"I just wanted to do something special with you guys".
"Then take us to a concert or heck, a day trip into Camden or anything that doesn't feature on the lame-o-meter, especially not on the critical, avoid at all cost, side".
"What do you know about Camden and George is far too young to go to concerts".
"Everything, my friends are always in Camden, it's like totally the coolest place to hang out".
"Do your friends’ parents know they are loitering in Camden?"
"One, it's not loitering, two, of course they do, they let their kids have fun, remember what that word means, dad? Fun? It's the opposite of what we are having now".
"No need to be rude, Ria", Terry replied without looking at her. Ria slumped back into her seat.
"Have you even spoken to mum?"
"Good point, do you mind if I...” He shamelessly begun to ask Charlotte.
"Oh yes, no problem, go ahead", she interjected before he could finish asking.
"Don't be a twat, dad, don't you think you've asked for enough as it is? Here, take mine!" Ria snapped, leaning forward and thrusting her mobile in front of his face. "Besides, you'll only have to ask me for her number anyway".
"That was uncalled for, but thank you", he replied, taking her phone, "which reminds me, here". He dug into his pocket and pulled out her battery. It was scuffed but surprisingly in good state given the condition he himself was in. She now had two and she'd need two to keep up her social documentation throughout the day.
He searched for her mother on her phone and rang.
CHAPTER 10 - NATASHA & DANIEL: 1:54pm - 2 Hours, 9 Minutes since outbreak
Natasha had attempted on several occasions in the past half an hour to reach Terry’s phone to no avail and was beginning to grow both concerned and impatient. On the last attempt, the line cut off unexpectedly and wouldn't allow her to connect at all. What the hell was going on?
Matters on the news were making things no less disconcerting. A crowd of her colleagues had seemingly accumulated around her cubicle since Elmira had turned it into a fucking bookie with all the accompanying fun, speculation, opinion and of course aggressive support for those fleeing for their lives verbally expressed.
Elmira lived alone and her parents lived way down in Kent somewhere, so there wasn't anyone, related anyway, for her to concern herself with. Their fret levels weren't anywhere near comparable, it felt as though her woes were stockpiling and panic as a result of lack of information had set in, but before she could even consider grabbing her coat and leaving this damned office, Ria called.
"Ria, has your father arrived there yet? He's not picking up his phone and I'm getting really worried!" Natasha begun.
"Natasha, it's me", Came a voice she recognised.
"Terry! Jesus, where the heck have you been? I've been worried sick here! I have a daughter way off of where she was supposed to be, you and my son went AWOL and a city fucking falling apart! Why the hell weren't you answering your phone and where is Ria? Is George okay? If anything happened to him Terry, I swear...”
"He's fine, Natasha, calm down for a second, we are all fine", Terry interjected, "A little shaken up, but otherwise fine".
"Don’t tell me to fucking calm down after the panic induced stroke you almost gave me! Are you going to explain not answering your phone? Or for once do you not have a crap excuse?"
"We were in a crash...” Natasha was speechless, what was she supposed to reply to that? For once he had completely silenced her.
"W... what?"
"The short of it is that we got separated from Ria in a crowd, but I figured we'd just meet her on the platform at South Kensington, all trains were suspended, George and I tried to reach her by a bus and ended up slap bang in the epicentre of what I can only describe as hell. We managed to flee and board another bus, the driver however, panicked, started driving like a complete lunatic and crashed into a police roadblock. Needless to say, we were among the lucky few to be alive and well, but I lost my phone in the process".
"Terry... I... are you guys okay?" Natasha asked. Elmira glanced over concerningly.
"Terry and George were involved in a crash", Natasha whispered, covering the mouthpiece with her hand.
"Seriously? Fuck, are they okay?" Elmira asked.
"We're shaken up, but we're alive, that's the most important thing. Natasha, what I've seen today... there are no words. I need to talk to you... in private", Terry continued.
"Yeah... okay. Where are you now?" Natasha replied.
"A kind woman has given us a lift, we've just picked up Ria and we are heading to the hospital".
"Which one?"
"St Thomas most likely".
"Should I come down there? I'll leave right away".
"No, it's okay, I've got this, we'll be okay at the hospital. Stay put, it's probably safer inside at the moment. I'll call you back when we get there and if you see or hear anything suspicious, call me".
"Like what?"
"Just call me".
"Okay, I trust you, give the kids my love and get there safe".
"Will do", he replied and the phone line cut. Natasha put her face into her hands and sighed. Today was a disaster and it only looked to get worse before it got any better.
"Natasha? What's happening?" Elmira asked.
"They're okay... but Terry sounded...”
"Sounded?"
"Off...”
"Off?"
"Yeah, different somehow, uncertain".
"Typical Terry then?"
"No, I know Terry, this wasn't him. He sounded more... assertive than normal, as though something knocked the senses into him. He wanted to talk to me about something in private”.
“Shit…”
“He was at the thick of it when everything started happening, I feel as though whatever they had seen is weighing heavily on his mind".
"You almost sound as though you care about him, isn't this more about your kids?"
