She shrugged. “I can’t see them in the rearview but they can’t be that far behind us.”
My mind ran over the logistics of what we needed to do to escape with our lives and our prize. Somehow, we had to unload the crate containing Vess and the footlocker from the Land Rover into the Zodiac. Then we had to load them from the Zodiac onto the Big Easy or the Lucky Escape. The soldiers following us would have a clear shot at us the whole time and they’d know about our boats.
If they didn’t manage to kill us during the unloading and loading process, the soldiers would probably call in an air strike or something. After all, there were drones patrolling the entire coastline and it would probably be easy to send one in our direction.
“We can’t go back to the boats,” I told Tanya. “They’ll know where we are and blow us out of the water.”
“I already figured that out,” she told me. “I’m not heading for the boats. Not while these jokers are on our tail, anyway.”
“So where are we going?”
“Anywhere but the coast.”
I felt a twinge of fear. Heading inland could be dangerous. If we came across a town or a city, that could mean facing hundreds or even thousands of zombies. It was also possible that we might unwittingly drive into an area where a large horde was waiting for prey like a thousand spiders waiting for an unwary fly to wander into their web.
Tanya pushed the map at me. “Find a route that will get us out of this area and also be clear of nasties.”
She might as well have asked me to find the lost ark of the covenant. I had no idea which roads might be safe and which might be crawling with zombies.
I found our location on the map and glanced over the surrounding area. There was a motorway a little farther inland or we could stick to these country roads and continue north. At least if we got to the motorway, we could transfer our cargo to another vehicle. I was sure these Land Rovers had trackers installed and that meant we’d never get away from the military as long as we stayed in them.
“There’s a motorway service station a bit further northwest,” I said. “We should probably change vehicles and then double back.”
Tanya nodded. “If we get to the motorway, we can pick up speed and outrun our pursuers. It’s too hard to get any kind of speed on these narrow roads.”
“A headstart should give us a chance to load the crate and footlocker into another car. If we’re fast enough, we could be heading back south while the vehicles behind us are still heading north. Then we can get to the boats and load everything onto them safely.”
“Sounds good,” Tanya said. “How do we get to the motorway?”
I consulted the map. “Take the next left. Then you should see signs.”
She slowed down for the turn and took it. I checked in the mirror to see if Sam was still following us. He was close behind and probably wondering where the hell we were going. There was still no sign of our pursuers, if that was what the other vehicles actually were. I opened my window and stuck my head out for a moment to see if I could still hear them but we were travelling too fast for me to hear anything other than the wind in my ears.
“The motorway’s six miles ahead,” Tanya said, pointing at a road sign. “Once we get onto it, how far is it to the services?”
I closed my window and studied the map. “I’m not sure exactly. Four or five miles, I think.”
She nodded and put her foot down.
Less than ten minutes later, we crossed a bridge that stretched over the motorway. I looked down at the road below us and felt a flood of relief when I didn’t see any vehicles on the the three lanes that headed north. The southbound carriageway was another story; the lanes were full of abandoned cars.
“Why wasn’t anyone heading north?” Tanya asked, peering at the motorway.
“I have no idea,” I said.
She turned onto a ramp that descended to the northbound lanes. Once we were on the motorway, I checked the mirror to see what was behind us. What I saw explained the lack of cars on this stretch of road. It looked like at least a dozen cars had been involved in an accident that had blocked the road. The cars south of our location hadn’t been able to get past the pile up.
“That explains that,” Tanya said, checking her mirror.
Sam came up alongside us and motioned for Tanya to wind down her window.
When she did so, he shouted, “Where are we going?”
“To ditch these vehicles,” she shouted back. “There’s a place up ahead.”
He nodded. “Okay, sounds good.”
“We’ll double back and get to the boats,” I shouted.
“Cool.” He looked in his mirror and his face fell. “Guys, we have company.”
I turned in my seat and checked behind us. Two big boxy-looking vehicles were crossing the bridge. They were painted a sand colour and looked like some sort of armoured personnel carriers. Following them was a long, similarly coloured six-wheeled vehicle. In a matter of minutes, they’d be behind us on the motorway.
“The two lead vehicles are Foxhounds,” Sam shouted to us. “The one in the rear is a Jackal. They’re all personnel carriers so I reckon there could be maybe twenty soldiers back there.”
Sam obviously knew his military vehicles. All I knew about the sandy-coloured monstrosities behind us was that they looked dangerous.
“Right, let’s get the hell out of here,” Tanya said. She pressed the button that closed her window and put her foot down. We raced along the motorway.
“We should be able to outrun them,” she said.
I watched the three vehicles begin their descent of the ramp and hoped she was right.
6
We raced along the empty motorway in the Land Rovers. Our pursuers were still visible in the mirrors but they were losing ground. They were probably burdened with the weight of passengers, equipment, and weapons whereas our vehicles were virtually unladen save for the crate containing Marcus Vess.
A blue sign at the side of the road told us that the services were just a mile ahead.
