by L. A. Boruff
The first bangs on the side of the truck made her jump. Q tightened his hold, and she held onto his arms, staring at the doors. The banging became thunderous, rocking the truck on its wheels. She whimpered and covered her ears with her hands, burying her face in her knees.
“Dicking, or dicker is someone from the enemy spying on us.” Maddox’s voice was lowered, but his tone was normal as if nothing was happening. As if the infected weren’t trying to tear their way into them.
“Who do we think?” Howie asked.
“Gunfire was a standard single shot rifle, so at least four or five shots,” Q replied. “Missed the vehicle and me.”
“Were they aiming at you or the swarm?” Howie asked.
“Not the swarm. Shots fell short of the truck. They were aiming at the ground.”
The banging grew in intensity right behind where they were sitting. The growls and grunts curdled her blood, and she rocked in Q’s arms, trying to block out the sound.
Her hands were moved from her ears, and they slid a pair of ear-defenders over her head. It muffled the sounds, and she sighed. She didn’t lift her head from her knees but held up her thumb in thanks.
Q shifted and curled around her, his mouth by her ear. He lifted the defender a little and whispered, “We’ll be okay, babe, we just wait them out.” He kissed the side of her neck and re-covered her ear.
Just wait them out. For how long? And even if they did just wander off, they still had to deal with whoever set them up.
5
“Are you scared?”
How she’d fallen asleep she’d never know. But when Q shook her awake, it was dark and quiet.
“Drink this.” Maddox handed her a mug of tea, and she took it with thanks. Q took the one Howie held out to him.
She sipped the hot tea, wrapping her hands around the black taped metal mug. They’d never asked her how she took her tea, or if she liked it. They’d handed her a ‘standard NATO brew’ as Howie called it and expected her to drink it. Now, four months later the sugar was absent from the brew, so was the milk for that matter. but it was hot, woke her up, and she wouldn’t knock it.
“Have they gone?” she asked, warm and comfortable in Q’s arms.
“The infected have,” he answered her. “They wandered off about an hour ago.”
“But we’re still here.”
“We are,” Maddox said. “We’re faced with three things. Carry on the way we were and drive straight into the swarm. Turn and go back, wasting time and petrol. Or three sit it out for a few days, hoping the swarm will disband enough for us to drive through.”
“And what about the dicky?” she mumbled.
Q snorted into his mug and Howie chuckled.
She narrowed her eyes. “Well, it’s a stupid name, anyway. How on earth do you get from spy to… whatever it is?”
“Being dicked,” Maddox supplied.
“See? As far as I know, being dicked is what you three do to me on a not frequently enough basis.”
Maddox laughed and drained his mug. “Getting back on track. We’ll do a recce.”
Her stomach sank, and she swallowed. That was another term she knew. Reconnaissance
“Isn’t it better to just sit tight and wait?”
“Faint heart never won fair lady,” Howie said.
“This lady is won, and besides, isn’t discretion the better part of valour?”
“Touché,” Q murmured.
“It isn’t so much who’s dicking us, but why,” Maddox said, putting his empty mug down and moving to look through the slots. “This truck is a valuable commodity to anyone. We’re a valuable commodity to anyone who could control us.”
“Who could control you?” Lexi snorted. They were the most put together, hard as nails men she’d ever met. They didn’t surrender.
“Anyone who had you,” Q said.
She closed her eyes and breathed out through her nose. “No, no, you can’t do that. I can’t be the one you’d—”
“Shut your trap,” Maddox barked. “None of that crap. Consider yourself press-ganged if you insist, but you are a recruit, Cornish, and if I have to treat you like one, so be it. Every man counts. If they had Howie or Q it would be the same. We never leave an oppo behind. End of.”
“But I’m—”
“Shut it,” Q whispered into her ear. “That’s the Sarge talking, not Maddox.”
She clamped her lips together and closed her eyes.
“You aren’t useless, Lexi, no matter what you think,” Q said. “Stop thinking you are. You’ll get us all killed.”
“What? How can thinking get you killed?”
“Because you’ll second guess orders,” Maddox answered and squatted in front of her. “I need to know whatever I ask you to do you’ll do it. That kind of obedience is instilled in basic training, which you haven’t had. But I expect it all the same. I know your weaknesses and your strengths. You’re braver and stronger than you think.”
“You are only as strong as your weakest part,” she pointed out.
“And our weakest part is pretty strong,” Howie said. “I’d love to see what you’d be like if you'd done basic training. You might think you’re a coward, but you've never let it stop you doing what we’ve asked of you.”
“I think that ranks as stupidity,” she muttered.
“Stupidity, courage… I don’t care what you call it, just keep it up,” Maddox said and peered out of the passenger window. “No more, Lexi. If I see it on your face again, as soon as we’re safe, I’ll make you drop and do twenty press-ups and that’s not a threat.”
“Lex, are you scared?” asked Q.
“Erm, yeah!” She picked at the black tape wound around her mug.
“So are we.”
She looked up at him in surprise. “You are? But you’re commando trained gunners. You’ve been all over and fought in wars.”
“And we’ve been scared shitless every time. If you lose the fear you need to worry, because fear keeps you alive.”
