Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) (10 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Turning, I looked for any more infected and I couldn’t see any. The attack had taken less than thirty seconds.

David ran over to Mike and started to look him over.

“He’s breathing.” David shouted.

“We haven’t got time to check him out here. Let’s get him into the Land Rover. David can drive whilst Amy checks him over in the back. Marc, you and I will take the ATV’s.” Chris shouted.

David and Chris lifted Mike’s limp body and carried him over to the rear of the Land Rover. I opened the rear door and they slid Mike inside. We piled our gear in on the rear seats and lifted the two dogs in as well. David climbed into the driver’s seat and Amy into the rear with Mike.

Leaning in through the driver’s window, Chris said “Get going, Marc, and I will catch up.”

David nodded and started the engine. Chris and I stood back as the Land Rover pulled out of the car park.

“Where the fuck did that big bastard come from?” Chris said as we walked over to the ATV’s.

Shrugging my shoulders, I said “What concerns me more was the way they attacked.”

Chris nodded his head as he stepped on to the ATV.

“It did seem a little co-ordinated, didn’t it?”

“More than little.”

“Do you think Mike is going to be ok?”

I sat on the ATV and looked over at the dead giant and said “I don’t know. He’s breathing which is good, but has he been infected. That’s what worries me.”

We started up the ATV’s and started to pull out of the car park when Chris stopped suddenly. I pulled up beside him.

“What’s up?”

He looked at me with a grave look in his eyes “What if he is infected? What would I tell Tessa?”

“Look, we don’t know if he is infected. Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it.” I replied.

Nodding, he turned back to look at the road and pulled away. I followed behind him. My thoughts were jumping all over the place. Mike was a good friend and I loved Tessa like a little sister and Chris like a brother. If Mike ended up being infected, it would tear them all to pieces. Then there was the new running man flavor of infected to deal with. I had no doubt that Benton had been messing around with the virus again. We now had infected, giant infected and running man infected to deal with. What was next, flying infected?

We carried on along the country lanes leading from the lifeboat station. After an hour of hard riding we finally caught up to the Land Rover. David had pulled over in a lay-by, and as we pulled in we could see Amy moving around in the rear. David was standing in the lane with his rifle.

“What’s up?” I asked, pulling alongside him.

“Amy thinks Mike might be infected.” He said, shaking his head.

I jumped off the ATV and ran over to the Land Rover and pulled open the rear door.

“What the fuck is this about Mike being infected?” I nearly shouted.

Amy turned her bruised face toward me and said “Not that kind of infected. At least I hope not.”

Chris appeared at my shoulder and said “Explain.”

“We’ve all seen how the infection spreads. But what’s going on with Mike doesn’t look like it.” Amy said, sitting back on her haunches.

“So what do we do?” I asked.

Amy’s eyes flared “What the fuck? Do I look like a Doctor to you? I haven’t got a fucking clue what to do.”

I stepped back and walked away. What the fuck? I only asked her a question and she went all postal on me. We were all worried about Mike and she blows off at me.

I went and sat on the ATV and watched the grey clouds slide by. The green fields spread out, and from where we were parked it looked like a giant green patchwork quilt. I heard footsteps and turned to see David standing at the rear of the ATV.

“Do you think he’s infected?” He asked with worry etched on his face.

“To be honest, I’m not sure.”

“Is it safe for us to be taking him back to the Bunker?”

“Again, I’m not sure.”

“Come on, Marc, I’m just asking!” He said, sounding deflated.

I sighed and said “I know, mate. It’s just that I don’t know what to do for the best anymore.”

He looked puzzled and asked “What do you mean?”

“I think things are only going to get harder and harder for us all. Even if Mike is ok. Yeah, I know that I say Benton is the fountain of all evil, but you lot may be right. If we hunker down and keep to ourselves, then maybe they won’t find us, and if they do, we can always fight them.”

He cocked his head and looked at me.

“I just sick of running from one problem into another.” I said.

“Half of us wouldn’t be here if you didn’t do that, though.”

“That might be, but it’s because of me that all this happened and now Mike is lying in the back of the Land Rover and he could be infected.”

Chris walked over and stood at the other end of the ATV.

“Amy thinks we need to get him back to the Doc and have Mike checked out. What do you think?”

I shrugged my shoulders and went back to looking at the clouds.

“Marc!” Chris said.

“What? Look, it would be better if you make the decisions. Every time I make them something either goes wrong or someone dies.” I said turning to look into his face.

“Eh?” both he and David said at the same time.

“Just decided amongst yourselves. Just treat me like I am along for the ride. Or better yet, like I am a private in the Army.”

“What’s got into to you?” Chris asked.

“Look, just do what you want.” I said and started the ATV.

Chris jumped out the way as I pulled out of the lay-by and stopped further down the lane. I could see David and Chris talking. There were some gestures towards me. David headed back to the Land Rover and climbed back into the driver’s seat. I saw Chris climb onto his ATV and few seconds later the sound of the two engines starting up reached me. I started the ATV and sat waiting for them. I fell in behind them as they drove past. David in front with Chris and I behind him. We managed to get three quarters of the way back to the Bunker as the light slowly started to fade.

David pulled in at a secluded petrol station and turned off his engine. Chris and I pulled in and I looked at the small building just off the forecourt.

“It’s going to be dark soon.” He said, leaning out of the Land Rover window.

