The Infected (Book 4): Wrecked

by Justin Gowland

  “Since you killed that shit yesterday, everything has been fine. That fucker deserved to die after what he had planned for us all.” Jake said, looking pissed off.

  I nodded and smiled.

  “I was going to come and see you last night, but with things that way they were, well, I thought I’d be able to catch up to you today sometime.” Jake said, looking over at me.

  “Why were you wanting to have a chat yesterday?” I asked.

  Dropping his feet to the floor, he turned in his chair and said “Well, you know that ship you went to in Hull?” I nodded. “Well, I was flicking through the channels when I heard it mentioned. I quickly went back to it and heard someone talking about how they found one of their men without their head. Then I remember what Chris had told me about the rescue that Amy and you made. He said someone lost their head. So I put two and two together.”

  “What happened to the message?” I asked.

  “It just stopped. I tried all the frequencies near to that one but nothing came back on. I’ve been trying to get it all morning but didn’t get anything.” He said.

  “Okay, Jake, thanks for letting me know.” I said, turning to leave.

  “Marc, it wasn’t your fault what happened to Mike.” Jake said.

  “I know, Jake, I know.” I said walking out and closing the door behind me.

  So what I was planning might actually benefit the bunker and the survivors here. If I could find their ship and damaged it in some way, everyone would end up being saved. I headed down to my room to pick up my rucksack. Opening the door, I saw Amy sitting on the bed waiting for me.

  “Where have you been?” She asked, standing up.

  I shrugged and said, “Just touching base with a few people since we got back.”

  “Okay, so why have you been dodging me then?” She asked, wrapping her arms around me.

  “I haven’t been dodging you.” I said, leaning forward and kissing her.

  Of course, as usually, the kissing lead to other things and we ended the night very tired and very satisfied. I lay awake at the end with doubts running through my mind about what I was planning on doing. And lying here with Amy asleep in my arms was making that choice even harder to take.

  The following morning I woke up, and as usual, Amy had left sometime either during the night or early in the morning. After a shower and getting dressed, I headed to the dining room for some breakfast and I let Spirit come along. I was planning on taking some fresh air and look at the vehicles we had outside. I thought bringing her along would give me a sort of excuse to be wandering around. After eating some bacon sandwiches, we headed up in the lift to the lobby and headed out through the hatch into the light. As soon as the fresh air hit Spirit’s nose, she ran outside yapping.

  I followed laughing as my dog ran around like a puppy outside. Looking around, I saw where the vehicles were parked, so I headed over. I stood leaning against the door of the nearest truck and quickly looked inside and saw that they kept the keys in the ignition. That would make it a little easier for me. Watching everyone working made me actually feel guilty, but this was something that really had to be done. Spirit had started to run round the workers barking like a loon. Most of the people found it funny but there were a few that didn’t.

  “Spirit!” I shouted.

  She skidded to a stop, her nails digging furrows in the soil. Turning and looking at me, she barked once and ran at full speed straight toward me. I got my hands up just in time as she leapt at my chest. Landing on my back wasn’t exactly like taking a roll in the hay. I winced when my injured shoulder struck the grass. Everyone who had been able to see it happen were laughing. Rolling her off me, I pulled myself up using the truck. Spirit danced round my feet barking.

  Looking down, I said “Thanks, mutt.”

  She stopped dead and a soft low growl came out of her that sounded a little like laughter.

  “Come on, stupid, let’s get back inside.” I said.

  Spirit whined but followed me back inside.

  We headed back down to my room to pick up my rucksack and webbing. I grabbed them and headed back up to the security room and dropped them off inside. Next thing I wanted to do was see Doc and get checked over. I found him in his room writing into a small book.

  “Hi, Doc!” I said, walking inside with Spirit following me.

  “Hello, Marc, how are you?” He said, putting his pen down.

  “Just calling in for a check-up.” I said, sitting down.

  “Not a problem. Take your jacket and shirt off.” He said, standing and coming around the desk.

  I took off my jacket and pulled my t-shirt off over my head. Doc stood looking at my injured shoulder. He reached out and gently prodded around where I had been shot. It was painful but not half as bad as it had been when it had happened. The redness had receded to just around where the skin had been stitched up.

  “It’s a lot better. It looks like we caught the infection in time. I should think you’ll be able to have the stiches removed in the next two weeks.” Doc said.

  “Thanks, Doc, that’s great news.” I said, pulling on my t-shirt.

  “Try not to do anything too strenuous, though.”

  Standing, I said “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on it. Whilst I am here, how is Mike doing?”