They weren’t stupid, they weren’t overly confident, and they got scared. But they got their shit together and didn’t show the fear. She needed to do the same.
“Okay.” She nodded. “I can do this. I can be productive.”
“You already are,” Q said, patting her leg to get her to move. “And you’ll be productive now.”
“I will?”
“Howie is taking the west side, Q is east, and I’m the middle. You will stay here, keep on the watch, and be ready to get us out of here if we need it,” Maddox said.
“You mean drive.”
“It’s a 6-speed automatic transmission. All you need to do is take off the brake, put her in drive and hit the accelerator.
She’d never driven automatic, only a manual. She’d just need to remember there wasn’t a gear stick. Determined not to let them down she nodded.
“You’ve got the three-sixty visual screens with night imagining on. Communications are working still; if you see anything, you let us know.”
She knew how to operate the communications system—they’d shown her before—and, not for the first time, she was glad they’d taken this truck from their base.
“Who do you think this is?” She looked at them.
“I’m hoping it’s the idiots from the house,” Howie said. “We’ll take them out no problem.”
“And if it’s not? Who else could it be?” she asked.
“More idiots.” Maddox snorted. “Only a civvy would want to take this away from us. Military wouldn’t, they’d be aiming to join us not eliminate us.”
Eliminate. It made her shudder. But it was why they'd used the swarm. Take them out and steal the truck.
“They’ll be expecting you to leave the truck,” she said. “As soon as you open the doors, you’ll be sitting ducks.”
“Unless they have night scopes, they’ll find it hard to see what we’re doing. But yes, they’ll expect the doors or hatches to open. But we’re going out a different
way.” He winked at her. “Get your butt in that seat, keep it locked down, your jacket on, and your eyes open.”
“Yes, sir.”
“About time, Sprog.”
“Sprog?”
“New recruit.” Q grinned at her, chewing on a piece of gum he’d taken from his pack. “Keep the fires burning, darling, I’ll be back for a shagging before you know it.”
Despite herself, she couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from her lips. They kissed her, and then she watched in fascination as they opened a hatch under the seats she hadn’t seen before. The seats weren’t connected to the floor but suspended from the roof either side of the truck, and it gave them room to slide under and disappear. The hatch closed, and she turned to the three screens on the dashboard. Their uniforms gave off a little heat signature, and she saw them come into sight. A few hand signals that meant nothing to her and they disappeared into the trees. Ghosts. They were like ghosts, there and then not there. They just better not turn into ghosts or she’d kill them. Again.
Watching was nerve-racking and straining on her eyes. She was scared to blink at first in case she missed something. But there were no signs of any life in the trees, not even animals or owls. Just eerie grey trees surrounded in deep black.
It was so still she had the horrible thought someone had covered the cameras with pictures. How they’d do that, she wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t forget it. Moving one of the surveillance cameras she breathed out when the screen changed with it. A picture couldn’t do that.
It seemed like hours she sat there glued to the screens, watching, and waiting. The need to pee arrived, and she cursed herself, not daring to move to relieve herself. As each minute passed, she grew more concerned.
A glance at the digital clock showed they'd been gone three hours and worry turned to fear. In three hours, they could walk twelves miles wearing four stone in extra weight. But all they were doing here was looking over the slope into the forest ten yards away.
“Hello.” She pressed the talk button on the communications unit as Maddox had shown her. There was no reply, and she tried again.
“Hello, can you hear me? Where are you?”
They wouldn’t mess with her and worry turned to fear. “C’mon, guys, are you there? I need to pee real bad.”
The sound of static came through, and she knew someone had heard her. By the lack of reply, it wasn't her gunners.
“Guys? Come on! That’s enough now.”
It wasn’t them, but she didn’t know how else to handle it. She couldn't give the game away as she struggled to think of what to do.
“Shit. Okay, well how about this: fuck you. And thanks for the truck. Sprog out.”
She had no idea if they could hear her but hoped the word Sprog would tell them it was a bluff.
Someone had caught them. And she had no idea what to do.
6
Rescue
She couldn’t panic. If she did, they'd all be dead. She couldn’t leave the vehicle, and she didn’t even know where they were. It all looked the same to her after the first hundred miles of back roads, with mostly hedges either side.
Keeping one eye on the screens, she pulled the waterproof map down they used. It had lots of red lines, squiggles, and other things that made no sense to her. But at its core, it was just a map, and she’d paid enough attention in geography to learn how to read one. She found their current position, discovering the red squiggles were the course Maddox had plotted.
They were on the edge of a large forest controlled by the Forestry Commission. They’d have tracks leading through the forest for maintenance. If she could find where she was, she could work from there.
Between watching the screens and keeping her finger on the map, it took her a while to find the symbol denoting the telephone exchange.
Propping the map on the dashboard, she started the truck and then let it idle as she watched the screens. The undergrowth on the last screen moved, and she held her breath. It could be them coming back. God, she hoped it was.
An eternity passed, and a fox trotted out, sniffing the ground. She lost the air in her lungs, sinking into her seat. Where the hell were they?
