E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (The Beginning of the End) (15 page)

I quickly pulled a new magazine out and locked it into place, discarding the empty mag on the floor, I kicked it out my way and carried on shooting.

“Looks like we found the nest” The Corporal shouted over his shoulder.

Leon was the first to respond “At least we
’re on the right side, this time” he yelled back.

“Not for long, the gates not
gonna last much longer” The Corporal yelled back.

We all carried on shooting. I had already emptied 4 magazines, I was quickly losing patience. My shotgun just wasn’t getting the job done. The handgun didn’t fare much better.

It was useless; there were hundreds of them, still scrambling out the building. We needed more fire power. We couldn’t use explosives; we would risk blowing up the gate and the rest of the fencing around us in the explosion.

I ran to the back of the truck and found the submachine guns. I quickly grabbed them and ran back to the boys. I threw one over to Leon as I readied the other.

The Corporal and Josh moved to our side, backing up as they kept on firing. Leon and I stepped forward. Making a quick calculation of the average head height of these things, I pulled the trigger.

My shots hit the first few targets but the kickback of the
MP5 caught me off guard. My last few shots went over their heads.

I stopped firing and tried again, this time I aimed a little lower.

Fully prepared for the kickback I steadied my weapon as I kept the MP5 at a constant level.

Bullets shattered the skulls of the infected in front of us. They were packed that tightly against the fence that the dead were still upright as the infected behind them kept propelling them forward.

Blood, guts and pus coated the gate and the floor surrounding it. The gate wouldn’t hold for much longer. The infected continued to surge towards us, pushing the fallen closer to the front.

The Corporal jumped into the truck, he shouted out of the window
as he started the engine. “Move out the way I have a plan”

We quickly did as he said, we jumped out the way as the truck reversed into position.

We reloaded our weapons and jumped on the roof alongside him. “What do you want us to do?” I asked.

“Aim as far away as you can. We need to hit them from behind”

I knew what he was getting at. We aimed out and fired on the infected pushing their way into the crowd.

They started to fall. The pressure on the gate lessoned at they finally started to fall.

A few minutes later they were all down. We looked at the massacre in front of us, and at the gate which was starting to lean in towards us.

“We need to do something about that gate” The Sergeant sighed as he came over to us.

“We’ve got some extra fencing in here Serg” Leon suggested. “Yes use that. Fence the area off. I don’t want anyone using this gate again; there are plenty of other exits we can use. Block it off” he commanded.

It didn’t take long for the boys to have the area secured. I reloaded the weapons whilst the boys got to work.

The world was still in complete meltdown. But I wasn’t going to resort to manual labour just yet.

Once the area was blocked off, we headed back to the base. We all felt safer knowing the base was secured. We had taken out over 100
out in one day, but it was taking its toll on our ammo supply.

The Sergeant knew this too well, so had already given us another mission. We were to pay a visit to Hangar 3.

It was already to starting to get dark outside, so we decided to leave it until the next day. As the darkness surrounded us, I headed back to our living quarters.

We had already unloaded the trucks and placed the weapons back into the ammo store. I was already tired from the day’s events. I just wanted to go back and get food, a shower, and bed.

I wandered back to the small base, it was completely dark at this point, but the moonlight illuminated my path. It was a clear night; I could see the stars were twinkling in the night sky. I slowed my pace as I took in the spectacular view from above.

It was q
uiet all around me; you could have heard a pin drop. Even so, I was starting to get the uneasy feeling that I wasn’t alone. I looked all around the base, my eyes adjusting to the darkness around me. I couldn’t see anything.

I quickly looked behind me, I was sure I was alone.
I couldn’t see anyone at all. I stood still, like a deer in headlights; I was so sure someone was out there. Fear started to take over, I couldn’t speak. I just stood there unable to move. It was completely irrational; I couldn’t see or hear anything so why was I so scared?

I shook my head and wiped my eyes, I was just being silly. I blamed the day’s events mixed with exhaustion for playing tricks on my mind. I was about to head back to the base, when something
to the left of me caught my eye.

I turned around and looked towards the corn
er of the building I had just came from. A dark figure stepped out from the shadows and into the moonlight.

