The Hibernia Strain (5 page)

B
y the look of Toma’s physical decline, I’d wager that she’s not far from deaths door. But I could be wrong. Also, judging from the taxi drivers’ quick transformation the initial effects seem to be fast acting.

So in this case the virus seems to be intelligent enough to be able to control the infected person and make them pass it on to the next unlucky sod
, ensuring its survival. But for how long? Until there are no more people left in the country to infect? Now that’s a scary thought!

  
If that’s the case, and these zombies are running loose around the city attacking people, then is locking yourself up at home really going to make you any safer?

We arrive at the car park belonging to
Emma’s apartment complex. Shawn pulls up as close to her door as the jeep can go and leaves the engine running. There’s no sign of anyone life around.

“Are you
sure about this?” I ask in the hope that she’ll change her mind.

“I
’ll be fine,” she insists.

“Okay I
’ll see you in then,” I offer.

Pleased
by this, she looks over at Shawn and thanks him sincerely for having saved our skins earlier. The signs of anger towards him appear to have waned slightly. Maybe the scale of the situation has finally sunk in.

He accepts
the gratitude and wishes her the best of luck, but I know him well enough to be able to tell he doesn’t really give a rat’s ass.

Emma
gets her key ready as I take the sword from the back seat and remove it from its sheath.

We
hop out of the jeep and dart for her doorway. When we make it she quickly inserts the key.

“
That’s funny,” she spouts, “It’s not locked. I thought for sure I had locked it.”

I clearly remember she did lock
it as she checked it twice to make sure.

“You did
, and you double checked it,” I reply.

This
whole scenario just got real dodgy.

“I probably just had a blonde moment
,” she insists as she turns the handle and walks in. I follow close behind with a tight grip on the sword’s hilt.

The
place is the same as we left it, but I still find it awfully strange that the door was unlocked. I slowly skulk my way from room to room, gradually and carefully opening doors and checking if there are any unwanted intruders. I puff out sighs of relief with each unoccupied one I find.

I come to the last room
which is Emma’s bedroom. Opening the door I find a young man standing there, staring me down. A glowering look on his face. He’s handsome, blond haired, and I’d judge him to be in his early twenties. I raise the sword in front of me and assume an aggressive stance.  

“Who the hell are you?” I yell.

“I’m Emma’s boyfriend. So I guess the question is WHO THE FUCK are you?” is his stern reply.

This unexpected
response throws me. I’m filled with a mixture of hurt and relief.  Hurt because of the betrayal of Emma’s lies about being single. Relief because it’s immediately apparent from the way he talks and holds himself that he’s not another one of the infected; instead he’s just a pompous dickhead. 

I lower the sword to my side unsure
how to answer. Before I can think of anything to say, Emma enters the room and barks, “Why the fuck are you in my room Jason?”

He answers with a
sleazy sounding, “Don’t be like that babe. I was worried about you and came over to see if you were okay.”

“I don
’t need you to check on me you cheating scumbag. How dare you come onto my property when were broken up. What gives you the right?! How do you even have a spare key you creep? Leave the key and get the fuck out.”

Broken up?
So this guy is an ex boyfriend.
My heart and spirit feel revitalized on hearing these words.

“
But babe you know I love you.”

His voice really
irritates me. Now is a chance for me to show Emma that I can stand up for myself and her. To show her that I can be confident.

With my new and improved self belief
, I lift the sword once more and point the tip in Jason’s direction. In a powerful voice I bellow, “She doesn’t want you here, so I suggest you leave now before I make you leave.”

Emma
must have noticed the change in my deportment as I catch her looking at me in her bedroom mirror, a look of admiration on her face.

A now obviously disgruntled Jason begins to move and circles past me towards the door
, making sure to give a wide berth to the sword blade which is gleaming in the sunlight from the bedroom window. I follow him out and march him to the front door. All the time he’s seething profanities at me.

We reach the front door
, and he steps outside the threshold.

“
You wouldn’t be so tough without that sword you faggot,” he says.

“Well if
that’s what you think I am, maybe I should shove this sword up your ass and see how much you like it you homophobic shithead.”

To
psych him out, I fake a lunge forward. He stumbles backwards and lands on his arse. I grin widely, and as I’m shutting the door I laugh out, “See ya around precious. That is if those freaks don’t see you first.”

He
kicks the door several times in frustration before walking away swearing and muttering to himself.

As
much as I don’t like the guy; I hope he doesn’t attract any unwanted attention with his noisiness. That could result in us being discovered too.

I go into the
living room. By now, the sun is shining fully in the window where I had watched it ebb its way across the wall this morning. I let my attention slip momentarily as I gaze at the dust particles glistening and dancing around in the brightness. I take a deep breath.

“
Emma,” I start, “I know you don’t really know me, but I’m asking you to please come with us. I don’t think it’s safe to be here on your own, what with asshole ex’s inside and sicko nutcases outside. I’m worried for you. I was thinking we could give you a lift somewhere safer like your parents’ farm? I’m sure they’ll be worried sick!”

She tries to
interrupt, but I’m on a roll and don’t give her a chance as I carry on my rant.

“I mean what if something happens? Your mobile doesn
’t even work. How will you get help?”

