The Infected (Book 6): Last Shot

by Gowland, Justin

  “True.”

  “I’m sorry, but my life means more to me than killing you does.”

  “Ok, I’m coming in,” I said and pushed open the door and stepped inside before Chris and Mike could grab me. I could hear them going nuts as the door closed and I walked into the gym. Tom had moved some mats and created a small area in between the weightlifting gear at the rear of the gym. If he had wanted he could have shot me as I walked in through the door. The space between me and the little-barricaded area was about twenty feet. I saw Tom’s head peek over the mats, it ducked back down.

  “Glad you didn’t let Chris in. He scares the shit out of me.”

  I sat down on the floor, holding the pistol in my lap. I had the safety off and kept my hand on the grip. “I think he might have the right to be slightly pissed off at you Tom.”

  “Ha Ha, I mean before now, he’s always scared me. When he looked at me it was always as though he never trusted me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah I could never get rid of the feeling that he knew what was going on.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “You mean this hasn’t given you any clues? Good I must have covered my tracks well then!”

  “Come on Tom just tell me why?”

  “Why?...Why? Let’s just say I wanted more than to live in a hole in the ground. We had been planning the release of that cat for next year and then you go and let it out earlier than we wanted.”

  “So you’ve been in on this since the beginning?”

  “Of course it was Dr Jackson and I that thought up the whole thing. Of course, I had planned on being on the oil rig with them, but Rosa and I got caught out didn’t we.”

  “So Rosa has been in on it as well?”

  “Don’t be stupid. She couldn’t find her way out of a wet paper bag without her father and then they would have needed someone like me or Dr Jackson to help them. No Dr Jackson and I were going to set ourselves up as the new leaders of the world.”

  “But you’ve never been out of here since you got here. How the hell have you been in contact with them? I can’t even remember you being in the Communications room?”

  “That’s where you helped. After all, it was you who asked me to help run the armoury.”

  “The armoury?”

  “All those nice boxes that were full of equipment they happened to include three sat phones. Since you put me in charge of the armoury I have been in constant contact with the oil rig. I told them of your mission to save Jane and her pet dyke. So we set up a small trap and it nearly worked. Then you headed off on your own, which wouldn’t have helped so I helped the others get you back. I thought I might have been able to slip away, but then you went and made a plan to blow the oil rig and I couldn’t have that, so I decided to blow the Bunker and head off to the oil rig. Yet again your luck seemed to hold and you caught me and now I am fucked.”

  “What the fuck did we ever do to you Tom to deserve this?” I asked.

  There was a pause as he thought of what he wanted to say “You are the fucking thorn in my side that’s why!”

  “So you decided to kill everyone here who has been good to you just because I ruined your plans for world domination? What about Rosa do you not love her in the slightest?”

  He laughed out loud and his laughter echoed round the room “I hate the stupid bitch. She was just a way for me and Dr Jackson to get the funds and materials we needed. I couldn’t care less about the scum that are here in the Bunker.”

  I heard a low creak and turned my head slightly and saw Chris worm his way through the door and across the floor on his stomach.

  “So how do you think you are going to get out of this?” I asked turning back to the barricade.

  “Well, I thought you could let me walk out of here and give me a vehicle. Oh! And some supplies as well.” He said his tone coming across smug.

  I felt my face screw up because I was confused with what he had said. “How can you even think that I would even consider that?”

  Chris had made it along the wall and was slowly working his way along the long wall toward the barricade. He was hidden by several large pieces of equipment.

  Tom’s voice echoed out from behind the barricade “Well you see I’ve already told the oil rig of your strike planned against them. If you let me go I promise that we will leave your little part of the world alone.”

  “You must think I am really fucking dumb. I’m supposed to trust one of the two people that nearly caused the end of the world? You know Tom you must have been a fucking good actor before all of this because you managed to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes”

  “It wasn’t hard to do.” His voice sounded full of contempt.

  Chris had managed to get close to where Tom had barricaded himself. I looked over at the barricade and saw some movement, Tom’s head appeared over the top and he looked at me. Chris took advantage of Tom looking my way and slipped round one end of the pile of mats.

  “I am really disappointed that you all didn’t figure this out sooner. I mean you must have thought there was an insider after that ex-police officer came here with that disappointment Jane and her dy….” There was a crunch and Tom disappeared down behind his little barricade. Chris stood up from behind the pile of exercise equipment grinning his head off.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Fucking dickhead was talking too much.” He said flexing his good arm.

  I smiled and started to walk over “Is he still alive?” I asked climbing over the first of the exercise equipment.

  Chris nodded and pointed to the body lying at his feet “Yeah! Just gave him a light tap. Might be a good idea to tie him up somewhere before he wakes though.”

  “I’ll get David and Mike to shift him. I think we can stick him in an office on the first floor. We can clear it out, chuck a mattress in there and a bucket.” I said heading over to the door. Opening it slowly I called out “David? Can you and Mike come in here, please?”

  David and Mike came into view and we all walked back to where Chris was guarding Tom. They looked down at the figure lying at Chris’ feet with a look of disgust on both of their faces. Chris tapped Tom with his foot and we heard him moan. David bent down and picked up the pistol that Tom had been using. David passed me the pistol and he and Mike lifted the limp figure off the floor.

