Before Safe Haven_Lucy

by Christopher Artinian

  “That’s reassuring, thanks,” said Samantha.

  “So what do we do?” asked Lucy.

  “First off, we head to Moortown, it’s the nearest place to us where there’ll be a concentration of troops”

  “What then?” asked Lucy.

  “Then we await orders. I can’t even get my head around how you unfuck a mess like this,” he replied.

  The ambulance sped along the streets, occasionally passing another military or police vehicle, but no more RAMs. The tension which had been palpable diminished with each metre the vehicle put between them and the vicious herd of creatures they had encountered.

  “I suppose we’ll be parting company when we reach the distribution centre,” said Lucy.

  “Aye, probably,” replied Les. “Don't worry, I’ll make sure we map a clear path for you guys to get back to your base, before we go our separate ways."

  “I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure,” said Lucy, “but I really can’t. But...it was good to meet the two of you. You’re good people.”

  “Yeah, it was nice meeting the pair of you too. Who knows, we might get assigned to your base,” said Les.

  “That would be good. We could do with men like you there,” replied Lucy, glancing sideways in the direction of the driver and passenger, and the four of them smiled. They knew the chances of ever seeing each other again were slim, but it was nice to dream. After the events of the afternoon, who knew what the hell was going to happen?

  “Fuck!” shouted the driver as something hit the bonnet. The ambulance juddered as it went over a bump. Another bang sounded as something else hit the side of the vehicle. “Shit! This is bad, he shouted into the back. They’re everywhere.”

  Les rushed to the front and saw RAMs storming out of side streets, charging towards the ambulance, the noise of the engine alerting them to possible prey. “Put your foot down, then at the junction turn left. About two hundred yards, then turn right, it’s less built up around there.”

  The driver shifted into fourth gear and the engine sang loudly as the revs increased and they smashed a path through the throng of attacking creatures. Audible gasps came from the other five, as the driver took the turn Les had mentioned too hard and the ambulance tilted as it went around the corner.

  Time stood still, and Samantha and Lucy dug their fingernails into the gurney. That few seconds lasted an eternity. Would it or wouldn’t it topple over? A screech, a thud and a bounce later, the ambulance had righted itself and everyone let out a breath. The creatures were still rushing out of the side streets and gardens, but their numbers diminished as the ambulance sped towards a less populated neighbourhood. The driver changed down gears and slowed before taking the next corner, but then revved the engine again as he put as much distance as possible between them and the RAMs.

  They left the houses behind and proceeded along a road that cut through a large area of green park land. On either side, they saw the odd creature in the distance, but then nothing. Houses came into view ahead and they tensed in anticipation of another RAM attack, but none came.

  “We’re not far from the centre,” said Les.

  “I know, I can see where I am now,” replied the driver.

  Les fist bumped the driver’s shoulder. “Nice driving.”

  The driver didn’t respond, he just wiped the sweat from his forehead and kept his eyes on the road ahead, searching for any sign of danger.

  “How far to go?” asked Lucy.

  “About two minutes,” replied Les.

  “Thank God,” replied Samantha. “I don’t know how much more of this I could have taken.”

  The ambulance began to slow down and Lucy noticed Les as he subconsciously moved his hand over the butt of his sidearm. What was he thinking?

  “Oh fuck! Fuck! Fuck! No!” said the driver.

  Les let out a deep breath. “What’s wrong now?” he asked walking to the front of the ambulance. “Fuck!” he repeated as he looked back towards the others.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Lucy, Samantha and Pete crowded around the opening to get a look for themselves. The area outside the distribution depot looked like a war zone. There were bodies everywhere, Soldiers, civilians, RAMs. There was no sign of movement as the ambulance drove up to the entrance of what had once been a large electrical retailer, but was now a rations distribution centre once a week. The driver pulled on the handbrake and looked at each of his passengers hoping one of them would say something, anything that made sense of the situation.

