Before Safe Haven (Book 4): Jules

by Artinian, Christopher

  It took George less than four minutes to clear the city outskirts. The tension in the cab eased as an industrial landscape gave way to fields and hedgerows. The afternoon sun continued to shine and, provided they did not look in the wing mirrors towards the city behind them and the fading smoke plumes, they could forget they were in the middle of the apocalypse.

  “How far is this place?” Jules asked.

  “Not too far,” George replied.

  “Oh, right, thanks for clearing that up.”

  “It’s a few miles. I know the place. I was just never bored enough to measure the distance from the town centre.”

  “I wonder how Olly’s getting on back there with my brothers.”

  “Well, considering he’s the only one who owns a rifle and we haven’t heard any shots yet, I can only assume that’s a good sign.”

  “Fair point,” Jules replied.

  The journey continued in silence until they reached a tall chain-link fence. George slowed the box van down to a stop, and they all looked towards the even taller grassy bank behind it, hiding whatever lay beyond. He started the van moving again, slower this time. The chain links were punctuated by weathered signs; Ministry of Defence Property. No admittance to unauthorised personnel.

  They came to a left turn, and George manoeuvred the vehicle around the corner. The fence-lined road led to an equally tall and sturdy looking gate. Behind it, there was a sentry box and access barrier, but there was no sign of a sentry guard. George pulled on the handbrake, and the three of them climbed out. There was another notice on this gate, a little more threatening in tone.

  MINISTRY OF DEFENCE PROPERTY. KEEP OUT.

  This is a prohibited place within the meaning of the official secrets act. Unauthorised persons entering this area may be arrested and prosecuted.

  “Not the warmest of welcomes,” Jules said.

  “Seems a bit over the top for a quartermaster’s store, doesn’t it?” Ben said.

  “Yes ... yes it does,” George replied.

  They heard the rear door of the first box van open and somebody jump down.

  “This wasn’t on here before,” Olly said, walking up to join them.

  “How long ago was it since you came?” George asked.

  “I dunno, maybe five or six months.”

  “Looks like they might have been doing something here other than dishing out supplies,” Jules said.

  “It’s a big place. We only ever went to the main reception in building A. There were barracks, underground bunkers and all sorts that we never got to see. I heard that when the army was called back to defend the capital, though, everybody stationed here went down there and the place was abandoned.”

  “So, you’re telling me they might have taken all the supplies down there with them?” Jules asked.

  “Well, it’s possible, but if you got an emergency order calling you to London, would you think it was a logistical priority to make sure surplus uniforms and bedding were on the trucks?”

  “Fair point,” George replied. “No harm in us having a little look around anyway.”

  “Yeah, famous last words,” Jules replied. “How come you didn’t get the order, Olly?”

  “Who says I didn’t?” he replied with a smile on his face.

  “Come on then, let’s get to work,” George said.

  Jules sighed. “Okay. We’re going to need the bolt cutters, though, by the look of it.”

  Olly walked back to the rear of the van. “Bolt cutters,” he said, no please, no thank you. The amiable man who spoke to Jules, George and Ben suddenly disappeared.

  Andy, Rob and Jon, Jules’s brothers, climbed down from the back of the truck. Rob, the middle brother, carried the bolt cutters and walked towards the chained gate with the others behind him.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Don’t worry,” Rob said, interrupting George, “I know what I’m doing.”

  George let out a sigh and reached into his coat pocket for his pipe while the three brothers walked up to the chain. He went through his ritual of carefully loading the chamber and lighting the brown flakes, inhaling deeply until they caught. He withdrew the pipe from his mouth and looked towards Olly with a smile on his face. Olly just shook his head.

  “What am I missing?” Jules asked.

  “You’ll see, poppet,” George replied.

  They watched as the three brothers approached the thick, heavy-duty chain and padlock, which secured the gate. Rob opened the cutters and clamped the blades around one of the chunky links, squeezing the handles together with every grain of strength he had. The blades did not move. “You’re doing it wrong,” Andy said.

