“You need to get some warm fluids inside you. Chris is getting some dry clothes out of your rucksack.” he paused and then said “I think Mike is right; you have some kind of death wish.”
He passed me the mug and I held it in both of my shaking hands. He looked down at me as though he expected me to say something. Just sitting up at the moment was taking nearly all of my energy, and to tell you the truth they were probably right. David just shook his head when I didn’t answer and left the room.
Chris knocked on the door and came in carrying a bundle of my clothes in his hands. Putting them on the table, he turned to look at me.
“Amy came around when you were pulling out the bodies. She wants to come and cut your balls off. You’ve given her a lovely black eye.” He said, chuckling.
After taking a sip of the hot, bitter coffee I said “So she’s not happy we saved her life?”
“Marc, are you ever going to learn? A woman will never be happy no matter what a man does for her. We can only hope we don’t piss them off too much.”
“Then I’m fucked.”
“Mate, you’re more than fucked. It might be a good idea if we keep you two apart for the time being.”
“When are we heading for the oil rig?”
“We’re not heading anywhere yet. Well, not until Amy has decided what she wants to do.”
I was going to stand up and yell but my body was so drained all I could do was grunt.
“Look, get some rest and we’ll sort something out in the morning once Amy has calmed down.” Chris said, turning to leave.
“Chris...” I called out.
He turned around to look at me.
“Can you lock the door on the way out?” I asked
He laughed and left the room closing the door behind him. I never did hear the lock turn. Putting the mug down on the table I slowly managed to get into my clean, dry clothes. Feeling a bit warmer, I looked around the room and saw a small pull down bunk fastened to the wall. Pulling it down, I swung up on to it. Stretching out on the bunk, I slowly drank the last of the coffee. Time again seemed to stretch and I could feel my eyelids slowly drooping more and more. Putting the mug down on the table, I closed my eyes.
Chapter Fifteen
David woke me the following morning with another mug of coffee and some breakfast bars.
“The weather has took a turn for the worse.” He said.
I could feel the lifeboat rocking and my stomach instantly started to churn.
“Where are we?” I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
“Mike has us just off the coast near the lifeboat station.” David said, handing me the mug and the breakfast bar.
“Are the infected still out there?” I asked.
He paused before saying “There are still a few on the beach and we can see some of them on the ramp.”
I just nodded and he turned to leave. Just as his foot stepped through the door he turned around to look at me.
“You had any thoughts of how we are going to take out an oil rig?” He asked with concern on his face.
I smiled “Actually, I have. Tell you what, seeing as it’s fairly calm, how about we all meet up on the bridge and I let you all in on it.”
“How long are you going to be?”
“Give me ten minutes to get some gear on and pull myself together.”
He just nodded his head and closed the door. I sat listening to his footsteps echo outside. I ate the breakfast bars and drank my tea whilst thinking about the rough plan I had.
After I had finished my breakfast I pulled some clean clothes out of my rucksack and got dressed. Feeling halfway normal I opened the cabin door and stepped out into the small corridor. I could hear laughter and headed toward it. Climbing a small ladder I came out of a hatch just behind the bridge. I walked inside and saw Mike manning the wheel with Chris leaning on the console beside him. David wasn’t anywhere in sight, but my eyes rested on Amy’s back. Her long hair hung down her back almost touching below her shoulder blades.
“All right, Marc?” Chris said from beside the console.
I turned to look at him.
“Feeling a lot better now this tub isn’t rocking all over the place.” I replied, smiling.
“It looks like it will be nice and calm for the rest of the day.” Mike said, looking over his shoulder at me.
I heard footsteps and turned to see David walk out of a small opening at the back of the bridge next to Amy. She had turned around and was looking at me. My eyes must have nearly jumped out of my skull when I saw what I had done when I hit her. There was a dark bruise stretching from just above her left eye down to the middle of her cheek. It covered from her nose to her cheek bone. Her usually bright eye was dull and bloodshot. The look she cast me was one that I could have done without. I was already feeling guilty about hitting her, but seeing the damage I had caused made me feel much worse.
“Morning, arsehole!” Amy said in a low voice.
“Amy! Please.” Chris said standing up.
She turned her gaze at Chris and said “Shut the fuck up, Chris! This is between me and Marc.”
“At least you said my name.”
Turning back, she looked at me her eyes narrowed and I could see her hands clenching down at her sides.
“You are a fucking sad excuse for a man.” She hissed.
Now I was starting to get a little pissed “What? Because I saved your ungrateful ass?” I said, nearly shouting.
“I didn’t want saving. I could have handled myself.”
“Amy, you would have died if I…no we, had left you there.” I said, waving my arm round the bridge.
“Hey don’t get us involved in your little fight.” Mike said, grinning.
“Shut the fuck up.” Amy shouted.
I took a step toward her and she raised her arms and waved them in front of her to stop me getting any closer. I backed up and leaned against the wall.
“I just want to head back to the Bunker as soon as possible and get away from this arsehole.” Amy said, pointing at me.
