Clifton Falls (29 page)

THIRTY-SIX

Mike needed inspiration from somewhere to help locate the rest of the missing monsters. He knew he couldn’t give up the search in case the creatures bumped into other living humans, causing the whole flesh eating chaos to begin all over again. “All right, listen up. We’ve searched high and low and can’t find them, so does anyone have an idea to where they might be?”

“The forest goes on forever in the dark, so there are many hiding places for them out here,” Simon replied.
“Do you think they’d hide from us, Simon?”
The young recruit wasn’t trying to be funny, but gave that impression to the chief every time he opened his mouth.
“I don’t know, chief, I don’t even know what they are or where they came from, so how can I know what they’re thinking?”
The nerves were still there with this young man and he definitely didn’t want to be here. Mike took in what Simon said. He would’ve been a fool not to think that the two recruits felt the strain from all of this. “I think it’ll be best if we split up.” It wasn’t the news that the others hoped for, but Mike had his reasons for suggesting it. “I know it’s safer for us to be together.” He looked at Simon. “But we’ll be three times faster at finding these creatures if we separate. I want to get this finished with quickly and get back to the caravan site so I can have a nice cup of tea…”
It definitely made sense and Simon slowly warmed to the idea. Of course he had his doubts, mostly in his own ability, but the idea of a nice, hot brew tempted his taste buds.
“I’ve got faith in you two. There are loads of people counting on us to succeed, so tell me now if you think you aren’t up for it?”
Mike received no reply, so it looked like the new plan was on. Each member was to take a route through the forest, check for signs and then head back to the safety of the caravans.

Karen’s wound had stemmed, which was a huge relief for her husband. Todd’s sleep was over. He sat on the bed, watching the young boy desperately try sleeping. He was now acting as Kenny’s bodyguard, trying to scare away the terrible thoughts from entering the boy’s head.

Outside the caravan, George was entertaining Shane and Chris with memories of his life. He was using this opportunity to calm the situation. There’d been far too much trauma for his liking and a nice relaxing chat was needed.

He was interrupted by Kenny’s father, who shouted out to him from an open window of his caravan. The married couple knew their son had been saved, but weren’t with him and so wanted to know what was happening. “Excuse me, how’s my boy doing?”

“He’s doing fine,” George called back. He passed on a smile to reassure Tom.
“My wife and I would like to see him.”
Diane appeared at the window. She looked so sad and pale that George was tempted to fetch her son for her, but it was far too risky and he knew it. “It’s not going to happen at this moment in time. I know that you’re in pain because you haven’t got your boy with you, but I can’t take the chance, not yet. But trust me, he’s in safe hands.”
The couple knew they had to be patient. They knew they would see him soon and that thought would get them through this sick and twisted battlefield of a night. They agreed to wait and left George alone.

Simon listened carefully to the strange sounds all around him as he walked along, relying on his own instinct now his torchlight had faded out of sight from the others. He was extremely scared, and held his weapon tight. If anything jumped out at him then God help it because at this moment in time this poor, young recruit would shoot at it. He tried using this period for pleasant thinking, hoping it would make the time go by quicker on his journey to reach other humans.

It wasn’t long before the first nervous twitching sounds were heard, forcing Simon to glance obliquely at different locations in such a small period. The torch did its best in helping to
accommodate, but wasn’t covering all the darkness with light. He tapped the torch in an attempt to widen the fading beam.

