E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (The Beginning of the End) (12 page)

This explained why the infected had started out as stumbling slow movers, after surviving for an extended period of time, and by feeding they must have gained the energy and the intelligence to restart other areas of the brain, giving them enhanced features to what they originally had.

“Does the Sergeant know about this?” I asked.

“Not until today” the Professor replied. “I suggest you speak directly with the Sergeant on how he wishes to proceed.
” He quickly changed the subject “Please excuse me, I am going to reacquaint myself with an old friend” He got up and walked over to the other side of the hangar where George was sitting, perched nicely on a fold up camp chair. He left me alone to take in the new information.

I sat there for a while, processing. I felt nothing. I didn’t know what to think, things seemed to be getting worse and it was out of all of our control.
I hated not knowing what was coming next. In normal life I was always extremely organised, Nick was always happy to go with the flow, I always needed to know what I was doing from one day to the next. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t think way into the future, but I couldn’t get in the car and drive, without having a destination in mind.

At that moment,
I felt like I was driving around a dark countryside trying to find my destination, but I couldn’t see past my own headlights. I was completely lost.

I knew I needed to speak to the Sergeant about this, he would know what to do. I
tried to put it to the back of my mind for the time being, we had more new faces around, I was sure the dynamics of the group would change yet again.

I made my way over to the rest of the group. They had unpacked the entire contents of the truck and the boys were keen to play with all the camping gadgets they had found.

I headed over to the Sergeant keen to get his views on the recent information I had just learnt.

Over the past week and a half of knowing the Sergeant, he never failed to look out for me. He was a figure of authority, yet he cared for me as a father would for a daughter.
He had told us he had three daughters, all were in their early twenties. Unfortunately they had been locked in the building when he gave the orders to shut it down. I knew this weighed heavy on his heart.

“Sergeant, what are we going to do about all this?” I said, my head still completely baffled.

“Don’t say anything just yet, we will hold a meeting later on today once everyone’s settled in and we’ll work this out together.” He replied gently.

I wa
ndered off, still collecting my thoughts. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, my shoulder was starting to ache from the kickback of the rifle. I stood there rolling my shoulder around trying to sooth the ache.

Nick strolled up to m
e and grabbed me from behind.

“Does someone need a massage?” He asked rubbing my shoulder.

I turned to face him “Please” I smiled. He didn’t give the best massages in the world. He often got bored half way through, but something was better than nothing, plus it would take my mind away from the infected.

The Sergeant called a meeting later that night. I was about ready for bed when he called us all together. We all went through to the dining room upstairs, on board the plane. We all just about fit around the large table. The Sergeant stayed stood up.

“I trust you have all introduced yourselves to one another?” He asked
, breaking the ice.

We all nodded. “Good, now let’s carry on with the main reason I’ve called you all here”

He proceeded to tell us about the professor’s findings and a brief background on the events since the virus took over.

The professor explained to us all what his current theories were in terms of the way the virus evolved. We all sat in silence as we listened.

After the professor was done the Sergeant addressed us all again. “Now, the question is, what do you all want to about it?”

We all looked at him confused. I didn’t have a clue where he was going with this.

“I want to take back the base. We have been trapped in here too long. I refuse to sit here withering away whilst the enemy takes control.” He said pointing outside. “We should be out there searching for civilians and helping those in need. This is one war I refuse to lose.”

“Ok
Serg, what’s the plan?” Leon asked, clearly in agreement.

“Simple,
we clean this base up. If you see anyone infected, you shoot to kill. Any survivors you bring back to me” He answered firmly.

From that point on, we all had a part to play. The Sergeant didn’t want me and Lacey to go out, so he put us back on the roof as snipers. I was happy with that, I much preferred shooting from a long range. I was still dying to get my hands on the 50. Cal in the ammunition store.

Although Duckface still refused to take part in any exercises she reluctantly agreed to look after any new survivors we come across, as a welcoming committee. I already felt sorry for the new survivors who would have to deal with her. If she didn’t like someone she was often rude and abrupt, you really had to know how to take her.

In the meantime she agreed to help the Professor alongside George carry on the research.

I was glad she was still keeping her distance, although we were in a much bigger area than we were at the apartment, it didn’t make her any less annoying.

Her and Andy’s relationship didn’t seem to be doing so well. Andy seemed to be spending more time with the boys, and seemed reluctant to stay by her side, where she wanted him. The odd time I saw them together neither of them seemed happy, poor Andy looked miserable. I caught her a few times shamelessly flirting with Josh and Leon. They were always polite to her, but I could tell in the way they looked at one another they thought she had a screw lose.

