‘Yeah I’m a big one alright and no I don’t know anyone else around here.’ He then took a step towards Nick.
‘Ok,’ Nick said. ‘Well I’m pleased to hear that. Now listen.’ Nick rolled his shoulders again. ‘What’s your name? I’ve got a good plan for you.’
‘My names Jeff and I don’t need no plan from you, you fucking weirdo!’
Nick smiled. ‘Jeff. Why don’t you just take your brother and get into your car and go. You’ve had your fun. Go now. Leave here before this situation gets any worse.’
‘Fuck off twat! I got my own plan. I’m going to take your head and pull it off. How does that plan sound weirdo?’
‘I really don’t like that plan at all Jeff,’ Nick told him, while wishing he had just cut this big bastards throat when he wasn’t looking.
‘Well I don’t fucking care if you like it!’ Jeff then lunged straight at Nick, aiming a huge right punch at his head. He moved fast for a big man but Nick moved faster. He slipped right under the wide punch and hammered one of his own into the big man’s ribs. Jeff grunted as he felt a rib snap. He stumbled forward a pace and then turned.
Nick smiled, stepped back and moved into fighting stance facing Jeff. His left foot was forward and his hands were up. The ache in his back a distant memory now as his adrenalin levels started to rise. Jeff looked at him for a second, holding his side.
‘Take your brother and go Jeff.’ Nick was still and calm. ‘I promise you this won’t end well for you if you don’t.’
‘Fuck you!’ Jeff lunged forward again, but he was slower this time and using his left hand.
Nick easily slipped under it and hammered a left punch. This time into Jeff’s left side. He felt another rib crack beneath his hardened fist and he spun around again. ‘I can do this all evening mate, but can you?’ Nick stood ready for another lunge but Jeff was bent over gasping for breath. The beating he had taken from his brother was taking its toll, and now the pain in his ribs tore at him with every breath. He glared over at Nick but he knew he wasn’t going to win this one and his anger was fading fast.
‘Ok weirdo,’ he grunted and painfully straightened up a bit. ‘I’ll let you have this one.’ He gasped and turned, then he stumbled towards the car. Glaring over at the group of girls as he noticed them sitting there watching.
‘Hey! What about your brother?’ Nick called.
Jeff didn’t turn around. The car door was still open from earlier so he just carefully climbed into the driving seat and turned the ignition. Nick watched as he slowly pulled the door shut and revved the engine. He was half expecting Jeff to try and run him over so he stood behind the comatose Bill. Would he run his own brother over to get to me? He wondered, looking down at the mountain of flesh in front of him. Would the car even make it over him? But he didn’t need to worry. Jeff just reversed the car back a little and then pulled away slowly.
‘This ain’t over weirdo!’ Jeff shouted out of the car window as he drove away.
Nick just shook his head. Another day another problem, he thought. He waited until the car had disappeared down the slip road and onto the motorway before turning back to look at Bill. ‘He probably didn’t like the idea of trying to carry you I suppose.’ Nick took a few seconds to calm himself down then he began to walk slowly back over to the girls. They were now fussing over the young one as she was slowly sitting up. Nick gave her a glance as he walked passed. She seemed ok, just bruised and shaken up a bit. He stepped back into the woods and he was glad to see that Dan was sitting up now as well. He was leaning back against a tree, holding his head.
The sun was low in the sky and it was nearly dark as they helped Sammy sit up. Her head ached and her whole body hurt. She also thought she must be hallucinating as she watched a man in army clothes look at her and then walk off.
‘How bad are you feeling darling?’ Beth put the back of her hand to her daughters head.
‘I feel really bad mum, ‘Sammy replied, her eyes watering. ‘I hurt all over.’
‘Can we go now mum? I don’t really like it here,’ Kay asked, looking around.’
‘I know darling but Jeff is the most dangerous one, and he has just driven off. We don’t know where he is so it would be better to stay here for a little while.’ She turned to her younger daughter. ‘Can you stand up Sammy?’
