“I don’t know, Lisa, but whatever is causing this, it doesn’t seem to be affecting everyone.”
“How can you know that?”
“Your boyfriend went that way. I’m guessing you haven’t spent any time apart in months?”
“Yeah.”
“Then whatever infected him would have had just as much chance to get to you. I think you’re safe.”
“And the rest of us?” Kurt asked.
“No idea, all any of us can do is fight to survive. We can’t change the things we have no control over, but you put down anyone who shows the symptoms of that change, even me, you hear?”
“I didn’t think killing would ever be this easy,” said Kurt.
“When it’s kill or be killed, it’s as easy as talking.”
“What now?” Lisa asked.
“We still need to get to the roof. It’s our safest bet. Is there another way up there?”
“The lift goes most of the way. Otherwise, that’s the only stairs beside the fire escapes outside.”
“Those might be our only way back down if it comes to it, and we can’t risk an elevator.” He went back towards the group.
“We could always lockdown here.” Kurt picked up his bat, but Bobby looked back at the body of the Crazy that had been so expertly finished.
“I don’t know about you, but being locked alone in a box inside a hotel full of those things isn’t how I intend to spend my next days or weeks.”
“You were all for locking down?”
“When the Crazies were on the outside, sure. Everything has changed now.”
“Even if we can get to the roof, what then?” asked another. He was a short but stout-looking man with a southern English accent.
“Look…” began Bobby before realising he didn’t know his name.
“Adam.”
“Adam, I want to get somewhere with one entry point and a point of vantage. We aren’t worried about firearms right now, so we get to high ground. Somewhere we will be safe, even for a little while to re-evaluate this madness.”
“It sure would do us good to catch a breath,” added Kurt.
“What are we looking at here? A complete meltdown?”
“You know as much as any of us,” sighed Bobby.
“All right, but you trained for this, so what do we do?” Adam insisted.
“I trained for war, not to lead a bunch of civvies in whatever this shit show is. I’m doing my best, okay?”
“Come on, if the roof is the best place, we should get moving.” Kurt reached down and pulled the stop from the door.
“All right, I’ll lead. You keep your eyes open, in front and behind, you hear me?”
They both nodded in agreement before he took a deep breath as he readied himself for the next stage. He finally prised open the door and eased out slowly. He was relieved to see the coast was clear.
“Come on,” he said as he once again began the climb.
“What about the people still locked in their rooms?” Adam asked.
“Not our problem right now. We don’t know who is affected?”
“And all of us here?”
He looked down at the blood on his clothes.
“We’ve been exposed. We’ll know soon enough.”
“That’s not exactly reassuring,” replied Adam.
“I can tell you the truth, or I can tell you what you want to hear,” replied Bobby unsympathetically.
Adam dropped it, as he was starting to get a feel for how bad their situation was. They kept climbing in the hope there would be light at the end of the tunnel, knowing that was too much to hope for.
“Were you staying here with anyone?” Kurt asked him.
“No, I don’t have anyone,” he replied with sadness in his voice.
Kurt didn’t press it any further, as pushing those buttons were the last thing any of them needed. There was one thing on their minds, and that was survival. They climbed another two floors without incident, and they knew they weren’t far out now.
“Why’s it so quiet up here?” Kurt whispered.
“I’m guessing they go where they can find people. They must have cleared out these floors. Probably why that group was heading down,” replied Bobby.
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t. It’s just speculation. I don’t even know what those things are or why it’s happened to them, same as you.”
He lifted his hand to call for them to stop. It was a military signal, but they’d all seen enough movies to know what he meant. They could hear a low hum that was very slowly getting louder. He crept to the edge and peered out over the railings, where he could see movement down below. It was a mass of Crazies heading up the steps.
“Shit, they’re coming for us,” said Kurt.
“Everyone, run!” Bobby knew the choice of stealth was now lost. They sprinted up several flights of steps, the sound of the Crazies fuelling them. They finally reached the top to find fire exit doors with ‘push to open’ signs.
“Lead them on!” Bobby yelled to Adam, while Kurt stayed by his side.
“We need something to seal these doors up,” said Bobby.
Kurt lifted a chain from a nearby shelf with a thick padlock and a set of keys in it.
“That should do it.” Bobby lifted a CO2 fire extinguisher from the wall as the last of the group passed through the door. The Crazies were one flight of steps down now as they went through them. Bobby threw his axe to the floor as he primed the extinguisher and booted one of the doors shut.
“Do it!”
Kurt pushed the other door shut and passed the chain through the thick steel handles. Yet as he pulled the chain together and held the lock up to drop onto the links, the first of the Crazies smashed into the door. It came ajar a little, while Kurt managed to keep his grip in the chain. There were a few centimetres of space between the doors, but more of them piled in.
“I can’t hold it!”
Bobby lifted the nozzle of the extinguisher to the opening between the doors. He put it right up into the face of one of a bloodthirsty Crazy trying to force his way through. He blasted him with CO2, and he recoiled back from it. He then smashed himself into the doors, trying to ram them shut, but another Crazy took the place of the other, as more smashed in to try and break it open.
