‘I’m so sorry, please forgive me.’ She whispered into his ear.
With that, she marched over to the door and pushed the last remaining untried key into the lock. She slowly turned it and the latch clicked. Looking back at Jeremiah with tears in her eyes, she took a deep breath.
‘Goodbye my friend.’
Sharon Gough then slipped into the darkness, closing the door behind her.
***
‘Daddy, Daddy!’ Amber shook Jake out of his slumber.
‘What is it Sweetheart?’ He rubbed his eyes, moving onto his other side to get a few more minutes sleep.
‘Wake up daddy.’ She went to rip away the duvet, but Jake gripped it hard to stop her. ‘There are nude people on our lawn.’
Jake didn’t need to hear anything else. He was up over to the window within seconds. He flung opened the heavy curtains and peered through the pane of glass.
‘There, Daddy.’ Amber pointed to figures, huddled together in the centre of the large garden. ‘Look, they have no clothes on. Just like the others, the ones that weren’t very nice.’
Jake did a quick head count. There were five of them. Four males and one female. ‘Stay here, don’t move.’ He grabbed his daughter’s shoulders. ‘If anything happens then you go up into the attic and lock the door. Do you understand?’
‘Daddy, you’re scaring me.’ Amber didn’t want him to go.
‘Do you understand?’ Jake looked at his little girl straight in the eyes.
Amber nodded.
Jake tugged up a pair of jeans, slipped into his trainers and ran out of the bedroom.
‘Stay there and don’t move.’ He shouted back at Amber as he bounded down the stairs.
Jake nearly slipped as he jumped down the stone steps that led into the cellar. He had meant to go down there yesterday after setting the Crayfish pots, but had been distracted by Amber. She had wanted to plant seeds in the greenhouse and he had helped her.
The old metal locker was still there. Deep green in colour, the doors were slightly dented and rusty. Jake opened it up.
He sighed with relief. The four air rifles were still there. His Uncle certainly had just abandoned Old Mill without having a proper clear out.
Grabbing a small tin of pellets, he picked up the BSA Lightning rifle and ran back up the steps. Jake made his way to the patio doors which led to the back lawn. Stopping in the middle of the room, he pulled down the barrel and loaded a pellet. It was time to defend his castle.
Bursting through the double doors, Jake made his way left to the narrow steps. They led to the garden. Taking aim at the group he squeezed the trigger.
The head of the oldest male exploded like an overripe pepper. It took the small group by surprise.
Before they could attack, Jake had loaded another pellet and fired it at another male aggressor. He dropped to the floor, minus his head; blood sprayed over the lush, green grass.
Three naked bodies were now making their way towards him. He didn’t have time to load the rifle so he sprinted to his right, away from the advancing party.
Running in an arc towards the river gave him time to pull the barrel down and expose the loading hole. Grappling for a small pellet whilst sprinting was tricky, but he managed to get the rifle loaded and cocked.
The infected female was closing in on him. Jake slid down onto the damp grass and took aim. He waited till she was about ten meters away from him, and fired.
The pellet hit her square in the forehead. The pressure of the lead projectile made both sides of her head rupture. Congealed liquid and brain matter flew through the morning air, landing on the raised beds.
Jake didn’t have time to worry about the soil contamination and rolled over, yanking at the air rifle as he went.
The footsteps pounding across the lawn were a giveaway, he realised his reload time had vanished.
Looking up he could see the bare legs running towards him, and instinct took over. Raising his arms, Jake held the rifle up for protection.
The infected male caught his foot on the butt of the gun and he hit the deck. As he fell his knee caught Jake square in the jaw.
Fuzzy headed, Jake tried to pick himself up, but his legs had turned to jelly. The strike to the face had hurt him badly, and he was struggling to stay conscious.
The last of the infected could sniff death, he moved closer to the bodies lying on the grass. Opening his mouth, blood dripped from his blackened teeth; it bounced off the face of the man beneath him.
Was it raining? Jake opened his eyes.
