E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (Book 2): The Path of Destruction (11 page)

“Oh, it really is Professor” Lacey turned to Andy and Duckface. “Leave, NOW” she ordered.

“Look, I know you're all really mad but
..” Andy started.

“Mad? That doesn’t even begin to describe what we’re feeling” I hit back.

That’s when the argument well and truly broke out. Everyone was shouting at each other; Andy tried to calm the situation down, but we were having none of it. Rightly so, I couldn’t even bear being in the same room as that vindictive, evil creature. I was ready to throw her overboard.

Duckface started to cry. That wound Lacey up even more. “Oh, shut up you utter piece of shit. No one cares anymore. Cry all you want it won’t change things. Nothing will.” She yelled.

“Excuse me” the Professor raised his voice slightly over the noise. No-one listened.

“Excuse me” he repeated. Still no one listened. We were all too busy getting out what we wanted to say. Everyone wanted the last word.

“CAN I PLEASE INTERJECT” the Professor bellowed. Silence followed. We all looked towards the Professor.

At the same time, we heard a smash from outside the boat. Leon stepped back in, the now broken key safe in his hands.

The Professor held his hand up in order to silence us all before we had a chance to start again.

“Ladies, Gentleman. It is not as simple as it seems. What I was trying to say earlier, was that there seems to be a new development.” He looked around the room, making sure we were all listening.

“Whilst I agree Lola’s actions were unforgivable, we have to look at the bigger picture.” He continued.

The Professor walked over to Lola and guided her out from her hiding place behind Andy. He held her arm up for us all to see.

There, on her arm, were the remains of a bite mark. It looked as if it had been there a while; it was already starting to scab. But there, clear as day, were teeth marks etched into her skin. The bruising around the wound clearly showed that it was a bite, of some magnitude.

“She’s infected” Lacey gasped.

“No, she’s not. She should be, but she isn’t showing any of the signs and symptoms” the Professor told the rest of us.

Andy stepped forward. “It’s
true, she said she was bitten shortly after she left the base. Her blood could be the cure.” he told us. “That’s why we came back. We saw your note, and that’s why we came looking for you in the hope the Professor was still alive” Andy finished.

I raised an eyebrow. How the hell could she be the cure for anything? It didn’t make any sense. Regardless of if she was the cure or not, I still wanted her out of my sight. Luckily Leon had come up with the solution.

He threw a boat key over to Andy. “There you go. You’re not staying here with us. Take that boat, and you can follow behind” he told them. Andy nodded.

“I suggest you go with them too.” Ryan told George firmly. He spoke in such a way, even George knew not to defy him. He spoke like the Corporal. We all nodded glaring at the three of them.

“The key is for the boat just next to us. You haven't got far to go” Leon finished.  There was no emotion in his voice whatsoever.

The outcasts were just about to leave when we heard a screech in the distance.

“Let’s go” George turned to them. “I suggest we do so before we attract anymore unwanted attention. The instructions for the boat are on the counter” he finished. With that they left.

Ryan and Leon headed over to the kitchen to view the instructions. They glanced over it, and went to get the boat started.

The screeching and howling, coming from the infected was now getting closer and closer.

Lacey and I sat down in the living area whilst Nick and Paul went to help the others start the engine. The Professor was about to put the kettle back on when he turned to us.

“On second thoughts, I think we could do with something a little stronger" he said walking over to his backpack.

He pulled out a bottle of champagne, the same one he had commandeered from Adlington Hall, and unscrewed the metal top revealing the cork underneath.

“I know this is not the time to celebrate. But I think we could all do with something a little stronger than tea.”

He was certainly right about that. Lacey and I were still reeling from Andy and
Duckface’s sudden reappearance.

“I cannot believe she had the nerve, showing up like this!” Lacey started.

“I hate her just as much as you do. Should have thrown her overboard” I sighed.

“She’s lucky I didn’t drop her where she stood” Lacey replied.

“Girls, calm down. She is out of your hair for now. I do need to stress how important her blood could be. If she can provide a cure there could be a small chance we could put an end to all this.” The Professor sounded hopeful.

I wasn’t so sure; it just seemed too farfetched that she could somehow be the cure in all of this. Besides, we had no idea where she was or what she was doing since she left. Something just wasn’t adding up.

The Professor handed us each a glass of champagne. He had found some glass tumblers in one of the cupboards. It wasn’t exactly the champagne flutes we were used to drinking out of, but after what we had been through, we barely even noticed.

“I can’t believe Andy though, how could he go running back to her so quickly?” I asked them both.

