Great Bitten: Outbreak (13 page)

She wailed, screaming to the night as she pawed at her husband’s heaving chest. “I can’t leave him!”

“Think of your son, Anna. We can’t do anything for Dan. You can’t leave your boy alone.”

“She’s right,” Dan wheezed slowly. “Go on love. Whilst you can. Leave me here. I’m tempting enough. Get Thomas safe.”

“Oh Danny I can’t leave you like this.”

“Til death do us part Annie. It’s pretty much a given right now. I’m not having you leave Thomas an orphan because you were too scared to be on your own. Warren and his friends will keep you safe. Now go.”

He pulled down her hand and placed a gentle kiss on her palm. Then he rolled over. I winced myself at the amount of pain he was in. The movements were slow and laborious. One side of his body hung limply and useless as he put all of his weight on the right hand side to heave himself off the pavement. He waved back at us, throwing me a wan smile.

“It was good while it lasted. I don’t think I would have got them this far anyway. At least you can keep my wife and son safe. Carla, bring him here please?”

Carla
walked forward slowly. Thomas didn’t know what was going on. All he could see what his father, covered in blood. His howling began anew. Dan saw the anguish he was causing his son but what could he do? He was never going to see his boy again. He cupped Thomas’ cheek with his good arm, cupping his cheek. “Now get to the pier before I change my mind and bite your asses.”

He turned and began
inching his hunched body towards the oncoming zombies. Anna walked backwards towards us, watching him go. I took her by the shoulders and spun her.

“You don’t want to watch this.” I whispered in her ear. She nodded. Her skin was pale and cov
ered with sweat. She sniffed, seeking out Thomas. He went to his mother gratefully, not knowing what else to do. Dan carried on walking forwards. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t help looking over my shoulder as we turned and carried on our fated run to the pier. He virtually hugged them. He didn’t know us, but he was buying us more time. What a doomed, beautiful bastard. They smothered him. Within seconds he’d disappeared underneath a savaging of fingers and teeth. Bless him, but he couldn’t hide his screams of agony as he fell. Dan was the first person I personally saw be caught and fall to the plague. I knew I’d have nightmares of his last screams.

Tearing my eyes away from the
ghastly display, I could actually make out the full length of the pier now. It looked like a clear run from here with no undead to mar our path. Between strides I asked if people could speed up – we’d had enough of a rest, after all. They didn’t answer me in words. They just ran quicker. I kept a close eye on Anna. She was doing her best with her son in her arms. The steps of the pier were a blessing as we took them two at a time. Well. Everyone but Anna, who shuffled awkwardly with her son. We scuttled over decking and around tumbled chairs next to abandoned tables. As we made our way up to the gates bodies began to slam against the glass windows of a restaurant sat at the front end of the pier. Anna screamed and tripped over a table as she darted to one side. As she fell her instincts took over and she dropped Thomas as she put out her hands to break her fall. The child fell to the decking with a sickening thud and Anna fell on top of him, thankfully not crushing him in the process. Thomas, however, was silent. That perhaps was more worrying than anything.

Anna started wailing again. I scooped up Thomas and pushed her forward. Rick saw my intent, and pulled her backwards, towards the gates of the pier and our hopeful salvation. There was a time and a place for grieving, and the chance that the zombies in the restaurant could break the thin glass and make a grab for us was too great. She could collapse and start gnashing her teeth when we were safe. If the pier was safe. I wasn
’t sure what we’d do if it wasn’t. Another bridge to cross when we got to it.

“
Let us in! Please open the gates!”

Carla
’s frantic cries were perhaps enough to tell me that the pier was indeed safe. Strong iron gates had been pulled closed and locked shut. They weren’t too high – maybe only ten feet or so. But as I approached I saw that they were perfect. There wasn’t enough space for too much weight to go against them, and if anyone started trying to climb in a pack, it was more likely they’d be pushed to one side and over in to the sea instead of over on to the decking of the pier beyond
.
This was all a moot point. If no one let us over those gates, we’d be the next thing on the menu
.
Someone heard us though. I could hear feet running towards us. Unless it was one of those petrifying runners, someone was coming to our aid.

“
Shush. I can hear you, just shut the hell up. We’ve kept those bleeders in the restaurant quiet until you showed up!”

Carla
clamped down and Rick kept a strong hold on the now catatonic Anna. I looked down at the bundle in my arms and thought of checking for a pulse. I tried to be more subtle, and with him crooked in my arms placed a hand on his cheek, two fingers over his mouth. It took longer than I thought it would and my heart skipped a beat, but I did feel the gentle warm breath of a living being stroke over my skin. I didn’t know how injured he was, but he was alive. I was going to tell Anna, but our saviour had reached the gates and was fumbling with a chained padlock. I took Thomas in both arms again and paid more interest to what was going on. There was more than one heavy bike chain wound around where those gates joined, and I’m assuming there were bolts aplenty behind it too.

He must have been either nervous or frantic as he was shaking and making a right pig
’s ear of getting the chains unwound. Behind us there was a dull thud of palms hitting against the glass. I wondered how long it would hold out.

“
Shit shit shit.” There was a rolling clatter as one of the chains slid free and down to the decking. He made a start on another one as someone else ran up to join him. This one was an older man. He had a paunch and seemed more quiet industriousness. I’m guessing it took him so long to arrive because the only exercise he generally did was lifting pints.

“
What are you doing? Chain it back up!”

Obviously I took an immediate dislike to him.

“Sir I... we can’t just leave them out there! There’s women and children!”

“
So? We’ve got women and children in here and there are more of us. What if any of the infected get in? We’ve got to look after our own.”

“
We are your own!” Carla growled. “We’re not infected. We have supplies. We can help. Please for fuck’s sake just let us in!”

