Jackson scouted the small area and noticed two points where guards could be stationed, at either end of the valley. The first point would see anybody coming in from the direction where we had walked. There was a thick tree that rose up from our position which if climbed would give a great vantage point of the path at the top of the bank. The second position was how we got into the valley, which was a bank giving access to the valley below.
I remembered this bank. During the winter I would come to this spot with my daughter and a sled. The hours of fun we had sliding down made me smile, although I wasn’t too fond of slipping back up the bank.
Lizzie and Maria positioned the sleeping bags whilst Duncan collected the fire wood needed. Jackson took first guard in the thick tree. During daylight hours it was decided that only one guard was required, increasing to two at night.
Lance had been back to the abandoned camp. He was collecting equipment left behind we might need for cooking and extra sleeping covers for the cold night ahead.
I had walked up the bank to the narrow path. There were trees which separated the wood from the farmer’s field next door. I cautiously made my through the trees and stood partially hidden behind one particularly big tree. Gazing out across the field, I saw the roof tops of the large housing estate on the far side.
In the distance I could see figures staggering about, no doubt infected. The estate was huge so no the amount of infected there would be a big number and we didn’t want to attract their attention. I heard the helicopter in the distance but it was out of view so I paid no more attention to it.
Suddenly, a twig cracked to my right. I jumped and started slid back round the tree. I could not see through the bushes. Another twig snapped and I quickly dived to the next tree. I moved round to make my way back to the narrow path in the wood. I could hear whatever it was moving in the same direction.
My heart began to beat faster. I wanted to call out to the others but if this was either an infected person or IGS it would attract unnecessary attention and I could be killed within moments.
I reached the path, bent low and tip-toed my way along. The figure leapt out from the bush causing me to stumble backwards. The next thing I remember was my foot hitting one of the many tree roots which stuck out of the ground. My face was immediately covered in dry leaves and thick mud as my body went tumbling down the slope.
I heard my name being called out. My eyes flickered for a moment or two and that is when Jackson’s became clearer.
“You ok, mate?” Jackson asked.
“There…there was something up there,” I replied groggily.
“Did you see what it was?” Duncan asked.
I shook my head. Jackson immediately readied his weapon and made his way towards the bank.
“Jackson, be careful. Lance is up there,” Duncan said.
I got to my feet and stared up to the top of the bank. Jackson was moving through quite fast. Maybe it was Lance on his way back and I had just got a bit jumpy, I thought. About five minutes passed by, then from the top of the hill I heard footsteps moving along the path.
“Friendlies coming in!” Jackson shouted down.
As the figures reached the bank I saw Lance first carrying bedding and cooking utensils, then Jackson. Behind Jackson I saw another figure; it was…it couldn’t be. My eyes opened wide as I saw the familiar figure striding towards me.
DIARY ENTRY 46
“Mike!” I screamed.
I ran over to him. I could see he was also pleased to see me judging by the big, beaming smile on his face. Jumping towards him, he wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight. I slapped his back enthusiastically and felt the tears forming in my eyes.
“Am I happy to see you,” Mike whispered to me.
“Jesus!” The emotion was obvious in my voice.
I pulled away and planted a kiss on his forehead. Mike grabbed hold of my shoulders and I could see he too had tears in his eyes.
“I’ve seen them,” Mike said to me.
“I know, the infected are everywhere,” I replied smiling.
“No. Rebe…”
Jackson coughed and stepped forward to us both.
“I think we’re best keeping that kind of information to ourselves right about now,” Jackson whispered and nodded behind me.
I turned and saw the rest of the group walking towards us. Duncan had a curious look written across his face. Mike looked at me curiously but I just shook my head and placed my finger to my lips to tell him to be quiet.
“Now, you two seem to know each other,” Duncan said pushing out a hand towards Mike.
“Mike Connolly,” Mike said smiling.
“And how do you two know each other?” Duncan asked.
“Old friends and drinking pals.” Mike slapped me on the shoulder.
Mike Connolly. A giant of a man, six foot two inches, built like a boxer, shaven head and looked like your typical convict. In actual fact, Mike was probably one of the kindest and down to earth people I had ever met in my entire life. That’s probably the reason I made him Amelia’s godfather and why he was the best man at my wedding.
We had met about ten years ago. We were both drinking in a pub in town and talking about football. At the time our opinions differed on a particular topic, as do most talks about football in pubs, but we soon became good friends and our meets in the pub were more regular.
With all my concerns solely on Rebecca and Amelia, I had not given Mike a second thought and I felt slightly guilty about that.
“Welcome, Mike Connolly,” Duncan said cheerily.
Lizzie stepped forward and I noticed she gave Mike an approving look, but then looked away as soon as he looked in her direction. Maybe the thoughts of Ben were too recent or maybe she realised that Mike was probably old enough to be her father.
Maria stayed in the background and I saw the suspicious looks she gave Mike until she noticed me looking and that’s when she gave a fake smile.
I walked away and saw Lance looking in my direction. He was giving me a strange stare and I didn’t like it. Jackson followed and tapped me on the shoulder.
