Infection Z (Book 5) (19 page)

H
ayden knew
he should’ve been dead.

Amy should’ve been dead, too.

But the very fact that he was having those thoughts painted a very different picture.

The sun was fully visible up ahead now. It teased another warm autumn day, as chilly and feverish as Hayden felt. Didn’t help that he’d just crashed the car into a wall. That he’d just been surrounded by undead, and every window had caved in.

But he was alive.

He was alive, Amy was beside him, and he was driving.

It was 5.15.

He stared at the buildings ahead. His foot was right down on the accelerator now. He knew he didn’t have long to get to the extraction point. He tried not to speak. Tried not to do anything that could distract him from the one thing he had to do—his one sole remaining mission.

Getting to that extraction point.

Getting Amy to safety.

He looked around at Amy. Her head was cut. Her face was bruised. She was probably concussed. But she was alive. She was alive and she was sat up in her seat, staring out of the windows as the wind brushed through her dark hair.

“You’ve been brave,” Hayden said. “Really… really brave.”

She looked around at him. Narrowed her eyes. “I’ve had to be.”

She spoke with a maturity beyond her years. And Hayden figured that was because she
was
mature beyond her years. Every kid in this world had to grow up. They were forced to grow up simply to survive.

But Amy had done more than just survive.

She’d restored Hayden’s hope. She’d given him reason to live. Reason to fight. Even after Miriam passed away in his arms.

“Your mum,” Hayden said, taking a rare moment to speak despite his concentration on the road ahead. “She was a good woman. She’d be proud of you if she could see you right now.”

Amy nodded. She looked back out of the window. Hayden saw her cheeks flushing slightly at the mere mention of her mum. It had to be so raw, only a day ago she’d watched her die. Had her snatched away from her. “I know,” she said.

“She wanted me to do this. To… to get you to safety.”

“Yeah.”

Hayden looked back ahead. The buildings were getting nearer. There were no signs of helicopters. No signs of any extraction point. “How’re you… how’re you coping? You holding up okay?” He never had been good speaking to kids. Found it hard to change his language to adapt to their ways. Good job Amy seemed pretty intelligent.

“I’m just glad you’re here,” she said.

Hayden felt a lump in his throat right then. He felt his eyes start to sting. He knew he should tell her. That he should be honest with her. Straight with her. He just didn’t want her to go through any more pain. He wondered if she understood what was happening to him. Not just a fear it was happening, but a certainty now, his arm stinging, his fingers stinging.

He wondered if he should tell her. If he should just open up and lay it out to her right now.

And then he heard a noise overhead.

As much as he wanted to keep on powering towards the buildings in the distance, Hayden couldn’t help slowing down. Leaning out of the car window. Looking up into the sky.

“What is it?” Amy asked.

Hayden felt tears slipping down his cheeks. He felt a smile tug the corners of his mouth. “Look,” he said.

He knew Amy had looked out of the window and seen what he’d seen when he heard her laugh. Heard her laugh for the first time in forever.

Up above, drifting towards him, there were helicopters. Ten of them at least. Their rotors were so loud that he could feel them reverberating in his chest.

“We did it,” Amy said. “We—we made it!”

Hayden smiled. He smiled as he looked up at those helicopters. There was tension inside him still. Because he knew Gary had killed his people. He knew that, somewhere, he’d be on board one of those choppers.

And after everything that’d happened, that didn’t sit right with Hayden.

“Come on,” he said, sitting back inside the car. He watched as the helicopters moved right overhead, then he rammed his horn. Amy leaned out of the window and waved at them, shouting up at them as they drifted lower and lower, the wind from their rotors ruffling her hair.

Hayden smiled.

He smiled as he sat there, Amy by his side.

He was almost there.

He was almost home.

He looked down at his arm. Saw the blood seeping through his sleeve.

And then he saw the patches of blood on the steering wheel. The pale colour of his skin.

Felt the sharpness of the snapped tooth in his mouth.

He tasted the sickliness in the back of his throat. Just for a moment, he gave himself a second to understand. To realise and accept what was happening.

Then he took a deep breath.

Honked on the horn once again.

Powered on towards the extraction point.

Towards the final stretch.

Nothing was getting in their way this time. Nothing.

If only that were true.

E
verything seemed
to be going okay until Gary saw the car driving beneath him.

He looked down out of the side of the helicopter. In the glow of the early morning sun, he saw a Land Rover powering its way onwards, right towards the position they were heading—the final extraction point. When he squinted, he swore he could see somebody leaning out of the passenger window, waving up.

“They’re cutting it close,” Shirley, the woman opposite him, said.

Gary licked his dry lips. He forced a smile. He had to keep up the Stefan illusion. He couldn’t go looking all panicked and flustered already. “A bit too close.”

“I hope they make it,” Shirley continued.

Gary cleared his throat. “Me too.”

As he stared down at that Land Rover, a part of him wondered: what if? What if it was Hayden? What if somehow Hayden had made it all this way?

No. That was impossible. No way he’d mustered up the courage to make it this far. No way he’d grown the balls to get to this position as quickly as he had.

He had to relax. He had to chill out.

