Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) (6 page)

Chapter Nine

I woke up to the smell of hot coffee and slowly opened my eyes. I looked around and saw Chris and Amy sitting a few beds down from me with their heads together, whispering. I lay there straining my ears trying to hear what they were talking about but I couldn’t make any of it out. Sitting up, the bed creaked and Chris looked over to me.

“Morning, you two!” I called pulling on my boots.

“Fresh coffee here if you want any.” Amy said, turning around on the bed to look at me.

Standing up, I gently stomped my feet to settle my boots and walked over to them.

Amy passed a cup to me and I said “Thanks.”

Chris stood and went to look out of one of the small windows. From where I was standing, I could see a small piece of grey sky through it.

“Looks like it might rain later.” He said without turning round.

“Marc?”

I turned to look at Amy “Yeah? What’s up?” I asked.

“Are you sure that we need to do this?” She asked.

This must have been what they were whispering about as I woke up.

I sighed and took a sip of the hot, bitter coffee trying to figure out what I should say.

“Look, I know that this might just look like I am being paranoid, but if Benton ever manages to get hold of the Bunker and the people there, well, let’s just say that there wouldn’t be many left afterwards, if at all. I set out on my own to try and take them down and I stand by that thought.” I said.

“Look, we are not saying that it shouldn’t be done, just why now?” Chris said, turning away from the window to look at me.

Again I paused before answering “I don’t know! I just thought that if I could take them down now then the rest of you back at the Bunker would be more secure.”

Turning away, I walked back to my rucksack and started to pack the little amount of gear I had pulled out the night before. Spirit trotted in from the other end of the room and headed over to Amy.

“Ok!” Chris said and headed for his own gear.

“Ok?” I said looking up.

“Yeah! Look as long as you think it is worthwhile then that’s good enough for me.” He said, lifting his rucksack onto the bed and shoving a shirt in the open end.

“Amy?” I asked.

Amy stood up and headed for the toilet.

“Amy?” I asked again.

She turned around and said “Oh, for fuck’s sake, ok, let’s get going! And for the sake of argument I would have come anyway.”

I smiled as she turned her back to me and headed into the toilet to empty the coffee into the drains.

“She was all for knocking you out and dragging you back to the Bunker.” Chris said as the toilet door closed behind Amy.

I just shrugged my shoulders and lifted my rucksack off the floor and headed out of the dorm to where we had parked the ATV’s the day before. Putting down my rucksack beside the nearest ATV, I went to the doors and looked out through the small window set in the large doors. Outside looked quiet but I could see shadows moving behind the windows of the buildings opposite. I felt the wet touch of Spirit's nose on my hand and I looked down at her. It then occurred to me that we had no way to carry her on the ATV.

Looking around the room, I saw all the fireman’s duty clothes hanging on racks near the now useless fire engines. Chris came down followed by Amy and her face said it all. Rather than start an argument, I headed over to where the jackets were hanging and pulled down the largest I could find. Calling Spirit over, I measured the jacket and found that if I fastened two of them together using the clasps I could fashion a sort of carryall to hold her in.

“Chris, one of us is going to have to carry Spirit.” I said.

He looked over and then pointed to his arm saying “You’re going to have to do that. My arm is still knackered.”

To be honest, with the way that he moved I had forgot that he had fractured his arm when that infected fell off the boat.

“I’ll ride behind Chris.” Amy said, fastening a rucksack to the back of her ATV.

I looked at Chris and he just shrugged. Using a couple of bungie cords I fastened my rucksack to the small baggage area on the back of the ATV I was going to drive. We all checked to make sure our weapons where locked and loaded. Chris and Amy climbed on to their ATV and waited whilst I slowly opened the large doors enough for us to drive out.

The last couple of inches the door squeaked and grated against the metal runners. The sound echoed off the buildings around the fire station. The shadows that I had seen started to make themselves be known. Infected started to lurch from buildings moaning and groaning. Chris fired up the engine on the ATV and I ran back to mine pausing to lift Spirit in her carrier in front of me. With the ATV started Chris shot through the gap and out into the street which was filling up with infected faster than I thought it would. I followed him and was just clearing the doors when I heard a bang and turned slightly to look behind me. There, barrelling out of one of the buildings, were two large infected similar to the ones we had encountered on the ship. Turning the accelerator, I sped up and pulled alongside Chris and Amy. Using one hand and pointing behind us I shouted for Amy to look but the wind whipped the sound of my words away as we sped down the street.

This nearly caused me to crash into the side of their ATV. Amy’s eyes went wide at this and then turned around to look behind at what I had been pointing at. The color drained from her face and she leaned forward to say something into Chris’ ear. He nodded his head and their ATV shot forward. I risked a quick glance and saw the two large infected tossing the slower normal infected to the side like ragdolls trying to catch up. We turned a corner and they were cut from sight.

