Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) (3 page)

I spotted them in the corner of the large bar area. Each marked with the little stick man and woman. I listened at male door, then pushed it open and I wish to God I hadn’t. The smell that came through that door had me gagging for breath. I doubled over and my stomach started the heave. I stumbled away and the door slowly closed and the stench gradually faded. Holding onto a table I was sucking in air as quickly as I could. The last thing that I wanted to do was throw up. I moved a couple of tables over and blocked off both doors. If the men’s had smelt like that there was no way I was opening the women's.

              I was still sucking in fresh air when I opened the door to let Matthew and Spirit inside.

Matthew looked at me with his head tilted to one side and said “What happened to you?”

“Nothing. Just be careful where you step when we go through the main bar. Okay.” He replied.

“Fine. I just want to get some sleep.” He said heading off inside the dark pub.

I looked down at Spirit and said “Kids!”

Spirit let out a low woof and followed Matthew inside the pub. I really didn’t know how to take that so I just shrugged my shoulders and followed them both back inside. I closed the door and looked for a way to bar them or at least give us some warning if the infected or anyone else came to visit. In the end I pushed some tables and stools in front like I had for the toilets and went looking for Matthew and Spirit. I found them both sitting in the main bar at one of the tables eating snacks. Matthew had some salt and vinegar crisps and he had given Spirit some pork scratchings, they were probably bad for her but she was wolfing them down at a large rate.

I walked past them and looked out through the front windows and out into the street. There was no movement out there and night had well and truly set in. I heard a yawn come from behind me. Turning around I saw Matthew slumping down in his seat as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“Listen, mate, why don’t you get some sleep in one of the booths?” I said.

He looked up at me and rubbed his eyes and said “Ok!”

Standing up, he rubbed his eyes and slowly walked over to the booth in the corner of the bar and lay down on the bench. Spirit looked up from the floor, shook her coat and followed behind him and lay down on the floor. It looked like Spirit had taken to making sure Matthew was kept safe. I smiled and looked back out of the window.

My mind then turned to what was I going to do with the Matthew situation. I still had the rough idea of going to Hull and trying to track down Benton’s other ship. But there was no way I was going to be able to sneak through a city teaming with infected by myself, let alone with Matthew. There was the idea of taking him back to the bunker. Again, that thought was dropped as soon as it entered my tired brain. The chances that any of the people in the bunker ever letting me go anywhere on my own again would have ended up being non-existent.

I sat down in the booth and closed my eyes. The thoughts of Amy and the others came without me even having to think of them. They were my family and this little trip of mine was the only way I could think of keeping them safe. Lifting my feet up, I rested my head on my arm and tried to sleep.

Chapter Three

The light that flooded the windows in the morning was muted so I looked out of the window and saw a deep grey fog outside. I could hardly see more than about ten feet in any direction. I could make out the large, grey shapes of the buildings opposite the pub. I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and looked round the room. The two infected bodies were laying where they had fallen the night before and I could see Matthew's feet hanging off the end of the bench he had fallen asleep on the night before.

Again, the silence of the world after the infected hit home. I stood there looking out into the grey when I felt the wet nose of Spirit nudge my hand. She was sitting on her haunches looking up at me.

“Hey, girl, you hungry?” I said, bending down to ruffle the fur on her head.

She uttered a single low woof and headed over to where I had dropped my rucksack the night before. I uttered a soft laugh and headed over and opened the bag.

Reaching inside, I pulled out three MRE’s; two were breakfast and the third was stew dinner. Now, I like stew dinner but there was no way I was going to be eating it first thing in the morning. Tearing it open, I tossed it in front of Spirit who for the sake of thanks cast me one look before wolfing it down. I grabbed two bottles of water and headed over to where Matthew was lying down.

I nudged his foot with my knee and said “Matthew, mate, I’ve got some breakfast here for you.”

He just grunted.

I nudged his foot again.

“Look, mate, we’re going to have to get going soon.” I said.

Again, he just lay there and grunted.

I shrugged my shoulders and put the MRE on the table beside him.

“Look, I’ll leave it on the table. But we really do need to get going soon.” I said, turning back and heading toward my rucksack.

