Now I know who the man with the shovel was, I thought.
“I can tell you, Miles, that this guy put up one hell of a fight before they got him – in fact he probably saved our lives by distracting some of the infected.”
We turned right past the detached house and walked along our close until we reached the main road, where we stopped and looked both ways. Occasionally we could hear screams and shouting in the distance, but otherwise it was strangely silent and deserted of all movement. We turned back, this time walking across the green as the sun started to set. As we entered the close, Maria was saying goodbye to Mary and started to walk back to her own house.
“You had an interesting day then, James. I was really impressed how you took the infected out by shooting them in the balls first,” said Maria as Miles, John and I approached.
“Oh no, I was hoping Mary wasn’t going to tell you about that!”
“That wasn’t very nice, James,” Miles remarked. “OK, what happened?”
I told Miles the story to try to redeem myself. By then it was starting to get dark so we said goodbye to each other and headed back to our own homes – this was no time to be caught out in the dark, as we would never have seen the infected coming.
John and I entered the living room to see both ladies sitting in the armchairs. Josephine got up and asked if we wanted a cup of tea, and we both answered yes.
“The news will be on shortly,” said Mary.
“Already?” I said, as I sat in the vacated armchair and glanced at the clock – it was 9.50 pm, and I hadn’t realised it was that late.
Mary turned the TV on and Josephine arrived with the tea, which I started to sip as the news began.
“It has come to the government’s attention that a number of people have tried to leave the cities, which has resulted in some people being shot by mistake. Please stay in your own homes and lock all doors and windows. Above all, keep quiet, as any loud sounds or music seems to attract the infected. As stated before, the infected are moving in large groups – usually between thirty to fifty and sometimes much larger. If you leave your home and come across one of these groups, your chances of survival are minimal. Most of our large cities are completely overrun, with only a few pockets of survivors. The same has happened in cities in other countries – for example, New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and even Sydney in Australia. We are struggling to obtain news from various locations in the UK and abroad because several of our reporters have been infected. Our next news update will be at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
The newsreader wished his audience well, and the TV went bank.
“That didn’t give much away,” observed John.
“I can’t see them sorting this mess out any time soon,” I said. “Mary, did you manage to speak with the girls, or any of your siblings?”
“Yes, I spoke to Linda and Ruth. They are both in a similar position – basically they are OK at the moment, but they say there are infected everywhere. Linda is running out of food in general and Ruth is getting low on baby food. I also spoke to Mick. They are still in the pub, and he said they’re OK, with enough food and drink to last them few more days yet. I didn’t try anybody else because Maria arrived, and we had quite a long chat.”
“We may have to help our daughters, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings first,” I said.
John and I went around the house checking all windows and doors while Mary and Josephine had a general tidy-up. It was just after 11.00 pm, and we were all quite tired after the day’s events, so we went to bed.
Mary and I lay on the bed in silence, each with our own thoughts.
“What are we going to do about Linda and Ruth?” Mary asked suddenly. “They have no way of protecting themselves, and have very little food.”
“We’ll see how things progress, but if push comes to shove we will bring them back here. At least we have a chance of getting more food. Miles said he was getting low on supplies too.”
We fell into silence again, both listening to the night sounds that had become familiar, the occasional shout and scream in the distance. Eventually everything went quiet. It was 1.30 am when we fell asleep.
Day Four
Thursday 15 May 2014
Mary was the first to get up, as usual, feeding Sheba and letting her into the garden to do her normal doggy things. But that day Mary was unbelievably early.
“Get yourself going, James,” she said in an unusually loud voice.
“OK, OK, what time is it?” I asked sleepily.
“It’s nearly six-thirty, and we have a lot to do today.”
“What’s the rush? And what do we have to do that is so urgent?”
“Did you not want to close off the close today?” asked Mary.
“Yes, but not this flipping early!” I said, realising that I was going to lose this battle of words, as usual. I continued, “Alright, alright, I’m on the move. A cup of tea would be nice”.
“OK, I’ll put the kettle on,” said Mary begrudgingly. She then disappeared down the stairs.
After getting dressed and paying a visit to the toilet, I headed downstairs and went into the living room, where I was greeted by Sheba with her tail going into overdrive. I gave her a few pats and a stroke, and continued into the kitchen, where Mary had made my tea and her coffee.
“Shall we try the TV and see if there is any news?” she asked.
“No, they said last night there would be no news till eight.”
There were no papers, of course, so we sat in silence drinking our tea and coffee. After about 15 minutes we heard movement upstairs, and John and Josephine appeared.
“Good morning – do you want something to eat and drink?” asked Josephine. Mary and I both nodded, and Josephine proceeded to make toast for us and another tea for me. John had the same.
“We need to clear the bodies from the close so we can block it off later,” said John.
“Yes, we’ll see what we can do after breakfast,” I replied.
After we had finished eating, John and I walked out into the close. As we looked around, Miles appeared at his door.
