E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (The Beginning of the End) (13 page)

“Like crap” He answered. “But I want to get back to work. The sooner this fence is up the better. I’ve had enough of this place” He groaned as he got up. With that he trundled his way downstairs.

Poor guy
, I thought to myself. Once I had set the weapons up, I made my way downstairs to see the boys off.

As I came downstairs the professor was coming out of the plane shaking his head. As he got to the  bottom Duckface emerged from the top.

“Will you all just fuck off and leave me alone” She screamed.

I looked around at everyone, “Where did that come from?” I asked no one in particular.

“I don’t want anything to do with any of you. None of you give a shit about me so stop pretending you do” She carried on. Oh dear, these were the tantrums I was referring to earlier.

The professor turned to face her. Saying completely calm he addressed her. “My dear, I am a scientist, not an actor. I simply came to you to make sure you were ok in yourself.
Had I have not cared, I would not have bothered”

“Whatever” She replied snottily. “I don’t need any of you anyway,
I’m fine by myself.” She looked at us all in disgust. “Your all beneath me anyway” she muttered.

I knew her kind streak wouldn’t last very long. She always had an ulterior motive.

“That’s enough young lady.” The professor rose his voice. “I do not care for your tone one bit. You are acting like a spoilt child, grow up!”

“Fuck you” she snapped.

The professor’s blood was now boiling. “Now you listen to me
child
. You say these people are beneath you. Well I’m sorry to say, you are beneath them. They have one thing you will never possess”

She laughed
sarcastically, “Oh yes? And what might that be
Professor
? Blood on their hands, dirt, no class?” she sniggered.

“Integrity” He replied matter of
factly. “That is something you’ll never have. Not until you learn to act like an adult. All these fine people have a lot more class than you’ll ever have, and I won’t stand for this behaviour any longer. Now get out my sight”

With that she turned and left. The professor composed himself. He turned to see us all staring wide mouthed at his
outburst. “Carry on” He smiled as he wandered back over to his makeshift lab.

Lacey and I made our way to the roof. We both had massive grins on our faces.

“Didn’t expect that from the professor” I started.

“I know, she got told” Lacey giggled.

I couldn’t deny it, watching that display had made my day. I had no idea why she lashed out at all of us; we stayed well clear of her after the argument between her and Andy. What did she expect us to do? Lacey must have thought the same as me.

“She probably expected us all to gather round her and make a huge fuss of her. I think she’s upset because we just left her alone and didn’t bother with her.” Lacey suggested.

She was spot on, and I couldn’t agree with the professor more. She was acting like a complete spoilt child. She wasn’t getting her own way and we had all wised up to her behaviour, refusing to pander to it. She responded by throwing her toys out the pram. It was ridiculous.

I p
ut it to the back of my mind; I had more important things to deal with. Like the group of infected making their way to the incomplete fence.

I pulled my rifle up and took aim, as I fired the first shot, pain shot through my arm. I dropped my gun slightly, but ignored
it and carried on taking the group out. Lacey had spotted the same group, so she helped me dispose of them. As she looked over her shoulder, she turned her rifle and started shooting in the opposite direction.

I quickly disposed of the remaining of the group and focused my sights on the new herd coming towards them. In the distance I could hear shots going off on the roof of Hangar 5. George had also spotted another group coming towards them.

They were all slow movers, none of them ran, they just stumbled along trying desperately to reach their prey. They all had limbs missing, organs and ribs were visible, as chunks of flesh and decomposing muscle had already been ripped out of them.

From out of nowhere
, the fast movers came out running from all different directions closing in on the boys. The boys had all seen what was going on and had their guns at the ready. They had made themselves a makeshift cage, dragging the fencing they were working on in front of them. Directed by the Sergeant they locked themselves in, for protection.

We needed to do something, there were hundreds of them. I shouted to Lacey “take out the fast ones, leave the groups for now.”

“Will do” She shouted back.

I took control of the situation.
I took down the fast movers as they came into sight. There was too many of them and they were advancing closer and closer to the boys. My shoulder was searing from the pain of the kickback from the rifle.

Shots were being fired from down below, the sprinters had closed in on the fence. The boys took them out as they came
closer; some of them reached the fence, shaking the chains desperately trying to find a way in.

The soldiers switched to their handguns, taking them out from close quarters. The slow movers were getting closer. “Back on the groups” I yelled.

We swung our rifles round, aiming for the advancing herds. “I’m out” I yelled. I needed to reload quickly. We didn’t have enough ammo with us to take them all down. I reloaded and emptied another magazine into another group of the slow movers.