  “Am not,” Rob replied.

  “Are too. Give them here,” Andy said, snatching the bolt cutters from his brother and placing the blades on a different link. He grunted as he fixed the sharp edges around the thick metal and tried to force the handles together.

  “See, they’re bust, there’s something wrong with them.”

  “Let me try,” Jon said.

  “Get lost,” replied Andy. “If I can’t do it, there’s no way you’ll be able to.”

  “Will too.”

  Jules let out a breath. “God, give me the strength to overcome the trials you set me in this life.” She turned towards George. “Please make this stop. One way or another. Open the gate, kill them, kill me, just make it stop, I can’t take any more.”

  George took another long puff on his pipe, clamped the plastic bit between his teeth and walked to the cab of the box van. He returned a few seconds later with a much bigger set of bolt cutters and, while the three brothers were still arguing with each other, walked up to the chain. He extended the thirty-six-inch tool and clipped the galvanised steel links as if he was clipping a fingernail. There was a loud metallic clunk as the chain unravelled and fell to the ground, and George walked the gate inwards. He strode over to the yellow-and-black barrier post and examined it for a moment before opening a small door. He removed a handle, positioned it in a slot on the side of the post and began to crank it around. With each turn, the barrier rose a little further until it was vertical. He sucked hard on his tobacco pipe once more, a reward for a job well done, then returned to the box van and climbed in.

  Andy, Rob and Jon looked on a little bewildered before returning to the back of the van. “I think I might just walk in from here,” Olly said, unslinging his SA80.

  “Can’t say I blame you, but don’t you think we should all stick together?” Jules replied.

  Olly looked back towards the van. “Tell you what,” Ben said, “you sit up front with George and Jules, I’ll get into the back with the three stooges.”

  “You’ve just become one of my favourite people,” Olly replied. Not waiting to be asked twice, he walked to the passenger side of the cab and got in.

  “Thanks, darlin’,” Jules said.

  “Doesn’t seem right Olly having to suffer like that. We should sit with them in shifts,” Ben said, smiling.

  “Olly having to suffer? What do I get for my lifetime of suffering?”

  “Well, I’m sure we can figure something out tonight.”

  Jules giggled like a schoolgirl. “I’ll hold you to that.” She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “See you in a couple of minutes.”

  They boarded the van and the two vehicles set off once again. The fence ended after the gate, but the tall grass banks continued, concealing whatever hid behind them. The road led to an expansive network of carparks and buildings. The tall grass embankment surrounded all of it, making sure it was only visible in its entirety by air.

  “Okay, we want to be just over there,” Olly said, pointing.

  George turned the wheel and brought the van to a stop outside of an austere looking brown brick building. He pulled on the handbrake, looked around slowly and deliberately, and then turned the key in the ignition, silencing the engine. The second box van pulled up behind them, and all the occupants climbed out.

 
; A few seconds later, the twelve men and women were gathered in a circle. “Okay, Olly’s been here before; he’s the one who’ll be guiding us. Remember, we don’t know what to expect, so keep your eyes peeled.” Jules turned from person to person. She saw the fear in their eyes as they held on to the pick-axe handles, hatchets and garden forks they had brought as weapons. She looked down towards the small axe she held in her own hand and felt the same apprehension, but she could not show it. She was their leader; she had to be strong, confident. She had to give them hope. “Before you know it, we’ll be back at the Home and Garden Depot with new clothes, better weapons and a big bowl of Mary Stolt’s stew for supper.” She got a small ripple of laughter from the assembled crowd; then she turned towards Olly. “Okay, darlin’, lead on.”

  Olly walked up to the aluminium and glass double doors. He raised the butt of his rifle, ready to smash one of the tall panes when something made him stop. He reached out his hand and pulled the long vertical handle. The door shifted outwards, and he shot an urgent glance back to Jules. “Erm, looks like someone forgot to lock up.”

