The Alpha Plague (Book 6)

by Michael Robertson

  The dad broke free and ran for his daughter. Before he could get to her, another guard drove the end of a baseball bat into his stomach. It forced a loud oof from the dad, who folded to his knees on the ground.

  Most of it didn’t seem to register with the mum, who stared into space and looked catatonic while the eldest of the two girls cried and stared at the ground.

  Suddenly, as if their situation had only just dawned on her, the mum broke out into hysterical screams. The guard who’d just dropped the dad let his bat fall and drove a hard cross into the mum’s chin, but she remained on her feet.

  When the mum drew a breath as if to scream again, the guard raised a fist at her and grimaced.

  The mum stopped.

  A slightly smaller guard than the one who’d attacked the mum lifted the youngest girl and waddled over to the open manhole with her as if she were no more than a fence post. With little ceremony, he held her over the wide hole and dropped her.

  Vicky heard nothing of the girl’s passing other than the scream below from the frenzied diseased. Like Meisha, Jack, Lola, and Alvin, she wouldn’t see the future of this fucked-up world.

  The dad looked like he tried to call out again, but he fought to breathe from the bat’s winding and didn’t seem to have it in him. So when he jumped to his feet, it startled Vicky. Two steps towards Moira and another guard clotheslined him.

  The dad hit the ground flat on his back and the guard who’d taken him down leaned over him and punched him square in the face. The dad fell limp.

  No need for gaffer tape, they dropped the dad in next.

  Both the older daughter and the mum shook and cried. At least they’d learned to keep their mouths shut, for what good it would do them.

  For the next few minutes, Vicky tasted the bile of indigestion as she watched the guards wrap the mum and daughter in gaffer tape like they’d done to the youngest girl.

  They carried them to the manhole and dropped them in one after the other. They might have twisted and writhed against their captor’s grip on the way over, but it didn’t matter; they stood no chance of escaping.

  ***

  After just a few seconds, the sound of the diseased’s frenzy vanished and gave way to the wet ripping sounds of tearing flesh.

  A click of fingers from Moira and one of the guards—a short and slim woman with the body of a young boy—slid the manhole cover back across. It muffled the sound of the feasting diseased, which made it easier for Vicky to hear the vicious woman address her guards. “I’ve had enough of this bullshit. We need to get ready to go to war with Home. I want that place for my own.”

  A cold chill seeped through Vicky’s veins and the desire to run back to Home coiled within her, but she had to wait. Any movement and they’d see her now they had nothing else to focus on.

  Vicky remained crouched in the bushes—her bent legs cramped from her awkward position—and she watched the guards slowly move away from the scene. They took their time as they headed back to the other side of the complex.

  One final glance at Aaron and the gaunt man raised his eyebrows. Vicky stared back for what felt like the longest time before she dipped a nod. They’d get them out of there whether he believed it or not.

  Chapter Thirty

  Slightly out of it from another active night and the memory of the family at Moira’s community, Vicky raised her hand, rocked on her feet as if her legs could give way at any moment, and stared at the group through slightly out of focus eyes. She hadn’t slept well for days and every sluggish movement felt just at the edge of her co-ordination.

  Even Flynn raised his hand. In what seemed to be a constant mission to challenge Vicky, even he could see the logic in what they proposed. Fed up with being the villain, Vicky relaxed as she watched Serj finally be a leader.

  The five guards stood in the bleached stink of Home’s foyer. Four of them had their hands in the air. Scoop didn’t. When she’d seen the hands go up, she did what she’d done since Tuesday morning when Meisha vanished; she looked out of one of the large windows of Home and stared at the tall and swaying grass as if her daughter would emerge from it. But the diseased didn’t heal and she wouldn’t be getting out of the pen until someone let her out.

