by G G Garcia
“No idea.”
“Jesus, I’m a fanny, but I’m not that bad, am I?”
“Must be desperate to get home, just like Craig, regardless of the possible dangers that could await them.” Paul scratched the back of his neck and added, “Ya have to admit that that was a brave thing she just did.”
“Brave? How come we didn’t get an invite? Selfish cow.”
“Maybe she thought she’d have a better chance gettin’ a lift if she was on her own, rather than tryin’ to flag somebody down with two other people in tow.”
“It was still selfish.”
“Just lookin’ out for number one, I suppose.”
Tony couldn’t help being disappointed that Demi had left like that. He always thought that they’d be going back to Rugeley together. He was starting to like the young woman.
Paul was the first to go back inside, whilst a crestfallen and confused Anthony Willetts remained gazing.
“Ya comin’ in or not?” Paul asked from inside the pub.
“Um…”
“Come on. What’s done is done.”
Tony snapped out of his daydreaming, turned on his heels, and shut the main door behind him once he was inside. Three minutes later the door was locked.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
His black Audi hit sixty once the bend in the road began to straighten up. His hands were sweating and the more the seconds went by, the stickier the steering wheel became.
Henry Brown took his left hand off the steering wheel and wiped it on his jeans, on his thigh, and then did the same with his right hand.
Stafford Road, he thought. His sister definitely said she was on Stafford Road, and that was the last he had heard of her. He would have left his place earlier, but the place was littered with the infected.
He tried to track the phone, but nothing had come up. All he had to go by was the text he had received in the early hours of the morning. Also, Demi had texted him a few hours ago, telling him that Emma was dead and had been attacked. She also told him in the text that she was staying at The Wolseley Arms pub, but his sister needed to be sorted out first. He couldn’t leave her body in the middle of nowhere for a second longer.
Demi could wait. He would have texted her back, or even called her, but soon after her text the phones were scrambled and the power went.
And what a morning Henry Brown had. Never, in his lifetime, would he experience something so horrific and surreal.
After Henry’s date was killed, he texted his friend to tell him what had happened. Maxwell returned minutes later and both decided to keep the body in the hallway for the time being. They both stayed up to watch the events unfold during the early hours of the morning. Eventually, both managed a few hours sleep, but woke up to watch TV once more and check their phones. The incident with Kelly began to make sense the more Henry watched TV, and once it was realised that a part of the country was in chaos, they felt comfortable with carrying Kelly’s body and placing her in her own car, and putting the keys in the ignition before leaving.
Maxwell told Henry that he was going to check on his family, and Henry agreed to do the same. They agreed to meet up with one another, at some point, back at the flat. Henry had then read his sister’s text, and went to see his parents, who lived two miles away.
The streets of the town were bedlam and Henry managed to get to his house by car, knocking over three people in the process, and found that his parents were dead. Both of them lay on the living room carpet, their bodies mutilated. On his way back to the car, he was attacked himself and had to punch two of his attackers, knocking them down.
This was too big for him.
He knew it was bad, from what he had seen on TV, but didn’t realise how bad. He somehow made his way back to Colton, back to his place. He waited a few hours and hoped the melee would die down. He packed a few things, including his Glock 17, as well as ammunition, and then headed for Stafford Road. That’s where his sister was.
The vehicle slowed down as it reached two mini roundabouts, and then squealed as it hit Stafford Road. Henry looked to his right, where he could see a pub he had been to on numerous occasions. Demi was in there, but he had something to do first.
He got his Audi up to sixty and narrowed his eyes when he saw something up ahead. Something lying in the bushes. He slowed down, unsure if it was an animal or not, and eventually brought his vehicle to a stop after he did a U turn in the road. He looked over and knew the legs belonged to a female, and a sickening feeling occurred in his stomach.
He took his seatbelt off and got out of the car. He stood up straight, and walked over with slow steps. He took his handgun out from the front of his jeans and crouched down, tears filling his eyes.
