Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (9 page)

Nick leapt to his feet.  So
did Eve.  Standing several feet away, beside a large conifer bush, were
three large men: two black and one white.  One of the black men was bald
with a pointed goatee, while the other was well-groomed with short cropped hair
and stubble.  The white man was huge – six-and-a-half-feet, at least – and
heavily bearded.  He looked like one of those American bikers you often
saw on television with names like Axel or Bones.  All three of them were
wearing the same grey tracksuits and white trainers.

“Who are you?” Nick asked them.

“Could ask you the same question,” said the black guy
with the pointed goatee.

The large white man put his hand up to silence his
associate and then smiled at Nick.  “My name is Jan.  Janwin Banks.
 This man on my right is Renee.  The charmer on my left with the Fu
Manchu is Dash.  Don’t ask what his real name is, though, because he won’t
tell you.”

“You’re prisoners,” Nick surmised from their matching
attire.  He backed away slowly, pulling Eve with him.

Jan held his hands up.  “Hey, brother, there’s no
need to fear us.  We’re stuck in the same shit puddle that you are. 
We’re just trying to make it somewhere safe.”

“How did you get free?” Eve asked.

“The fuck it gotta do wid you, sweetheart?” said the one
named Dash.

Jan sighed and shook his head.  He took a step
forward, his large hands still out in front of him.  “Let’s just say that
we’re victims of circumstance.  The guards that were relocating us to a
prison in Nottingham are all dead.”

Nick and Eve backed away more rapidly.

Jan laughed and shook his head.  “No, not because
of us.  There was an accident.  Some silly bollocks driving a Land
Rover went right into our minibus.  Next thing I know, there’s a bunch of
lunatics tearing apart our P.O.s.  We weren’t cuffed or anything, so we
did a runner.  It was either that, or suffer the same fate as the
guards.  There were five of us to begin with, but we didn’t all make it.
 It appears the world has become quite dangerous as of late.  In
fact, I preferred it on the inside.”

“There’s some sort of virus infecting people,” said Eve,
“making everyone crazy.”

The man nodded and scratched at his impressive
beard.  “Makes sense.  People don’t act like savages for no reason,
not even in prison.”

Nick asked a question.  “You said something about
needing to go for the head?”

Dash spoke up in reply.  “Yeah, it’s the only sure
way to put ‘em down for good, you dig?”

Jan shrugged in agreement.  “Don’t know if you’ve
noticed, but when one of these ‘infected’ people dies they have a tendency to
come back.”

“You know that for sure?” Nick asked.

Jan nodded solemnly.

“Told you,” said Eve.

“When they come back,” said Jan.  “They come back
different.  Slower and easier to deal with, but they tend to group
together and come after you in a pack.  You can only stop them for good
with a good blow to the head.”

Eve gave Nick a look and he understood what she was
thinking.  James had not come back because he had struck his head on the
chair.  He had been spared the fate of coming back as a ghoul.  There
was a certain amount of relief in that, but not much.

“How do you know all this?” Nick asked.

“Because we saw that shit,” said Dash.  “We’ve been
hiking it all the way from Nottingham.  Seen some seriously wacky
shenanigans since then, blud.”

“It wasn’t too bad at first,” said Jan.  “But the
last couple hours things have gotten much worse.  I don’t even know the
name of the last town we passed through, but there was no one there left
alive.  They were all infected or dead.  We managed to lay low and
avoid them, but if they’d spotted us then there would have been no chance to
escape them all.  That’s why we made for the countryside and these
woods.  I suppose you two had the same idea?”

“There’re half a dozen of us actually,” said Nick. 
He wanted to let the three men know that he wasn’t without backup if they tried
anything.  “We came here in a bus.”

“Mind if we join up with you?” Jan asked.

Dash pulled a face.  “You serious?  We don’t
need to team up with this honky and his bitch.”

Nick clenched his fist and took a step forwards. 
“I think you might want to learn to keep your mouth shut,
blud
.”

Dash stepped forward to meet him.  “You want a
piece of me, honky?”

Jan stepped between them both.  “Look, with all
that’s going on, I think safety in numbers is the only thing that is going to
help any of us.  If we join up then we can try to figure something out,
together.”

“No way are we joining up with you guys,” said
Nick.  “We don’t know anything about you.”