“Hi James – it seemed a bit quieter last night,” he said.
“Yes, it was much better than it has been. We need to move all these bodies out of the way so we can block off the close.”
“Yeah, we can put them in number twenty-nine’s garage with the other one,” Miles replied.
“That’s good thinking. Oh, what’s the time?” asked John.
“Seven-fifty,” said Miles, looking at his watch. John and I never wore a watch. We would usually use a mobile phone or be in front of a computer screen, which always displayed the time.
“OK, Miles – John and I are going to watch the news at eight, so we’ll meet you out here at eight-thirty. Perhaps we can get a few more of the neighbours to help,” I suggested.
“Will do – see you later.”
Miles walked back to his house, perhaps wanting to watch the news as well. John and I walked back to ours, going into the living room.
“The news is about to start,” said Mary as she turned on the television, and we all sat down and waited in anticipation.
The newsreader appeared and started with the usual warnings. He gave the latest details of the disease before continuing.
“We have also learnt that the Queen and members of the Royal Family have been evacuated to an undisclosed location as Buckingham Palace has been overrun by the infected. In addition, the Houses of Parliament have been infiltrated. The surviving staff, MPs and peers have either been moved to a secure country location or have returned to their constituencies to coordinate the fight against the disease. Power and telecommunications are becoming critical, with blackouts in some parts of London, and mobile phone signals in the south of the city have been lost.”
The newsreader su
ddenly stopped and looked to his right, and we could hear raised voices in the background.
“I wonder what is happening at the BBC?” said John.
“Sounds like they have a few problems of their own,” Mary commented.
The newsreader said, “Joe, what are you doing? We’re still on air”.
He was still looking to his right, speaking to someone out of camera shot.
“My God!” he shouted, as another man appeared from the right of the screen and lurched towards him. The newsreader was bitten in the neck from behind, and cried out as he was pulled backwards, the chair tipping back with him and falling to the floor with the attacker appearing to land on top as they both disappeared behind the desk. After a few seconds, the attacker’s head reappeared above the desk, and he looked directly into the camera. We all jumped as the most evil bright-red bloodshot eyes with the most pitch-black glazed pupils we had yet seen stared back at us.
The TV picture suddenly disappeared, leaving all four of us looking at a blank screen, and it took a few seconds to regain our composure.
“It might be a good idea to get some camping gear and portable gas stoves and lights, and some more batteries,” said John, trying to restore some calm.
“Where are we going to get those?” asked Mary.
“Blacks or Millets in Chelmsford,” John answered.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to go into Chelmsford? I don’t,” warned Josephine.
“We have no choice – we will have no other way of cooking our food if the power goes off.”
“We could get one of those barbecue grills, I suppose, but that would mean cooking in the garden, which could be a problem in the winter,” I said.
“Surely the government will have everything back to normal before then?” said Mary, concerned.
John and I looked at each other.
“At the moment, it doesn’t look that way,” John observed.
“OK guys. I’m meeting Miles at eight-thirty, so I’ll have a word with him and see what he thinks,” I said, leaving the room and continuing out of the front door towards Miles’s house. As I approached, he appeared.
“Did you see the news?” we said in unison, and both smiled.
“Things are looking really bad, plus we are starting to run out of food,” said Miles.
“Yeah, if we get a power cut we’ll have no way of cooking anything. John thinks we should try and get some camping gear, those stoves that use the small gas cylinders.”
“First, we need to put all these bodies somewhere so we can get out of the close easier,” said Miles.
“Let’s speak to our neighbours to get them to help and try to arrange a communal trip. You take Steve and Lucy at number thirty-one, and I’ll go to number forty-one and have a word with Mat and Sara.”
“Right, let’s do it,” agreed Miles.
I walked back across the close to number 41, directly opposite our house, and rang the doorbell. Sara opened the door, with Mat appearing just behind her. Mat appeared to be approaching middle age and was of below-average height, but stockily built. He was probably quite strong. Sara was of the same height and about the same age, a well-built woman, if perhaps slightly overweight.
“Hello James. What a nightmare, how are you coping?” asked Sara.
“Hi Sara, Mat. We’re OK at the moment, but did you see the news? Things look like they are going to get a whole lot worse.”
“Yes, wasn’t that terrible?” said Mat. “Christ, that man’s eyes! You were lucky yesterday. Do you have any spare guns you can lend us?”
“No, but that leads me to my next point. Miles and I are trying to arrange a trip to get some supplies, maybe some sort of camping stove, plus a visit to the local gun shop, and we were hoping you would join us.”
“Yes, I’ll come – but what about all these bodies? We’ll never get out of the close.”
“Err, that leads to my second request – we could do with some help with that, the idea being to put them in number twenty-nine’s garage.”
“Yes, I’ll help,” said Mat. “We can use my wheelbarrow, if you think it would help.”
“That would be great,” I said, thinking it was amazing how callous we had become – some of those bodies had been our friends.
