“Yeah” Lauren fought to keep calm, “We saved you in the stairwell, if you remember”
The porter winced at her words and fell silent, and sighing heavily, Lauren turned her face back towards the children, “So…Eric and Emily?”
The boy nodded and she raised an eyebrow, “Is that your dad that helped us out…is your mum here too…maybe in the cab?”
“Our parents are dead” Emily’s voice was bitter, her head shaking, “That’s Dog and Bella”
“Dog?” Lauren blinked, embarrassed that she had asked about their parents considering the answer, still not troubled by the girl’s responses.
“Dog saved us” Eric nodded, a sad look on his face, “Him and Moonshine saved us…our grandad is dead now too”
“Do you have to tell people everything?” the girl was suddenly angry, “They’re strangers, stupid!”
“She seems nice” the boy argued, jerking a thumb towards Lauren, “And stop calling me stupid!”
The girl scowled at him, and turned away, her hand leaving the dog to join her other forming fists upon her lap, and Lauren turned to watch as Geri rose to her feet before her, “Are you OK?”
“Not really” the admin shook her head, smiling grimly, “But I have to be aye?”
Lauren nodded at her, watching as the Scots woman placed her glasses back on her face, the nurse’s index finger rising to push her own back up her nose as she turned her head, addressing all of those present, “Right, as I just told Eric and Emily, I am Lauren, Lauren Teacher, I am a nurse at the hospital, this is my patient Brandon Milton, beside me, and the lady here on the seat is Jiyaa”
At the mention of her name, Jiyaa turned her head, nodding at each of those that she hadn’t met in turn, and Lauren continued, “I guess we should at least learn each other’s name, right?”
“Geri, Geri Larkin…I am an admin back at the hospital” the Scots woman gestured with a hand towards the back of the ambulance, voice grim.
“Marcus Wilson” the young man didn’t turn to meet their gazes, his eyes closed as he leaned against the rear doors of the ambulance, “Porter”
Frowning at the young man, Lauren fought not to snap back at his attitude, reminding herself that she had forgiven the teenage girl for her manner because of the awful experiences that she had endured, and that this situation was no different.
“I am Doctor Alan Green” the silver-haired man seated at the right hand side at the back of the ambulance suddenly announced, his features softening as he smiled wearily, giving him an almost grandfatherly appearance, “I too work at the hospital…I am a general practitioner”
“Doctor” Lauren nodded at him, smiling softly.
“So we know each other’s name” Marcus gave a weary sigh as he straightened at the back of the ambulance, shrugging as he spoke, “What now?”
“We get to safety I assume” Lauren stated, holding his gaze as he stared back at her, his top lip curling as he gave a sarcastic smile, nodding.
“Oh, and where’s that?”
“What?” she shook her head, stunned by his sudden confidence and attitude, and as the young boy upon the bed winced, the Doctor Green turned to look up at the porter, forcing a smile.
“Why don’t you calm down, son, you are scaring young Eric”
“Son?” Marcus gave a bitter chuckle, top lip curling as he stared down at the doctor, "I ain’t your son, dad"
“Hey now” the silver-haired man rose to his feet, one hand steadying himself on the wall of the ambulance as it moved beneath their feet, “Why are you so tense, let’s just all be calm”
“Why can’t we be calm?” the voice of the porter was literally dripping with attitude as he turned to face the much older man, his body language hostile, “I’ll tell you why…I have a brand new Kismee 50 4T back in the car park…I haven’t even finished paying for it yet…and I need to get home to my boyfriend…so no, I wont calm down”
“How about if ah knock some teeth down your neck” Geri took a quick step towards the porter, nodding as she spoke, “Do ye think that might convince ye to watch ye fucking manners!”