‘I don’t think so mum. I feel really dizzy.’
‘We will help you. Kay you get on one side of your sister and I’ll get on the other.’ Beth manoeuvred herself around to Sammy’s left side painfully. Her neck and leg were still causing her pain. Kay took Sammy’s arm on her right side. ‘Ok. Now lift!’ Beth said.
‘Ah,’ Sammy complained. ‘I can’t stand up.’
‘You’ll be ok in a bit darling. You have to do this.’
‘How long are we going to stay here for then?’ Kay asked.
‘Let’s get Sammy sorted first then we can think about what to do next.’
‘Mum.’
‘What is it now Kay?’ Beth asked, struggling to hold Sammy and walk with her bad leg and sore neck.
‘What happened to Dan?’ Kay asked. ‘He’s disappeared.’
‘I don’t really care right at this moment!’ Beth told her.
Kay kept quiet after that and they struggled across the car park as the sun started to slip further down behind the trees on the other side of the motorway.
Chapter eight
Nick knelt down before Dan and checked his head as best he could in the poor light. He concluded that it was a bit lumpy but seemed intact. He held a finger in front of Dan’s eyes.
‘What am I holding up Dan?’
‘Nothing,’ Dan answered slowly.
‘Ok, how many fingers am I holding up?’ Nick tried again.
‘One?’
‘Good.’ He shook his head. ‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’ Follow my finger with your eyes.’ Nick moved his finger around and watched Dan’s eyes track it. ‘Do you feel sick?’
‘No.’
‘You’ve been blessed with a hard head mate. A hard but empty head. That’s natures balance at work.’
‘It hurts though,’ Dan told him hanging his head.
‘A blow like that should have cracked your head open. You’re lucky.’
‘I don’t feel lucky,’ Dan replied, staring at the ground.
‘No I don’t suppose you do mate,’ Nick agreed.
Bill groaned and tried to open his eyes. They were so swollen that he couldn’t open them any more than two small slits. To say he felt like shit would be completely wrong. He felt so much worse than shit. The sun had gone down and although it wasn’t quite dark yet the whole car park was in shade now. He wondered how long he had been out for. He made a huge effort and managed to roll over onto his front. Pain wracked him. Everything hurt as he slowly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He looked around as best he could but he couldn’t see or hear anybody. His imagination filled in the details for him. Jeff, after knocking him unconscious had raped and killed the women and girls. But where were they all now? Where was Jeff? Another huge effort and a lot more pain and Bill managed get to his feet. He wobbled there for a moment trying to feel how badly he was hurt and wondering if anything was broken. It didn’t feel like it. He attempted a step forward and to his surprise it worked. He looked around. Where the fuck had everybody gone?
As the girls struggled across the car park towards the mess of abandoned cars Beth was looking all around for any sign of the men coming back. So she noticed immediately when Bill started to move.
‘Quick! Get down!’ she whispered urgently. She dropped to her knees onto the tarmac and Kay crouched down. Sammy hanging between them had no choice but to drop down as well. ‘Get right down!’ Beth whispered urgently, helping Kay to lower Sammy so that they were all lying flat on the ground facing bill. They watched as he stood up and looked around. It seemed that he couldn’t see them in the growing shadows.
‘Stay very still,’ Beth commanded. They th
en saw Nick step out from the trees. He stopped by the tree line to scan the car park. He glanced across at Bill, still struggling to remain upright then he looked straight over at them. He paused then, and it seemed to Beth that he was making a decision. It seemed that he frowned, took a step back, then changed his mind, smiled and started to walk across the car park towards where they were lying. She froze for a second then let go of Sammy and stood up. The girls were lying very still on the ground so she stepped in front of them protectively as Nick strolled over.
‘Hi,’ he said smiling.
‘Hi,’ she replied. She thought he seemed very relaxed considering what he’d just done then she saw the tension in his eyes as he got closer.
He stopped a few paces away from her with his hands hanging loose by his sides.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t harm you or your girls.’
