Spiteful (The Infected Book 3) (2 page)

“Yes, you did, and before I answer your question I would like you to answer mine.” I said.

“Listen, scumbag, I want to know about my father, and if you don’t tell me in the next two minutes, I’ll come over there and cut your balls off.” He growled.

“Dad!” Tessa said.

I sat watching his face and saw the conflict rage across it. He wanted to know that his father was safe and sound but was also thinking of the lies Tracy had been spreading about the bunker. After a short while his face seemed to sag and he walked further into the room closing the door behind him.

“Okay, ask your question.” He said.

“How many survivors do you have here?” I asked.

He looked taken aback by the question and didn’t know what to say for a while.

“Why do you want to know that?” He asked.

“Just humour me.” I said.

“There are forty-five if you count Tracy and her five goons. Why?”

“Just that the bunker could hold them all and you would have food, hot and cold water and electricity. Oh, and did I mention your Dad works the comms centre for us.” I said.

“You mean he is your slave back at the bunker.” He said, his face beginning to harden.

“Nope. We have no slaves in the bunker, only other survivors. Look, there is one way we can settle this and that is for you to talk with your dad.” I said.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the phones don’t exactly work at the minute.” Tessa said.

Turning to look at her, I said “If you can find a CB, then you will be able to speak with the bunker. Jake is listening out for other groups every day.”

Tessa looked at her father and he just opened the door and walked out of the room. Tessa looked back at me and ran out closing the door behind her.

Chapter Two

A few hours later a young man came and left a health bar and bottle of water. I never even looked at him. My mind was thinking of everything I had learnt about where I was. Tracy had managed to find a group of likeminded dicks and then they had found these people. She probably was trying to talk them into making a raid on the bunker or some other stupid plan. The key to her getting into the bunker was me, or at least that was what she thought. You see, I had never asked Chris for the code to the hatch. I had just assumed that he would lead and I would follow. It’s strange how everything had changed. As usual, my thoughts returned to Amy and the way they had left her in the wrecked Land Rover to get eaten by the infected. I began to wish that I had placed a bullet into Tracy’s head back in the bunker, but I couldn’t change that no matter how much I wished I could.

The sky had darkened outside the window and I could see storm clouds moving quickly by. After a short while the rain began and it ran like a river down the window. The room temperature slowly began to fall and I curled up trying to keep myself as warm as I possibly could. The shadows in the room began to lengthen and all the light seemed to get sucked into them. Closing my one good I eye, I tried to fall asleep. A blazing light in my face woke me up.

“Wake up, shithead.” A male voice said from the other side of the light.

Rolling away from the light I said “Fuck off. I’m sleeping.”

Rough hands grabbed me and pulled me up to my feet. The torch was still shining in my face and it was beginning to make my one good eye water. I tried to raise my hand and shield my eye but it was held firmly against my side. I could feel someone tugging at my ankle and I felt the cuff come away from it.

“Come on, shithead. You have a date.” The male voice said.

Getting dragged out of the room wasn’t my idea of fun but I tried not to fight it too much. This was the first time I had seen anything but the inside of the room I had woken up in. The room I had been kept in was at the end of a hallway. Three other doors were along the side that my door had been on. They were all open but had the same setup as mine had; a mattress and nothing else. The hallway was lit with lamps on boxes. At the end of the hallway stood another door and the man with the torch pushed it open and we walked into a well-lit room. Looking about, I could see people lying on sleeping bags and cots. Children holding hands with their parents and old people huddled together. In the centre of the room were several large tables and chairs. To my relief, I couldn’t see Tracy or Thomas anywhere. But I did see Tessa and her father sat talking to several other men and women at the tables. I was shoved toward the tables and forced into a chair facing them.

“You’ll keep your mouth shut until somebody asks you a question.” The man who had carried the torch said.

“What if I hold my hand up first?” I asked.

Probably not the best thing to have said because I got a punch in the face for it. Breathing heavily, I looked at the table and again my clever mouth got the better of me.

“But what if I need a wee? Can I hold my hand up then?” I asked.

This time he pulled a short knife from his belt and held it to my throat.

“Look, smartarse, you say anything again and I’ll make sure no woman will ever want you again.” He whispered in my ear.

“Barnaby!” Tessa’s father shouted.

Barnaby turned round and stalked off to stand beside the tables.

Tessa’s father cleared his throat “Look, we don’t have long before Tracy and her followers come back from a supply run so can we stop with the fucking stupid comments?”

I just nodded. I now knew that the people here were not too fond of Tracy and her gang. This could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing.

“Okay, from what you said this morning I had someone who used to drive trucks go and find a CB. We managed to get it working and we tried to get in contact with my dad. We managed to hear him but for some reason we couldn’t transmit. So I believe you about my father being alive but until I can hear him tell me he is not a slave….well, you know.”

I just sat there watching him and didn’t reply.

“You can speak.” He said, looking annoyed.

“Look, your dad had the same problem and it boiled down to not having enough juice to power the CB.” I said.

“He might be telling the truth.” Said a man sitting beside Tessa’s dad.

“How are we going to get enough then?” Tessa’s dad said to the other man.

It was like watching a tennis match. For the next ten minutes they bounced ideas back and forth. I was tired and I really didn’t think they wanted me outside of my room if Tracy and her friends came back early.

“Look, you lot can talk about this when I am back in my room. I really don’t think you would like it if I am out here if Tracy gets back and I wouldn’t want any of the kids to get hurt if she did. Because I can tell you one thing, she would go after them first.” I said.

