The Z Infection (30 page)

Anna Hasker

12:40 hours, Sunday 17
^th
May, Loch Leven,
Kinross-shire

The next day I was awake before
dawn.  The light was just beginning to appear in the eastern sky and it looked
like it was going to be a nice day.  What a joke.  Who cared about the weather
now?  That British tradition, of being obsessed with the weather, whether it
was rain, sun or snow, had surely had its day.  There were a lot more important
things to worry about now.

I slipped out of the shelter, leaving
Mike and the two children asleep, all wrapped up together in a ball.  It was
chilly and I wrapped my cardigan around my shoulders to ward off the cool air.

The fire, which had kept us so warm
in the darkness, was close to being out.  Dull embers glowed under a chunk of
charred wood, which had failed to completely burn away. 

I remembered Mike’s Boy Scout lesson
from the previous day and found a silver birch tree.  I peeled off a large
handful of the outer bark and placed it on the fire, surrounding it with some
smaller twigs.  I blew hard until the bark ignited and then worked hard to keep
it going with the smaller twigs and branches.  Within a few minutes I had
successfully reignited the fire and I warmed my hands in its leaping flames for
a few moments, savouring the heat.

I sat by the fire for a couple of
hours, as the sun began to rise and steadily spread its light across the loch. 
I wished I had something to eat.  After a while I walked to the edge of the
loch and stared out across the calm waters.  There was another island, further
to the north.  I could just about make it out in the distance.  The tree lined
shores rose up from the water.  It felt silly, but I suddenly felt less alone.

I gathered some water and walked
along the shore for about an hour, checking among the rocks.  I didn’t know
what I was looking for.  Nothing in particular I suppose.  I knew we needed
food but I had no idea how I was going to find any.

Once I got to the northwest edge of
the island I decided to turn and go back to camp.  There were no trees on that
part of the island and I felt slightly exposed on the barren shore.  As I
turned, my eyes drifted back to the other island and something caught my
attention.

I shielded my eyes against the sun as
I tried to see what it was.  There.  Among the trees, rising from them like a
signal.  It was smoke.  Someone had lit a fire.  There were other survivors.

I ran back to the camp.  Mike was
stirring from his sleep, but both children were still dead to the world and I
didn’t have the heart to waken them.  They would need all their strength.

‘Mike,’ I said.  ‘Come with me.’

He rubbed his eyes and dragged
himself out of the shelter.

‘What is it?’ he asked as he followed
me back to the shoreline.

When we got there I pointed to the
other island.

‘Another island,’ he said.

‘Look closer,’ I said.  ‘Amongst the
trees.’

It took him a while, until his eyes
became adjusted to the light, but then he saw it too.

‘Smoke,’ he said.  ‘Someone’s lit a
fire.’

We quickly discussed our options.  It
was a long swim.  Probably too far for Ben and Beth to manage it.

‘I’ll go,’ I said.  ‘It can’t be much
more than a mile or so.’

‘The water is cold,’ said Mike. 

He wasn’t sure, but there was no
other option.  We didn’t have a boat.

‘Wait,’ he said. 

He ran back into the woods and came
back a few minutes later, with a large branch. 

‘You can use this as a float, if you
get tired.’

I looked at the branch.  It was too
big.

‘Break it in half,’ I said, stripping
off to my underwear.

Mike stood staring at me as I
decanted my clothes on the beach.

‘I don’t need any extra weight,’ I
explained.  ‘I’ll put them on the branch and get dressed when I get there.’

He broke the ends off the branch and
threw it into the water for me.  I waded in after it, gasping as the cold water
crept up my legs to my waist.  I put the rest of my clothes onto the log and
took a deep breath before ducking myself completely under the water.

‘It’s not…so…bad…once you…get…used to
it,’ I stuttered.  Who was I kidding?  It was freezing.

‘Wait,’ said Mike, just before I set
off.  ‘What if they’re not friendly?’

I had already considered that
possibility but decided it had to be worth the risk.

‘Then I’ll come straight back,’ I
said.

I didn’t wait for any more
questions.  The quicker I got to the other island the better.  I hadn’t even
thought about how I would then get Mike and the kids across there.  I would
deal with that later.

The loch became colder the further
out I went.  Luckily it was calm and I was able to make good progress.  The log
had actually been a good idea.  Now that it was about half its original size it
was more streamlined and it didn’t take a huge amount of effort to push it
along as I swam.

It still took over an hour for me to
make the crossing between the two islands.  As I got closer to this new one I
could see that it was smaller.  Thick trees covered the southern shore and
behind them I could see a stone building and walls.  It looked like an old
castle.

I was about a hundred metres from
shore when I saw the first signs of life.  Two children were playing by the
water’s edge and I waved to them.  They looked up from their game, startled to
see something living in the water, then they bolted back into the trees.

A minute later more figures appeared
on the shoreline, most of them armed with a variety of clubs and other
weapons.  I waved again.  This time nobody ran.

As I got closer, two of the men waded
into the loch and helped me to the shore.

‘Where have you come from?’ asked a
woman as she covered me with a blanket.

I turned and pointed to the now
distant island.

‘Over there,’ I said, catching my
breath,

‘I know you,’ said another woman’s
voice.  ‘You were one of the flight attendants on the plane from London.’

‘Yes I was,’ I said.

She gave me a hug and kissed my
cheek.

‘You made sure so many got off that
plane,’ she said.  ‘Thank you.’

