“How did you make it?” he asked.
She explained to him all about her journey, starting at the church, being hit by Will, going to the flat, then the bus depot, Robert and then here, “I figured if you were all still alive you would have come here, oh my god this is amazing, I can’t wait to see mum and dad”.
Tyrone froze at the words and Monique knew something was up.
“Tell me”, she said stepping in front of him.
“They didn’t make it”, he whispered.
“What happened?” she asked.
He shook his head, “I can’t”.
“I need to know Ty”.
He licked his bottom lip, his eyes welled up with tears, “Dad got hit by the rain, he was tacking out the trash when it hit, he came in melting and screaming and mum ran to his side. He didn’t turn, the pain killed him…His heart was already weak. We knew we had to leave, I told her we had to find you and she told me to look and to come back when we had you. Bianca and I searched but we presumed the worst. We went back home and…it was on fire…I tried to run in but Bianca stopped me, it was too late the whole building went up”.
Monique welled up inside at the thought of her parents, she was silent as Tyrone led her up to their nans flat, once inside he made her some strong tea and left her in one of the bedrooms so she could think. A few hours later she came out with her face red and swollen from all the crying but no one judged her, not any of them. Bianca sat with their Nan tending to a small wound on her arm.
“Nan what happened to your arm?” Monique asked.
“Just went outside for a fag, I don’t smoke in my home and one of those damned things bit me”, she chuckled, “But didn’t do much else, Tyrone stabbed it in the head”.
“Ty?” She looked at him and he knew, his eyes showed her that he knew she would turn.
He pulled her aside and whispered in her ear, “I can’t kill my Nan Mon, I just can’t”.
“I know”, she smiled softly, “We will just wait it out”.
That night it happened, she turned, she was slower than the others at turning but it came like the others did, the howling with the hunger shocked them all, she had been a large woman and couldn’t move too great on her legs but the speed and strength she now had was surprising and she had lunged for Tyrone, knocking him to the floor. He had hit his head and been knocked out, Bianca had just stood there screaming, it was up to Monique, she held the blade up with a heavy heart and cried as she ran forward and struck her down. The old woman fell to the floor and so did Monique with pain littered across her face.
When Tyrone awoke he found his Nan laying under a sheet, “We need to leave, I can’t stay here”, Monique said.
Tyrone didn’t want to leave at first, this had been their second home, this place was a safe haven but he knew why, they couldn’t physically move her body outside and soon she would decompose and fall apart and none of them wanted to witness that. So they packed up whatever belongings they found useful and set of back into the broken world.
Around six months had passed, they had travelled well out of Brighton back inland towards Kent, they had no idea where to go but went on the hunt to find other survivors but most had declined company or had died along the way. Brighton had held too many memories but that place had a way of bringing you back. They had settled down for the night in a small house down a small country lane, Tyrone had meant to be on lookout but was so exhausted and had fallen asleep at the window, that’s when they had seen them.
They had all snuck into the house and taken them, Monique awoke to find a man pinning her and Bianca to the floor as some other men beat Tyrone to a pulp. They had all been caught by the Big Guns, the bastards of the Earth. For a while they travelled the road picking up other survivors, most were killed on the spot others were taken if they had their uses then one day Monique wanted to cry, they were forced back to Brighton. The Big Guns built up a camp there, keeping everyone pretty much a prisoner, luckily with Tyrone by her side none of the men had touched her but every day the men got worse and attacked women.
The day that truly forever broke Monique’s heart came when some newbies were picked up, a whole load of them but there was only one female and she looked like a hardnosed cow and when one of the men said something to her she kicked him in the privates just to prove a point but she had a strange and terrifying air to her and both her and her brother become part of the Big Guns team.
Monique hadn’t known then that it was Amanda and Callum and she didn’t know it was them that eventually would give her and Darren a lifeline to leave. She remembered the day she had met Darren just as things started to become blurred and fuzzy, when her brain burnt up and flamed in her skull. One of the Big Guns made a pass at Bianca and Tyrone flipped out killing one of their men, as Monique watched where she stood washing the group’s clothes she couldn’t scream as it stuck fast in her throat. Danny with the dreadlocks and bandana marched over and without so much as a word of warning he shot both Bianca and Tyrone in their faces. He turned and stared at Monique, “You can live if you don’t kick up a fuss”, she was so scared and grief stricken she couldn’t answer him back and he took it as submission.
She wished truly and dearly she could thank Stacie for taking Danny out all those years ago, she knew deep down that she should have gone with her to do it herself for revenge but she had been scared, so deeply and utterly scared of seeing that vile man again. But maybe if she had gone with her Callum might not have got bitten, Stacie might not have been infected and things might not have gone to shit the way they had, there was just so many what if’s.
After the shooting she had fled to a secluded spot and cried not realising the area had already been occupied by someone, someone who wanted out even though he had only just arrived.
“Hey sorry about your family”, a male voice said from behind her.
Looking up she spotted a handsome guy his eyes full of genuine remorse, “Thanks, I guess”.
“I’m gonna find a way out of here, when I do you should come with me”.