“We can’t stop,” Tanya said. “They’re still too close behind us. By the time we find a suitable vehicle, they’ll catch up with us.”
I nodded. “Understood. But if we don’t stop at the services, we’re going to be forced to stop anyway.” I pointed ahead. In the distance, every lane of the motorway was clogged with stationary cars. We were running out of clear road.
“Shit,” Tanya muttered.
The slip road that led to the services appeared in front of us and she turned onto it. “We don’t have a choice,” she said as she decelerated.
We entered the car park. A lot of cars were parked here and we’d have our choice of vehicles if only we had more time.
Unfortunately, time was something we didn’t have in abundance.
Tanya slowed our vehicle to a crawl and Sam drove up alongside us. “What’s up?” he asked through his open window.
“We’ve run out of motorway,” Tanya told him.
“Yeah, I saw that. And we don’t have time to stop and switch cars.”
Tanya nodded. “Exactly.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“Maybe set up a defensive position in that building and keep them at bay?” Tanya suggested, pointing to the brick building which housed a KFC and a McDonalds.
“They’ll just send for more reinforcements,” I said. “Besides, the building is full of nasties.” I could see them shambling behind the windows of the two-storey structure.
Sam pointed beyond the building to a wooden fence that served as the boundary between the services and a field. “What if we go off-road?”
Tanya looked in the direction he was pointing. “That’ll work. We might be able to pick up a different road somewhere in that direction. Alex, check the map.”
I did so. If we made it across the field, there was indeed a road on the other side. “Yeah,” I said. “There’s a road over there but we need to lose the soldiers on our tail a
nd I have an idea how we can do that. Or at least slow them down.”
“Okay,” she said. “What is it?”
I pointed at the brick building. “If we release those zombies into the car park, they could cover our escape.”
She nodded. “I like it. Let’s do it.” She drove over to the glass door that served as the entrance and exit for the building. It was probably an automatic door but someone had locked it. I grabbed my baseball bat and got out of the Land Rover.
When I reached the door, I peered inside. The lights were off so I couldn’t see much but there was definitely movement inside; a furtive shambling in the shadows.
I swung the bat at the glass and created a spiderweb of cracks. A second swing shattered the panel and it crashed to the ground.
When the zombies inside came out of the darkness and lurched towards the door, I realised just how many of them there were. A foul stench preceded them and I gagged against it. They’d been shut up in this building for God knew how long and the air was fetid.
“Come on!” Tanya shouted from the Land Rover.
I didn’t need telling twice. I sprinted for the vehicle and climbed inside as the first nasties made their way through the shattered door and into the car park. They detected the noise of our cars and staggered towards us. Behind them, more of the undead stepped into the daylight.
“Jesus, how many of them are there?” Tanya asked.
“At least a hundred, I think.”
She floored the accelerator and sped toward the edge of the car park before mounting the grass verge that led to the fence. We crashed through the wooden barricade and bounced along the rutted field, followed by Sam.
Behind us, more zombies poured out of the building and flooded the car park like a river of rotting flesh. The soldiers in the pursuing vehicles were going to have a hard time getting past them and hopefully by then we’d be long gone.
The ride across the field was rough and when we got to the other side, we discovered a long hedge.
“The road is on the other side,” I told Tanya.
She steered us towards the hedge and put her foot down. “Hold on.”
We hit the hedge and ripped through it, hitting a narrow road on the other side. Tanya spun the steering wheel to the right and headed north. Sam missed the hole we’d created in the hedge and made his own, ending up on the road behind us. I turned in my seat to make sure he was okay and saw him grinning like the cat that got the cream. This was the kind of thing Sam lived for.
We drove along the road for twenty minutes before I saw a farmhouse on the left. I pointed it out to Tanya. “Could be a suitable vehicle there.”
She nodded. “Let’s take a look.”
We had to find a vehicle soon or we’d be caught by the military. No matter how long we delayed them, if these Land Rovers had trackers fitted, they’d always be able to find us eventually.
The route to the farm consisted of a narrow dirt road with fields on either side. As we drove along it, I scanned the house ahead looking for signs of danger.
The place looked deathly quiet.
As well as the house, there was a barn and a row of outbuildings that looked like they might have once served as stables. Tanya parked in front of the house and we both got out. Sam came to a stop behind us and joined us. He was carrying his M16, as was Tanya. I had my Walther in one hand and the bat in the other.
“Looks quiet,” Sam said.
We all knew that silence could be deceiving. Without any external stimuli, such as sound or movement, the zombies went into a state of dormancy and didn’t move until they heard or saw prey. There could be a hundred of them in the area just waiting to detect movement.
The house’s front door consisted of wood that had been painted bright yellow and a curtained glass panel. I noticed that the windows were also curtained.
There was no way of knowing if anyone—or anything—was inside and that wasn’t our priority right now anyway because parked around the back of the house was a denim blue-coloured Volvo XC90. The seven-seater SUV had more than enough room to carry the crate that currently housed Patient Zero.
