Dead Winter: A gripping crime thriller full of suspense (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Day Fourteen (3rd January – 1:55PM)

Sounds of manic screaming and footsteps grew ever closer as I dashed into the tent. The gunshots coming from outside forming a strange rhythm in my head until they ceased.

"What the hell is going on!?" Shaun demanded, looking up at me as I ran into the tent.

"Infected! A huge horde at the gate! Too many to fight." I shouted, Shaun giving me an extremely frightened look. He picked up his rifle from the table along with the map we had been examining only minutes ago.

"Seriously? Alright, we've got to go!" he said loudly, sprinting towards the exit of the tent. I followed him as quickly as I could.

I turned to run towards the tents but was stopped by Shaun, he grabbed my arm and dragged me in the direction of the armoury. It seemed as though Shaun had his priorities straight.

"Quick! Grab anything you need!" Shaun called, kicking the doors open with apparent ease as the sounds of shouting reached our ears, the infected horde reaching the main gate.

Grabbing my sword, several handguns and the choice weapons of my group, I threw most of them into a bag before tying the sword around my waist. Shaun grabbed the other SA80 assault rifle, a few knives and a couple of hunting rifles before we dashed out of the little shed towards the tents.

Glancing behind me, I saw Ed dashing in the opposite direction, he tripped over a little dip in the ground and was pounced upon by several infected, screaming out for help as they sank their teeth in.

"No time! He's done for!" Shaun shouted at me as I nearly turned around to try help him, Shaun's voice full of anger and remorse at the loss of his friend. After a bit more running, we bumped into John and Claire, who looked very glad to see us.

"Take these, we need to find the others!" I exclaimed, tossing John his kukri and a handgun. Claire looked at me desperately as though she wanted a weapon too. I hesitated for a second before giving her a handgun and a sharp kitchen knife.

John threw a bag at me, which I promptly decided to place the rest of the weapons inside, including the ones Shaun was carrying. But as I was about to swing it over my back, Shaun yanked it from my arms and slung it over his shoulder.

"Too heavy for you, it'll slow you down." He said, his voice no longer calm, wavering slightly as we jogged over to the tents. Dave was nowhere to be found as we searched his tent. Steve and Annie climbed out of their tent as we passed it, calling out to us.

"What's going on!?" Steve roared, making us stop in our tracks.

"Infected! We have to leave, NOW!" John shouted at them, Annie was taken aback by all the shouting but nevertheless proceeded to follow us as we stormed away towards the back wall. Behind us were a couple of infected in hot pursuit.

Drawing my sword, I kicked one of them back onto the ground, delivering a clean swing at its head as it crawled back up. The force of my swing made me stagger back as the other infected drew closer. There was a brief flash of light and a loud bang as the infected fell to the ground beside me.

Looking up, I saw Nick holding what appeared to be a revolver, his hands shaking as he strode over to us. Dave was beside him, clutching a metal pipe in his hands as he also walked over to us.

"Coming with you, okay?" he stammered, lowering his weapon. He had a manic look on his face, mixed in with the fear of the impending infected threat.

"Fine by me! Come on!" Shaun called, beckoning us to follow as he made his way through the rest of the tents that lay against the back wall.

Looking around as Shaun tried to pry the fencing from the ground, I spotted infected all across the encampment, dashing towards its screaming residents. Some of them had weapons and tried to fight back the relentless horde, finding themselves powerless as each of them were bitten, scratched at or otherwise incapacitated.

From my left, an infected man broke out into a dash towards us as soon as he clapped eyes on us. With a swing of his pipe, Dave knocked him flat on the cold, hard ground before delivering a final blow to the skull.

I couldn't see the front gate from here, but I assumed that there were infected still pouring through it. Screams and shouts rang out all across the camp, tents going flat as people fell onto them.

"C'mon!" Shaun burst out, still trying to pry the fencing from the block of concrete it was fixed in. It budged only slightly as he continued to try lift it out of the hole.

All at once, now.

One-by-one, we all joined in the struggle to escape, pushing up against the fence until it finally gave way. Shaun pushed it aside and motioned for us all to squeeze through the gap between the fence and the blockade next to it.

Claire went first, anxiously looking past us for infected, which would be on their way any second now. Then John passed through the gap, followed by Nick, Annie and Steve. Gunshots rang out across the camp as survivors tried to fight for their lives.

As Shaun and Dave passed through the gap, I saw at least five infected storming across the expanse of collapsed tents and corpses towards us. Dashing for the trees, I cast glances over my shoulder as even more infected joined the march, pouring through the gap in the wall.