It made no ef
fort to advance towards me; it just stood there staring at me. I stared back, trying to figure out what it was. It didn’t look human. Its back was hunched over and its head was completely bent off to the side. Its arms and legs were completely disfigured; they seemed to move independently from the rest of its body.

The more I stared, the more
of its features I was able to make out. The area between the nose and chin was completely mangled. The skin looked like it had been completely ripped off, revealing parts of the skull. Its mouth had been completely removed bearing its blood soaked teeth. Bits of flesh were hanging from its face, blackened puss oozed out from beneath the wounds.

Its eyes bared the hollowing resemblance of death, a face that hell itself would spit back out.

It still made no attempt to move. It’s never took its eyes off me. It’s eyes were hollow. There was no emotion in its eyes, just death. The more I looked at it, the more familiar it became. The clothing, the hair, even the build. It was Greg.

I stood still a couple of seconds not sure what to do. I quickly made up my mind. I bolted
for the smaller base and headed for the roof. I knew there was a rifle up there. I quickly pulled the ladders out and climbed up the roof hatch, scrambling to get to the gun. I flew myself on the ground at the edge of the building, ready to take my shot.

I looked around me trying to find my target. He wasn’t there. I checked the corner he came out from, nothing. I searched the area around the fencing, no one there. I ran to each corner of the roof, desperately trying to find him.

There wasn’t a soul outside. I sat down trying to figure out what happened. I felt like I was losing my mind. I was so sure I saw him out there. I couldn’t get his picture out my mind. Did I really see him? I was starting to doubt myself.

I felt like I was going mad.

I never told anyone about my experience outside. I still wasn’t 100% sure it was real. I had shrugged it off as my mind playing tricks on me. I did a quick check of the area the next morning, just to be sure. But I couldn’t see anyone or anything out the ordinary.

We had more important things to concentrate on, we were going take back Hangar 3.

That morning, the Sergeant handed us all two-way radios.

“What’s with the walkie-talkies?” I asked.

He motioned for us to all to gather round as he spoke. “I’ve been working on our communications equipment. I have fully charged our two-way radios. From now on I don’t want anyone going out without them.”

He carried on. “There’s been a slight change of plan. I will be splitting the teams up slightly differently today. Team 1 will accompany me. Team 2 will accompany the Corporal to Hanger 3.”

He continued to split the teams. “Josh, Leon, Andy you will accompany me. The Corporal will take Nick, Paul and George to the hangar.”

George? This made no sense. Why hadn’t he included me in the teams? I had more than proved myself the day before. I
had figured out the entry point, and my kill count was way above everyone else.

“What about me?” I asked him.

“You will be stationed back on the roof. Hangar 3 is still an unknown, and no one knows the area like George. I need him on this one and I need you to provide cover.” He replied.

I reluctantly agreed. He was right after all.
It didn’t go a miss that the Sergeant had mentioned nothing of his team visiting the hangar. I pulled him up on it.

“And where will your team be going?” I asked quizzically.

“I received a faint distress call from the outside last night. Unfortunately the signal was lost in the early hours this morning. We will be going to check it out.” He told us all.

The Sergeant had been working on the communications equipment ever since we took over the base. By the sounds of it, he had finally got it working, or part of it
at the very least. I was still sulking about not being included as part of the ground team, but it seemed to perk Nick up.

“It’s ok babe, we’ll be fine. We all know how well you did yesterday. Besides you looked so hot shooting that MP5” He whispered as he squeezed my bum.

I wasn’t in the mood. I reluctantly grabbed my rifle and made my way to the roof. At least I got to spend the day with Lacey. I had to admit, I did miss her whilst I was out the day before. We were already becoming inseparable.

We watched together, as the Sergeant headed for the main base, choosing to leave through the main gate. Once they were out of sight we turned our attention to Team 2, they were already at Hangar 3 and were making their way inside.

Our job was certainly a lot easier now we had secured the entry gate. We didn’t see a single person, infected or otherwise that day. It definitely put me in a worse mood. I wanted to be in the action, not confined to the roof. It was boring. I wandered where the Sergeant was going, and what sights he would come across along the way.

