Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) (7 page)

Chapter Eleven

Amy walked over and poured another cup of coffee before returning back to her place on the couch. Taking a long gulp of my coffee, I looked over our little group.

“So taking out an oil rig is going to a little harder than a ship.” I said, putting the cup down on the coffee table.

The pup jumped down from David’s lap and slowly padded toward Spirit. She lifted her head and looked at him and let out a small growl. The pup probably didn’t have much sense because he kept going. Spirit decided to pretend that he wasn’t there and lowered her head again.

“Look, what we need to decide on is if it is worth carrying on.” Mike said.

“Look, I already…” before I could finish there was a small yelp. The pup had got a little too close to Spirit and got a small nip to his side. He shot back to where David was and cowered against the large man’s legs.

“Like I was going to say, I have already decided to try.” I said, standing up and walking to the window.

“Marc, we are not saying that it isn’t the right thing to do but it is going to be nearly impossible to destroy the rig, and even if you did managed it you would probably die as well.” Mike said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

He did have a point. I would probably die, but when I had to shoot Matthew back in the pub I made a decision that Benton wouldn’t get away with what he had done.

“Mike, mate, you are probably right but I am still going to try.” I replied.

I heard someone stand and turned to see Chris standing up. I actually thought he was going to come around the couches and smack me one.

“Look, I have been with you every step of the way, mate, but I need to ask you this one last time. Are you sure this is what needs to be done?” He said stood there looking me full in the face.

I looked at each of them in turn whilst trying to arrange my thoughts into words. The pup had finally got close to Spirit and was laying down alongside her.

I smiled at the dogs and said “Look, even if we didn’t try to stop them, then who’s to say that this time next year Benton wouldn't have managed to wipe the Bunker and everyone staying there off the face of the map? Before any of you say it, there is a small chance that they leave us alone, but from everything that we have found out about these arseholes, they will come for us and either enslave us and our families or conduct experiments on us. Now, I for one don’t want that to happen to anyone. That was why I did the midnight flit. Look, everyone here has a reason not to go and I have never once twisted an arm or threatened them about it, but whichever way this turns out, I am going to fight these bastards.”

“Ok”

Amy looked at Chris and asked “What do you mean ok?”

“I mean ok. I’ll team up with Marc.” He said, sitting back down.

David smiled and said “Well, if you put it like that, then I suppose I’m in as well.”

“I’ll have to go now, if only to look after my little girl’s boyfriend.” Mike said, standing and walking over to pour another cup of coffee.

I just smiled and shook my head at them. They were like a set of brothers trying to one up each other. Amy just sat there looking like she had been slapped across the face. I did feel sorry for her, but when you get men like the four of us in a room then she should have known that each of us would back any of the others to the hilt. The light outside was starting to dim and I watched as the color seemed to leech from the sea leaving only black waves with white crests crashing against the sand.

“You do realize that trying to bring down an oil rig is going to be impossible.” Amy said, looking at each one of us.

“That’s where the fun is.” Chris replied.

“Look, it’s getting on and we won’t get much done now. I suggest we all get some sleep and figure out what we are going to do after a good night’s sleep.” David said.

We all grabbed some food and ate in silence. Night had closed in quickly. After eating our MRE’s I took Spirit outside to let her do what she needed. I watched as she bounded away into the darkness with the pup following in her wake. I stood listening for any of the infected but only heard the sound of the waves crashing against the beach.

“You do realize it’s going to be a hard fight.” A rumbling voice said from behind me.

Turning around, I said “I know and you know that I wouldn’t force anyone to come with me.”

Chris grinned and patted me on the shoulder “Like I said in there, we have been together since this all began. If Jay were here, he would say the same thing that I said.”

Spirit sprinted out of the sand dunes and a short while later the pup ran towards us. He stopped short of us and let out a short bark. I crouched down and held out my hand to him. Creeping forward, he got close enough to sniff my fingers. Taking a few sniffs he crept further forward and I leaned forward and gave his head a gentle stroke and was rewarded with a quick lick in return. He squeezed through the gap between Chris and myself disappearing inside the building.

“I miss Jay.” I said, standing up.

Chris chuckled “He would have loved the idea of blowing up an oil rig.”

I could just imagine the gleam in Jay’s eye at the idea.

“Let’s get inside.” I said.

I followed Chris back inside and back to the kitchen. There was a lantern lit that was giving the small room a warm glow. Amy was busy laying out her sleeping bag on one of the couches. Spirit was lying asleep at the end of the couch with the pup curled up next to her.

Amy looked up at us as we entered and said “David said that Chris is welcome to sleep on the lifeboat with him and Mike. They thought that Marc and I would prefer to sleep in here.”

Chris walked over and picked up his rucksack and headed back to where the lifeboat was “That gives me someone to talk to.” he said walking out of the room.

I grabbed my rucksack and pulled out my sleeping bag and laid it out on the other couch. Sitting down, I started to pull my boots off.

“Marc, I don’t want us to do this.” Amy said.

I lay down on my side and looked over at her before answering “Amy, this needs to be done otherwise this whole mess is going to get worse and may never get better.”

She sighed.

“Benton will just make every survivor's life a living hell and I can’t have it on my conscience.” I said, lying back and looking up at the ceiling.

She turned the lamp down and I heard her settle into her sleeping bag. Moonlight filtered in through the small window and my eyes slowly got used to the dark. Pulling open my sleeping bag, I climbed inside and zipped it closed.

“Marc, I think it might be best if I head back to the Bunker in the morning.” Amy whispered in the dark.

That shocked me and I turned over to look in her direction.

“Why?”

“I can’t see anyway that you and the others are going to survive this and I don’t want to be there to see you die.”

“Who says that any of us are going to die?”

