by Jessica Ward
She was becoming more and more opinionated as time went on, using phrases like “I don’t associate myself with those types of people”. She became very too faced. She would talk about different friends behind their backs, but when they were face to face it was as if butter wouldn’t melt. She was a completely different person.
Lacey and I both saw the drastic change in her. She seemed to thrive on drama, I caught her out a few times, lying and making up rumours I knew full well weren’t true. I decided to cut her out and let her get on with her new life; I didn’t want to be a part of it. I had made the decision to be civil to her as Andy and Nick got on well, and I didn’t want to affect their friendship. As far as I was concerned our friendship was over.
Lacey decided to confront her about her behaviour, in the hope that she would change her ways. Unfortunately it didn’t go quite according to plan.
Lacey arranged to see her and sit her down to air her concerns. Once Lacey had explained how she was feeling and the reasons why she felt as she did, she didn’t get the reaction she was expecting. Duckface flew into a rage, telling Lacey that she was jealous because she didn’t have many friends as she did, and that Lacey just wanted her to herself. She even had the cheek to say that if she wanted, she could ‘have’ Paul. She told her that she was jealous of her because she and Andy were so well matched.
Lacey couldn’t believe it. She kicked her out and refused to talk to her again.
That was the last encounter they had with each other, before they met on the plane.
Chapter 7 – Boot Camp
We were woken up the next morning by the Corporal banging on all our doors.
“C’mon, get up you lazy bastards we’ve got work to do, I want you all out this plane NOW.”
We groggily pulled back the covers, got changed and made our way downstairs. We made our way to the end of the plane and down the stairs. I blinked, looking around me, making sure I was in the right place; we were amazed with the sight before us. The Corporal and Sergeant must have been busy last night. There in the hangar they had made an assault course. It spanned nearly the full length of the hangar.
Crates had been stacked strategically around the base, nets were pinned to the floor, ropes hung from the plane, tied to the wings.
“From this moment forward, you will now be referred to as cadets. I expect you to complete this course each morning first thing. This course should take you no less than 5 minutes to complete.” The Sergeant bellowed. “You will each be timed; I expect all of you to improve your times each day. If any of you fail to beat or match your time, you will repeat the course until you do. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes” We grumbled in unison.
“It’s Yes Sir, I repeat, have I made myself clear?” He shouted
“Yes Sir!” We all stood to attention.
“Good. Now the Corporal here will demonstrate the course in front of you. You will then line up at the start post in the order you are in now. I will tell each of you when to start the course.”
The Corporal lined himself up at the start. “Watch closely cadets, I will only demonstrate this once”
We watched as the Corporal completed the course in front of us, it looked impossible. He ran to the first set of crates, there were 3 piled on top of each other. He climbed up to the top and jumped down. The drop must have been at least 10 feet. He then jumped clean over 3 more crates, using his hands as a springboard. He got to the net and crawled under using his arms to propel himself forward. Eventually he got to the rope hanging from the wing of the plane. He climbed up the rope and pulled himself onto the plane. He ran across the wing and climbed over the plane to the wing at the other side of the plane. He ran across the wing to the second rope and climbed down. He ran towards us crossing the yellow and black tape, marking the end of the course.
His breathing was slightly more accelerated than normal and his cheeks were slightly rosy, but he had not even broken a sweat. “3 minutes and 58 seconds. An adequate time Corporal” The Sergeant declared. “OK Cadet, you’re up” he turned to Andy who was first in line.
“In 3, 2, 1! Go, go, go” he screamed.
The boys were first in line Andy, Nick and Paul. After them it was me and then Lacey. Last in the line-up was Duckface. She was clearly not impressed with having to take part.
The Sergeant gave 10 seconds between each person. When it was my turn I sprinted from the start ready to attempt the course. It soon became apparent, we were all struggling to complete the course. None of us were in great condition.
I absolutely detested exercise. If I ever needed to lose weight I much preferred to diet. There were always new weight loss diets coming out, from diet pills, meal replacement shakes, Juice Plus was taking the world by storm. They consisted of 3 juices a day to replace meals. Even the largest and most robust of women out there were turning into slim and slender beauties. I hated exercise; I avoided it at all costs.
Now I was faced with a near impossible task to complete, which required speed, strength, balance and agility. The only thing I had was balance, which I got from the years I spent in heels. Even now I still had on my knee high leather boots with a chunky heel, not the most appropriate footwear for the task ahead. Still, I gave it my best shot.
I climbed up the first crate, climbing up was the easy part, once I got to the top my fear of heights kicked in. the Corporal was screaming at me to jump “Don’t be a pussy, jump now, you’re wasting time, the clocks ticking” he was shouting, I took a deep breath and jumped. The soles of my feet burned with the impact as they touched the ground.
I carried on running; I made my way over the crates, and under the net. The hard part was climbing up the rope. Paul was in front of me, he had made his way to the top of the rope and saw me struggling. He yelled for me to climb up. I tried my hardest but I just didn’t have the body strength to do it, I got half way up by when Paul, seeing that I was still struggling turned back to help. He pulled the rope, with me still attached until I got onto the wing of the plane. Once I was up he turned to carry on the course. By this time Lacey had got to the bottom of the rope, like me she faced the same struggles.