The boys seemed to have struck gold.
They came in and out of the newly acquired hangar with boxes and boxes filled with new guns, explosives and ammunition. We would definitely be set for a while.

Once the truck was full, the Corporal and the boys drove back to the base, ready to unload. Lacey and I made our way downstairs, both of us sick to death of sitting on the roof.

With the Sergeant still gone, the Corporal was left in command. Once the truck was unloaded, we all stopped for lunch.

“You know we’ve stil
l got loads of fence left over” Nick said gulping down his food. He carried on after he swallowed “We could easily build another walkway into that other hangar. Then we’d have even more room.”

“That’s a fine idea
son” George agreed. “Did you know there is an underground tunnel which runs through this base?” George asked as he carried on, clearly it was a rhetorical question. “Well there’s an entrance in that building.” He said pointing in the direction of Hangar 3.

“Where exactly does the underground tunnel lead to?” the Corporal asked.

“It leads out to the middle of Isles Woods” he replied “Just the other side of the base.”

We all agreed
, we would build a fence and secure yet another base. We quickly finished our lunches and set about loading the fencing into the truck. As usual, Duckface refused to cooperate, instead creeping back into the plane. She was becoming such a recluse, she barely left the confines of the plane.

As the days went on, she had got less and less sociable. She had the worst attitude I had ever seen. She thought the whole world was against her, since Andy dumped her she had an almighty chip on her shoulder.

She refused to speak to any of us. Only surfacing when told to by the Sergeant or the Corporal. She never spoke to the Professor and refused to acknowledge his presence when he entered the room.

As we were making headway securing more and more of the base, the Professor remained, as always, hard at work. Since Greg’s death, he had gone into overdrive. Although he was his usual pleasant
normal self, I could tell that his death weighed heavy on the Professors heart.

He blamed himself for Greg’s death. Although he never confided in us, the way he buried himself in his work, spoke volumes. He kept himself to himself a bit more; his only aim in life was to find answers.

None of us had any idea of what he was doing. People grief in different ways, this was his way of dealing with it.

As soon as the truck was full the boys made their way back over to the hangar to make a start on the fencing work. Back on the roof all was quiet. It was looking like we have secured the whole airfield.

Even so, the fence was an extra precaution. Always better to be safe than sorry. The boys carried on building into the night. With little danger around, it was worth risking it. Lacey and I had switched to night vision scopes, so we could carry on watching over them, well into darkness.

By 9pm the fence was complete. There was still no sign of the Sergeant or the rest of Team 1. As time went on we started to get worried, we didn’t know where they had gone or what had happened to them.

We tried getting through to them on our radios, but they were completely out of range. I was worried about them all. What if something bad happened to them? They had been gone over 12 hours, where could they possibly be. I was nervous; the worst case scenarios kept running through my mind.

I knew they could all handle themselves, but what if they got ambushed? Or worse, ran into a horde of the infected. I could have killed for a cigarette, I gave up a few years ago, but I wanted something to settle my nerves.

Thank god Nick hadn’t gone with them; if he had I would be an inconsolable wreck by now.

I decided to take a tour around the new building. I hadn’t seen it yet, and I need something to take my mind off the worry.

I made my way through the newly erected fencing. Ever since I thought I saw Greg, a few nights ago, traveling through the fencing made me jittery.

I kept a swift pace as I wa
ndered over, trying to spend as little time as possible outside. My heart was pumping. Partly from my nerves due to the unknown fate of Team 1, and partly from my past experiences with the infected.

I opened the door to the new base and glanced around me. It was way too small to be considered an aeroplane hangar. Through the door on my left was a room the size of
a gymnasium. Rows upon rows of green fold out camp beds had been set up. The army must have set this up as extra living quarters for survivors. It was very basic. It looked like a shelter home.

Each camp bed had a brown folded blanket and pillow at the edge of the bed, confirming my theory.

On my right were large, keypad entry double doors, leading to another supply room. The doors were propped open, from the boys earlier raid, so I let myself in.

