Steve grew bored and set the radio equipment to automatic scanning. It wasn't much more interesting to watch than a washing machine, with the numbers on the readout cycling round. The receiver spent two seconds on each channel before moving on to the next, until it found one that was being transmitted on, then it stopped.
Usually the receiver would latch onto a channel where a conversation was already in progress. The transmissions were almost all short and involved someone telling someone else to change location, move a detail or shift equipment. Sometimes there were situation reports but again they didn't mean much to Alex and Steve because they didn't know the codes used for the different locations.
They were starting to nod off around midnight, when they overheard something which made them sit up and listen. It was a report to the commander about a particularly crafty female sergeant who had put restraints on her partner as soon as she felt the symptoms creeping up on her. The affected sergeant then left her subordinate shut in a cupboard unable to raise the alarm. For more than an hour the increasingly violent sergeant marauded around the base. She engaged anyone she found on their own, usually knocking them to the ground before running off. In a coordinated operation, she had been tracked down cornered and sedated.
Alex broke out of sleep so fast, it made her heart race. She'd heard a noise. Steve woke to find she'd grabbed his arm and was shaking him awake.
'Wha…?'
'Shh,' Alex hissed.
'What time is it?'
'Who cares.' Alex glanced at her watch. 'Three o'clock.'
Steve slumped back onto the sofa again. Alex shook him some more. 'Steve wake up!'
Steve opened his eyes again. 'What is it?'
'Someone's trying to get in here.'
Steve sat bolt upright, eyes bulging, absolutely still. He held his breath while he stared at the door, trying to make out the position of the deadbolts, although there was no reason they could be anywhere but where he'd left them: fully bolted.
There was silence for what seemed like an hour. Steve lost count of the ticks of the operations room clock and looked at Alex, then back at the door. Still nothing.
A series of knocks and tapping made them both nearly jump out of their skins. Next came scraping and scuffling sounds.
Steve put a finger to his lips and he and Alex crept from the sofas towards the door.
Suddenly Steve lurched away from Alex and collapsed to the floor, clasping his leg between his hands and writhing soundlessly.
Shaking violently, Alex thought he was going zombified on her. Risking all, she bent down to see what was the matter.
Steve could see the expression on Alex's face and managed to whisper through gritted teeth, 'Just cracked my knee on that desk.'
Alex whispered back. 'Serves you right! You gave me a nasty turn just then. What are we going to do about the door?'
Steve jabbed his hand sideways, with four fingers pointing horizontally, in the same direction as the deadbolts. 'Keep it locked and stop trying to move around,' he whispered.
'But who do you think is out there?'
'More like what, not who, would be my guess.'
Steve resorted to rubbing his dented knee. He leaned forward, rolled up his trouser leg and inspected himself for injury. There was no sign of any damage, just the pain and the likelihood of a bruise.
The two of them listened intently.
Some distance away, back in the camp a zombie scream rang out, to be answered by a blood-chilling screech from right outside the door and the sound of fists beating against the woodwork.
'You think the door will hold?'
'Best just to stay quiet and hope they go away.'
Alex and Steve stumbled back and huddled together on one of the sofas. There followed a succession of screams from immediately outside. The last scream was cut short by the crackling sound of a taser, followed by muffled conversation and noises equivalent to someone being manhandled down the stairs out of the tower. Steve and Alex knelt on their sofa and looked down to see a man and a woman in camo dragging a third towards a jeep. The stunned individual was propped next to the man in the back, while the woman drove away towards the centre of the camp.
Alex held one of Steve's hands in both of hers. 'Now don't go bumping into anything else, OK?'
Chapter 12: Unwelcome Visitors
Albert Mason sat alone with the Prime Minister in his private office at Downing Street.
'Professor, you didn't have yourself flown over in person at this hour to bring me good news, did you?'
'No, Sir.' Mason hesitated and looked at the PM, trying to assess his mood.
'Come on out with it, man.'
'Starting yesterday morning, we've had a string of new cases.'