“Help us!”
The rest of the group rushed up and pushed against the doors, freeing him up. He pulled back, and once again put the hose up into the opening, and gave a prolonged blast before shoving his shoulder against one of the doors. They locked shut, and Kurt dropped the padlock down into the links and turned the key. He breathed a sigh of relief as he eased his pressure off from the doors, finally collapsing onto his back with an exhausted sigh.
“Easy now,” insisted Bobby to the others.
They slowly backed away. The doors rustled back and forth as the Crazies hurled themselves against them, but they were heavy duty and weren’t going anywhere.
“That was close, too close,” said Adam.
Bobby offered out his hand and hauled Kurt to his feet.
“How’d you know the extinguisher would work?”
“I didn’t, but do you know any creature on Earth that likes getting blasted by one of ‘em?”
Kurt smiled and nodded in agreement.
“That’s what we’re doing here, isn’t it? Making it up as we go along?”
“Damn straight,” he replied as he took a better look at them.
Kurt looked like a geek, but clearly could handle himself. Adam looked like a rugby lad, stocky and tough. Most of the group were in their twenties or thirties at most, all younger than him beside one man in his fifties who was in a shirt and tie, jacket and all. The rest had been loafing around in jeans and pyjamas, but not him.
“Important video call?” Bobby asked the suit.
“Not at all, but standards must be upheld even at the worst of times,” he replied in an upper class London accent, “Roger Fellows,” he said
as he held out his hand.
“Seriously?” Kurt asked.
“What seems to be the problem?”
“Roger…Fellows.”
“Ah, yes, have your fun.”
Kurt burst out into laughter, and the rest of them followed. Even Bobby couldn’t help but smirk. They needed that. They’d all been in a tough mental spot for a long time, but this day had been an experience the likes of which none of them could have imagined. The laughter went on far longer than it should have, but it was a welcome relief after the horrors they had all witnessed. Bobby took a seat against the back of an air conditioning unit.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m catching a breath, Adam, let this all sink in.”
“Shouldn’t we be doing something?”
“Maybe, but not without thinking about it first. I led us up here not just to survive, but also to give us some room to breathe. To think over where we go from here.”
“Go? Aren’t we just going to wait for help to come?” asked one of the women.
“Help? Who do you think is coming?” Lisa asked.
“The government. Soldiers, someone,” the grief-stricken woman replied, turning to Bobby for answers, knowing he was a military man.
“They are coming, right?”
“What the hell would he know? He’s an American,” replied Fellows.
“That’s right, the American who just saved your ass,” he growled.
“He’s right you know,” replied Kurt.
“So, what now, we sit up here and wait?” Fellows asked.
“No, you shut up and let me think,” snapped Bobby.
“Violent gangs are trying to kill us, and you want to sit here and think?” He pointed an accusatory finger at the Marine. Bobby shook his head, hoping he would go away.
“You led us right into trouble,” declared Fellows.
Bobby had heard enough. He shot to his face. Fellows began to back away in fright, but Bobby closed the distance and grabbed him by the throat, pinning him against the doors they had moments ago sealed.
“Hey, hey, easy!” Adam tried to split it up, but Bobby grabbed hold of his shirt and held him at arm’s length, yelling at the snobbish suit-wearing businessman.
“Gangs? You think that is what we are dealing with here? You think some thugs from the hood are trying to rough you up? Are you that stupid?”
Fellows looked terrified, as if this was the most physical violence he had ever personally experienced in his life, and he froze up under the stress, yet Bobby was not done.
“This goes for all of you, you listen up!” He kept the man pinned down but pushed Adam away.
“I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to lead you punch of rejects. I didn’t even want to be in this damned country when all this shit began. I should be at home with my shed full of rifles and a fully gassed truck ready to go wherever the hell I please. But no, I’m stuck here, in the middle of a city with an unarmed populace, fighting whatever those things are. This is a goddamn nightmare. But I am not gonna start bitching about it, because this is our story. This is where we are, and what we’re doing. We can lie down and die, or we can buck the fuck up and find a way through this that don’t involve us all dying. Now, I intend to do everything in my power to achieve the latter, but if you’re gonna do anything to stand in the way of that, you might as well go and jump off that ledge before I push you off it myself, is that clear?”
“I think you’ve made your point,” said Adam.
The crowd looked stunned, but not willing to put up a fight.
“Everyone has been through it today. None of us are thinking straight,” added Kurt.
Bobby nodded in agreement. He didn’t like having to manhandle civilians who were just trying to get by.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean what I said. I was just scared,” said Fellows.
“We’re all scared, and anyone who tells you otherwise is either a liar or they’re as crazy as those things out there.” Bobby gestured beyond the door. He let go of Fellows and staggered back. He picked up his bloody axe, letting it sling casually by his side as he drew in a deep breath to address them in a more friendly fashion, as they were waiting for him to do. He shook his head in surprise.
