He shook his head. He didn't know what the fuck was going on. But he was doing sixty and now the two Runners were disappearing from view as the speed of the car was too much for them.
"Where to now?" He then had a smile to himself.
He had to go somewhere where there was less of these things, somewhere where he could be safer, and somewhere where he had family. He knew exactly where to go.
Next stop: The Pennines.
Chapter Twenty Six
The noise was loud enough to drag all five out of their sleep and Sue was the first to react. "What the fuck was that?"
A small light came on from Lloyd's phone. He said, "I'll check it out. It's my place. Probably just another stray." He picked up his crowbar.
He looked at the time on his phone. 5:23am. It would be daylight outside by now.
Gordon grabbed the gun and chose to go with Lloyd. Lloyd never protested. It was his premises, but Gordon felt that Lloyd wasn't as tough as he looked.
Gordon could understand Lloyd being nervous. This was a unique situation. Lloyd had probably been used to throwing out thugs and drunken customers over the years, but this was something completely different. He, like everybody else, was in the middle of a disastrous nightmare that nobody was prepared for. In order to survive, he knew he was going to have to kill now and again. He knew it was something he had to do if he wanted to keep his son protected, but it didn't mean he was comfortable with it.
As soon as Lloyd Dickinson reached the back door at the bottom of the stairs he peered out of the spy-hole, but couldn't see a thing.
Gordon, who was behind him and holding the knife in his sweaty palms, tapped him on the shoulder and asked in a whisper, "Anything?"
Lloyd shook his head and swapped his crowbar from the right hand to the left. "Can't see any of those cunts anywhere."
They remained where they were for a few minutes and finally Gordon spoke up once again. "Maybe it'll be better if we put someone on a watch from now on."
"Oh, are you thinking of staying a while?" Lloyd sarcastically responded. "Anyway, what good would it do, man? We're in the attic. That's safe enough. If they want to get in, they'll get in. The front of the pub is fragile. Yes, the bay windows have small panes and are hard to get through, but it won't stop them. I wouldn't tell Junior that though."
"I saw one of them head-butting their way to get at someone in their car."
"There you go."
Another noise, like the sound of a scraping shoe, suddenly alerted both men, and Lloyd took another peep through the spy-hole.
"Anything?" Gordon whispered impatiently.
"Yeah." Lloyd could see two men walking around on the almost-barren car park and were checking out the pub. "It's not them. It looks like two normal blokes."
"Ask them what they want."
Lloyd wasn't so sure. "Maybe I should let them have a look around and wait for them to fuck off."
"Just let them know that people are in here. At least then they won't break into the place."
"Wait, man." Lloyd carried on looking. "I need to make sure they're definitely not infected."
"How can you tell?"
"I don't know." Lloyd shrugged. "You just can. You can tell by the body language."
With Lloyd looking out and now Gordon with his ear to the door, they could hear voices. They had never heard the infected speak, in fact, the news broadcasts claimed that the contaminated beings can't seem to speak, for reasons that they didn't understand.
The two men began checking out the Renault and the Subaru jeep. They then approached the door and gave it a shove. Lloyd suspected that the men had already tried this, and that was the noise that had aroused them in the first place.
"You better say something before they break down the door," warned Gordon.
Lloyd nodded and said, whilst continuing to peer out, "Is it just you two out there?"
The two men looked shocked and pleased when they heard a human voice. Both men approached the door and were both of average build, dark hair, and seemed like decent individuals to look at. Lloyd giggled to himself. I could take them, if I had to.
"Yes, it's just me and my brother," one of them spoke, a man with a lisp. "We were on a camping trip and..."
"Where's your car?" Lloyd enquired.
"Ran out of petrol. Had to ditch it." The same man spoke, whilst the other one lingered in the background, his head twisting from side-to-side. Both men looked frightened. "There were four of us. When we were pitched up we started getting reports from the news off our phones about what was happening. An hour later we were attacked by some man—a Runner, I guess. We drove away when another two turned up. We left everything behind us in the tent where we had pitched up: food, water, clothes, our phones..."
The other brother began to speak. "We just saw the pub and hoped we could stay for one night, before heading back home."
"Where's home?"
"Rochdale."
"Look," the other brother said, the one with the lisp. "We're sorry to be a burden, but could we possible stay for a while? It's not safe out here."
"No shit, Columbo. Wait." Lloyd turned to Gordon and asked him, "What do you think?"
"They seem okay, and they wouldn't have come here if they weren't desperate. I suppose we're alright for food....for now."
"I'm not sure. They look like a pair of manky cunts."
"You have a great way with words, Lloyd," Gordon laughed. "If we refuse them, and if they're that frightened, they could break into the pub anyway."
"Okay, you can come in," Lloyd announced through the door. "Hang on a minute."
Lloyd grabbed the shotgun off of Gordon, ran upstairs to the living area on the first floor, then went into the bathroom and put the gun in the large cupboard under the sink. Lloyd quickly returned and Gordon gave him a strange look.
Lloyd winked. "Trust me."
"Ready to let them in?" Gordon began to grind his teeth.
"Ready."