I was slightly embarrassed by the
attention.

‘How many are on this island?’ I
asked.

‘Just what you see,’ said a man.

I looked at the semi-circle of
faces.  There were no more than twenty of them.  Was that all that had survived
that flight?

‘And one of your colleagues,’ said
another.  ‘She’s injured.’

They led me to a small clearing and
to a crude shelter with an improvised bed inside.  My heart almost jumped into
my mouth when I saw her.  It was Lucy, still in her uniform.  She smiled at me.

‘You made it,’ she said weakly.

‘You too,’ I said.  ‘What happened to
you?’

‘I fell during the escape,’ she
said.  ‘Went through a bunch of bushes and over the edge of a crag.  I’m lucky
I’m still alive.  I was badly concussed.  One of the passengers found me and we
sailed across to this island.  If it hadn’t been for that, the infected would
have got me.’

I stayed with her for a few minutes
and then went back out to the rest of the group.  They were a mixed lot, most
of them from the plane.  There were four younger men, two much older ones, nine
women of varying ages, three children and Lucy.

‘There are another three survivors
across on that island,’ I said.  ‘We would like to join you if we can.’

One of the younger men stepped
forward.  He seemed to be the leader of the group, although he didn’t convey
any confidence at all.

‘What can you offer?’ he asked.

I suddenly realised that they didn’t
particularly want any more people to join their group.  It must have been
difficult finding enough food for the twenty of them.  Feeding more mouths
would only increase the burden.

‘The man I am with has good survival
skills,’ I said.

I wasn’t exactly sure that was the
truth.  He could build a rudimentary shelter and make a fire, but did that
qualify him as an expert?  He was no Bear Grylls.

There was an animated discussion now,
as the group argued about the pros and cons of the matter.  Eventually they
were silenced by one woman’s voice.

‘Shut up,’ she shouted.  ‘Do none of
you remember yesterday, or the last few days?  We are fighting for survival and
this woman was responsible for saving a great many lives after the plane crash. 
We owe her and whoever is with her.  We will only be strong enough to survive
if we come together as one.  Individually we are finished.  We should be
welcoming her without question.’

There were one or two more murmurs,
before another of the younger men spoke up.

‘As far as I’m concerned you are
welcome to join us,’ he said.

It was a relief, I have to say.  The
thought of being rejected and having to try to survive without support, while
trying to care for two small children, was terrifying.

I managed to dry off completely and
then dress myself.  One of the women brought me a bowl of soup and I devoured
it and a second one before I felt the hunger pangs subside a little.

I was at the point of thinking about
swimming back to the other island, when I suddenly remembered something that
Lucy had said.

‘Do you have a boat?’ I asked.

Sophie Westerly

12:50 hours, Sunday 17
^th
May, Windsor
Racecourse, Windsor

Kareef drove while I read the map and
gave the best directions I could.  It was a difficult journey.  There were
infected everywhere, mostly in small groups, but occasionally you would see a
larger mass, or a swarm as they were called in the media reports.

We listened to the radio constantly,
avoiding the areas where the concentrations were greatest.  The vicinity around
Staines, Windsor and Slough was particularly infested and Heathrow Airport was
described by one bulletin, as a no-go area.

We decided to skirt around these
places and drove out into the countryside.  I have to say it was only
marginally better.  There were infected walking in many of the fields, ambling
along with that peculiar gait.  We still didn’t know the truth at that point,
that the infected were actually the dead, risen to wreak destruction on us all.

To the south of Windsor we found a
small side road, which had a sign post for the town.  Kareef suggested we take
it and find somewhere to lie low, while we decided on the best way to get
inside the castle.

We drove down it but had to double
back when we saw a group of infected.  They spotted us and followed until we
outran them.

Kareef then found another road, which
just appeared as a line on the map I had. 

‘What do you think?’ he asked.

‘It probably just leads to a farm,’ I
said.  ‘It might be a dead end.’

‘We’re running out of roads to use,’
he replied.  ‘Every road we’ve tried is choked with infected.’

I looked at the map again.  I thought
I knew where we were, but I couldn’t be absolutely certain.

‘Try it then,’ I said.

Kareef turned onto the track and we
bumped our way down it slowly.  About half a mile or so later, we came to a
small rise.  As we climbed to the top of it we saw a farmhouse with several
outbuildings.  It didn’t look like there was anyone around.

‘We need some water,’ said Kareef. 
‘What do you think?’

I hated going into houses, especially
out here in the countryside.  You never knew what was waiting inside for you. 
If there were infected, that was bad.  If there were survivors, that could be
just as bad.  A twitchy farmer, holding a shotgun, was the end of many in those
days.

But Kareef was right, we were low on
water.  We would have to take a chance.

He switched off the ignition and we
walked around the side of the house and into a yard at the back.  There was one
body lying there, mostly eaten.  A dead dog lay nearby.  It looked like it had
been shot.

‘Let’s take our time,’ said Kareef. 

We made our way to the rear door and
entered a small utility room.  Kareef shouted to make it known to anyone inside
that we didn’t mean any harm.  There was a sudden noise from the kitchen and we
were instantly alert.  There was someone in there and my guess was that they
were infected.  We braced ourselves for flight, expecting something to come
crashing at us through the door at any moment, but nothing happened.

We looked at one another.  An
infected person would have stopped at nothing to have got through that door,
but there was no attempt.  He called again, stressing that we planned to go
into the kitchen, just to take some water.  We wanted nothing else from them.