The PM looked as if he was very glad indeed that he was sitting down. 'Where?'
'At the army base where the students are being kept.'
'Anywhere else?' The PM said sharply.
Mason shook his head. 'No, none.'
'Are the students infected?'
'No, they've been isolated.'
'Well, that's something.' The PM picked up a pen, tapped it twice on the desk and put it down again. 'So, this isn't linked to the students at all?'
'Definitely not. The new cases are all latent ones. Makes fifty-seven now.'
'Good grief! How do you know you haven't got some hideous new strain?'
'Zero incubation time. The patient suffers some sort of trigger and within an hour or so, sometimes it's within minutes, susceptible individuals start showing the first symptoms.'
'Definitely none outside the camp?'
'Not for two days now.'
'And there've been no verified international sightings?'
Shaking his head grimly, the professor said, 'We'd know about it if there had been.'
'Yes, Mason, we would: by international hue and cry! See that red phone over there,' The PM indicated the instrument at the end of his desk. 'It would have been practically glowing white hot by now if there'd been even one.'
The professor looked glum but didn't have anything to add. He felt as exhausted as he had in the last outbreak.
'I have to say, Mason, it's what I've been dreading ever since this latent thing kicked off last week.'
'Quite. Things are a little tense at Breathedeep.' The professor rallied himself and said, 'You have my full assurance that we're working on every avenue.'
'And will continue to do so.'
'Of course,' the professor said. 'On the positive side, it's extremely rare.'
The PM tightened the belt on his dressing gown and wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. 'I don't care how rare, you'd better get back to the lab.'
Alex and Steve were woken again only half an hour after the zombie trying to break in, by more banging on the door and a muted voice calling to be let in. Alex thought she recognised the voice but she wasn't sure. There was no screaming, so she went and pressed her ear to the door and waited for the call to come again.
'Let me in, let me in.' and after a pause. 'That Hodgeson bloke sent me.'
'Who is it?' Alex said, as Steve joined her, taking care to avoid contact with any furniture on the way.
The muted voice came again, 'Let me in. It's Tarquin. Let me in. It's madness out here.'
'Commander Hodgeson said we hadn't to let anyone in.' Alex replied. 'Not without getting a radio message direct from him.'
'Well, he sent me and I'm here, so let me in.' The thumping on the door resumed. 'It's Tarquin. I can help protect you.'
Alex rolled her eyes. 'How do we know you're not infected?'
'Because I'm telling you! Hurry up before one of them comes sneaking up here! They're all over the place.'
Steve selected the channel for Commander Hodgeson on the walkie-talkie and pressed the speak button. 'Commander, are you there?'
'Steve?' There was the sound of someone running and breathing heavily. 'Make it quick.'
'We've got that Tarquin banging on the door
saying you sent him.'
'I only just let him out of the cell I had him locked in. He's not had any contact with anyone else.'
'But you didn't radio to let us know.'
'I thought you'd let in another student without needing my say-so.'
'Oh, Ok,' Steve said. 'Er… over and out.'
Alex seized Steve's hand. 'I don't want him in here,' she hissed.
'You think I do?'
Alex gave a heavy sigh. 'We can't just leave him out there, though, can we? What if he gets bitten or worse?'
Steve shook his head and reached for the door. He withdrew the security bolts and opened the door a crack with his foot jammed against it.
'Are you going to let me in or what?' Tarquin grumbled.
'If you behave.'
'Well you'd better hurry up because I can hear someone moving around at the bottom of the tower.'
Steve opened the door enough to let Tarquin in, then shut it and slid all the bolts again.
None of them dared go to the window to look out. They all held just their breaths and listened, until the sounds moved away again.
Alex pointed to a sofa in the opposite part of the tower to that which she and Steve had occupied. 'You can put yourself over there, we're over this side.'
'But…'
'Don't start. I haven't forgotten about you pretending to be Steve when they first brought us here.'
Tarquin gave an open-handed gesture and tried his best smile on them. 'It was all a misunderstanding.'