"Now what!?" I bellowed, keeping up with the others, who were dashing through the trees.

"Keep running!" Shaun retorted, picking up his pace into a mad dash.

All eight of us ran as fast as we could, weaving through trees, bushes and little ditches that littered the forest. Glancing over my shoulder, I was just in time to see Dave get tackled by an infected, who let out a panicked shout of pain.

"Shit, Dave!" I shouted, stopping for a moment; but it was too late, as the infected clawed and bit at Dave until he ceased to struggle against it. As I started running again, guilt coursing through my veins like poison, Dave began to jerk uncontrollably, his limbs

He was infected.

"How many are there!?" Shaun called to me, demanding answers as I tallied up the infected chasing us. There were at least nine, including Dave, who had stood up from the ground, wildly swinging his head to face us before breaking out into a dash.

"Nine! What do we do?" I called back as we jogged, slowing down slightly as we started to lose our breath, all except John and Shaun, who seemed used to this sort of activity.

"Fight!" John shouted, turning around to punch an infected in the face as it got too close to him, before sinking his blade through its chest.

Taking up our weapons, we began to hack, bludgeon and slash at the group of infected, who arrived one or two at a time. Cutting off the head of one close to me, I span around in time to see the now infected Dave stagger towards me, no longer sprinting.

Could he possibly remember who we were?

Growling, Dave bared his teeth at us as he walked towards me, staggering slightly with each step. His eyes were completely bloodshot, one of the most distinctive symptoms of the infection.

"I'm so sorry, man." I uttered as the infected Dave lunged for me. I kicked him back and pulled out my handgun, hesitating as the others finished off the last of the infected.

Why was it always me?

He stared at me with those menacing red eyes and I was reminded of my dreams. In a trick of the light, I thought his eyes were glowing for a second as I slid my finger around the trigger. Gunshots could still be heard blaring out from the camp behind us as I looked deep into Dave's eyes.

"This isn't how it was supposed to be, damn it!" I shouted, cursing the world we had found ourselves in. The infected Dave was slowly climbing up to his feet, baring his teeth wide at me. He opened his mouth as though he were going to bite me and I felt my finger pull the trigger entirely on reflex.

The gunshot wasn't as loud as I thought it would have been, dully resounding in my head as his eyes opened wide, the bullet going straight through his head, just above his right eye. From his kneeling position, he fell onto his back. He looked as though he was merely gazing up at the sky through the trees above as I leant down to close his eyes.

"He need to keep moving. I'm sorry, Ethan, but there's no time!" John said to me, nudging me in the back. As much as I wanted to give Dave a proper send-off, we really weren't in a position to do so with the impending threat of the infected in the camp and the forest beyond.

"I know.." I muttered, picking myself and my sword up from the ground. Instead of running, we instead strode across the grassy pathways through the dense forest, glancing around for infected.

We walked and walked, for what felt like hours on end even though it had only been about twenty minutes. The camp was now a decent distance away from us, so we decided to take a breather in a little clearing. Sitting down on a bench, I slammed my fist down onto it in anger.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

"Shit, Ed.." Shaun sighed, rubbing his eyes, which had begun to water. Claire shed a silent tear as she nervously glanced at the two of us, at a loss for something to say. Nothing needed to be said.

John doffed his hat in silence, bowing his head as a sign of respect for the two people who had left us. Around us, the sound of gunshots suddenly stopped and all that could be heard was the sound of branches creaking and twigs snapping.

Dave had been there for me since all of this started, without him I probably wouldn't be here in the first place. I would have probably ended up as one of the infected roaming the city, desperately trying to find someone to sink my teeth into.

And now he was gone. Leaving me behind.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Day Fourteen (3rd January – 3:05PM)

Silence was upon us as we continued our trek through the dense forest. I was lagging behind from the rest of the group, lost in my own world of thoughts and feelings.

I was torn up over all of this, there wasn't any other way to describe it.

Dreading the inevitable arrival of the night, I tried to hide away my fears of going to sleep; for I knew that if I did, I would be haunted once more by the things I had done.

"Nearly at the motorway now, just a bit further." Shaun called from the front of the group. Shaun and John were leading the group now, with the others a little ways behind them, with me at the rear.

So what? Once we got to the motorway, we'd just have to keep walking.

"I think we should stop somewhere for the night. We can't camp with no supplies." Steve interjected, jogging to get to the front of the group.

"You're right." I heard Shaun say, glancing up from his map to look at Steve. Nick was a little ways behind the three of them, mumbling to himself as usual. I always wondered what he was saying, since I never got to hear. He kept himself to himself, I could respect that at least.