I
’m nearly red in the face and panting from my outburst. My recently acquired confidence from the sword wielding is shunted aside momentarily.

Emma
responds in a very matter of fact kind of a way.

“Okay look
, firstly like I said the other night my parents are abroad on holidays at the moment so it’s possible they don’t even know what’s going on over here. And secondly, fine I’ll go with you but only to make you stop your raving. It’s a little embarrassing to say the least.”

She grins cheekily.

“It’s a deal,” I utter, relieved that she’s changed her mind.

“I think
you’re on to something though about going to my parent’s farm. It pretty secluded so it should be free from unwanted visitors.”

“Great
then we have a plan,” I chirp.

With our arrangement in place the mood in the room lightens and
I feel more at ease.

“Answer me this Matt. Why do you care so much about looking after
me? I mean, as you just said, you hardly even know me. Like your charming friend out there assumed, I’m just a bit of ass that you want to ride right?”

The surprise of this sudden crude question
leaves me flustered. My confidence levels are now definitely back down in the dirt where they usually reside. I’m no good when put under this type of pressure.

Growing u
p as a shy kid lacking in interpersonal skills meant I never fully adjusted to dealing with certain situations. Being a loner is in my nature and it’s how I get along best in life. But who truly wants to live that way? I don’t, I never have, but ever since certain incidents when I was younger I just turned inward and away from society. The result of which is my being completely awkward in many everyday conversations but especially emotion based ones with the opposite sex.

“Well you see
,” I begin to stutter.

Emma
saves me from any further humiliation by flashing me that perfect smile of hers and saying, “I’m just screwin’ with ya. You really do make it too easy.”

She comes over to me and sli
des her arms around my waist, pulling me in close.

“I never did get to thank you properly for rescuing me
the other night. Let’s just say last night was a minor indication of my gratitude,” she says as she runs a finger seductively from her perfect lips over her collar bone and down towards her flawlessly formed breasts which are nestled revealingly in her skimpy string top.

I
’m almost drooling as she pulls away, leaving me standing there trying to conceal a semi, with thoughts of last nights’ fun racing through my head.

“
I’m just going to throw a few things in a bag,” she toots as she trots off to her bedroom seemingly unaware of my tent pitching abilities.
Jeez, that girl is one fucking prick tease.

I throw the sword onto the couch and go into the kitchen to check the
portable radio for any updates. I turn it on and tune it to the government broadcast station. The same message is still playing. I listen to it again in case there might be a bit extra added to the end.

As I listen, I rummage around the cupboards throwing random packets of food into a discarded box. This might have to feed us for awhile.

With my entire concentration focused on the radio and supply foraging, I fail to hear the stealthy feet make their way up behind me.

By the time I notice the
person’s reflection in the glass of the window it’s too late. I’m dragged to the ground and subdued by the full weight of a grown person pressing down on of me.

Who the hell is this?
My immediate assumption is that Jason has decided to teach me a lesson but it quickly dawns on me that I left the front door unlocked after I persuaded him to leave. Some other randomer freak could have snuck in.

I
’m spun around onto my back and my shoulders are pinned to the ground restricting my movement. This isn’t Jason that’s for sure, it’s an infected.

All I’m able to
do is use my arms to hold back the advance of a grim looking face, but even this is futile as he traps my arms above my head. I’m totally defenceless.

We
’re eye to eye as he begins to wretch, not dissimilar to a cat before it coughs up a hairball. I foresee what’s going to happen next so I suck in a deep breath, tighten my lips together and squeeze my eyes shut just in time as the manky liquid spews from his mouth and flushes over my face.

The smell
is revolting. It stinks like the dressing on a cut that was left on too long and reeks of dead blood and puss and shit like that, except this is ten times more potent.

I continue to struggle but it
’s no use. I don’t open my eyes or mouth for fear that some of the solution might happen to go in.

My lungs begin to burn;
telling me I need to inhale more air, but I know if I do I’ll be inviting the infection into me.

My chest starts
shaking as I’m about to let out a gasp.
Shit
.
I exhale heavily just in time to hear a loud gurgle.

S
uddenly, I’m free from the weight that was bearing down on me. All I can hear is Emma shouting at me to hold still.

With my eyes still closed I feel her wiping the crud from my lips
, but it’s too late, I’ve already inhaled a hefty mouthful of oxygen and along with it surely some of the soon to be deceased’s oral discharge.

“Fuck
,” I scream out long and hard knowing all too well I’m in serious trouble.

Emma
, realizing the consequences of the dilemma I’m in, switches her tactics to panic mode and starts chucking pots of water over my head and face in an attempt to cleanse me.

All the time my attacker continues making disturbing noises but they
’re fading fast. Emma follows up the dousing by giving my face a rough scrubbing with a towel.

“You can open your eyes now
.”

I do
, to the sight of her face above mine with tears streaming down her cheeks. Some droplets run into the sides of her mouth. Others collect at the tip of her nose, fall freely and splash against my nose and forehead.

For
a split second, I’m perfectly content with the knowledge that somebody seems to care so genuinely about me. The flash of self gratification is fleeting however; as I spy the now departed remains of a fat lump of a man lying to one side. His throat pierced by my sword. The gurgling noise was him making his dying gasps for air as the blood from his wound choked out his lungs.