Salby Damned (7 page)

"Over there, Nate, to your front, outside lane now," she said, pointing herself.

"You two, get behind our seats, put your knees up, and push your feet into the seat backs. Be ready to cover your ears with your hands," Nathan said, already anticipating the need to use the shotgun.

***

Nathan stopped the truck, leaving enough room to accelerate if necessary. After leaning over to Evie, he grabbed the rifle barrel at her legs before pushing the button on the driver’s door to send the electric window whining in a downward motion. Halfway open, it was enough to provide a steady resting position, and he used the rifle’s scope for a better look at the three figures as they weaved side to side between the strewn cars.

The lead male was in a shirt and trousers and chose the route for those behind him. The second was a smaller male, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Nathan paused to check on the final figure behind, which was that of a woman. In her arms was a small baby, a few months old. Nathan looked again to be sure he had seen correctly. Sure enough, the lead man kept coming, followed by what must be his son, in turn followed by the mother carrying the child.

"Evie, we need to help them. They're normal, I think. Three, but the woman has a baby in her arms. Load up the shotgun, as I'll need you to cover me out front. You ready?"

Nathan picked the woman out with the scope, viewing over her head , and he spotted the reason for the blind dash towards them. Three rows of cars behind her, making ground, came two youths. The clearer image from the scope confirmed that they were infected. The fleeing lead male, thought to be the father, yelled at his son to keep running for the truck he'd seen moving. The father then turned to shield and protect his wife and child now that he had seen the truck stop.

This is where I'll make my stand. This is where I will fight to defend those I love and see them to safety.

Without a thought for the danger, Evie grabbed the shotgun, pocketing shells.

"Stay down, you two, don't move."

She swung her door wide, taking the first step and jumping the last two, to crouch in front of the truck before slamming the big door closed. Nathan closed the window before opening the driver’s door and jumping to the ground, pushing the door closed and moving for cover at the nearest abandoned car. Evie had shown great courage, and his feelings for her grew even stronger. Motioning for her to come to him, Nathan stood and shouted at the boy running towards them.

"Keep coming, son, don't stop, and don't look back. Get into the back of the truck and stay out of sight."

He called to the father to break to his right, to give him more space to aim at the pursuing duo. Seeing the rifle raised, the man pulled his wife and child over towards him, running as fast as they could; the footfalls of their pursuers closing in behind them. The deadheads split, one veering right to follow the fleeing adults. The other came straight at Nathan, choosing to climb over the cars rather than going around, leaping from one to the next and increasing in momentum. Nathan levelled the scope on the incoming youth.

He can't be more than twenty years old.

Two hundred yards out but bouncing up and over the stationary cars, hopping and jumping them as a hurdle runner would, the youth came in fast. Placing the crosshairs at the nose of the youth, he breathed in, out, and held his breath.

It's a rabbit, just a rabbit, only a rabbit
.

Only one hundred yards between them now, he ran up, then down, then up over the next car. Ninety yards. He could see the deadhead’s eyes, narrowed so that only a thin sliver of black was visible. With hatred burning within, bared teeth and a grimace of rage, the lad thundered towards Nathan as the force of the impacts upon the bonnets popped the metal in and out. Nathan held the outward breath, flicked the safety, and fired, following the barrel as the rifle kicked into his shoulder.

He watched in zoom vision as the boy took the bullet to his upper thorax, sending him sprawling forwards over the roof of the car he had mounted. The range and small calibre of the bullet wasn’t enough to kill him and too far to have passed clean through. Nathan watched, pulling the bolt to reload as the youth pushed himself up on all fours on top of the car, before bringing his knee down, intent on rising once more.

Bent over the bonnet, forming a bipod with his elbows, Nathan clicked the safety off. He brought the scope to bear one click above the centre of the lad’s eyebrows, with the crosshairs a fraction below the top of his head. The mil-dot scope marked out in his sights. He'd forgotten about subsonic bullet drop at longer range, but would compensate this time. Still at about eighty yards, the boy lifted his head and was about to rise as Nathan pulled back on the trigger. The bullet found its mark this time; a neat, round hole in the centre of the infected youth’s forehead sent him rolling backwards. The body fell between the cars in a tangle of arms and legs, coming to rest so that Nathan could see him face down and motionless. With rifle raised and loaded once more, he moved towards the body, intent on making sure he was dead. Before he could do that, he heard a shout from his left.

The running man, the father, had stopped to make a stand as the second deadhead bore down upon his wife and child. Nathan swung the rifle around, trying to get a shot, but the father had other plans for his attacker.

The father stopped next to a car, loaded with what looked like camping equipment, he pulled the straps free, sending most of it flying to the floor. A plastic seat had clattered down the back of the car, coming to rest a few feet in front of the man’s legs. He grabbed at a pile of tent poles that had been stowed in a long green bag. As the deadhead charged towards him, he stepped left, swinging the pole into the gaping mouth of the young man with a
swoooosh
sound, followed by a jaw-snapping, teeth-shattering
thwack
, the force of which clothes-lined the deadhead flat on his back. Spinning the pointed pole on its end, the father straddled the body and forced it through the throat of the stunned youth until he hit tarmac and he could push no further, letting it go and staggering backwards, physically sick at the very act he had just committed.

The wounded deadhead began to rise, gurgling and ejecting tooth fragments as he tried to suck in air with the pole embedded in his throat. It staggered to its feet once more to continue the advance. With deep breaths to overcome the nausea, the man straightened up and used the flat of his hand to shove the pole clean through the throat of the infected youth. He brought his left hand hard around, grabbing the protruding end nearest to him and yanking it around to his right, which sent the deadhead spinning one hundred and eighty degrees.