  “At an M.O.D. base? With big threatening trespass signs everywhere.”

  “Our luck might be changing,” Olly replied.

  “Oh yeah, I’m sure that’s it.” Jules turned to the others. “Nobody goes anywhere by themselves. Make sure you’re always paired up at least.”

  Olly advanced through the entrance with his rifle raised. There was plenty of light in the reception area, but the hallways beyond were shadowy. He ignored the long corridors to the left and right, and the hair on his arms bristled as he proceeded beyond the front desk and left the warm comfort of the sun’s beams. He heard the others following and felt a presence at either side of him. Olly turned to see Ben to his left, clutching a pitchfork. To his right was Jules, gripping the handle of a hatchet.

  The group proceeded down the main corridor towards a set of double doors. Ben reached out ready to push one open when he suddenly stopped. “What is it?” asked Olly.

  “Can you hear something?” Ben replied.

  “Something like what?” Jules asked.

  “It sounds like ... growling.”

  CHAPTER 3

  It was almost as if the words themselves made the corridor turn darker. George shuffled his way to the front to join Jules, Ben and Olly. He flicked on the beam of a powerful torch and shone it through the glass panel in the left door. They looked through the right one to avoid the reflection, and all four of them turned to stone. It was like a scene from a horror movie. Red streaks painted desperate swirls on the walls and pools of dried blood blotted the linoleum tiles.

  “Okay,” Jules said, “I’m officially calling this mission off. Let’s get back to the Dep—”

  “Infected!” shouted someone at the back of the group.

  They all turned to see four figures emerging from the left corridor next to reception. They were quickly followed by two more appearing from the right.

  “Shite!” Jules cried, immediately turning back to the doors and flinging them open. “Everybody move, now.”

  Olly, Ben and George ran through to the other side, turning back around straight away, readying themselves to fight. Olly raised his rifle, knowing if he pulled the trigger, it would already be too late. If there were six of these things, no doubt there would be more and a single shot would alert every last one of them as to the group’s whereabouts. The team filtered through, one by one. Jules snatched the pick-axe handle Andy was carrying ready to feed it through the door handles. It wasn’t perfect, but it might block the progress of the creatures long enough for them to find another way out. Just then, she noticed a lone figure standing perfectly still, looking towards the beasts storming towards her like a baby rabbit trapped in the frightening glare of car headlights.

  Jules understood the woman’s terror; she understood the morbid fascination as these monsters that could surely be from no other place than hell itself tore towards her. She handed the pick-axe handle to George and ran forward, grabbing the woman tightly by the arm and spinning her around. “I—” the woman began to say.

  “Run! Now!” Jules commanded.

  The woman snapped out of her horror-induced catatonia and sprinted through the doors, with Jules still clenching her upper arm. The charging monsters were no more than five metres behind as they crossed the threshold. Olly and Ben forced the doors shut and George wedged the thick wooden shaft through the handles. There was a deafening bang as three creatures smashed against the double doors in almost choreographed synchronicity. The other three came in a second wave, and the pick-axe handle rattled and shifted as the beasts battered themselves against the solid wood.

  Rob had been entrusted with the torch, and now he shone it towards one of the slim glass panels. One of the infected had the side of its face pressed up against it. The eerie pallid hue of its skin chilled the blood of everyone present. Its jet-black pupil flared on the milky grey surface of its eyeball and the woman who had been transfixed by these things seconds before now let out an embarrassed whimper as she lost control of her bladder and the air around the group filled with the sour odour of urine.

  “That door’s not going to hold forever,” George said.

  “Jesus, Rob! Point that thing somewhere else for Christ’s sake,” Jules said.

  For a moment, Rob did not move. The words had not even registered. He was as mesmerised as everybody else with the grotesque creature caught in the torch’s ray. Finally, he came to his senses, looked towards his sister and turned, moving the beam down the hallway. There were multiple doors, and all of them were closed, meaning the torchlight was the only source of illumination.

