Dale turned. He couldn’t tell which tower they were in. Then he saw a group of zombies surrounding one broken building and knew that they were there.
“Come on,” he said and grabbed her arm.
She pulled it away. “You go. I’ll be okay.”
He looked at the zombies approaching her and at the bloody rock in her hand. A dozen bodies lay at her feet and he realised that she would be okay. She had killed more than anyone else that day and, although he was surprised, he was also glad.
Dale leaned over and kissed her. She kissed him back without taking her eyes off the zombies.
He pushed two zombies out of the way to break away from the group. Once they were on the ground he caved in their heads to save Beth the trouble.
The zombies at the base of the tower were clambering over one another to try and get up. He could hear the children screaming and crying above the sound of the undead moans.
He dropped them from behind. One at a time. None of them seemed to realise he was there and it was slow but easy work. His arm ached by the end of it.
When he turned around he saw more of them coming. More than he could hope to fight. He considered getting the kids out but they were defenceless and they wouldn’t stand a chance, even if there was anywhere better for them to go.
He looked around for Noel and Gerard but they were nowhere to be seen. Every zombie that he could see seemed to be making its slow shuffling way towards the tower. He was surrounded and, once he went under, the kids would be easy pickings.
* * * * *
The gunfire surprised him. Even though he had known the army was there somewhere. Despite knowing who was shooting it came as a relief to know that they weren’t on their own.
Most of the zombies turned towards the sound. Some of them kept coming towards him. A small explosion on the other side of the ruins killed more zombies in one go than they had managed the entire time with their rocks.
He felt something on his arm and turned towards a zombie. He caved in its skull before looking down and seeing the blood on his arm.
Beth was fighting her way towards him. She scrambled over the piles of bodies that blocked the way. He heard somebody screaming but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
There was more gunfire and another explosion. The ruins were clearing. He could see Noel and Gerrard, looking exhausted and limping, making their way towards him.
He killed another zombie and then another. He could see the army now. Their numbers were reduced but they were well armed. They were coming towards the tower as well.
Beth reached him. He turned and saw her expression. She looked hollow. Her mouth opened and closed as if she was shouting at him but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. His ears were ringing, his attention elsewhere.
Somebody else was shouting. He could hear them but not see them. The words didn’t seem to make any sense. He couldn’t put them together properly.
He looked for a friendly face. Somebody who could explain what was going on to him and then he saw more soldiers. Their guns were raised but, for now, there were no zombies left for them to shoot.
“He’s bit!” somebody shouted.
“Stay back he’s bit!”
Dale turned towards Beth. She was crying. He looked down at his arm again and realised that the blood was his own. That they were talking about him.
“No it’s okay,” he tried to say but his voice came out small and hollow. He realised that it really wasn’t okay.
The others had stepped back. He saw that they were scared of him. Of what he would become. They didn’t know what he already was.
He stepped away from the tower. His arm throbbed but it wouldn’t kill him. There wasn’t time to explain it to them and they wouldn’t believe him anyway. He looked from Beth to Noel to Gerard and he knew what they were thinking: how long did they have before he turned into a zombie and which one of them would kill him if he did?
The soldiers were approaching from behind. They crept over the bodies with their guns trained on him. Suddenly he realised that the only reason they hadn’t shot him already was because the others were in his way.
If they killed him Velma would be pissed, he thought. But he would still be dead. Even if she arrived in time to stop them (if she was still alive) he would just be sent back to the hospital and then everyone would know. Beth would know.
Dale hardly thought about what he was doing. There was nothing to think about. It was either stay and be killed or imprisoned or run away and take his chances.
He dove around the side of the tower. His arm beating out a steady rhythm of pain as it flapped uselessly at his side. He heard a shot being fired and then a soldier being reprimanded. They wouldn’t want to risk killing anyone else.
* * * * *
Dale ran across the ruins. The only obstacles were the zombies. Some of them still alive but pawing at him uselessly from the ground. He barely paid them any attention.
There were dozens and dozens of half standing buildings in the ruins and only open fields beyond. He had been a soldier himself and realised in the open he would be an easy target for a sniper. They might let him get three miles away before a perfectly aimed bullet in the head took him down.
Hiding was a short term solution to a long term problem but it was the only solution he had.
He realised that he was running towards the forest and that if he made it inside he would be faced with thousands of zombies. There were still plenty of buildings to hide in before he reached it.
Another shot was fired but it wasn’t repeated. He braced for impact but by then he realised that they had missed him. If they had been aiming for him in the first place. He couldn’t turn back to check.
A large stone tower appeared in front of him. There was no obvious route up to the top but that was a minor concern. He could hear shouting coming from behind him and realised that the soldiers were running after him. They might not have wanted to shoot him when there was a risk of hitting someone else but that wouldn’t stop them catching him and putting a knife through his skull.