Jan sighed.  “What if I said,
please? 
I
promise to keep Dash on a tight leash.  To tell you the truth, I’m beat,
and pretty darn terrified.  I just want to be around other people, you
know?  If you allow us to come with you and your group, then I promise we
won’t be a burden.  We’ll pull our weight.”

Nick didn’t know what to do.  Was it really a good
idea to team up with bunch of criminals?  Could he turn his back on
somebody asking for help?

“What were you in for?” Eve asked.

“I tried to rob a bank,” Jan replied bluntly.

Nick cleared his throat.  “And what about your
friends?”

“I’m innocent,” said Dash.

“Sure you are,” Jan said, frowning at his companion. 
“Dash, here, was done for dealing.  As for Renee, I don’t honestly
know.  Fella doesn’t talk none.  Only reason I know his name is
because I heard the guards use it before they bit the dust.  He’s a bit of
a strange one, to be honest; but no harm that I can tell.”

Nick stared at Renee and found himself agreeing. 
The man was a picture of gentle calmness.  He was almost smiling, but not
quite.  The blinking of his eyes was a slow and careful affair, like that
of a dozing cat.  For some reason Nick felt no sense of danger from the
man – it was his two colleagues that were the bigger worry. 

But what could he do?  It was a free country and he
couldn’t exactly stop the prisoners from following him.  It would be
better to extend the hand of friendship than to make an enemy.  Nick
didn’t like the thought of a bunch of angry criminals hunting them through the
woods.

“Okay,” he said finally.  “But you keep yourselves
to yourselves and don’t upset anyone.  These people have been through a
lot.”

Jan smiled.  “I understand.  Lead the way,
brother.”

***

Nick emerged back into the
clearing.  Everybody was standing around waiting for him.  Eve had
told them to stay put when she’d followed after him.  When they saw the
three newcomers they grew immediately apprehensive.

“Who are
they
?” Dave demanded.

Nick introduced the three men.  “This is Jan,
Renee, and Dash.  They’ve had a similar day to the rest of us.”

“Why are they all wearing matching tracksuits?” Cassie
asked.

Nick decided that honesty was the best policy.  “Because
they’re prisoners,” he said.  “They’re going to tag along with us for a
while.”

“Are you shitting me?” said Dave.  “They’re
supposed to be locked up, not roaming free.  No way are they coming with
us.”

Dash sucked at his teeth and tugged at his long beard,
but didn’t say anything. 

Perhaps he really is going to behave himself. 

Jan, as was becoming the pattern, was the one to speak
on behalf of the prisoners.  “Look,” he said.  “We are indeed
supposed to be locked up, but right now there isn’t really a lot in the way of
authority.  We were sprung free by pure accident, and ever since then
we’ve just been trying to survive.  We didn’t escape by force; it was just
a fluke of circumstance.  What would you have us do?”

Dave sighed.  “You better not be rapists or
murderers.”

Cassie let out a whimper.

Jan waved a hand.  “We’re not, I promise you. 
We may not be angels, by any lengths of the imagination, but we’re just lost
souls right at the moment, same as you.  We don’t want to become one of
those
things
.”

“Do you know what those
things
are?” asked
Kathryn.  She sounded worried and was chewing at her fingernails.

Jan shrugged.  “I don’t know what they are.  I
probably don’t know any more than you folks do.  Your man, Nick, thinks a
virus did this; I’m inclined to agree.  What I
can
say for sure is
that I’ve seen dead bodies walking around and eating people.  As for what
could cause such a thing, I have no idea.  I’m not a praying man, usually,
but I would suggest asking the old man up there to take mercy on us, because it
seems like he’s pretty pissed off at the moment.”

Carl scoffed.  “You think it’s the end of days?”

Jan shrugged.  “Isn’t it?  You think this
isn’t the end of the world as we know it?  Whether it was God, terrorists,
or something else entirely, things have just taken one hell of a turn for the
worse.”

Cassie whimpered again.  “We’re all going to die.
 Eventually they’ll get us.”

Pauline went over and comforted the girl while the rest
of the group exchanged nervous glances.

The silence was broken by Kathryn as she began to cough
and splutter into her hands.

“You okay there?” Nick asked her.