She reverted back to her old ways, now there were new people around she wanted to play up to every single one of them, boasting about herself. Even her mannerisms were over exaggerated. It was like watching a child hyped up on sugar let loose around a sweet shop.

I couldn’t
help put cringe. She asked pointless questions, and when people responded to her she would pretend to listen and pout her lips (aka the “Duckface”) as she nodded, with the occasional “yep” as if in agreement with the other person.

It was like watching the Churchill Dog the way her head was bobbing up and down. I’d happily watch that advert constantly on repeat than listen to her whining
high pitched voice.

The Sergeant split the boys into two teams. The Sergeant led the first team which consisted of Nick, Paul and Greg.  The Corporal led the second team alongside Leon, Andy and Josh.

They had all started training together within their teams, the privates showed the boys how to use the weapons, and they started to have lessons in close combat.

Lacey and I spent our training up on the roof. I figured we might as well practice on the real thing. I preferred it on the roof. With Duckface being in such close proximity of me and a gun, the urge to shoot was far too tempting. At least on the roof both me and Lacey could get away from her.

The Sergeant trained all the boys for the first phase of his plan. Hangar 5 contained spare fencing and barbed wire, he wanted to build a fence between our hangar and Hangar 5 so we could easy move between hangars without threat from the infected. In order to do this he needed us all to work together. Lacey and I were to protect them from above, both teams would pick up the fencing and the wire. One team would build whilst the others stood guard.

Even George got involved with this plan; he volunteered to be an extra set of eyes on top of the roof of Hangar 5. Armed with a rifle he left
with the rest.

I wasn’t overly keen on the boys being out, but I felt better knowing at least I could protect them from above.

As the trucks made their way to the hangar, the infected were nowhere to be seen. Although I couldn’t see them, I knew they were around. I wasn’t taking any prisoners, as soon as I saw one I’d take them out. We had plenty of ammo, and we knew the other buildings were full of weapons too. We had more than enough.

It wasn’t long before the boys reappe
ared, with a truck full of fencing. The hangers were at least 800 yards apart. It would take the boys a few full days to secure the area. Like clockwork they started putting up the fencing, the distance between the fences was the size of a small road, it encompassed both shutters on either side, out of arms reach. Barbed wire was to be positioned at the top and bottom of each fence.

Hopefully this would keep the infected out.
It wasn’t long before we spotted our first kill of the day. This one was a slow mover. It looked slightly worse for wear, it’s left arm was missing and part of its jaw had been ripped clean off. It was not a pretty sight. He wasn’t getting anywhere quickly in that state, I saw the hunger in his eyes as it looked towards the boys. The split second after I saw him, I blew his head clean off.

The boys looked around upon hearing the sound of my rifle. The Corporal shouted at them to get back to work, they couldn’t afford to be unfocused.

They carried on as Lacey and I took out 3 more. They all seemed to be coming all around us, we stayed vigilant. I heard 4 shots fire from the building opposite; George had obviously spotted a few. We would be ok as long as hordes of them didn’t come running. The boys finished working as the sun went down.

At the end of the first day I had managed to shoot 15, Lacey got 13 and George took out 18. George took the lead. On his back to base, he stopped by one of the infected we had shot. He pulled out a pocket knife and a petri dish from his pocket, and t
ook a fresh sample back to the Professor.

It made me feel sick. It was strange. I didn’t mind shooting the bastards, but watching George carefully cut into the host and pull out, skin, tissue and muscle made my skin crawl.

As soon as everyone was safely inside we made our way back into the hangar, just as the Sergeant gathered everybody together.

“Ok, we
’re making good progress on the fencing. Once we’ve secured both bases we have some decisions to make. I need a team based here and another based over there. The choice is yours.”

It felt good having a bigger base. I didn’t care which side I went on, as long as it wasn’t the same side Duckface went on. I had spent over a month with her day after day, I’d had enough. She needed to go or I did.
Worryingly, I think Andy felt the same as I did.

“I’ll move to the other base” Andy offered
out the blue.

Duckface looked livid. “
Erm, Excuse me.” She said getting on her high horse. “What if I don’t want to go to that base? You can’t decide for the both of us without consulting me”

He turned and looked her dead in the eyes “I didn’t say
we
would move. I said
I
would. Stay here if you want I’ve got no problem with that at all” he snapped. “Besides what stops me from making decisions for the both of us? You do it all the time”

“I do it for us. Whenever I’ve made decisions for the both of us
, it’s because it’s the right thing to do. It’s always been for your own good” she spat.

