Infected Series (Book 1): Mission: New York (2 page)

The woman who had been viciously mauled by the man was now stirring, and as Simon gasped he saw her sit up and struggle to get to her feet. He watched her now half eaten body ripped apart by human teeth, as it stood and tottered off, but not before some of her insides fell out and was dragged behind her as she staggered off to find prey. Simon stood horrified as he saw the scene unfold in front of his shop. He rubbed his eyes as if he did not just see the whole episode happen in front of him. The evidence however the pool of blood where she had laid was still there, was real enough he saw. He got out his cell phone and dialled 911 with trembling fingers. The baseball bat now lay forgotten at his feet as he heard the busy signal and tried calling the number again. Again he received the same busy signal, so he decided to have a look out the front door again. Looking out into the street he saw people were rushing past the shop in disarray, running as if trying to escape from someone or something. He watched as other people were attacked and brought down by mobs of sick people who ripped people apart across the street from him. The blood was running in a river down the street, painting the scene in splashes of lurid red.

Chapter Two

A small group of people spotted him in the doorway of the shop, pointed toward him and started to run toward the shop, the infected people not noticing them as they were too busy gorging themselves on their victims across the street. The small group slunk across the street toward him all the while scanning for danger from anyone attacking from either side or behind them. The group was led by a stocky woman with dreadlocks, and she limped slightly. The machete she held had blood on the blade and he guessed that she had already made use of it in the chaos out there. Her bag was slung over her shoulder comfortably, but he saw that it was heavy with something heavy. They reached him safely after trying to avoid the pools of blood and body parts scattered on the pavement. What a mixed group they were, three men and five women. He saw them motion to him as they approached the door and he decided he had to let them in and get them off the street. They gratefully rushed into the shop and tried to hide as quickly as possible. Simon locked the door behind them and looked at the group of people now trying to hide as far away as possible from the door. Simon went towards them trying to figure out who the leader of this impromptu group was and wanted to find out what the hell was going on. He looked at all of them in turn, and wondered. The group saw his looking at them, and saw his questioning glance. Finally a Large woman stepped up and said to him softly: “I am their impromptu leader. I was in the army before being retired for being wounded. That is why my leg is titanium and not liable to get destroyed by zombie teeth. My name is Dawson.” She took his hand and shook. He stood there gazing down at her torn pants and said to her “Is Dawson your last name? My name is Simon.” he smiled at her and said to the rest of the group, “You are welcome here but I do not know how safe we will be.”

“Dawson is my last name, but you can call me Marge if you like.” she grinned saying that. “You showed bravery out there, I thought you were going to freeze up like most people we have seen. You did, but got over it very quickly and faced that sick guy bravely. That makes you okay in my book.” Dawson was stocky, about 5 feet 6 inches, with shoulder length hair and had thick muscled arms. She wore jeans and a button up shirt with a light jacket. Phil was standing next to her, with a grin on his face. He was ^ foot, skinny with a pony tail, and greying hair and was about 55. Simon laughed then in relief. He was just glad that nothing had happened to him out there earlier. The rest of the group quietly chuckled at the two of them, trying not to make too much noise for the infected to hear. He turned and greeted the rest of the group as he was introduced to everybody, but promptly forgot them apart from Judith; the curvy redhead who was currently trying to straighten herself out. She was 5 foot 8, a little plump, but fit. He saw she had on running shoes and wore loose clothing and a well-worn pair of jeans. She looked absolutely stunning and he guessed her age at about 32, her red hair cut short in a sharp bob style. She had a machete in her hand that was covered in blood. Simon guessed that it had seen action already judging from the blood on the blade. He smiled at her then and noticed her green eyes sparkling in the overhead lights and she smiled at him. He shook each of their hands in turn and lingered when he shook her hand and held it a second longer than he could reasonably afford to without being uncomfortable. Her face lit up as she enjoyed his smile, and she winked at him intimately. He blinked at the sight of the wink and his smile broadened some more then. Finally the moment broke when Dawson spoke again.

“Simon, what food stocks do you have here in your shop?” How long do you think we can survive here with what you have?” she enquired cocking an eye at him.

“Well, I do have loads of coffee; and I have a few freeze dried rations out back, but not anything exceptionally healthy. Most of the stuff I get in is freshly baked just down the street. Water should not be a problem as there is an old artesian well which I use for all the coffee machines and washing. As far as I know it is a bit unique in that this shop is directly over it, and I do not pay water charges at all. The rest of the city does.” He explained briefly. “We can survive for quite a while if we have to just on the water, right? I am not too sure on the whole survival scenario.” He said hopefully again, looking over at Judith, then over to Dawson.

“Yep, we sure can go for longer on water, but food of any form is important as well. As long as the water is uncontaminated and pure we could survive pretty much indefinitely. Can you show me where the spring is located and how it then gets into your water supply?” asked Dawson quickly. Simon led her to the rear of the shop, opening the door to the small crawlspace just in front of the storage room where all his prepacked foods were kept to be sold to customers. He had a fair supply of chips, cookies and even some jerky in the storage cupboard. Along with the freezer that held a few frozen items.  

Dawson looked over at Judith, and asked for her help to help organise the group to get things counted and organised so they could properly assess their survivability. Judith smiled and went to work quickly, getting the others to help with their tasks. Dawson and Simon opened the crawlspace, and Simon showed her the steps leading down into the cistern holding the water. He explained to her that he had researched the history of the location and had found that the land had been used as a dairy farm originally, and the cistern had provided the water for feeding all the animals. Then it had been developed and the cistern nearly forgotten until it had been rediscovered under a destroyed building. The land owner had then dug out the cistern wider so that it could get more water out and that no matter how much water they used the cistern never emptied. The land was eventually developed into the current area with small shops, cafes and other premises springing up around the artesian well. The shop above was eventually turned into a coffee shop; but the water supply was never fully discovered until they looked inside the forgotten hatch. This was when the well was re-discovered once again. Dawson had listened as he had explained, all the while nodding her head in assent. After he had stopped the explanation she had looked at him and smiled. “This could well be a blessing in disguise,” she mused softly. “We could outlast anything as long as we have all this water.”