Beth found his voice strangely calming. He spoke quietly but with a confidence that made it hard not to believe what he said. But she had to remember that she was at the end of her endurance after today’s events and that she badly wanted to believe in someone.
‘Where’s Dan?’ Beth asked. She couldn’t give in to that voice. She couldn’t let her guard down. There was too much at stake here. The lives of her girls were at stake here.
‘Dan is back there recovering.’ He gestured with his hand back towards the woods. ‘He took a bad hit from that big fella but he’ll be ok. He’s got a hard head.’ He looked down at the girls lying on the ground. ‘What about your girl? Is she going to be ok?’
‘She’ll be ok if we can get away from you lot!’ Beth replied harshly. ‘Why does everything have to come down to violence with men? I thought the virus was bad enough.’ She stared at him. ‘Oh what’s the point,’ she suddenly said, sagging. She was just beginning to turn away from him when she saw him smile at her and all of a sudden it was just too much. She thought he was laughing at her so she threw herself at him. Her hands balled up into small fists and she started to pummel at his chest and face. Nick didn’t move. He didn’t hit her back or knock her away. He just stood there still as a statue while she struck at him.
After her frustration finally wore itself out she stepped back, suddenly scared. She looked back down at the girls behind her and she saw that they were scared as well. She returned her gaze to Nick. He was still smiling at her, although there was now a thin trickle of blood running from his lip.
‘Feeling a bit better now?’ he asked her, still not moving. ‘After a bit of violence? His hands were still hanging by his sides.
Beth was confused. She could feel her face glowing bright red from the exertion. Or was it embarrassment? She had completely lost control and attacked him after having a go at him for being violent. ‘Look, I’m sorry ok,’ she told him. ‘I just want to get us away and find somewhere safe.’ Pushing her long blonde hair back behind her ears, she straightened up. She then took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming herself and looked Nick straight in the eyes. Nick was looking back at her. His eyes had now lost the tension that they held before. They were now full of compassion, and that was the one thing that she couldn’t handle. All of a sudden she started crying. A deep sob racked her body and she felt herself falling to the ground, her legs no longer able to support her, her brain no longer caring if they could.
Nick had watched the woman curiously as she started yelling at him and he didn’t know what to do. He had always had trouble trying to understand women. It was his opinion that they seemed completely irrational, and under the control of their hormones. This made it very hard to predict what they would do next. This one was a typical example. She was shouting and ranting abuse at him one minute then crying the next, but when she had begun to fall he reacted without thinking and stepped forward to hold her up. As he held her under the arms her head fell onto his shoulder and she sobbed into it. He had become unused to such close proximity to anyone, especially a woman and his emotions were suddenly adrift as well. He didn’t have a clue what to do so he just stood there and let her cry herself out. First Dan and now this woman and her girls. They were all touching his life in a way that he had not felt for a very long time. He didn’t like it. Then he felt something hard smack into the back of his head and everything went dark.
Nick woke up to the sound of low quiet talking. He kept his eyes closed as he checked himself over. He didn’t seem to be tied up and everything felt normal apart from an aching head. He slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on his back. There was a rolled up blanket under his head. The sky was deep black and full of stars. The talk was coming from very close by and on his left so he turned his head that way and saw Dan, Beth and the girls sitting around a picnic blanket. They were drinking from cans and talking to the big fella Bill. Bill looked a right mess, then Nick saw Dan look over at him.
‘He’s awake!’ Dan suddenly shouted. Nick’s head vibrated in tune with the shout and he wondered if that boy would ever learn to keep quiet. Bill climbed slowly to his feet and walked over to look down at him. He looked like a giant from Nick’s position on the ground.
‘How are you feeling Nick?’ he mumbled through swollen lips.
‘Just brilliant,’ Nick answered as he rolled over and pushed his arms beneath himself to stand up. That was when he noticed his knives were missing. ‘You are another big one!’ he said, taking a few steps back away from Bill. He felt really dizzy.
‘They told me what happened with my brother,’ Bill mumbled quietly.