  Lucy was the first to move, she got out of the ambulance and surveyed the carnage. It was eerie, such a gruesome landscape and no sound but that of a single engine. She heard the others gather behind her but she could not tear her eyes away from all the bodies. She noticed some of the civilians had been armed.

  “What the hell happened here?” she asked out loud.

  “It’s obvious isn’t it,” said the driver. “The RAMs attacked and all bloody hell broke loose.”

  “I don’t think it’s that straightforward. A lot of these civilians died from gunshot wounds by the look of it,” she said walking across to one of the bodies and crouching down to take a look.

  “They’ll have got caught in the crossfire won’t they,” replied the driver.

  “And why the hell are some of them armed?” she asked.

  “Erm, well…”

  Les went across to join Lucy. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking there is more to this than just an attack by RAMs,” she said, standing up and walking past the rest of them to head into the rations centre. Inside, there was still enough daylight to see, but she immediately found it odd that there were no lights, and there was no generator sound like there was in every single rations depot she had ever walked into. There were many more bodies strewn all over the floor. Les, Samantha, and Pete joined her as she walked further into the former electrical store. Les and Pete pulled out there Glock 17s, just in case.

  The shelving which housed the rations was empty. “This place was raided,” said Les.

  “C’mon, we should get back on the road,” said Lucy, suddenly beginning to get an uneasy feeling.

  “Yeah,” said Les. “You’re not wrong.” The four of them headed back outside.

  The driver and his mate came to a stop, looking around for any sign of movement. “Can we get the hell out of here now? asked the driver.

  “Yep, let’s get going. We’ll head over to Wetherby,” said Les. The driver nodded and climbed into the ambulance.

  “What’s in Wetherby?” asked Lucy.

  “The army set up a huge camp at the racecourse, we’re guaranteed to find friendly faces there,” replied Les.

  “I think the days of guarantees are gone,” replied Lucy, “but it’s as good a place to try as any,” she said as they all climbed into the ambulance.

  The driver started the engine and pulled away. They just started to gain momentum, when he jammed on the brakes. Three cars screeched through the car park entrance and blocked their way.

  “Shit. What do we do?” asked the driver.

  “Right,” said Les, “Fuck this shit. Both of you, get out, raise your weapons, leave the talking to me,” said Les to the driver and passenger.

  “Do you think this is a good idea?” asked Lucy as Les passed her to leave the ambulance. “Whoever did this,” he said nodding towards the nightmarish scene in the car park, “will be long gone. It was an organised gang and a well-planned operation. They wouldn’t stick around here. Whoever this lot is, they’ve just messed with the wrong fucking person,” he said before jumping down from the ambulance. Pete followed him and slammed the rear doors. They each headed up one side of the ambulance, Pete joining the passenger, Les joining the driver. All four of them raised their weapons towards the idling vehicles.

  Lucy and Samantha rushed to the front of the ambulance and watched as the four soldiers advanced. Les and Pete were still in their hazmat outfits, the shiny yellow PVC glinting
in the sun. “I really don’t like this,” said Lucy.

  “You’ve got ten seconds to get these cars the fuck out of here, or we’re going to open fire. I jest you not. Now fucking move. Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!” shouted Les.

  “He definitely sounds the part,” said Lucy.

  “Five! Four…”

  An explosion of red, followed by another, then another, then another, as first Les, then the driver, then Pete, then the passenger collapsed to the floor.

  Samantha screamed and immediately began to cry.

  “Oh fuck, no!” said Lucy.

  The car doors opened and eight men got out, all of them holding weapons and raising them as they walked towards the ambulance.

  Lucy leapt into the driver’s seat and crunched the gear into reverse. She put her foot down hard on the accelerator and brought the other up on the clutch making the ambulance shoot backwards and taking the advancing men by surprise. In a moment of indecision, they raised their weapons ready to fire, then decided against it, instead running back to their vehicles. A shot pinged off the armoured bonnet of the ambulance. “They’ve got snipers,” she said, heaving the steering wheel round hard and pulling the ambulance to a ninety-degree angle from where it had been facing the three cars.

