Pet From Hell (Infected Series Book 1)

by Justin Gowland

  Taking my time and keeping low I slid round the corner and came up behind the guard. Standing I was just slightly lower than him but not by much, quickly I circled my hand round and over his mouth whilst at the same time stabbing the knife though his throat from the side. I felt him buck backwards but I tightened my grip and held on. I could feel the warmth of his blood as it flooded over my hand. The air around us instantly began to smell of copper and the smell of his released bowels. He had shit himself in the last few seconds of his life. He dropped to his knees and fell face first on to the concrete spilling the last of his blood on the floor round his head like the halo of a demon. I would have fallen with him if I hadn’t let go of the knife and his mouth. I stood looking down at him and was surprised at how little I was disturbed by what I had just done.

  Chris tapped me on the shoulder and said “I hope you’re going to pick my knife up?”

  I bent quickly and tugged the knife from the biker’s neck and cleaned in on his jacket before handing it back to Chris.

  “Come on let’s get the ladies out of here so we can come back and finish the rest of them.” He said passing me my rifle.

  I walked into the shed and saw four women cowering in the corner. I knelt on the floor and in a quiet voice I said “We’re here to help. We’ve come to get you out of here.”

  A timid voice came from the back of the group “Who are you?”

  “My name is Marc and the big man behind me is Chris. We are going to get you out of here.” I said.

  “Why should we trust you? You might be the same as them.” Said the voice.

  I looked over my shoulder at Chris and he just shrugged.

  “Ok if you want to stay with them, that’s fine.” I said standing and moving toward the door.

  “Wait!”

  I turned to look into the dark shed.

  “Where are you going?” the voice said.

  “Back the way we came. If you’re not wanting our help, then you can stay here with the bikers.” I said.

  “You can’t leave us like this.” She cried out.

  Sighing I said “Can you please make your mind up. Either you want saving or you don’t. Which is it?”

  A shadow moved toward me and I saw a woman about five feet tall, her naked body was covered with scrapes and bruises. She had long dark hair and dark eyes that looked black in the dim light coming from the doorway.

  “My name is Tracy.” She said looking at her bare feet. “Where are you going to take us?”

  “There’s a garage not far from here that we checked out earlier today. We were going to get you there and have another one of us guard you, whilst myself and Chris came back and killed all these pieces of filth.” I said looking at her.

  “What if we don’t want to stay?” She asked.

  Chris’ voice rumbled from behind me “If you don’t want to stay afterwards. That’s not a problem. We won’t stop you from leaving any time you want to.”

  “Look I would love to have a huge discussion about this but if we drag this on any longer then we are all going to be up shit creek without a paddle.” I said.

  Chris and I went out the doorway and stood guard on either side as the women made their way to it. With Chris in the lead, we guided the four women over to the fence and slipped out through the opening we had made. Slowly we headed over to the garage and met up with Jay. The women slipped under the garage door and into the darkness inside. The three of us stood outside to talk about what we were going to do next.

  “First thing, Jay you need to be on guard with those women. Even though they have been through a lot doesn’t mean they won’t try and jump you.” Chris said “Secondly, Marc we know what happened to you but when we go inside the compound to finish this. You cannot and I mean cannot go all Rambo on them. If you lose control we could both die and I for one don’t fancy that.”

  “I know and I promise not to.” I said.

  Jay looked at the garage door and back at Chris before saying “Look why can’t we just close the door and secure the women inside?”

  “Because we don’t leave naked vulnerable women alone. Not before all of this and definitely not now.” Chris said with a slight growl at the end. “Now are we ready?”

  “Yeah.” I said.

  “Suppose so, I’m not happy about it though.” Jay said.

  “Noted. Marc come on let’s see if we can find where those bikers bed down.” Chris said moving away from the garage and into the deeper darkness.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Heading after him, I heard the muted rattle of the garage door being pulled down. Taking our time getting back to the fence, we stood listening for any sign of that the dead guard had been discovered. With no sound of increased activity we slipped in through the opening and ducked behind some barrels and looked for the entrance to the main building. Spotting a thin line of light peeking out from under a door. I tapped Chris on his arm and pointed it out. I slipped out of our hiding place and ran crouched over to the door and knelt down listening for noise on the other side. I heard Chris’ heavy footsteps before I saw the large man appear from the darkness on the other side of the door. Reaching up I slowly tried the handle turning it one way then the other. The lock clicked and I pulled the door open just enough so I could slip inside. The brightness of the large space was stunning and I couldn’t move at first. Then I felt a large hand on my back gently push me further away from the doorway. When things came back into focus, I could see that there were boxes and crates piled all over the floor and in the far right hand corner two large marque like tents had been erected. That must be where the bikers slept.