I pulled at the rope as hard as I could, helping her up as Paul had done with me. As soon as she reached the top we ran together to the other side of the plane. We helped each other down the rope and ran past the finish line.
We were all exhausted. We looked back to the assault course and saw Duckface struggling, under the netting still. The Sergeant had enough at this point. “All of you here now” He roared.
We lined up again. None of us had come close to the Corporals time. “Today’s exercise was to determine your skills, your strength’s and your weaknesses. We watched each of you, throughout the course.”
He carried on. “The course wasn’t just about strength. It was also about teamwork. You took it upon yourselves to help your fellow comrades, which was commendable. It did not go unnoticed.”
The Corporal spoke up “What I did notice was that although you helped your friends in need, you made no attempt to help those you do not have such strong feelings for” He addressed Lacey and Duckface as he spoke.
“If you are to succeed in this course, you must all work together, and put your feelings behind you. We will work with you all individually as well at teach you to work as part of a team.”
After the lecture, we all went back into the plane for breakfast. We all went up to the plane expecting some kind of hot meal. Instead lying across the bar were 6 energy bars and 6 fruit and nut mixes.
“What’s this?” I asked when we got upstairs. The Corporal answered “This.. is breakfast. Not only will you be training like cadets, but you will be eating like them as well.”
“This is going to be so much fun” Duckface groaned sarcastically. “I said I don’t want to be part of this, so why am I getting involved?”
The Sergeant replied. “Lola, I am doing this for your own good. This training will help you all in the future. Sho
uld the base be compromised, attack is not always the best solution. You all need to be capable of outrunning your enemy. I understand you don’t want to take part in the defence lessons, however it makes your fitness regime all the more important, don’t you agree?”
She glanced at the rest of us and shook her head. “Well, if it comes to it I can run. I don’t see the need to do it until I absolutely have to. I’ve tried it today and quite frankly, I’m not a fan. I’m not doing any of it. I’m going back to bed.”
With that she turned to walk away. The Sergeant stopped her. “If that’s your choice I have to respect that. But I strongly advise you rethink your decision. For your own sake.”
She carried on walking, without saying a word she left in a huff.
The next few days passed, we did the assault course on a daily basis, the more we got into it, the easier it became. After day 3 we had our first lesson in weaponry. The Corporal and the Sergeant led us through a trapdoor in the ceiling and onto the roof. After all the time spent in the hangar, I never noticed the trapdoor.
As we each looked around us we were amazed at what we saw. The infected had taken over the airbase and were walking around beneath us. Men women and children, of all different ages were wandering aimlessly around the base. Alerted to our presence they headed towards the hangar. My fear of heights started to kick in. There was no safety guard on top of the roof it was just a straight drop down. I backed away from the edge.
Rifles were laid out in front of us. The Sergeant addressed us all. “As you can see, this is why we’re training. Ever since the main base was compromised, the infected have had full reign of the airbase.” He continued “it’s time for this to stop, we need to take back control and help our fellow survivors. Now is a good of a time as any to start. In front of you, you will find a sharpshooter rifle with scope.”
I picked up my gun and held the scope up to my line of vision. “What do you want us to do? Take them out?” I asked.
I have to admit, I was rather excited. I loved shooting. Granted I had never shot anything live before but I thought I could handle it.
“That’s precisely what we want you to do. Jameson will give you a demonstration and show each of you how to hold, fire and reload your weapons. Think of this as target practice” He turned and looked at me “You already have the stance, I can see that in the way you hold the rifle. I expect this shouldn’t pose a problem for you.”
I wasn’t going to let anyone down. The rifle I was holding wasn’t too dissimilar to the guns I was used to shooting back on the farm. In fact, this one was lighter. As the Corporal was showing my teammates the ropes, I held the rifle back up, scoping out my targets.
The closer I examined the infected the harder the task ahead seemed to be. Once I got past the diseased ridden, corpse rotting appearance, they were still people. They had their own family, friends and even children. Would I be able to live with myself afterwards?
Sensing my inner turmoil the Corporal came to my side. “They’re not people anymore, it’s the virus using their bodies. At this stage putting a bullet through their head is their only salvation. If you ended up like that what would you prefer?”
He was right, and with that I pulled the trigger. I fired the first shot, and got my target dead on. It was a woman, in her early thirties. She was well dressed, very much the WAG type. The infection didn’t do her any favours; her face was starting to rot, her hair was all over the place and remnants of blood stained her once bright blonde locks. She had a vicious, hungry expression, she snarled before the bullet pierced her skull. She dropped instantly. I looked back at her after I took the shot; she certainly looked more peaceful in death.
Once I took my first shot, everyone around me started shooting. Rounds could be heard left right and centre, the noise was deafening. Some shots met their targets whilst others went off slightly, either hitting the tarmac or other body parts of the infected. Still they kept coming. I took aim again, this time I didn’t get my target, instead I blew an arm off my target, a former military man. He looked down at the space where his arm used to be and snarled up at me. He started to advance forward, until I met my target with my second shot.
