by Haywood, RR
To be fair though, Howie was pretty much the same as the dog. Half grumbling and half growling.
‘Sorry about all the shit with Henry, guys,’ he said. ‘He just really grips my fucking goat.’
Carmen
And Henry was clearly fuming with himself for losing his temper to the extent Frank had to drag him back into the car.
‘It’s the heat,’ Joan said from the back. A voice of calm and reason with an aura of authority that even Henry respected.
‘My apologies,’ Henry said. ‘I shall adjust my manner. But he’s just such an impudent little shit. The sooner we can separate the better. Then he can go house to house saving every budgie he can find.’
‘We need Howie to get into London,’ Frank said.
‘We didn’t have Howie when we set out,’ Henry replied. ‘We can damn well get it done without him.’
‘Sure,’ Frank said with a mild tut. ‘Bloody pig-farmers eh?’
Charlotte
‘We’ll get this done then split up,’ Howie said. ‘Then he can fuck off and sneak around as much as he wants.’
‘Henry knows where the Panacea is,’ Marcy said.
‘Fuck Henry. Reginald can find it,’ Howie replied.
‘Sure,’ Marcy said with a mild tut. ‘Or maybe, you know, just be less of a twat?’
It wasn’t just hot bodies in a hot tin can. It was hot tempers in hot heads.
Carmen
We drove on in relative silence and soon got into the town of Billingshurst.
Small gardens and small houses. White UPVC windows and white UPVC doors. Suburbia in all its sterile glory.
A mini roundabout ahead. Gouge marks on the tarmac from a goods vehicle that took the corner too fast and flipped over before careering off into the side of a small church.
I figured it would stay there forever until it rotted and rusted and became nothing more than a pile of slag as the walls and roof slowly crumbled in.
We carried on into the High Street proper. The energy still high but mixed and weird. A bizarre combination of making progress and enjoying the hunt while feeling the angst of Howie and Henry tearing chunks out of each other.
That heat too. That awful crushing heat. It was like breathing the fumes from an oven and even my face was glistening with sweat. Frank was the same. Even Bashir could feel it and he’s from a country that swelters in the summer, but this was different. The humidity was the crushing thing.
It struck me about what Paula said. That she would call it if Howie and Henry didn’t stop. Then I was wondering why she didn’t call it anyway. She was the XO and more than anyone else she could do that. Everybody respected her. Then I realised that none of us were recruits. We were all there voluntarily. We were doing it of our own free will.
Which meant we could stop if we wanted. We could simply say hey, it’s too hot for this shit and go and find cool shade, or do what Paula suggested and find freezer trucks to sit in.
But we didn’t, and I wondered why. But then I looked out the window and saw the infected moving in the same direction, and I knew the sense of responsibility that Howie and his team felt kept them going. But then why was I going? I wasn’t being paid any more. There was no contract. No rules. Howie was right. The old world was gone. This was the new world.
I don’t know. Something about that concept got my mind stirring as we got closer to the town centre.
Charlotte
It got worse by the second. The feel of it. The pressure growing. The Saxon became silent. The chat and banter now gone. The thumps and bangs coming one after the other as Tappy ran them down.
Meredith was growling. Her hackles were up, and her teeth were showing. Her front paws planted on the front. Giving voice to the things outside. Giving fair warning.
We all felt the surge of energy coming from Howie. His eyes were growing dark as the air filled with the sounds of everyone making ready.
The clunks and clinks of magazines being taken out and tapped to rid the grit. A thing not needed but still done. A ritual as it were. A way to steady hands and get the body in the right groove.
Through the open back doors I could see Carmen and Bash in the SUV doing the same thing. Checking their weapons and making ready. Henry did his rifle then checked Frank’s while Frank was driving and checking his pistol.
And on we went. Further into the town with the numbers of infected increasing by the second. It felt like we were transitioning from peace to war as we delved into the midst of the enemy we were hunting.
‘There must be a concentration here,’ Reginald said over the radio. ‘There are too many in the street to be simply passing through.’