"He's the father of my children, Elmira, of course I care. Also, the kids are relying on him, if he's not in the right frame of mind...”
"They'll be okay, Natasha, I'm sure Terry will keep it together, this is make or break".
"You don't know Terry, he's as emotionally brittle as a Ghoriba cookie".
“A what?”
“Oh, it’s a Moroccan... never mind".
"You should just go down there, or call your man, ask him to go and check on them or pick them up".
"Undermine and damage Terry's pride any further? No, I can't do that, besides he said he could handle it".
"Like he handled all those other situations? Call Daniel, at least just let him know what's going on, he deserves to know!" Elmira threatened. Natasha wrestled with the idea for a while before picking up his phone and calling him.
2pm hit and Daniel knew nothing of the events unfolding outside, he had been in meetings with his top clients all morning and these bigwig corporate directors weren't the dallying type, terrorist attack in London or not, business had to go on. Natasha would text or ring him if she needed something.
This morning hadn't been kind to him and it was much in part due to that worthless fool, Terry. He didn't mind holding up clients for Natasha or the kids, but holding them up for Terry's fucking incompetence ticked him off, that guy needed a wake-up punch or two, evidently the first one a while back wasn't enough.
His morals were in question, his priorities were in question, his whole fucking life style was one big question and as someone who had worked his fucking arse off from day one, Daniel hated to even be in that man's presence, Terry was a disgrace and an insult to his intelligence.
It was only a matter of time before Daniel took everything from him, his wife, his life, his kids and anything else he had. It wasn't a cruel way of thinking in the slightest. Strength, success, confidence, tenacity, charm, appearance, natural good looks and a winning fucking smile got you by in this battle of a world, nothing else. The weak will be slaughtered li
ke lambs, for there was no place for a person not willing to raise their sword against the challenges life put before you.
That loser wasn't a concern to Daniel in the slightest, he was however a nuisance and the sooner he was removed from Natasha's life, the better. It was just a shame he was the father of her kids, otherwise he would have been long since gone.
Daniel's thoughts were predominantly on the kids, he suspected they didn't quite like him and that was okay, eventually they would both come around, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Daniel was never great with children, his own father had been a waste of space, forcing Daniel to mature beyond his years in order to do what his father could not and his mother, bless her soul, did right by him, but was diagnosed with Osteogenesis imperfecta otherwise known as brittle bone syndrome, which often left her unable to do most things everyday people took for granted.
He had never had children of his own or been married before, just an endless stream of pointless relationships with clueless women, then along came Natasha, a woman with the tenacity of a bull, the ambitious acumen of a businesswoman, the confidence of a soaring eagle, the beauty of a maiden and the heart of a goddess. This woman had stolen his heart, except the only thing holding her back was that fucking tool, Terry, a man who reminded him of the father he loathed.
Daniel eventually found sleeping with other women meaningless and instead focused his entire existence on trying to make Natasha his woman, even if it meant taking a decree of celibacy until she accepted him. As fate would have it - luck was for losers - Terry broke her heart and who should she eventually turn to? None other than himself. So, it all worked out in the end.
It was during his meeting with a said client that his phone rang. Now in most settings he would have disregarded it, but in this instance, he recognised the unique vibration sequence and pulled it from his inside jacket pocket, it was Natasha and she knew all too well not to ring him during work hours unless it was an emergency, given that she had never done this before, it was most likely just that.
"Hold on just a second, sorry to interrupt, I just need to take this, I won't be a minute", he assured his client and stepped out of the room.
He answered his phone.
"Natasha?"
"Daniel".
"What's wrong, sugarcake?"
"I wouldn't ask you this under normal circumstances, you know I wouldn't, but I'm seriously worried and...”
"Hold up, hold up. Now calm down and explain to me what happened from the beginning". So, she did, or at least as best she could and kindly requested he go and check on the kids at the hospital, to which he obliged and once again found himself cleaning up Terry’s mess.
The whole debacle thing in central London was a little fuzzy to him, Natasha had been rather vague with the details, possibly because she didn't quite understand what was happening herself, but it concerned him all the same.
After their phone call, he popped back into room to postpone the meeting due to an emergency that required his immediate attention, before departing shortly after the clients left, grabbing his car from the building carpark.
As he sat in the car making his way to St Thomas Hospital, he switched on the radio and was presented with station after station of the broadcasted events in London, but it was the breaking news that caught his attention.
"Oh my God! Oh my God! People, a helicopter has just gone down, I repeat a helicopter had just gone down. It's too early to tell but it is believed to be INBC's helicopter. Check your televisions, tune into their stations, you'll likely hear or see the live feed has cut...” Daniel switched to INBC radio. "... not getting any coverage as of present, sorry about that ladies and gentlemen, it appears that the helicopter providing us with up to date news live on the scene has gone down. We are not sure of the cause, but we hope that the crew of the helicopter are okay. On board were reporter Ellie Branning, cameraman Zachary Lincoln and pilot Steve Phillips. We will keep you updated on what happened. In the meantime, we are reverting casting to our other helicopter...”