‘Where are my knives?’ Nick asked, taking another step back.
‘I took them,’ Bill mumbled a bit louder.
‘Why?’ Nick asked. As he spoke he was mentally preparing himself for another fight. Bill looked battered and bruised but he was still very big, and Nick was feeling very weak and dizzy.
‘They are over there.’ he pointed at the small collection of blades a few feet away. ‘You have a lot of knives.’
‘I like knives,’ Nick told him.
‘Oh please stop! Beth shouted over and Nick looked in her direction.
‘Hello.’ Nick touched the back of his head. ‘Sorry I didn’t catch your name before I was knocked out.’
‘Hello,’ Beth answered with a sigh. ‘My name is Beth. These are my daughters. Kay is the eldest and this is Sammy. You know Dan and that is Bill. He hit you because he thought you were attacking me. It was an easy mistake to make in the circumstances. He took your knives because your friend Dan said you might just wake up and kill everybody. Now can we all just try to be nice now? It has been a really shit day!’
Chapter nine
A virus is not classified as a living organism. But it does need to replicate inside a living host, because without living cells the virus would not be able to exist. Once within a living cell though, if left to its own device it will take over all of the living cells of its host and by doing so it will kill it. The virus will then cease to exist. Viruses do not gain from killing people. But viruses are not considered living organisms, so how could they know that?
Approximately Ninety nine percent of the Earth’s population were suitable hosts for this particular strain of flu virus. Approximately ninety nine percent of the Earth’s population had ceased to exist rather painfully by the Thirteenth of May Two thousand and fourteen. After killing all suitable hosts the virus that had killed them all died very shortly afterwards.
Approximately one percent of people worldwide were immune to a virulent strain of the flu virus that didn’t know what it was doing. About seven hundred thousand were immune in the UK. With no Government, Army or Police to maintain any kind of control. There were food riots, gang warfare and a lot of other random killings. This had left around five hundred thousand people still alive in the UK two months later. On a hot night in July six of those people were at a wrecked motorway services on the M3.
Bill wasn’t feeling very well. His face was a mess of swollen tissue, bruises and cuts. His head thumped along with every heartbeat. As the night deepened they
had all moved inside the services and he now sat quietly, leaning back into the seat as he looked around at the others. The two girls were asleep, lying on blankets brought from their smashed up car. Their mum sat near them on a padded bench seat, alternately looking around and then back at the girls.
The boy and Nick sat away from the others talking quietly. Bill didn’t know what to think and his aching head wasn’t helping with that much. Apparently, Jeff had driven off on his own after trying to kill him and then fighting with Nick. He really wouldn’t miss him. That much he had to admit. Jeff was his brother but he had become a right pain in the arse. Over the last few years Bill had noticed that his brother had begun to get worse, then when the virus had come Jeff had been in his element. Today had just been waiting to happen. His brother’s mental problems had finally become impossible to control. Jeff had actually tried to kill him, and he would be dead now if it wasn’t for this stranger. He chewed on that thought. He would be dead now. They were actually all in his debt, because without a doubt they would all be dead or dying by now if Nick hadn’t been around. He looked at the others again then stood up slowly. The woman looked up at him and the boys eyes flicked over. If Nick noticed him moving he didn’t give anything away. A cool customer, Bill thought, and a fucking dangerous one. He needed to find somewhere to sleep just in case Nick got any wrong ideas about him. He started walking off towards the back of the services, looking for a door he could lock himself behind.
Dan watched as the big man slowly walked away. He was still feeling the effects of being hit on the head with the baseball bat, and he was exhausted. He was more tired than he could ever remember being. ‘Where do you think he’s going?’ he asked Nick.
‘He’s going to find somewhere to sleep I should think.’ Nick was staring in the opposite direction. He was looking in the direction of the doors. Wishing he was back at his campsite. He’d be asleep by now, without a care in the world. It had been a funny couple of days to say the least. ‘He’s looking for somewhere with a door he can lock.’
New World: Nick Smith Book one (Nick Smith Series 1) Page 6