*
Marvin had been in the Pennines for half an hour and hadn't yet come across any of the Runners. Once he was on flat land and could see for miles all around, he decided to pull up the car and got out to stretch his legs and inspect the damage the vehicle had received to its body. It wasn't too bad.
The black Ford was covered in scratches and dents, but Marvin was more concerned with the fuel gauge that wasn't far from going in the red. It was a blustery day and the forty-eight-year-old took a piss up at the side of the road, before going back into the vehicle.
He sat in the driver's side, locked the doors and glared around the beautiful setting. He slowly leaned his head back and began to rest his eyes. He was wondering how his brother was coping with all this mess. He then thought about the night he had with Agnes. What was he thinking? She was dog-rough.
He winced when flashbacks of the sex were projected in his mind, and had a little twinge in his groin when he remembered giving her anal penetration. He looked around and muttered to himself, "Maybe just a quick one—to relieve the stress."
He pulled his blue jeans and black boxers down, then inspected his semi-erect penis and began stroking it. He closed his eyes and imagined the woman straddling him and gyrating herself on his lap whilst he was inside her. It didn't bother him that she was now dead after he had penetrated her throat with his knife. The only penetration he was thinking about now was his cock inside her wet cunt. He increased his stroking as he grew near to climax, and once he was there he shouted, "Ah, you fucking cunt! You dirty fucking cunt!"
He opened his eyes and could see the steering wheel had semen slowly running down and dripping off the wheel and onto his seat, inbetween his legs. He looked down to his cock and could see the remains all over his hand that was still clasped around his penis. He finally took his hands off, wiped it on the passenger seat, stepped outside and tried to have another piss to clean out the tubes.
He returned to the car, fired the engine, then drove away. He was close to his destinat
ion, but the fuel dial suggested that he may have to walk in another half an hour. It was twenty minutes by the time the car conked out, and Marvin went to the boot to take out the tyre iron before making the dangerous journey on foot. He began to walk, and looked around the hilly area.
Before, the land was flat and he was quite relaxed, but the car had broken down in an area where he was surrounded by hills. He sighed and scanned around as he strolled along the empty road, the tyre iron gripped in his right hand.
It was going to be a nervy journey.
Chapter Twenty Seven
For hours the two men, who had introduced themselves as Barry and David, had been getting to know Lloyd, Joan, Gordon and Sue. Junior was still sleeping, and Lloyd knew that once he woke up he'd be down and straight into the bedroom to play on his Xbox.
Barry and David had been in the living room all morning and had been drinking cups of teas. Both brothers had been told about how Joan, Sue and Gordon had managed to be staying at the pub, and what had happened at the guesthouse. Extra chairs from the kitchen had been put out by Lloyd for his two guests. Although thankful for Lloyd rescuing them, it was apparent that both men were getting bored, and by lunchtime the conversation had dried up.
They all had lunch, which consisted of nuts, crisps and toast, and even Junior had made an appearance. They had used up the last of the bread and Lloyd knew that that was it, as a trip to the supermarket was something that wasn't going to happen for a while. The TV was on and there didn't seem to be any sign of the catastrophe dying down.
BBC and SKY News were now down, for whatever reason, and Lloyd had to settle for CNN. They all listened, and although the US were on high alert, it appeared that this disaster wasn't really something that was affecting the world, it was something that was happening in the UK only.
"Holy fuck!" Barry scratched at his brown hair and continued to glare at the TV. "This is bad. The trouble is we're an island."
"Isn't that a good thing?" remarked Joan. "The less people are infected, the better."
"No it's not." Barry began to shake and his demeanour was making Lloyd and Gordon tetchy. David, Barry's brother, just sat in silence with his head down.
"Why the fuck not, man?" Lloyd sat in his chair with his arms folded, his muscular forearms bulging.
"Because we're an island, and if they did it there'd be no collateral damage for other countries, with the exception of France and Ireland...maybe."
"What the fuck are you talking about, man?" snapped Lloyd.
"They need to consider the safety of the rest of the world, right?"
Nobody answered Barry. Nobody knew what he was talking about.
Barry sighed, "They're gonna nuke the shit out of us."
"Shut your lips." Gordon sighed, "They won't do that."
"How do you know?"
"It's too severe, too final," added Gordon. "What they'll do is send in the military, NATO, the US, as well as others, and clean the place up. Millions will be killed, but that's understandable."
They all continued to watch the TV in silence, and ten long minutes had passed, but there was now news reports suggesting that France, Spain, Belgium and Germany had experienced pockets of violence.
"Looks like this thing is going to be global after all," sighed Gordon, then dropped his head in his hands.
Barry shook his head and was becoming hysterical. "I still think they'll nuke us."
"More reason for us to stay in the Pennines," his brother, David, spoke up. "If they do bomb us they'll go for the populated areas—the cities."
Joan guffawed, "Fallout could be a bit of a problem."
"What's wrong with you people?" Barry stood up and was shaking with fear and anger. "Are you all off your rocker? You all seem so calm about it."
"I can tell you now, man," said Lloyd, "the last thing that we are is calm. I had to kill an infected child yesterday and almost shat a brick. Now...sit the fuck down and stop pissing in your nappy."