Clearly reaching boiling point he glared at her. “If that’s the way you want to play it,
this
is for your own good” He said as he stuck his middle finger up at her, right in front of her face. He walked off without saying another word.

That was it, she snapped. She pulled her wedding ring off and flung it at his head.
“I want a divorce” she screamed. Her aim went wide and hit the floor to the side of him. She was always so full of drama, I’ll give her that. She certainly knew how to throw a tantrum.

He turned around “So do I! I’ve had enough of your bullshit. You’re a control freak, I’ve spent most of my time here defending you and making up excuses for you.
But what’s the point? You’re just a spoilt little selfish bitch, who’s made my life a misery for the past 4 years” he yelled.

She stood for a moment
in shock at what she was hearing, as we all turned to look at her. She was shaking with anger, a vain was nearly popping out of her head. She had a face of pure evil as she glared at each one of us, before she stormed off and went back into the plane. Nick and Paul went after Andy, probably to congratulate him. Lacey and I looked at each other with a huge grin on our faces. It was mean, but I couldn’t help it. She had it coming for a long time.

More than anything
, I was proud of Andy. I had never seen him stick up for himself the whole time I had known him. She had finally pushed him too far, and saw the consequences first hand.

The Corporal came over to us “Is anyone going to see if she’s ok?” he asked us.

“Nope” Lacey and I replied in unison. “Fair enough” The Corporal shrugged, quickly agreeing with us.

“Are you?” I asked
as he turned to walk away. “Hell no, that Banshee scares the shit out of me” he said over his shoulder grinning.

“How’s Andy?” I asked as Nick and Paul came back.

“He’s fine” Nick responded “He’s gone up to the roof, he’s offered to take watch. He just feels embarrassed to have caused a scene in front of everyone, so he’s just going to cool off.”

“So do you think this is it for those two then?” I asked him.

Paul nodded “Without a doubt. He hasn’t been happy for a long time. We’ve all seen it. Don’t blame him, the poor lad.”

I made my way to the roof to make sure he was ok.

“Hi Andy, mind if I sit with you?” I asked him.

“Go ahead, it’s a free country. I’m sorry about that before. I didn’t mean to make such a scene, I’ve just had enough” He apologised.

I shook my head “No, don’t apologise. I think you’ve been holding it in for a while. We all knew you weren’t happy with her. And none of us blame you. If I’m honest I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“You’re right. I’m surprised I haven’t
seen it until now. I’ve tried to make it work, I’ve let things slide so many times. But there’s a line. She needs to grow up. Thinking back, I fell out of love with her a long time ago.” He sighed.

I felt bad for him. He had put up with way more shit than he should have done. In a way it was his fault, he let it get to this stage. If he had stuck up for himself in the first place, and not let her get away with so much, he wouldn’t be in this mess. I could tell it was going to be awkward around the base.
At the same time, if she wasn’t such a control freak and didn’t make him so miserable, he wouldn’t have to flip out like he did. I couldn’t wait until the fence was done, it was getting a bit too cramped in here.

The atmosphere that night wasn’t pleasant. No one really knew what to say, so we spent the majority of the night in silence. Duckface didn’t come out of her room, and we all tried to avoid her like the plague.

Andy spent the night on the roof, as it got late, Lacey brought him a blanket, but she couldn’t get him to come down. We all figured he just needed some space, so we left him there. We all went to bed early, we had a long day ahead of us and the boys were already exhausted from building the fence. My shoulder was starting to throb again.

The next morning, the boys loaded the truck, ready for another day
of building. I went to the roof to set up our rifles, as we had done the day before. Andy still hadn’t come down, so armed with a few energy bars I went up to take his breakfast to him. Meanwhile the professor offered to see to Lola. He was a brave man.

As I opened the roof hatch I looked around to
wards the spot I had left Andy. I panicked at first, as I looked around I couldn’t see him. I pulled myself up and onto the roof and spotted him in a corner wrapped up in the blanket. He was fast asleep. I let out a sigh of relief.

I made my way over to him, to wake him up. As I got closer he opened his eyes. He looked awful.

“What are you doing here?” He asked rubbing his eyes.

“I’ve brought you some breakfast, you’ve been here all night” I replied as I bent down handing him the energy bars “I think you’ll need those. How you feeling?” I asked.