“You know, if I was back home, you’d be trying to tear me apart, each and every one of you. You Brits are too darn polite, you know that?”
“We can bite when we need to,” replied Kurt.
“Yeah, I suppose you can,” he replied with a smile.
“Have you seen anything like this before?”
“Not even close, Lisa. This is way out there. Bat shit crazy kind of stuff you never think you’re gonna have to deal with, not in a million years.”
“A lot of people died back there,” she said solemnly.
“Yes, they did.”
“But not us, because you got us out alive.”
He smiled in surprise at the turn she had taken.
“You saw what happened to my boyfriend.” She addressed the others, “Whatever this is, we have to fight it, and we’ve got this far because of him, because he is a fighter.”
Nods and grunts of approval rang out.
“You don’t have to like him, but listen to him, because he knows what he’s doing. I’m a goddamn legal secretary, and I don’t know shit about surviving anything. If we’re going to get through this, we need someone who knows how.”
“She’s right,” said Kurt in support of the Marine.
“Yes, she is.” Fellows adjusted his collar and tie to smarten himself up.
It was clear the others were falling in line.
“Well, I’ll be damned, on UK soil and you want me to lead you? What kind of revolution do you want here?” he replied with a smile.
“The kind we survive,” replied Adam.
Grunts and groans of approval rang out among the group and Bobby couldn’t help but smile.
“Look, I’m not qualified or trained for this, not really. What I am trained for is to adapt and survive in any environment. Listen to me and be willing to fight like hell, and maybe, just maybe we get through all this, you hear me?”
“Yes,” replied Fellows.
“Yeah!” Kurt yelled.
Chapter 4
Cheers rang out, but as they died down, they could hear the sound of helicopter rotors in the distance. Everyone fell silent as they looked for any sign of it. Cloud cover was thick, but it was growing nearer.
“Is that the Army?” Adam asked as he squinted to make out the shape through the cloud.
“Sure is,” replied Bobby as he got a closer look.
“Looks like a Merlin,” said another.
“You served?” Bobby asked him.
“Cadets,” he replied.
“Great,” replied Bobby sarcastically.
The helicopter was coming in for a closer look, and it was clearly in military markings. Adam began to wave.
“Over here! Over here!” he yelled excitedly.
Some of the others began to join in, but not Bobby.
“You don’t think they’re here for us?” Kurt asked him.
“Why would they be? Little transport like that. How many thousands of people like us are trying to get out of this shit show? They’re either here to get a look at things, or they came to get someone special.”
“And the rest of us are what? Just supposed to get by?”
“This happened fast. Not the lockdown, but whatever is happening right now, this is something different. The military couldn’t just be ready to extract a whole city. My guess is they’ll quarantine the whole damn place.”
“And let us die in here?”
“To stop whatever this is from spreading? Damn right they would. That would be the only smart play.”
“This thing, affecting these people, how do you think it spreads?” Fellows was one of the few not trying to grab the attention of the helicopter crew.
“Only two ways this can work. It’s transmitted through touch
. Everyone is pretty damn careful. Food and supplies are handled so there is a chance, but it’s pretty slim,” replied Bobby.
“And the other way?” Kurt asked.
“It’s airborne.”
“If that were the case, we’re all be…” Kurt stuttered as he thought about their circumstances.
“Fucked, yes,” replied Bobby.
“But we’re still okay. We were sharing the same air as other people in this hotel. Lisa didn’t get it, but her boyfriend did?” Fellows asked.
“With any virus, some get it, some don’t. Some are immune, some suffer different effects,” replied Bobby.
“So now you’re a virologist, too?”
Bobby turned about angrily but could see it was merely dry humour as the businessman tried to calm the air.
“What the hell is someone like you doing in a hotel like this? Don’t you have a big old house somewhere?”
“I did. My name is on the paperwork.”
“All right, so why aren’t you there?”
“Because the wife changed the locks,” he replied openly.
“Rich guy living in a hotel? You got caught with your pants down.”
“A cliché I know, but let’s not pretend any of us are perfect.”
“I’ll drink to that,” replied Kurt.
“Damn straight,” replied Bobby solemnly.
They watched as the helicopter dropped down to almost eye level. They could see the crew and occupants looking back at them as if they were creatures in a zoo.
“Hey, hey!” several cried out.
“It won’t do no good,” said Bobby.
But none of them wanted to hear it. They were clinging to the idea that someone was coming to save them from this new hell. He wanted it as much as the rest of them. He just knew it was a fantasy.
“Nobody is coming for us, are they?” Fellows asked.
“Maybe some time, but not yet.”
As he said it, the helicopter turned sharply, and that caught all their attention.
“Shit!” Bobby clearly had a better idea of what was going on.
They all watched in horror as the helicopter banked hard and headed quickly for the ground. It began to recover at the last moment, but still hit the ground and ripped itself apart as the rotors hit a road. It then slid out of view. Nobody said a word. They were all traumatised.
Pandemic Part 1 (The Armageddon Series) Page 3