They were met with the eyes of a mad man. The eyes of an infected savage, ready to strike and about to kill.
Jake slammed his right palm into the oncoming face of the attacker. The naked torso fell sideways as his neck cracked.
Without hesitation Jake jumped to his feet, and kicked the infected male in the side of the head. He then searched for his rifle.
Grabbing it from the damp grass, he slammed the butt into the chest of the assailant. The ribs beneath the rifle cracked and shattered. Jake brought it down again, this time with more ferocity. The stock disappeared into the cavity off the man’s chest and he let out a high pitched squeal.
With a bit more composure Jake now loaded the rifle, and pointed it the other body that was lying next to his recently deceased ally.
One quick squeeze and the fifth and final infected human was exterminated.
‘Behind you, watch out behind you!’ A foreign female voice Jake didn’t recognise came from the steep bank, to the right of the cottage.
Without looking for the person warning him, Jake turned around.
Another infected male, athletically built and in his late twenties came sprinting at him.
Jake held out his rifle once again, as if it was fixed with a bayonet. As the young man got closer, Jake couldn’t help notice the huge penis that slapped the inner thighs from side to side, as the man dashed towards him.
An almighty collision happened as the naked man crashed into Jake’s rifle.
Jake himself was sent crashing back onto the grass and his rifle somersaulted into the air, damaged beyond repair.
The infected male was holding his torso, blood seeped from the wound. He looked across the garden and growled at Jake, his voice was deep and gravelly.
Jake now had nothing to defend himself.
The man staggered over; one arm outstretched, the other holding his side.
Jake moved backwards. He looked over at Old Mill. Could he make it to the back door? Were there more of them hiding in the building? Oh my God, Amber.
The thought of his daughter ignited an anger, a passion to survive. Kill or be killed.
Jake rushed the younger man. Play him at his own game.
As he jumped onto the naked body, Jake bit down hard on the man’s nose. He wouldn't let go and started to pull his head back and forth.
The Infected male cried out in agony. He started to punch Jake in the ribs, both sides.
Adrenaline had now kicked in and Jake was oblivious to the pain being unleashed on him. Instead he bit again, this time on the man’s left cheek. He ripped away the flesh and spat it out onto the lawn.
The naked male fell to his knees, the pain was too much.
Jake refused to stop, unrelenting in his vicious attack. He shoved both thumbs in the man’s eyes and pushed deep, until his thumbnails touched brain. That was enough, the Infected male fell backwards onto the damp grass.
Jake, blood pumping fast, was on a high. He kept attacking, kicking, gouging, and biting. It was only when he became aware of two clothed figures stood opposite him that he stopped.
He looked up, wiping the blood from his face.
There in front of him was a woman and a young boy.
Chapter Fourteen
‘Who are you?’ Jake stood up and brushed the wet grass from his jeans.
‘My name is Klaudia.’ The woman spoke softly with a light polish accent. She was slender, with long black hair. The few
grey strands gave away her age; Jake guessed early fifties.
‘And the boy?’
‘Oskar, my grandson.’ She pulled the young boy of about ten close to her.
‘How the hell did you find this place?’ Jake walked over to them.
‘We followed you.’
The woman’s answer stopped Jake in his tracks. ‘You have been following me?’
‘Yes, you and the little girl.’
‘That’s my daughter, Amber.’ Jake looked over them to the garage. The door was ajar.
‘We saw you when you were leaving the seaside town.’ Klaudia looked over her shoulder to where Jake was looking.
‘Westward Ho?’
‘I’m not sure what it’s called. We have only been in your country a few months.’
‘Poland?’ Jake asked
‘Yes, from the city of Rybnik.’
Jake made his way to the garage.
‘There is no one in there.’ The woman called after him.
Jake turned and frowned at the woman. How did she know?
‘We slept in there last night. That’s why the door was open. We left early to find some food. Berries and a few apples.’
Jake felt slightly relieved. He had only been at Old Mill for a couple of days. The thought that its position had already been compromised was unthinkable. This was supposed to be his self-contained fortress.
