The Survivors of Bastion (Fall of Earth Book 1) (13 page)

              ‘It sounds so easy when you put it like that,’ Hayley said. ‘I hope it is… I hope everybody got out.’

              I thought back to the image of Carl, running for the car, the infected overrunning him as we drove away.

              We…
I
had left him there in the street, to be attacked by those things.

              ‘I’m making this up as I go along,’ I said. ‘If any of you have a better suggestion as to what we can do then please speak up, because I’m willing to try anything.’

              All three of them looked at each other before turning to me and nodding.

              ‘I’m with you,’ Leah said, nodding and managing the closest thing to a smile she could muster right now.

              ‘Yeah,’ Robbie said. ‘We can’t just stay here, either way. There’s water at the outpost. It’s the place I’d go first.’

              I looked over at Hayley, and she ran a hand through her hair. She was completely unreadable, her face expressionless until she bit the inside of her mouth lightly and nodded at me.

              ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s go.’

Chapter Thirteen

Outpost

Evening was falling upon the land as we reached the outpost. Despite the fact that we had mostly travelled in silence, questions raced through my mind regarding our predicament.

              One, above all of the little things, echoed in my mind endlessly.

              What was this infection, this virus, that caused people to transform into these mindless, insane shadows of the people they had once been?

              Only seventeen hours ago I had spoken to Morgan about it. It can’t be a mutation of the virus that had almost driven humanity to extinction – how something that caused the body’s primary functions and systems to simply shut down could mutate into this thing was beyond me. There was no way that it could occur.

              There were so many possibilities; something transmitted from an animal, a science experiment gone wrong, a form of psychosis based solely on a chemical transmutation…

              It was passed from person to person through biting. The perfect killer, because it turned it’s victims into more killers, multiplying itself until everybody was infected.

              The notion of a conspiracy came to mind – my father always used to talk about those when we were younger, that was something I remembered from our times at the dinner table. I couldn’t even say the word, never mind understand what it was, and it was only after I asked Henrietta what it meant that she explained it to me…

              The problem was that there were no governments to compose conspiracies anymore; they may have been at the higher echelons of society while everybody else slaved away, but nature was one thing that they couldn’t run from when a virus like the one we had experienced spread across the planet like wildfire.

              All of this coursed uncontrollably through my mind as Leah turned the wheel sharply, taking us up a country road through an open field. The grass had grown high, and already I found myself discomforted by the fact that I couldn’t see beyond it, into the wilds that could hold anything…

              Even one of the infected, if they had made it out.

              Even one of our own who had it…

              The Ranger suddenly jerked forward, as if the gear had stalled, and we were all thrown forward lightly.

              ‘Shit,’ Leah muttered.

              ‘What is it?’

              ‘I hope you’ve got a follow-up plan after we reach here, Tommy, because the car ain’t going anywhere. We’re out of gas.’

              ‘What?’

              ‘We only keep enough in it for patrols and bringing back large quantities from the farm, remember? It was your idea. So nobody-’

              ‘So nobody tried to steal the car,’ I completed the sentence for her, running my hands over my face. ‘
Fuck
.’

              The car shuddered to a stop and Leah pulled the handbrake on, ensuring we don’t roll back down the slight ascent that led through the field.

              ‘Give me a hand, Robbie,’ I said, getting out of the car. We made our way around to the back, Hayley jumping out on her side, before Leah popped the handbrake again and we started pushing the Ranger up the hill. We were only a little way from it, but with promise of an ignition start we were panting for breath by the time we reached the top of the incline – and the outpost.

              It was another small farm building, much like the one we had just come from. In sharp contrast, though, the place was a little more well-kept than the previous. We had made something of an effort to keep it clean and tidy, returning to check up on things and make sure that the weeds didn’t grow too high. Even if it was the most well-kept place outside of Bastion it was nothing like the home that I had just left behind… The home that I had abandoned.

              I took a moment, looking out over the quiet, overgrown fields as we came to a stop at the top of the incline and Leah pulled on the handbrake.

              I had abandoned the place – abandoned my people. There was nothing I could do. Robbie was right. I had brought Morgan in. I hadn’t known, but my actions had caused it all.

              Still, he would have arrived at the gates of Bastion anyway, and so would our group of attackers.

              I wondered what state Bastion would be in right now, whether the infected would have abandoned it and moved on to somewhere else – perhaps us? Or whether they would have killed everybody and simply stumbled off.

              I didn’t know which was a worse fate; dying being attacked by these random attackers or waiting to die only to come back… Did any semblance of consciousness remain behind after they turned? Was there some internal narrative existing inside, or were they just shells parading around? Would you have to sit, locked inside your head, watching everything happen, watching your body run about at the behest of this… Virus?

              ‘You all right, Tommy?’

              I jumped at the words, turning to look over my shoulder. Robbie looked over at me anxiously, tilting his head to the side.

              ‘Yeah… Yeah, I’m okay.’

              I wasn’t, but even if he was my brother I still had to save face. He was counting on me, and right now my only intention was looking after these three people by my side, and any of the others who happened to show up.

              Thing is, that could have been a reality that emerged a lot quicker than I had anticipated. I was sceptical, but nothing could have prepared me for what awaited us when we arrived.

              ‘Uhh…
Tommy
?’

              Robbie and I both looked towards the house, the front door a little out of sight behind the car. I immediately recognised the concerned tone on Hayley’s voice, but I had never expected what we found.

              ‘What is it?’

              ‘We’ve got a problem.’

              I and my brother both hurried over to the door, and when I laid my eyes upon it my heart began to race just as it had done when we had gone running from Bastion.