‘Seen that boss?’ Tappy asked, pointing ahead to a thick nucleus of infected blocking the road.
‘Roy, Frank. It’s Howie. Road ahead is blocked. We’ll speed up and punch into them. You two slow down but keep moving.’
That was it.
It was game on and we braced as the engine in the Saxon roared out and we all felt that surge of power. Then Howie was cursing because he couldn’t see properly and vaulted the seats into the front and pushed the dog over to get space. But his energy was such that the dog paid him no heed. She just carried on barking at the window.
‘BRACE!’ Tappy yelled as we all locked arms and legs. I was still on Cookey’s lap as there was simply nowhere else to go (especially as Mads had somehow ended up with us) and I felt Cookey’s arm wrap about my stomach, holding me tight as the Saxon went deep. Rocking and jolting with bodies flung this way and that. Smashed and pulverised from the impact before Tappy stamped on the brake and spun her around to get that big end into the horde. Tappy is an incredible driver, believe me when I say that, but good lord. It was like being in a blender.
Anyway. We soon gained sight of a road to the left leading to a row of flat-roofed buildings. Grey and ugly with two storey flats over the shops at ground level. There was another row of ugly buildings coming out at a right angle at the far end forming a plaza.
That, however, was not what caught our attention. It was the hundreds of infected within that plaza moving with speed and purpose towards the buildings. Literally pouring across the ground from the street as they flung themselves at the steel shutters covering the store windows and doors.
‘Up there!’ Tappy said, pointing to faces in the windows of the flats over the shops.
‘Survivors!’ Howie said into the radio. ‘Shops ahead of us. Two rows joined together. People in the top. WE’RE GOING IN!’
‘Reggie doesn’t have a guard,’ Roy called. ‘Pull back so I can get him in the Saxon with Tappy.’
‘Do it,’ Howie ordered as Tappy selected reverse and started driving backwards from the junction as Roy sped up to meet us. Honestly. I thought we were going to collide and I wasn’t the only one as a few of us called out in alarm, but Tappy had it covered and angled at the last second as she came to a stop so the open back doors of the Saxon were alongside the sliding door of the van - which was my cue to get out and mount Jess, but before I left, and I’m not sure if he even noticed such was the energy of the moment, but I planted a quick kiss on Cookey’s head then jumped out.
Reginald
It was rather like ballet if I’m honest. The way Tappy and Roy drove at each other then swerved at the last second. Then, while I was pulling my sliding door open I saw Charlie jumping out of the Saxon and Frank already out of his SUV kicking the bolts out to let Jess get out. I must say, it was all very well timed, and for a ragtag bunch of misfits we certainly looked quite professional for a good thirty seconds.
I even launched the drone from the back of the van. I was getting rather good at flying it and simply started her up and flew her out instead of anyone needing to stand and launch her.
However, our appearance of sublime professionalism was not to last because while I was quite adept at popping out of my van launching drones, I was not adept at getting myself into the Saxon. The back is rather high, and my legs are not long,
nor am I an athletic type able to run and vault things. The mere thought of which gives me palpitations.
Not that I had to worry as the lads were very accommodating and grabbed my wrists to pull me up while I felt some hands about my waist giving me a boost from behind. I wondered who it was and caught a glimpse of Carmen giving me a smile.
‘Need a firing point, Reggie!’ Roy said while tugging bags of arrows and his bow across his back and gathering his rifle.
‘That one there,’ I said and pointed out of the Saxon to a three-storey building on the left side. ‘It overlooks the plaza,’ I said.
‘On it!’ Roy shouted and he was off and running as Henry snapped his head up. Seeing the same thing. A perfect OP.
‘With me,’ Henry ordered his team as they set off after Roy – but I then lost sight as I tried to fight through the Saxon to get to the front while all the time flying the drone and watching the small screen on the handset and cursing that I couldn’t stay in my van at my battle desk, but at least I had my battle swatter with me.