Tessa’s dad looked at me and nodded.

“Barnaby, take him back to his room and make sure that cuff is put back on.”

I stood up and waited for my escort to form up and was taken back to my room. Barnaby fastened the cuff to my ankle and left the room. Sitting back down with my back to the wall I watched as the light faded away from under the door.

The night passed quickly and in the morning I had a visit from Tracy and Thomas.

“Have you changed your mind?” She asked.

“About what?” I replied, trying to look like I hadn’t a clue what she was on about.

“You know what!” Thomas growled from beside Tracy.

“Nope. Remind me what you wanted again?” I asked.

“I want the code to the bunker door.” She said.

“Oh that! Sorry, can’t give you it.” I said smiling.

Thomas stomped across the room and slashed out with his foot catching me on the leg. I rolled over away from him.

“You’ll fucking answer this time.” He said.

“Listen, I can’t give you the code.”

“You do know that you’re going to die if you don’t.” Tracy said, leaning against the wall.

“Oh, yeah, I know that and I also know that even if I tell you it, I’m dead.” I said, looking over at her. “So for me it’s a no-win situation.”

She seemed to think on that for a few minutes.

“What if I said you wouldn’t be harmed if you told us?” She said, trying to look all sincere.

I laughed out loud and said “I would rather chance it with a room of infected than trust anything you say.”

“Come on, Thomas, let’s see if he is more talkative tomorrow.” She said and turned to leave with Thomas trailing behind her.

The door closed and I rolled onto my back on the mattress. The room was starting to smell like the toilets in a pub. Because they hadn’t seen fit to give me anything to go in, I had taken to pissing against the wall. God only knew what this place would smell like if I had to take a dump. I needed to get out of here. But I wanted to see if Tessa’s dad had managed to get in touch with the bunker. If that happened, I could see things changing really quickly here. From the conversation last night, I could see that Tracy hadn’t become a welcomed member of this group.

I hoped that if they managed to get in touch with the bunker, then David and Chris would come to get me. Amy was a different matter. I hadn’t a clue if she had survived the crash. In my heart I hoped she had either by saving herself or by David and Chris coming back to get her. The dog, I couldn’t really care less about.

For the next few hours I lay watching the clouds drift passed the window. It seemed like the best thing to do. I heard footsteps coming down the hallway and lifted myself into a sitting position and watched the door. It slowly opened and Thomas stepped inside and closed it behind him. He stood there watching me before sitting on the floor.

“Marc, we both know what Tracy is like and I want you to understand that I don’t go along with what she wants.” He said, looking me in the eyes.

“Really? Well, that makes everything all better, doesn’t it?” I said staring back at him.

“Come on, man. I was just following orders when I hit you.” He said, looking down at the floor.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t have a clue what was going on. What I did know, though, was that he wasn’t telling me the truth. I’d had the wool pulled over my eyes by Tracy in the past and it wasn’t happening again.

“Okay, Tommy boy, what do you want?” I asked.

His eye’s seemed to tighten when I called him Tommy boy. That was something to put aside for future use.

“The only way you might get out of this is if you have a pal on the inside. You know, someone to help out.” He said.

“And how are you going to help me out then? Are you going to let me go? Or are you going to get me a weapon so I can escape?” I asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know what yet. But I will try somehow.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you what. Once you figure out what it is, come and let me know.” I said, laying back down and rolling on to my side, with my back to him.

“Fine.” Was all that he said as I heard him stand, open the door and walk out of the room.

What the hell was that about? Did he or Tracy really think I was so desperate to fall for something like that? Still, he might have been telling the truth. He might not like the idea of working for Tracy, but he might also want the bunker for himself and his gang. God, this is beginning to give a headache. Just the idea of accepting his help made my skin crawl.

I must have been in my own little world, because the door opened and Tessa walked in with a breakfast bar and bottle of water. I hadn’t heard anyone walking down the hallway so I really must have been thinking a lot.

“Here is something to eat.” She said, handing the breakfast bar and water to me.

I saw her nose wrinkle at the smell of the room.

“Sorry for the smell, but I have to pee somewhere.” I said

“It’s alright. I used to smell worse when I worked in my dad’s pub.” She said.

“Yeah, well, it might have been better if I had a bucket or something and you want to be grateful that I haven’t needed a number two yet.” I said.

“We were told not to let you have a bucket in case you managed to use it as a weapon.”

“I can just see me wielding a bucket full of shit like a mace.” I replied, laughing at the image of shit flying everywhere I swung the bucket.

Tessa just smiled and said “I have to get back. But I do have a message from dad. They have found better car batteries and if they can raise granddad and what you have said about the bunker is true, he and the others will help get you out, in return for your help getting us all to the bunker.”

“You can tell your dad I will do everything in my power to get you all there.” I said, smiling.

Tessa nodded and walked out the room. The visit from Tracy and her little puppy Thomas, had started my day badly. Then the cryptic visit by Thomas had just confused me, and now the good news from Tessa’s dad.

I ate the breakfast bar and drank the bottle of water, all the while pondering what might happen next. Tessa’s visit had me feeling better than I had since I woke up on the floor. Sitting on the floor for the rest of the day I sat watching a spider create a web in the corner of the room. The way it slowly started with a single thread and ended with a work of art surprised me. If only I had that kind of dedication and concentration then maybe I wouldn’t have been in this mess. I heard moaning coming from outside of the window and my head shot up. Not hearing and shouts or any kind of alarm I thought nothing of it and went back to watching my eight-legged friend complete his or her work.