With all his might, he kicked the deadhead in the lower back, sending him face forwards onto the upturned chair, shearing off the top leg.

The sharp stump fragment went deep into the deadhead's chest and through its heart, killing him instantly. The body was left skewered over the slanted upturned chair, legs astride the remaining plastic seat supports, still pulsing as the blood pressure finally elapsed to nothing.

Nathan managed to reach the trembling man, who had collapsed to his knees with his head in his hands, shoulders shaking as he cried.

"Are you hurt? Are you hurt?" Nathan said again louder, snapping the man back to reality.

"N-No, I don't think so."

Giving the man a quick once over, Nathan could see no wounds evident. "We have to move.
Now!
Are your family safe? Did they get to the back of the truck?"

Nathan looked over his shoulder to see Evie heading his way.

"I've got the mum, baby, and son. They're all fine. You wanna get the hell out of here?" she yelled, with a sense of urgency, and turned back to the truck. Nathan placed his hand on the man’s shoulder.

"Come on, let's get you in. We're not far from the base now; we'll be safe there."

Nathan guided the still shaking man towards the truck and closed the tailgate after him. The man took a last look as he hugged his relieved family.

Evie checked on the children, who were upset and shaken by the noise of the rifle. She was sure they'd recover as they were two tough cookies. Nathan hauled himself into the driver's seat, passing the rifle to Evie.

"Safety's on, one in the pipe," he announced, closing the door and blipping the throttle ready to move.

"Thanks for the back-up, love, appreciated."

That was his last reference to the entire incident; their reference point for the perception of normal was changing.

***

Crunching the truck into second gear, followed by the hiss of the disengaged air brakes, they began to roll north, smashing a route through and leaving a trail of bent and mangled cars behind them. It took almost an hour to travel the remaining mile to the slip road exit. When they finally swung the tipper onto the straight road towards the base security entrance, what they saw made them all stop and stare.

Trucks, cars, camper vans, and just about every vehicle in-between lined the roadside. Those that had keys had been parked along the tree line; those without had simply been bulldozed into the water gullies running either side of the road, to create what looked like a vehicle corridor. Slowly, Nathan edged forward, no faster than walking pace, before making a sharp right turn into the heavily guarded gate entrance. He stopped.

Green-clad soldiers surrounded the huge metal gates, and heavy artillery had been mounted along the front fence a couple of hundred yards farther on. The army had been busy it seemed. They were coping with the influx of thousands of people; sporadic gunfire indicated that deadheads were also trying to gain entry around the perimeter. Immediately behind the twenty-foot high, self-propelled main gates sat a Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank, flanked by two FV510 Warrior infantry attack vehicles. A sweep of the ground a few feet in front of the fencing, either side of the gate, revealed that anti-personnel mines had been deployed, stretching as far in either direction as Nathan could see.

After what seemed like minutes, Nathan killed the engine, and the truck rattled until it was silent. He turned to look at Evie and then the children.

"We made it. Now all we have to do is get in. Nobody shout, and don't try to leave the truck for now. We don't want any twitchy trigger fingers from them."

He thought fast, trying to formulate a plan and not relishing the idea of stepping out from the truck yet. He turned the ignition key to light up the dashboard. Evie stared at him.

"What are you doing?" she said, sounding a little worried.

Nathan turned to look at her before flicking the main beam headlight flasher in three short bursts, then three longer held bursts, and again three short bursts—a dot, dot, dot then dash, dash, dash, and again dot, dot, dot—before waiting. He sent an old-fashioned internationally recognised Morse Code signal for the letters SOS, hoping that the troops at the gate were familiar with it. With no immediate response, he sent the same series of short and long flashes again, only this time he received a flashlight reply, to indicate that the message had been understood.

The gate motors began to whine, and slowly, the huge metal barrier started to slide sideways, before stopping only a few feet open, allowing a lone soldier with a loud hailer to come through. The soldier, raising the device to his mouth, spoke clearly and slowly, giving them instructions to step out of the vehicle, stand in front of it, and raise their hands in full view. Nathan nodded, opening his door and turning to carry Tom. Evie picked up Holly, taking care as they stepped down from the high cab and moved to the front of the vehicle with hands held out palms up. Nathan looked directly at the lone soldier.

"We are unarmed, and we have survivors in the rear of the truck, children, and an infant," he shouted

"I understand, sir. I am sending some people out to escort you in. We'll move the vehicle shortly. Please call the other survivors to you."

Nathan could see snipers with weapons trained and at least twenty soldiers, all with raised guns pointing their way. He called out to the father, son, and mother to join him. The tailgate clanked open.

"We're okay. Just keep calm and do as they say. It will be fine," Nathan assured them.

A group of six armed soldiers came from the gate, each taking up flanking positions around Nathan and the others as they moved towards the entrance, with Nathan holding Tom's hand and Evie holding Holly's hand. For what was in reality, a short walk, it felt like an eternity.

"Let me talk to them first, okay. You have to trust me now," Evie muttered.

At the time, Nathan thought that it seemed like a bizarre thing for her to say, but all would be clear soon.

They were taken to a check-in building, situated a short way behind the huge Challenger 2, where they were asked to provide identification. Nathan pulled his wallet, flashing his press card and driver's licence. Evie told the soldiers about the children and their missing mother. She then produced a plastic ID card.

"I am Lieutenant Dr. Evelyn Shepherd 17305050. I need to speak with the Commanding Officer as soon as possible.”

***

The rescued family was checked in, and once the process had been followed for each of the party, they were sent to a small holding room to have their identification verified, before being allowed to enter the main site. The father of the family came to Nathan.