              The door was open. Not only that, but it hadn’t been unlocked. It had been forced, the wood broken and splintered, and the latch hanging off pointlessly.

              All four of us – myself, Hayley, Robbie and Leah, glanced at each other. I could see the exact same fear and caution resonating in the eyes of all of them, the same one that I felt at that moment.

              Within seconds I had dashed to the car and returned with the rifle, shovel and the wrench. The three were bundled in my arms. I was pretty set on us all heading in, but if something came from the outside we would be fucked – we wouldn’t have a clue.

              ‘Leah, you come with me. We’ll take the wrench and the shovel. Robbie, Hayley – take the rifle.

              ‘You sure?’ Hayley said.

              ‘Yeah. Use the scope and keep a look out. If anybody approaches and they’re not one of ours, put a bullet in their head.’

              ‘What if they’re not one of the bad guys though?’

              ‘I don’t care. It’s us four and anybody that made it out. Those are the only people I’m worried about. I’m not going to let anything happen to you three.’

              Robbie gulped and nodded at me, taking the rifle and the shells from me.

              I handed the wrench to Leah, taking the wooden handle of the shovel in my hands. My mind instantly cast back to that night not long ago when I had buried the intruder out in the field.

              All this time and I hadn’t thought about what he had said –

             
Luke. My name’s Luke.

             
I returned to the door of the house, checking Leah was following – she nodded at me with readiness, holding the wrench tightly in her hand – and set off forward.

              I pushed the door open slowly, the hinges creaking as my view gave on to the dark interior of the house. The curtains and blinds were drawn, just as they always had been. My heart continued to race on as I looked about, relying on Leah’s footsteps behind me to keep me heading on.

              All of the doors were closed. The kitchen was the only room that told us anything about what had happened here – it had no door, and the cupboards looked to have been ransacked – recently, too, seeing as the interior hadn’t been effected by any of the elements outside. The door had been opened not long ago.

              It seemed pointless, of course, to have gone through all of these things. There wasn’t anything in the cupboards, although one thing did change my mind about the nature of our intruders, if I had any preconceived thoughts to begin with. The first-aid kit had been found from its cupboard in the kitchen, and the box was sat open on the table, the contents splayed out messily.

              ‘Somebody injured?’ Leah said. ‘Maybe Morgan came through here before he arrived at Bastion.’

              ‘It doesn’t make any sense though. How would they know it was here? And surely one of them would have stayed if they thought more would show up?’

              ‘Just like us, you mean?’

              ‘Hmm…’

              I rifled through the box, my mind running over who our guest could have been. I suppose, with that one floor cleared, and considering that there was no second floor, it hadn’t crossed my mind that our guest might still have been in the house.

              ‘This place have a basement?’ Leah asked, looking over at me.

              I looked over at her, feeling a chill run through me. From my expression she knew that that was a yes.

              ‘Where is it?’

              We returned to the hallway as quietly as we could, stopping at the basement door just outside the kitchen. I took a deep breath, before Leah nodded at me and I turned the handle.

              It was unlocked.

              I looked over at her with both confusion and apprehension, and clasped the handle of the shovel tightly in my hand, opening the door.

              A dim light came from the room below. From it’s almost supernatural flicker I could tell that it was from a candle, or several – I had spent far too many nights with them guiding my way for me to not be familiar with it.

              We stopped, listening for something, anything.

              ‘Hello?’ I said, just loud enough for whoever – if there was anyone down there – to hear, and just quiet enough not to be intimidating.

              Silence – then;

              ‘Who is that? Please don’t hurt us…’

              I clenched the handle tighter at the sound of another voice, but after a few moments of quick thinking realised that it was a voice that sounded genuinely in danger, and one that belonged to somebody who wasn’t going to harm us.

              ‘We’re not going to hurt you, as long as we have an understanding… First tell me who you are.’

              ‘I… Tommy? Is that you?’

              I glanced over at Leah in shock. Maybe racing down there was something that I shouldn’t have done just because somebody recognised my voice, but in the heat of the moment, with the possibility that somebody else might have survived, I hurried down the stairs.

              The sight that greeted me was one besotted with both relief and tragedy.

              Maria was knelt down by her brother Marcus in the light of several candles. She looked exhausted, her usually sweet and forgiving face completely stricken with helplessness. It was evident that she had been crying, and one glance at Marcus explained it. It was likely her that had cut open the bottom of the jeans on his left leg, as in the state he was in he would be unable to do it himself. He seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness, shaking on the ground as if he was freezing, although I had no doubt you would receive a burn if you were to touch his forehead – the sweat running off of him was ridiculous.

              I didn’t have to ask about what was causing it – I could see the array of bite marks covering his left shin and calf muscle.

              ‘We managed to make it out,’ she said, retaining some strength in her voice as she looked down at her brother’s huge, mortally wounded body. ‘Marcus killed a few of them with his bare hands, ripped their heads clean off, but they got to him before we could get away.’

              ‘Have… Have you been bitten, Maria?’ I asked, my eyes darting between the two of them as Leah stood by my side.

              ‘No… Marcus kept me safe, but he couldn’t stop them from getting to him… What were those things, Tommy?’

              I glared down at Marcus’s body. He was this huge guy when I had known him, the exact same guy Carl had been so afraid of when it came to talking to Maria – Carl who was now infected or dead on the street out of Bastion…

              Now, though, Marcus looked a shade of the person I remembered from the day before. He had been huge and stocky, somebody who we used for the more difficult heavy-lifting jobs. Now he looked like somebody who couldn’t lift either one of their arms if you asked him too. It had levelled him completely in a matter of hours.