“We need more ammo” Lacey called. “I’m on it” I replied. “Take out the rest that come close to t
hat fence. If too many get to them, the fence could fall.” I shouted to her.

I ran to the door
, as the Professor poked his head out.

He was struggling to carry the boxes as he heaved them up to us. “I thought you girls might need a hand” He said.

I nodded and quickly took the boxes from him. I slid a box over to Lacey and reloaded my rifle as I headed back to my post.

I took out the last herd and concentrated on the fast movers.
They were running from all different directions trying to find a way in.

The sprinters had a lot more body parts in tact as they ran. They still had the diseased, rotting look of death. They were all covered in blood, I wasn’t entirely sure the blood was theirs.
They moved perfectly, they had full control of their movements. They had a crazed, murderous expression as they screeched a high pitched sound. It was like listening to a crow being strangled.

The infected kept coming. Bodies were piling up all around the perimeter, the stench of death was starting to make its way to the roof,
and it was vile. After 20 minutes or so, we had taken them all out.

Dead bodies, limbs and innards littered the ground beneath us. It was like a battlefield. We had taken out the enemy, and as far as I could see, we had no casualties.

My shoulder was still burning, I could barely move it. I dropped my rifle as I tended to my arm. A massage wouldn’t fix it this time.

The boys started to make their way out make shift cage they had designed for themselves. They wouldn’t be able to carry
on building until the bodies were moved. The Sergeant ordered everyone back to the base.

He gathered us all on the roof as he addressed us all. “
Well, that didn’t go quite according to plan.” He started “We need to remove of the bodies. Girls, I need you to cover us. We will move the bodies over there, he pointed to the middle of the runway next to us. We will pile them up and burn them all. Is that clear?” he asked.

We all nodded. I felt bad for all the boys. Those things stank. It wasn’t a nice job at all, I knew I could never do it.

Sensing the disgust throughout the group the Sergeant added “don’t worry boys; we still have fully working showers in hangar 5.”

I let out a sigh of relief. If Nick came back smelling like those things, he was sleeping on the roof with Andy.

I watched with Lacey from above as the boys shovelled the bodies into the trucks. They all looked repulsed, but they carried on. They loaded the first haul into the truck and drove it to the runway. The Sergeant lit the first pile and went back to load more.

It took them over an hour to dispose of all the bodies. The smell of burning flesh filled the air. I couldn’t decide which I preferred, the smell of death raw or extra crispy. It was like being stuck b
etween a rock and a hard place trying to decide.

Once the bonfire was burning away, the boys finished off the fence. Once it was all done they retired to Hangar 5 for a much needed shower. We didn’t see any more infected that day.

It felt better knowing we had more space to roam around. Once the Sergeant had given both bases the OK, Lacey and I made our way to Hangar 5. All we knew about the hangar was what Nick and Paul had told us. We were all keen to have a nosey, and see what we had to work with.

Lacey and I had decided we would move our living quarters to the second base. We both needed a change of scenery, and truth be told we wanted to stay as far away as possible from Duckface.

Nick and Paul were over the moon when we told them what we were thinking. They had both wanted to move with Andy anyway, so it suited them perfectly.

Josh and Greg wanted to stay in the main base, they had spent far too long in Hangar 5, and weren’t in a rush to get back.

The Professor and George had also decided to stay where they were; they had more space and wanted to move the rest of the lab equipment from Hanger 5 over to the bigger base.

The Corporal moved over with us, so that Andy wouldn’t be the fifth wheel, whilst the Sergeant stayed put.

Duckface kept to herself, she barely left her room anymore.

To give my aching shoulder a break, George positioned himself on
watch duty. I think he liked being back in action, there was no doubt about it; he still had a wicked shot. He spent most of his life in the RAF, back in the day. He often told us it was where he felt most comfortable, he was in his element being back in the game.

After Lacey and I packed our things, we made our way over to the newly acquired base. The boys were already over there, eagerly setting everything up, making it a bit more
homely.

I was so looking forward to having a hot shower. Although we had running water in the other base, it was always cold. We had to clean ourselves with cold wet towels most of the time. My hair hadn’t been washed properly in so long; I couldn’t wait to take it out of my high ponytail it was constantly in, and get rid of the dirt and grease properly, that had built up
all this time.

As we entered the base, it saw how much different is was from the larger base b
ehind us. The large base we lived in for the past couple of weeks remained open plan. This base was split into multiple rooms.