Chapter Three

Simon grinned as he pointed toward the pumping system he had fitted a couple of years ago, a mini electric model he explained; with a hand crank back-up if the electricity failed. He had only had to use the hand crank once, he explained to Dawson. It had been in the last big winter, 3 years back. Surprisingly the water had not frozen over like the rest of the streets mains supplied water either, another slightly unusual aspect he had noted. He explained to Dawson that he had discovered the shop about ten years back, and had loved the coffee so much that he eventually bought the coffee shop off the old man who had previously owned it. The old man had retired in Florida, and had finally died a year past. Dawson looked at the pump, and then nodded in approval. She was puzzled as she could not see the backup system anywhere down here. She looked at Simon and he motioned for her to follow him. He led her back up the short steps, and led her back to the counter, where she could now see a crank handle sticking out the wall. He nodded and said to her that that was the backup system he had had installed. She grinned at him and asked if she could try out the system. Simon insisted she have a go and watched with a smile on his face as she easily turned the crank handle and water filled up the large glass tank he had had installed to then be fed  by gravity into the coffee machines. Dawson shook her head in wonder, and laughed softly, not forgetting the danger just outside the door of the coffee shop.

The rest of the group had by now witnessed the marvel of the water cylinder, and how easily it had been to use. Simon explained that the gearing had been modified to allow users ease of use to draw water from the cistern, and to fill the tank in the coffee shop. It had become quite the talking point among his customers. Not many had asked about the crank handle though. He could see that Judith was smiling at him again as she stood with the final tally of all the supplies they had. The list included coffee, sugar, pastries, some frozen dough and some chips in bags. Jerky was a small luxury item that was not a massive stock, but could last them a while if needed. She read the items out and Simon was actually quite surprised how much stuff he actually had in stock. He looked at the list and shook his head, realising now why his expenditure had been so high. Mandy; the stores girl had been buying in bulk, and had bought more than enough for the shop, and had thought of a few extra things as well. Sighing he looked over at Dawson, who was now peering out between the blinds at the street.

“It’s quieter out there now, maybe we should see if there are any cops around? I doubt it however, as they could not seem to have maintained control for long.” she intoned. “I saw loads of them out there that had been bitten and had started attacking everybody else on the street. Surely by now we should have seen somebody coming in here to clean up the mess?” sighing, she turned away from the dismal sight, and looked at her wrist. The time said it was not only 9am. She did a double take, and showed Simon the time. He could not believe it had only been an hour since he had first helped them out by letting them into his shop. Simon turned back to his machines, and decided they all needed a coffee.

“Who is having what, I could do with a drink of strong coffee. Let me know what you want and I will get busy making the coffee for all.” he asked them, getting the grinder back in action. He busied himself, and then spotted Judith coming over to where he stood behind the counter. Leaning forward and placing her elbows on the counter she watched what he was doing as he prepared the beans in the grinder. Her grey eyes studied his lithe form, watching his movements as he deftly placed the beans in the filter, and then prepared the water. Judith watched him fascinated by the whole process of the making of the coffee. Simon turned around and noticed her there, and he asked if she wanted to help him out by getting cups and utensils ready for their coffees. She nodded eagerly, and he directed her to where he stood behind the counter, and nodded to where the cups were kept. He watched her as she stepped carefully round the side of the counter and moved to see where he had motioned. They were kept under the counter, and on the left of the under counter fridge. He noticed her nice curvy rear as she bent over, her jeans straining slightly over her shapely backside. Simon was distracted and noticed Dawson looking at him as she watched his face redden as he realised she had caught him admiring Judith’s ass. ‘Damn, busted!’ he thought to himself, and blushed. He saw Dawson smile at him then, and she shook her head as if saying: ‘Men, what to do, what to do. Always looking.’ He could see she was silently laughing at his discomfort which was made worse when Judith had stood up just after he had blushed bright red. He stammered and tried to say something but he could not get the words out at all. He gave up and turned back to the coffee machine, trying desperately to not look at Judith again. Judith just giggled and must have realised what had gone on. Finally the coffee had been poured for everyone, and they all sat there and sighed, enjoying the coffee, piping hot from the machine. Simon decided to sneak another quick peek at Judith who was busy talking to Dawson in the corner, and Simon wondered what they were discussing so secretively. He looked at the rest of the group closer then, and they did not look overly remarkable at all. None of them stood out among the others, the only people that had really made a real impression on him had been Dawson and Judith. They looked like they were in control of the group, and he was relatively sure that they could easily handle themselves if they were to be pushed into a corner. Relaxing a bit he sipped his coffee, savouring the taste of the bitter blend, and he realised how fortunate his decision to start early had been. If he had not come in earlier than usual, he would not have been secure inside the shop when all the trouble began.

Chapter Four

The noise from next door alerted him that something was going on, and he quickly glanced over to see that Dawson had placed her cup down on the table in front of her, and had moved to the front door to see what the commotion was. He heard her gasp, and heard the glass breaking in the window of the shop next door.

“There is one of those infected creatures that are breaking in next door that was what the glass breaking was.” said Dawson softly with a tremor in her voice. “I think there is someone in there, a survivor like us?” she looked back at Simon questioningly, and said in a tremulous voice, “We need someone to go and have a look.”