I shook my head and looked down at the floor. Things between Amy and myself had finally hit the bottom. I wasn’t surprised. Life from before the infected had been near enough the same. I could never seem to hang onto a girlfriend for more than a few minutes at a time.
“Marc, what was your plan?” Chris said, pulling me out of those thoughts.
“Well, it was the other night when we were talking about getting on board the oil rigs to cause enough damage. I might have come up with a way to destroy the oil rig without having to get on board.” I said.
Amy shook her head before saying “How the fuck are you going to destroy the labs then?”
“C4.” I said.
David’s head turned around and said “And?”
Not looking at Amy, I said “How about we just blow the support legs that the oil rig stands on?”
Chris just laughed and said “Fucking clever.”
Mike nodded and said “You know, that’s not a bad idea. We wouldn’t even have to find a way to get on board.”
“Before you all go slapping each other on the back, where are we going to get C4 or any kind of explosive?” Amy said with her arms crossed.
“Actually, the armoury back at the Bunker has plenty.” Chris replied.
I watched her expression and saw her eyes narrow slightly. She was thinking something up and I knew it involved getting me to go back to the Bunker.
“So that means we have to head back to the Bunker and get it.” Amy said.
There was a pause whilst the others thought about going back home.
“Look, we won’t need all of us to plant the C4 and the others could stay behind and help run things at the Bunker.” I said.
Looking at each one of them in turn I said “Amy wants to head back and there is safety in numbers so how about we do this. David, Mike and Chris can escort her back to the Bunker. I’ll stay here and wait on the lifeboat to make sure nothing h
appens to it. Chris can head back with some C4. We’ll head out to the oil rig and blow the fucker up and be back at the Bunker in a few days.”
David looked relieved that he would see his family again. I could tell by Amy’s face I had put a spanner in her works. Mike looked like he wasn’t bothered either way. The one that had me concerned was Chris. When I had said he could come and help me blow up the oil rig, he turned away to look out of the windows. Usually I would have thought something like this would tickle his fancy but it looked like I might’ve be wrong this time.
“What’s up, Chris?”
He turned to look at me “Sorry, mate, when I get back, I’m staying.”
I honestly felt like someone had slapped me across my face. I knew something might have been up but I thought he would have still wanted to help.
“Ok?!”
“Look, you know I would help in any way. Hell, I even came to find you, but this time I have to say no. Tessa is expecting and I actually want to be there for the birth. That and the fact that Benton doesn’t know exactly where the Bunker is. If we take precautions, then they might never find it.”
“But if they do find it and we don’t take care of them now, then your baby might never have a chance to grow up.” I said.
“Marc!” Amy said.
“Shut up!” I shouted at Amy.
“Come on, Marc.” David said, walking over and putting a hand on my shoulder.
Shrugging his hand off my shoulder I said “Go on head back to your little hole in the ground. She...” pointing at Amy “has got what she wanted. The only difference to her plan is that I’m not coming with you.”
Chapter Sixteen
I stormed out of the room and headed back to the little cabin I had been using. I slammed the door and sat on the edge of the bed muttering under my breath. Seeing red probably wasn’t the way to go but I still felt that if we didn’t deal with Benton it would turn round to bite us. Sitting there stewing in my own juices I was getting more and more annoyed with the others. The fact that none of them had come after me made me feel more annoyed.
A gentle knock on the door to my cabin pulled me out of my dark thoughts.
“What?”
“You okay, bud?” Chris’ muffled voice came from the other side of the door.
I shook my head “I’m fine.”
The door opened and he stuck his head in “You don’t sound it.”
“Look, I’m sorry I snapped and for what I said. But you have to see that they will find us and they will try to take the Bunker and that will place everyone there in danger.”
“Look, I am not saying that they won’t. All I am saying is we could find a way to deal with them later.” He said, squeezing in through the small doorway.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
“Amy and the others want to start heading back today before it gets any later. I came down to ask if you would at least head back with us, and if you still wanted to blow the oil rig up, well, at least you’d have the C4 needed to do it.”
It made sense and it would mean I could replace the gear that I had lost in Hull.
“Fine, but I’m not staying. I’ll get re-stocked and then I will head out to find Benton’s oil rig.”
“Great. I’ll get Mike to moor the lifeboat. Spirit and the pup can ride with David, Mike and Amy. We’ll use the ATV’s and follow them.” He said, moving to the door.
“Chris!” he stopped and turned “This doesn’t mean I will be stopping.”
“I didn’t think you would be, mate.” He said, stepping through the open doorway and disappearing out of view.
The next two hours were busy getting everything put away and ready for the run to the vehicles. I carried my rucksack up to the bridge and watched Mike slowly move the lifeboat up to the small dock near the lifeboat station. From where we were, I could see about four infected lurching around the station and the small carpark.
Where the others had gone, I wasn’t certain, but from the looks of the churned sand nearby, quite a few had been standing at the shoreline watching our little water borne sanctuary.
