Twenty-Five Percent (Book 2): Downfall (11 page)

“I don’t think it’s you personally,” Micah said. “They were probably out looking for anyone they could find and it happened to be you.”

“For what?” Dent said.

“Field test,” he replied. “They’re seeing if they can control the horde and using you as the target.”

Hudson gave a derisive snort. “Rubbish. You’re just making this up.”

“Every time that helicopter flies over, I sneeze,” Alex said.

“Really?” Hudson said. “You’re basing your wild theories on your snot?”

A couple of the soldiers chuckled. Even Dent smiled.

Alex huffed out an irritated breath. “The eaters use pheromones to communicate, in a very rudimentary way. I can smell that. But I can’t smell anything when the chopper’s around, I just sneeze. I think that means they’re using a synthetic pheromone that’s affecting me in a different way.”

“Says you,” Hudson scoffed. “We have no proof of that. Just you and your so-called ‘enhanced olfactory abilities’.” He drew the quote marks in the air. “If it makes you sneeze, why isn’t every eater out there sneezing too?”

“I don’t know,” Alex said, annoyed. “Eaters can’t feel pain; maybe they can’t feel the urge to sneeze either. Why would I be making this up?”

“I don’t know. To support this little power trip you’ve got going on?”

Alex gritted his teeth, trying to calm himself. “Like it or not, Survivors have an enhanced sense of smell. For instance, right now I can smell that Lieutenant Dent is wearing Chanel No.5, which I recognise because my mum wears it; someone opened a jar of pickled onions in here, but no-one ate any; Collins has been chewing a Mento and also has a packet of cigarettes on him, but he hasn’t smoked any recently; and you haven’t showered in at least three days.”

“You don’t need a good sense of smell to know that,” Sam muttered.

Micah snorted.

Hudson shot up, his chair shooting back behind him, and rounded on Sam. “I’ve had enough of you, you little pipsqueak...”

Sam shrank back, staring up at the big man in terror. Alex pushed his chair back and strode up to Hudson, bringing them nose to nose.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” he snarled.

A flicker of doubt crossed Hudson’s face.

“Hudson!” Dent snapped. “Sit down!”

He made a show of being reluctant to obey, glaring at Alex before retrieving his chair from where it had skidded to a stop ten feet behind him and dropping back into it. But Alex saw the brief flash of relief in his eyes at Dent having given him a way to back out of a confrontation with a Survivor without losing face. It gave him a mild feeling of satisfaction. Already frustrated at their lack of significant progress in getting to Omnav, Hudson was rapidly becoming Alex’s very final straw.

“So if what you’re saying is true,” Dent said, “and Omnav is just using us for target practice, what do you suggest we do?”

Alex returned to his seat.

“Well first of all, get rid of the tracker on your Land Rover,” Micah said.

“Armoured patrol...” Collins began.

“Whatever.”

“But the chopper can still see us,” Ridgewell said.

“Are any of you good enough shots to disable it?” Alex said.

A shocked silence engulfed the table.

“You mean fire on one of our own?” Porter said.

“I mean fire on the bastards who have caused the deaths of thousands, maybe even millions of people just to pad their own pockets.”

“And what if you’re wrong?” Dent said.

Alex sat back. “What you do is up to you. You asked us what we suggested. That is it.”

There were a few minutes of silence. Sam pulled the book from his backpack and started reading.

“Alright,” Dent said eventually. “I agree what you say makes more sense than anything else I can think of. If the chopper was friendly, they would have made contact. We still have our radios, but even if we didn’t, they could have done something to get our attention. I have to admit, I’ve had a bad feeling about them all day.”

There were a couple of nods from those around the table. Hudson huffed out a sharp breath, stood, and stomped away, stopping in the middle of the room and staring out the window.

Dent watched him go then turned back to the rest of them. “But we still have to get out of here before we can remove the tracker and disable the chopper.”  

This was where Alex’s ideas got a little vague. “What we need is to somehow lead them away from the front door,” he said.

“And do you have any suggestion as to how to do that?” Dent said.

Hudson wandered back to stand behind Sam, who was still reading. “Maybe we should just throw this useless wimp out a window and get away while the eaters are busy with him.”

Sam paled, craning his neck round to look up at him. Hudson was grinning, looking pleased with himself. Whether it was because he thought what he’d said was funny, or because he thought he’d come up with a brilliant solution, Alex didn’t know. And he didn’t particularly care.

He stood and walked up to Hudson who looked at him as if he was a bug.

“You got a problem, white-eye?”

Alex drew his arm back and drove his fist into Hudson’s face. The big man flew across the room like a rag doll and hit the wall ten feet away, crumpling into a groaning heap on the floor.

“Not any more,” Alex said.