The rest of the infected city seemed to come alive with the noise from ATV’s engines. Nearly every street we turned into had infected either in it or streaming out of the houses. Then our luck changed and the sky opened and rain poured down.

The last time it had rained the infected stayed under the heavy canopy of a forest to keep from getting wet. But here they had the use of deserted houses and buildings. The streets became slick with rain and the infected all but disappeared from sight. We did run across two more packs of the large infected before we hit the outskirts of Hull, but those huge creatures didn’t seem as bothered by the rain as the small ones were. The edge of the city came into view just as the rain started to slow and then stop. By then we were in an industrial park and there didn’t seem to be any infected.

The road led out into the countryside and we travelled for another five miles before we stopped for something to eat and have a break. I let Spirit out of the homemade carrier and she shot off into the large grass at the side of the road. Chris pulled out some water and we shared a couple of MRE’s.

“I thought you said that Benton had made those huge infected.” Chris said, spooning a grey sludge out of a packet.

“That’s what we were told.” Amy said, leaning back in the damp grass at the side of the road.

“Then where in God’s name did all those fuckers come from? They seemed to be on every other street as we left.” He asked, crushing the packet and throwing it away.

“I think they were there before we went to rescue Jane. To be honest, they knew I would come to save her, but what they didn’t know was that I would bring friends and come by boat. I think that might be why there were so many of them.” I said, watching the long grass sway on the other side of the road.

“You m…..” Booommm!

Chapter Ten

I lowered my pistol as the infected slowly fell out of the grass and onto the road. Its black blood and green brain matter rained down around its body.

“You were saying?” I asked, grinning.

Chris just shook his head and replied “I was saying that you might be right.”

The long grass further up the road parted. I lifted my pistol and watched Spirit come trotting out. She wandered up to the now fully dead infected. She sniffed at the ruined skull, lifted her leg and pissed on it before heading over to sit beside Amy. I slowly put my pistol back into my holster and stood up. Looking around, I could see more movement in the grasses.

“Might be an idea to get moving again.” I said, pointing out into the field.

Amy bundled Spirit into her makeshift carrier and passed her over after I climbed on to my ATV. We headed toward the lifeboat station and weaved along the country roads. We came to the road leading to the station and turned off. As we travelled along the road, the grass and trees slowly changed to crab grass and sand dunes. Just up ahead we saw a large concrete building with the tell-tale ramp leading out into the sea.

We slowed our approach to the lifeboat station. I pulled up a short distance from the station and I could see a Land Rover parked outside. Letting Spirit out of her carrier, she jumped down and stood looking toward the doorway. Chris climbed off his ATV and walked over to the door.

He banged on the door and called out “Oi! David, Mike you in there?”

The door creaked open and David stuck his head out and said “Never mind Oi. I was fucking asleep.”

“Well, you both can get up, you lazy gits!” I called over climbing off the ATV.

“Marc! Thank fuck!” He said, grinning.

“Never mind any of that. Get a fucking brew going.” I called out, laughing.

Shaking his head, he disappeared inside, shouting as he went.

Amy walked past carrying her rucksack and said “Well, at least someone is happy to see you.”

“You what?” I called at her back.

She just lifted her hand and flipped her middle finger back at me.

Chris walked over laughing and picked his rucksack up off the floor and laughed “Do you think she has been around us too long?”

“She might have.” I said, watching her entering the building.

We walked inside with our gear. There was a small reception area that had a small counter and a bench. Directly opposite the entrance was another door which had been left open. Spirit came trotting past and went through the open door without stopping. I could hear voices coming from further inside. Shrugging my shoulders, I walked further inside. The door from the reception opened into the large dock area of the lifeboat station. In the middle of it stood a large orange and white boat. I had to admit that it looked fantastic.

“Looks like it might do the job.” Chris rumbled as he walked toward another door against the wall where the voices were coming from.

I followed and cast another look at the lifeboat. I stepped through the door and saw what must have been the recreation room for the lifeboat crews. There was a couple of large couches with a coffee table between them. Along one wall were some white cupboards. David was standing at the cupboards making the cups of coffee. Mike was on one of the couches with his boots up on the coffee table. Spirit was slowly walking round the room sniffing everything. Amy had dumped her rucksack in the corner and was looking out of a small window at the sea. Chris dropped his rucksack at one end of a couch and flopped down onto it.

Standing there at the doorway, I was the surprised at the way they all just relaxed in each other’s company. I lowered my rucksack against the end cupboard and walked over to where Amy was standing.

“A penny for them?” I asked standing behind her.

Without turning, she replied “Is this the right thing to do, Marc?”

I sighed and said “I hope so. It’s just that it feels like the right thing to do. Well, at least for me anyway.”

