Pet From Hell (Infected Series Book 1) (8 page)

Chapter Seventeen

The door slowly opened and the light blinded us for a few seconds. Then we were out running for the gate, Chris was storming ahead and had the gate opened by the time Jay and I had reached it. We ran straight through and Chris followed us leaving the gate open. I was starting to slow down. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had run with a rucksack on. My breath was coming out in gasps and my legs were burning from the exertion, but I knew I had to keep going. Jay passed me and disappeared into the tree line raising his rifle as he went in. Chris had caught up with me and slowed to run beside me as we hit the gloom of the trees. Off to the side I heard the snap of a twig and threw my self forward, just as a grey hand grasped at where I had just been. There was a whistle and then a sound that reminded me of when a butcher throws meat on to a slab. A body of a woman landed beside my head with the axe I had given Chris imbedded in her temple. That green liquid oozing round the wound and leaking down over her face covering it.

A boot appeared from out of my line of sight and stood on her head. What happened next made my stomach do cartwheels. The sound of the axe being pulled from her skull was like nothing I have ever heard before, it was like the crunching sound that you get when you walk on broken ice and the slurping, sucking sound that’s made when you pull a boot out of thick mud. The blade of the axe as it was pulled free was covered in blood, grey bits of gore, the green slime and flecks of white bone.

Rolling to look the other way a hand came into view followed by a rumbling whisper “Marc get the fuck up mate. We have company in here with us.”

I thought ‘No shit Sherlock!’ but Chris had just saved my life and I didn’t think it was the right thing to say. I pulled on his arm as he helped me to my feet and I looked round. That’s when I noticed that Jay wasn’t there.

“Where’s Jay?” I whispered.

“Not too sure.” He replied.

Out of the gloom a figure came running toward us. I started to raise my rifle when Chris put one of his large hands on it and pushed it down.

“It’s Jay.” He said.

Jay slowed down to a walk and then stopped just in front of Chris.

“I went on ahead to get the lay of the land. They seem to be sticking to the edge of the tree line, so it might be an idea to move further into the trees.” He said.

It was darker further back, did that make a difference to the infected? That was something to think about later when I had more time.

We moved another ten or so meters into the trees and slowly moved eastward toward the vehicle depot. There were a few times that the light came through the trees and we saw the shambling figures moving along the tree line. An age seemed to pass as we made our way quietly through the trees. It was about midday when we stopped for something to eat.

“Is it me or are they staying in the light areas?” I said.

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Chris said “Jay and I did notice when we were on the roof that they calmed down when the sun goes down, they seemed to make less noise anyway. It might mean that they only have good enough vision to hunt during the day.”

“Yeah, they make less of a racket on a night.” Jay chipped in.

“Come on we’re about half way there let’s get a move on.” Chris said standing up.

After a few hours we came to the small road that separated the trees from the fence of the vehicle depot. As far as we could see there were no infected nearby, taking our time we crossed over the road to the fence. Following the fence round we came to the gated entrance to the depot, it had been left open and I could see shadows moving between the buildings and vehicles.

I tapped Chris on the shoulder and pointed toward the movement and he nodded his head. Jay moved inside and went to one knee with his rifle up looking for any attack. I just shook my head and went in after him and stood looking around. Chris just walked past both of us holding the axe over one shoulder and looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. He headed for nearest building and we followed as quietly as possible. The door was open and we could hear movement inside.

“What we doing buddy?” Jay whispered.

“The last time I needed to get a vehicle, I got the keys from the clerk in here. It sounds like there is someone or something in there so I’ll go first. I’ll try and take them out with the axe, but if we have to try and keep the shooting to a minimum.” Chris said and slid in through the doorway.

Jay followed and I came in last and closed the door behind us, I didn’t feel like having anything coming up behind us. There was a dull light coming through the windows. The main reception was a small room divided down the middle by a counter. The other side had two desks facing the counter a door behind them and a couple of filing cabinets on either side of the door. The desk on the right was still occupied with the corpse of a woman, she was slumped over the desk and most of her insides where on the floor between her feet. I think I could hazard a guess as to what had killed her. Chris opened the hatch through to the other side and went and nudged her with the axe handle. Her head rolled round on the desk before falling to the floor, her neck had been chewed right though and you could see the white bone of her spine sticking out of her shoulders.