“I don’t know, he’s a fool. She isn’t doing him any favours, but if that’s the path he’s chosen then we can’t do anymore.” Lacey shrugged.

“Love makes us weak, it causes us all to do stupid things every once in a while” the Professor advised.

“Yeah, I know, but really? After all she’s done?” I asked.

The Professor shook his head. “As they say, love is blind.”

We all felt the boat starting to move. The boys had pulled away the mooring lines, and we were now starting to drift. As George had originally suggested, we were going to follow the Shropshire Union Canal onto the Shropshire Main Line a few miles down.

Both boats had cast off just in time. A small crowd of fast movers were approaching the jetty. Following a few yards behind, the rest followed. They howled and screeched as they crowded around the vacant boats we had left behind.

An undead mixture of men, women and children of all different shapes and sizes converged on the small jetty.

Their expressions were fierce and predatory. No longer wielding expressionless faces, we knew we were in trouble. They clawed the air, full of desperation, anticipating their next meal.

The infected closest to us attempted to jump, they must have thought they could make it. We were only a few yards away from the jetty, and slowly pulling away farther.

The crowd disbursed slightly, as a few unfortunate members hit the water in an unsuccessful attempt to get to us.

The infected thrashed around in the water, refusing to give up on their prey. They had only just managed to stay afloat, lucky for us, they hadn’t yet learnt to swim.

We backed up further as Ryan turned the boat around, in the direction of our new path.

The boat pushed forward as we headed towards the bridge. Lacey and I made our way outside to see what all the commotion was about.

The infected were crowding the different jetty’s following us in a vain attempt to grasp their next meal. They were tightly packed in together, making various sounds. Screeching and howling filled the
soundwaves, deafening us, even from inside the boat.

“We may have a problem” Leon shouted to us.

“What’s that?” I asked over the sound of the engine running at full capacity.

“We need to pass through that lock” he shouted back pointing to the bridge.

“What the hell is a lock?” I asked Lacey, she looked at me none the wiser.

“It’s not important; all you need to know is we need to pass through it, and it means some of us need to get out the boat” Ryan answered.

“Oh great, and how do you suggest we do that with these things on our tail?” I asked.

“We have no choice” Ryan replied. “It’s ok if we can get through quick enough. They might not have the time to figure out how to get to us. Then we can distract them so the others can get through” he finished.

“Ok.” I replied. If we had to do it, we would just have to find a way.

“So remind me again, why do we have to get out?” Lacey asked.

Nick was the first to respond. “You see those black wooden gates?” he asked.

“Yeah." she shouted over standing on her tiptoes, looking over the boat.

“Well, we need to wind that lever over there to open the gate so the boat can get through. Then we need to close the gate and wait for the water to fill up. From there, we need to wind the gate at the other side so we can get out" he explained.

It seemed simple enough, but near impossible, given the fact that the infected were directly outside of us, desperate to climb on board.

Still, we neared the lock. Ryan shouted over for Leon to take the helm. As soon as the boat closed in on the lock Ryan leaped out the boat and ran up the small stone steps leading to the lever.

Lacey and I looked over to the infected to make sure they weren’t closing in. Nick and Paul jumped out the boats on either side, armed with the blunt objects they had found earlier. They were ready to defend the boat.

The Professor wandered out with the bottle of champagne in hand.

“How are we doing chaps?” he asked, “Are we ready to set sail?”

Lacey and I looked at one another.

“Professor, are you drunk already?” I asked bewildered.

“No, no, I’m just emptying my weapon ready for action” he replied holding up the nearly empty bottle.

We left Ryan to deal with the Professor and peered out of the boat on either side of the bank.

The infected were now nearing the office; the fast movers were closing in.

The gates opened as the boat lurched forward into the lock.

Ryan quickly wound the gate back up. George was peering out from the boat behind us. He was banging against the side of the boat trying to distract the infected long enough for us to complete our task.

Andy came out alongside George and joined in shouting and making noise. Duckface suddenly appeared and attempted to pull Andy inside. He was having none of it. He quickly waved her off and continued on with George.

The infected looked over to the second boat. Changing their direction, they headed on in search of the new food source, calling out to them like a lunch time, dinner bell.

As Ryan closed the gate, he ran over to the next. Paul and Nick followed, whilst keeping a look out, they all began turning the second lever.

Water flowed in raising the boat with every turn. As soon as we were through we sailed straight through.

The boys eventually closed the gate and shouted over to George to make his way forward.