"And we're only here due to luck," Gordon chipped in. "We're not calm. We're all still in shock. This is a lot to take in."
"Fuck this!" Barry stormed out of the living room, and a concerned David followed after his brother and called after him.
Lloyd stood to his feet and yelled, "And where the fuck do you think you're going, man?"
"This is a pub, isn't it?" Barry yelled as he progressed down the stairs, his brother right behind him. "I'm going to the bar for a drink."
Joan, Gordon and Sue looked at Lloyd for a reaction.
"Not a bad idea," snickered Lloyd. "I suppose we better go down there anyway in case they do something stupid, especially that Barry fellow."
"Don't you trust them?" queried Gordon.
"He's a man, and he has access to a free bar, so...no, I don't trust him. We can have a couple of brandies to calm us, but let's not go overboard."
"About time," scoffed Joan. "I was wondering when you were going to offer us a proper drink."
"I did offer you wine the other night."
"I want to thank you for letting us stay," Sue said, trying desperately to lighten the mood. "I know you don't know us—"
"None of us really know each other," added Joan. "This thing just seemed to have thrown us together."
"Well, I certainly trust you lot more than I trust them," Lloyd began picking his teeth with his finger and managed to pick out the bit of nut stuck in the back of his mouth.
They could hear the clinking of bottles coming from the bar area downstairs. Lloyd sighed and approached the exit of the living room.
"Where're you going?" asked Joan.
"I thought you wanted a drink?" Lloyd laughed, then clicked his fingers. "I better tell Junior where we're going."
"What is it with Junior?" Joan questioned. "As soon as Gordon mentioned crossing the pond, he freaked out."
Lloyd ignored the woman and said to Gordon, "Are you coming? We need to keep an eye on these two retardos."
"What did you let them in for in the first place?" Sue spoke with confusion in her tone.
"Because they were people in need. I didn't turn you lot away, did I?"
Sue never answered. She knew he had made a good point.
Gordon remained sitting on the sofa, massaging, his temples.
Lloyd called over, "Are you coming, Gordon, or what?"
"I'll be down in a sec." Gordon Burns continued to massage his temples, his eyes closed. "I've got a blinding headache. I had a shit sleep last night."
"Well, there's tablets in the kitchen drawer if you need them." Lloyd then snickered, "But don't take the blue ones, otherwise you'll be pogo-ing down those stairs."
Lloyd went to a bedroom and told his son he was going downstairs, then went to the bar with Joan and Sue in tow.
Gordon sighed and lay on the couch, still massaging his temples.
Six minutes later he fell asleep.
*
"My nerves are shot to pieces," moaned Barry. He went behind the bar, with Lloyd's approval, and poured himself and his brother a pint of lager.
"Don't go overboard," Lloyd warned. "Maybe we should all have a brandy or two to settle the nerves."
"Great idea." Barry looked for the bottle of brandy and took it down. He took out five glasses and poured a more-than-generous amount for all five.
"I'm fine," said Sue. "I'm okay with lemonade."
"Nonsense." Barry took two full glasses off the bar and handed a glass each to Joan and Sue. Both women took the glasses. David handed Lloyd a glass, then he and his brother downed theirs quickly before starting on the pint that Barry had pulled earlier.
"Easy now." Lloyd was beginning to become a little tetchy. "Let's not go overboard."
Barry turned to Lloyd and put his hand in his pocket. He pulled out his wallet, took out some cash and slapped the money on the bar. "We've had the fright of our lives. We're just trying to let off some steam." Barry pointed at the money on the bar. "That should cover it."
"I don't care about the m
oney," snickered Lloyd. "In fact, the way things are going money will be pretty much useless to us if things don't improve. I just want to make sure we're all focused."
Joan chipped in with her own advice for the two new arrivals. "If they come for us, like they did back at the guesthouse, being drunk will only get you killed—well, infected at least."
"Don't you worry about us, love," David remarked, now leering at Joan.
"I'm not worried," she said, straight-faced.
"Nothing wrong with a bit of Dutch courage in case the shit hits the fan."
Joan sighed, and looked over to Lloyd for some support. The pub owner was already regretting letting in these men, and was trying to get them to slow down before any unfortunate incidents occurred.
David and Barry were like two kids in a sweet shop and began to look at what else they could drink.
Barry asked, "What else do you fancy, bro?"
David pointed. "Let's try some Jack Daniels."
Joan threw a glare in Lloyd's direction and said, "Aren't you gonna do something?"
Lloyd sighed, rubbing the palms of his hands over his face. "I suppose I better."
Chapter Twenty Eight
He was dreaming, and in his dream Gordon Burns was running along the country road, along the Pennines. It was daylight, and his feet slapped the hard tarmac. He had hit a steep hill. He was beginning to tire and his thighs became heavier as the hill was already taking its toll on him. He looked around and could see the gowned man chasing him. As he reached the peak of the hill, Gordon welcomed the flat surface and tried to pick his pace up, but it felt like his legs were made of steel and his pace was actually slowing whilst the gowned man was gaining on him.
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