Pestilence: A Post Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (Surviving the Virus Book 8)

by Ryan Casey

  Kirsty picked up the next rifle from the fallen infected. “Seems to be a switch on the top. So we just blast our way out of this?”

  “We could…” Noah said, opening the rifle to check for ammo. “If the guns were fucking loaded.”

  Kirsty checked her rifle. Also empty. “Shit.”

  “Shit indeed.”

  They stood there. Listening to the bangs against the glass. Hearing the shrieks get louder, louder.

  “Any more grand ideas?” Kirsty asked. “Your party trick, maybe? I’m not an idiot, man. I saw what you did here. Stuff you ain’t telling me, right?”

  Noah sighed. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me and Iqrah. And there’ll be time to talk about it. But for now… well. Let’s just say I feel too weak to do another thing about it.”

  Kirsty nodded. Didn’t look totally convinced.

  Noah looked at the rifle. Switched it over the sedative dart.

  “These darts,” he said. “They suppress something in me. In Iqrah.”

  “And? That really matters right now?”

  “If they work with me and her… maybe they’ll work with the infected too.”

  “Seems a long shot,” Kirsty said.

  “Think it’s all we’ve got right now.”

  Noah rushed over to the door between the two sections of the van. Went to slam it shut when he heard the windscreen smash open.

  He pushed it to.

  Stepped back.

  Stood there and held his ground. Rifle raised. Heart racing. Kirsty by his side. Bruno growling. Iqrah behind him.

  He looked at Iqrah as he heard that glass smash even more.

  Then at Kirsty.

  “We got this?” he asked.

  Kirsty nodded. Her rifle shaking. “Got it.”

  He turned around to the door and waited.

  Waited.

  And then just for a moment, the shrieking stopped.

  Everything stopped.

  He stood still. Heart pounding. Everything so silent.

  And for a moment, he wondered if maybe something had happened. Maybe the infected had fled. Maybe they’d disappeared for whatever reason.

  That’s when the door slammed open, and three infected hurtled inside.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Noah watched the three infected hurtle into the back of the van and pulled the trigger on the sedative darts.

  Almost instantly, the infected tumbled forward.

  Fell to the floor of the van.

  Blood splattering everywhere.

  And for a moment, Noah wondered how it’d happened. Certainly seemed like a very violent response to being shot with sedative darts.

  And they’d fallen forward too. Almost as if...

  Wait a second.

  Gunfire.

  Gunfire echoing from behind the infected.

  This wasn’t the sedative darts causing this.

  There was somebody out there.

  Noah grabbed Iqrah and stepped forward. The infected had turned their attention from him and Kirsty to something outside.

  When he reached the door between the front and back of the van, he saw exactly what was happening.

  There was a group of people. Five of them. Armed to the hilt. Dressed in black. Masked up.

  Society.

  They stood in various spots around the van and open fired on the infected. There must’ve been an alarm triggered, somehow. Of course, there had. Noah should’ve known. He and Iqrah were the most damned wanted people in the area right now, maybe in the whole of No Man’s Land. The Society wasn’t gonna just take any chances with them.

  He looked at the mass of infected redirecting their attention towards the Society guards. And as terrifying a prospect as going outside was right now, he felt like he had an opportunity. A chance.

  Now or never.

  “Come on,” Noah said.

  Kirsty frowned. “But—”

  “They’re Society. They won’t let the infected lay a finger on us.”

  “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  Noah went to speak, then stopped himself.

  “I guess it’s about whether you want to take your chances in here or risk it out there right now. What’s it gonna be?”

  Kirsty shook her head again. Clearly defeated. Clearly didn’t know what to say.

  “Fuck it,” she said. “You’re right. What choice do I have? But seriously. We really need to talk at some point. Just not right fucking now.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Noah said.

  They stood at the front of the van. Watched the infected race in the opposite direction, towards the Society guards.

  “The darts?” Kirsty asked.

  Noah shook his head. “Barely any left. Pointless against people. They’ll just weigh us down.”

  Kirsty shook her head. Dropped the rifle, as too did Noah.

  “Well?” Noah said.

  Kirsty took a deep, shaky breath. “Now or never, right?”

  Noah nodded. “Now or never.”

  And then he ran to the front of the van, clambered out of the smashed window with Iqrah over his shoulder, and slid onto the road below.

  He hit the concrete with a thud. Scratched his hand on the jagged glass still attached to the windscreen.

  He looked back. Saw Kirsty and Bruno sliding out onto the road too.

  They landed beside him. A wall of infected between them and the Society guards now.

  “Come on,” Noah said. “Let’s get the hell away from here.”

  They kept low and ran around the back of the van. He didn’t recognise his surroundings, only that they were still on a coastal road somewhere. Didn’t look like anywhere he’d seen before. But he had to assume they’d gone the opposite direction to the safe place.

  Tough shit. They could worry about that when the time came.

  They had different priorities right now.

  He ran down the road towards the buildings on the right. Didn’t want to get trapped inside anywhere again. He’d already learned his lesson on that front.

  But they did need to create some distance between them, between the Society.