It didn’t take long for all our targets to fall. Once they were all down, the Sergeant called a cease fire. Looking around the carnage, it was horrific. Body parts filled the area around us, blood seeped out from the corpses forming deep red puddles around the base. The stench of death filled the air. It was repulsive.
“Well done, you managed to dispatch of the enemy, but your ammunition is now low. You need to be more precise, there’s no room for error. Imagine that each bullet in your rifle is your last. We will resume tomorrow.”
“But we’ve taken them out, what will we shoot tomorrow?” Lacey asked the Sergeant.
“This isn’t the last we’ll see of them, if that was the case we would have taken back the whole site by now. No matter how many we kill, they carry on coming. I’ve been watching them for weeks now. They don’t eat each other but they have no issue with eating the fallen. I can guarantee that the bodies will not be here in the morning, others will take them away.”
“How come we didn’t see any of them when we first came into the airbase? Where are they all if there not out here?” Paul asked.
Corporal replied “They don’t always come out, they seem to like to hide in the shadows, they only come out when they think it’s worth it, when there’s something of interest to them. There’s more to them that meets the eye. They are already starting to show signs of predatory behaviour.”
This was getting even more disturbing, these things were a lot more complex then I had originally imagined. I thought they were just simple, mindless eating machines, but they seemed to be adapting to their environment. They were starting to hunt.
“So why didn’t you shoot them when you saw them?” I asked.
“We did at first, but you learn a lot more about the enemy when it’s alive, not when it’s dead.” The Sergeant replied.
I thought back to our time cooped up in the apartment. I spent hours watching Walter the warden trudge around the cars, looking through the glass as if trying to regain a lost memory. Andy beat me to it.
“When we were stuck in the apartment, we made a log of what they were doing. We took it in turns to watch them, and wrote what we saw in a notebook.” Andy piped up.
The Sergeant’s eyes lit up. “You did? I would be very interested in seeing that book, do you still have it?”
“Yes I packed it before we left” I told him. “Maybe if we pulled our resources together we could find out a bit more about these things?” I asked. The Sergeant agreed.
Later on that day, when the Sergeant was alone, I approached him with the book. If the infected were as I suspected, starting to evolve, I wanted answers.
“Sergeant, here’s the book you asked for.” I said as I handed him the book. “I have some questions. I haven’t been in close contact with these things, but I’ve had more experience with them than the rest of the group.” I recounted my encounters in the factory and in the apartment. I told him about the girl I saw in the road and of the old man who once lived downstairs. I also told him about the incident in the apartment with the infected banging on the walls.
The Sergeant listened intently to everything I told him. His face looked very puzzled.
“The fact that they made noise but made no attempt to get in, shows they are indeed using parts of the brain. To me it shows they are a lot more tactical than I imagined. They are also capable of working together which confirms my suspicions that they are indeed showing predatory pack like behaviour.”
“Well, it still makes no sense, why did they make no attempt to get in?” I asked intrigued.
“All I can do is hazard a guess. On some level they must have known they couldn’t get in, therefore they made the noise to scare you and flush you out. Since they couldn’t get to you, any attempt would be futile. They wanted you to go to them.”
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br /> A shiver went down my spine. How could it be that a well-known virus could not only wipe out most of humanity, but also show signs of intelligence? I would never have believed that any of this was possible, let alone going on all around us.
“Given this new information, I must insist we reach the other hangars. You all have much more training to do, but from what I’ve learned so far, we cannot waste any time. Tonight we will prepare the vehicles, first thing tomorrow we are going to visit hangar 5.”
“What’s hangar 5?” I asked. “Come with me” he replied.
He took me back up to the roof. From the roof we could see the whole base. The Sergeant pointed out Hangar 5. It was the closest building to us. It was around half the size of the hangar we were currently in, it looked completely secure.
“What’s in there?” I asked him. “Hangar 5 is our communications base. It also stores some of our military vehicles, as well as extra supplies.
“I will take a small team with me tomorrow; I want you and Lacey to stay here, you will be our eyes from above. If you see any of the infected I want you to shoot them down. Do not aim too close to any of the vehicles, we will take any close by out at ground level, do you understand?”
“Yes, that’s fine” I replied.
We went into the hangar and gathered everyone together. The Sergeant ran through the plan and asked Nick, Andy and Paul to join him and the Corporal.
“No, I’m sorry Andy you’re not going” Duckface spat. “Sergeant, I will not have my husband put himself in danger, for something I don’t even agree with.”
“What don’t you agree with?” I asked her, slightly miffed.
It wasn’t just her husband that was going out; it was also Lacey’s husband and my fiancé. I didn’t like the idea that they were going to be in danger any more than she did, but neither me nor Lacey stopped them or made a big deal about it.
“We don’t need to go anywhere, we’re safe here. Who’s to say anyone’s even alive in there?” she replied. “I’m sorry I’ve said no and that’s final. Andy you’re staying with me”