The entrance to the base was obviously the garage.
Spare tyres, various tools and even a hydraulic ramp stood in the centre of the room. To the side of the room, gym equipment was piled up in a corner.

We carried on through the door in front of us to the main hall
way. Through the door on the left hand side I could see Andy unpacking. It was a small room, enough to hold a single bed and a small cupboard. But at least he had his own room and some peace and quiet I thought. We waved to him as we passed.

We still didn’t know where either of us would be sleeping.
I hoped that like Andy, me and Nick would still have our own room.

We carried on exploring our new home. The hallway carried on all the way down to the end of the building. As we passe
d Andy’s room, another hallway to our left branched off. Lacey carried on towards the end of the building whilst I followed the other.

I came to a door on my right.
I opened the door to find a small kitchen. There was a microwave, a fridge and a sink. It wasn’t much, but it was 10 times better than the non-existent kitchen on board the plane. We had to heat our MRE’s using these horrible pouch things called FRH’s. They came in every MRE box and were designed to heat food out in the field; they made the food lukewarm at best.

The microwave was a much welcomed alternative. I was already looking forward to the luxury of a hot meal.

I closed the kitchen door as I ventured out once again into the hallway. Further down the hall on my right was another room. I looked through the window in the door, and saw the remains of the Professors lab. It wasn’t as clinical as I had imagined, most of the equipment had already been taken to the other base, but it looked more like a classroom than it did a lab.

I looked to the door on the opposite side. This, for now was my favourite room. It was the shower room. It was very basic. Showers lined the walls at the c
entre of each cubicle. There were around 12 cubicles all lined up. Opposite the showers was a line of 12 sinks, each against a mirrored wall.

I looked at myself in the mirror; it was the first time I’d taken a good look at myself for a while. God I looked rough. The days of wearing makeup were long gone. My hair was all over the place, I thought I’d snap a hairbrush in half if I attempted to put a brush through it.

I looked exhausted; my face was thinner but I had the biggest bags under my eyes I had ever seen. It was horrific. It looked as if I had completely let myself go. I stared at myself; it didn’t even look like me. Thinking back to my old life, I never spent hours doing my hair and makeup; I much preferred to stay in bed as long as possible. But I always looked presentable. My hair was always neat and tidy, I never went out without makeup on.

I walked over to the full length mirror in the corner of the room. I was still wearing my homemade army outfit. I had definitely got skinnier. I was never fat in
life; I always stayed healthy size 10. I was now easily a size 8, maybe even a 6. My waist had shrunk dramatically, the arm fat I always complained about completely vanished. My stomach looked a lot more toned, my legs were more defined. I was relieved I hadn’t lost my boobs or my bum; in fact, my bum looked so much perkier than used to be.

I felt good about myself. All I needed was a shower and I knew I’d feel even better. I left the bathroom and went to find the others. More importantly I went to find my bag. I packed my shampoo and conditioner, given the nest that was currently residing above my
head; I’d need the whole bottle to tame it.

I made my way back to the main hallway and checked the rooms, I shouted to Nick. “Nick, where’s our room?”

“In here babe” He replied. We had the room right at the end other end of the base. Our room was obviously an old office. He had pushed the desk into the corner of the room and had made us a bed out of two camp beds pushed together. He had covered the beds in blankets, trying to make our new bed as comfortable as possible. He had already brought my bag to the room. I pulled nearly the entire contents of the bag out before finding my shampoo, conditioner and shower gel.

“I’m off for a shower” I told him. “Don’t forget your towel” he replied as he threw a brown cotton towel at me. With that I ran back to the bathroom, eager to get out
of my clothes.

I switched the shower on and started taking off my clothes. Looking in the mirror I could see the full extent of the damage the rifle had done to me. My whole shoulder was bruised. I could almost make out the shape of the rifle where it had dug in; it was all black and blue.

I quickly hopped into the shower, hoping the warm water would soothe it slightly. I stayed in the shower for nearly an hour. I had to put 4 lots of shampoo in my hair alone, before I saw a single bubble. The water was black as it washed away the dirt and grime.

Nick eventually came to look for me as I was taking so long. “Babe, you still in the shower?” he asked.

“Yeah why?” I asked.  “Well it’s been like an hour” he shouted over the flow of the water.

He pulled open the cubicle door. “What the hells happened to your shoulder?” he asked concerned.

“It’s ok, it’s just the kickback from the rifle” I told him.

“
looks painful, maybe take a break for a while? Until the bruising goes down” he asked.

I nodded, “Or, you could kiss it better for me?” I said grinning.