Half of the crowd of infected, were now in the water. They thrashed and scrambled trying desperately to get closer to the boats. Noticing us in the distance, they turned their attention to us; the remaining land-based crowd scattered, eager to get up the hill.

Now it was our turn to distract them. George had tucked the boat nicely under the bridge in a vain attempt to conceal them from the horde infected around us. It seemed to be working, for the time being.

The Professor seemed great at getting their attention. Whether it was the drink talking or not, it actually came in useful.

“
Yo-ho, yo-ho a pirates life for me” he sang, oblivious to what was going on around him.

“
Arrr ye will not be making the crew, ye scurvy scum. Back to the locker with you” he cried at the infected who were now tumbling into the water, one after the other.

“To the depths with you” He yelled at another.

He seemed to be enjoying this. It certainly kept the rest of us amused. For a conservative English gentleman, I never would have thought he would have such a wild imagination. The lines he was coming out with, were something straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean.

“I think you’d make a good pirate.” I told the Professor.

“Aye, you’d be a wise first mate” came his reply, in his best pirate voice. 

We carried on banging against the sides of the boat. The infected had managed to make their way to the sides. Ryan and Leon were already way ahead of us. Smashing each one over the head; sending them back into the murky depths of the canal.

After a while, George called over to us. “We're done here.” he said jumping back onto his boat. With that, we set off.

“Aren’t they going to close the gate?” I asked Ryan.

“What for? I doubt anyone else will be using it” he replied.

He was right of course. We had a narrow escape. Again, I started to wonder when our luck would eventually run out.

We cruised along at a moderately slow pace; these narrow boats weren’t exactly built for speed. We tootled along at four miles an hour. This journey was going to take much longer than I originally anticipated.

“If it’s ok with the rest of you, I think I’m going to go for a lie down" the Professor said, back to his normal self.

“Aye, that be just fine.” Ryan joked.

The Professor patted Ryan on the back. “Well, I’m glad I could be of service, to provide the rest of you with some light entertainment” he quipped as he made his way back inside.

I turned to Lacey. She was stood facing the boat behind us, glaring at the boat.

“Come on
hun, let’s go back inside” I suggested.

She turned to look at me, her face a mixture of anger and deflation. “I’m not happy about this.” she said sternly.

“Neither am I.” I sighed, shaking my head.

We joined Leon, Nick and Paul inside. I snuggled up beside Nick.

“So, what do we all think of the not so new arrivals?” Leon asked, getting straight to the point.

Lacey glared at him and shook her head. She was that angry; she couldn’t seem to speak.

“Look, Andy’s been a mate for a while. But I’m sorry he’s chosen his side. I don’t even know how he can still defend her after that.” Nick replied.

Paul quickly agreed. “Yeah, Nicks right. After all, she’s done. If he’s siding with her then he’s no friend of mine.”

“I’m not being funny, but I highly doubt she’s a miracle cure for the E Virus” I replied. 

They all agreed. I bet she loved it though. All this attention, people thinking she was God's gift. For a girl who judges happiness by the amount of friends and likes she has on Facebook, she would be in her element.

Whether she was the miracle cure, she claimed to be or not, it didn’t change or make up for the fact she had left us all to die. Although not directly; she was still a murderer, and I couldn’t see any of us forgetting that anytime soon.

The first couple of hours flew by. The excitement of being on a boat, in new surroundings and relative safety, lifted our spirits.

There was no doubt about it, out of the two, we had the better boat. For one we had all the supplies. They weren’t something we were in a rush to hand over to them. They had made their own beds, as far as we were concerned they could lie in it.

By this time the sky had started to darken. Night was quickly rolling in.

The cold air swept past our boat whistling through the windows. The infected had given up on their pursuit and left us alone to sail through the canal system in peace.

The scenery around us was beautiful. The calm water lapped up against the boat, as we pushed forward along our new path. The last remaining leaves on the trees around us crackled in the breeze. Beyond the trees, green overgrown fields spanned for miles, a far cry from the civilisation we once knew.

Wild flowers scattered the fields. Long gone were the farmers who kept them at bay. The once trim, uniform and purpose serving fields had gone and had been handed back to Mother Nature.

Without people around to keep said things in check, the world was taking on a completely different look to what we had been so used to. Left at the mercy of the elements, nature was flourishing, taking on a new lease of life, never seen before.

And here we were, probably one of the last remaining survival groups. We would be one of the last ones to view the world as it is now. The rest of humanity had already succumbed to the mutated Ebola virus, hell bent on killing everything in its sight.