  Stepping behind the crates we knelt down in the shadows. I glance round the side of the crates and saw the large biker that I had seen earlier in the day. He was stood with his back to us looking out of a large opening at the front of the warehouse. I could hear voices echoing from outside.

  “I think there is only one in here with us at the moment.” I whispered.

  “Looks that way. It might be a good idea if we wait for the others to come back inside after dealing with the infected. Then take it from there.” Chris replied.

  “And there was you calling me all gung-ho.” I said smiling.

  “There’s gung-ho and then there’s being fucking stupid.”

  “Tell the truth you just want to fire your weapon.” I said with a soft laugh.

  “Funny fucker.”

  Just then another three bikers came in through the opening and stood in front of the fat biker. From their gestures I could tell that they weren’t very happy, but to tell the truth I didn’t care. One of the bikers stomped over to a tent and went inside and after a short while came out with a large radio.

  “Ah!” Chris said “This might be a small problem.”

  “Why?”

  “That group that tried to jump us at the petrol station had one just like it.”

  “So what, we dealt with them.”

  “Yeah, and I smashed the shit out of the radio. The thing that worries me is if they are trying to get in contact with them.” He whispered.

  A loud shout echoed from the front of the warehouse “What the fuck do you mean, you can’t get in touch with Rick?”

  We couldn’t hear the reply, but we did see the reaction. The fat man moved with quite a speed and stabbed the biker carrying the radio in the throat. The biker’s blood seemed to fountain up into the air in a high arc, before his body seemed to fall to the side dropping the radio which clattered on to the floor. Hiding in the shadows of the crates we watched as the other two bikers stepped away from their fallen friend.

  Chris pointed to another set of crates about five feet away and then said “Marc head over there and we should have good lanes of fire.”

  I nodded and keeping myself low I ran as quietly as I could across the space between. I lay down at the side of the crates looking toward the front of the warehouse. Glancing over at Chris he held up five fingers twice, letting me know to start
shooting in ten seconds. Calming my breathing I took aim at the head bikers back just in between his shoulder blades. Getting to the ten count seemed to take an age, just as I was about to squeeze my trigger Chris fired and I acted on impulse and snapped a shot off. Lucky for the head biker my round missed and went sailing off into the night without hitting anything. He dived quickly to the floor and rolled behind some boxes before I could get another round off. Chris had hit his mark though and took what looked like nearly the full head off of one of the other bikers. I fired on the remaining biker and hit him in the crotch. I didn’t mean to hit him there but his scream was so high pitched, as he grabbed the quickly staining area at the front of his jeans. He sagged to his knees and my next shot hit him in the throat and mushroomed up and out the back of his head, taking most of it away into the night air.

  The large biker was screaming for help, from his hiding spot behind the boxes. Another six bikers came rushing inside, two were brandishing small hunting rifles and one was carrying a shotgun. The other three were only carrying axes and a baseball bat. Taking out the ones with the guns first were our priority. Chris had managed to take out the shotgun toting biker and I had fired of three shots to take down one rifle. The last rifle had moved over to where the leader was hiding and was leaning over the top of the boxes firing in my direction, enough so that I had to move. Rolling over to the other side of my crates I fired two shots at the biker carrying the baseball bat the first hit him in the shoulder spinning him round and as he turned my second shot hit him dead centre of his back. It cut his spine in half and his legs seemed to just be cut from underneath him. Chris had clipped one of the bikers carrying an axe in the hip and the biker was trying to slowly drag himself across the floor.

  That left the leader, another axe welding biker and the one with the rifle. I noticed a shadow moving on the wall near the boxes the leader was hiding behind. From the size I could only guess it was the leader. I decided to use the remainder of my mag in trying to nail him. I started shooting at the side of the boxes were I thought he was. Hoping to have a shot penetrate through and either kill him or wound him. I fired until the slide locked open and on the second to last shot I heard a huge scream from behind the boxes. Slamming another mag into the rifle I looked for my next target, but Chris had managed to kill the biker with the rifle and the last biker with the axe. The one he had wounded was still trying to crawl away from us. Standing with our rifles up, we scanned the warehouse for anymore bikers or surprises.

  We walked the length of the warehouse and stopped short of the boxes and then circled round as not to give the lead biker a chance to grab either of us. The baseball bat carrying biker was sprawled out on the floor, his blood was seeping out in a large pool around his body. The leader was lying in the pool of blood holding his hand to his neck whilst holding his other hand to his side. It seemed that at least two of my shots had found their marks. His face had lost all colour and his breath was coming out in short ragged bursts.

  “Help…..me!” He said.

  “You can get fucked!” Chris said.

  “Please….I’ve do...ne nothing to you.” His voice came out quietly.

  “You tried to steal our vehicle and kill us. Not to mention kidnapping and holding those women against their will.” I said looking down at him.

  I heard moans coming from the front of the compound and I smiled and said “Looks like you are going to be having company soon.”