The porter winced, hands raising before him, and Lauren sighed heavily, then swayed slightly as the ambulance stopped moving. For long moments they all turned to look at each other, then as one their eyes seemed to drift to the door beside Lauren, fully expecting it to slide open, only for the voice of Brandon to drag the nurse’s attention back to him as he spoke, “Where is the lady with the brown hair and the leather coat”
Feeling suddenly sick, Lauren raised a hand to her face, staring in horror at Brandon as he began to speak again, sadness in his voice, “She seemed nice…has she gone home?”
“Alice!” Lauren muttered, drawing the gaze of Geri and Jiyaa, each of them appearing as shocked as she was feeling coursing through her. How could she have forgotten about Alice?
In their brief acquaintance the woman had been a constant support. How could she forget her?
Gritting her teeth, she tried to remember when she had last seen the woman in the leather jacket. They had been running from the hospital entrance, pursued by dozens of what Brandon called ghouls, and Alice had been at the back urging them all to keep running. Then the ambulance had arrived and they had all clambered inside the vehicle, aided by the bearded man with the dreadlocks, presumably the Dog that the children had referred to earlier.
So just what had happened to Alice?
Had the chasing horde of ghouls caught up to her? She winced at the sudden thought, trying unsuccessfully not to picture the woman’s death. Fighting the wave of nausea that was assailed her, Lauren leaned upon the edge of the stretcher with one hand, blinking away the tears for a woman she had barely known, another woman that had bravely lost their life in the last hour.
Just like poor old Mary back in the elevator.
Just like Jennifer, murdered by her husband.
Heaving a shaky sigh, Lauren closed her eyes, giving herself over to the jerking motion of the ambulance as it suddenly began to move once more, turning left and then speeding away.
But to where?
Chapter Twenty Eight
“We need to stop” Bella announced after they had been driving for what seemed an eternity, gesturing to what looked like a parking area ahead of them on the windy road that they were traversing through the Northern Pennines, heading west. The heavy rain had stopped for the moment, finally fading away but leaving behind a grey hazy sky which the sun seemed unable to penetrate properly, the foul weather adding to the already gloomy atmosphere of the moorland.
They had been driving for over an hour, Bella estimating that they had put around thirty miles under the tyres as they had tried to find safety, yet each time that they had considered stopping the ambulance so far they had been forced to drive on by the sudden appearance of more of the white-skinned people, or by abandoned or crashed vehicles, indicating that some may be lurking nearby. Over the last few miles though, Bella had begun to voice her dislike that they were just driving away from the danger, and not doing anything pro-active, and Dog and Alice had agreed with her. It stood to reason that before long they would run out of petrol and then they would be stranded. Far better to stop and come up with a plan of action before that happened.
Watching as the former soldier drove their stolen ride down off the main road that cut through the moorland and down onto the gravel based parking area, Dog sighed heavily, hoping that Emily and Eric were OK in the back of the vehicle, suddenly wishing that he had gone in with them.
“Right, let’s have a quick scout about before we let the others out to make sure it’s safe” Bella turned to nod at Dog then her eyes drifted to Alice, “Do you want to wait here?”
“No” the brown-haired woman shook her head, forcing a smile, “We are in this together”
“I like your attitude” Bella smiled back, then opened her door and stepped out, her right hand reaching back in to drag the shotgun from beside her seat, before she closed the
door behind her.
“Oh that’s a relief” Alice glanced at Dog, smiling broadly, “You have a shotgun!”
“We have an empty shotgun” he shook his head, opening his door and climbing out, gesturing for her to follow him. As she stepped down onto the gravel, Dog reached into the pockets of the body warmer that he was wearing and produced two items, holding them out before him, “You better take one of these”
“What?” she glanced down at the taser and the baton that he was holding, items that he had taken from the police officer that he had killed back beside the road blockage, “I don’t know”
“Do you know how to use a taser?” he asked, and she shook her head, wincing as he opened out the extendable baton and passed it to her, “Here, you take this then, I’ll take the taser”
The woman raised an eyebrow, “Do you know how to use one of them?”