‘Come inside, have some food.’ He beckoned them to follow him back up the steps and to the cottage.
Jake went to check on Amber, to reassure her that Daddy was okay. When he returned he made a pot of tea. Both Klaudia and Oskar looked as though they needed something hot inside them.
‘They had been following you.’ Klaudia sipped her hot tea.
‘Who?The Infected? ‘Jake asked.
The woman shrugged her shoulders. ‘If that’s what you call them.’
‘You saw them following me? For how long?’ Jake was intrigued.
Klaudia nodded. ‘There were three of them at first. When we were on, what do you call, the barren land?’
‘The moor?’
‘Yes, the moor. Another two joined them and they followed you here.’
‘But there were six of them.’ Jake held up six fingers.
‘I understand numbers.’ Klaudia smiled. ‘I don’t know where he came from. He could have been local.’
Jake shook his head. All this was going on and he hadn’t even noticed. He re-filled Klaudia’s mug with more tea. ‘How are you and Oskar here?.’
‘My daughter, she picks fruit in Devon in the summer. In winter she works in a hotel. She can’t afford to have Oskar with her fulltime, so I bring him over a few times a year.’
Jake looked at the boy. He was frightened and in a strange country. He had witnessed murders; many of them brutal no doubt. Poor sod
Klaudia held her grandson’s hand. ‘One morning we wake up and everyone is dead. We feel full of cold, but we are alive.’ She swallowed hard and fought back the tears. ‘My only child, my little girl, was dead.’
Jake tried to look sympathetic, but it was hard when he had never met her daughter. His heart really went out to the little boy though. He did look pitiful.
‘If that wasn’t bad enough.’ Klaudia continued. ‘These monsters turned up and started eating people. Cannibals, in England!’ Her eyes widened with fright.
‘They have been infected.’ Jake tried to explain whilst calming the woman, who was now crying. ‘Their blood has become infected, bad. It makes them crazy.’
‘But we are okay.’ She gestured to the three of them sat at the table.
‘I know.’ Jake smiled. ‘It’s our blood, it’s quite rare. It seems to be unaffected by the whole phenomenon.’
Amber, who had been playing with Young Red in the front room, appeared; complaining she was hungry.
Jake made them some rice and sauce; the young boy wolfed it down as if it was going out of fashion. Klaudia then offered to wash up the dirty pans.
‘Daddy, can they stay?’ Amber asked.
Jake looked at the little boy. Klaudia looked across at him, but averted her eyes when he gazed back over to her. He pondered for a few seconds. ‘What are your plans?’
Klaudia shrugged. ‘To get back to Poland. How, I don’t know; but we just want to go home.’
‘I can understand that.’ Jake got up from the table. ‘Why don’t you stay here until you get yourselves sorted. Till someone tells us what to do.’
Klaudia turned from the sink, raising her soapy hands from the water. ‘How can I thank you?’ She hugged Jake. ‘We don’t know what to do.’ Tears once again fell from her eyes.
‘Safety in numbers.’ He smiled back at Klaudia. ‘Plus we have the room. How can I turn you away?’
‘You are so kind. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.’ She kissed Jake’s cheek and her fingers touched the back of his neck.
Jake blushed. He felt a stirring; it had been a while since a woman had kissed him. He felt slightly ashamed; the rousing had taken him by surprise. His heart was for Angel, no one else.
‘Yes!’ Amber screamed. ‘Come with me Oskar. We can play with Young Red.’ She led the boy by the hand into the next room.
Jake smiled at Klaudia, who had returned to the washing up. He put his arousal down to the fact his body was acting physically. His loyalty was Angel’s. He just wished she would hurry up. He needed to touch her, to feel her soft skin.
Chapter Fifteen
Jeremiah Rosser couldn’t focus properly. The blood had got into his right eye, and the crack over the head had made his vision blurred.
‘You will talk to us, old man.’ Waters this time used the back of his hand to smack the prisoner across the face.
Jeremiah’s head shot back and blood flew from his nose, spraying the wall behind.