'A 'misunderstanding',' Steve said, in a scathing tone, 'which you were quite happy to perpetuate, while I was wandering around uni wondering where Alex was.'
The only illumination in the con tower came from the drinks machine, so Tarquin's smirk was lost on Alex and Steve. He was about to reply with something like "As if I could care." but realised it wasn't worth the hassle. It also occurred to Tarquin that Hodgeson might have left Alex or Steve with a gun to defend themselves. It seemed a very bad idea to discover that they were indeed armed, and get himself turfed out and at the mercy of the zombies again. He slumped down on the sofa Alex had indicated and within five minutes was fast asleep, snoring quietly.
Snuggled back up on her own sofa next to Steve, Alex put her mouth close to Steve's ear. 'Thank goodness for that!' she whispered.
Chapter 13: More Zombies
It seemed to Alex that she had barely closed her eyes when she was wide awake again. She sat up and peered at the dimly lit clock: ten past four. Now what?
Looking across the room, Alex could see Tarquin's outline, curled up on his sofa. At least he wasn't snoring, so that hadn't woken her. Then came a scratching noise.
Mice? Alex drew her knees up, so her feet were away from the floor. She reached for Steve but he wasn't there. Her head swung right and left. Where was Steve?
He had moved to the next sofa and was stretched out, open-mouthed, fast asleep.
'Hmm,' Alex said to herself, 'so it's girls on lookout duty.'
She spent a few seconds wondering what to do as the tick of the clock seemed to grow louder.
'I wonder what's happening outside?' she muttered, then, 'Am I really actually talking to myself?'
The view of the camp through the window showed that the whole place had apparently quietened down. She couldn't see anyone running around, although the floods on top of the canteen were still blazing and it looked as though every light in every room had been switched on.
Then again, that scratching. Now that she was fully awake, Alex realised it was from the direction of the door. Tarquin turned over, almost falling from the sofa onto the floor. Steve was exactly as Alex had last looked at him.
When the scratching stopped and thumping and banging on the door began, the boys did wake up, just in time to witness two terrifying screams which came before more scratching and thumping.
Tarquin tumbled to the floor and scrambled up as the racket outside continued. Alex swung round and looked across the camp. Still no movement.
The thumping stopped to be replaced by garbled speech and another scream.
'Must be two of them,' Tarquin said before the attack on the door resumed.
Steve ran for the walkie-talkie and pressed the Talk button. 'Commander, are you there?'
Silence.
More banging and guttural sounds from beyond the door.
'Commander, we're being attacked! Over.'
'Over?' Alex said.
Steve shrugged his shoulders. 'What they say in the movies...'
'Have you got the right channel?' Tarquin said, trying to sound superior.
'I haven't changed it, have you changed it?'
Tarquin sneered and said, 'Haven't touched it, mate.'
During the next barrage of blows to the door, Alex stared out through the window, hoping for sight of a rescue party but everything was quiet between the tower and the rest of the camp.
'Maybe we're the only ones left,' Alex said.
'You reckon this door's any good?' Tarquin said.
'It held against one of them, before you turned up,' Steve said.
'Either of you too got any weapons?'
'We found a ruler,' Alex said weakly.
Tarquin guffawed, something the zombies didn't find at all amusing, judging by the screams which followed. 'I meant like this.' He pulled a rectangular object from his pocket. It was the sort of thing Alex and Steve had seen before. Tarquin flipped open the safety cover and pressed a yellow button. A cascade of crackling sparks leapt between two spikes at the opposite end. It was a close-quarters taser.
'Your commander chappy gave me it in case I had any trouble on the way over. He didn't give you any guns or anything?'
Alex was horrified at the mention of guns. 'Not even one of those things,' she said, backing away from Tarquin. 'Steve, keep calling on the radio.'
Steve set the scanner running but it just kept cycling. All the channels were dead. And no response from the walkie-talkie.
Tarquin bared his teeth. 'We'll have to take them out on our own, then.'