Same went over to the vehicle and looked in through the windows. “The keys are inside. Looks like someone left in a hurry and left it behind.”
“Or they’re still in the house,” I said.
“Could be. As long as they don’t come out, I don’t really care. Let’s get this baby loaded up.” He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. After checking the gauges, he grinned. “More than enough fuel to get us to the boats.”
“Okay, let’s get everything onboard,” Tanya said. “We’re going to have to fold the rear seats down to get Vess in and someone’s going to have to ride in the back with him.”
“That someone is you, Alex,” Sam said.
I let out a sigh. “Fine.” I didn’t really mind riding in the back but it might have been nice to have a democratic decision about it rather than me just being told what to do.
Tanya and I pulled the six foot long crate from the back of the Land Rover and, taking an end each, manoeuvred it to the Volvo while Sam folded the rear seats down. We slid the crate into the cargo area and I climbed in beside it.
Sam brought the footlocker over and placed it by my feet. Then he climbed behind the wheel and we set off back along the dirt track.
“That was easy enough,” Tanya said from the passenger seat. She was consulting the map, which she’d unfolded and propped against the dashboard.
“We aren’t out of the woods yet,” I reminded her. “Those soldiers will be heading this way.”
“Relax, man, we’ll be long gone,” Sam said.
“Take a left at the bottom of the track,” Tanya told him. “We’ll head north for a while before finding another road that will take us back down south to the boats.”
I leaned back against the metal crate and relaxed a little. The military vehicles would reach the farm soon but the soldiers would find the Land Rovers empty and they’d have no clue as to which direction we’d gone.
As soon as we got back to the boats, we could sail out into deeper water while we figured out where the hell Bunker 53 was located.
I opened the footlocker and checked out its contents. As Sam had said, it was filled with papers and journals. Somewhere in here, we’d hopefully find a piece of information that would tell us where we could find the bunker.
I hoped it wasn’t too far away because I wanted to get rid of Patient Zero as soon as possible.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised that Sam had probably been right about Vess after all.
The virus was probably bringing him back to life.
7
We got back to the village an hour and a half later. Using the map, Tanya had taken us on a circuitous route to make sure our pursuers wouldn’t chance upon us and that tactic had worked; we hadn’t seen the military vehicles again since leaving the motorway.
As we drove down to the harbour, I felt a sense of relief when I saw the Big Easy and the Lucky Escape anchored just off shore. I couldn’t see Lucy on deck but knew she was somewhere on the boat, probably waiting to tell us off for taking so long. I didn’t mind; we’d made it back alive and that was all that really mattered.
Sam drove the Volvo onto the jetty and parked it right next to the Zodiac. Then the three of us loaded the crate and footlocker into the inflatable, along with the weapons. Unfortunately, with the items on board, there wasn’t enough room for all of us to get into the small boat.
“Someone’s going to have to wait here,” Sam said.
I got into the Zodiac. “Well it isn’t going to be me.” I folded my arms and kind of felt like a petulant child having a tantrum but I’d had enough of always being the member of the group who had to take the less-palatable option and I was desperate to get back on board the Big Easy.
Sam laughed. “No problem, dude. You don’t have to have a fit about it. I’ll stay.”
“Great,” Tan
ya said, getting into the Zodiac and throwing Sam his M16 before starting the outboard motor. “I’ll come back to get you in a bit.”
“No worries.” Sam climbed up onto the Volvo’s bonnet and lay back with his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and said, “I’ll be here catching some rays.”
We cast off from the jetty and as we began moving forwards towards the boats, Tanya gestured to the metal crate. “Where are we going to store this?”
I shrugged. “I suppose we’ll have to put it in one of the storerooms.”
“We’ll put it on the Lucky Escape,” she said. “But once it’s in there, I’m locking the storeroom door.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I don’t blame you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You think he might really come back to life? You told Sam he wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been thinking about it a bit more and I think it’s possible. The virus is obviously still in his body and it seems to be reasserting control. Did you notice how his body hasn’t decayed at all?”
“I thought that was because he’s been shrink-wrapped.”
“I think there’s more to it than that.” The truth was, we didn’t really know enough about the virus to understand how it interacted with human hosts. Maybe the scientist Sergeant Locke had mentioned—Dr Sarah Ives—would know more. The sooner we found her, the better.
“We’ll unload the footlocker onto the Big Easy,” I suggested to Tanya. “I want to go through the papers and find out where the hell we can find Bunker 53. The sooner we take Vess there, the sooner he becomes someone else’s problem and not ours.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We reached the Lucky Escape and tied the Zodiac to the stern. Between us, we managed to manhandle the metal crate on board, although we had to tie ropes around the crate’s handles to drag it up to the aft deck. I kept checking the Big Easy to see if Lucy would appear on deck but even the commotion we were making didn’t bring her from belowdecks.
After dragging the crate into the storeroom and locking it in there, I said to Tanya, “Has Lucy told you she’s feeling depressed or anything lately?”
Undead Rain (Book 5): Survival [Revenge of the Living Dead] Page 4