He was exhausted and didn’t think he would be hard to catch. The idea of even making it a mile across the field seemed laughable.
Dale climbed into the stone tower. A bullet struck the wall by his left elbow. He pulled it inside quickly and heard two more hit the tower.
He found himself in a small square chamber. The stone on the walls and ceiling were jagged sharp. It was open on all sides and he had to crouch to avoid hitting his head. There was no obvious way up to the next level.
Dale climbed out the back of the tower. He could see into the forest where the zombies were standing. Rocking back and forth on their feet as if they were waiting. He pulled himself up on the outside wall. Easily finding footholds in the broken stone.
He passed the second floor and then the third. The tower was one of the tallest in the ruins. The higher he went the safer he would be.
At the top he huddled in a small room that was barely bigger than he was. He could hear the soldiers shouting at him, or each other, outside. He could hear the zombies moaning in the forest. His arm hurt like he had been stabbed. He could feel his muscle rubbing against the air. He closed his eyes and wished that everything would just go away.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dale sat on the hospital bed and looked at the door. The glass window that ran the entire length of the wall showed him the rest of the ward. Beth walked past wearing a white lab coat. She turned to look inside as he passed but he didn’t see any sign that she recognised him.
The machines were all beeping. He thought that they would drive him mad. He knew he was alone but when he turned to look he saw Velma sitting in a chair that hadn’t been there a moment ago. She smiled.
“How are you feeling this morning?” Velma said.
Dale didn’t reply but he heard himself say, “I’ve been better.”
She smiled and lowered her eyes to the clipboard that hadn’t been on her lap
a moment ago. She didn’t look at him as she spoke. “We’ve been doing some tests,” she said.
He nodded. He didn’t care.
“There have been some interesting results.”
Dale turned away from her to look out the window again. He saw Bradley standing next to Wesley, their faces were pressed against the glass. Their skin showed the unmistakeable signs of decomposition.
“You’re a very interesting specimen,” Velma was saying.
Bradley and Wesley began to claw at the glass but he knew they wouldn’t be able to get through, just like he hadn’t been able to get out.
“We’re really very lucky to have found you.”
“Are you listening to this Dale?”
He turned away from the window and saw Harold standing behind Velma. He had his hands on her shoulders and appeared to be giving her a massage.
“This is very important,” Velma said.
“You’re going to want to hear this,” Harold said.
Dale nodded but his eyes were drawn back to the window. Bradley and Wesley were gone. The children that they had saved from the school were there now. Some of them were so small that he could barely see them. He imagined them standing on tip toes to look through the glass.
He looked for Beth but he couldn’t see her. Rachel appeared at the window and she was saying something to the children but he couldn’t hear what. Then they all turned and followed her away.
“Dale,” Harold said. His voice was slow and calm.
He turned.
“Please, try to stay focussed.”
Dale nodded but he didn’t care what they had to tell him. He wasn’t interested. It was just an excuse to use him as a lab rat.
“You could be the key to saving humanity,” Velma said.
At the window the nameless soldier had appeared. His head was caved in where Dale had struck him. Blood was still coming out.
“If we can isolate the genes that prevent you turning then we may be able to create a cure,” Velma said.
“Or a vaccine,” Harold said.
“You caused all of this,” the soldier at the window said. Somehow Dale could hear him through the glass.
“I understand this is difficult for you to hear,” Velma said.
He turned away from the soldier and hoped that he would disappear like all of the others had. Harold was gone. It was just him and Velma in the room, just as it had been that first morning.
“But your sacrifice could end the suffering of a great many people.”
Dale nodded.
“You killed them all,” the soldier said.
Dale turned towards the sound of his voice and realised that the soldier was now in the room.
Dale heard himself say: “I didn’t mean to kill them.”
The soldier walked towards him. His gun was not in his holster. Dale was holding it. “They’re still dead though,” the soldier said.
“Your sacrifice could save humanity,” Velma said.
Dale turned towards her but she was no longer there. The room became cold. The light started to dim. He could hear shouting. He turned back to the soldier and saw that he was gone as well. The window behind him was gone. He was sitting in darkness but he wasn’t alone.
Bradley said: “Why do you get to live while my family dies?”
Wesley said: “The village is my home. It doesn’t matter whether I’m in charge or not. The only thing that matters is the people.”
Beth said: “We can find somewhere new. Somewhere safe. We can start again.”
The nameless soldier said: “You killed them all. No one’s safe while you’re alive.”
Velma said: “Your sacrifice could save the world.”
Dale opened his eyes and found himself staring at the grey stone walls. He could hear voices but they were too far away to understand. He didn’t think they were speaking to him.
* * * * *
Dale pulled his knees up to his chin and tried not to think. When he thought he thought about everything that had happened and everything that would continue to happen. He thought about Beth and he realised that he loved her. That he had loved her since the moment he had woken up to see her pointing a gun at his head.