He knew. He just knew it was Emma.
He went back to his car and opened the boot. He took out a black cotton sheet and went back over to the body. He grabbed the legs and gently pulled the mutilated body out from the bushes.
It was definitely her.
She was carefully wrapped in the sheet, trying to ignore that her insides had been pulled out, and a tearful Henry Brown scooped her up and placed her in the boot. He was told by Demi, by text, that she was dead before he set out to look for, but now it had been confirmed. He didn’t realise it was that bad.
He shut the boot and went back to the driver’s side of the car. He wiped his eyes and cleared his throat, trying to comprehend that he had lost his little sister and parents in one day.
The engine was started and the vehicle began to move. Henry placed more pressure on the accelerator and watched as the dial went up to forty. He gazed up ahead with blurry eyes and clocked the pub to his far left, and could see a figure standing in the top window. He could see it was a female and the closer he got, the more he could see the features of the female.
“Demi?”
He slowed the vehicle and was near the roundabout. He looked back up to the window and could see the female wasn’t there anymore. He knew it was Demi. She had texted him earlier where she was, but his first priority was to recover his sister’s body before picking up Demi.
He began to scratch the inside of his nose with his thumb as the Audi progressed. He was approaching the two mini roundabouts that were situated inbetween Stafford and Rugeley Road, and could see a female running out onto the road, waving her arms.
“Holy fuck,” Henry said, and a smile emerged on his face.
Henry stopped the car and Demi Mason knew it was him. It was the same car he drove and she also recognised his registration plate, H3NRY 1. She opened the front passenger door and jumped inside, slamming the door as soon as her legs were in.
“Go, go, go!” she screamed, not having time to greet the man properly.
Henry sped away as Demi shut the passenger door, and reached fifty once his Audi went over the two roundabouts and passed the garden centre on their left.
“You okay, eh?” he asked her, and looked to his left. “Were you attacked by the Savs?”
She shook her head as she put her seatbelt on, and then burst into tears. “The what?”
“The infected.”
She shook her head.
“What’s going on is mental, eh? So … that’s the pub you were staying in? I was about to pop in.”
Henry never got a response from his query, and the driver decided to try and talk about something else. With what was going on, how was it possible to talk about something else?
If the IOs didn’t kill you, the army possibly would if you approached the border that had been set up. But that was some guy’s theory. A crazy one? Maybe to some people, but Demi wasn’t so sure. Maybe John Jameson’s prediction was correct.
“What happened to the guys you were with?” Henry asked.
Demi gazed at him with confusion, wondering how he knew.
“Emma texted me when you were on your way home last night,” he began to explain, noticing the confusion on her face. “I never got the text until I woke up. That’s why I came out her
e. She said in the text that she was on Stafford Road. And then you texted me and told me she was dead.”
“I forgot that I texted you,” Demi spoke so quietly that Henry could just make out the words that tumbled out of her mouth. Demi cleared her throat and told Henry, “Two of the guys that we were travelling with are still in the pub. One had left earlier.”
“Tremendous. So you just left them, eh?”
She shrugged her shoulders. Demi was out for herself. She liked Tony, didn’t know Craig, and didn’t know Paul at all. She was thankful that Paul had offered her and Emma a ride home, but he soon disappeared when Emma was attacked and as soon as he turned up at the pub with Mel and Leslie, Demi had left.
A car could be seen up ahead. It was stationary, and Henry had already passed it once. Demi gazed at the vehicle as they went by it and knew that it was Paul’s car. It was a black Corsa. It was the same vehicle Craig had fled in, leaving them in the lurch.
She could see the driver’s door was open but there was nobody inside.
Where is he? she thought. Where’s Craig? She was about to ask Henry to stop so she could take a look and see if Craig was okay, but an announcement from the driver had stopped her from doing so.”
“Two Savs up ahead,” Henry announced. “I think.”