Bugger, maybe the batteries are running low?
he thought. During the faint banging a shadowy figure grew in front of him, and it wasn’t long before a human-like outline emanated from between the light. Simon wasn’t sure who it was? He wasn’t thinking what it was, just who?
It had to be Kevin. This was the sort of prank he would pull
.
Another eerie noise escalated nearby. Simon swiftly shone the torch in a full circle, but when beaming onto the spot again, the figure had gone.
Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me?
He began to walk again, but was brutally knocked to the ground by one of the walking dead. After a few seconds of deliberate rolling he returned to his feet. Simon could hear moaning sounds giving away the monster’s distance, but he was too terrified to do anything about it. To think, he hadn’t even arrested a human before but now could be attempting to place a zombie in handcuffs. The only thing stopping him was the fact he was too chicken to try.
“Leave me alone, please,” was all he could spill from his trembling lips.
All efforts at trying to be an officer of the law had failed him.
For some strange reason he threw the only source of lighting he had. The torch would’ve helped to see the monster, but now bounced off the zombie’s head.
“I don’t know what you want, but I won’t tell anyone I saw you.”
The man was begging. This so-called cadet was nothing, and to think that he went through all the rigours of training at the academy to end up like this.
After a few more seconds of non-action, Simon plucked up enough courage to run at the zombie. His idea was to run and the zombie would back down, but it wasn’t to be. When reaching the rotting corpse he froze like a scared rabbit caught between the headlights of a nearing vehicle. He was only one foot away but couldn’t lay a finger on the enemy.
Without warning, the zombie gripped onto the man’s head of hair, leaned over, and lashed its mouth, producing a deadly snap from the killer jaws. Simon’s body stood still. His eyes moved from left to right for the next few seconds as the zombie watched the downfall of its prey. Just one swift movement of the iron jaws had almost released the poor man’s head off his shoulders. The teeth had crunched so deep into the Adam’s apple that his throat completely shredded. Simon’s eyes still moved when his head was finally snapped off the neck bone by the heavy handed, tugging sensation. The beast felt no sorrow for the victim. It held the prize up to its mouth before smelling the fresh blood seeping through the hole. An excited creature was now going to feast on the brain.
Kevin headed back to where he’d just come from. It seemed that something was burning inside him and didn’t feel right. He thought that he’d heard someone shouting not so long ago, but wasn’t sure. He was now left with this awful worry that his friend of many years was in serious trouble. He rushed through the forest in a desperate attempt to find the other cadet, but when arriving back at their starting point, witnessed nothing. This didn’t stop him from following the trail Simon had taken. A few minutes into this unexpected mission and Kevin stopped. He saw a faint light shooting a three foot beam across the ground and so walked over to it. He didn’t need a second guess to come up with the answer to whom the torch belonged to. This was a sign that his friend could be in danger. He stepped into something very mushy. It felt like he’d planted his boot on top of a small rodent, splitting it with his bodyweight. His torch shone at his footwear. Kevin’s brain had to work overtime as he saw soft, reddened tissue.
What could it be?
He knew this grotesque stuff resembled living tissue, but wasn’t thinking that it could belong to Simon. The much brighter light source hovered above the grass around his feet, capturing a fresh trail of blood. Kevin had stepped into a piece of his mate’s brain. After a closer inspection of the area he witnessed the remains of Simon’s corpse. This shattered him into a thousand pieces. Seeing both of his friends’ barbarically murdered bodies was too much for this young man to take.
The zombie was sitting on the ground near to the mutilated body with the ex-cadet’s head on its lap. Kevin now heard sucking sounds as the creature scooped pieces of brain into its mouth. This was his chance to kill it, and, unlike his friend, wasn’t going to waste it. At once aimed his gun and fired two bullets into the creature. He then allowed his tears to flow before making his way back through the forest. He felt as though he’d died with his two friends and just wanted to find another living person. For now, searching for more of the beasts was put on hold.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Blake looked at his watch and noticed the time was 10.15pm. It’d been nearly an hour since Karen was scratched and had the disease running through her veins. Her temperature became close to boiling, and she shook vigorously. The symptoms had started much quicker with her than when Jason was attacked. Blake feared the worst if they remained where they were. He had to get her out of the caravan before the authorities noticed she wasn’t right. He needed help and knew the right man for the job.

“I want you to do me a massive favour?”
“What’s up?” Todd replied.
Blake needed a decoy while he took Karen away from the area.

They agreed that it wasn’t safe for her to be stuck in a caravan, especially when she required medical attention.