If she had pulled the trigger she might have saved everyone. He shook his head. He was shivering but he wasn’t cold. It had already been too late by then. If anything that might have made things worse. It had been over as soon as he’d fallen into the river.
There was no gunfire. Beneath him the soldiers had circled the tower. He could hear the zombies in the forest moaning. There was nothing he could do now, he thought. Eventually, they would grow tired of waiting and come up for him. They would drag him away and put him back in the hospital.
The wall in front of him suddenly exploded in a cloud of smoke. The sound arrived a moment later.
“I said don’t shoot,” a soldier said.
“I had a shot,” another soldier said.
“You wait for him to turn,” the first soldier said. “We don’t kill humans.”
“But he’s been bitten.”
“You heard me.”
Dale felt only the vaguest sort of disappointment. Either the soldiers didn’t know who he was or their orders had changed. They had no intention of taking him alive.
He considered running but if they saw him run they would assume he’d turned and he’d get a bullet in the head for his trouble. There were at least fifty soldiers. He wouldn’t get very far.
If he ran he wouldn’t be able to tell them about the water. They might not know that it was infected. If the soldiers had saved the village then they might all go back to it. Drink the water. If they thought they were safe they wouldn’t try to leave.
How long did he have? They wouldn’t wait all day for him to decide what to do. He tried not to think about it because when he did he realised that there wasn’t any decision to make. He was poison.
Beth called for him but he didn’t answer. A soldier told her to keep back. Dale thought of his blood in the water and wanted to tell her that no matter what the soldiers said it wasn’t safe to return to the village.
He knew what he had to do. He heard Velma telling him that his sacrifice would save the world but it wasn’t the sacrifice she’d had in mind. The soldiers weren’t going to take him back to the lab they were going to shoot him on sight. They wouldn’t know how dangerous that was. If they got his blood on them it would start all over again.
Letting the soldiers kill him wasn’t an option.
Beth. She was the only option that he had left. He needed to tell her but how could he speak to her? How was he supposed to say goodbye to someone that he loved. Even if it was for her own good?
He felt cold. He was shivering. The sharp stone was cutting through his trousers. The day continued to get brighter. The clouds had gone and the sky was a long way above.
The zombies moaned in the forest. They seemed close enough to touch. Dale knew that if he waited for too long then he would lose what little strength he had left. It would be hard enough to say goodbye but he had to do it. His sacrifice might not save the world but it might save the part of it that he cared about and that was enough for him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
He heard guns being cocked and knew that when he turned around they would all be pointed at him. No one fired yet because zombies couldn’t climb the way he was doing. They would be ready though because it had been almost twenty minutes since he’d been bitten and any moment now he would turn.
Beth was shouting: “Let me through, let me through.”
Dale put his feet on the rocky ground. He felt more calm than he had any right to. The fear of death had been trumped by the need to do one last thing before it came.
He turned and saw Beth. The guns were all aimed at him but she seemed not to care. She threw her arms around him.
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s okay. I know.”
He wanted to ask her what she knew but it didn’t matter much n
ow. He remembered the soldier who had taken a shot at him in the tower and knew that he, or another, might be willing to shoot through Beth to get to him. He needed her to stay alive.
“Beth listen to me,” he said. He held her close. Breathed in the smell of her for what he knew must be the last time.
“You’re alive Dale,” she said. She was crying. “You haven’t turned.”
“Beth!” he said, more sharply but not louder.
She stopped and took a step back. Her arms were still on him. She didn’t want to let him go and he didn’t want to let her. Her face was covered in dirt and she looked tired. She looked on the verge of manic.
“You have to listen to me, okay?”
Beth nodded. He wanted to hold her and never let her go but it was too late for that. Instead he drew strength from the love he felt for her. She was it. She was the thing that was worth making a sacrifice for.
“The virus is in the water,” Dale said.
She frowned. This was not what she had expected to hear.
“It’s in the river,” he said. “You can’t go back to the village.”
“But it’s safe now,” she said.
His chest tightened. For a moment, he wondered if he really was going to turn into a zombie. He shook his head. “It’s never going to be safe. You have to leave.”
She nodded. “Okay, we’ll leave. You and me and Dawn.”
Dale shook his head. “I can’t come with you,” he said.
“Why not?” she said. “You haven’t turned. You aren’t going to turn. It must not have got you deeply enough.”
He could have shown her the bite on his arm but he didn’t need to. They both knew that the zombie had bitten him deep enough to turn him.
“I can’t come with you,” Dale said. “You have to take as many people as you can and get as far away from here as possible. Maybe head north.”
She shook her head. He didn’t have long before the soldiers stopped waiting for him to turn or he lost his nerve.
Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Patient Zero Page 18