Everything seemed incredibly distant and tuned-out. Like there was a haze over my perception. Noises and little flickering shadows that would have normally irked me just didn't seem to bother me. I lazily turned my head to look through the trees as a loud crack reached my ears, but it was nothing.

"Won't we be losing time?" John asked, his voice riddled with concern. Everyone wanted to be free from all of this, and it was becoming more and more apparent as the hours dragged by, counting down the time we had left until our salvation.

If there really was going to be an evacuation, that is.

"The evacuation isn't for another three days. We'll be fine.." Shaun assured, patting John on the back as we all walked at our own pace.

According to his map, there was a small hamlet of sorts only a few miles away. So instead of making for the motorway as we had originally planned, we turned left onto a little pathway through the forest.

A rather soothing sound began to fill the air as we walked down the path, and I found myself drifting off into my own little world as we passed over a little, babbling brook; there was a small wooden bridge that passed right over it, and the sound of the water running over the pebbles filled my mind. It was like a dampener for my thoughts, like television static.

"Hey, Ethan." I heard a voice say, barely audible over the gurgle of the little stream. I stopped for a few seconds as I reached the middle of the bridge. Just standing there to take in my surroundings, as disorientated as they seemed.

The trees seemed to be swaying lightly in the breeze, waving to the sky. Clear water running underneath me, making a delightful, bubbly sound as it washed over the many rocks and pebbles that littered the ground over it.

Why was it always me that had to make the hard moves? Why couldn't I just live peacefully, without having to resort to all of this killing and bloodshed.

I'd always wanted something different in my life. I'd find myself lost in thoughts and daydreams in my little, crummy studio apartment; just wishing that something would change and bring some colour into my monochrome life.

Just this was just too much, I never asked for this. Sure, I'd dreamt about the zombie apocalypse on several occasions. Who hasn't? But it had always been more fun in my dreams; all bashing heads and no pain, no loss and no doubting myself.

And no walking.

"Ethan?" Claire said, piping up beside me. She'd been trying to talk to me this whole time and it hadn't even registered. She was stood a few feet away, just gazing at me with those electric-blue eyes.

"Are you listening to me?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest as she spoke. I nodded briefly, feeling as though I were being dragged out of my daze.

"What's up?" I asked, wondering if I sounded as out of it as I felt.

"I'm asking you that. You've been silent this whole time." Claire said, pressing for answers. I honestly didn't feel like talking about it all. But she just sounded so demanding.

"I'll be fine." I muttered, starting to walk again.

"No, you have to talk about this. Don't shut me out!" Claire exclaimed, grabbing me by the shoulder as I tried to walk past her. Why was she so determined to hear my thoughts?

"I just... It hurts, Claire. It hurts every time." I said briefly, deciding to confide in her. My eyes glazed over a little as they began to feel watery. The two of us began to follow the rest of the group, still lagging behind so they wouldn't hear our conversation.

"I know, Ethan. I still think back on what I had to do, and it hurts just to think about it. But you can't shut it out and bottle it up, it's not healthy." Claire said, trying to match my pace as we walked through the forest.

Were our situations even similar? I mean, sure I'd had to kill some bad people too. But she didn't have to do what I did. She didn't have to kill her friend. I suppose you could bulk it all up into one category if you really wanted to, but it just didn't sound right to me.

"I was telling...him today, about my dreams. I just keep thinking back onto that talk we had." I admitted, my mind going back to the conversation. That was pretty much a solid, shining moment of Dave's defining feature. His ability to just stop caring about all his problems, just to listen to someone else's, just the amount of caring he gave out when it was needed.

"Dreams?" Claire asked, a puzzled expression on her face. Even though she seemed confused, I wonder if she had similar nightmares and could somehow relate to how I felt.

"I have nightmares about all the people I've.. killed. Dave listened to me talk about them." I said, continuing to follow the rest of the group, who cast back small glances every now and then, looking over their shoulders at us. John was the one who did this most frequently, though that was a given considering how protective he was over his sister.

In the distance, I could almost make out the shapes of a row of houses through the trees, we'd been walking for miles now.

"I can see it! Just over there!" Shaun called from the front of the group as he too saw the little row of small houses in the distance. It really was a hamlet, it was tiny.

A few minutes later, we were reaching the edge of this part of the forest, walking out onto a narrow road that cut through the two halves of the forest. There were three terraced houses in the tiny settlement, and we stood in front of them, giving them a quick scan.

The road itself was clear of threats, but we weren't too sure about the inside of the buildings.