“They won’t ever let you leave”.
“They won’t need to let me as they won’t have a say in it”, he grinned.
She wanted to smile with him and be enthusiastic with his plan but the day was just not a good one and Tyrone had promised her the same thing and look where it had got him, dead!
“What’s your name?” the guy asked.
But she just ignored him lost in her own thoughts.
“Well I’m Darren”
She looked up at him and admired his persistence and with a grief stricken sob she told him, “Monique…My name is Monique”.
~
I looked at the book and felt like crying, this had been Monique’s story from start to finish, I now understood why when I first met her she had been against me finding Tanya she had seen first-hand what Danny was like, she had gone to find her brother and although she had been reunited with him for some months she inevitably had him taken away from her, it had broken her heart and caused it to harden.
The shuffling footsteps upstairs alerted me that Monique knew I was down here and was getting hungry and impatient. She howled with blood lust and I knew she was calling to me, she wanted me to end this, she knew like I knew that I was the only one who could do it, like she had been the only one in her family to do it. We could call upon the mental walls to build inside our minds and take out people that needed to be cured, the only cure, to die.
Placing the book down on the sofa I took to the stairs, I slowly walked up them one at a time, it felt like my footsteps were echoing so loud as I made my way up, a slow thud, thud, thud, but actually it was my heart breaking at the thought of my turned friend.
I reached the door and paused taking a deep breath and walking in, Monique snarled and snapped her jaws at me, she ran at me and knocked me to the floor with such anger and speed but my feelings had eaten away at me making me feel numb. Fighting her off I threw her onto the bed, she howled a
gain and came at me, her face had paled, her eyes jaundice, the bite mark showing on her arm, blistered and pulsating with the infection.
“Monique, please forgive me”, I sobbed throwing out one of my hands summoning my claws and as she jumped she pierced herself onto them, her body convulsed before she fell limp in my arms.
I fell to my knees and cried, cradling her like a baby, I kissed the top of her head and told her repeatedly how sorry I was, that I was sorry I failed her as a friend and that I was sorry I wasn’t here with her when she needed me. I’m Sorry.
Chapter 12 …
Ollie came up and found me on the floor holding onto her dead body and crying, he comforted me with his hands on my shoulders and then too cried a river like me. Callum was last to come into the room, his eyes transfixed on the broken body of one of the women he loved, he had been an asshole to her and now could never say how sorry he really was.
“Why didn’t she tell us?” Ollie whispered into the air.
“Because she wanted to be strong, she thought she could do this alone”, I sobbed.
“She shouldn’t have had to go through it alone”, Callum added his tone angry but not with us, with himself, “If I hadn’t…If I hadn’t been so hung up on you she might still be here”.
I bit my lip, but what he said was true, if he had got over me when everyone first thought and hadn’t tried to kiss me, Monique would never have run off but it too could easily be pinned down onto me. If I hadn’t have stayed in hiding, if none of them mourned me bringing them too close together then none of this would have happened. I had my reasons though, didn’t I? And they were good reasons too, I had gone mad, eaten people, done things I wish I hadn’t, wish I could turn back time to stop myself. I did it all to save them, to keep them all safe from me.
“What now?” Ollie asked, he stood up and glanced out the window, Kaley was standing with the new girl Lara. They were both lost souls and after Monique had told myself, Kaley and Albi to leave, the rest of the camp saw us as trouble, the looks Kaley was getting made me want to shout in a rage but I knew why, they feared us but they didn’t know why, they didn’t know why Monique sent us away but pretty soon they would see and understand.
“We fight”, I replied sternly.
“I don’t think I can”, Callum whispered into the air.
“We have to, for her. She fought like hell to keep this camp going and what, now she’s gone we just let it go to pot and let everyone get eaten by monsters?” I lay Monique down on the floor and went over to Callum shaking his shoulders, “She would want us to fight on and you know it”.
“I’m in”, Ollie said, “And I know the others will be, look”, he pointed out the window to where Dwayne had called a camp meeting, “Even Dwayne the idiot is pulling his weight and getting everyone together to fight. This is our home, we need to protect it no matter what, no matter how we feel”.
Sure enough Dwayne had pulled every man, woman and teen that could fight, he had given them each and weapon, he was now commanding pairs to go off and man certain sights around the perimeter fence keeping lookout. He was fighting for his home.
“Callum we could really use you to fight too, these people won’t stop, they will kill and eat every last man, woman and child until this place is once again a ghost town”.
He looked at me, “Stace, I can’t I don’t have the energy to fight anymore. She…She kept me going. I know I thought it was you I wanted when I saw you again but I’m sorry it wasn’t, she cradled me tight when we lost you, she made me laugh and she told me straight when I was being a dick. I can’t fight on without her”.
I knew he meant it, his eyes told me it all in waves, he needed time to grieve and we had to give it to him, I just hoped he wouldn’t be grieving over too many of his fallen camp mates later on too, “Ollie come on, we need to prepare”.
We left the room and Callum closed the door behind us, exiting the house we could now hear the commands Dwayne was shouting out, on seeing us arrive he stopped, “Hope you don’t mind, I’ve rallied the troops ya, they gonna give these creeps shit when they come”.