She caught her breath and nodded.  “I’m fine. 
Just got a frog in my throat.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Jan asked.  “Do you folks
have a destination in mind?”

“Does
anywhere
count?” said Nick.

“Better than
nowhere,
I guess.”  Jan turned
on the spot and pointed.  “Me and the boys came from the main roads in
that direction.  Things are pretty bad back in the towns, so I would
suggest we keep heading this way and stay in the woods.”

“This whole area is a country park apparently,” Nick
said.  “Maybe we’ll find help somewhere up the hill.  There might be
a craft centre or a farm or something.”

“Sounds good,” said Jan.  “We’re happy to do
whatever you folks think is best.”

Dash rolled his eyes and grumbled.  Being
subservient obviously did not sit well with the young criminal.

Nick confronted him about it.  “That okay with
you?”

Dash nodded.  “Yeah, man.  I’m sound.”

Kathryn let out another wracking cough.  This time
she seemed unable to stop.

Dash eyeballed her suspiciously.  “What the fuck is
wrong with this bitch?”

Jan walked up to Kathryn and put his hand beneath her
chin.  He forced her head up to look at him and then stared into her eyes.
 “She has it,” he said.  “She’s infected.”

Nick hurried over.  “What are you talking
about?  That’s not possible.”  Then he saw Kathryn’s swollen,
bloodshot eyes and knew that it was true. 

She
was
infected.

“We need to put her down,” said Jan.

Kathryn managed to halt her coughing enough to stumble
backwards with her hands outstretched.  “No! No, I’m fine.  Leave me
alone,
please
.  Just leave me alone.”

Jan stalked after her.  Nick grabbed the large man by
his wrist, which turned out to be as thick as a tree trunk.  “Back off,
buddy.  No one is killing anybody.  Are you insane?”

Jan looked at Nick like
he
was the one who was
insane.  “If we don’t kill her now, she’ll kill us later.  I’ve seen
it enough times to know.”

“He’s right,” said Dave.  “We’ve seen it, too, with
Jake.”

“But she can’t have it,” said Nick.  “She hasn’t
been bitten.”

“We don’t know that,” said Dave.  “How can we be
sure?”

“It was the water,” said Pauline.

Nick turned around.  “What?”

“When we picked her up she had a bottle of water with
her.  Jake was feeling unwell so she shared it with him.
 Cross-contamination.  Jake passed the virus onto her via his saliva
on the bottle.”

“Are you kidding me?” said Carl.  “What virus acts
that fast?  What virus gets to someone just by swigging from the same
bottle?”

Nick thought about Deana and how she had kissed James’s
wounded finger before putting a
Beano
plaster on it.  Had that been
all it had taken for her to catch it from her son?  And, for that matter,
was the kid at school that bit James’s finger the one that passed it on to him?

“It can’t be…” said Nick.  “It can’t be that
contagious.”

“It is what it is,” said Jan.  “We need to put her
out of her misery before she loses it and comes after us.  It’s a
kindness, believe me.”

“Fuck you,” Kathryn screamed.  “You’re all fucking
insane.  You can’t kill me.  I’m fin-” More wracking coughs caught a
hold of her.  She dropped to her knees, wheezing.

Dash brought over a large, fist-sized rock and handed it
to Jan.  “Turn her lights out.”

Jan took the rock and moved towards Kathryn.

Nick stood in his way.  “Not going to happen.”

“Move out the man’s way,” Dave ordered.  “We have
no choice about this.”

“Yeah,” added Carl.  “We have to think about
ourselves.”

Nick shook his head in disbelief.  “Do you all
think this is the right way to behave?  You think we should just kill an
innocent woman like it’s nothing?  You think this is okay?”

“I don’t think it’s okay,” said Eve, standing next to
Nick.

“Me either,” Pauline agreed.  “It’s barbaric.”

“It’s cowardly, is what it is,” said Margaret. 
“This is not the way people in Britain behave.  We’re not French.”

“What about you, Cassie?” Nick asked, trying to gain
consensus.  “What do you think?”

She looked down at her feet and shrugged.  “I don’t
want anyone to die.”

“Thank you,” Nick said.

“But I don’t want to be attacked again, either.  I
think…I think Kathryn is already dead if she has the virus.”