“If you get yourself ready, I’ll go and see how Miles is getting on,” I said.
“See you in a moment,” Mat said, disappearing into his house.
“’Bye, James,” said Sara.
I walked back across the close to where Miles was still talking to Steve and Lucy.
“Hi Steve, Lucy,” I said.
Steve was probably around fifty, but not the most athletic-looking, being a little overweight. Lucy was about the same age and of a similar build to her husband.
“Yes, I’ll help move the bodies,” Steve was saying.
“I’ll make a list for Steve’s shopping trip, otherwise he will forget something as usual,” Lucy said.
Looking at Miles, I didn’t like to say anything, but this was not going to be your normal trip – more a case of grab whatever could be useful. Miles returned my glance knowingly.
“Sorry, guys, but I cannot get the shopping without a list,” Steve quipped.
“Steve’s quite useless when it comes to shopping,” added Lucy.
“Hello James,” said Steve, smiling. “I hear you have a special way of taking the infected out by shooting them in the bollocks first.”
I was glad Mat appeared from behind us at that moment, pushing his wheelbarrow.
“OK, are we ready, then?” he asked.
Miles went back into his house and commandeered his elder son Jeffrey, and at the same time John appeared out of our side gate. Mat moved the wheelbarrow to where the bodies lay.
“Oh no, it’s Alf and Jacky! Oh, my God, what happened to him?” exclaimed Mat, pointing to the man with the top of his head missing.
“Alf and Jacky were attacked when we tried to block off the close, and that is what a shotgun does at close range – so if we manage to get a gun for you, be careful where you point it!” I said.
“We can block the close off when we come back from our trip,” said Miles as he joined the rest of us with his son. Miles went over to the garage at number 29 and opened the doors, and in complete silence we started to clear the bodies from the close, and a few more from just beyond it, creating enough space for our vehicles to pass. We left a few bodies scattered over the road and in the gardens of the houses opposite our close, as by the time we had finished I was sure we all felt a bit sick.
“OK guys, that will do,” I said. “I think we all need a drink and a rest. Shall we all meet again at, say, about eleven for our shopping trip? One more thing – don’t forget to wash your hands!” I finished, with a slight grin.
Everybody seemed to be in agreement, and I don’t think any one of us was in a fit state to put up much of an argument anyway. We all returned to our homes, seemingly wrapped up in our own thoughts. John and I walked into the living room to find the ladies sitting in the armchairs trying to find a working channel on the television.
“Do you want a drink?” Josephine asked.
“Yes, I’ll have a cup of tea, please,” I replied.
“And I’ll have a Coke,” said John.
Josephine disappeared into the kitchen.
“Mary, perhaps you and Josephine could try and make some sort of list of things we might need,” I said.
“OK, I’ll get a pen and paper,” Mary replied, walking towards the kitchen.
John and I went upstairs to the bathroom and washed our hands. When we returned, our drinks were on the coffee table. Mary and Josephine were in the kitchen having a heated discussion about what was needed – and then the power went off. The portable phones went beep and the lights on the TV and the Sky unit went out. John was t
he first to speak, in his usual calm manner.
“You’d better add a radio that runs on batteries to that list.”
“Add a normal phone to the list, too, one that doesn’t need a mains power supply,” I added.
John and I started checking the guns and that the magazines were fully loaded. We decided to give the other semi-auto shotgun to Miles, mainly because we knew he had some experience with firearms, and the O/U shotgun to Mat. I put on the cartridge belt, which held 25 shells, and another ten in my pocket. John furnished himself with the tactical Ruger and four of the 25-shot magazines, plus one ten-shot magazine that was already in the rifle. We also collected two boxes of 25 shells containing the Alphamax+, as well as cartridges loaded with SG shot for Mat and Miles.
It was now approaching 11.00 am; it was time to go. After collecting Mary and Josephine’s list we left the house. Miles was already waiting by his door with Jeffrey, and I walked over to him, saying, “You may need this,” handing him the semi-auto shotgun and a box of cartridges.
“John, can you get hold of Mat and show him how to use and aim the over-and-under shotgun? I’ll show Miles the semi-auto. He will need this too,” I said, handing John the other box of cartridges. I then gave Miles a crash course on loading and aiming the shotgun. I had just finished when Steve appeared on the scene.
“Are we ready, then?” he asked.
“Yes, we are,” said Miles, indicating behind me. I turned to see John, Mat and his wife Sara approaching us.
“Hi Mat, are we all going in our own vehicles?” I inquired. The reply was a resounding yes.
“Where are we going first, then?” asked John.
“The gun shop is the nearest – may as well go there, then Sainsbury’s and finally the camping shops in Chelmsford,” said Miles.
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” said Mat.
We all agreed and started to head for our vehicles. John and I were going in his truck, Steve was driving his MPV, Mat and his wife were in their Nissan Note and Miles and his son were going to take the taxi. We have ourselves a convoy, I thought.
Infected- The Beginning Page 10