“Your friend said he saw you in the wood, that’s who startled you. He asked me to bring him here. He’s seen your wife and kid.” Jackson looked around. “Lance turned up soon after I found him, I’m not sure if he heard our conversation or not?”
I glanced back at Lance who was still looking in our direction. I turned away and started to slap Mike on the back. It was great to see a familiar face again and he had seen my family which made me equally ecstatic.
We all sat round the fire. Lizzie had thrown together some potatoes and corned beef to eat. I’m not sure if this was planned or if it was a special treat for our new arrival.
Lance decided to take guard up the tree. It had been decided earlier to use the wire alarm system at the top of the bank again to save having two guards so we could get some decent sleep.
Mike was so grateful for some hot food. He said it had been so long since he had eaten. He also shed some light on what happened at the abandoned camp we saw earlier.
A few of the survivors from the town who had not been rounded up and put in the compounds made their way to this place. They had been pretty much safe but the infected arrived. Mike said that it was probably due to the amount of people and the noise they were generating.
The infected came in from all sides, panic set in and everybody ran for their lives. Some of the people weren’t quick enough or too old to run and the infected took them easily. Others ran into more incoming infected and had no way of escape. Mike described it as a massacre.
We all listened intently. Some of those people Mike spoke of I probably knew or said hello to walking down the street. I didn’t want to know any names, I felt this wouldn’t help. Some of the people who escaped got rounded up by the IGS patrols and taken to the compounds. Mike couldn’t say what happened to the rest. He told us he had been ducking and diving, hiding from the infected and the IGS patrols
. Interestingly, he said that the patrols had got fewer and fewer in the last few days. He didn’t say anymore until the rest of the group had settled down for the night.
“They are safe,” he whispered to me.
“Where?” I whispered back.
“There’s a farmhouse about two miles from here.”
Mike explained Rebecca and Amelia had been in the camp when it got overrun by the infected. He made sure they got out and the first place they came to was the farmhouse.
“I have to take my godfather duties seriously,” Mike whispered and smiled at me.
“I owe you so much,” I said.
I smiled and gazed round. Lance was still up the tree keeping guard, the rest of the group were bedded down for the night.
“What’s the score with this lot?” Mike asked.
I shook my head and raised a finger to my lips. Mike understood this wasn’t the best place to talk. He nodded his head and sipped on the coffee which Lizzie had ‘specially’ made him.
“Lizzie and Jackson are okay, you can trust them. I’ll tell you about the rest later,” I said touching Mike’s shoulder.
“Okay, mate. I’m going to get my head down.”
I bid Mike goodnight and we both settled down into our sleeping bags.
My family. They were hiding out just two miles away. The excitement bubbled inside me.
DIARY ENTRY 47
It was the fluttering in the tree which woke me. I looked up and saw the small bird fly away off a branch. Turning my head I heard Mike snoring his head off. I sat up and looked up the other tree which was acting as a guard tower. Jackson was on guard, he waved down to me and smiled.
The girls appeared to have been up for some time. Lizzie had put some new clothes on and had been down to the stream with Lance as guard to collect some water. Her hair was wet and she looked fresh. I chuckled to myself, all for the sake of our new guest.
Maria was fixing some breakfast as Jesse played fetch for Bruno. Duncan had all the weapons, apart from the one Jackson had on guard and was cleaning them with Lance’s help.
Mike woke up about half an hour later and was grateful for the breakfast and coffee served to him by Lizzie. I noticed them both smile at each other and it returned my thoughts to my family.
“Mike, let’s take a walk,” I said.
“Sure thing,” he replied.
“Hey. Don’t wander too far,” Duncan shouted after us as we walked by.
I nodded to Duncan and made my way up the bank, closely followed by Mike. We walked a little further until we came to the edge of the field. Standing there for a minute we gazed across the open space of the field. I could see some smoke in the distance.
“Infected bodies. The IGS have a dump over that way where they burn them.” Mike pointed over to the smoke.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Mate, it’s not just here. The whole world is dealing with this problem.”
“How do you know? I haven’t seen any news or read any blogs since I left London.”
Mike explained that at the farmhouse he had found a generator which he fixed. He was able to pump some electricity into the property, not a lot, but enough to produce some hot water. He also found an abandoned military radio. Mike was able to hook it up and listen in to some news transmissions. The whole world was fighting this infection, not just England.
“There’s a cure,” I said.
“Really! Shit!” Mike exclaimed.
“Mike..don’t..” I tried to speak.
“What cure? Where is it?” Mike was getting excited and grabbed my arm.
“Mike stop it!” I raised my voice.
“Hey! Hey!” Mike’s tone softened. “Sorry, mate.”
“There are people who are immune to bites from the infected.”
“Yeah, go on.”
“But to get the cells necessary from the body of that person, it means them dying.”
Mike stood there and just stared me in the eye for a little while. He looked out across the field. In the far distance a sole infected figure staggered around.
“Not such a great cure then?” Mike said.
“Oh I wouldn’t say that,” said the voice from behind us.
