'It's not great,' Luke admitted as he did his best with what was in the car's first-aid kit. There's a piece of glass stuck in your wrist, you could bleed to death if we don't get you to a hospital.'
'You know we can't do that,' Grace thought, but out loud she said, 'we'll keep going until morning, if he can hold on until then, then double back and go to A&E in Liverpool, they might not expect us to go somewhere so close to Manchester. It could buy us some time while Mark gets that cut seen to.'
'If you think that's a good idea,' Luke said, but threw her a questioning look, as if to ask what the real plan was.
She caught his gaze in the mirror and thought, 'we'll go to a hospital, but one far away from here.'
It was just starting to get light when they arrived in Wolverhampton.
'How's he doing? Grace asked Luke, turning slightly, staring at Mark passed out on the back seat.
'He's lost a lot of blood. I don't think he's going to last much longer. Do you think it's safe to go to a hospital here?'
Grace shook her head. 'No, but we're going to have to. We can't lose him. '
'Okay,' Luke agreed.
'The guy I told you about lives ten miles from here,' Grace thought to Luke, 'if something happens to me, go to him, tell him I sent you and he'll get you a fake passport if you've bought the money with you?'
She looked in the mirror to see Luke give a quick nod, repeating the address in her mind until she was sure Luke could remember it if something happened.
'We're all going to get through this,' Luke said.
'I hope you're right,' wass all Grace could say, trying to ignore the horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.
They were almost at the hospital when the traffic came to a standstill.
'What's the hold up?' Luke questioned.
'I don't know. I can't see where this starts. It could be miles, but the hospital isn't far. Do you think Mark can wake up and walk?'
'We could carry him, between us, maybe.'
'We might have to...' Grace began, but stopped when she heard a helicopter above them and saw the flashing lights of police cars ahead. She was about to question whether they had been found, when the sound of screams filled the air.
'I'm going to see what it is, wait here,' Grace told Luke.
'Alone? You shouldn't...'
Grace was already out of the car and running towards the direction of the screams. More shrieks began from people nearby, then she saw what had haunted her nightmares since the last day of the outbreak in Manchester.
'No, it can't be...' but she was already running back towards the car.
'What was it?' Luke questioned as Grace sat down in the passenger seat, gasping for air and trying to make sense of what was happening. The image of what she had just seen was projected into Luke's mind.
'Oh God, really? Does that mean...'
'I don't think they sent those things after us and I don't think they bought them here for us. It's happening again. The hospital isn’t going to be safe, but without it, Mark will die. What do we do?' Grace asked.
'I think it's too late for the hospital,' Luke said softly.
'What?' Grace asked, but she knew what he meant before turning around to see Mark's lifeless body on the back seat next to Luke, who was covered in his blood from trying to save him.
'No,' Grace said, trying to think through the wave of distress that she was feeling — threatening to overwhelm her and effectively leave her useless and unable to function. She shook her head, as if to dispel it. She had to mourn Mark later, if she wanted to have any chance of survival.
'I'm sorry Gracie, ' Luke said, 'I know you loved him, but we have to go now,' he insisted.
Grace wiped the tears from her face as she locked eyes with Luke. 'You're right and I know he would want us to go,' she thought as she got out of the car and Luke followed.
'This way,' he suggested taking her hand and leading her away from the busy road and towards a quieter side street.
Grace and Luke kept running, trying to ignore the screams and scenes of the infected eating anyone unlucky enough to get close enough to them. They eventually reached Adam's house hours later. Grace banged frantically on the door, ignoring the pain in her hands as her knuckles clashed against the metal enforced door. Luke pushed, surprising them both when it opened.
'He never...' Grace began, knowing that Adam was the type of person who would never leave his door unlocked, not with the lifestyle he led and the kind of people that attracted.
'Is that Adam? Luke asked as a dark-haired man with a blood covered face staggered hungrily towards them. He grabbed at Luke and Grace, as though he saw them as a couple of cheeseburgers dangled in front of him.
'Not anymore,' Grace retorted, picking up a lamp and hitting the creature over the head, until he stumbled and fell onto the floor unmoving.
'We should check the rest of the house,' Luke suggested.
They secured the front door which had ten locks in total. Grace ignored the look on Luke's face. She was grateful to Adam for been paranoid enough to make his house so secure. He had even bricked up all the windows a long time ago. His fear was of the living back then, but it would work against keeping out the dead too.
'What do we do about him?' Luke asked.
'He has a basement. He burns...incriminating evidence down there, we could...'
'Burn him?'
'It sounds a lot harsher when you put it like that, but if we're going to stay here...'
'You want to stay here?'
'It's a good a place as any and it's more secure than some places, there's probably food too. Adam was always prepared like that and there's a few good hiding places specially built for...well...never mind. We can hide though if someone or something does manage to get in.'
'I'm beginning to question some of the company you used to keep,' Luke stated.
'We weren't exactly best friends, but I met a lot of different people on the streets. Adam was just one of them.'
'Okay, so we're not going to leave the country like we planned?'
'I doubt it. If this is happening here, it could be happening everywhere. I don't think this is what they intended in Manchester, but it's out of control now and we just have to wait it out and hope we're still standing when it's all over.'
About the author
Amanda Steel is a multi-genre author.
Amanda also co-hosts the podcast “Reading in Bed” and sometimes she writes under the pen name “Aleesha Black”.
Her website is www.amandasteelwriter.com
This is also where you can find the sign-up page to be informed when “Not Human” is re-released. This is the full-length novel which this novella is the prequel to.
After The Zombies | Prequel | After The Zombies Page 7