But a part of him hoped that the Land Rover wouldn’t make it to the extraction point.

There were enough people aboard this UN extraction as it was.

“They’d better be up for a fight if they wanna make it,” a man called Stu said.

Gary didn’t know what he was talking about first, as he stared out of the window.

But then he saw what was up ahead. Saw what was between the Land Rover and the extraction point.

He smiled.

There was a wall. Not any kind of wall, but a wall of infected.

A wall of the dead.

“Poor souls,” Shirley said.

Gary felt himself smiling. He did his best to rid that smile from his face. Then he leaned back. Sat upright. “Yeah. Really gotta feel for them.”

“I mean, to get so close only to be…”

“It’s unlucky. We live in a cruel world. But not for long.”

Shirley tilted her head. “You never know. They might make it.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Gary said.

Shirley smiled. “We did. And we never thought we would. Right?”

Gary had to force another smile out of himself. As much as he found Shelley attractive, her insistence and faith in that Land Rover down there was starting to annoy him.

He had to ease his temper. Had to remind himself that the old Gary was dead. No,
Gary
was dead. He was Stefan. He was a new man.

“Right,” he said.

They flew over the top of the mass of infected.

Gary looked back out the window once more. Saw that Land Rover powering right towards the undead.

He felt the gun in his pocket. He’d kept it for safe-keeping. Just in case. Never knew what you might bump into.
Who
you might bump into.

He allowed himself a smile—just a momentary smile—then he went back to his new life all over again.

H
ayden pounded
his foot on the accelerator in pursuit of the helicopters.

He looked at the car dashboard. Saw that it was just past 5.20. Less than ten minutes. Less than ten frigging minutes to find his way to the extraction point.

He knew he was up against it. He knew the odds weren’t in his favour.

But he’d made it this far. He wasn’t going to just give up now.

He wasn’t going to give up on Amy.

The cool wind smothered his face. His vision blurred, distorted. His arm and fingers were starting to sting. But he was still here. He was still conscious. That was the main thing. The only thing that mattered.

He was getting Amy to the extraction point. What happened after that… well. He’d cross that bridge when it came to it.

The only sound he could hear was the engine. It’d been a while since he’d heard the helicopters fly overhead, so he figured they were at the extraction point now, waiting for any arrivals.

And they’d get one. If they just waited a little longer, they’d get one.

“How much time?” Amy asked.

“Enough,” Hayden said. He didn’t want to scare her. He didn’t want to tell her the truth about how close they were pushing it. If they were held back for a single minute, he knew what it meant. They’d miss the final extraction at 5.30. The bombs would fall. They’d be incinerated, as would the rest of their great country. Everything would collapse, and Hayden would die knowing he wasn’t able to do the one thing everyone had been badgering on at him to do his entire life:

Step outside his comfort zone.

Achieve something.

He started to think about what might lay ahead, over this hill, as he accelerated faster. Started to think about what’d happen if these people weren’t what they said they were. If they were just like the army the first time he’d met them on that very first day of the infection—ruthless, hunting humanity down.

Maybe so. But the truth was, it didn’t make sense. They were taking the nuclear option. He’d seen the UN symbols when the choppers had flown over just before.

They were legit. He didn’t know what that meant, whether it was ultimately a good or bad thing in the long run, but they were legit.

And they were getting Amy off this island, away from this world.

“Will there be kids there?” Amy asked.

Hayden kept his focus on the hill. Wasn’t far to drive now. “Probably. I’m sure there’ll be someone around your age.”

“Oh,” Amy said.

Hayden looked around. Saw she looked concerned.

“Why? Not want to make any new friends?”

“I never really got on well with other kids,” Amy said.

Hayden swallowed a lump in his throat. “Well hey. This is a new world. A new start. A chance to be cool all over again. Besides, wait ’til you tell them how many zombies you killed. They won’t mess with you then.”

Amy looked at Hayden. Smiled.

And then her face turned.

Her eyes widened.

Hayden looked back at the road ahead.

He slammed his foot on the brakes.

Almost went flying through the clear windscreen.

He sat completely still in the car. Stared down at the scene ahead.

The extraction point was there. All the helicopters sitting there, just waiting for people to arrive. A wall set up around them, where people were armed and waiting.

But there was something else between them.

Something between Hayden and the extraction point.

Infected, closing in from either direction.

“Can we make it?” Amy asked.

Hayden tightened his hand on the steering wheel. “We have to.”

He put his foot down on the accelerator.

Nothing happened.

He looked down. Puzzled. Startled as to why this was happening. As to why the car wasn’t moving. “Oh, no. Oh no no no.”

“What’s the matter?”

Hayden tried to start up the car again. Nothing but a splutter. “The car. The shitting car. It’s…”

He heard the groans close by. Saw the infected turning their attention from the extraction point over towards Hayden and the Land Rover.

“Shit,” Hayden said.

He tried the car once more. But fuck. The engine wasn’t working. The frigging thing had given up on him.

He had to figure out what to do. Had to think quick. Time was ticking.

He unclipped his seatbelt.

“What’re you doing?” Amy asked.