  To Vicky and Serj, Meisha had to be treated as a number. They couldn’t jeopardise their plan of setting the pack on Moira’s community. They had to make this decision with their heads. The war with Moira had to end before anyone else died, and they had to strike before Moira hit them. Because Vicky had woken up to this meeting, she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Serj about what she’d seen the night before and tell him they needed to release the diseased now.

  The guards lowered their hands and Serj walked across to Scoop. The only sound in the space came from the gentle pad of his feet over the blue linoleum floor. He placed a hand on Scoop’s shoulder and looked into her eyes. “I’m so sorry, but it’s four to one. It’s been a couple of days now. Meisha should be back.”

  Scoop’s breakfast—fresh made bread and a vegetable broth—sat on the floor by her feet, picked at but largely untouched. Vicky had instructed the kids in the community to bring Scoop regular meals, which they’d done since Tuesday morning. Not that getting a meal to her friend three times a day covered up the toxic guilt eating away at her. One sentence, ‘Your daughter is five hundred metres away and she’s one of them’, would end her search, but they couldn’t tell her that.

  Scoop opened her mouth to reply, but Serj cut her off, his tone sharp. “What would you do in our situation?”

  Vicky recognised the guilt in Serj’s defensive response, but when she looked at Flynn, Piotr, and Scoop, she saw the slightly shocked expressions in reaction to his outburst. A usually calm man, it certainly seemed out of character.

  After Scoop closed her mouth, her dark eyes welling up, Vicky walked over and hugged her tightly. She opened her heart as much as she could and breathed through her mouth because of the woman’s smell. It reminded her of a dirty dog, but who could tell her to shower with things as they were?

  For the entire time Vicky hugged her, Scoop locked up tight and stared out of the large window into the long and grassy field, rigid as she stood pole straight.

  When Vicky pulled away, the woman she called a friend stared at her like she wanted to set fire to the world with her in it. Like she knew something was amiss.

  The June sun shone through the huge window and heated the foyer. Sweat lifted beneath Vicky’s clothes, so she stepped back a pace.

  Tension wound the air tight before Serj said, “We’ll give her one more day and then we’re changing the locks, okay?”

  Not gratitude, but a slight weakening of her jaw and Scoop nodded at the other four guards, sat down on the floor again, and turned to look out of the window.

  ***

  A few minutes passed where none of the guards spoke as they all watched Scoop on the floor. The chatter from the canteen came up the stairs and filled the space.

  If only the rest of the guards would just fuck off, Vicky could talk to Serj about what Moira had said. They needed to act before the crazy bitch could attack them. They also needed to step up the security in Home; they couldn’t have Moira catching them unawares.

  Vicky eventually cleared her throat, the sound of it echoing in the hard space. “Guys, we need to get people in the monitor room so we can watch Home’s perimeter during the day. It’ll be useless at night because we won’t see anything.”

  Not that Vicky had said it directly, but Scoop looked over at her, her face streaked with tears. “I ain’t moving from this spot. I need to be next to this door when my little girl returns. You know what? Change the locks if you need to; I ain’t moving until she comes back anyway.”

  “Flynn, you need to do the first shift,” Vicky said because she had no reply for Scoop. They’d get her in the monitor room when they needed to. After all, it gave her a better view of the outside than just looking through the window.

  Flynn turned toward Vi
cky, instantly on the aggressive as he screwed his face up. “What the fuck?”

  Despite the rise in her heart rate, Vicky forced calm through her words. “What’s with the attitude?”

  “What do you think? You’re always trying to lock me up in places. Or chain me to a desk outside the gym. Anything as long as I can’t get hurt. Fucking hell, Vicky, you won’t even let me fight the diseased if you can avoid it. What the fuck was that about at the funeral? You put your own life in danger to stop me having to fight a diseased. You’ve seen me kill them plenty of times already.”

  A look at Serj and Vicky returned her focus to Flynn. She couldn’t deny he had a point, but she’d take his wrath over his death all day long. “We’re going to take turns, Flynn.”

  Flynn continued to glare at Vicky, his boyish face locked tight.