The room was slightly smaller than the room opposite, but not by much. Steel racking lined the walls, emergency backpacks still hung on the walls. I looked to my left and I couldn’t help but laugh. Nick had already moved his fishing gear in here, it was propped up against the wall next to the backpacks.

More fencing and barbed wire stood in the middle of the room. At least the army was well prepared.

I wa
ndered over to the next room, wanting to find the entrance to the tunnel George had spoken about.

I walked around the whole room, checking the floors as I went along. I couldn’t find any opening at all. I could have easily asked George where it was, had I not wanted to discover it on my own accord.

I left like Indiana Jones, trying to find the lost temple. Only it was a tunnel I was looking for. And rather than searching the jungle, I was searching an old army base, in the middle of an airfield. Ok, so it was nothing like Indiana Jones, more like a modern day Sherlock, Lacey was my Dr Watson, I chuckled at the notion of us solving crimes together, I doubted we would get very far.

After my second lap of the hall,
and looking under all the beds I gave up. I decided to check the supply room instead, positive that the entrance wasn’t under any of the beds.

I wa
ndered back into the supply room. Paying close attention to the floor around me I started to search.  It was a lot harder to search the supply room, the floor space was minimal. Empty crates and boxes filled the area.

After checking around the floor space available, there was nothing there. Positive that the door must be in this room I tried moving some of the boxes out the way to get a closer look.

Empty boxes littered the middle of the room; I started pushing them out the way.

The floorboards in the room had certainly seen better days, they were very old fashioned, the closer in I got the more careful I had to be. Holes where the floorboards had snapped sunk into the floor.

Just as I was moving the final lot of boxes, my heel got caught. I tried to pull my heel out but it wouldn’t budge. I threw the boxes down irritated it was blocking my path.

I bent down for a closer look at the hole I was caught on. When I looked it wasn’t a hole. The heel of my shoes had got caught in a metal ring screwed to the floor.

I looked around me. The section of the floor I was stood on was slightly out compared to the rest.

I quickly realised this was it! I had found the trapdoor. I quickly pushed the rest of the boxes out the way.

After uncovering the boxes I saw two steel hinges bolted to the floor. I knocked on the trapdoor, it was definitely hollow.

I pulled at the metal handle which had earlier wrapped its way around my heel. It was stuck. I pulled harder and harder putting all my weight into it. I felt it open slightly, but it was still jammed.

I stood upright and planted both feet on the flooring around me. I pulled the handle leaning all by weight back when it finally lifted.

As it opened dust flew back in all different directions, the force of the door pulling back made me lose my footing, I quickly let go of the handle to regain my balance. As I did,
I cracked my index finger nail and my thumb.

Perfect. This is exactly why I stay clear of manual labour. My nails were always in perfect condition, and they were completely natural. I didn’t need acrylic or gel false nails, my nails were incredibly stron
g, they hardly ever broke off. Until now.

I shook my hand, the pain where my nail had split just below my nail bed started to throb. I quickly dismissed the pain, more interested in finding out what was underneath the door.

I looked down the pit in front of me. A timber frame ladder led the way down. I pulled on the ladder making sure it was secure. I looked around trying to find a torch, when the familiar sound of a car engine approached.

I let out a huge sigh of relief. Team 1 was finally back. My yearn for adventure now subsiding
as I quickly closed the trapdoor, and made my way back to the base to greet them.

As the team exited the car, I could tell they were all exhausted. They didn’t bring with them any new survivors, and both
they and the car looked like they’d seen better days.

They were covered in dirt. The car was dent
ed and scratched; splashes of blood covered the wheels.

“What happened?” I asked as they stepped out.

“It’s a long story” Leon replied hobbling out the car. “We’re fine, don’t worry, just a bit banged up.”

The Professor came running over, his face a picture of concern. “Are you all ok? Have any of you been bitten or scratched? Have you come into contact with the infected?” He was bombarding them all with questions.

The Sergeant put his hand up to silence the babbling Professor. “Don’t worry Professor; we haven’t come into close contact with the infected.”

The Professor looked relieved. “Ok, good
… As you were men” he nodded as he wandered back to his lab.

“Good to have you back” the Corporal greet the Sergeant with a
friendly handshake.