  I swear his face got even paler and he gasped out “You...can’t leave me to those things!”

  “Yes we fucking can. Come on Marc we need to get back to the others.” Chris said turning away.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  We headed out the back door and crept through the darkness to the gap in the fence. Squeezing through the gap we headed toward the garage. We came to the roller door and Chris tapped on the metal.

  “Jay open up it’s going to start getting busy out here soon.” Chris said.

  After a short while there was a rattle and the door opened enough for us to slip inside. Jay was stood to the side of the door and dropped it as soon as we were inside.

  “How did it go?” He asked.

  Chris shrugged and said “As well as you can expect. They’re dead and we’re alive.”

  “Were are the women?” I asked.

  Jay turned and pointed to a small office in the corner of the garage and said “They’re in there. There was a few coveralls on pegs inside so three had them and I took my t-shirt off and gave it to the other one, but before we leave in the morning we’re going to have to find something better for them.”

  “Okay let’s make sure this place is secure for the night. I’ll take first watch.” I said.

  Chris looked at Jay, shrugged and said “Come on mate, let’s leave him to it. I’ve got a feeling he needs sometime to himself.”

  I walked round the garage floor for a while before sitting on the bonnet of a car. My thoughts went to Becky and I felt a weight lift from my heart. I sat looking into the darkened garage, when I heard moans come from outside. I slid off the bonnet and crept over to the door and listened. The moans were faint but seemed to be getting closer. I stood there for five or ten minutes silently listening as the moans approached the garage. The moans became louder and seemed to be coming from the other side of the roller door. The door rattled and seemed to get pushed inward. I crept over slowly and stood about five feet from the door. Just then I heard a clatter of something hitting the floor behind me. I whirled round and found one of the women heading for the small toilet at the rear of the garage. The moaning suddenly got louder and something bashed the roller door. Then it hit the door again and again, the sound echoed round the garage.

  “Marc, what’s happening?” Chris said as he ran over with his rifle.

  I looked over at the woman who was cowering near a car and said “It was an accident, a spanner or something hit the floor at the wrong time.”

  He looked over at the woman as Jay appeared from the dark.

  “Jay be nice and take her back to the others, ok?” Chris asked.

  “Yeah, no problem Chris.” With that said he walked over and knelt in front of the woman. I could hear a whispered conversation and he helped her stand up and walk over to the office. He then ran across the garage floor back to us.

  “Right Jay, get up on the shelves and have a look out the window and let us know what you see. Marc I want you to find some cover and keep an eye on the roller door and I’ll have walk round and see if there anymore entrances.” Chris said taking charge.

  I found a car opposite the door and leaned across the bonnet with my rifle. I heard Jay climbing the shelves and then jump down he ran over to where I was and leaned over the bonnet beside me.

  “Well?” I asked.

  “It’s clear on that side but I couldn’t make out anything further than a few feet.” He said.

  Chris appeared shortly afterward and said “There is a fire door at the back near the office, but that’s the only other exit.”

  Jay told Chris what he had seen from the windows. We stood there watching as the door bent and rattled against the pounding of the infected.

  Tracy appeared beside us and said “We’re starting to get worried back there.”

  “Look we’re worried out here as well, it’s probably best if you go back and keep the others quiet.” Chris said

  “No need to get upset. I just thought you should know.” She said glowering at him.

  “Just keep them quiet and if anything happens there’s a fire door near the office. Get out and run for it ok?” Chris said.

  “We will don’t you worry. I’ve had enough of men to last me a lifetime.” She said storming away into the darkness.

  I sighed and looked at the door.

  “Women they think they’re the most important things in the world.” Chris muttered.

  “Mate just think on what you have just said.” I replied.

  “Just what the fuck do you mean by t
hat?” He said snapping.

  “Chris calm down mate.” Jay said.

  “I’ll fucking calm down when he explains what he fucking means.”

  “Look at what’s happening outside dude. People are dying and then coming back and they outnumber us. I don’t think there are too many living left.” I said before going on “The women we have are probably going to be the most important of us all. Because they are the only ones that can carry the children of the future that is if we are going to have one.”

  “Still doesn’t mean they can order us about.” He said his voice getting subdued.

  “Look she was only letting us know they are a scared as we are and if you think of what they have been through you could see why.” I said watching him out the corner of my eye.

  Chris’ shoulders slumped and he looked at the floor like he had been told off by his mam. I could sort of understand how he felt. Today had been one thing after another and it was Chris who had wanted to come and save the women from the bikers. I would have said as much but the banging on the door increased and the moans seemed to increase, not in volume but the amount of voices.

  “I wish I knew how many were out there.” I said.

  Jay looked across at Chris and said “I could go out the fire door and have a look.”

  “Look if you were going out the fire door so would all of us.” Chris said.

  “Why not go out the fire door?” I said.