Turning around she looked up at me with large eyes and said “I’ve finally found you and since then we have been running around putting our lives on the line for other people. When will we ever have time for just us?”

Tell the truth, I didn’t have an answer to that. The way I saw it was that if people back at the Bunker had truly put their faith in me, then I need to make sure that they all survived and lived on even if I died trying to do that for them. Over Amy’s shoulder I could see the dark grey North Sea and the waves pounding the beach that was not even a hundred yards away.

I looked into her face and gently put my hand to her cheek saying “Amy, I don’t know if we will ever get to have any time just for us. The world has changed into an ugly place and we are all going to have to fight for our places in it.”

She pressed her head into my hand and sighed. Turning around, she leaned into my chest and we both stood watching the waves beat themselves against the beach.

“Brews are made.” David called.

I turned my head and nodded in his direction. Amy stood forward and we both headed over to sit down on the free couch. We all sat there in silence drinking our hot drinks.

Knowing no one was going to speak first, I decided that it should be me.

“Ok, so Amy and the not so friendly giant found me in Hull, and you two…” I pointed at Mike and David “came here to find a lifeboat, which you have. So here comes the hundred dollar question. Do any of you know where Benton’s ship is?” I asked.

I was surprised when it was Amy who answered. “It’s not a ship.”

There were several what’s spoken at that little nugget.

Raising my hands I said “Come on, guys, let her say her bit.”

I turned my head and looked at her. I could see the guys on the other couch lean forward as though they had hearing difficulties.

“I said it’s not a ship. You remember when we first met Rosa and Tom?” She asked.

“Yeah, she said her dad was some kind of big yup yup.” Chris said.

Amy looked sideways at me and said “Her second name is Benton.”

The room sort of tilted on its side and it felt hard for me to breathe.

“We’ve been living with her for weeks!” Mike said, standing.

“I know, I know.” Amy replied.

“How long have you known?” I whispered.

The rings round Amy’s eyes were starting to turn red, she turned her head away and said “She told me just after we got back from rescuing Jane and the others.”

“Hold on. So if it isn’t a ship, what the fuck is it?” David said.

Amy hitched in a few breaths before saying “It used to be an oil platform. She told me everything after we got back and saw that Chris and Marc had been hurt.”

“So Tom knew as well?” Chris asked, with his huge hands flexing beside him.

“No. Tom knows Rosa’s second name and what her dad did but not where the oil rig is. Rosa has been there a few times with her dad.”

“Does she know exactly which oil rig? Because there are quite a few out there.” Mike said.

Amy nodded and reached inside her jacket and pulled out a sheet of paper with some numbers and letters on it.

“She gave me this before we left to come and find Marc.” She said, handing it to Chris.

He looked down at it and said “Its coordinates. This must be where the oil rig is in the North Sea. When were you going to tell us that you had these?”

“I was hoping to convince Marc to come back to the Bunker. But I realize now that the only way that I can keep him safe is to go with him.” Amy replied with a flash of something behind her eyes.

Everyone went silent and I caught a few glances directed toward me from the other couch. The thing was, Amy had knocked me sideways with her little announcement just as much as she had the others.

It was then that a scruffy looking puppy wandered into the room. We all heard Spirit issue a growl from low in her chest. I looked over at her and saw she had her ears laid back against her head with a snarl on her long mouth.

“Spirit, stop that!” I said.

She stopped and cast a look toward me that could have only been called hostile. The pup had his long bushy tail between his legs and skirted round the room toward where David was sitting. David leaned over the side of the couch and lifted the pup onto his lap. Spirit issued a huff and walked over to Amy and sat down at her feet.

“Right, back to what we were talking about.” Chris said.

I looked over and asked “So you knew all about Rosa and her father?”

She sighed “Yes, but she was frightened that you and the others would kick her and Tom out of the Bunker because of it.”

I felt my face slowly redden. I had to admit that back then I probably would have kicked them both out on their butts, but with everything that had happened lately, I probably wouldn’t have. Human life had slowly become the most important thing on the face of the planet and any loss would be that step closer to it ending.

I rubbed my chin with my hand before saying “I might have in the past, but with the way things are now, I don’t know.”

“Well, I would have.” Chris said, his face red with anger.

“No you wouldn’t have.” David said with a small smile.

Chris squirmed on the couch “Ok! Maybe not, but I would have kept a better eye on them.”

“We are getting off track here. We are going to have to decide if what Rosa has given us is reliable or not.” Mike said as he scratched the pups head.

Amy stood up and said “Well, I believe it. Rosa came to me after she found out what had happened at the ship. She was in tears. Rosa couldn’t believe that her father was behind all of this. That’s when she told me of the oil rig and other places around the country that her father’s company owned, but she was adamant that the oil rig would be where the company would be.”

“I have to admit that would be the best choice seeing as the country is swarming with the infected.” David said, nodding his head.