I don't know whether it was the hunger from not eating breakfast or being too tired from lack of sleep or both, but I wasn't moving with my usual swiftness and I knew that if I didn't keep up I was going to be dead.
Twice Jensen had to push me out of the way as I'd nearly been bitten, I felt a little dizzy and then realized that I hadn't had anything to drink since yesterday evening and it was blazing hot out today. Thankfully the others helped us take care of the corpses, as I stood among the bodies I felt like I was going to pass out.
I opened the car door and sat down for a moment with my head between my legs, I had been stupid for not eating or drinking properly. One of the guys from the farm group came over to me, he'd been among those that had openly welcomed us when we'd first arrived. It was fortunate for them that he was with them, Liam had been a doctor before all this and had saved more than a few lives in the time we'd known him.
He was a tall slender man in his mid-forties, he had pale skin, baby blue eyes and slicked back dark hair. He was a big softy, though the older ones liked to make fun of him because of his strong resemblance to Bella Lugosi the man who played Dracula in the 1930's. I laughed when they first mentioned it, because I remembered watching that film with my dad once. Though I found the film pretty crap I still enjoyed watching it with my dad, having Liam here now was like having a constant reminder of that happy memory with my dad.
'When was the last time you had anything to drink?' He asked after quickly examining me.
'Yesterday evening,' I replied quietly.
I could see Jensen's face out of the corner of my eye, I knew I was going to get a bollocking later.
'Right, I want you to drink this now,' he said in a no nonsense tone. I did as I was told and thanked him for it, he didn't have to look out for me but that's just the sort of bloke he was. I chugged the water down in one, I immediately felt better but my stomach growled at me as if to remind me that I still needed food, but I could manage without that until we got back. We'd brought a few things with us anyway, just in case we got held up or stuck.
'You alright?' Asked Jensen concernedly.
'Yeah I'm fine now, sorry didn't mean to worry you. I guess I just kind of forgot to eat or drink, I've been a bit preoccupied,' I said apologetically.
'You need to be more careful,' he told me sternly.
I nodded then got up to asked the others what our first stop was.
'First thing we need to do is scout around here, we need to get all the petrol out of the cars if there is any,' Liam informed us.
'Here's the petrol container's and the plastic pipes, let's meet back here in half an hour,' Constance told us. Constance hadn't been at the farm that long, she'd arrived about three weeks before us. She was a small woman in her thirties, her pale blonde hair and pixie face made her look much younger than thirty. She had been by herself for a long time before finding the farm, so she was adept at fighting and getting out of sticky situations.
Jensen, Angelo and I took the cars that were directly in front of the Cathedral while the others spilt up into groups of five to scout around the areas near the Cathedral. We'd brought plenty of container's so we could easily take back twenty cans of fuel, our mission was bring back as much fuel as we could and scout around for any supplies we could find.
It didn't take us long fill up the container's, we'd gone back to the cars and put them in the boot before picking up more container's to fill up. We'd done this a few time before we realized that something was very wrong, we hadn't seen Liam's group in a while and it was almost time to meet up.
We stood by the cars as the other groups came back, we all waiting as the moments ticked by for a sign of Liam's group.
I listened closely for any of sound of them, but none came. I was getting really worried and judging by the rest of the group they were too.
'We need to go and look for them,' Constance said worryingly.
'I agree,' Ben replied in a fearful tone. There was eighteen of us left, we were in the middle of a huge city that none of us knew. Yet we couldn't just leave our people behind if they were in trouble, our group had been around Colmore Row and Liam's group had searched around Temple Row West which was just by a place called The Old Stock Joint. It was a pub that used to be a theatre, I didn't know why they would have any reason to venture into any of the buildings but we had to look. There was also a café next door, which we all agreed to check.
We split into two groups of nine while we looked for them, our group would check the pub while the others went into the café. Oh fucking joy, I thought angrily, trust me to be part of the more dangerous task. I kept a watchful eye on Angelo and Jensen as we ventured into the dark foreboding building, Constance led our group so she was the first to enter the pub.