‘What are you hiding?’ Emma Davis strolled over from the back wall of the cell. She looked at the old farmer, who had been tied to the wooden chair. It was like something out of a Hollywood film. She loved every second of it.
‘I have nothing to hide. I know nothing.’ Jeremiah was fighting for his breath.
‘Bullshit!’ Davis shouted. Putting her face inches away from his, she prodded him in the chest. ‘You two were working together. To smuggle bodies out of this place to use yourself.’
‘Why would I do that?’ Jeremiah protested. ‘What would we do with them?’
Davis kicked the legs of the wooden chair, and toppled the old man to the floor. With her right boot she kicked him hard in the ribs.
Jeremiah coughed. His chest tightened, he couldn’t breathe.
Emma Davis straddled him, and lifted up his head off the concrete floor. ‘Where has the bitch taken all our infected prisoners?’
Jeremiah tried to struggle free but it was useless. The fight had been beaten out of him. He murmured that he didn’t know.
‘What?’ Waters yelled from across the cell.
Emma Davis moved her mouth closer to Jeremiah’s ear. ‘Where is that bitch with our cargo? Is Doctor Robert involved?’
Jeremiah turned his head as far as she would let him. He started to whisper.
‘I can’t hear you.’ Davis put her ear close to his mouth.
‘Why don’t you fuck off, Leila K.’ Blood rose in Jeremiah’s throat and he started to cough.
Davis smashed the old farmers head against the concrete with rage and jumped to her feet. ‘You, old man, are fucking dead.’ She started kicking him with such ferocity that Waters could hear the farmer’s ribs cracking beneath his thin bruised skin.
Six or seven heavy boots went in before Waters pulled her off.
‘Fuck off!’ She shouted. Her eyes like saucers, Davis was totally deranged. She was throwing punches and kicking out wildly.
Waters lost his grip. He needed to stop her before she kicked him to death. Dead men didn’t speak.
Davis was now punching Jeremiah in the side of the head, screaming and shouting with each exploding fist.
The farmer now lay unconscious on the cell floor, in a pool of his own blood. He had already made his mind up not to tell them anything. Even though Sharon had attacked him, she had obviously taken leave of her senses. Her misguided loyalty to the half dead was wrong. Jeremiah could see how this grim new world could mess with your overall focus, but he would never betray her.
‘Leave him.’ Waters yanked Davis away from the battered old man.
‘Fuck you!’ She screamed back in his face.
‘Dead men can’t tell us anything. Can they?’ He pulled her away from Jeremiah Rosser once again.
Davis turned and punched waters full on in the stomach. Waters doubled up with the powerful hit, but before he could regain his breath Davis grabbed both sides of his face. She started kissing him roughly.
Waters was taken aback by the curve-ball of a hard punch and a kiss. Before he knew it he was half undressed.
Davis pushed him to the floor. This time she straddled a man for different results.
As Jeremiah Rosser lay half dead on the cold concrete floor, the couple next to him united as if it was their last day on earth.
Emma Davis looked around the room, her head in a spin. Underneath her sweating body was a man she hardly knew. Next to her was a man she had kicked into a near coma.
She had never been so turned on.
***
‘Is this it?’ Roger Clough looked around at the top of the hill. To his left was a small church, and to his right was a public house that had closed down many years before. He could just about make out the name on the faded plaque above the boarded up window. The Toby Jug.
‘This is Bickington.’ Angel pointed to the road sign. ‘He said Old Mill was at the bottom of the hill. This must be that hill.’ Angel’s heart was racing. Would Jake be there? Her head said no.
Jake had been stuck on the wrong side of the river Severn with no way of crossing back. They had only been holed up on one occasion, when the acid rain fell. Could he have overtaken them then?
‘I know what you’re thinking.’ Roger rubbed Angel’s arm.
Angel smiled nervously.
‘The likelihood is that we will be the first people to arrive at Old Mill.’ Roger never liked to give out false hope.
The Dust: Book Three - Sanctum Page 11