He looked around making sure no one else was about. “OK” he smiled; he was already tearing his clothes off as he came in to join me.

*
              *              *

It didn’t take long for us to settle into our new surroundings. It already felt a lot more homely than our original quarters. We all regularly visited both bases
throughout the day, but went back to our own little communities at night.

The Professor remained as always, hard at work. He was forever writing notes and playing with various chemicals. He worked off a laptop, powered by the main generator. His surroundings weren’t the most advanced, but he did his best.

George spent most of his time on watch, along with Josh. He was becoming a good mentor for the young private.

The Corporal and Leon
handled the training. They made sure we all carried on with our training on a daily basis. They spent an hour with each of us every day, we learnt hand to hand combat, how to handle different weapons and they even gave us classroom training.

Andy seemed a lot better in himself. He put all his efforts into his training; the boys had turned the old garage into the gym. When he wasn’t training with Jameson and Leon he was in the gym working out.  I thought he wanted to get away from the tension between him and Duckface. They were rarely in the same room as each other. He was doing what he could to avoid her.

Like Duckface, Greg had started to keep to himself. He had turned very skittish, he didn’t like to be around people, and he was turning into such a recluse. He started behaving very odd. He gave up training and spent most of his time in his new room on the jet. He preferred to eat his meals alone in his room; we only got one word answers out of him at best.

I never spent much time with him, so I had no idea what made him act this way. I spoke to Josh about him, and even Josh said that it was out of character for him. According to Josh he was always quite talkative.

John had a theory that the infected shook him up, although he couldn’t understand why.

“Who knows, he was fine when we we
’re out there, he was shooting them all just like we were. He didn’t shit himself or anything. He just got on with it.” Josh told me.

“He started acting weird the day after all that shit happened. I reckon it all got too much for him and now he can’t handle it. Happens to a lot of people you know” he said.

I agreed with him, although I still thought there was more to it than that. Over the next day or two he started to go downhill. The odd times we saw him, he looked incredibly pale. It looked like he was coming down with the flu. No one else in the base felt ill, so I decided to speak to the professor about it.

“Professor, I want to talk to you about Greg” I started.

“No need, my dear” he replied calmly. “I saw him a few hours ago. I suspect this isn’t just a case of the flu. I took a blood sample whilst he was sleeping. In a few minutes I should have the results” The Professor continued. “Whilst I was taking his blood, I noticed a small scratch on the palm of his hand. It looks to be an infection of some sort. Once I have the blood work back I can figure out how we can treat it”

“Is he turning?” I whispered to him.

“I’d say that’s unlikely. I checked his body after I found the scratch. He doesn’t seem to have been bitten. But we can’t rule anything out at this stage.” He lowered his voice.

I stayed with the professor until he checked the blood. He lifted his head from the microscope he was using and wiped his head. He rubbed his eyes before taking another look.

“Please, bring the Sergeant to me” he whispered looking up at me. I saw the fear in his eyes and the slight tremble in his voice as he spoke to me.

I didn’t argue as
I rushed off to grab the Sergeant. He was in his make shift office on the plane. “Sergeant, please come with me, the Professor wants a word, urgently” I added.

He fo
llowed me back to the Professor. Jameson and Leon had seen the professor and had wandered over to find out what was going on.

“Sergeant, I have just
run a sample of Greg’s blood. Please see for yourself the results.” He motioned to the microscope. The Sergeant sat down to take a look. After a few seconds he stood up and took a step back.

“It’s the virus.” The Sergeant announced, taken aback. “Was he bitten?” He asked the Professor
quickly.

“As far as I’m aware, no he hasn’t.”
The Professor replied. “However, he has a nasty looking scratch on his hand. I believe he may have come into contact with one of the infected when you were building the fence.” He continued. “His health is starting to deteriorate, as the virus gets stronger. Right now his immune system is trying to fight it, hence the flu like symptoms.”

“So why hasn’t he turned?” The Sergeant asked.

“Well, I believe that as the scratch was small and quick, only a small dose of the virus got in. this being the case, his immune system is able to fend off part of the virus, prolonging the effects.”

“What does this mean? Is he going to turn?” I asked the Professor.

“I think so. This is something I’ve never seen before so I can’t be 100% sure. Given the results of the blood sample, the virus is already embedded in his blood stream. His immune system will continue to fight the virus, but eventually his body will shut down. When this happens the virus will fully takeover”

“How long do we have?” The Sergeant asked.

“A day or two tops” The professor replied bluntly.