Pet From Hell (Infected Series Book 1) (14 page)

Chapter Twenty Nine

Not long after midday we stopped to stretch our legs and have some food. Passing the women the last of the bottled water and some of the remaining MRE’s. I then went looking for Chris and found him looking out over some fields toward York. Even from this side you could see the devastation the fires had caused.

Clearing my throat I said “How much further?”

Turning round he said “Might get there by tonight, but I would be happier if we went there during daylight hours.”

“Ok, so we find somewhere to park up for the night and head there in the morning.”

“Yeah, it makes better sense.” He replied.

Looked at Chris and I had a feeling he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to.

“Chris, what’s the matter?”

“It’s Jay, he should have been looking out for you last night and by the time we knew you had gone it was too late. He should have known better and then there was opening the hatch this morning. I know not much to worry about, but I have a feeling he’s not telling us something.”

“Chris, it’s probably everything that has happened lately. I mean I don’t even know how the hell I’m doing. So maybe this is just his way of coping with it all. We will have to keep an eye on him and for that matter all of us.” I said.

Chris looked at me for a few seconds and then nodded his head and went back to looking at York burning. I left him to his thoughts and walked over to the A.P.C. Looking inside I saw the four women having a hushed conversation, as soon as they saw me they shut up. I shrugged and turned to walk away, if they wanted to mutter and moan, so be it.

“It’s Marc isn’t it?” A female voice said.

Turning round I saw the owner of the voice climbing down from the back door. She must have been late twenties and about five feet five. Ash blonde dirty hair and the bluest eyes I have ever seen. She had a curvy body and walked with a slight limp.

“Yeah.” I replied.

“I wanted to thank you for helping us out.”

“It’s ok.”

“No it’s not ok. You and your friends could have just passed on by, rather than return and rescue us.” She said her face going red under the dirt.

“There was no way I was going to just leave you to those dicks, especially after we found out what they were doing. To tell you the truth I had expected there to be more of you.”

She looked me in the eyes and said “There was…” she took a deep breath and continued “The day before there was another four women with us, but when the fat one had seen your vehicle he decided to thin the herd. His words not mine. Anyway he asked his men to choose four of us, they picked us four and then he shot the others in the head with a rifle and threw their bodies outside for those things.”

“I am sorry…what’s your name?”

“Mary.”

“I am sorry Mary that we couldn’t get there quick enough to save you all.” I said looking at the floor.

“No, you did the best that you could. Anyway I just wanted to say thank you.” She said turning to climb back inside.

“You’re welcome.”

Turning round I saw Jay leaning against a tree watching.

“Alright Jay?” I said.

“See you’ve got yourself a girlfriend.” He said with smile “Forgot your last one quick enough.”

I walked slowly forward and looked him in the eyes before saying “What the fuck are you on about?”

“You dropped Becky quickly enough…”

Before I knew it my fist had completed the arc and smashed him square in the mouth. He dropped to the floor and I stood over him.

“You don’t ever talk about Becky like that again. Mary was just thanking us for saving their lives. Did you know that the night before we rescued them, four of their friends were killed by those bikers? No I bet you didn’t even bother.” I said trembling with anger.

Holding his hand to his mouth he looked up at me and said “Sorry, Marc just thought you were trying it on with the lass.”

“Well you fucking thought wrong.” I said and walked off up the lane trying to calm myself down.

Chris came running over to see what had happened. He looked at me stalking off up the lane and then at Jay who was lifting himself off the floor. I looked at him and shook my head and continued walking. I got close to the bend in the road and just stopped, the last thing I wanted was for them to leave me again. After a good ten to fifteen minutes I heard footsteps and turned round to see Mary stood a short distance from me.

“You ok?” She asked.

I felt bad for her, because I could see that she was blaming herself for what had happened.

“Yeah, fine.” I said.

“You don’t look fine, has it something to do with what happened just now?”

“A little, but don’t worry it has nothing to do with you.”

“But I am worried.” She said with tears in her eyes.

“Look it has to do with something that happened before any of this…” I waved my arm around.

“So you’re sure it had nothing to do with me.”

“Look I can tell you mean well, but I have some pretty big scars that need to heal.” I said looking at the floor, now it was my turn to feel shit.

“Is it to do with a girlfriend or something?”

I sighed and thought ‘Typical woman, won’t leave anything alone.’ Walking over to the side of the road I sat on the grass and said “Come on you might as well sit down.”

Mary crossed over and sat down a little too close for comfort. I sat and I told her all about Becky and how we were in love and the night that she disappeared. I then went on to tell her how Becky had been found. Tears started to roll down my cheeks and drop onto my clothes. After a while Mary moved closer and put her arm around my shoulders.

“I can see why you came to rescue us now.” She said in a quiet voice. “I can’t think of what must have been going through your mind when you heard about us.”

Lifting my head I wiped at my eyes with my sleeve and looked over to the A.P.C. Chris was watching from the back and I could see Jay inside looking out. Slowly standing I held out my hand and helped Mary up.

“Looks like they are waiting for us.” I said letting go and walking back to the vehicle.

I let Mary climb inside and turned to Jay “Look I’m sorry mate I shouldn’t have hit you.”

“No it’s me that should say sorry. I didn’t think, I just opened my gob and it came out.” He said.

“If you to girls need a room I can get the women out for a while.” Chris said.

“Fuck off.” We both said smiling.