  Doc sat on the edge of the desk and said “Good. Not as good as you, but pretty good. Fleur is clucking over him like a mother hen. I think in some way she blames herself for what happened.”

  “Please tell her that it was really nothing to do with her. You could say it was mine really.” I said.

  Doc stood up and held out his hand and said “Well, I hope we don’t have any more visitors like him.”

  I took his hand and said “Let’s hope not.”

  I left the Doc to get back to his paperwork and headed for lunch in the dining room. We had a great meat casserole for lunch and I even went back for a second helping. After that, I headed down to the security room with Spirit and locked the door once we were inside. I pulled everything out of my rucksack and then repacked it. This time I packed the MRE’s, ammo and water as well as my clothing. The sleeping bag went in the separate pocket at the bottom of the rucksack. The one-man tent was strapped to the sides and my sleeping roll was tied to the bottom. I’d loaded all the magazines and the rifle with rounds. The mags went into the webbing and the rifle would go over my shoulder. The radio went onto my belt and I’d put on the tactical mic when I left. The rest of the day went by with me watching the one working screen. I kept looking for my friends whilst sitting in the dark. I saw Amy talking to people and I could tell that she was looking for me. Unlocking the door, Spirit and I stepped out into the hallway. I locked the door behind me and pocketed the key.

  With Spirit in tow, I headed back up for supper. We had toast sandwiches and I sat talking with my friends as Spirit ate something under the table. Amy walked in as I stood to go and get some coffee.

  “Where the hell have you been today?” She asked angrily.

  “I took Spirit for a long walk this morning. This afternoon I went for a check-up with the Doc and then spent the rest trying to fix the security room.” I said.

  “Oh, sorry for shouting at you.” She said, looking at the floor.

  “It’s ok.” I said, feeling guilty.

  We both walked back to the table and spent the rest of the meal talking about everything and nothing. At the end, Amy walked with me and Spirit to the lifts.

  “There are a couple of things I need to do with the security room before I can head off to bed.” I said, as we waited for the lift.

  “Ok. Do you want me to wait for you in your room?” She asked.

  “To be honest, I’m not sure how long I may be.” I said.

  “Why not leave it till tomorrow?” She asked, leaning against me.

  “It’s been on my mind since Foxton pulled it apart. I want to fix it, otherwise I’ll go nuts.” I said, kissing her softly.

  “Okay, but
you’re going to make up for it tomorrow night.” She said, smiling.

  “It’s a date.” I said, as my heart felt like it was breaking.

  We all stepped into the lift. Spirit and I stepped out on the second floor and I walked down to the security office. Unlocking the door, I stepped inside and turned the light on. Now it was just a waiting game.

  I sat there watching the monitors as everyone slowly headed off to bed. By midnight, everyone was either in bed or on their way. Changing the monitors, I switched between Chris’ room and Amy’s. These two people had been such large and important parts of my life that doing what I was doing made my heart ache.

  Switching off the monitor and light, I opened the door. I left the key in the lock, and with Spirit following me we headed for the lifts. The short journey from the second floor to the lobby was a quick one. Opening the hatch was stressful considering it creaked as it opened. Outside was dark and we slowly made our way to where the vehicles were parked. I opened the door of the truck and Spirit jumped inside. I lifted my rucksack and rifle, placing them on the rear seat. Letting the hand brake loose, we rolled toward the gate. Climbing out, I lifted the bar and opened the gate. Climbing back inside, we rolled through the gate. Stopping on the other side, I pushed the gate closed and used a large rock from the side of the gravel road to keep it that way till the morning.

  Climbing back inside, I turned the key in the ignition and the engine rumbled into life. Putting it in gear, I looked in the rearview mirror and the saw the bunker lit up with the red glow from the brake lights. I sighed. This could be the last time that I saw this place and the people I loved.

  Benton’s had to pay for all the pain they had caused in the world.

  About the author.

  Justin Gowland was born in Zambia. His father had been working there as an electrical engineer in a copper mine. He returned to the North East of England with his family when he was Three.

  He had a normal sort of childhood, but was always interested in reading. He wrote short stories and played a lot of D&D.

  On leaving school and he joined the Army as a Junior Leader and then moved onto the adult services at the age of eighteen. One of his last postings was to Hereford and after spending nearly six years he left.

  He married again for the third time and it was his wife who said "What’s the point of writing your stories if no one is going to read them?"

  Justin published his first series ‘The Reaper Trilogy’ in mid 2014 and is currently working on the Infected Series.