The doors were unlocked, the furniture was everywhere, my hands began to tremble as a cold sweat overtook me. As we walked down the stairs to where the dining area was, I could see the fresh blood on floor. It flowed along the floor freely like a bright red stream, I could not see bodies only a trail of blood. We had to get out of here, I thought fearfully. I turned to look at Jensen who was behind me when I heard the most horrific, indescribable noise from near the bar.
It didn't sound like a dead head, but it had the same terrifying low tone. I wanted to run back but Constance urged us to go forwards and look for the others, I gripped Jensen's hand feeling more afraid than I had in a long time.
Whatever was down there, was no mere biter. The first thing I saw as we descended into the pitch black darkness were eyes, but not just one pair of eyes, no I clocked six pairs of eyes at least. I saw one pair of eyes that were the palest blue I'd ever seen, another that looked almost yellow yet these were not the eyes of a person or corpse but something else.
We tiptoed quietly towards whatever it was with our weapons at the ready, we were now completely surrounded in darkness. I stood trying compose myself, I breathed quietly trying not to let the thing hear me. I listened closely to the noise once more, I realized then what they were. I squeezed Jensen's hand in alarm, we were fucking screwed.
'Jensen,' I screamed as I felt his hand be pulled out of mine. I heard the screams, but couldn't see a damn thing. Why hadn't anyone brought a fucking torch with them? I searched frantically in my bag and pockets to see if I had anything with me, god fucking damn it we have all been so fucking stupid, I thought angrily. I found my small torch that I used for reading in the night, I pulled it out and quickly turned on the light. How I hadn't heard it I don't know, but right in front of my face were the most disturbing yellow eyes. Fuck me, it was a damn dog! Not just any dog though, it had bites along its back and an open bleeding wound on its side.
Shit, the virus could infect animals! I didn't think about it I just slashed at the thing until until I was sure that it was dead, the blood spattered everywhere but I didn't care. I had to find Jensen, nothing else mattered. I heard the screams but there were too many for me to tell if one was Jensen's, I shone my torch but I couldn't find anyone.
As I stood there listening to the growls and the screams, I saw another pool of fresh blood on the floor. I followed the trail feeling more petrified with every step I took, I shoved my fear down for nothing would get in the way of me finding Jensen.
I followed the trail until I came to a room that had ''staff room'' written on, I saw the scratches on the door and went to push it open, before I had a chance to open it I felt some cold clammy hands round my mouth pulling me back. I didn't scream though, for somehow I knew not to be afraid. I turned to see Angelo covered in blood, I hugged him feeling overwhelmed with relief that he was alright.
'Don't go in there,' he whispered.
Before I had a chance to ask why, I heard a growing noise coming from the staff room. Angelo quickly shoved a chair against the door, blocking the dog from getting out.
'We need to find Jensen,' I told him urgently. He nodded as he led me away from the room, the screams were fading and I knew people were dying. I felt the tea
rs fill up in my eyes but I refused to cry, even if it killed me I would find Jensen. We walked by the bar and I saw Liam's mauled corpse on the floor, his eyes were still open in terror and his blood pooled on the carpet. I heard the growl before I saw another one of the dogs, I did not hesitate as I dodged out the way and sliced its head off. I tripped over another body and landed face first into the blood of one of the others guys in Liam's group, fuck it was Jerry, it was Abby's dad.
I wiped the blood from my face as Angelo helped me up, I saw a passage in front of me and heard another scream. Angelo and I raced down the hallway to find that two of the dogs were trying to get into the men's bathroom, I took my small knife out of my belt and threw it at the big black one on the left. Thankfully I got it in the head, the other one charged at us with a speed that I'd only seen with the exceedingly strong biters. I barely had time to react as it descended upon me, I kicked it in the head and watched as it went flying.