The group of soldiers sprang to their feet, levelling their weapons at him. Micah drew his pistol, but didn’t aim it anywhere, seeming unsure what to do.

Alex was too angry to care that he was staring down the barrels of four automatic rifles. “What, you want to shoot me?” he shouted. “Like you didn’t all want to do the same thing? Come on then, anyone who doesn’t think Hudson is an arsehole, go ahead and shoot.”

There were several long seconds of silence during which Alex’s fury ebbed and he began to think he might have made a mistake. Then, one by one, the soldiers lowered their weapons and sat back down again, except for Ridgewell who walked over to check on the still groaning Hudson.

Hudson pushed his hand away, growling, “Leave me alone you bloody traitor.”

Ridgewell shrugged and returned to his seat.

Alex had a sudden need to be anywhere but there. “I need some fresh air,” he said, standing and heading for the door.

He heard a chair scrape on the floor and footsteps run after him. Sam caught up with him as he reached the corridor.

“Where are you going?”

“Just for a walk,” Alex replied.

“Not outside?” Sam said, sounding worried.

Alex smiled. “No, not outside. There are eaters outside.”

“Oh. It’s just, you said you needed fresh air.”

“I only meant away from Hudson.”

Sam stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, me too. And not just because of the smell.”

They walked along the hallway in the gloomy semi-dark for a while, passing classroom after classroom. Sam kept his head down, staring at the floor ahead of him.

Alex glanced at him. “You okay?”

Sam nodded without answering.

Alex bit back a sigh. He wasn’t any good at this kind of emotional stuff.

“Are there really chapters of Meir of Light?” he said.

Sam looked up. “Oh yes. And it’s Light of Meir. There are seven of us in the Peterborough chapter and our meetings are a lot of fun. They’re my friends.”

“Did you really decide to sacrifice yourself to save everyone?”

He looked down again. After a couple seconds, he shook his head.

“When the news showed the hordes coming out of Sarcester,” Sam said, “I knew it wouldn’t take them long to get to us. My mum and dad kept saying the army would stop them, so we stayed home. By the time the horde reached us, it was huge. I was next door, helping our neighbour attach planks of wood to his windows, when they got to our street. I heard screaming outside and I knew...” He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t know why mum and dad went outside. Maybe it was to find me. But I saw the eaters get them from my neighbour’s window. I wanted to go out and die with them, but I was too scared. When the horde had gone, I went home and locked myself in. That was on Monday. On Tuesday, I sent emails to everyone in the group, but no-one answered. There were still some eaters around, but I managed to get to the hall where we have our meetings. But no-one else came. They didn’t come yesterday either.” He wiped at a tear rolling down his cheek. “So this morning I left and just walked. I wanted to find a horde and die, that’s all. But when I finally found one, you found me.”

Seconds ticked by as Alex hated himself for asking and tried to think of something to say. “I’m truly sorry for what happened to your family, but I’m not sorry I found you before you got to that horde. You’re not alone, Sam. You can stay with Micah and me as long as you want.”

Sam looked up at him, his eyes wide. “Really?”

Alex smiled. “Really.”

“Thanks,” Sam said. “When I’m around you, I don’t feel so scared.”

Choked up as he suddenly found himself, Alex couldn’t say anything. He only hoped being around him didn’t get Sam killed.

Someone shook Alex awake. It turned out to be Micah. Why was he not surprised?

“Wha’?” he said, his voice slurred with sleep.

“Something’s happening.”

The urgency of Micah’s tone brought Alex instantly awake. He sat up on the towel covered gym mat he’d slept on, grimacing at the pain in his back from the uncomfortable makeshift bed. Around the cafeteria, the soldiers were already packing up.

“What’s going on?” Alex said, climbing to his feet and grabbing his backpack.

Micah pointed out the window. “They’re moving.”

Outside, bathed in the early morning sunlight, the eaters were indeed shuffling towards the back of the building.

“Come on,” Dent said, “we need to be ready to get out as soon as the front is clear.”

Micah was shouldering his own pack, Chloe, with a large, bulging messenger bag slung across her body, hovering near him. Ever since they’d met Chloe the evening before she’d become Micah’s shadow. Alex suspected a teenage crush was at work.

He looked around. “Wait, where’s Sam?”

“I don’t know,” Micah replied. “He was gone when I woke.”

Alex raised his voice. “Has anyone seen Sam?”

There were a chorus of “No”s.

“Who bloody cares where he is?” Hudson said, his voice slightly nasal from the bandage covering his nose.

Alex wanted to punch him again. “We have to find him,” he said, automatically patting his waist to make sure his pistol was in its holster.

Something rustled. Pushing his jacket back, he found a piece of paper tucked in next to his gun. He pulled it out and unfolded it.