Demi looked ahead and could see two humans running towards them, in the distance.
“How do you know they’re infected?” she asked.
“I don’t. Not yet.”
“If they move out of the way of the car, then they’re human. If they go straight for us...”
“I’m not ramming them, Demsy,” Henry said. “I’m not damaging my car for those two fuckos.”
“Think the media called them IOs.”
“Whatever. I prefer Savs.”
“Then what are you gonna do?”
Henry slowed the car down and eventually brought it to a stop. Demi asked Henry what the hell he was doing, but she received no answer. Henry opened the driver’s door and stepped out of the vehicle, prompting Demi to become hysterical, begging Henry to get back inside.
Ignoring Demi’s protest from inside the car, he walked towards the two running males and just knew they were infected, even though he hadn’t seen their eyes yet.
He pulled out his Glock from the front of his jeans and took careful aim. They gained a few more yards, fearless, and he could now see their red eyes as they neared. Henry put a bullet in the torso of each infected man, giving them a slug each, and watched as they both fell to the ground.
Henry casually went back to the car, tucking the Glock back into his jeans. He opened the driver’s side, and sat back inside, shutting his door.
There was a silence, and the two sat and panted, waiting for someone to speak. Demi knew Henry possessed a gun, but she had never seen him use it before.
“I’ve got something to tell you,” said Demi. She turned to look at Henry with her soaked eyes.
“What is it, Demsy?”
“When Emma was attacked, all I did was sit and watch.” Demi began to sob and continued, “It happened so quick...”
“It’s gone.” Henry said. “I’m sure there was nothing you could have done.”
“Her body...” Demi placed her hand over her mouth. “Her body is back at Stafford Road. We can go back if—”
“It’s okay, Demsy,” said Henry. He started the car and drove away.
“No, you don’t understand.”
“Demi.” Henry turned to his left and their eyes locked for a few seconds. “She’s in the car. Her body’s in the boot.”
“Oh.”
Henry came to a bend and eased his foot off the accelerator, slowing the vehicle down to thirty. He announced to his passenger, “I can’t take you straight into Rugeley and into Brereton, back to your place. It’s too dangerous. I went to see my parents, and I barely made it out alive.”
“How are they?” she asked.
“Both dead,” Henry sighed. “They were in a right mess.”
“Shit.” Demi released a depressed breath out, could feel her eyes becoming damp, and confessed, “My parents are dead as well.”
“Hold on.” He rubbed Demi’s leg with his left hand. “We’re going to my place.”
The vehicle entered a street and they could see the main door of three houses that had a red X sprayed on them
“What the…?”
Noticing that Demi had seen the red Xs on the doors of some of the houses, Henry said, “There’s a few like that in Rugeley.”
“What does it mean?”
Henry hunched his shoulders. “No idea.”
Demi gasped when she saw a male at the side of the road, a young man with a shaved head, holding a bloody machete. He snarled at the pair of them as the Audi went past, and it looked like some people were actually enjoying what was happening.
“Know him?” Henry laughed, noticing that Demi couldn’t keep her eyes off of him.
“I know of him,” she sighed. “His name’s Luke Bentley. He robbed a bank in Stafford a few years ago. He’s a mental bastard, but probably not as bad as Billy Knowles.”
“No one is as bad as Billy Knowles," Henry sighed. “I hope that fucker’s dead.”
“Is he that bad?”
Henry never responded to Demi’s remark. He remained quiet for a few seconds and suddenly spoke up. “A few more minutes and we’ll be there.”
“Is Maxwell home?” Demi asked, referring to Henry’s flat mate and drug dealing partner.
“Yes, he is.”
Henry reduced the speed of the car and dropped the vehicle down to third gear as he approached the bend. The vehicle went over the hump bridge, all four wheels leaving the tarmac for a second, and the wheels squealed as they hit another bend and he steered sharply.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Paul and Tony sat on the couch. Mel looked around and asked where Demi had gotten to.