"I say we split up and examine the houses thoroughly. Me and John will take the one on the right." Shaun said, pointing to himself and John as he spoke.

"We'll take the middle one!" Annie piped up, pointing to Nick and Steve, who nodded silently.

"I guess that leaves us to take the left." I muttered under my breath to Claire, who cast a worried look at me.

"Ethan! You better look after her!" John called to me, giving me a look of concern as we all made our way through the front gate, striding across the gardens towards our respective front doors. I nodded and gave him a little wave as we tried the doors, which were all unlocked, to my surprise.

Glancing over my shoulder at Claire, I noticed a car that had veered off of the road and planted itself firmly into a tree. There was blood all over the shattered windscreen, but no body in the car. What had happened here?

Pushing the door open, I listened intently past the sound of creaking for any sign of activity in the house. The creaking echoed throughout the hallway until it came back to me, along with another sound.

The hamster-cage smell of wood chips.

Scratching became audible as the two of us carefully stepped into the hallway, weapons drawn. My hands holding the sword and hers a knife. Striding across the hallway, I made my way towards the door that lead to what I assumed was the living room. Turning the handle ever so slightly, I swung the door open, revealing absolutely nothing.

Claire made for the cupboard under the stairs, where the sound seemed to be coming from. I started to walk over to her, but she held me back as she went for the doorknob.

"Let me.." she said defiantly, giving me a strange look as I stopped dead in my tracks. Why was she so desperate to do this?

Twisting the doorknob, she pulled the door open with her free hand, the knife steady in the other. It looked like the person inside had hid away when they'd been infected, for what reason I had no idea.

The infected slowly turned its head to face Claire, it's mouth gaping open as it stared at her with its bloodshot, red eyes. Moments later, it was trying to pick itself up as it screeched at us. With a carefully placed swing, Claire sunk her knife into the head of the infected, and its movements ceased.

However, the shrieking cry of the infected had made the house seem alive as the sound of movement from upstairs came to our ears. Drawing my handgun, I approached the bottom of the stairs as another infected came into view. Lining up my sights as quickly as I could, I let off a couple of shots, one piercing the chest of the infected.

Like a rag doll, the infected went completely limp as it tumbled down the stairs, I jumped to the side to avoid it as it finally reached the bottom and slid across the tiled floor for a couple of feet where it lay completely motionless.

The house was silent, so quiet in fact that I could hear muffled talking coming from the middle house as the group talked amongst themselves, probably about the gunshots I had just let off.

A minute later, John came bursting through the front door, looking at the two of us before his gaze fell on the corpse on the floor. He let out a sigh of relief as his eyes moved to the gun in my hand.

"Jesus..shook me the hell up." he breathed, holding his hand to his chest. There were a few specks of blood on his cheek, which I noticed as I examined him, standing in silence with the gun still in my hand, sword in the other.

"I take it there were infected in your house too?" I remarked, pocketing my handgun to point at his cheek, which he promptly began to rub at with a piece of tissue paper.

"Just one. Have you checked upstairs?" John said, his eyes narrowing as he gazed at Claire, who slowly moved her knife behind her back as if she didn't want him to know that she'd put down an infected.

"Not yet. Just about to." Claire stated, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"I'll come with you." John said casually, waving his kukri around in the air a little as he spoke, the blood still glistening along its edge.

"We can deal with it ourselves!" Claire exclaimed, surprising me. What was with this sudden change in her personality? Was she starting to adapt to the world around her at last?

"I'm sure you can, but I'm coming just to be sure." John said sternly, stepping over the corpse on the floor as he approached us.

"Fine by me." I said quietly, setting foot on the bottom-most step as I began to slowly ascend the flight of stairs, gun at the ready. John seemed a little miffed that he wasn't going first, but he'd have to get over it.

There couldn't be many more left in here.

Scanning the corridor, I saw no signs of life as we each made our way to different rooms on the top floor. John took the master bedroom, Claire the spare bedroom and I checked the bathroom. There was nothing to be seen in any of these rooms.

Several hours later, after we'd eaten what canned food we could find in the houses, cooking it all on a little fire in the back garden of the middle house. We all decided to sleep in different houses.

Shaun was sleeping alone in the right-hand house, while Annie, Steve and Nick were in the middle house and myself, Claire and John were in the left-hand house, staying in the master bedroom while I took the spare one.

My sleep was haunted as I expected, lost in a haze of fog and trees. Dave stared at me, demanding to know why it all had to happen to him. I couldn't bring myself to answer him. Everything went red for a second as a demented figured appeared between the two of us, it's face bearing fangs and its eyes burning red.