Dear Alex,

Thank you for believing in me. Not many people have done that. I wanted to do something to help, so I went exploring after everyone was asleep and found another staircase at the back. I’m going to lead the eaters up there and away from the front so everyone can get out. The plan is that I come back down the main stairs so I can get out with you. I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d try to stop me because you’re good like that. But I know I can do this.

Please don’t leave without me.

Sam

Alex’s gut dropped. “No.”

He ran for the door, shoving Hudson out of the way and sprinting towards the foyer. At the end of the hallway, he took the corner at speed, his trainers squeaking on the vinyl floor, turning left towards the corridor leading to the back of the building where they’d originally come in. He burst through a set of double doors and ran for the next doors ahead of him. When he reached them and pushed, they didn’t move. He pushed again, harder. The doors rattled, but held.

Stepping back, he prepared to throw all his strength at them.

“Stop!” Micah skidded to a halt beside him, grabbing Alex’s arm before he had time to move. “What are you doing?”

Chloe ran up behind them as Alex shoved Sam’s note into Micah’s hand in response to his question.

“I have to get through there,” Alex said, frantic. “I have to stop him. He’ll be killed.”

Micah finished reading and handed the note back to him. “Not here.”

“What?”

“We can’t go through here. Listen.”

Alex stifled his panicked breathing and listened. In his desperation to find Sam, he hadn’t heard it before. Shuffling feet. Harsh, ragged breathing. The occasional moan.

The area beyond the doors was filled with eaters and he’d almost let them through.

“There has to be another way back there,” he said.

“The stairs,” Micah said, already turning back. “If Sam is leading them up the back stairs, we can get up the front.”

They ran back to the foyer where Dent and the others were by the front entrance.

“Stay with them,” Micah said to Chloe, pointing at the group by the door. “We’ll be right back.”

“What are you doing?” Dent said. “It’s almost clear. You need to be ready to move.”

“Sam is leading them away,” Alex called as they headed for the stairs. “He found more stairs at the back and he’s leading them up there so we can get out. We have to find him.”

Hudson turned away from the window to look at them. If he said anything, Alex was ready to punch him again, and this time he probably wouldn’t get back up. Unusually, though, he was silent.

From up the stairs ahead of them, he heard a voice cry out. All the breath left Alex’s lungs.

Sam.

Alex didn’t wait to see what Dent would say. He bounded up the stairs, his heart thudding in his ears as he took them two at a time, Micah keeping pace beside him. At the top, they stumbled to a halt.

The corridor ahead was crammed wall to wall with eaters.

“
Sam?
” Alex yelled.

There was no reply.

“
SAM!!
”

The horde erupted in a cacophony of moans, the eaters lumbering towards them.

“We have to go,” Micah said, grasping his arm and tugging him back towards the stairs.

“We can’t leave him.”

“We can’t do anything here. Come on!”

With the leading eaters fifty feet away and closing, Alex let Micah pull him back to the stairs. They ran back down, guilt dragging at Alex’s feet. This was his fault. Sam had done this to impress him.

They reached the foyer and ran for their bikes.

“Go!” Micah shouted, waving his arms at the little group clustered by the doors.

“We don’t know if it’s clear yet...” Collins said.

“Just go!” Micah yelled again.

The soldier’s eyes widened, staring beyond them. Alex glanced back to see the first wave of eaters, half walking and half falling down the staircase. They were even getting better at stairs. Before, all of them would have fallen.

Hudson yanked open the doors and stepped outside. A moment later, he beckoned for the others to follow. Ridgewell and Porter held the doors open for Alex and Micah to push their bikes through, pulling them shut behind them as soon as they were outside. Eaters thudded into the doors and windows moments later.

Hudson and Collins were already running for their APV where they’d left it at the side of the building.

Alex left his bike a little way out, placing Sam’s helmet on the seat, and looked back at the school. “Maybe there’s another way in.”

“You don’t even know he’s alive,” Dent said. “We have to get out of here in case the eaters get back out.”

Alex shook his head. “No, I can’t just leave him here. He did this for me.”

Micah was sprinting to the far end of the building. He stood at the corner for a few moments, then ran back.

“There are no doors on that side,” he said.

Alex stared at him, waiting for him to say more, to tell him there was some good news. But he was silent. Alex looked up at the building, hoping it would give him an idea of what to do. Something.
Anything
.

The empty windows stared down at him.

“He asked me not to leave without him,” Alex whispered. “I can’t leave.”

Micah walked up to him. “I’m with you whatever,” he said, “but I don’t know what we can do.”

Alex felt as if a band of steel was wrapped around his chest. He wanted to scream.