  The entire compound was surrounded by a wire mesh fence. Lucy looked to her left and saw the men still had not reached their vehicles. Samantha, climbed into the passenger seat, tears still flooding from her eyes. “Screw it,” said Lucy, “Hold on tight,” she said and accelerated hard across the car park, running over the odd body, but losing no speed.

  “Oh my God!” cried Samantha as she put on her seatbelt.

  Lucy realised she hadn’t put hers on, and reached across for it with her left hand, passing the buckle to Samantha to click into place for her while she negotiated another gear change. Sniper bullets pinged around them as they sped through the car park.

  “Where are they?” asked Lucy.

  Samantha turned to look. “They’re just setting off,” she said, bringing her eyes back round to the front to see when she needed to brace herself for impact.

  Lucy changed gears again and put her accelerator to the floor. “Okay! Hold on,” she shouted and the ambulance crunched into the taut fence. They both jerked forward with the impact and for a split second thought that the fence would not give, but it burst open with an ear shattering metallic screech. A huge flap of mesh shot to the side, slapping against the rest of the fence. Another piece caught around the bumper and dragged it from the front of the ambulance. It they had been going any slower, they would not have made it, but the momentum took them through. They landed with a heavy shake onto the embankment, and Lucy’s muscles flexed hard as she tried to keep the steering wheel straight. They reached the bottom of the incline with another heavy judder, and Lucy moved down through the gears quickly to make sure they could climb the embankment on the other side of the gulley and reach the road without stalling.

  Samantha looked in the rearview mirror. “There’s nobody following us,” she said.

  “They will,” grunted Lucy as the ambulance slowly climbed the hill. It reached level ground as it hit the pavement, and there was one more creaky judder as they dropped from the curb and onto the road.

  “I can see one of them,” said Samantha. “They’re a fair way off.”

  “They’d have had to go the long way around,” replied Lucy, accelerating again. Those cars would have been shaken to pieces going down that hill. She moved into fourth gear and put her foot as far down as it would go.

  Samantha looked in the rearview mirror. “I don’t believe it,” she said, “it looks like it’s turning around.”

  “Risk probably not worth the rewards,” said Lucy.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t think they’d finished when we arrived there. I think we’d disturbed them,” said Lucy.

  “But all the food had gone,” replied Samantha.

  “Yeah, but didn’t it seem strange to you that some of the dead soldiers were armed, and some weren’t?” I think they’d come back to gather the rest of the arms, ammo, whatever they could get their hands on. They probably realised there is still an awful lot of valuable stuff there, and the risk of following an ambulance that might be empty of supplies for all they know isn’t worth it when they have a whole pile of stuff in their grasp.”

  “I didn’t think of it like that,” said Samantha.

  “Would you chase us in a RAM infested city if you didn’t need to?” asked Lucy.

  “Jesus no,” replied Samantha.

  “Exactly.”

  The ambulance slowed as it reached a roundabout. “We need to figure out where we’re going,” said Samantha.

  “You know this town better than me, sweetie,” replied Lucy.

  “Okay, we need to think. It’s not a good idea for us to rush into something right now. I know this area. Turn right up ahead,” said Samantha.

  Lucy slowed and turned onto a shaded road, lined on either side by trees. “Where am I going?”

  “Just keep on for a while, I’ll tell you where to pull in,” replied Samantha. The ambulance carried on for a minute. “Okay, and here, just pull in to the side.”

  Lucy did as she was asked. “What is this place?”

  “This actually used to be a bus stop,” replied Samantha. “It’s where you used to come and park up with your boyfriend if you wanted a bit of privacy. The last bus stopped here at about eight at night,” said Samantha, and for the first time in a long time, they both let out a small laugh. “The nearest house is about half a mile away. It’s a posh area, not many houses around at all. It should give us a little bit of a breather while we decide what we’re doing next.

