E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (Book 2): The Path of Destruction (21 page)

Still dressed in the clothes of his human host, this creature was wearing ripped jeans and a flannel top. He was covered in mud and
dirt, he bared his teeth as he snarled.

I aimed my rifle at his forehead as I took my first shot. Congealed blood hit the neck and face of the infected behind and the bullet went straight through the infected man’s skull. The infected gathered around the dead body and began to pick at the rotting remains.

“I think I’m going to throw up.” Sarah moaned as she saw from the window, the scene before us.

“You’re going to need a stronger stomach than that.” Ryan warned.

“It’s your turn next.” He finished.

Sarah looked up at him in horror. Jared shot up from his seat on the bed.

“Really, we can have a go?” He asked full of enthusiasm.

“You really should learn sooner or later.” Ryan replied. “I think given our situation sooner is better than later.” He finished.

“I’m not sure..” Sarah replied.

“Don’t worry, it gets easier over time.” I assured her.

I turned my attention back to the matter at hand. Leon and Lacey had both fired their first shots, and like me, had met their targets. The infected had now split into groups, their attention was now on consuming the remains of their recently deceased.

My thoughts returned to Duckface. The scene before me started to make me laugh. The infected would rather eat their own, disease ridden, rotting flesh, than go near Duckface. It just proved how rancid she really was.

I fired off my second shot as I reached a slightly smaller target. It was that of a young child. You may think I was a bit harsh, setting my sights on a child, but that’s where you’d be wrong. The infected children were by far the most terrifying. Their hands had already formed into claws as they pushed their way around the crowd. As they tucked into their revolting meal, they used their hands to claw away at the flesh, only eating the softest tissue. I suppose if the hosts hadn’t yet lost their baby teeth, piercing into flesh may have been an issue for them.

It just goes to show how much the infected were able to evolve. I watched as a new group descended onto the dead child, picking off what little meat they could. As another two shots fired I scoured the area looking for my next victim. This time I chose that of an old woman.

In life, I could tell she was the type of woman to have the face of a Barracuda. The way her bottom teeth protruded out her jaw, that was clearly the work of natural selection, not the infection.

She reminded me of Diane, my ex-colleague and Royal pain in the arse. I could tell that in life, she would be the type to turn her nose up at just about anything. I wondered if she was related to Duckface in some way. If Duckface ever lived to see that age, that is exactly how I’d imagine her.

I took my final shot. I aimed a little too low and ended up blowing her whole face off. That really was a sight for sore eyes. Chunks of teeth, bone and brain matter, littered the street below. The infected quickly descended on the remainder of the body, pulling apart full limbs and greedily consuming every inch of her frail corpse.

The three of us took a step back. We made way for the rest of the group. George, Nick and Paul stepped up. As expected,
George hit each target with perfect precision. Nick and Paul probably hit about two out of three. In all fairness to them, they hadn’t had as much experience as Lacey and I when it came to long range. The days we spent sat on that roof, did a lot to improve our accuracy. It turned out, we hadn’t lost it either.

Andy was the last to step up as Ryan handed Sarah and Jared their guns. Jared couldn’t wait to start, that is until he saw the crowd directly outside the gates. As soon as he took in the carnage
which was unfolding before our eyes.

“I don’t think I can do this.” He stuttered.

Ryan was busy preparing Sarah. He had shown her how to aim and she was now in the correct stance. She leaned into position and fired her first shot. The bullet fired over the head of the infected she was aiming for, however she hit the one behind straight between the eyes. The infected fell to the ground instantly.

“Oh my god!
Dude, did you see that?” She cheered.

“Well, it wasn’t the one you had your sights on, but a fantastic shot nonetheless.” Ryan praised her.

Jared inched closer spurred on by his friend's excitement.

“It’s not too bad Jared, once you get the hang of it.” She advised him.

Ryan made his way over to Jared and followed the same procedure he had done with Sarah. When Jared fired his shot, his bullet went straight through the chest of one of the infected. As we peered out the window, we saw a gaping hole we could see straight through.

“Not bad at all.” Ryan patted him on the back. “Next time, aim a little higher.” He suggested.

As Jared fired his second shot, he chose a different target. This one was slightly harder; he was stood to the side. Still, Jared’s shot met its target and flew straight through the infected’s temple. 

With our guns now low on ammo, we went to regroup. Finding these guns certainly put a spanner in the works. We still needed to figure out a plan. We knew from experience, it didn’t matter how many of the infected we killed. For each one we killed, ten more took its place. Even with new firepower, the number of infected severely outnumbered the bullets.

Chapter 23 - A Long Time Coming

“So what’s the plan now?” I asked as we all gathered into the living area. The Professor was sat with Duckface as she sat with her arms folded. She glared at each one of us as we entered the living room.

“Let’s wait. I say we see how the infected act next, and we reassess the situation as and when.” George started.

“That’s true. Think about it, the numbers have already gone down, and we only did a bit of target practice.” Lacey agreed.

“The infected are feeding again, that will be why their numbers have downsized.” The Professor stated.

“I would like to study their behaviour further if I may?” he finished.

It was starting to become clear. The majority vote was already leaning towards staying put.  I still felt a little bit wary, but I knew if the worst was to happen, and the infected breached the gates, that at least we were armed and had a few safe places to hide. Plus, with security cameras covering each and every angle, at least we were prepared.