“I’m going to take her through the forest and back to the cemetery, then, I’m going to drive her to the hospital.”
Todd interrupted Blake. He energetically tried to persuade him to step away from that idea, but his boss seemed all set to do it anyway. “You can’t go back there,” the foreman spluttered.
“Why not - That’s where I left my car, so the sooner I get it, the faster I can take Karen to the hospital.”
He waited while Todd shuffled around for a few more seconds. Something ate at his memory now and it needed to be said. “I saw one of those freaks at the cemetery, and I saw a crazed rodent in the forest.”
It didn’t matter now what Todd came up with for an excuse or reason, he knew Blake was way too serious and would ignore it. At a time like this the stories were chucked to one side. Todd smiled. If he couldn’t stop Blake then he might as well help him. The two men worked out a plan to be put into operation immediately.
Blake moved over to his wife and helped her up.
“We’re getting out of here. I’m taking you to the hospital to be checked over.”
This information worried Karen, as she felt safe in the caravan. She tried to argue, but Blake managed to convince her without letting slip that the scratch could kill her. He believed that her only chance to live would be to find an antidote at the hospital. If they did, then the journey would be worthwhile.
Todd checked the other bedroom. The officer was still sleeping. That was a good enough sign for them to go ahead with this dangerous mission.
Todd exited the caravan while Blake filled his wife in on some quality thoughts that she would experience once they were at the hospital. In her condition, she’d no choice but to try this.
“What are you doing out? You should get back inside.”
Todd ignored George and instead, ventured over to the three men. “I need some fresh air.”
George flashed Todd a thankful grin after reminding himself of the other man’s bravery in eliminating two of the stinking fucks. “I thought you were tired and were going to get some sleep?” the old officer asked.
“I was, but how can I sleep when Craig’s snoring like a rhinoceros.”
George broke out into a laughing frenzy. “He isn’t, is he?” he replied.
Todd walked beyond the other men so they stood with their backs to the caravan. He could now see Blake watching his every move. He was indicating frantically to Todd that he needed the area cleared. “Hey, George, why don’t we have another peek at the dead zombie?”
This sentence didn’t go down well with the group.
“Why would I want to do that?”
“I don’t know, but it could come in useful if we studied these creatures.”
George wasn’t that interested, but thought otherwise as the question slowly pressed the right buttons.
The more I can learn from these freaks then the more I could impress Mike,
he thought.
Blake nodded in the direction of his friend as Todd finally persuaded George, Shane and Chris to follow him back around the side of the caravan. Once out of sight, Blake helped his wife down the steps, heading toward the dark, hostile forest.
Todd had no idea on what to do with the dead corpse. He hadn’t intended to study it, but George was now taking him at his word. The others watched as the old officer prodded the young body, but Todd made an excuse to get back inside the van after a few minutes. It was the only way the plan could work and he needed to cover his tracks.
“Right, finished, fresh air time is over. I’m going back inside to get some sleep.”
“Hey, wait a minute, you want to sleep? You said you wanted to find out more about these things,” George said.
“I know, but I only said it so you could find out more about them. You might even get a nice pay off when you retire.”
George let out another giggle. “A nice pay off would be nice.” As Todd turned to walk away, George said. “Can you wake Craig? Mike radioed in just before you showed up and he’s on his way back here.”
Todd raised a hand, acknowledging the request, but changed his mind as he returned to the caravan. He thought it best to leave the waking process for another five minutes so as to give the married couple a better chance of reaching their destination.

A few minutes into ‘Operation Hospital’ and the fleeing pair were forced to take shelter. The sounds of boots crunching down the undergrowth were closing in and Blake couldn’t risk getting caught. He knew it wasn’t one of the dead freaks after spotting a single beam of light, but still, whoever it was would have to pass all the same.

The clock was ticking and in ninety minutes it would be Saturday morning, but was this going to be a weekend of happiness? Or would it end up being just like the past few days? Blake had his heart set on finding a miracle cure; even if the odds were stacked against him.

The couple concentrated on the noise until it faded into the distance, then Blake decided to carry Karen for as long as he could. There was no way she could maintain the speed of him. Her health was deteriorating rapidly and sweat dripped off her face. Blake hoisted her over a shoulder and the slow process of reaching the cemetery was up and running again. He released a small smile because he now had eyes at the back of his head to watch out for the enemy.