Spirit looked up from her meal and growled at me. Now, this was a first. I couldn’t remember when she had growled at me last. It was then that I heard it and the hairs on my neck started to stand up. It was a lower, quieter moan than I had heard from the adults. Slowly turning around I saw Matthew trying to sit up. It was like his hands and arms couldn’t support the weight of his body. He turned his face and I saw the usual green slime running from his eyes, ears and corners of his now open mouth.

The moan was so quiet it could have been a whisper. I heard the clicking of Spirits nails as she walked up to stand beside me. Matthew's head turned to look at her and then towards me. His face showed no form of recognition. My hand scrabbled at my waist for my crowbar, but it wasn’t there. I looked over to where I had fallen asleep last night and saw it lying on the table. Another low moan had me turn toward Matthew or what I was still thinking was Matthew.

I reached down and pulled the 9mm Sig that was in the holster on my hip. My hand was shaking as I lifted it and pointed at Matthew who had finally clambered to his small shaking legs. Spirit growled even louder than before and Matthew’s head snapped around to look at her. The moan that came from his small frame grew louder and more agitated. His hands came up and he lurched toward us.

Spirit launched herself up into the oncoming boy, her jaws wide and a howl issuing forth as her jaws snapped on the boy’s neck. A spurt of black and green blood and infection covered the tables beside them. They hit the floor, and as they did, Spirit jumped away and circled the creature that had been Matthew.

The boy’s body slowly struggled to push itself into a sitting position. As it sat up, Spirit quickly struck from behind and clamped her jaws around the boy’s neck and started to shake. It looked like the skin and muscle were slowly being shredded the more she shook him. The moaning continued until I heard a sickening crunch and Matthew's head lolled to one side and the hands stopped moving. Spirit released the body and let it fall to the ground.

Matthew’s foot twitched a few times before the body stopped moving completely. Taking my time and keeping my pistol pointing at Matthew I walked over. I needed to find out how he had gotten infected.  Spirit was still circling the body as I got close by. She looked up at me and whined.

“Yeah! I know, girl. I was hoping we could get him somewhere safe.” I said.

She came over and nudged my hand and I stroked her head as I knelt down to look at Matthew’s body. She gave my face a quick lick with her large and very rough tongue.

I knelt there on the floor looking at the child I had just killed. Last night he had been ok, so what had changed during the night? How had he managed to get infected? All these thoughts were rushing around inside my head. I decided that the only way I could make sense of what had happened was to check his body. I slowly reached out and started to remove his clothes and then stopped. I suddenly felt dirty all the way down to my soul. The fact that he had become infected was enough and I left like that. Leaving his dead body just lying there on the floor also felt wrong.

Standing up, I headed upstairs to the landlords rooms and grabbed a sheet from one of the wardrobes. I headed back down and saw Spirit sitting beside Matthew’s body. I don’t care what people say animals have feelings just like us humans and I could see that she was hurting just as much, if not more. I walked across the bar and laid the sheet over his small body.

“Come on, Spirit, let’s get out of here.” I said, picking up my rucksack and I headed over to pick up my crowbar.

Just as I was bending to pick it up, a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Sliding the crowbar into my belt, I looked out into the fog-filled street and saw dark shapes moving in the grey light outside the window.

I leaned forward slightly trying to make out any of the shapes when a large infected walked out of the fog and headed straight for the pub. It must have seen me moving behind the glass. Stepping back away from the window I was aware that the large infected was actually starting to pick up speed. I wasn’t exactly running flat out but it was a sort of lumbering jog. I was sort of hypnotised by this large creature heading towards me. It struck the window with enough force to shake it in the window frame. The infected staggered back from the rebound and lumbered at the glass again. The window shook and I heard a sharp crack which made me jump back a foot. Looking up at the top of the window, in the right-hand corner a large crack had appeared.

I looked over the shoulder of the large lumbering infected and saw others walking out of the grey mist. Now I was concerned and the large infected lumbered into the window and this time the crack spread further into the center of the glass.

“Spirit, move!” I shouted and ran for the doors to the smaller bar.

Not stopping, I slammed through each door only stopping for enough time to let Spirit through. I heard the glass give-way with a huge crash. I stopped at the patio doors and let Spirit out into the beer garden and followed her through. I ran for the gate and stopped just before opening it and listened out for anything on the other side. All the noise seemed to be coming from the front of the pub and I couldn’t hear anything.

