie flying through the air, then learning an obscene gesture and finally, standing in the line of fire to protect a mutant lion.
“She was great,” David said quickly, “No trouble at all...”
Then Rick looked about the reception area.
“Where's Tara?”
David drew in a breath, steadying himself for the answer that was hard to voice and even harder to accept.
“Gone. Justin killed her. I had to take him out, he was beyond help, I couldn't have reasoned with him. Toby didn't make it either, he died in the valley, during the battle.”
There was a gasp as Lauren's hand few to her mouth, then she blinked away tears and went back into the communications room to weep alone.
“Toby's gone? Oh no... and Tara? Oh David I'm sorry, I'm sorry you lost her!”
“So am I,” David said as his eyes filled with tears again.
Rick pulled him into a tight hug and the two men stood there for a moment, Rick hugging his close friend as David wept more tears for his lost love.
After a brief rest, the plane had been ready, and finally they were able to leave the Arctic behind them. The flight back to Chile was silent and uneventful. The survivors slept most of the way, shattered from the ordeal in the ice valley and on waking, reflected on their lost friends. The journey reminded David much of the flight he had chartered back to Chile on fleeing the Arctic – this time there was nothing to flee from, after the use of the gas Antarctica was so far the only place on earth now free from the threat of the undead...
On landing, the exhausted travellers left the plane, had a wait of four hours on the UK bound plane, then Jason, whose face had been carefully stitched and dressed by a medic at the hurriedly set up field hospital, returned to the plane, wanting to rest as his half numbed face was yet to ache from the repair work. Then as Vince was brought back on board and laid carefully at the back of the aircraft surrounded by portable life support and attending medics, in the distance gunfire sounded as the undead made their way to the electrified fencing and patrols took them out. Then the door was closed and the engines started up, and once more the group were in the air this time flying back to the UK, to the guarded airfield where they would touch down and then transfer to the road, heading back to the military base. The j
ourney was almost over at last...
Many hours later, after more sleep, David awoke to turn his head and see Tara beside him, he ran his fingers through her red hair, she looked at him and smiled.
“It's okay,” she told him, “Were all safe now.”
He sat up sharply, looking back to see the students all in their seats, everyone from that first fateful trip - for some reason Toby was there, too. Everyone looked just fine.
“You're all okay?” David said in surprise.
“Of course we are!” Tara exclaimed, smiling as amusement sparkled in her eyes.
Then her smile faded.
“Actually David, we're not okay. We're all dead.”
He blinked, saw the colour drain from her face as a hole caved into the side of Tara's head and blood and brain matter spilled out. Behind him, the students sat with torn out throats, some already undead and hungry. Justin Frazer was horribly mutated and Toby looked at him with dead eyes, lying back in his seat, arms on the rests of his seat, bloody stumps bleeding where his fingers had been bitten off.
“Your turn, David.”
He looked up to see Justin standing there, and then he lunged and the world went dark.
David woke up screaming.
“Calm down!” Lauren yelled as she and Rick wrestled with him, pinning his arms down as he fought against thin air.
“You had a nightmare,” Rick said as David leant back heavily against the aircraft seating, catching his breath.
Then Rick took a pill from a bottle in his pocket and handed it to him.
“Name me one person who doesn't have nightmares these days... take one of these, go to sleep, it's been hard on all of us but harder on you this time.”
“What is it?” he asked, looking at the pill.
“Low dose valium. You need it, mate. You've had a shock with Tara dying.”
Lauren left his side, going up the other end of the plane, then she came back and handed him a glass of water. David swallowed the pill down quickly and handed the glass back to Lauren.
“I had a dream they were all here on the plane..I thought it was okay but they were all dead... she said so, Tara said so!”
Rick and Lauren exchanged a glance, then Rick spoke up again.
Get some rest,” he said kindly, “I used to get dreams about my severed hand – the one that got the bite – coming after me, strangling me...just my own hand with a corpse bite...It sounds stupid but it used to scare the shit out of me. You'll be okay, just rest.”
The pill was kicking in. David closed his eyes, leaning back against the seat. Once in a while he opened his eyes again, turning his head just to be sure – but now no ghosts of the past haunted him and finally, he was glad to slip into a sleep that brought with it no more bad dreams.
Once the plane had touched down on UK soil, all on board felt relieved to be home. Flossie, who had spent half the outward bound journey running down the aisle and climbing over seats, had slept most of the way back, curled on her stinky blanket, clutching her icky stick as Lois watched her sleep. When the plane had touched down and come to a stop at last, Flossie had woken up.
“We're nearly home!” Lois had said to her. She had sat up, looked to Lois and Rick, blinked tired eyes and then said, “Home?”
As they looked at her in surprise, along with others on the flight, David had finally recalled his news.
“Oh yeah I forgot to tell you...she's started saying words...I think she's relearning...I'm sorry I forgot before...I've got so much on my mind...”