“It’s an oil rig in the middle of the sea. How are you going to escape it? Let alone how the hell are you supposed to get on board?”

Tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought of that oil rigs were huge platforms that were in the middle of the North Sea. They rested on huge legs. That the platform and machinery rested on. Then a thought came to me out of the blue.

“Who says we need to get on board?” I said.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked.

“Let me think some of this through. I might have an idea that might save us having to get on the platform.” I said, smiling in the

              darkness.

Chapter Twelve

I didn’t know if it was Amy or Spirit but there was a huffing sound and then silence from the other couch. I lay there considering as many of the angles of the mad plan that I could think of. If we managed to pull it off, then we might actually survive. During the night I had the first nightmare of my adult life. I had been running on the sand outside of the lifeboat station. A large shadow was cast over me and I knew that if I stopped, the creature the shadow belonged to would grab me and drag me to the floor and devour me. As the dream carried on Chris, David and Mike ran past me, and as they did they shouted out encouragement. The longer I ran, the softer the sand got and the harder it was for me to lift my feet out of it.

This carried on till I was wading through the sand and I could feel warm breath on my neck. It smelled of rotten flesh and decay. I screamed when the first fingers felt for my neck. Bursting from the sand, I ran so hard that my heart felt like it was trying to burst free. It was then the soft moan of the infected reached my ears. The sweat was streaming into my eyes blurring my vision. Again, the sand started to pull me down. My body was tiring and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep this going for much longer.

The lifeboat station stood off to the left and I headed for the doors. There was a menacing gloom around the building giving it a blurred outline. Running hard, the sand slowly became harder and I began to put more distance between myself and the shadow. Hitting the door, I shoved it open with my shoulder and ran inside slamming it closed behind me. As the door closed, I heard the slamming of a body against it.

Backing away from the door, I ran up against something that swayed away from me in the darkness. I spun around to see what it was and out of the darkness the infected face of Amy peered back. Her eyes were gone and the green slime oozed out of the empty sockets. Her teeth had been smashed out of her mouth and only jagged yellow stumps remained. One cheek was shredded down to the bone and about half of her hair had been ripped out leaving the blackened muscle underneath showing. She reached out for me with withered grey hands that looked more like claws than fingers. My breath caught in my chest, I couldn’t scream as she dragged me to the ground and buried her head into my neck. I could feel my flesh getting torn away from my body and my warm sticky blood stream down and pool under my back.

Gurgling I asked “Why?”

The infected Amy raised her head, I saw pieces of my flesh and muscle caught in those yellow stumps and my blood running from the sides of her black lipped mouth. Amy smiled and said “Because you had to be the hero!”

Her head whipped forward again and my lungs filled with enough air for one last scream.

I woke up drenched with sweat and the sleeping bag gathered in a pile at my feet. I sat up and looked around the moon lit room. Spirit was still lying down with her new friend and Amy, the non-infected Amy, was softly snoring on the other couch. Swinging my legs around, I sat up and looked toward the window. I could see the moon behind wispy grey clouds. Standing, I walked over and looked outside. Nothing had changed except for the position of the moon in the sky. The nightmare had shaken me because I had never thought of myself as hero, let alone the thought of Amy as an infected. I had always been told that nightmares and dreams were the mind's way of telling you things that during the day it usually ignored.

Standing there I heard a soft knocking noise coming from outside the room Amy and I were sleeping in. I opened the door to where the lifeboat was and the knocking was slightly louder.

The clicking of nails on the floor had me turn round and I could see Spirit and her little friend following me. Spirit stopped beside my right leg and the pup on my left. I knelt down between them and placed a hand on their backs. I could feel a rumbling coming through my hand from Spirit and realized that she was growling, albeit very quietly.

I whispered “Is it the infected, girl?”

Spirit turned her head and a small huff escaped her lips.

My first thought was ‘Shit’ quickly followed by how the fuck I am going to wake everyone without alerting the infected? Standing slowly, I walked back to where Amy was sleeping. Spirit and the pup headed toward the reception area and stood together at the door. Crouching down beside Amy, I placed my hand over her mouth. Her eyes flew open and she tried to pull my hand away.

“Try not to make too much noise. There are infected outside.” I said, letting go of her mouth.

“How many?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had time to look outside.”

“Ok, I’ll look. You go and tell Chris and the others.” She whispered.

Heading toward the gantry that allowed access to the lifeboat I quickly looked down the steep ramp and saw shadows moving around the sides. Clambering on board the lifeboat, I headed for the nearest door and pushed it open. I had to feel around with my hands because inside the lifeboat was like being inside a black hole. Stopping still, I used my ears and I heard Chris’ snoring.

Using that as a reference point, I headed in that direction. After bumping into God only knew what I was at a hatch that took me into the bowels of the boat. It was then just a case of following the rumbling noise. Stopping at a door, I slowly pushed it open and my nose was hit with the pungent smell of three sweaty men.

“Chris!” I whispered into the darkness.

“What?” A sleepy voice answered.

“Infected!” I replied.

There was a rustle of noise from three directions followed by three separate curses.

Standing in the doorway, I was suddenly blinded when someone turned on a flashlight.

“Turn that fucking thing off.” I hissed.

The flashlight clicked off and I heard Mike say “Why?”

“Because you have just ruined my night vision.” I said.

I moved out in the hallway as my eyes watered and I saw nothing but flashing lights and colours. After a couple of minutes the blooms of light and colour had started to ease. A hand came down on my shoulder.

Chris whispered “How many are we looking at?”

I shook my head “I’m not sure. There are a few out next to the ramp, but there are some near the front door. Amy said she would get a count.”

“Ok, let’s get back to the rest room.” Chris said.