  In her peripheral vision, Vicky felt Piotr watching her, but she didn’t look over. Instead, she drew a deep and steadying breath and said, “I’ll draw up a rota. You first, and then we’ll break the day up into two-hour shifts so it doesn’t get too boring.”

  Flynn still glared at her.

  Sure, Flynn had a point, Vicky did want to protect him, but at that moment, she thought more about Moira. They needed the earliest possible warning of her impending attack. But to tell Flynn that would be to admit what she’d been doing in the evenings. If the others knew, they’d also know they needed to set the diseased free. They wouldn’t let just Vicky and Serj do it. Scoop would see Meisha, and Flynn would be out there with hundreds of diseased. Although the boy could handle himself, Scoop couldn’t see Meisha. It would fuck everything up.

  Piotr put an arm around Flynn. “Come on, mate, we all need to put a shift in.”

  After he’d looked at Piotr, Flynn scowled at Vicky again. “Someone best come and get me in two hours.” Without another word, he spun around and walked off down the stairs into the canteen in the direction of the monitor room.

  Vicky sighed as she watched him go. At least after they attacked Moira’s community, she wouldn’t have to lie to them anymore. She’d be stepping down from her role too. Let someone else make decisions for the good of the group. She didn’t need the burden of it.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  A few minutes had passed since Flynn left the foyer for the monitor room. Piotr, Scoop, Vicky, and Serj stood in the near silence and stared out of the windows to the meadow beyond. The sounds from the canteen continued to come up at them, but other than that, Vicky heard nothing. It seemed like they all remained beside Scoop to support her as she waited for Meisha, for whatever good that would do. In truth, Vicky waited because she needed Serj on his own. She needed to tell him about her visit to Moira’s community the previous night.

  “I’m going to get some breakfast,” Serj finally said. “Can I get you anything, Scoop?”

  None of the others spoke as they waited for Scoop to reply. When she didn’t, Serj said, “I’ll catch up with you guys later, then.”

  To watch him walk away made Vicky want to call after the man—but the others, or Piotr at least—would want to know what she had to say. A couple of seconds after Serj had left, she turned to the tall Russian. “I’ll see you later, yeah?” she said, and before he could reply, she’d already run off after Serj.

  Vicky caught up with Serj at the bottom of the stairs and walked next to him. Many of Home’s residents seemed to be in the canteen, having breakfast. She spoke from the side of her mouth so they wouldn’t hear. “I need to talk to you.”

  Before Serj could reply, Sharon and Dan Blythe stepped in front of the pair. They both looked like shit as they glared at Vicky through drawn and exhausted faces. It wouldn’t be long before she found one of them in her room with a knife in their hand.

  A look from the bereaved parents and back to Serj again and Vicky shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll catch you later.”

  As Vicky walked away, her mind ran in circles. They needed to act soon. They needed to set the diseased loose on Moira’s community before it was too late. They needed to make sure no one found out about Meisha.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Vicky opened her eyes, her head thick from sleep. A second later, clarity rushed through her mind with a kick of adrenaline and she sat bolt upright. After weeks of insomnia, why had she fallen asleep today? “Fuck!”

  When Vicky stood up on her weak legs, she wobbled and had to rest against the cold wall of her bedroom. At least it only had one bed in it now. The dexterity required to go from asleep to shuffling along between the two beds a second later would have been too much for her. A glance down and she saw her shoes remained on her feet.

  By the time Vicky had stepped out into the corridor and closed the door behind her, she moved more easily. After a few paces, she picked up her speed and walked with a fast march towards the canteen. Because very few watches worked, the screens in the canteen were now the only place she could get an accurate reading of the time. It could be the middle of the day, it could be evening already; because there were no windows in Home, she needed to see the monitors to know.

  As much as she wanted to sprint to the canteen, Vicky didn’t need to attract unwanted attention. Instead, she kept at a fast walk. Her footsteps echoed in the enclosed space of the corridor as she strode down it.