What the hell was going on? He thought to himself and the situation over the radio continued to deteriorate. People were dead, others were fleeing for their lives and not a single station failed to cover the news, albeit to a lesser degree than the established news stations. The traffic ahead too eventually came to a complete standstill and for 10 minutes he remained in exactly the same spot.
Impatience eventually got the better of him and he stepped outside of the car to investigate, possibly the worst decision he had made all day.
People were stepping outside of their cars and standing around looking to see what the holdup was. They suspected all too well what the holdup was, but as human psyche would go, none would want to admit it, for accepting it as real meant that it was real and far more serious than either of them could ever imagine.
Up ahead the roads were blocked, someone would inform them and above their heads flew several army helicopters. Even from this distance Daniel could see the soldiers leaning out of open helicopter doors and equipped with L85A2 carbine assault rifles with fitted scopes, standard British warfare equipment, but were they really required in this instance? Was it that bad?
Daniel knew his guns well, he had fired several during his trips to the US and at one point he had even wanted to be a soldier, proudly fighting for his country putting those fucking terrorists and commies in their place.
Instead he found another less blood-soaked alternative to be a part of his country's great justice system in the form of law. Still, just seeing the boys out on the field right now brought out his inner soldier and were it not for Terry's incompetence he wouldn't have been able to witness this crucial moment.
Something told Daniel that today would be history defining. People would ask what he was doing on this day in future and what would his reply be? Checking up on Terry's kids at the hospital?
Daniel was distracted by the frantic screams and shouts of people ahead. People climbed on top of their cars to get a better look, but towering at 6 foot meant he had no need to.
At the junction ahead, people were fleeing in his direction from something, possibly multiple somethings
Daniel backed off, backed off towards his car as the fleeing people and their pursuers drew closer. Just behind them, army helicopters took position, hovering overhead and soldiers on board fired down into the traffic, supposedly taking shots at the pursuers, but the gunfire was enough to scare the shit out of any and all at ground level. For what purpose would there need to be army helicopters carrying gun wielding soldiers and for what purpose would said gun wielding soldiers need to be firing down on the masses. The answer was not worth finding out and people either retreated to their vehicles or fled.
Running probably wasn't going to save him, he'd eventually get caught in this crowd, even if he car-jumped from bonnet to hood.
Would taking shelter in the car help? Not from bullets, but he'd be a whole lot less exposed, especially if he kept his head down.
He dived back into his car, locking it behind him and hunkered down, as people ran past either side of his vehicle and even over the top of it.
Had the circumstances been different, he'd have kicked their asses for using the top of his car as a stepping stone.
Stuck in the midst of this traffic, he was going nowhere quickly. He delved into his pocket in search of his phone, but fumbled pulling it out and dropped it down between the seat and door. As he dug down in search of it, he was startled by a loud bang at his windscreen. Pressed up against the windscreen was a heavily bleeding man's face, his eyes silently pleading with Daniel to save him.
Behind him and atop the hood of Daniel's car stood the woman seemingly responsible for his injuries and she certainly looked the furthest thing from mentally sound. Foaming at the mouth, covered in horrific bites and lacerations and her eyes rabid and crazy, this erratically twitching woman wore a very formal but ripped business pencil skirt, not exactly his choice attire for someone out
right slam dunked into the looney bin.
She grabbed the man by his hair and sank her teeth into him like a rabid animal or fucking vampire, ripping chunks out of him as he screamed. Try as he might to escape her grip, this crazed woman held him down with a strength no human with her physique could possibly possess. Her fingers dug into his skin as he flailed, trying to hit her and soon she was accompanied by another and the two, using their combined strength, pulled the man to the ground like a pack of ferocious animals.
Daniel didn't need to look, the man's screams were more than enough insight into what was likely happening, but what the fuck was that? What the hell was happening right now? This had to be some cover-up exposed to the public or some shit. It was unreal, was he dreaming?
He quickly ensured all doors to the car were well and truly locked and windows wound right up, before delving into the glove box to find something to defend himself with, but there he found nothing. He could only think of the tools he had in the boot, but how the hell was he going to get those? Dammit, he should have grabbed them before diving back into the car.
Without warning there was a loud smash and Daniel was forced to shield his face from a rain of shattered glass from the windscreen that fucking crazy woman had put her head through. It must had taken something substantial to be able to do that, in one go to boot. With everything happening right now, maybe it was best to abandon all logic and simply focus on survival.
He grabbed an umbrella from the opposite side door compartment and began a barrage of attacks on the crazy woman, but anyone who could smash their head through a windscreen and behave as though nothing had happened, despite several lacerations to her face and who knows what sort of cranium damage, was probably not going to be deterred by a few pathetic blows to the head with an umbrella.
Just when he thought his woes couldn't compact any further, through his side window another one of the crazies lunged head first, scattering more glass everywhere, but both he and the woman who had smashed her head through the windscreen found themselves pulled aside to allow for more crazies to claw at the windows in attempt to widen the gaps, this irrespective of the razor sharp glass slicing through and digging into their fingers. They were frantic and unrelenting, foaming at the mouth and twitching even more violently than before.
Cryptophobia (Book 1): Outbreak [Fear The Unknown] Page 9