Spinning round I saw Duncan a few feet away. Mike looked at me and back at Duncan who was holding a rifle aimed at us both.
“What’s going on?” Mike asked.
“For every one person who is immune it will cure tens of thousands other people.” Duncan smiled.
“So you’re ready to sacrifice a loved one to help others?” I asked.
“Who said I would sacrifice my family?” Duncan asked.
“Can somebody fill me in on what the fuck is going on here?” Mike asked.
“Maria, Duncan’s wife and Jesse, Duncan’s daughter are immune to this infection,” I said.
“Now, now, Kaleb. I don’t remember telling you Jesse was immune,” Duncan said smiling wryly.
“You didn’t have to. Maria is immune, she gave birth to Jesse it doesn’t take a genius to work that plus if my wife is…..” I stopped.
“Oh, so Jackson took the liberty of updating you. How cozy?” Duncan stepped forward.
“You see, Mike.” Duncan’s voice was sinister. “Kaleb’s wife and daughter are also immune to this infection. Aren’t you a clever boy, Kaleb. Working it out on your own. That a child born from an immune body is itself immune.” Duncan raised his rifle.
“So you’re going to sacrifice everyone else apart from your family?” I asked.
“That is the plan, yes,” Duncan replied.
“Why?” Mike asked.
“Well you don’t think I am going to kill my own family and let everybody else carry on as normal do you?”
“You call this world normal, it’s fucked up, mate.” Mike was getting angry.
Duncan laughed, moved his rifle to signal us to move sideways and immediately pulled a straight face.
“Once I have the other ten.” He paused. “Oh how forgetful of me, nine now that Lana is dead, I will be in possession of what the whole world wants. A cure.” Duncan smiled again. “And my family and I can survive this nightmare.”
“You’re going to hold governments to ransom over this?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“Once this infection is cured, we’re going to need get ourselves back on our feet. A few billion of any currency should see us nicely.” Duncan pulled his rifle up to his shoulder.
“You fucking evil bastard!” I screamed.
“Oh and thanks for the information on the farmhouse,” Duncan said resting his finger on the trigger.
“Put down the fucking rifle!” Jackson ordered.
Duncan looked out of the corner of his eye. He paused for a few seconds and lowered the weapon.
“Jackson. Is this the thanks I get for saving your arse?” Duncan asked.
“Put the rifle down!” Jackson ordered.
“No you put the rifle down!” Maria said placing the muzzle of a machine gun against Jackson’s temple.
“Kaleb. This is fucked up, mate,” Mike said softly.
I switched my attention between Duncan, Maria and Jackson. It was a complete stand-off. Suddenly, the single shot echoed through the wood and the body slumped to the floor.
DIARY ENTRY 48
The blood splattered across Jackson’s face, thick smears that spread from his ear across his nose and covered his eyes. Duncan screamed loudly. I watched in horror as Maria’s body fell to the floor. Duncan ran towards Jackson. Two other shots rang out. Duncan stumbled and fell onto the leafy ground.
We all stood in stunned silence. Jackson was shaking. Mike had dropped to the floor as the first shot was fired. I was in a trance and couldn’t quite take in everything that had occurred.
“You ok?” I asked Jackson in a stuttering manner.
Jackson just nodded but he looked in shock. He gazed down at Maria who had a single bullet hole in the side of her head. Duncan was crumpled on the floor. The
two shots from Jackson had entered his chest and stomach. A pool of blood spilled out onto the wood floor.
The undergrowth rustled and Jackson spun round aiming his rifle in that particular direction.
“Don’t fucking move!” He shouted.
Lance appeared from out of the bush, his rifle raised above his head in one hand the other showing his palm, indicating he bore no threat.
“Don’t shoot,” Lane said smiling.
“What the….” Duncan gasped with his last breath.
“Yes, a bit weird all this, isn’t it? But I fear we have more pressing matters at hand.” Lance pointed across the field.
I looked over my shoulder. All the gunfire had attracted the infected. There was a massive horde of them lurching across the open ground.
“Shit,” I said.
“And somebody is going to have to talk to that orphaned little girl down in the valley,” Lance nodded his head back to where our camp was.
His voice was eerily calm and he appeared to be quite happy with the current situation. I wasn’t as comfortable. I stared at the lifeless body of Maria and switched my gaze back to Duncan who was writhing in a pool of blood, moans escaping from his dying body. Duncan coughed and blood spurted from his mouth. I saw him gasping, fighting for breath until his body stopped moving and his arms slipped away from his stomach.
Jesse! Oh my god! Jesse’s parents were now lying dead on the floor. Although harsh in words and actions, Lance did have a point. Jesse was now an orphan.
“We need to move and now!” Jackson shouted.
“Farmhouse, two miles away. It’s safe there,” Mike said.
Jackson moved off first, followed by Mike. I walked around the dead bodies, staring down in disbelief at what had just happened. I looked up and met Lance’s gaze.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I think they are getting a little too close for comfort,” Lance said nodding towards the field.
Rogue Evacuation Page 16