The Saxon then set off into the charge while we all bounced around while stuck like proverbial sardines. But I kept the drone on Roy and saw him reach the door to the opticians on the High Street and give it a good kick.
Then Frank said something behind him and stepped past with a small black object in his hand. A glass shattering device that he used to make the glass all fall out, then they were inside and so I started to lift the drone up past the first and second floor windows, catching sight of Henry and Co inside running up the stairs.
Then I zoomed up high over the rooftops to gain view of the field of battle and could see we needed to take a smaller road off the High Street into the plaza that was bordered on two sides by blocks of those ugly cheap shops developers crammed in anywhere. You know the sort. Small units on the ground floor with flats over the top of them. But what was also very noticeable was the size of the horde. It was by far the biggest one so far that day – and far more than I think they were expecting.
That said – we were in it so to speak and so we had to crack on and get the job done, besides, we’d seen the survivors in the flats over the stores and the infected throwing themselves at the metal shutters covering the shop windows. (You know you’re in a rough area when the shops have roll down metal shutters.)
A moment later, and just as the Saxon turned into the side road, I saw Henry, Frank, Bashir, Carmen, Roy and Joan all spilling out onto the flat roof. It looked rather nice actually with potted bushes and some nice rattan seating – if not sadly let down by those awful cheap multicoloured solar lights strung up everywhere.
I could see they were all sweating, which is fair enough seeing as they’d run up three flights of stairs in that awful heat, but I also saw as they ran across the roof to gain view of the plaza below just as Tappy shouted brace and we ploughed into the rotters.
It was rather strange actually. Feeling it within the Saxon, while also seeing it via the drone and the bloodied wake of broken bodies we left behind.
We went deep too, but then we had to make an entrance to get the buggers attention away from trying to get into the buildings. Booker was up top strafing them with the machine gun and taking care not to hit the building line -while I observed Roy setting his bags of arrows at his feet and pulling his bow forward while Joan looped the strap of her sniper rifle about her arm and rested the barrel on the ledge while getting into position to aim down.
Then of course came the inevitable stop and debuss with Tappy slewing the Saxon around to carve a nice clear spot for Howie and the others to charge out all heroic and yelling Rarrrr or whatever it is that hero types yell.
It was impressive though. I’ll say that, and the best sight was seeing Dave drop out first from the back doors to stare at an infected charging at him who was then taken off his feet with an arrow through his head.
‘Overwatch on,’ Roy said into the radio. Then I heard the deeper percussive shot of the sniper rifle and saw another infected ripped off her feet while launching itself at Jess who was battering the line away to make room for Howie and Co to debuss the Saxon.
At which point three more rifles then opened up with Carmen, Bashir and Frank firing single shot into the crowds below them – and with that underway, Howie then banged on the Saxon and told Tappy to get to work – while I, ever the graceful one, was nearly upside down trying to get over the seat into the front. Ably assisted by Tappy heaving me over while the dog gave me a pitying look.
But I must say - I rather liked it. It was a nice adventure to be out of my van and in the actual thick of it while feeling very protected by Meredith and Tappy, who, I might add, is an excellent driver.
I then went back to my drone screen and observed Henry peering most intently into the plaza, no doubt trying to find the CP we were hunting. Of course, I knew the CP wasn’t there, but Henry didn’t, and so he was peering this way and that and watching the infected hammering their heads and throwing themselves at the doors and windows of the storefronts.
What I then saw, for the first time that day, was a large portion of the horde suddenly turn and make aim for the team in the middle. That was interesting because it was the first time I’d seen that horde react collectively. I mean in the sense that they had been attacking us in the previous battles, but only as if we were hosts to be taken. As in the closest infected were going at us while the others still went for their primary target – which previously was either the people in Petworth or Storrington.
But now was different, and it was the first show that the CP was even aware of us as an entity as it sent a dedicated number of infected to finish us off.