Around the corner, the engine of the Panther class armoured patrol vehicle roared into life. A second later it drove into view and headed towards them. Collins climbed down from the driver’s seat, Dent taking his place.

Alex looked at his bike, at the helmet with the flames running down the side. The steel band tightened.

“Alex!”

Alex started at the voice calling his name. He looked up.

Sam was looking down at him from the roof. “I got trapped,” he shouted. “I couldn’t get downstairs so I had to come up here.” He glanced behind him then back down at Alex. “They’ll be through the door soon.”

Alex could hear the fear in his voice.

“Can you get down any other way?” he called.

Sam shook his head. “There’s no other way down. They followed me up here and the door doesn’t have a lock. I’m sorry. I really screwed this up.”

“No, you didn’t. You got us out. We’re all alive here because of you. You saved us.”

Sam was quiet for a moment. “I did?”

Alex blinked back tears. “You’re a real hero.”

Sam smiled. “I’ve always wanted to be a hero. I never thought it could really happen though. I’m glad I...” He stopped and glanced behind him. When he looked back at Alex, his smile had gone. “They’re coming through.”

Alex could hear faint moans coming from the roof. “No,” he whispered, panicked. “No, no, no.”

“I hope it doesn’t hurt too much,” Sam said, so quietly Alex could barely hear him.

Alex looked around desperately for something, anything, to help. He was a Survivor and yet he was helpless. What good was his superhuman strength now?

His strength...

“Sam!” he shouted, running towards the building directly beneath him. “Jump!”

“What?”

“Jump! I’ll catch you.” He held out his arms.

Sam looked uncertain. “Are you sure?”

He wasn’t, but it was Sam’s only hope and he would do anything at that moment to save him. “Yes! Jump!”

“Are you sure you can do this?” Micah said quietly from behind him.

“No, but there’s no other choice.” He glanced back at him. “Better stand back.”

Micah nodded and backed away. Alex looked up to see Sam standing at the edge.

“I’m scared,” Sam said.

Alex took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. “I know, but you can trust me. I won’t let you down.”

Sam climbed onto the wall surrounding the edge of the roof, his hands clenched at his sides. He wiped the back of one fist across his eyes.

Come on, Alex urged him silently. I can do it. I will save you.

With a last look behind him, Sam took a deep breath and leaped into the air.

Alex braced himself, holding out his arms to catch Sam’s falling body. A lifetime of two seconds passed.

And then Sam hit him.

The impact was impossibly hard, crashing into his torso like a wrecking ball as he grabbed Sam out of the air. All the breath was pushed from his lungs as he crashed over backwards onto the grass with Sam sprawled across his chest.

For a few seconds, Alex couldn’t breathe.

For a few seconds, he wasn’t sure either of them had survived.

The body on top of him wasn’t moving.

“Sam?” he gasped, barely able to get the word out. His ribs hurt.

Sam stirred. “Alex?” he whispered. “Are we alive?”

Alex wanted to laugh, but the weight on top of him was making it difficult to get enough air. “Looks like it. Are you okay?”

There were a few moments of silence. “I think so.”

“Good. Could you get off me? I can’t breathe.”

Sam rolled off to one side and Alex gasped in a few breaths, his eyes squeezed shut. Footsteps ran up to him.

“Are you alright?”

Alex opened his eyes and looked up at Micah crouching beside him. He flexed the most important muscles. There was pain, but none of it severe enough to indicate any major injuries.

“More or less.”

Sam sat up next to him, looking stunned. Turning to Alex, he threw himself back down on top of him, hugging him with painful enthusiasm.

“You saved my life again,” he said, his voice muffled against Alex’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Alex patted his back, trying surreptitiously to encourage Sam to move by pushing upwards a little, but he was clinging on like Velcro. Alex’s ribs were protesting. “Uh, Sam...”

A thud sounded nearby. Alex looked up past Sam’s head to see the roof above them lined with eaters peering down. As he watched, one of them toppled forwards over the edge, landing with a thud a few feet away.

Micah was already standing. “Come on, Sam,” he said, tapping the young man’s shoulder. “You don’t want to survive jumping off a building and then get crushed by a falling eater.”

Sam lifted his head and looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of another eater pivoting over the low wall at the edge of the roof and plummeting to the ground. He scrambled to his feet.

Alex sat up, grimacing at the new pains erupting across his body. An eater landed by his feet and didn’t die. Instead, the man lifted its bloody face and tried to use its shattered limbs to crawl pathetically towards him, letting out a rasping moan. Micah stepped forward and dispatched it with a quick thrust of a skull-spiker.

“You need help?” he said to Alex.

Alex shook his head and got painfully to his feet, walking back from the building to join the others.

The soldiers were watching them with expressions of astonished disbelief.