Infected Series (Book 1): Mission: New York (7 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Their welcome back was unsurprisingly by Judith and Ella rushing up to Simon and kissing him one on either cheek. His blushing made everyone laugh and giggle. He stammered that they had been fortunate enough to not encounter anything dangerous, infected or not; out there as they had driven down to the docks. Everybody had eaten a small meal, and had laid out the sleeping bags that George had scrounged up earlier in the day. Judith had gone back to their makeshift kitchen, where she prepared a hot meal for the three of them returning from their body disposal. She had also managed to get hold of a camping stove; barely big enough to feed their small group, but would be adequate for now. She looked at Simon and smiled, then laughed as he reddened again, thinking about earlier. Walking over to her she reached for his hand, and squeezed it gently, placed the food in his hand and made him sit and eat it. Dawson and George also made their way over and got a plate of food from Judith, then sat down at another space. He had not realised how hungry he was until he started eating the delicious food she had managed to make from some of their provisions. He looked over at her suspiciously as she sipped some of the water she was drinking from the tap, and saw her mischievous grin.

"What is so damned funny?" he asked her seriously.

"Your reaction at our little 'show' earlier, and the shock on your face." she quipped with a laugh in her voice. "It was absolutely hilarious."

Reddening again, he spoke "So you two have now made up? Are you friends now or more?" he asked nervously.

Laughing, she said "No, silly, we are just friends now, nothing else. Unless..." she trailed off, her voice dropping to a husky tone, "you really wanted us to..you know, get Frisky."

Simon gaped, his fork halfway to his mouth. "Wha..what? I mean..uhm, okay...I suppose.." he chuckled uncomfortably, as he saw Ella join them and hugged Judith. She sat down next to him and spoke softly, joining the conversation.

"Simon, we were just teasing you. There will be nothing going on between Judith and I. That I promised to Judith while you were out. We sorted out a few things between us and we are now firm friends." she said happily. "Judith does however think you are a bit of a catch."

Simon nearly choked as he listened to what Ella said to him then. He coughed and spluttered and they clapped him on the back, making sure he did not choke. He blushed again and looked at Judith wide-eyed at the comment.

"Really, you like me? I mean, like me?" he stammered, "Uh okay, what now?"

"Well, Simon, we are going to have a threesome!" Judith blurted out and her and Ella exploded into a fit of giggles. "We are sexually frustrated, and need your help!" they lamented, watching as his face turned even redder.

Simon gaped at them, then realised he was being teased by these two, and suddenly it hit him; Judith did like him after all. Maybe he was in with a chance after all, not that he was actually looking for a romance right now; but if they survived long enough he could pursue that avenue. Smiling he joined in their laughter, and they talked more, Simon eventually finishing his food. They finally all climbed into their sleeping bags; Simon's had been placed conveniently in between the two girls sleeping bags, and they had crawled into them and fallen asleep quickly. Simon did not fall asleep straight away; he lay there and replayed the events of today in his mind. He could not believe that they had survived so much already in such a short period of time. He also pondered the thought of Judith, and he smiled as he looked over at her, her soft, gentle breathing calming him and he felt a wave of growing feeling of tenderness. He thought of the people that he had seen slaughtered outside the shop; how quickly the savage people had destroyed so many lives. He shook his head in utter dismay. Lying there, listening to the group as they softly rustled in their sleeping bags, snored or made other noises; he smiled, knowing that he was indeed doing a good deed by helping them survive whatever this outbreak was. He had used his head, and had tried to act like a leader, but if he had not had the help of Dawson and the others, he would have been much worse off. Looking out over them all, he saw a hunched figure with a sleeping bag draped over her, sitting on a chair near the front door. Speaking softly he asked who it was, and was not surprised it was Dawson.

Dawson had realised that if everybody slept there would be nobody watching in case anything happened. She had taken the role of watchman, and had set up a chair so she could easily get to the drapes to move them slightly and see out the window into the street. She spoke softly to Simon saying that she would happily do a few hours watch, then she would wake him to take over until they could set up a watch rotation. Simon had nodded and had silently cursed himself for not thinking of that earlier. Dawson heard him cursing and had just chuckled. How had he expected to think of absolutely everything when he had never been placed in a situation like this or any other before? He had nodded and said that that statement was very true indeed, and he had not really asked people if he should be in charge, but had assumed the responsibility on his own. Acknowledging that he was now their defacto leader was an important step he realised, and would have to consult Dawson more the next day to see if there was anything else that she could think of to help them in their current situation. Finally he drifted off, falling into a deep sleep where he had the most erotic dream about Judith Ella and himself.

Chapter Fourteen

The infected was walking down a passage, a long passage lined with mirrors that showed her reflection with his mottled skin and ragged, torn clothes. Her teeth were rotten, broken and blood-stained. She could practically smell his rotten, fetid breath that stank with the smell of rotting flesh. His hands were bony claws that wanted to rip out guts and stuff them into her rotten maw. The prey was at the end of the passage, and he started screaming; although he was making no noise but he could see her rotten milky eyes. He started to shuffle toward her, he could not believe she was an infected; not Judith, but as much as he staggered and stumbled, he made no progress toward her. His shattered legs made no progress towards her, no progress at all.

*****

Interlude One

The infected had spread out to the north of the city, from patient zero who had walked out of the UN, and had managed to infect more people as he had staggered toward the concert that was in Central Park. That had been his target; the loudest source of noise he could find in the city. He by now did not know why he was drawn to the noise, just that he knew he could find food there. As he staggered along and people tried to help him he had bitten them, and they would fall down dying, then get up again and follow him. By the time the pack had gotten to Central Park; the group was already two thousand strong. The people at the concert had no chance as they were enjoying the music too much, and did not notice the disturbance at the back of the crowd until it was way too late to do anything to stop it. The orgy of feasting by the crowd as they became infected was the tipping point. Morning came, revealing a grisly scene of mangled bodies; half consumed corpses; and stumbling shambling infected. The speakers hummed with the feedback as microphones were scattered across the stage, and the band Megadeath ceased to be human. They were now indeed Mega dead. New York City was born, the city of infected.