“
Why do you need to tell me you’re not infected, hey? Hiding something?”

“
Yes,” I growled “I’m hiding a shotgun and I’m going to shoot off your fucking knees if you don’t finish opening that gate.”

“
Oh ho, so a violent lot as well? Leave the locks there Jez, these ones are a pack of trouble and make no mistake about it.”

“
Please, we’ve got two women, and a child. Just let them in,” I thought to add quickly “and we’ll stay out here.”

Rick looked at me as if I
’d gone insane. The thumping behind us was gathering momentum and I was petrified that a runner would round the corner any second. At least this was a plan. Vague, but a plan.

“
And your supplies?”

“
Yes. And the supplies.”

The twat with the paunch nodded at Jez, who was evidently some sort of minion. Thankfully Jez was an obedient minion, and he carried on unfurling the
chains without a fuss. Doughy wasn’t exactly without gumption, and as the gate crept open he pulled out a sizeable axe, brandishing it at me and Rick. Still, Plan A was well in place.

“
Just the women. Fine looking women, too.”

That comment cemented my faith in the plan. I gestured that I had to hand Thomas over. Doughy had no idea which woman was the mother, so I picked
Carla, who was closer to the entrance. Even better, the gates opened inwards to the pier. With Thomas deposited, I shoulder-charged the gate. Doughy had been half-shielded by it, his axe hand in the open space. The force of the gate sent him flying, and the axe went spinning to the wood. I was on him straight away, straddling his chest, grabbing his shirt to force him down and brandishing my bloodied hammer in his face.

“
You listen to me you selfish fuck. The gates are open, so we’re coming in. All of us. We’re survivors. We’re practical. We can help.” I leant closer so the others couldn’t hear me. “And if you don’t like it, I’m going to shove the head of this hammer in your arrogant mouth. It’s covered in infected blood and I don’t really fancy your chances for long afterwards. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Doughy nodded his head furiously, though his eyes betrayed his anger.
“Jez, lock up before the town comes in to see what’s happening.”

Jez didn
’t need a second telling. As the gates clangedshut, Rick left Anna to help him lock up. We heard a shattering of glass come from the restaurant, but there was no tsunami of bodies heading to us
.
I didn’t get off Doughy until I saw the deadbolts slide across and the floor bolts hit home in to the (hopefully) concrete blocks sitting beneath the head of the pier. I snapped to my feet and stepped backwards cautiously. Doughy lifted himself to his elbows. Jez scuttled over but was swatted away. He slunk back until he came up against the pier railings. From there he crouched and watched us, on guard and suspicious, like Gollum watching Samwise Gamgee.

“
I’d say welcome to Bennington Pier, but you were obviously coming in whether we wanted you to or not. So the least courtesy you can do me is tell me your names. You there,” he pointed at me “are head to toe in blood, so I’d like to personally find out that you’re not infected. You get to stay down here until we’re sure. Our boys further up will keep an eye on you.”

“
Fair enough.” I answered. This man obviously considered himself in charge and until I could gauge what was actually going on here, I didn’t want to end up in the sea the first time my back was turned. “But first do you have first aiders? The little one is hurt and I don’t know how badly.”

Doughy apparently wasn
’t without a heart. He nodded his accent, so Carla passed Thomas over. That brought a cocked eyebrow of accusatory suspicion. “The woman is Anna. The boy is Thomas. She lost her husband on the way here.” The cloak dropped, a little bit of sympathy showing through.

“
I think we’ve probably all lost people. The rest of you?”

I watched Anna walk away. Doughy bawled at Jez to follow them, otherwise no one would know why she was there. He skittered off. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. What a creepy little man.

“I’m Warren. This is Carla, my sister. That’s her boyfriend, Rick.”

“
Rick? That’s a great name for a situation like this. You a policeman too, because that’d be
damn
funny.”

Rick smiled tightly.
“Not a policeman, no. Got a shotgun, though.”

Doughy didn
’t think that was damn funny. Carla smiled sarcastically. “So, what’s your name? And which one of us women were so fine that we caught your eye first?”

“
Heh. Understand me mate, that was just a bit of humour. No harm meant by it. My name’s Austin. My friends call me Oz.”

“
Well Austin, if you ever joke like that with me again, I’ll make sure your balls end up on display on the gates.”

“See this is where I would usually put in some kind of protective boyfriend line, but I really don’t need to. Insult her again and I’ll help her pin them up.”

“Well I can see you three are all sun and light. Take it you’ve been having a swell time of things out there?”

“You have no idea.
” I drawled “Is there anywhere we can sleep?”

“There’s a lot of us holed up at the top of the pier. If you promise me you won’t threaten my life for at least ten minutes, I might be able to explain it all to you.”

We all shrugged, and Austin hauled himself all the way on to his feet. None of us offered to help him up. He brushed himself down and cast a cursory glance at the gates, which appeared secure. A slow, shambling form was making its way to us, so I asked Rick for my own piece of mind. He reassured me that there was plenty to keep the world at bay. At least for now. With nothing else to do, but feeling safer than I had done for quite some time with closed iron gates behind us, we followed Austin to the top of the pier. Not far up from the gates the decking was split in to two. There was a thin wall with glass windows, and there were empty benches placed at regular intervals. There were dark smears here and there, and I saw there had been at least some kind of struggle to make this place safe.

“How long have you been here?” I asked. Austin looked over his shoulder. “I was here at the start. Was fishing this morning. Love my early sea fishing. Heard what was going on over the radio. Family are too far away for me to do anything, and decided this would be safe as any place. Easy to defend. Hard to get to as well. People would have to fight through one hell of a swarm to get to us. Which leads me to where you all come from?”