“No” he shrugged, forcing a grim smile, “If need be I’ll just throw it at them”
The crunch of footsteps on gravel made Dog suddenly tense and he turned towards the noise, relaxing as he saw Bella walking around the perimeter of the parking area, holding the shotgun as if she was ready to use it, and sighing heavily, Dog moved over to stand beside her.
Nearly a minute dragged past as the two stood side by side, Dog’s eyes drifting over their surroundings as they stood side by side in the parking area, the main road cutting along behind them, and a massive drop lying ahead of them.
Grimacing as he took a step forward and looked down at the moorland below the steep incline, Dog shook his head, letting his gaze drift over the remote land, frowning as he spotted a farmhouse on a hill directly opposite them, then turned his gaze to study what looked like a village in the distance, the weak sunlight glinting off a window.
“Looks like a village or something over there”
Bella nodded at his words, her smile forced and he gave another sigh, “Look, I know you are pissed at me…and I get that…I really do, I am sorry about what happened to your dog, Castiel”
The muscles clenched in her cheeks at his words and he sighed again, shrugging, “You know what, you are right, I should have just shot my friend in the head…but I couldn’t…call it weakness, call it what you want but I couldn’t let someone else die because of me”
She turned at his words, her voice a whisper on the wind, “Because of you?”
“Forget it” the reality of his words hit him in the face like a splash of ice cold water and he started to turn away then paused as she reached out, a hand touching his forearm, her eyes meeting his.
“Tell me”
He grimaced, a shaky breath escaping him as he once more felt the heat of the flames upon his body, prickling his skin, and the screams of his family, his voice barely audible, “I can’t”
“Dog” her fingers tightened and he gave a soft snarl of anger, his head shaking but she was defiant, her eyes boring into his and just like that his resolve broke, his head shaking as he turned to stare out over the drop, his voice pained.
“I was the vicar of Westergate, a small Hampshire village…I lived with my wife, Carol, and Rebecca and Rory, our kids, in the vicarage”
He let out a shaky sigh as he pictured his children as he had last seen them, then shrugged, his shoulders seeming to slump, “The vicarage was old, the lights and the wiring was awful…Carol kept telling me to contact the appropriate people to get it fixed…it wouldn’t have cost us anything as it was a church property, but no, me in my divine wisdom, I kept putting it off, then one night I was leading late night worship…it was a Thursday…17th November, five years ago…one of the villagers came running in, you see the old vicarage had caught fire…it was the wiring I found out later…my family couldn’t get out…I had locked the doors when I went to the church and taken the keys with me, I had forgotten that Carol had misplaced hers…”
“Oh” the soft word from Bella was filled with so much emotion that it nearly crushed Victor where he stood, and for a moment his knees threatened to buckle beneath him, yet somehow he managed to stay upright, his voice filled with self-loathing now, “I tried to get them out but the heat…it was too much, still, I got the door open, and almost held Rebecca, but then the house…I don’t know, they say the gas oven blew…it went up…they all died…I should have died…my back is burned, beneath this beard I am burned…”
His words trailed off and he turned to meet the gaze of Bella, his stomach knotting at the haunted look on her features as she studied him silently, her cheeks clenched, and he gave a shrug, “That’s why I couldn’t just give up on Moonshine”
Bella nodded, wincing slightly, and he sighed, a hand rising to wipe the tears from his eyes, his head turning to look over at where Alice was studying the pair of them intently, obviously not wanting to intrude, and he sighed, “We best let the others out of the ambulance”
“It was Afghanistan, August 24th, 2013” the voice of Bella stopped him in his tracks and he turned to meet her gaze, realising that this was a big moment for her, and he nodded, staying silent lest she change her mind and clam up once more.
Before him, Bella turned to gaze out over the drop, a heavy sigh seeming to shake her, and then she was talking once more, “I was a Sergeant, out there serving with the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery during Operation Herrick as an FAC with a fire support team…”
“FAC?” he shook his head, wincing as he spoke, fearing that he might have ruined her confidence.