Something had to be keeping them from her. Or someone. Which meant they’d either been outnumbered, or they’d been taken by surprise. She hadn’t heard any gunfire, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. But she couldn’t stay here any longer.
And she really needed to pee.
Her only option was the hatch in the floor, and if the thought wasn’t great, the experience was worse. Back in her seat, she checked the screens and was satisfied nothing had crept out of the trees whilst she was relieving herself. Putting the truck into drive, she took off the handbrake and shot forward. She yelped. not able to see anything for the metal covers over the windscreen. Putting the brake on, she breathed in and out to ten. Her hands shook and sweat ran down her back.
She pushed the release on the lockdown and the metal screens shifted upwards. Unable to see still it took her a few seconds before she realised why. Feeling like a colossal idiot, she switched on the headlights, and the windscreen wipers worked instead.
“Bloody hell!” She tried again, and the lights came on, illuminating a good portion of the area. She checked the screens and then the map before pulling off again.
The truck had a top speed of eighty-two mph, but she didn’t go above ten as she bumped and swerved her way down the dirt track and into the forest. Using the dash compass, she drove until she found a track that would lead her back uphill in the right direction. The engine was screaming, but any faster and she was scared of losing control. Especially as the hill became steeper. Images of flipping over backwards filled her head, and she clenched the wheel, peering into the night. The track swept around along the side of the incline instead of straight up and she relaxed a little. Trying to keep her eyes on the screens and the track she almost ran off the road. Abandoning the screens, she'd have to rely on what she could see through the windows.
A few infected were attracted by the engine and she was gaining a following, but there was nothing she could do.
With no sign of her gunners, panic had her swearing, terrified she wouldn’t find them. What would she do then? She’d just keep going around in circles till the fuel was gone and she was a skeleton. She would not leave them. Ever.
“You. In the truck. Stop!”
The voice echoed through the communications unit making her scream and shoot forward a little faster. She jammed on the brakes and stalled the engine. She started it again, her hands shaking as she tried to see who’d spoken. Eight men appeared from the forest edges. Dressed in the old green camouflage, she guessed they were hunters, rather than the army. And when three more men pushed her men forward, hands tied behind their backs and guns to their heads, her heart sank, and her stomach cramped.
Static crackled over the communications unit. “Unlock the door and come out with your hands above your head.”
Guessing it was the leader, she peered at the men looking for the one who was using the headset. She spotted him in the middle of the group.
The lives of the three people she loved were in her hands, and it made her sweat. She had to think of something, had to do something. And it wasn’t surrender. Maddox would kill her.
“Why?” She stalled for time, racking her brain for something to use as a bargaining tool. Maybe they’d take weapons in exchange? No, it wasn’t just weapons they wanted, it was the truck. Not that they’d fit eleven men in it, but it was a boon to whoever got to ride in it.
“What the fuck do you mean ‘why’? You dumb bitch.” The leader stepped forward.
Maddox must have said something because the man cracked him across the head with his gun. Maddox staggered before going to his knees.
It was her Hulk moment. Her fear morphed into anger and lodged in her chest.
“I mean—arse wipe—why would I give up this truck to you?”
“We’ve got your m
en.” He made a gesture as if she was mad.
“No, you don’t.” She drew a deep breath and gave her mouth free rein. “They've used me in exchange for their protection. But I’ve got their truck now, so why would I give that up?”
He hadn’t expected that and turned to someone behind him. She wondered if that was the true leader.
"And yet, here you are trying to save them."
Shit.
"Actually, I got turned around. I thought this led to the main road."
“So you won’t mind if we off one.” He motioned for one to be brought forward, and she saw Q being shoved to his knees beside the man. Blood trickled down his face, and her anger hardened into steel.
A movement on the screen caught her attention, and she saw her following was catching up. A ridiculously dangerous idea popped into her head, and she made a quick decision.
“All right, all right. Keep your hair on. I fancy my chances with them more than you. No disrespect."
"None taken, princess. Out you get."
She hit the switch that would broadcast it over the speaker. “Just hang on. I have to get my shit together. I’ve got stuff here I don’t want to lose. This thing is like a sardine time. No disrespect, but you aren't all fitting in here. Some of you are just going to have to run behind.” She laughed, trying to make it sound unhinged. "I hope you can run faster than the infected." She laughed again, watching as the infected grew closer coming up behind. With the lights from the truck, she hoped it would blind them from seeing the infected until it was too late. But they were noisy, and she had to make noise to cover it.
She turned the full beam on, blinding the men. "Oops, now how did I do that?"
"Turn off the lights!"
"I'm trying!" She set the windscreen wipers going. "This thing has more levers than a normal car. And it just refuses to go into second gear, might have to double the clutch. Oh, you can't, it's automatic. Do you know how to drive an automatic?" She leant on the horn and got ready to unlock the doors.
Her following—excited by more noise—arrived, and confusion reigned for a few seconds, and then it was ‘every man for himself’ as Maddox had predicted. Several infected were coming out of the trees, and a few banged on the doors to get to her. She stopped the horn, and the infected ignored the truck for the shouting and gunfire. Howie and Maddox dragged Q up. Darting through the chaos, they reached the truck.