I climbed inside and headed to my usual perch in the passenger seat. The back door closed and Chris squeezed his big frame into the driver’s seat. We set off down the country lane and I set my head against the window and watched the trees and fields pass by.

Tracy stuck her head between the seats and asked “How long till we get to this bunker?”

“Like I was telling Marc earlier we could be there by tonight, but I would rather we had a look in the morning. Just to get the lay of the land.” Chris said not taking his eyes off the road.

“Ok.” She said.

I watched out the corner of my eye as Tracy looked at Chris and then out the front window. I smiled and shook my head. The rest of the afternoon went quietly as we followed the country lane through a couple of deserted villages. There were a few infected in the lane but they didn’t worry us too much. As the daylight started to fade Chris pulled the A.P.C off into a farmer’s field. Turning off the engine and the lights we settled in for the night. Chris and I stayed in the front and Jay climbed up through the hatch to sleep on the roof. That left the rear compartment free for the women to bed down in. The night settled in and we all started to doze off. Chris had stretched his long legs out on to my side of the dash. I could here Jay moving about on the roof and the women in the back moving to get comfortable. Leaning my head against the side window I closed my eyes, but sleep just didn’t want to come. I was a little too excited about getting to the bunker in the morning. I sat thinking on what Jay had said, and truth be told I did find Mary attractive. Now why the hell had that thought popped into my head? I am a man and I have urges just like any other, but when Becky died they seemed to have just fallen by the wayside. But when Mary started talking to me something changed, it was hard to put my finger on it and I didn’t want to feel like I was letting Becky down. I suppose that was why I had punched Jay in the face and stormed off like a moody child. Thoughts like these seemed to keep me awake for the whole night and when the sun started to peek over the horizon, I was ready to get moving. During the night I had managed to do a lot of soul searching and came up with one major thought. Becky would want me to get on with my life especially now.

Chapter Thirty

I heard a grumble and turned to see Chris rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Morning sleepy head.” I said smiling.

Chris looked over and said “What the fuck have you got to be happy about?”

“Nothing really, just that we are nearly there. How long do you think it’s going to be?” I asked.

“Not too sure, it shouldn’t be any more than an hour.”

“Ok I’ll get everyone up then.” I said climbing between the seats.

I nudged Tracy’s foot with my boot and said “Good morning ladies time to rise and shine.”

There were a few grumbles and a few fuck offs but I took that as par for the course. Climbing up and sticking my head out the hatch I saw Jay lying on his back. His feet were nearest to the hatch so I grabbed one and gave it a shake.

“Oh! What the fuck now?” He said.

“Jay, time to get up mate. Chris reckons we should be at the bunker in about an hour.” I said.

“Alright give me five and I’ll be right in.” He said sitting up.

I ducked back inside and went back to the passenger seat, only to find Tracy sitting in it. What the fuck?

“Chris said it was ok if I sat in the front with him.” She said looking at me.

“Oh he did now!” I said looking at him.

I swear to god he went red and looked at every dial on the console and not once did he look in my direction. I’m going to file that one away for later. He started the engine as Jay dropped inside. We closed the hatch and I sat on the bench next to Mary. We bumped up and down as we left the field and with every bump Mary got closer to me. If this field went on for much longer she was going to end up in my lap. The A.P.C hit the tarmac of the road and the ride smoothed out. The lane weaved on between the Yorkshire hills and valleys. Chris turned right off the road and on to a wide gravel track alongside some fields. The gradient changed and the A.P.C started to climb a steep hill, there were a few switchbacks going up. We reached the top just as I thought we were going to stall.

We continued on for another five minutes before Chris stopped the A.P.C and said “Does anyone want to see the bunker? You can just make it out from here.”

I climbed past peoples legs and opened the back door and jumped down. Walking along the side of the A.P.C, I stopped at the front and looked down into a small valley. I could see the gravel track lead all the way into the middle were there was a small mound. The others came to stand beside me and we looked down at what we were hoping to call home.

Chris was the last to come to the front and said “If there is anyone inside then they know we are here.”

“How’s that?” Mary asked.

“They have sensors in the road and hidden cameras at intervals along it.” He replied.

“Well if they know we are here, let’s not keep them waiting.” I said.

Everyone turned and headed back to climb inside. Chris and I hung back and I asked “What’s the likelihood that there is anyone in there?”

“Tell you the truth I don’t really know. But looking at the road leading up here and the fact there are no tracks on it. I would say the odds of no one being inside fairly high. Saying that though it doesn’t mean that they didn’t come by helicopter and just get dropped off.” He answered.

“That’s you Mr Fucking optimism. Let’s get this over with.” I said.

We climbed back into the A.P.C and started down the track to the bunker. I took another ten minutes to get to the entrance and as we pulled up, I noticed I was wrong about the size. The entrance was roughly twenty feet high and fifty feet wide. With a single door at the front with a small keypad set into the surround on the right hand side. We all stood in front of the door and just stared, nobody wanted to move. I mean the only person who could do anything was Chris and he was rooted to the spot just like everyone else.

“Well it looks smaller than you said Chris.” Said Jay.

“This is just the entry. The actual bunker goes down for another four levels once you get inside.” Chris replied.

“No time like the present to try that code then eh?” Jay said smiling but his eyes told us he was worried just like everyone else.

Like that was his queue Chris walked forward and reached out for the keypad. Slowly he tapped on it and after what seemed like forever to me. He stepped back above the keypad were two green lights. There was a large clunk noise of a heavy lock unfastening and the door swung inwards and a dark void beckoned us inside.