  “Let’s get him upstairs and somewhere we can lock up,” I said.

  Heading out into the hallway we had pass by a crowd of people that Amy had managed to stop from coming down the hallway. I could hear whispered conversations as David and Mike dragged the knocked out Tom down the hallway. I ignored them as I pressed the button for the lift. Tom started to groan and stir as we carried him inside the lift. David and Mike started to look more and more pissed off as Chris told them about the conversation that I had with Tom.

  The lift doors opened on the first floor and we came face to face with Rosa. Her face said it all. She looked fit to burst and we all could see that she had been crying a lot, but the anger in her eyes was the thing that stood out the most. Chris walked forward and gently moved her to one side. I swear if that woman had a weapon then we would have a corpse on our hands instead of someone we could interrogate. David and Mike dragged Tom past her toward the Operation room and the offices in there.

  “Why?” Rosa screamed from behind us.

  Tom’s head rose slightly before hanging back down. We could hear her sobbing as Chris held her back. I looked over my shoulder and just shook my head slightly. Following David and Mike through the empty Operations room and we headed to the office furthest from any of the others. David opened the door and he and Mike pushed Tom inside and slammed the door behind him as he hit the floor.

  “Where are the keys?” I asked them.

  David looked at me “We have them in our office, I’ll get them.” he said and ran down the small hallway to the office that Mike and he had.

  Mike and I stood waiting for him to come back.<
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  “Is it true?” I looked up to see Mike looking at me with a puzzled look on his face.

  I shrugged “If you can believe what he said. Then yeah it’s true.” I looked back up the hallway when I heard footsteps. Chris turned the corner and walked down toward where we were.

  “He said anything else?” he asked in his rumbling voice.

  “He had just started to come round when we threw him in here,” Mike said jerking a thumb at the door. Just then, David appeared with a small set of keys in his hand.

  “So what are we going to do with him?” He asked swinging the keys on one of his fingers and looking at me. “After all according to Chris he told you everything that we might have wanted.”

  I shook my head slightly “I haven’t got a fucking clue. All of this has knocked me for a fucking loop.”

  David walked over to the door and using the keys he locked the door. Turning he said, “I’ll tell you one thing this makes taking Benton’s out more important than anything else. Who’s to say that we don’t have any other traitors in the Bunker with us?"

  There was a slight pause before Mike nodded “What about Rosa?”

  I shook my head and stepped forward taking the keys from David’s hand “Look Chris and I both heard what Tom said in the gym and I don’t think Rosa has anything to do with this. I think she was just a means to an end for Tom and Dr Jackson. But for the sake of everyone in the Bunker I’ll ask Amy to keep an eye on her. After all if you two are thinking that she is somehow involved then there could be other people and they might take matters into their own hands.”

  I left them all in the hallway and headed off to find Amy. I found her in the first place that I looked; her room. She was also one step ahead of me and had Rosa and Tessa in there with her.

  “That saves me some problems,” I said walking into the room.

  Tessa jumped up and stood in my way “There is no way you are taking her anywhere!” she shouted.

  I held my hands up “Hold on Tessa, I’m not here to take Rosa anywhere.” I could see over Tessa’s shoulder Rosa sitting in one of the chairs with her head in her hands. “I just came looking for Amy to ask her to find Rosa and make sure nothing happened to her, whilst we straighten everything out.”

  Tessa flushed red “Oh! Sorry Marc, it’s just Amy and I know that Rosa had nothing to do with any of this.”

  I was about to say that I agreed when there was a heavy banging on the door to Amy’s room. I held my hand up to stop Tessa from opening the door and walked over myself. Pulling the door open I was confronted with three of the men that usually stood guard.

  “Is she in there?” He said red faced.

  “Who?”

  “That bitch Rosa the traitor’s girlfriend.” He said trying to look over my shoulder.

  I pulled the door closed a little more to cut down on his view into the room. “She might be what’s it to you?” I said in a quiet voice.

  For the first time, he looked at me “We’re going to kick her and her boyfriend out on their arses.”

  I actually smiled and started to flex my free hand. “Really and you talked this over with?”

  He looked over his shoulder at his two friends “Me, Olly and Mat decided if you lot weren’t going to do it, then we should do it for you.”

  I looked at Olly and Mat and they slowly nodded their heads. I could tell that Olly wasn’t really in the mood but because his friends were involved then he should be as well.

  “When were you deciding on doing the eviction?” I asked letting go of the door. If this came down to a fight I wanted both hands free. The ring leader saw me remove my hand from the door and turned to look me in the eye.

  A small smile curled at the corner of his lips “Look we don’t want to fight, but they need to go.”

