Infection Z (Book 4), page 14
part #4 of Infection Z Series
“We just want to go to the wall,” Miriam said.
“We’ll take you some place safe.”
“Like Salvation?” Miriam shouted. “Like—like one of your other prisons?”
The main guard’s beady eyes narrowed. “You’re one of the Salvation escapees?”
“I’m a fucking human being. And I’ll tell you right now I’d rather die out here than step in that truck with you. I’d rather take my fucking chances out here than inside that truck. Not again. Not after all we’ve gone through to get here.”
The men looked at one another, engine of the truck still rumbling.
Then they looked back at Miriam. Hayden. The rest of the group.
“Very well,” the guard on the right said.
He lifted his gun.
Hayden heard the gunshot. But he didn’t process what was happening. Not completely.
All he knew was he felt blood splash onto his face.
Then he heard more gunfire. Gunfire from Miriam as she took out her pistol, fired back.
He ran towards the guard still perched in the driver’s seat. Threw himself inside.
The guard pointed the gun at him. Glasses steamed up. Fear on his face.
“Don’t make me shoot you,” the guard said. “P-please. Don’t make me shoot you.”
Hayden looked through the grill at the back of the driver’s cabin.
He didn’t have to see in the darkness to know that tons more people were packed in there.
He turned back to the driver.
Slammed the gun from his hand with the metal pipe.
Then he stabbed him in the throat.
Hayden pushed the driver away. Sent him tumbling down to the road below. The keys. The keys were still in the engine. They could use this vehicle. To get to the wall. To get to the other side.
He leaned out the window. “Quick!”
The guards were dead. Lying on the road.
But the zombies were here.
Miriam fought off a greying old woman. Renee pulled her husband along, Sam by their side.
“Shit,” Hayden muttered. Wasn’t a driver. Never passed his fucking test. But the new world had taught him a thing or two about practical experience.
He started to accelerate. Stalled the vehicle. Started it up again, driving towards the mass of zombies.
He swung the truck around. Crunched a few bones in the process.
Pulled up right by Miriam, Renee, Anthony, Sam.
“Quick!” Hayden called.
He watched the group run towards the truck. Grabbed Sam’s hand, lifted him up. Helped Miriam up. Took Anthony’s hand, lifted him, and then Renee’s.
When they were all inside the truck, Hayden slammed the door. Split a zombie’s flailing hand in two in the process. And as he sat there, rain peppering down from a storm cloud above, the sound of zombies muffled outside, he couldn’t help but feel proud. Because they’d done it. They’d fought off the guards. They’d taken this truck.
“We can press on towards…”
His elation subsided when he saw Anthony clutching his stomach.
His bleeding stomach.
His gunshot stomach.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Hold in there, Anthony. You hold in there.”
Hayden gripped the wheel of the truck and drove down the empty, stretching road. The zombies were but dots in the mirror now, far, far away. Nobody seemed to pull him up for his driving abilities, so he figured it didn’t make sense to mention that he couldn’t legally drive.
That was the old world.
This was the new world.
All rules, all regulations, were different now.
“Don’t you worry sweetheart,” Renee said, holding Anthony’s hand as he bled out from the gunshot wound in his stomach. “We’ll get you safe soon. We’ll get you safe.”
“You sure this is the best route?” Miriam asked, leaning towards Hayden.
“Do you know a better route?”
“I don’t mean it like that. I just—”
“All that matters right now is getting to that wall. I don’t know how long it’ll take whoever sent this truck to realise we’ve taken out its crew. I dunno what they’ll do if and when they do find out. But that doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is we get there. We get to safety.”
“And the people in the back?”
Hayden glanced in his rear-view mirror. Saw the movement in the back of the truck. He smelled them, too. The refugees. Because that’s what they were—people just doing all they could to escape a conflict-stricken region to reach somewhere safer.
Just like Hayden.
Just like Miriam.
Just like everyone.
“We spoke to them,” Hayden said. “They understand the score. They want safety too. And this might be their best chance.”
“But if something goes wrong?” Miriam asked.
Hayden glanced away from the road. Looked Miriam in the eye. “Things have been going wrong since way before the apocalypse broke out. We’ve made it this far. We can make it a little further.”
He offered a reassuring smile to Miriam.
Didn’t feel all that confident about his words. Didn’t feel any sort of profundity in what he was saying.
But Miriam’s eyes softened. She smiled back.
Must’ve worked.
Must’ve—
“Stop!”
Hayden swung around when he heard Renee’s shout.
He saw the dog on the road. And it startled him. A golden Labrador retriever. His favourite kind of dog. Used to have one when he was a kid. Called it Charlie. Went everywhere it went.
Charlie died not long before Hayden’s older sister Annabelle died.
No wonder he’d ended up as fucked up as he had.
He saw the dog in the middle of the road. Skinny. Bony. Blood dripping down from its messy muzzle.
Swung the truck to the right.
Only the truck didn’t turn as expected.
It spun. Spun sharply to the right. The tires screeched against the road. The vehicle started to topple. Screams erupted from the refugees in the back of the truck.
“Hold on!” Hayden shouted.
He wasn’t sure if anyone heard him.