  When Vicky entered the large communal area at the end, she looked at the monitors on the wall. An exasperated sigh and she muttered, “Fuck,” again. The sky had turned dark blue, the thick grass almost black because of the encroaching darkness. The clock on the screen showed a digital reading of the time: 8:31p.m.

  The canteen sat relatively empty. Dinner had finished. A scan around the place and Vicky couldn’t see Serj anywhere. Although she did see Flynn at a table by himself. When he looked up, she pulled a tight-lipped smile at him and went over.

  As she got close, Flynn glared at her from behind a dark scowl. No time for drama, she cut to the chase. “Have you seen Serj?”

  “He’s in the monitor room. I thought you’d know that with it being your idea and all.”

  Vicky ignored the crack in his tone and looked back at the screens on the wall as if her attention would somehow make time move slower.

  “And you’ll be pleased to hear he’s changed the locks,” Flynn added. “So you’ve got your way with that too.”

  “But you voted for that as …” Vicky stopped herself. She didn’t have time for this. “You know what? Never mind. I moved you out of my room so you could grow.”

  Flynn laughed.

  “What?” Vicky said.

  “You say that, but you stop me growing every chance you get. If it came from a nurturing and motherly place, maybe it would be easier to take. But it doesn’t. You either totally blank me or you disempower me in front of everyone by stopping me fighting the diseased. You want me to be a guard, but you won’t let me guard. You’re a fucking control freak.”

  As much as Vicky wanted to argue back, she didn’t. He had a point and she didn’t have time. It seemed like every glance at the screens showed a rapidly darkening world outside. “You’re right, and I’m sorry. I’m trying to do the best by you and I’m clearly getting it wrong. I’ve had a lot on my plate lately and I’m not being very level-headed about things at the moment.”

  “We’re supposed to help each other as guards,” Flynn said.

  Vicky didn’t respond and looked back at the monitors: 8:32.

  “So let us help you,” Flynn continued. “You’ve been acting strange. I know you’re probably doing something for the greater good of the community, but you’re pushing everyone away while you’re doing it. I think I understand you, but a lot of the people here don’t. To them, you’re just a heartless bitch that can make the tough decisions without any apparent remorse. I love you, Vicky, but you need to let me in some more.”

  The words caught Vicky off guard and she momentarily froze. Tears itched her eyeballs, but she blinked them away. How did a teenage boy have a better grasp on life than h
er? For the past decade or so she’d been so focused on making sure shit got done, she’d failed to do anything about the relationships in her life. It had been easy for her to take people for granted when circumstances had forced them together. She never had to admit to caring. Another several blinks and she said, “I will talk to you.”

  Accusation sat on Flynn’s chiseled face and his tone had an aggressive spike to it. “Go on, then.”

  Another glance at the monitor on the wall: 8:33. “But I can’t now. I’m sorry.”

  By the time Flynn tutted at her, Vicky had already spun on her heel and headed in the direction of Serj and the monitor room.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  It took no more than a couple of minutes to get to the monitor room, but it already felt like too long. Vicky slammed the handle on the door down and entered without knocking. The second she walked in, Serj spun around in his chair and looked up at her, shock in his wide eyes at the sudden intrusion.

  “Vicky?”

  “We’ve got to get out now.”

  Confusion crushed Serj’s heavy features. “What are you talking about?”

  Vicky looked at the ever-darkening images on the monitors, her chest tightening with panic. “Moira’s going to attack us.”

  “When?”

  “Soon. I went there last night.”

  “Again?”

  “I watched her kill the family dressed in camouflage. The mum lost the plot, kicked the shit out of the guy in the cage with them, and then ate a chunk from his neck.”

  “What the fuck?”

  “I know, right? She’d gone off the edge by that point. Properly fucking lost it. Anyway, after that, Moira called her crazy and dropped the entire family in the pit with the diseased in it.”