Opening the gate Spirit slipped past and out into the side car park where the truck was parked. The fog had cut all visibility down to five or so meters. The crash of more glass came from the pub. Looking around, I saw the shape of the truck and headed for it. The dark shape of the truck slowly came out of the fog and I sighed in relief. I heard a growl and Spirit shot out from the fog and head straight passed my legs. Spinning around, I yanked the crowbar from my belt and I saw Spirit with her jaws around the shin of an infected.

The infected was an old looking man with wispy white hair. He was stick thin and had lost the lower half of his jaw and most of his throat. That was why I hadn’t heard anything behind me. Using the crowbar like a bat, I swung and caught the infected in the temple with the hooked end. It lodged into the side of his head and came out through his left eye bursting the eye like it was a squashed grape. The black brain matter and green slime ran from the eye socket. The infected didn’t fall but kept on coming and I could hear the moans of other infected as they drew closer.

Pulling on the crowbar, the old infected lurched in that direction. I pushed and the infected stumbled backwards. Running quickly around the infected and pulling at the same time, the infected lost its balance and as it fell, there was a satisfying crunch sound as the crowbar tore loose and ripped off half of its face and skull. The infected fell and I threw open the truck door. Spirit bounded up and into the passenger seat. I threw the crowbar into the footwell and climbed into the driver’s seat.

Chapter Four

Breathing hard, I started the engine and pulled slowly out of the carpark. I kept the speed down and slowly edged out of the small village. I turned the fog lamps on as I slowly picked up speed. The road slowly weaved its way into the countryside and away from the pub and Matthew.

The sun managed to burn off the fog by midday, and, as per usual, when it had, the day turned out to be one of those days with blue skies and no clouds.

I was following an old army service map and headed slowly toward Hull. I didn’t want to go all the way in to the city itself but I wanted to find somewhere on the river that had a small boat I could use to get back to where we had rescued Jane and her group.

As I drove, I wondered what I would have done with Matthew. I felt like I had a huge weight on my soul because of what had happened in the pub. We ate in the cab because I didn’t feel safe getting out of it. I turned on the radio.

“Jake calling from the bunker.” An old voice called over the speaker.

I sat there with a dumb smile on my face, listening.

“Jake calling from the bunker. Is anyone listening?”

My thumb hovered over the talk button.

“Jake calling from…..”

“Hi, Jake!” I said with my thumb pressed firmly on the plastic.

“Erm….Hello?” Came the reply.

I decided to see if he knew it was me and asked “So what’s the bunker?”

There was a silence before the reply came back “It’s a safe haven for survivors.”

I was wanting so much to laugh.

“Erm… Can I ask are you the government?” Jake’s old voiced asked.

“No. I suppose you could say I’m a sort of lone wolf at the moment.” I said.

My sides were hurting so much from trying not to laugh. I could just imagine the way Jake’s feet would have hit the floor after hearing a reply to his broadcast. Then the worst thing in the world happened.

“Is that you, Marc?” A female voice that I knew all too well came out of the speaker.

To say my balls shrivelled up was an understatement. Instantly the laughter dried up and I thought ‘Oh shit!’

“Marc, we know that it’s you. This is the only frequency that can reach that FUCKING RADIO YOU HAVE!” Amy screamed out of the speaker.

I really did try to think up something to say but all I could come out with was “Hi, Amy. How are you?”

“WHAT? WHAT TH…..” and I heard voices and furniture getting moved with force.

I was really beginning to think that even if I did survive, heading back to the bunker might actually end up being worse than trying to take down Benton.

“Marc, what the fuck are you doing?” Came a low rumbling voice from the radio.

Bloody hell. They must have had everyone hanging around the radio room just in case I ever answered.

“Hey, Chris, is anyone getting any work done?” I asked.

“Yeah, things are going well here. Why don’t you come back and have a look-see?” He said.

“To tell you the truth, I'd rather chance it out here than have to chance it with Amy at the moment.” I replied.

“Well, you did sort of fuck that up. Honestly, mate, what are you trying to prove?”

I sighed and said “I’m not trying to prove anything. are going to be a threat to us every day. So I thought I would find the fuckers and kill them.”

There was a small amount of silence before there was an answer.