The truck slammed against the road.
All the glass inside shattered, some of it raining down on him, nicking at his face.
As Hayden lay there, disoriented, head spinning, he thought he was in silence. That everyone was dead. Everything was over. He wasn’t sure if he’d blacked out. Sure felt like someone had hit the reset button on his consciousness.
He wasn’t sure about anything.
Then he realised it wasn’t silent at all. His ears were just ringing so loudly they were covering up his sense of hearing.
But Hayden heard loudly now.
He heard the pained cries.
Smelled the burning fuel.
The truck. The truck was on fire. The truck was fucking burning.
He looked to his left. Saw Miriam squinting, blood rolling down her sweaty head. To Miriam’s left, Sam. Renee. Anthony. Anthony wasn’t moving. Renee was crying. Sam looked stunned, like he couldn’t be any more afraid than he already was.
Hayden reached over for Miriam. Grabbed her hand. Struggled, tried to help her out of the truck. It was burning in here, filling with smoke. If they didn’t get out soon, they’d all choke to death. Every one of them.
Including the...
Shit.
The people in the back of the truck.
They’d gone silent.
Hayden pulled himself out of the truck, Miriam following closely behind. The others climbed out too—Sam, Renee. They had to help Anthony out, though. And judging by his closed eyes, by the stillness of his body, the blood rolling down his forehead, there wasn’t much to save of him.
Hayden jumped down by the side of the truck. Saw the scale of the damage. The road wobbling with the heat of the burning. Black smoke billowing out the engine.
“Gonna have to get moving,” Miriam called, as Renee crouched on her knees, crying over her husband’s still body.
“The people in the back—”
“It’s gonna explode, Hayden. It’s gonna explode, and if we don’t get away, none of us are gonna make it.”
Hayden walked around the back of the truck. Walked to the doors, which he knew would still be locked shut. “So be it.”
He stepped in front of the doors.
And then he noticed something.
Noticed something in the distance, way ahead of the truck.
At first, he thought they were zombies. But they were running. Running away from Hayden, from the truck, from the group, who were surely easy prey right now.
Then he realised they weren’t zombies at all.
“That’s... That’s them,” Miriam muttered.
Hayden couldn’t help but smile as he watched the refugees run towards the wall. Watched them sprint for their lives. He didn’t know what lay ahead for them. Didn’t know what fate they’d meet at that wall, on the other side.
But as he watched them run, watched the Labrador retriever sprinting behind them like this was all some kind of game, he felt proud.
Because he’d got them here.
Stopped them getting thrown into a hellhole like Salvation.
He’d given them another chance.
He heard Renee wailing and it snapped him out of his pride.
He looked at her. Looked at her perched over her husband’s body. A lump swelled in her throat. To come all this way then lose Anthony. It was harsh. Cruel.
He owed her some support.
He owed her that much.
Hayden started to walk over to Renee, away from the burning truck.
“Renee, I’m so sorry,” Hayden said. “I’m sorry this had to happen to you. I’m sorry this had to...”
Then, something unexpected happened.
Anthony’s eyes jolted open.
He shot upright.
Grabbed Renee’s neck with his teeth.
Pressed down.
Ripped her throat out.
There was a moment’s shock. A moment’s complete silence, even from Renee, as her husband chewed away at her neck, as she choked on her blood, wide-eyed.
And then Anthony threw his wife back, smacked her head against the road, and ripped off her face with his teeth.
Then, Renee finally screamed.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Hayden watched Anthony rip his wife’s face away and listened to her screams.
He couldn’t do anything. Nothing but stare. Neither could Miriam, and it would’ve been cruel to expect Sam to do something.
Rain fell from the thick clouds above, breaking the stuffy air. The taste of blood lingered in Hayden’s mouth. The smell of burning erupted from the crashed truck.
Renee continued to scream.
Hayden ran towards her, still unsure of what was going on. Anthony hadn’t been bitten. He’d just turned. He’d been shot, and then the truck crashed, then he’d turned.
What did it mean?
How had he turned?
Why had he turned?
He stopped just opposite Anthony. Legs wobbling. Still unsure of what to do, of how to react.
Anthony looked up from his wife. Her torn-away nose dangled from his blood-soaked teeth. Renee was unrecognisable as she lay on the road, her face a mush of torn skin, of ripped-up flesh.
But still she edged from side to side.
Wailed.
Poor woman. Poor fucking woman.
Hayden watched Anthony rise to his feet. Instinctively lifted his right hand, then realised the metal pipe wasn’t in there anymore. The Stanley knife was gone from his pocket, too.
Anthony continued to rise. Not a fraction of his old self in his eyes. Just bloodshot. Anger.
“The gun, Miriam,” Hayden called. He held his right hand out.
Miriam just stared on blankly as Anthony edged towards him, as Renee finally went silent.
“Miriam, the gun!”
Miriam jolted. Reached for the gun.
Threw it at Hayden.
Hayden grabbed it.
Lifted it.
Pointed it at Anthony’s face.
“Sorry, Anthony.”
He pulled the trigger.
No bullets fired out.