“She’s away,” Paul said.
“Away?” Mel scratched his head. “Where?”
“She’s gone.” Tony decided to speak up. “She saw a car in the distance and got in.”
“Somebody she knew?”
Tony had no idea. “I think so.”
“Now what do we do?”
Paul shrugged his shoulders and said, “I suppose we better start thinkin’ about where we’re gonna sleep tonight.”
Lisa announced that she was taking the master bedroom with Mel, if he wanted to stay in the same room as her. Tony opted for the young boy’s room, and Paul decided to sleep on one of the long seats in the lounge downstairs. He felt that someone should be staying down there, just in case the IOs showed up, and the people on the first floor quickly needed to be informed about the situation.
Nobody protested, and Paul decided that he was going to the ground floor soon. He had his knife on him and was sure that the night would be humid and he wouldn’t need a blanket.
“Right, I think I’ll go down now.” Paul stood up and wished everybody a good night.
“Why?” Lisa huffed and added, “So you can help yourself to a free bar?”
“If I stay on the ground floor...” Paul paused, trying not to bite. “Then I can let ya know if there’s any danger outside.”
“And also help yourself to beer as well?” Lisa ran her fingers through her grey hair and elevated her eyebrows, waiting for an answer off of Paul Newbold. “How convenient.”
“Piss off, Lisa.” Paul left the room and headed for the stairs.
“Are you going to let him speak to me like that?” Lisa turned and spoke to her husband.
“Yes.” Mel nodded. “I am. Now, my little pussycat, please be quiet.”
Lisa folded her arms and looked annoyed, but surprisingly she never verbally responded and remained quiet.
Tony looked at Mel and his volatile wife, and decided that his evening would be better in the bedroom where John Junior slept. He excused himself from the man and wife and entered the bedroom. He shut the door behind him
and threw himself onto the bed, keeping his shoes on. His thoughts went to his parents and wondered if they were okay. He then thought about his cousins, some of the people at his workplace, and even some of his old school pals that he hadn’t seen in years. They’re probably all dead now, he thought.
Tony turned on his side, curled himself into a ball, and cried.
*
He sat cradling his daughter and the tears fell like rain. He looked down on his blood stained shirt, his daughter’s blood, and still couldn’t believe what was happening. He stroked her hair and smelt it. It still smelt fresh, as if she had just washed it. She had had a shower on Saturday and he could still smell the strawberry from the shampoo, despite the fact that she was covered in blood.
He stroked her head and was finding it hard to process that he had no one left. His wife was dead from a brain haemorrhage and his daughter had been bitten on the throat so severely, she had died within seconds in the car, on the way to the garden centre. He should have stayed in his home. He thought he knew better. Idiot! Fucking idiot!
She was dead because of him!
He placed his hand in his pocket and pulled out the knife. He placed it by the side of him and continued to embrace his daughter, his baby girl. Lyla looked at peace. He knew that the last seconds of her life had been frightening, but it was done now. Maybe this was a blessing. He had no real idea what was happening, but it looked like something that wasn’t going to be fixed overnight, and a lot of people seemed to be dying according to the news reports. A lot of people! Maybe they were going to die anyway. After the water and the vending machine was emptied, what next? He would have to move elsewhere to survive, and going out was where the danger was.
He sniffed Lyla’s hair and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead. She meant everything to him. She was his world, and now she was gone.
He wiped his eyes and tried to compose himself. He lifted her up and moved her to the corner of the room, to stop her from slipping to the side, then sat next to her once he retrieved the knife.
A small smile developed on his features when he thought about the time all three of them went to Tenerife. It was all inclusive and Lyla talked of nothing but the chocolate fountain. They had seen it on the YouTube video of the hotel, but when they got there it was out of action. Despite all the food that was on offer, she looked crestfallen that the fountain that she had been talking about for weeks, leading up to the holiday, had broken and was being replaced. But it never was the two weeks they were there.