  “I’m assuming there’s a fire exit,” George said, trying to be heard over the sound of the monsters still hammering at the door.

  The battery backup for the emergency exit signs had long since run dry, but Rob panned the flashlight around and soon managed to find the way out. “This building is shaped like a giant letter H,” Olly said. “Right now, we’re in the centre of the connecting line. These rooms on either side are storerooms.” He turned towards Jules. “I can stay here and guard the door; we can still get what we came for.”

  “It’s too much of a risk. Fresh togs and a few other bits and pieces aren’t worth anyone getting killed for. We’ll—” There was another cacophonous bang as all of the beasts smashed against the doors at the same time. One of the women and two of the men let out frightened screams. “As I was saying, let’s get the fuck out of here.” Jules placed her hand on Rob’s back and guided him down the hallway. “Come on.”

  The group started to run, doing their best to ignore the bloody murals on the walls. They were halfway down the hall when a dark figure emerged up ahead of them. “Oh shite,” Jules said, placing her arm out to stop her brother’s advance and thus bringing the rest of the party to a sudden halt too. Jules clutched the hatchet even harder in her hand and stepped forward. She knew this was their only way out, and she was the leader. She waited for the charge, but Ben, Olly, George and her three brothers all crowded the hallway alongside her. They would not let Jules face this alone.

  A few seconds passed, but the silhouette at the end of the hall remained statuesque. “Who are you?” it eventually said, breaking the silence and stepping forward into the light.

  Jules loosened the grip on her weapon a little despite the fact the figure, now emerging into the arc of light a little more, was clearly holding a rifle. “We’re just looking for a way out of here, away from those ... things.”

  “Follow me,” he said, flicking his own torch on.

  Jules, Ben, Olly and George all looked at one another then glanced back towards the shuddering doors. “Come on,” Jules said, then whispered, “don’t let your guards down.”

  The group ran along the hall towards the T-junction then followed the figure as he disappeared into one of the rooms. He flicked his torch off, and Rob followed suit as natural light bled in through the high, narrow
, frosted glass windows. The door clunked shut behind them. It was a giant pantry. Many of the metal racks and shelves were empty, but at the far end of the room, there were others that were still filled with tins and packets.

  “What is this place?” Andy asked.

  The figure who had led them from the hallway turned to look at him with a creased brow. “What does it look like?”

  “Like a big pantry.”

  “Well, you’re obviously not as stupid as you look.”

  “I’d hold back judgement on that if I were you,” Jules said.

  The burly figure cracked a thin smile beneath his black beard. “Who is it, Rog?” came another voice from behind one of the shelving units.

  “Just figuring that one out, Scotty.”

  “Listen,” Jules said, looking at the uniform Rog was wearing, “we’re just trying to find a way out of this place.”

  “I’m interested why you’re here in the first place.”

  “That’s down to me,” Olly replied. “I came here once.”

  “You in the service?” Scotty asked.

  “Briefly. Didn’t get much of a crack at it before everything turned to shit.”

  “Me and Scotty have got twenty years between us.”

  “Are you the only ones here?”

  Another loud bang echoed down the hallway from the double doors. “Well, not the only ones,” Scotty replied, nodding his head in the direction of the sound.

  “What happened?” Jules asked.

  “You probably heard about the last stand to save the capital. Everything happened so quickly, it was such a mess. Well, a group of us were ordered to stay behind for twenty-four hours, to make sure all the remaining food, every last gun, every last bullet got loaded and sent south. I’m sure you can imagine, as soon as the top brass left, all hell broke loose. Five men got in a truck that first night and made a run for it. Needless to say, that started others thinking about doing the same. Problem was, though, those men didn’t get very far. Three of them ended up back here on foot. Didn’t realise at the time, though, that one of them had been bitten on the arm. The bastard kept it well hidden. Well, you can guess what happened next. Another group tried to make a run for it, and Scotty did his best to stop them. They ran straight over him, two broken legs just like that. We’ve been here ever since.”