Angelo stabbed it before it had a chance to get up, I raced over to the door and called to whoever was inside to come out. Words cannot describe the relief I felt when I saw Jensen come out, I flung my arms around him not wanting to let go.
'You're alive!' I exclaimed.
As he held me tightly I could feel his heart beating, he'd been just as worried about me. 'I thought I'd never see you again, I thought those dogs had got you,' he cried.
'Have your reunion later guys, we need to get out of here,' Angelo said urgently. We nodded and ran back down the hallway, we found our way back out without too much difficulty. The three of us stood just outside the doors catching our breath, hoping to see any of the others, but as the moments ticked by we realized that they weren't coming.
'We need to find the others,' I told them.
'Not just the guys who went in there with us, but those who went to the café as well,' Jensen told us tiredly.
'I'm going back inside to find the others, you two go to the café,' Angelo replied worryingly.
'But-.' I tried to say.
'No buts, just go,' he shouted as he ran back inside.
I didn't like leaving him, but we needed help. We ran round to the café but saw no one, this couldn't be happening I thought, not this many people, it just couldn't be possible. Sadly it was, we rounded the corner to find that our friends were all dead. Their bodies strewn across the pavement, we watched in horror as one of the largest groups of biters I'd ever seen was making a meal out of our friends. We were just about to turn around when they noticed us, shit! We sped back towards the pub, Jensen told me to run to the car while he called down for Angelo.
I refused to leave him, we went to the top of the stairs and shouted as loud as we could for him. All we heard was nearing growls of the dog biters, we had no choice, if Angelo was alive we couldn't save him.
We fled back to the car we'd come in with the walkers on our heels, I slammed my door shut as Jensen jumped behind the wheel. The engine revved to life as Jensen turned the key and put his foot down on the pedal, we sped out of there leaving not only the rest of the fuel but our friend whom at this point we could only hope was dead.
Our complete disaster of a mission was far from over though, as in the typical film fashion we had just got out of the city when we got a fucking flat tyre of all things.
'Fucking shit!' I shouted angrily.
The sun was beginning to set and I didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere after dark, we pulled the car to a stop in the midst of what used to be a residential area.
'We need to check some cars for tyres, do we at least have the tools we need to change it?' I asked.
'Yeah it's in the boot,' Jensen replied sounding as panicked as I felt. 'Right let's get a move on,' I told him sternly. We found cars nearby but they had either been stripped of parts or destroyed, god damn it I thought angrily. How much worse could this day get? We kept searching but had no luck, dusk was coming fast and soon we wouldn't be able to see. My tiny torch wouldn't provide much light in the pitch black of night, there was plenty of farmland nearby and they could have cars but I didn't want to be wandering around a farm when night came. We had walked pretty far from the car with still no sign of what we needed, I felt a white hot rage building within me. I knew today was a bad idea, why didn't I fucking warn anyone? Rather them think I was crazy than all of them be dead.
For a moment I lost my temper and flung my machete into the distance, I slumped down on the floor just as I heard my machete hit a car and set the alarm off.
'Oh fuck!' I shouted.
'What the hell did you do that for?!' Jensen shouted at me angrily.
'Sorry,' was all I could say. I'd done the worst possible thing, I'd brought every nearby walker down on us. It was somewhat fortunate that the car I'd hit had the tyres we needed, Jensen worked tirelessly to get the tyre off while I pulled my machete out of the car and fought off the dead that were now coming towards us. I took out four before Jensen got the tyre off, we ran at top speed back to the car with the dead on our tail.
'If we get out of this alive, remind me to yell at you later,' Jensen said breathlessly.
'We're getting home no matter what,' I told him. We got back to the car and while Jensen did his best to change the tyre, I tried to defend against the biters. I hacked and slashed my way through them, feeling more tired with each blow I dealt. I would not give in, I thought determinedly. I would at least make sure that my love got back to our family in one piece, I hacked through another dead ones skull slicing its head in half.