Hayden looked back at the gun. Safety still on. Shit. Still not used to all this crap. Still not—
Anthony grabbed his right arm.
Grabbed it with immense strength.
Closed in on it, teeth clicking, eager for a bite.
Hayden started to pull back from Anthony. But he knew it was no use.
So he punched.
Punched at Anthony’s face.
Punched at his neck.
Punched as hard as he could, gun in hand, bloodying Anthony’s face even more than it already was.
He looked to his right. Saw Miriam holding Sam. Eyes wide. Stunned. Startled. He wanted her help, but he knew how it was; how it felt. He’d been there before. Been frozen in shock.
He had to deal with this one alone.
Had to—
He saw Renee rise behind Anthony.
Saw her stand perfectly upright, the bones in her spine crunching as they twisted at an impossible angle.
Then, blood dripping down from the mess that was once her face, she walked towards Hayden.
He punched at Anthony again, doing all he could to dodge his snapping jaws. The desire to fight this battle himself drifted away. “Miriam, please! I need a hand!”
He felt Anthony pressing right into his chest.
Felt the blood from his mouth splashing against his body.
He was so close. So close to biting him. So close to pushing him over. So close to...
Hayden lost his footing.
Fell back on the road.
Anthony’s weight on top of him.
He struggled against Anthony, who was inches from his neck now. But he had a grip on the gun. A good chance to remove the safety.
But doing so meant stopping pressing back against Anthony.
He held his breath.
Reached to remove the safety.
Anthony’s teeth pressed against Hayden’s chest.
Hayden put the gun to Anthony’s head.
Pulled the trigger.
He heard the sound of the gunfire split his skull, make his ears ring even more.
He felt blood. Warm blood. Felt it cover him. Bathe him. Clog up all in his eyes.
He felt Anthony’s weight fall onto him, crushing him even more.
And then he heard Renee gasping as she crept towards him.
Hayden looked up. Squinted through the clotted blood in his eyes, the taste of metal strong on his lips.
He pointed the gun at Renee.
She fell before he pulled the trigger.
Miriam slammed a large rock into what was left of Renee’s head. It knocked her to the ground. But Miriam didn’t stop there. She perched over Renee’s body. Smacked the rock into her skull. Onto her neck. Slammed and slammed and slammed.
When Renee had gone quiet, when her head was nothing more than a pulp on the concrete, Miriam slammed the rock a few more times.
Then, she backed away. Blood smeared across her face. Silence filling the road.
Hayden pushed Anthony’s body aside, which still twitched, fortunately mouthless and headless after the gunshot.
He stood. Walked over to Miriam. Put a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Hayden said. “It’s done now. It’s done.”
Miriam stayed on her knees. Stared down at the bloody pattern where Renee’s head once rested. “I just... I don’t understand. I don’t understand how it happened. How he turned.”
Hayden nodded. He walked over to Sam, who hid behind an abandoned car. He held out a hand to him. Half-smiled. “You okay?”
Sam glanced around at the dead bodies, fear in his tear-soaked eyes.
Then, after a few seconds, he nodded.
Took Hayden’s hand.
They walked away from the truck. Away from the bodies. Miriam stood eventually. Joined them. The three of them. The only ones of their wider group left.
They stood in the middle of the road. Stood, hand in hand. Stared ahead at the running mass of refugees who’d escaped the truck. At the Labrador chasing behind them.
“Shall we go?” Hayden asked.
Miriam swallowed a lump in her throat.
Then, she nodded.
Squeezed Hayden’s hand.
Hayden looked back into the distance.
At the road ahead.
At the fences.
The wall.
They were getting there.
They were getting inside.
One way or another, this was ending. Today.
He walked down the road. Picked up a wrench from beside an abandoned car.
Then, together, they walked.
Chapter Thirty-Three
It was another hour before Hayden, Miriam and Sam reached the wall, and already, Hayden was having doubts.
The sun had burned through the clouds, making it a pleasant afternoon. Hayden’s arms burned in the heat, hotter than any late springs he could remember in recent history. Maybe it was another thing the end of the world had prompted. Maybe there weren’t just zombies, but fucked up weather patterns, too. He didn’t know how this had all broken out. Probably never would. Who’s to say it wasn’t weather related?
Might seem far-fetched, but so too did a bunch of bloodthirsty undead trying to hunt him down. He lived in a world of farfetchedness. That was just life now.
He stared ahead at the long, empty road. The wall etched ever nearer. He didn’t like how silent it was. Not just within his group—Miriam and Sam hadn’t spoken a word for ages. But outside, too. Beyond his group. No groans of zombies. No shouts or cries of people. Nothing.
It seemed peculiar that a supposed boundary between old Britain and new Britain would be so… lifeless.
Hayden licked his dry lips. Didn’t matter what he thought. Didn’t matter whether he worried about it or not. Whatever was behind that wall would be there whether he gave a shit about it or not. All he could do was see for himself. Discover what secrets lay beyond.
He wasn’t sure he was ready for it. Not after what happened with Anthony. With Renee. Not now the group were down to three. Another dwindling group. The whole reason he’d gone off the whole group dynamic in the first place. Groups collapsed. Groups decayed.