Looking back, we should have left when we had the chance.

A day or so later, the number of infected tripled. As if from nowhere, an angry undead mob began to form. All of a sudden they began to swarm the gates. They pushed themselves up against the gates, as hundreds of the infected flocked forwards. Smoke began to pour from the baking flesh of the infected as they pushed further against the gates.

The gates began to bow through the pressure of the crowd. Not even an hour later, it began to unhinge itself.

We knew we had to do something; we were about to make a run for the boats. We tried to escape from the back, but the infected had managed to find a gap in the walls. They were coming in thick and fast from the bottom of the garden. They had worked out they could get around from the houses on either side. 

We had escaped out the back door and had just run past the pool, when the first of the infected revealed
themselves.

“What do we do now?” I shouted to Leon and Ryan, who had let off a few shots from their handguns.

“Get back inside.” Ryan shouted.

There were too many for us to fight off; they poured through from the bottom of the garden, sprinting towards the house.

We turned and ran back inside, locking the doors as fast as we could. The infected narrowly missed us and were now banging on the doors and windows all around us. We were surrounded. We barricaded the front door and sealed off the kitchen and living area. We moved all we could upstairs.

The boys were busy boarding up the windows and doors. We used each piece of furniture we could get our hands on as a blockade.

We heard an almighty crash from outside. They had breached the gate. Hundreds of the infected poured into the drive and threw themselves against the house.

“Jared, Sarah, get upstairs.” Ryan ordered. They turned and ran without hesitation.

We were all terrified. The Professor had already positioned himself on the security console; he was now our eyes and ears of the whole house. Ryan had handed him a walkie-talkie, the other was clipped to Ryan’s belt buckle.

We gathered at the bottom of the stairs. I could see the outline of the infected through the frosted glass, throwing their rotting undead bodies against the glass. Leon and Andy hurried to board up the glass, just as the first few cracks started to appear.

“What now?” Lacey shouted over the groans and moans of the infected outside.

“Girls, get upstairs, we need you to try and slow them down.” Ryan barked.

“Front or back?” I shouted over.

“Both!”
Came his reply. He was now frantically boarding up the doors around us, with the help of Nick and Paul.

“I’ll join you.” George replied.

We all ran upstairs and went into position. George took the back as Lacey, and I took the front. We burst through the door into Duckface and Andy’s room. Just as we got into position, we saw Duckface cowering in the corner.

“Lola, what the fuck are you doing?” I shouted over. Lacey had already opened the window and was sending out shots straight into the crowd below.

“Lola?” I snapped.

She didn’t say a word. She was shaking she was so petrified. I was well past the stage of giving her sympathy, so much had happened, no matter how hard I tried I felt nothing but hatred for her.

I ignored her and joined Lacey. I shot down the first three members of the crowd I laid eyes on. The crowd parted as they started a feeding frenzy ripping and tearing at the flesh of the fallen. It slowed them down slightly, but we were still greatly outnumbered.

I heard a screech from the infected as they spotted us from above. With their next meal visible it spurred them on even more.  We carried on until we emptied our first magazine. Just as I was reloading George came running into the room.

“It’s no use, we need to help the others.” He panted.

I turned my attention to George. I quickly assessed the situation, as I looked to Lola a frozen inconsolable mess, hiding in the corner of the room.

“George, you stay here with her. We’ll go downstairs.” I told him.

He looked over to the pathetic mess that was Duckface and nodded his head.

“Come on Lacey, let’s go.” I shouted.

She pulled her gun from the window as we raced back downstairs. We heard shots going off from inside the house, I hoped to god they hadn’t got in.

“It’s no use, we can’t stop them.” I reported back to Ryan.

We heard an almighty smash as the infected breached the bi-folding doors.

“They’re on the roof.” Came the voice on the walkie-talkie.

“Repeat that?” Ryan barked.

“The flat roof, above the kitchen. They’re climbing up the trellis.” The Professor warned.

We turned our attention to the door directly in front of us as we heard a thud against the door.  Several more followed. They were in the house. We pushed what remaining furniture we had against the door. The furniture had already started to inch
back, the force from behind the door was too great.

“Everyone upstairs.”
Leon screamed.

We turned and ran as we neared the front door, arms clawed at the air in between the boards we had hurried to put up. Thuds echoed all around us as the first of the infected ran down the corridor. They had broken the door leading to the kitchen.

The infected man stopped and howled. It was deafening; I had never heard an infected howl in such close quarters. Paul panicked and let off a few shots, tearing through the stomach of the man. He fell to the floor and scrambled to get up, slipping on his own bodily fluids in the process. He let out an ear piercing shriek in frustration. 

“GO” Ryan shouted over the noise.

We flew ourselves up the wide staircase. We stopped in the middle. The infected had got in through one of the bedroom windows and were now pouring in from upstairs. Two of the infected stood at the top of the stairs, their faces filled with hunger. They snapped and snarled as they ran forward.

Leon put a bullet straight through the first as the infected fell instantly. Ryan followed suit and quickly dispatched the second. We surged towards the edge of the staircase as the infected bodies descended.

As I looked back, the infected piled in from below. We fired shots below and above as the infected crowded us from all angles.

Bodies piled up around us as our rounds met our targets. We stepped over the dead as we made our way to the top, just as the final few infected rounded the top of the stairs.

We were down to our last rounds, Nick and Andy had already run out.