“Ok, we’ll check out the store. It might be an idea if you, Amy and Mike stay in the Land Rover. Marc and I will crash in the shop.” Chris said, turning off the ATV.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we all slept in the shop?” David asked.

“Look, if anything happens, I want you Amy and Mike to be able to get out of here quickly and we won’t be able to do that if we are all stuck inside there.” Chris said.

I climbed off my ATV, lifting my rifle I headed for the small shop. I stood waiting for Chris. Looking in through the dirty windows I could see things thrown onto the floor and a few of the shelving units had been tipped over. That could mean one of two things, this place had been looted or there were infected inside.

Chris stood on the other side of the doors and said “You ready?”

I just nodded.

Chapter Eighteen

Pushing open the door with my foot I slowly eased inside. Chris followed behind me. The smell hit us first, rotten food and meat seemed to come from every corner of the small building. Chris pointed to the right and then at me and the left. I nodded and headed off toward where the checkout was. Sliding around each corner I made it to the front and looked over the checkout. In one corner there was the half eaten remains of someone. Their ribcage had been torn into and all the soft flesh had been stripped from the bones. His or her face had been stripped clean and the eyes had been plucked out leaving a ragged torn skull staring up at me.

Turning to shout a warning to Chris, there was a bang and then the grunt of something hitting the floor. I ran down the aisles checking each as I went. Chris was bent over looking at an infected woman. The grey skin covering her face was pulled tight against her skull, and the more I looked, the more I noticed that she looked like a skeleton with a grey wrapping of skin. How the hell something like that could move was beyond me. Chris had caught her just above her right eye and the black and green soup that had been her brain was slowly making a halo round her skull.

“She nearly had me.” Chris said, standing back upright.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, just scared the shit out of me. Never seen an infected that looked like her. Thought it was the grim reaper at first.” He said with a short laugh.

I looked down at her and said “That would be one fucked up grim reaper.”

We split up and checked the rest of the store and found nothing more. Pulling the dead infected outside, we dumped her around the side of the building and then moved the half eaten corpse out there as well. Using some air freshener, we managed to make the place smell a little better. Chris grabbed our rucksacks from the Land Rover and came back inside with two extra guests. Spirit and the pup must have wanted out of the Land Rover. They started sniffing as soon as they were through the doors and headed off for a look around the small store.

We opened some MRE’s and ate them cold. I gave some of mine to Spirit and the pup then spread out my sleeping bag. We had decided to take shifts on guard duty. Chris would take the first four hours and I would take the second. I crawled inside my sleeping bag and the two dogs lay on either side of me. I was soon asleep and dreaming of a time before the infected.

Chris woke me after four hours. Stretching, I pulled my boots back on and watched as Chris got settled. Spirit and the pup moved to lay down beside him. It wasn’t long before he was snoring. I laughed softly when Spirit and the pup moved away from the large snoring sleeping bag. They both lay down cuddled up on my sleeping bag. The night passed slowly and I even went out to look in the Land Rover a couple of times to make sure the others were ok.

Light slowly came back into the world and I let Spirit and the pup out of the shop so that they could do their business. When the sun was just above the horizon I woke Chris up and then woke the others and was surprised to see Mike awake and looking around.

Opening the rear doors to the Land Rover I asked “Morning, sleepyhead, are you ok?”

Bleary eyed, he turned to look at me and blinked a few times before saying “Marc….Sorry, mate…..I feel like shit.”

“Amy said you have caught an infection somehow.”

His face dropped and he looked panicked “I’m infected?”

I laughed softly “No, that you have an infection, not that you are infected.” at least I hoped that wasn’t the case.

“Thank fuck for that!” He said, slumping back.

I saw David and Amy stirring in the front.

“Morning, you two. Guess who decided to grace us with his presence.” I said.

They both turned and I saw the looks of relief on their faces as they saw Mike looking at them. The door to the shop opened and Chris walked out stretching his arms above his head.

“Mike’s awake.” I called out.

Chris smiled and jogged over to the Land Rover.

“You gave us quite a scare.” Chris said, smiling at Mike.

Mike let out a small laugh “I gave you quite a scare? I nearly shit myself when I saw how big that infected was.”

“Yeah, we heard how scared you were.” David said from the front of the Land Rover.

Mike looked over at him with a puzzled expression.

“You scream like a girl.” David said, laughing.

Amy punched David in the shoulder and said “He did not scream like a girl. It was more like a baby wanting a bottle.”

Mike slumped further down and said “Fuck off!”

“Honestly, mate, it’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?” Chris said, smiling at Mike.

“Not great, my head is pounding and I feel like I have a furnace in my chest and I am finding it hard to straighten out my thoughts.” Mike replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Ok! When we get back I’ll get the Doc to check you over.” Chris said, smiling.

We sat near the Land Rover and had a cold breakfast. When I had finished, I walked to the edge of the car park looking for Spirit and the pup. Nothing stirred in the long grass and I was starting to get slightly worried.

Walking back to the Land Rover “Has anyone seen Spirit or the pup?”

Everyone shook their heads and looked toward the long grass. We sat waiting for an hour before anyone said anything.

“Look, we are going to have to move if we want to get back to the Bunker today.” Amy said.

I shook my head “Look, why don’t you lot go on ahead and I’ll wait here and catch up when they come back.”

Chris looked at me “How the hell are you going to carry the two dogs on the ATV?”

“I just thought Spirit could run alongside and I would carry the pup somehow.”

David leaned out of the driver’s window and said “There is no way we are leaving you here after all the effort we put into finding you.”