As Lois and Rick smiled and then told Flossie how clever she was, David got up, ready to leave the plane, wishing he could feel glad to be back on home soil, but instead his thoughts kept going miles back, all the way to the Arctic where Tara lay with her face covered, frozen on the floor of an ice cave splashed with blood...
The journey back to base by road was reassuring of their arrival back, the world around them felt like home again even though the dead were here and there at the roadside, gnawing on bloody flesh.
“They won't be doing that for much longer,” remarked the Captain, “Not once the factories start up and manufacture the gas. It's going to be rolled out world wide. It could take a few months, but there's a strong chance we can claim this world back. It's a global effort now.”
The journey was over swiftly, and what remained of the exhausted group were glad to be below ground once more, where they could return to their rooms, rest and recover, knowing they were safely sheltered far below ground where no undead could penetrate.
The Captain had led them all down the accommodation floor, with Vince being taken up to the medical centre, and knowing he would now receive the best care possible came as relief to all of them.
“Before you get some rest,” the Captain said, looking to each of the group carefully, “There's something you should know... I had a call to the base from the field hospital before they packed up to fly back....”
She looked to Jason, who looked back at her in alarm.
“What?” he demanded.
“I would rather say this in front of your friends because you all need to prepare yourselves,” she replied, “This can't be a secret... Jason, because you and Vince were wounded on the battlefield, you were both tested at the field hospital for the A-strain undead virus because of the risk of blood to blood contact in battle with the corpses....” she hesitated, knowing this news could not be easy to break no matter how she worded it, “I find this difficult to say after all we have been through and all I know you endured before finding the base, but I'm sorry. The results have come back that one of you are infected via blood contact on the battlefield with the undead. I've yet to find out which sample is positive, Jason – it could be you or Vince. Contact with the team whilst preparing to leave was breaking up. I have to wait for the call to come through to confirm.”
As she walked away, silence fell on the survivors as they looked at each other. Jason reached up to the scarred side of his face, briefly touching the dressing that covered his wound.
“There's no way it can be me,” he said as his voice trembled, “No chance! This corpse came out of the smoke and lashed out, hit me on my burns mask, the mask cracked and cut me, it wasn't the corpse. I had no contact – the mask was in the way.”
“But the corpse could have broken some skin as the mask cracked and -”
“I don't want to think about that!” Jason said sharply, glaring at Marie, “So shut up, they're wrong!”
Then he turned away and headed for his room as the others exchanged a shocked glance.
“Or it could be Vince,” David said sadly, “Neither of them deserve this. Blood to blood contact is different to a bite – symptoms could take days to come out.”
It was an unsettling return to what should have been the closest they could come to calling a place home, here below ground and safe from the undead – but with one of their own threatened by the virus, no one could relax, knowing yet another of their number could be taken from them at any time...
The next twelve hours passed uneasily. The only good news to come through was that Vince was now stable and had woken up. He had been given the news of the possible infection by the Captain, who had then spent more than an hour with him at his bedside. By noon the next day, Captain Swan went to the best accommodation area on the base, knocking on the door of Rick and Lois, who were glad to be back and able to keep Flossie safe once more.
Lois opened the door and smiled warmly, inviting her in to the living area, where Rick was play fighting on the rug with Flossie who growled, then giggled, then suddenly laughed like a regular child as Rick pulled her into a fatherly hug.
“Any news?” he asked, letting go of Flossie as he got up from the rug, his expression now sombre as he thought of Jason and Vince and the terrible uncertainty they faced.
“Actually, Vince wants to see you. And you need to see him, right now. He has a favour to ask.”
“Sure, no problem...But why me?”
/> The Captain looked down at the rug, returning a smile to Flossie, then she met his gaze once more.
“He said it's about the past -”
“Oh, that's all behind us now! He was a personal guard of Mortiz, he never raised a sword in the plaza, he's more than proved what side he's on. Tell him not be so daft, he doesn't need to ask my forgiveness. He's lost his arm, he's had a shock. I'll be more than happy the build him a replacement – I was the top prosthetics designer in the whole of the UK before the outbreak.”
She stepped closer, away from Lois and Flossie, lowering her voice.
“We won't be telling the others yet but the results came back. Jason is in the clear.”
As her words hit him, Rick blinked as his eyes briefly stung as tears threatened to fall.
“Oh shit no....”
“He wants to see you,” she said again, “There is a recently developed antidote that may prove effective against blood to blood contact with the undead. Bites are a different matter – the bites are highly infectious and so far there's no cure in sight for a corpse bite. But Vince was infected on the battle field, during the explosion. There's every chance this antidote could work. It's untested right now, he seems to think there's no hope. That's why he wants to see you. He said it had to be you because of the past. Do you understand now?”
Rick's face paled as she placed her hand gun in his grip, standing close, out of sight of Lois and Flossie.
“He's asking me to...Oh no, I can't!” he exclaimed in horror.
The Captain held him in her gaze.
“Either persuade him to try the antidote or do as he asks. No one knows how long before the virus kicks in, by then he will have no choice. Let him have a say while he still can.”