I felt my stomach roll and I managed to get to a corner of the room before I threw up, splattering my boots and the wall with bile and undigested food. Jay’s face lost all of its colour and I am sure he might have puked as well, but from the other side of the door between the cabinets came a thundering of fists on the wood.

Looking at the door Chris says “Jay get on the other side and cover me, Marc can you cover us from the other side of the counter.”

I wipe the puke from my mouth with my sleeve, before charging my rifle and flicking the safety off my rifle I lean over the counter pointing my rifle at the door, but kept my finger of the trigger. The last thing I wanted was to accidently shoot either Chris or Jay.

Chris put his hand on the door handle and shoved hard against what was on the other side. Chris stood back away from the door and lifted the axe up to strike at whatever came out. We didn’t have to wait too long before two of the infected lurched through the opening. Chris dodged round one of the desks leading them further into the room. Jay stepped up behind the last of them through the door and brought the stock of the rifle down on its head with a crack. It stumbled forward and crashed into the remains of the female at the desk, pushing her to the floor. Chris had done an over hand strike and nearly split his attackers head in half, green slime and blood fell to the floor with a splatter. Jay was holding a chair over his head and was bringing it down on the his targets head over and over again spraying brains and gore all over himself and the floor.

“Jay, mate I think it’s dead.” I said.

He looked at me and for a second I saw a hatred in his eyes that made me shrink back from him, then the look was gone. He stood up and looked over to Chris who was cleaning the axe head on the uniform of the infected he had killed. I stood up and flicked the safety back on and walked through the hatch opening. The light was starting to fade quickly and I could tell that night was quickly closing and we hadn’t even left Caterrick yet.

“Let’s see what is in the other room.” Chris said.

Chapter Eighteen

I followed them into the room and saw total devastation, everything that could be smashed in the room was. We spent the next ten minutes searching through the broken furniture looking for the key to the key press in the outer room. It was dark by the time we found the key and went looking for a set of keys.

I cleared my throat and said “I think it’s getting to late to go find a vehicle. How about we bed down in here tonight? It’s secure and we’ve already cleared it out, so we don’t have anything to worry about.”

“That’s not a bad idea to tell the truth.” Chris said rubbing his face with one hand.

Making sure the door was locked from the inside we set about eating cold rations and drinking water from a sink we found in the office toilet. Making sure the blinds on the windows were closed, we settled into our sleeping bags for an early night.

“Chris you sure we don’t need to set up a guard duty or anything?” Jay asked.

“Nah, if anything we are secure enough in here and it’s nice to sleep in doors for a change.” He replied from somewhere to my left.

I just closed my eyes and let my mind relax, listening to Chris and Jay fall asleep. The fact that the infected didn’t seem to like darkness made me feel a little more secure than I would have given the situation we were in. I lay there trying to sleep but every time I closed my eyes I had Jays’ face appear out of the darkness with that look of anger in his eyes. I knew that he had issues with me because of who I had worked for and how this infection had started. Yeah if I hadn’t opened that fucking door then maybe the cat wouldn’t have escaped, but that was a mistake anyone could have made. I suppose that I would have to try and make it up to them somehow. Chris seemed to have accepted me into their small team, but I had a feeling that it would take longer to sway Jay. The other thing on my mind was where we were heading, the bunker sounded good, but what was it going to be like and who was going to be there. I decided to that in the morning it might be better to have a word with Chris and find out a little more info on the bunker. With those thoughts floating through my tired brain I dozed off into a dreamless sleep.