******

Simon woke up with a start, sweat beading from his face, he thrashed as he felt something constricting him, not allowing him to escape from the passage? He looked around him with a start and was confused for a second then realised he had been dreaming about a passage and Judith being one of the infected. He shuddered as he remembered the dream now, and shook his head in revulsion. He finally managed to get the sleeping bag loosened around his body. He climbed out slowly and scanned the shop for the other people. Huddled around the coffee machine they were brewing a coffee for themselves as they were busy waking up. Everybody looked over at him as he stretched his aching muscles from the nights restless sleep. He stood, then made his way over to the group, and reached out a hand for the proffered coffee. Sipping slowly he savoured the blend, the bitterness that bit into his taste buds, making his senses come alive. Sighing, he thoroughly savoured the hit of caffeine that flooded his bloodstream, and he greedily enjoyed the coffee. He looked at everybody after he had finished his coffee and sighed deeply. Walking over toward the girls were sitting next to each other, he pushed his way in between the girls and kissed each in turn. First he kissed Ella on her cheek, winked at her and then he turned and kissed Judith full on the lips. Judith’s eyes widened as she felt the passion in his kiss, and then opened her mouth and felt his tongue slip inside. Her nipples hardened as she felt her excitement grow instantly. Simon enjoyed the feeling of her silky smooth tongue as she teased him with her tongue as well, and he felt his passion rising. He broke from her then, and he straightened up so he could look down at her, and his face broke into a smile. He nodded and she took his hand, holding it and squeezing gently. She felt something grow for him and she blushed slightly, and started to giggle. Ella looked at the two of them, and smiled, knowing that there was something happening between Simon and Judith. She touched Simon’s arm, and she smiled as she looked at Judith and snickered. Sticking her tongue out at Judith she then pretended to kiss a shadow person. Her arms held out like she was pulling someone in for a kiss, really getting her face contorted like she was actually kissing and her tongue was moving around.

Everybody stood around gaping at Ella as she was lost in the moment of the ‘kiss’. She finally stopped, and looked at everyone, and said to them, “What?” that was when everyone burst out laughing uproariously at the antics of the three of them. Judith snorted at Ella exasperatedly, and smiled at Simon shaking her head. Simon got up, stretched again and walked toward the bathroom. He needed to relieve himself now after that coffee he had just drunk. He walked over and stepped over the sleeping bags that were still scattered after the nights rest. Everyone had already been to the toilet to refresh themselves ready for the day. He reached the door and knocked, wanting to make sure that nobody was inside. He waited a second or two then opened the door and went inside. He splashed water on his face to wake himself up and strode over to the toilet; relieved himself and flushed. Returning to the sink, he washed his hands, dried them and made his way back to the rest of the group.

Chapter Fifteen

Breakfast was a reasonably modest affair with their supplies, but they whipped up a reasonably tasty breakfast for everyone in the coffee shop. The dishes were quickly cleaned, and everyone was just looking to get the day started. Simon had wondered if they should try doing a bit more exploring today, and see if there was anything else they could salvage or scrounge. They had decided to split up into two teams to do some exploring and assess the damage that their area had suffered overnight, if any. They still had on the same clothes as the day before, so Judith had been making notes of what sizes everybody was; so that they could go and get some more clothes for the group. Simon was starting to realise that Judith was indeed a very resourceful and vibrant woman, who would not be satisfied until she could help out with the group and their survival. Judith had been teamed up with Dawson and a few of the others to go and scavenge for clothes. Dawson had been a bit gruff this morning, but that could be attributed to the fact that she had not had much sleep. She had been on watch most of the night and Simon had reminded her of her promise to wake him up to do a shift, but she had not done so. Simon had appreciated the sleep, and had tried to be hard on Dawson but she had just said he had needed it more than she did. He had just smiled at that and nodded as he had slept right through without stirring. She had said that she had gotten some sleep, as there was nothing happening so she had dozed in the chair for a while during the night. She had woken at one point, but that was due to a fire that had suddenly flared up way uptown.

Dawson had also pointed out that she was used to this sort of routine due to her days in the army, where she had gotten by on very little sleep at all. She had grumbled and had drunk two cups of coffee to perk herself up properly. Once she had drunk the coffee she was more awake indeed, and ready to get some action. She had blustered and tried to make excuses as to why she could not go on the ‘shopping trip’, but had eventually conceded that Judith would not take no for an answer. Simon meanwhile had also sorted out his team and they were nearly ready to get going. George had approached Simon as well earlier, mentioning the boats out on the dock that they had visited the night before. He had said that if they needed a backup plan, then it might be worth their while to see if there were any boats that they could utilise as a floating city. Simon looked at George in amusement, and then had seen how serious the consideration was. Agreeing to go back and investigate today was a good idea he realised; if the shop became overrun, and they needed a better place to go to; to be safe. George said that indeed, it was and if needed then they could stay safer on the water if the boat had a decent desalination setup on-board. Simon looked quizzically at George, wanting to know more and asked him about how he knew so much about boats. George had said that his uncle was a fisherman and owned several boats that were more luxury cruisers that were used for sport fishing, and he had been on several trips out into the deep sea to fish. Simon nodded appreciatively at that and decided that indeed it was a good idea to investigate.