'Come on babe,' I called to him as I killed another corpse.
'I'm trying,' he replied sounding frustrated. He threw our tyre at a small group of dead heads causing them to fall over, I ran to take a few of them out while they were down. He managed to get the tyre on just in time to help me take out the corpses that had surrounded me, he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the car. We got in just in time to avoid getting bitten, I looked at him lovingly as he sped off into the distance. I breathed a sigh of relief as we fled the deathly scene, though I dreaded having to give those back home the horrible news.
Chapter 31
Morgan
It had been almost five months since my son and the others left on their mission, even though I spoke to him every day I couldn't help but worry. After being apart for so long, I didn't want to let him out of my sight. The others assured me they would look after him, and I knew they would but I still felt afraid. At least Faye was here with me, and little Leon of course. He was a smart little boy who wanted to help however he could.
While he still missed his cousin and those at the home, he was adjusting quite well to being here. Faye often took him outside to train him, and I while I also worried about her being away from me I knew she could take care of herself.
I felt proud of my kids, my son was off saving the world while my daughter helped me and took care of Leon. She was smarter than I first gave her credit for, she understood most of what I was working on and she was trying to teach Leon but he couldn't grasp the fundamentals of science let alone the complex mathematics that went into making the vaccine.
I felt amazed that I'd come up with the vaccine, and I was constantly working on making more doses for when the others did eventually come back. Assuming they made it back of course, I thought sadly. I had all the faith in the world in them, but I knew how dangerous the outside could be. All it would take is one wrong move, or trusting the wrong person and it would all be over. I shook my head trying to get rid of such negative thoughts, they would make it back, I just knew they would.
'Mum, here's your breakfast,' Faye said happily as she bounced in the room with Leon by her side.
'Thanks, I'm glad you remember to feed us, I too often forget,' I laughed.
'You need to eat Mrs Lockwood, or you'll get sick,' Leon told me softly.
'Your right, and it's Morgan Leon, I'm not a teacher, you don't have to call me Mrs,' I smiled.
'Sorry, I can't help it. When I was at the home, I called all the
grown-ups Mr and Mrs,' he replied shyly.
'It's okay, you'll get used to it eventually.'
As Faye sat the food down on the side, her radio crackled, it was Finn.
'Morning Finn, how's everything at your end,' Faye said excitedly.
She missed her brother a lot, and she had a smile on her face when she spoke to him.
'Not good, is mum there?' He asked worryingly. 'I'm here, what's wrong son?' He told me how the others had gone on a run to Birmingham, how the dead overwhelmed most of the group and how Frankie and Jensen were the only survivor's. I hated hearing these things, when he'd told us that Tessa and Dom were dead, Faye and Leon cried, we were so afraid that Finn would be next. Now we were told that most of the farm group they were with had died, every ounce of my being wanted to scream at him to come home, I knew I had to stay calm.
'I'm sorry you lost them, are Jade and the others alright?' I asked sounding more calm than I was.
'They're fine, though Frankie and Jensen are a little worse for wear. But that's not all, while they were on the mission, they discovered something important about the virus,' he said nervously.
'What is it?'
'They found infected dogs, the virus can affect animals,' he answered fearfully. Holy hell, I never would have thought. I'd never heard of the virus affecting non-humans before, but I suppose it made sense in a way. Their DNA wasn't that different from ours. It was then that a terrifying thought occurred to me, if it could affect dogs then there was no reason other animals couldn't be infected. Lions, tigers, even bears, not that we had any bears that roamed freely in our country. If there were any animals left in zoo's that had escaped then they needed to be careful. Not to mention all the rodents it could infect, we'd have to watch out if we went outside as they could bite you before you knew. While we couldn't be infected by humanoid walkers, I didn't know if the virus had mutated in animals.
'I'll get to work on an animal based vaccine right away,' was all I could say without asking him to come home.
Dead World Rising (Book 3): The Cure Page 31