  Lucy sat for a moment, she checked the mirrors, she looked around. It really was a quiet stretch of road. There was a good line of sight in both directions, she supposed that was important for horny teenagers. She smiled to herself briefly before picking up the radio handset.

  “Control, this is Mobile Three, do you read me? Over.” There was no response. “Control, this is Mobile Three. Are you reading me? Over.” Lucy waited for a few more seconds and was greeted with silence. She brought the handset back up to her mouth. “Is there anybody on this channel? Can anyone hear me? Please! Please. Is there anybody out there?” She stared at the handset, but no reply came. Lucy turned off the engine and got out. She walked up to the dry-stone wall bordering the farmer’s field. “I can’t believe I was so stupid,” she said, as Samantha came to join her.

  “What do you mean?” asked Samantha.

  “Back at the rations centre. Guns and ammo everywhere, and I didn’t think to pick anything up,” she replied.

  “I’m a nurse, you’re a doctor, we had four armed men with us. Why would you think you needed a weapon?” said Samantha.

  “No use crying over spilt milk, I suppose,” she said to herself more than Samantha.

  “So, what should we do?” asked Samantha.

  “Les seemed to think Wetherby was our best option,” said Lucy.

  “Wetherby means going back in the direction we’ve just come from, and I’m not as convinced as he was that it was a safe place to head,” replied Samantha.

  “So where then?” asked Lucy.

  “I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers,” said Samantha.

  They stood in silence, leaning on the wall, watching as the sun got lower and lower in the sky. The early evening air cooled them down, and they both got lost in their thoughts.

  Lucy awoke from her trance with a shiver. “It’s getting cold, I’m going to sit back in the ambulance,” she said.

  “Yeah,” replied Samantha, “I’m going to join you.”

  They sat in the front seats of the ambulance with their arms folded, trying to fend off the chill of the evening. The sun eventually disappeared, and still they had no plan as to what to do, or where to go. For the time being, they were safe on their little strip of Lover’s Lane, but
for how long? How long would it be before raiders happened by? Or a group of RAMs? The dim light gave way to darkness. There were no street lights and as they looked across towards the more heavily populated areas of the city, they saw the first green flares being fired into the sky.

  When the government had originally drawn up the long list of measures to protect those in the quarantine zones, one of the things they had done was issued survival packs. In them was an emergency flare, which, as advertised, was strictly to be used in the event of an emergency.

  “I think we’ll see a lot more of them before this night’s out,” said Lucy.

  “I’ve got it!” said Samantha excitedly.

  “Got what?” replied Lucy.

  “I know where we should go.”

  “Where?”

  “We should head to Mike’s house,” said Samantha.

  “You are joking me,” replied Lucy. “Samantha, they could be in more trouble than us right now. We’re just as well sticking a pin in a map and heading there.”

  “You don’t know Mike like I do, Lucy. Trust me. That’s where we should go.”

  Lucy suddenly got a sinking feeling. The survival plan was based around a schoolgirl crush on a jock with serious anger management issues. She sat there for a moment, then turned the keys. She waited for the engine warning light to go off then turned the key further making the engine start. “What the hell,” she said, “stay here, head there, the result’s going to be the same in the end.” She engaged first gear and the ambulance slowly moved away.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  They had only been travelling a few minutes before they saw their first RAMs. “Shit,” said Lucy. We should really have made this journey while it was still daylight. We haven’t just got the sound of the engine now, there’re the lights as well. This was a really shitty idea.”

  “We need to get onto the ring road,” said Samantha.

  “And how do we do that?” asked Lucy.

  “We need to go back that way,” she said, gesturing towards the direction they had just come from.

  “What the hell Samantha? Why did you have me heading in this direction?” snapped Lucy as the first RAMs battered against the side of the ambulance.