'What?' Alex said, looking on in horror as Tarquin began sliding back the deadbolts. 'No!'
Steve tossed the walkie-talkie to Alex and ran to the door. He tried to push Tarquin aside but it was like shoving at a wall.
With only one bolt to go Tarquin turned to Alex and said, 'Try the radio again.' To Steve he said, 'Get down low, if one of them gets past me, you can trip it or tackle its legs.'
Seeing no alternative, Steve crouched low, back from the arc the door would make when it opened. Alex screamed another plea for help into the walkie-talkie as Tarquin pulled the last deadbolt and opened the door.
He'd been right, there were two camo-clad zombies, each wild-eyed, drooling and lunging straight past the open door.
Chapter 14: Attack!
Tarquin jabbed the first zombie with his taser and pressed the yellow button. It shrieked in agony, twitched and dropped to the ground, blocking the doorway. The other zombie screamed in Tarquin's face, then leapt past, straight towards Alex. Not seeing Steve, it fell full-length onto him and began grappling with him. Steve dodged as the zombie tried to head-butt him. The zombie kept missing and knocking into the floor, which can't have been doing it any good. Alex looked on in horror as Tarquin held back, watching Steve growing gradually weaker under the ferocious attack.
'Tarquin!' Alex shouted. 'Do something!'
Tarquin leaned down to zap the zombie with his taser. It collapsed, writhing, onto Steve. Alex gritted her teeth, frightened that Steve was getting tasered through the zombie. With the last of his strength Steve pushed the zombie away and rolled out from underneath, drool dripping from his face. As soon as he realised he had zombie slime on him, he ran to the bathroom to wash it off.
Alex continued shouting for help into the mike, while Tarquin produced a handful of plastic cable ties. He set about using them to bind the zombies hand and foot. Steve returned from the bathroom and between them, they dragged both the inert zo
mbies back out past the doorway.
'Corporal, is the TX back up?' Commander Hodgeson's voice broke out of the scanner, which had latched onto an active channel.
'OK, Alex. We can hear you,' the commander spoke again. 'We had a zombie take out the transmitter but you should be able to hear me now.'
Alex realised her hand hurt from gripping the walkie-talkie too hard. She relaxed but kept the Talk button pressed. Her voice was still shrill. 'We've got two zombies. Tarquin's zapped 'em with the taser you gave him.'
'He wasn't issued with a taser!' Hodgeson said in a brisk tone. 'I'll be right over.'
Tarquin began to shuffle his feet and said, 'Good thing I had one, though, isn't it?'
Alex scoffed and turned her attention to the window. She saw three jeeps set off from the back of the admin block. Five minutes later, Commander Hodgeson paused to inspect the zombies, then stepped over them and strode into the room.
He looked straight at Tarquin. 'Alright, what's this about a taser?'
Tarquin grinned and held it out but was reluctant to give it up.
'These things really work, man.'
'Hand it over.'
Two of the men who'd arrived with the commander had moved to flank Tarquin, who maintained his silly grin. He soon lost it, though, when the men expertly flipped him face down on the floor, the taser was knocked from his grip, and his hands were bound behind his back.
'What's all this about?' Tarquin growled. 'I saved these guys.'
'Where would you like me to start?' Hodgeson said, folding his arms across his chest and standing very upright, his boots not far from Tarquin's face. 'Taking weapons without permission. Unauthorised discharge of weapons, untrained use of restricted devices…'
Alex wasn't sure if they were real charges or if the commander had made them up to make Tarquin feel small.
'Good thing you're a civilian my lad, or you'd be in very hot water. Where did you get this device?' The commander picked it up and clicked the cover securely down over the activation button, before putting it in his pocket.
'Found it on my way over here. Someone must have dropped it.'
'Alright, take him to the guard house. I'll deal with him later.'
The zombies had already been taken away by four of the soldiers. Tarquin was hauled to his feet and escorted, a soldier on each arm, out and down the stairs.
British Zombie Breakout: Part Four Page 4