Howie saw it too of course. Everyone did. ‘INCOMING!’ Dave then shouted as they instantly compressed and fell back into a much smaller fighting unit. ‘HAND WEAPONS!’ Dave then ordered and the rifles were slung with axes and machetes and blades being readied. A second later and the proper battle commenced with that sound of meat on meat with the grunts and shouts.
Arrows were flying in. Taking infected out while Joan kept watch on Charlie, keeping Jess’s rear end clear and safe.
‘Building line. Far right,’ Carmen then transmitted into the radio. I immediately rotated my lens on the drone and flew closer with a jolt at seeing the infected pouring into a shop at ground level. The window smashed. The boards inside snapping away. A second later and I was muttering a curse at seeing the flats over that shop had balconies on the third level. Which gave a perfect way for the infected to flow from one flat to the next and the people hiding in terror inside them.
‘Howie, they’re in the buildings on the far right,’ I transmitted while knowing Howie couldn’t even do a damn thing. They were so busy they couldn’t even transmit back.
That only left Charlie on Jess, and the Saxon, which I was inside of driving circles around Howie to try and ease the compression – with Charlie pretty much doing the same thing. A few minutes more and we would be able to free Dave and Howie up to give assistance, but once again we didn’t have minutes.
Darn it. The joys of battle eh?
But of course, we did have another resource. ‘Roy,’ I transmitted. ‘Bit of a pickle old chap, but Howie can’t break away and we’ve got infected breaching the building line.’
‘Yep, no probs,’ he said calmly. (Roy is a wonderfully eccentric fellow. Put him in a fight to the death and he doesn’t bat an eye but give him a twinge in his side and the man goes to pieces.)
Carmen
Then, Roy, who for a few moments looked close to tears while sniffing for toast and telling everyone he’d had a stroke, was ditching his bow and asking Joan to cover him.
‘What are you doing?’ Henry asked.
‘We don’t leave people, Henry. It’s not our way,’ Roy said while drawing his sword (love his sword BTW. I actually want one) as Henry blinked at the gentle but wholly unexpected rebuke.
‘I’ll go with him,’ I said.
‘Stand down, Carmen,’ Henry ordered.
>
‘I’m immune, Henry.’ I said with an edge to my voice from the way he spoke to me. ‘Carmen! CARMEN!’ he yelled when I set off with Roy. ‘This isn’t our mission. I said wait!’
‘Wait for what!’ I demanded, coming to a stop to glare at him. ‘I am immune, Henry. I am not standing by and letting people die. You made me take an oath for that shit. Remember?’
I set off again. Furious to the core and feeling that thing inside that was flaring up earlier. That different mindset, I guess.
‘Bloody idiots!’ Henry shouted, but there was a tone in his voice that made us stop once more and look back to him shaking his head. ‘Roy. Stay here with Joan, we’ll go over the side.’
‘Eh?’ I asked.
‘Come on then! Don’t bloody stand there,’ he said, and with that, he was off and running to vault over the side of the roof. We all cried out, thinking he’d done a Clarence and ran over expecting to see him dead on the street below only to see him on another flat roof one level below. ‘I said move!’ he shouted as Roy gave me a smile and rushed back to his position with Joan while Bash, Frank, and I went over the side and dropped to the roof below.
A quick run across. Another roof below that one. From high to low and finally to the street. Frank was leading the way by then. By far our most experienced combatant and we swept along the edge of the building line with rifles up and ready.
‘Howie! If you can hear me, Henry is going for the survivors,’ I heard Reginald transmit as Frank held a clenched fist up to make us hold position.
‘Tappy. Be a love and come and clear a path for me would you, angel.’ Frank transmitted.
‘On my way, Frank!’ Tappy said.
A second later and we heard it coming, and bloody hell, what a sight that is. Seeing the Saxon ramming a path through human forms with the big front end splatting them apart while the big wheels broke bones and popped skulls with Tappy grinning and waving behind the wheel the whole time. Frank gave her a smile and nod and she drove straight at us before twisting the wheel to face out.