  He heard the gunshots rattling behind. Heard shouting. Looked back, saw a few of the nearer infected falling.

  And as much as he wanted to run... another idea came into mind.

  “Maybe we stay here,” Noah said.

  Kirsty frowned. “You kidding? They’re right behind us.”

  “And they’re expecting us to keep running. Maybe... maybe we hide here. Let them think we’ve run. Maybe that’s the best option we have.”

  Again, Kirsty looked caught in two minds.

  And then she ended up shaking her head, shrugging her shoulders.

  “Fuck it,” she said. “You’ve been pretty right so far, so who am I to argue?”

  Noah nodded. “Cheers for the vote of faith.”

  He looked around, heart pounding, questioning whether he’d had the right idea, made the right call.

  Saw a car to their left. A Land Rover. Space underneath it. Space to hide.

  “There,” he said.

  Kirsty sighed. Looked like she was going to protest.

  Then she just nodded in turn.

  They ran to the car. Clambered underneath it. The infected shrieks and gunshots still echoing around this street.

  They dragged themselves underneath it. Noah patted Bruno, who tilted his head, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

  “And now we wait,” he said.

  He lay there. Stayed totally still. Heard the gunshots rattle on. Heard the shrieks descend into silence.

  And then heard nothing but silence.

  Then shouting.

  Then footsteps.

  He held his breath as three figures appeared. He couldn’t see their faces, only their legs. But they were Society, no doubt about it.

  One of them ran over, right by the car. Stopped. Just metres away. One wrong move and they’d hear them. />
  “Where’d they get to?”

  “I saw ’em running.”

  “Running where?”

  “They can’t have gone far.”

  “Shit. Boss’ll kill us for this.”

  Noah stared at those legs of the Society guard just inches away.

  Saw him start to walk.

  And then he dropped something.

  Some keys fell to the ground.

  Noah’s whole world froze.

  The guard reached down.

  Noah saw his face.

  And for a moment, Noah swore that man looked into his eyes. He swore he looked right at him. Everything stood still. He held on to that rifle with the sedative darts and braced himself to fire.

  And then the guard just stood back up, keys in hand, and walked away.

  “Come on,” he said, beginning to jog. “They can’t have gone far.”

  Noah watched the guards run by, one by one.

  He watched them disappear up the road.

  He didn’t say a word. None of them did.

  They just crouched there as the evening turned to night, as dusk turned to darkness.

  They didn’t move until they were absolutely sure they were in the clear.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Noah and Kirsty found an old gas station to shelter in for the night.

  They decided it was too risky to keep moving tonight. Better to lay low and stay out of the way and make a start again in the morning. They needed rest, anyway. It’d been a tiring day. A goddamned eventful day, that was for sure.

  Besides. Iqrah wasn’t showing any signs of recovery, any signs of awakening. And that was concerning for Noah.

  He crouched by her side. Pulled the blanket over her neck. She shuffled a little, eyes closed. Cold to the touch. He could only sit there and stare at her and feel his heart swell a little at this girl. The connection he’d made with her. Sometimes he forgot she was in her late teens. She was stunted in ways, mostly because she hadn’t been educated since she was really young, like any of the other kids left in this world. Poor socialisation didn’t help, either.

  But others, he was amazed by her intelligence. Her emotional empathy. Her inherent strength.

  “You really care about her, don’t you?”

  Noah jumped. Looked around.

  Kirsty stood at the other side of the gas station counter. She’d taken her clothes off, was down to just an off-white T-shirt now. Her long, light legs reflected in the moonlight.

  Noah blushed a little, looked away, back at Iqrah. “Too right, I do.”

  Kirsty walked over to his side. So close to him, he could feel her warmth. Some of her loose hair tickling against his face. She stood there and looked down at Iqrah, too.

  “I’m sorry I doubted you at first,” she said. “Just you’ve got to understand. Iqrah’s parents. They were devastated when she disappeared. We spent so long searching for her. So long trying to find her and bring her back. We lost people along the way. And then a bloke shows up holding her over her shoulder, the girl totally blind… You have to know how that looks to me.”

  Noah nodded. “Sorry if I was a little short with you too. I’ve spent a long time trying to look out for this girl. Trying to do what’s right for her. We’ve been through some shit together. I don’t find it easy to trust new people is all. Especially not around her.”

  “So what’s going on?”

  “What?”

  “You and Iqrah. Pretty obvious there’s something going on with you and the virus. You gonna tell me now?”

  Noah sighed. “I didn’t want to say. It… it puts you in a dangerous position.”

  Kirsty shrugged. “Don’t have many better options right now. Shoot.”

  Noah told Kirsty about the virus. About him and Iqrah. About their experiences so far. He’d never intended to be so frank about it, so open about it. But he couldn’t hold back, especially now he’d started.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Noah said. “Just… just figuring out whether I could trust you, I guess.”

  “And can you?”

  Noah narrowed his eyes. “Still figuring that out.”

  Kirsty half-smiled at Noah. Her bright blue eyes shimmering in the fading light. “I get it. Really. At least we’ve got all that on the table now. Drink?”

  Noah frowned. “What you suggesting?”