“Look, mate, we can deal with that when the time comes but you have to admit that this is a bit like a suicide run. Don’t you?” Chris asked.

“Probably, but someone has to make them pay for all this.” I said, waving my arm inside the cab and gesturing to the outside world. Of course they couldn’t see me but I felt better for doing it.

“I agree, but it doesn’t have to be you, and if it does, then you don’t have to do it alone.” He said sighing.

I stared out the windscreen at the green fields over the hedge I had parked beside. They stretched out for miles and the sun was catching them every now and then cast light here and there.

“You still there, Marc?”

“Yeah, mate, still here.”

“Are you coming back?”

“No, and I’ll tell you why…” and I told them about finding out what Benton had planned and what had happened with Matthew.

“So someone has to try and end this madness and it has to be me because I was the one who let that fucking animal out of the lab.” I said, trying hold back the tears.

“Look Mar…” Chris had started to say but I turned the radio off and sat with my dog in the sunlight crying about everything that had happened.

Wiping my eyes with the sleeve of my jacket, I sniffed back the last few tears and looked outside of the cab and saw how low the sun was in the sky. I needed to find somewhere to lay up. The last place I wanted to sleep was in the cab of the truck.

I started the engine and pulled out onto the road and headed towards Hull again. Spirit jumped up out of the footwell and onto the passenger seat and watched the fields pass by. We made good time and had made it to the outskirts of Hull just as the sun was setting. The unlucky thing was there were no houses, only large industrial buildings. I drove into the parking area of a large office type building. There were a few cars scattered around it. Some appeared to have had their owners pulled forcibly from them. Blood splattered the walls of the building near the doors.

I sat looking at the doors for a while before deciding that this would have to do for the night. I opened the door and stepped out into the parking area. Pulling the crowbar out, I stood listening to the wind whipping between the buildings around me. I shivered at the sound because it reminded me of the low moans that Matthew had made when he became infected. Pulling the rucksack and rifle out, I waited for Spirit to jump out. She sat on the passenger seat and looked at me.

“Look, this is the best we can hope for. It’s getting dark and I am not wanting to head into the city.” I said to her.

She huffed and slowly climbed over on to the driver’s seat and jumped down.

“See, not so bad!” I said and watched as she stepped up to the front tire and pissed against the wheel.

I suppose that meant she wasn’t happy with our accommodations for the night.

I shrugged the rucksack on and headed for the main doors. Spirit followed behind with the nails clicking on the tarmac. The doors leading inside the building were half glass and half metal. One of the handles had dried blood smeared down it and there was a small pool of black on the step below it. I reached for the other door and pulled on the handle.

The door rattled in its frame locked and I quickly looked round over my shoulders hoping that I hadn’t alerted any of the infected. Pulling my sleeve over my hand I tried the other door and it opened. I sighed and pulled the door open enough that Spirit and I could slip through. Once inside, I looked around trying to find a way to make the doors secure.

I stood in a small reception area and there was large leather couches on either side of the room. In the center was a desk that had a single chair behind it. Behind the desk were two doors; one marked employees only and the other had toilet. I dropped my rucksack and went to check behind the desk.

Holding the crowbar with both hands, I crept up to the desk and looked behind. Finding nothing but a telephone and a few pens, I decided that I could probably drag one of the couches over and wedge it in front of the main doors. Spirit had climbed up on to the other couch and lay there with her head on her paws watching me huff and puff as I dragged the couch over and shoved against the doors. I might not keep anything out for long but it might give us some breathing room to escape.

My attention was now the two doors leading out of the reception area. I chose the lesser of two evils and headed for the door marked with toilet. Holding the crowbar in one hand and pushing on the door it opened into a small, single toilet and hand basin. Spirit had lifted her head to look at me and then lowered it again and closed her eyes.

“Fat lot of use you are!” I said.

Her ears flicked and lay flat. I suppose that meant for me to get fucked. I grinned and crossed the short distance to the other door the one marked employees only. This time I stood and listened for any noise coming from the other side of the door. I was really beginning to hate the quiet in this building. Pushing the door with my free hand, I swung open on a small corridor with four doors. Two of them were on my left and one on the right. The last door was directly opposite the one I had opened. I could make out dark streaks down the walls toward that door and I knew that it was the last place I wanted to go at the moment.