She turned back to face him, and once more he saw the haunted look upon her features, the look that he saw in himself each time that he looked in the mirror, “A Forward Air Controller, part of a six man team. The infantry go in and we would go with them, and call in artillery or air strikes if and when it was needed”
Dog nodded once more, watching as the muscles in Bella’s cheeks seemed to spasm as she fought to control herself, and he shook his head, “You don’t need to do this…”
“You did” she countered, taking a step towards him until they were almost face to face, her body language as if she was standing to attention and giving a report, “We were driving down towards Maraj in Helmand Province when an IED went off under the lead Mastiff. It was chaos, smoke and flames, then Terry started shooting at us…
“Terry?”
She winced, “Its what we called the Taliban…this group appeared on our flank, another Mastiff got it…it was chaos…the commander gave me the nod and I called in air support…”
Nodding, Dog watched her, somehow guessing what it was she was about to say, wanting more than anything to stop her having to speak it aloud but his throat was tight as he saw the raw pain in her brown eyes, “It was mental…I had done it a dozen times before…but…the enemy were everywhere like ants…I called the fire in danger close…when Fast Air came flying in they blew up our boys that had survived the IED in the first Mastiff…I got cleared of any negligence because I had followed procedure…but…then we shipped out of that shithole a year later, and then I was discharged in May 2017”
“I’m sorry” Dog nodded, knowing from his own personal demons and guilt that telling her that it wasn’t her fault was an exercise in futility, that she wanted him to hate her for her mistake just as he hated himself for his, the pain almost being cathartic and so he stood there, holding her gaze.
Raising a forearm to her eyes, she dragged it sideways, clearing her vision and forcing a grim smile, Dog nodded at her, “So, we are both a pair of fuck-ups…what can we do…we have to keep going…we owe it to them to not give in, right?”
Bella studied him in silence for a moment, and Dog realised with shock that although the pair of them had been strangers just two hours before she was the only person that he had been so open with about his family, even in therapy, and he suspected he was the first that she had spoken about the war with such open honesty.
Suddenly, she stepped forward, one arm releasing the shotgun to wrap about his neck as she hugged him, not the soft, awkward embrace of the strangers
that they were but that of friends, bonded together, unified in their guilt.
Without thinking, Dog hugged her back, their cheeks pressing against each other, and then he gave a soft chuckle, “Normally, I get someone to buy me a drink before we get physical”
“Dickhead” Bella released him and stepped back, the pair matching smiles, then he turned and nodded at the ambulance, gesturing for her to walk with him as they made their way to Alice.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Smiling awkwardly as the pair approached her, Alice stepped aside, watching as the bearded man, dreadlocked man reached out and slid open the door to the back of the ambulance, forcing a smile as he peered inside, “Come on out, guys”
Stepping back to the side of the vehicle, Alice leaned against its side, watching as Lauren exited the ambulance, nodding in thanks at Dog, and turned to help the familiar figure of Brandon out.
As the nurse led the young black man to the side, out of the way of Jiyaa as she began to climb out, Brandon turned his head to study her, frowning in surprise, “There she is, she didn’t go home”
“What?” Lauren turned her head, her eyes widening behind her glasses as she saw Alice standing there, and without hesitating she rushed forwards, throwing her arms about her neck, “Oh my God, I thought you’d been killed”
“Not yet” Alice gave a chuckle, hugging the nurse back, surprised at how emotional she was feeling, then turned to throw a smile at Jiyaa as she moved alongside them, the Sikh woman touching her heart and then placing that hand upon Alice’s left cheek, her eyes wet with tears.
“Now tha’s a face ah recognise!” they all broke apart as Geri stepped from the ambulance, nodding at Alice as she joined them, “Hen”
Alice nodded at her, watching as the thin porter that they had saved from the stairwell got out of the vehicle and strode off alone across the parking area, his phone in his hand, and the embalmer noticed the grim look that Lauren sent him, then turned to study the two Asian children that came next, obviously the pair that the man named Dog had said he had rescued on the A66.
Ghoul: The Beginning Page 16