David came in from outside and looked at me from the corner of his eye. I suppose they had all decided that if they didn’t speak to me, then they wouldn’t get their heads bitten off.
Amy wandered in closely followed by Chris. Mike bumped the lifeboat against the dock and David went outside to secure it. I followed with one of the rifles to give him any cover he might have needed. Standing at the side rail I watched as he pulled the large ropes round the posts to secure the lifeboat. The four infected hadn’t noticed us and there weren’t any closer than those four. Chris came out on deck and started to throw our gear over to David.
“Just got to get the dogs.” Chris said and disappeared back inside.
I looked over at the lifeboat station and saw that the four infected had just vanished.
“David, keep an eye out.” I shouted and lifted the rifle to look down the scope.
Panning across the lifeboat station and the sand dunes, I noticed some movement and hovered over the spot for a few seconds. Nothing seemed to move now that I was watching so I put it down to nerves and continued keeping watch.
Amy came out carrying the pup who was struggling to get down.
“Stop that, you fucking idiot.” She said holding the squirming dog out to David.
David lowered the pup to the ground and I watched as he cowered beside David’s leg.
Spirit shot out of the hatchway and launched herself over railing and landed on the dock. Smiling, I moved over to the side a little more. The lifeboat engine died and Mike came out.
“That’s her shut down.” He said to Chris.
“Ok, then let’s get back to the Bunker.” Chris replied, and jumped over onto the dock and Mike followed huffing as he landed.
Taking one quick look with the scope I moved over to the rail. A breeze wafted by from the lifeboat station and brought with it a strong smell of death and rotten flesh. I raised the scope again and looked over toward the station. Again, a flicker of movement caught my eye and I hovered over where it had come from. This time I managed to catch a glimpse of a head moving in the dunes.
“Guys, I think there are some infected in the dunes near the lifeboat station.” I said, jumping down to the dock.
Chris lifted his rifle and looked through his scope at the dunes.
“Can’t see anything.” He said.
“There is something there.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. The car park is between us and the dunes.” Chris said, lifting his rucksack and pulling his arms through the straps.
Everyone else pulled on their gear and lifted their weapons. Spirit hugged close to my legs as we slowly headed toward the car park. Amy heard it first; a low moan drifted over the sand dunes toward us.
“I think Marc is right. There is something in the dunes.” She said.
“Ok, spread out a little then guys.” Chris said.
We had about twenty meters to go when a fresh infected burst out from behind the dunes and nearly ran toward us. He was the fastest infected I had seen to date. He must have been in his late twenty’s. Half his hair and the top half of his face hung down on either side of his head. He was wearing a purple tracksuit and would have been quite fit when he had still been alive.
Chris pulled his rifle up and fired off a quick shot that managed to take the rest of running man’s face off as well as the back of his skull. I could see the white pieces of skull pinwheeling through the air, as the black and green remains of the infected brain splashed back on to the dunes.
“He was a little sprightly.” Chris said, laughing as he lowered his rifle.
“That’s the fastest I have ever seen an infected move.” David said.
We moved on and soon came to the edge of the car park. The Land Rover and the two ATV’s were parked close to the lifeboat station.
Chris was the first to step onto the car park and I swear to God it was like a sta
rting pistol had been fired. A chorus of moans came from all around us. Swivelling around, I could see movement in the dunes.
“Shit.” Amy said.
“Get to the vehicles.” Chris shouted.
Everyone started to run and that’s when the eight running men came out from the dunes. Each were faster than the normal infected and they all looked freshly infected as well. Raising my rifle, I fired and caught one of them in the shoulder, spinning him to the ground. It was damn harder to hit the faster moving running men than the normal lurching infected. As he was climbing to his feet I drilled a round into the top of his skull and he dropped, unmoving, to the floor. Chris had managed to take two down in the time it had taken me to kill one. Amy was doing better still and had managed to drop three of them. That left the two that David and Mike were trying to kill.
David had emptied a full magazine into his infected and it was slowly dragging its shattered body toward us. With a shot from Chris it slumped to the floor just as there was a scream. We spun around to see Mike being lifted into the air by one of the large infected. The running man was underneath trying to pull Mike out of the giant's grasp. Dropping my rifle, I pulled my pistol and fired a full mag into both the running man and the giant. Mike fell on to the top of the dead running man and lay still.
Chapter Seventeen
Turning, I looked for any more infected and I couldn’t see any. The attack had taken less than thirty seconds.
David ran over to Mike and started to look him over.
“He’s breathing.” David shouted.
“We haven’t got time to check him out here. Let’s get him into the Land Rover. David can drive whilst Amy checks him over in the back. Marc, you and I will take the ATV’s.” Chris shouted.
David and Chris lifted Mike’s limp body and carried him over to the rear of the Land Rover. I opened the rear door and they slid Mike inside. We piled our gear in on the rear seats and lifted the two dogs in as well. David climbed into the driver’s seat and Amy into the rear with Mike.
Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) Page 8