Waking up I found Chris shaking my shoulder. I was about to say good morning when he raised a finger to his lips and then pointed at the window. I slowly stood up and crept at a half crouch and peered through a small gap between the blinds and the window sill. I near stumbled and fell. Outside the spaces between the vehicles and buildings were packed with the infected staggering around in circles. They never stopped moving but there was so many out there it looked like they were stood still. The moan that they made set my teeth on edge. Turning round I saw Jay and Chris packing their gear away, so I walked over and started to pack, taking my time because as far as I could see we weren’t going to be going anywhere soon.

“What we doing?” I asked.

Jay looked up at me and said “We’re still on for getting a vehicle today. We just have to figure out a way to get those fuckers out of here.”

“Look we need one of the A.P.Cs (Armoured Personnel Carrier) or possibly one of the armoured Land Rovers. If we stand any chance of making it to the bunker. Now the A.P.C doesn’t need any keys but uses a shit load of fuel. Whereas the Land Rover is light and doesn’t use half as much fuel.” Chris said.

“Ok so what we going for?” I asked.

“Well the A.P.C will nearly drive through a brick wall and it is armoured. I think we should go for one of them. The problem we have with that is they are on the other side of the depot to us. The only way I can see of getting one is if someone goes out there and creates a diversion.”

“I’ll go.” Jay said.

“Hold on what about me doing it. I’m just as fast as Jay.” I said like one of those kids that have been left off the team because he is crap.

“Marc you’re getting there, but Jay has been a sneaky little shit for as long as I can remember. He’ll be able to get them to follow him and then give them the slip and link back up with us.” Chris said

Taking a deep breath I knew he was right but out of the corner of my eye I could see the smug look on Jays face and I could feel the urge to wipe it of his face.

“Alright Jay is the diversion, so what are you and I doing?”

“There is a skylight in the other office, we climb up on the roof, Jay will jump down and run for it. Knowing those things they won’t be able to contain themselves with that fresh meat running around. We will wait for as many as possible to leave and that might take a while, when there are only a few get down and make a run for the A.P.Cs and hopefully find a one with enough fuel. Jay remember that pub outside of town that we went to for your birthday?”

Jay looked up with a pained look in his eyes and just nodded.

“We’ll wait for you there. Ok that’s the plan sorted let’s get our gear sorted and get up on the roof.”

Checking that all my stuff was back in my rucksack, I lifted it on to my back and slung my rifle over my shoulder and followed the two soldiers into the other office. Chris had pulled a desk from the other room and placed it under the skylight. He passed his rifle and rucksack to Jay, reaching up he pushed open the skylight and then pulled himself through and on to the roof. With the skylight open the noise from the infected was almost deafening in the small office. Jay climbed on to the desk and passed his and Chris’ gear through the opening then pulled himself up. Climbing up I nearly lost my balance because of the rucksack and rifle. I passed them to Chris and then started to pull myself through, about halfway my arms started to weaken and I thought I was going to fall back inside. When Chris’ big hands helped to pull me the rest of the way.

Lying on the roof we watched the horde moving like wheat in a field, swaying one way then another. There was a gap between the building and the outer fence of about four feet. But between the building and the fence was tightly packed with the infected. There was no way I could see that would give Jay a good enough head start without the horde falling on him. Oh yea of little faith my father used to say when I was dead wrong. Jay had shrugged out of his rucksack and lay his rifle beside it before standing up and walking to the front of the building.

There he stood waving and shouting “Oi shit heads!”

I could see nearly all their heads turn toward him and I thought great he’s gone fucking mad. No sooner had those thoughts popped into my head, he turned and ran full pelt across the roof and jumped into the air and over the fence landing in a tucked roll. He then trotted to the gate and shouted some more and when the horde started to move he slowly jogged away leading them like the Pied Piper. It took nearly three hours for nearly all the shambling dead to flow through the gate and follow Jay. In the end there were about twenty left staggering around the depot. Making sure none were near to the building Chris and I dropped off the edge to the ground with our gear. Slowly we looked around to make sure we were in the clear and headed toward where the A.P.Cs were parked up. We stuck to the shadows as we moved toward the A.P.C hangar. We only ran into a single infected on the way to the hangar, but Chris managed to bury his axe in the infected head before a single moan could be heard.