  Kirsty walked to the side of the counter and pulled out a dusty old bottle of gin. “Oh, I’m not feeling all that fussy. Usually drink my gin with tonic water, but right now, I think it’ll help me sleep if you finish this bottle neat with me.”

  “Probably not the most sensible idea,” Noah said.

  Kirsty shrugged. “Well, if you don’t help me finish it, I’ll just have to finish it myself. You think that’s such a sensible idea?”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  Noah sighed. Nodded. “Alright. But I’m not having half a bottle. Just a bit.”

  Kirsty punched him on the arm. “That’s the spirit. Get it?”

  Noah rolled his eyes.

  They sat at the other side of the gas station, over by the door, which they’d boarded up with one of the shelves for the night. Figured if anyone came knocking, at least they had plenty of time to get themselves away from here.

  Noah sipped the gin from the bottle. The alcohol burned his tongue, the back of his throat.

  “Jeez,” Kirsty said. “Such a lightweight.”

  “It’s been a while since I’ve had the luxury of getting pissed on cheap gin.”

  “You should do it more often. Definitely need to loosen up a bit.”

  Noah sipped a bit more gin. “Loosening up is hard when you’re one of the two most important people in the country right now.”

  “Well, at least you’re modest, I guess.”

  Noah smiled. Puffed out his lips. “To be honest, I’ve not quite accepted it myself yet.”

  “Accepted what?”

  “My ‘responsibility’. Like. Of all the people for the virus to choose to be its golden boy, it chooses me. An anxious sad boy who spent his twenties depressed and lost.”

  “They always say it’s the sad boys who end up the heroes.”

  “Who says that?”

  “I dunno. I think I just made that up. Maybe the gin’s getting to me already.”

  She laughed. And Noah laughed, too. And for a moment, he felt something, staring into Kirsty’s eyes. He felt something he hadn’t felt since Jasmine. A warmth inside. A safety inside.

  Like they were meant to be here, right now, and nowhere else in the world.

  Kirsty looked away. So too did Noah.

  “So,” she said.

  “So.”

  “Your life.”

  “What?”

  “Before all this. Tell me more about the anxious sad boy you are.”

  Noah puffed out his lips. “Where should I start? Working in a coffee shop.”

  “High-flyer, you.”

  “Well. Technically fired from a coffee shop for insulting the psycho manager.”

  “Bad boy.”

  “Lost in life. Living with my best friend, who was even more of a loser than me.”

  “What happened to him?”

  He looked at Kirsty. He didn’t have to say anything else. She just nodded, too. Sipped her gin. “Same way they all go,” she said. “Any girlfriends?”

  That question came out of the blue, caught him off guard. “Not exactly.”

  “Which means there was somebody.”

  “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  Kirsty opened her mouth. Went to say something. Then she closed it. Sighed. “Well, I’ll tell you my story. I was about to get married on the day of the outbreak.”

  “Really? Shit. That’s… that’s really shitty luck.”

  “Yeah. Staring into the love of your life’s eyes and watching him turn into a monster before your eyes while the rest of the wedding party descends into violent chaos? Not exactly the way
I envisaged my special day.”

  “I’m… I’m so sorry. That’s fucking awful.”

  “It’s okay. Really. I’ve cried my tears. Still hurts like a bitch to this day. Miss him like mad. Just like I miss my… my boy. But we move on. We have to. It’s what he would’ve wanted, anyway. Wouldn’t yours?”

  He looked into Kirsty’s eyes again and felt that warmth. Even when he’d slept with Jane, he hadn’t felt like this. She was nice. But it was only ever a fling. Something weirdly paternal about their relationship.

  But this…

  Fuck. Probably just the gin.

  Definitely just the gin.

  “Right,” Noah said, handing the bottle back to Kirsty. “You should rest. I’ll stand guard an hour or so.”

  Kirsty tutted. “Rubbish. You’re way more pissed than me.”

  “I’m pore missed than you?”

  “‘Pore missed’? I rest my case.”

  Noah laughed. Kirsty laughed too. It was nice to laugh like this. Nice to have a break from the seriousness.

  But it scared him. Because it felt so fleeting. So dangerous.

  “You get some rest first,” Kirsty said. “And don’t worry. If I need a man with superpowers to bail me out, I’ll give you a shout.”

  “That rhymes.”

  “See,” Kirsty said, rolling her eyes. “Definitely pissed.”

  She sat there and stared into Noah’s eyes. And he was so tempted to lean over. So tempted to peck her on the lips.

  But before he did, he stood up.

  Walked down the aisle of the gas station, over to Iqrah’s side, where he’d laid down another blanket.

  He lay down beside her, Bruno tucking in between them, and he looked down the aisle of the gas station towards Kirsty.

  Saw her staring back at him. Smile on her face. Wide eyes.

  He looked at her a few seconds and then turned over and closed his eyes.

  He didn’t want her to see it, and he knew it was totally inappropriate in the circumstances.

  But Noah felt a smile creep up his cheeks.

  Chapter Twenty

  Colin Hendrickson stared at the scene of fallen infected surrounding him and sighed.