I smiled at his gangster language and tone of voice, “I don’t mind”.
“How long do you think we have, until all those creeps show up innit?”
I shrugged, “A minute, an hour, who knows? If you have family and you want to hide them, make sure they are safe or say goodbye just in case then do it now”.
Dwayne nodded, “Ya’ll heard the lady, now move”.
Turning to Ollie I saw him looking at Kaley, she was leaning up against a house clinging to a metal pole that someone had handed to her as a weapon, “Go to her Ollie”.
He looked at me eyes wide, “I don’t want to lose her again”.
“You won’t, she’s tougher than you know”.
He ran off to her and they talked and smiled, now there was just one person I had to see and make sure was safe until the fight started.
Cain was sitting in the community centre with all the other kids, Chantelle and Stephanie along with a few other mothers were all crammed inside. Most of the mum’s had weapons.
Chantelle was standing near Cain, watching him intently.
“Hey”, she smiled as I came over, “He’s missed you”.
At those words Cain looked up and saw me, “You came back”.
“I said I would didn’t I”.
“So you finished the job Monique sent you to do?” he asked innocently.
I leant down to his level and looked him in the eyes, “Nearly”.
His eyes dropped.
“But I’m staying here to do it. There are some very bad people coming that want to hurt us all, Monique needs me and the camp to sort them out so they don’t bother us anymore but I need you to promise me that you will stay in here, safely with Chantelle and the others”.
“I promise”.
“Good, once it’s done I can spend all the time in the world with you”.
“Do you…Promise”.
“Yes…”, and I try to never break them I added in my head, I just hoped I could keep it this time.
Giving him a cuddle I then stood up and faced Chantelle, “Do you have a weapon?” I asked.
She shook her head, “No…Well I don’t like them”.
“But you have him”, I motioned to Cain, “And I want him kept safe, take this…Please”. I opened my bag and pushed the pistol I had taken from Lizzy into her hands, “It doesn’t have many bullets but make them count if you have to use them”.
“I will”, she smiled, “Good luck to you all”.
Tapping her shoulder I then waved goodbye to Cain and left the Community centre, one of the mum’s locked the door behind me, I heard the key turn with a click. Walking back up the main gate towards the others I decided to have a quick talk with Kaley. I called her over and she kissed Ollie on the cheek before coming to me.
“What’s the plan of action, boss”, she smiled but it was nervous.
“I need you to store all your energy until you can face Christian”.
“But I can help more, my gift is stronger now I can feel it, I know it is”, she replied.
“Yes I know but I can’t have you pass out unexpectedly. Christian has his weird mind control thing and he will command the others to take a bullet for him or a Telekinesis blast, let me take the others out and wait till he is defenceless then we take him down”. As I said mind control I felt something click at the back of my mind, like claws running on cement. Looking over to the gate where the lookouts stood I saw no one worrying yet, they hadn’t seen any danger coming, I too couldn’t sense any infected half breeds yet, no sign of Christian, yet I could still hear the clicking deep in my mind.
“Ok but what if it’s an emergency and I have to use it”.
“Then by all means use it, I just want you to be able to help take him down”.
The clicking continued and I shook my head trying to get rid of whatever it was in my head.
“You alright?
” Kaley asked me.
“I can hear clicking”.
“Do you think it’s him, Christian trying to get into your mind?” she suggested.
I shrugged, “Maybe…But it sounds familiar”.
“How familiar?” She asked but she had a knowing sound in her voice.
“Forget about it, it’s probably nothing”.
I walked off trying to do a quick perimeter check on the inside, I was about half way down the road when I heard it.
BANG! A gunshot echoed into the sky and we all looked to see where it had come from, Dwayne had shot his pistol into the air to gain all our attention, “They’re coming, ready yourselves”, he shouted, the bastards must have been just outside my sensing area, or maybe I hadn’t felt for long enough but what did it matter, they were here now.
My blood ran cold, someone had spotted them through a scope on a rifle, coming down the main road and headed this way at speed, maybe that was the source of the clicking I could hear. Looking at Kaley and Ollie who came to her side, “Remember, try and keep it for Christian”.
She nodded, Ollie looked at me confused before the front gate crunched with force as several bodies slammed into it. It was now or never.
~
Callum watched from the bedroom window, he had laid Monique into the bed and had covered her over, he wanted her to be warm and comfortable. He sat on a small chair in the corner which had direct view outside, he watched as Dwayne signalled they were here, he watched as the camp members readied themselves for a fight, he watched as terror entered their safe haven but still his numb body couldn’t move to help them.
~
I watched as the army of monsters broke down the gate and entered our home uninvited, I spotted Katherine and Christian near the back, protected by the creatures he controlled. There was at least sixteen of them altogether, in a normal world sixteen against maybe a hundred and fifty or so men and women would have been a laugh, a doddle in a park but these were no ordinary people, these were creature monster hybrids and they were determined to take what they wanted.
Alone (Book 2): Lone Page 27