  Like shit, he didn’t want this fight. I moved my feet slightly and he lunged at me. I stepped to the side and as he went past I drove a double fist into his back and drove him to the ground. I moved just as Mat’s foot cruised past my face. Snapping out with my right foot I kicked him behind the knee as it came down. I looked round for Olly, but he had run back up the hallway. Mat rolled through the door and came up hopping on his other leg. The ringleader was slowly pushing up from the floor when Amy’s boot flashed out and caught him alongside his head and flipped him onto his back. Mat lunged again but this time with a fist and it caught my damaged arm sending shooting pains into my shoulder. With one arm out of action, I circled around trying to keep my injured side away from Mat. He smiled as he saw me trying to protect the injured arm. His leg flashed out aiming for it and I just managed to jump back out of the way. He saw that he had the advantage and came forward again. This time I was ready for his kick and ran into the lunge. I grabbed his leg and twisted it and at the same time lashed out with my foot and toe punted him in the balls. He let out a small squeak and grabbed at his privates before falling face first onto the floor groaning. I looked up to see Amy with her foot on the throat of the ring leader. She was gradually pushing down and I could see his face getting whiter by the second.

  “Amy would you mind letting him breathe?!” I asked.

  She looked down at the man under her foot with disgust. She lifted her foot and walked back to where Tessa was with Rosa. Another banging on the door had me on edge. I yanked it open ready for round two when I saw Chris and Mike stood there looking out of breath.

  Chris pushed passed me saying “We heard that some men were coming down to cause a fight or something.”

  “They did!” I said pointing to Mat and his boss. Mat was still laying face first on the floor and his boss was holding his hands to his reddened throat.

  Mike followed me as I turned and walked further into the room. Chris walked over to Tessa and was whispering to her. She nodded her head and leaned into him and he wrapped his good arm around her. Mike stood looking down at the leader of the group.

  “Jeff what the fuck made you think that you could take on Marc and Amy?” Mike said crouching down close to Jeff’s head.

  Jeff turned toward Mike and in a whisper said “He never looked that tough and she’s just a woman.”

  Amy nearly launched off the bed to start round two, but I grabbed her and pushed her back to the bed and made her sit back down. I was going to have to talk to her and soon. If this was all her hormones due to her being pregnant then the rest of the Bunker would have to walk on eggshells during the pregnancy. I turned round and looked at Jeff. He had shrunk back against the wall. Mike was stood beside him grinning. I just shook my head and turned back to Amy.

  “Are you ok?” I asked.

  She glared at Jeff and then turned her face toward me. If looks could kill both Jeff and I would have died under that glare. “I’m fine!” she growled.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I held my hands up and turned to look at Rosa who had crawled as far up the bed as she could. She had her back against the headboard, sat with her knees up against her chest and her arms wrapped round them.

  “How you doing Rosa?” I asked looking down at her.

  She looked up with frightened eyes and I saw a single tear fall from the corner of her eye. She didn’t say a word and looked across the room toward where Jeff was sat on the floor with Mat. Mike saw staring at them both and had a huge grin plastered on his face. Chris was stood next to Tessa listening the conversation, but his face said everything that anyone wanted to know.

  I turned back to look at Rosa and said “Look don’t worry on one is going to ask or force you to leave the safety of the Bunker.”

  The tears started to flow and I sat on the edge of the bed and placed a gentle hand on hers.

  “But there are going to be others.” She said

  I shook my head “Don’t worry about that.”

  “Look Marc there are going to be others that feel the same way as these fuckers.” Tessa said from behind me.

  I turned to look at her and Chris “Ok! I agree Tessa, but when we tell them that it was all
Tom and Dr Jackson’s idea, they will understand that Rosa had nothing to do with any of it.”

  Jeff started to laugh “You can’t be that stupid can you? The others were trying to decide what to do, we just took it upon ourselves to come and get it done.”

  Chris stormed over and kicked Jeff in the ribs and shouted “You lost the right to say anything when you came down here with your lynch mob.”

  I placed a hand on Chris’ shoulder and gently pulled him away from Jeff, who had slumped to one side trying to get his breath back. Chris shrugged my hand from his shoulder and walked back to Tessa.

  “It might be an idea for someone to go and check on Tom.” Mike mentioned.

  Looking at each of them in turn no one was willing to speak up and volunteer. “Fine I’ll head up and check on him!” I said heading for the door.

  “Marc?!” Chris’ voice called out.

  I turned round with my hand on the door. “Yeah?!”

  “Be careful. We don’t know if Tom was working on his own or what!” He said putting his arm around Tessa’s waist.

  I just nodded and opened the door. Pulling it closed as I walked through it. Further up the hallway and crowd had started to gather. They saw the look on my face and turned to talk to each other in whispers. They all clamed up when I walked past and as I got closer to the lifts doors I heard the whispers start up again. I pressed the button and tried to not listen to it. I was grateful when the doors opened and there was no one inside. The doors on the lift slowly closed, cutting off the whispers and conversations. The lift slowly made its way up to the first floor and I stepped out into what seemed to be a crowded hallway.

  Even more of the Bunker’s residents were here in the hallway leading to the Operation’s Centre. I had to gently push people out of the way and entered through the double doors. The large room went silent when people saw who had come through the doors. Keeping to the edge of the room I headed toward the office we were using as a jail. The door came into view through the bodies crammed close to it. I could tell there was something wrong with it as I got closer. I started to push harder and quickened my pace.