“There’s only one way now,” Hayden said. He stepped out of the Land Rover. Hobbled on his weakened legs over towards the passenger door. Opened it up. “Come on.”

Amy narrowed her eyes. “What—”

“We need to get through them, Amy. We don’t have much time. Quick.”

Hayden watched as Amy slowly, hesitantly unclipped her seatbelt. When she had, he picked her up. Held her in his arms.

“You’re… you’re bleeding,” Amy said.

Hayden saw she was looking at his hand. And then at his arm. The blood flow still hadn’t stopped. “Don’t worry about that,” he said.

“Are you bit?” Amy asked.

Hayden went to run.

But then he stopped.

He lowered his head. Nodded. “But I’m not sure it matters anymore anyway. Not with the immunisation inside me.”

“I don’t want you to leave me.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“But you’re bit—”

“I’m not leaving you without knowing you’re safe, Amy. I promise you. I promise. Do you trust me?”

He looked into Amy’s eyes. Saw they were red and tearful. She nodded, hesitantly.

“Good,” Hayden said. He looked at the road ahead. “Now let’s do what we have to do.”

As weak as his body was, as pained as his arms and legs were, Hayden ran down the hill. He could hear the infected closing in from each direction. Hear their jaws snapping. He could almost feel them again. Feel what it’d felt like when the infected bit him on the road a few miles back.

Or what the teeth of the infected felt like when he shoved his fingers in its mouth, dragged its mouth open and ripped its jaw apart.

He kept on running, though. Kept on sprinting, as painful as it was, as hard as it was. He’d resigned himself to what was going to happen anyway.

But he had a new purpose now.

Protecting Amy.

Getting her to the extraction point.

Getting her to safety.

He saw the infected closing in either side. The extraction point wasn’t far away now. But time was running out. Fast.

“Wait!” he shouted, at the top of his voice, wanting to reassure them that he was human, he was coming.

“Wait!” he screamed. And then Amy joined in too. She joined in even though the infected were approaching from either direction. Even though they were a matter of minutes away from enclosing them.

He started to feel hope. Even though his knees were about to give way, his body about to collapse, Hayden started to feel a sense of positivity and optimism.

He could do this.

He was so close.

He was…

Then the helicopter rotors started spinning.

He slowed. Slowed, just for a second. And then when he realised what was happening—that they were leaving without him, without Amy—he threw himself even further towards them. Pushed his body to its absolute limits. Unlocked muscles he never knew he’d had before now.

All because he wanted to keep his people safe.

Amy was his people now.

She was the only thing that mattered.

“Wait!” he screamed.

He saw the helicopters hover off the ground. But he refused to accept what was happening. Refused to accept the reality of what he was witnessing. It was just too painful. He hadn’t come all this way to fail. He couldn’t accept that. He just couldn’t.

But the helicopters were getting higher.

The infected were getting closer.

Through one of the helicopter windows, Hayden saw Gary. Gary was smiling.

Hayden pulled aside the makeshift walls that’d been erected to hold off the infected. He put Amy down. Stood underneath the rising helicopters. Jumped. Waved. Screamed. Did all he could to get their attention.

And then he fell to the ground and he cried.

He didn’t know what he was going to say to Amy. How he was going to tell her they’d failed. That they were going to burn here, the pair of them, and all their pain getting here had been for nothing. He didn’t know how to tell her that he’d let her down, that he’d failed her, and he’d failed everyone who’d ever cared for him.

He just lay there underneath the departing helicopters and cried.

He just lay there underneath them and—

“They’re coming back!”

Hayden didn’t understand Amy’s words. Not at first. He was too wrapped in the devastation, too focused on the failure to even think.

“Hayden! They’re coming back! They’re coming back!”

And then he comprehended Amy’s words. Not only that, but he felt the breeze from above growing stronger. He heard the rotors getting louder.

When he lifted his aching neck, he saw one of the helicopters descending.

They’d done it.

They’d made it.

He heard Amy laughing. And he laughed with her. As he did, he tasted blood on his lips. He could barely move.

“We did it,” Amy said. She sat by Hayden’s side. Kissed his head. “We—we did it!”

We did it.

As the helicopter descended, Amy’s voice and the joy in her words were the only things that seemed anything like significant.

We did it.

The helicopter landed. Someone opened the door. Hayden could see the new world from here already. He could smell it. Taste the lushness of fresh food. Feel the joy of laughter, of a beer in the sun. He could smell a barbeque. He could almost see an older Amy chatting with boys in the distance, enjoying herself.

He saw two men running out of the helicopter. Saw them running towards him, towards Amy, guns raised.

And beyond them, he saw someone else.

Gary.

He saw the frustration in Gary’s eyes. The misunderstanding, as one of the men dragged Amy towards the helicopter.

He saw the defeat. The confusion.

And then he saw something else.

There was a gun in Gary’s hand.

He was lifting it. Looking from Hayden, to Amy, then back to Hayden again.

The gun in Gary’s hand. The look between Hayden and Amy.

Everything was coming together.

“Wait!” Hayden shouted at the top of his lungs.

But it was already too late.

Gary stood up.

Lifted the gun.

Pointed it at Amy.

Fired.