The Bunker (The Infected Series Book 2) (11 page)

Chapter Twenty

Amy took point and I followed behind her with about eight feet between us. I thought that if anything happened then that would be enough space. We approached a small garden with no fence and headed between the buildings. Stopping just short of the front, Amy crouched down and slowing looked round the edge. We moved out into the street and crouched down behind a van. Watching the pavement behind us we saw a small group of eight infected lurch out of a large building and move off down the street. This was getting quite nerve wracking for me. Amy tapped me on the shoulder and pointed further down the street. Following her I crossed over because it had better cover. Working our way down the street was slow going but we managed to find an alleyway that headed further into the village. Heading down the alley we stopped suddenly when a bin toppled over. Crouching as far into a doorway as we could, we heard the usual moan of the infected, followed by the barking of a dog. I risked looking up toward where the barking was coming from. I saw a large white German Shepherd barking at two infected as they were trying to grab it. The dog kept dancing back away from them and down the alleyway toward us. If it continued toward us the infected would see us. Amy leaned out and took aim at the Shepherd with her rifle. Slowly I pushed the rifle down and pointed at the two infected.

Leaning out I pointed my rifle at the first infected. Amy shook her head and took aim at the other one. I fired my shot down the alley and hit the infected just above its right eye. Green mist exploded out the rear of its head and it collapsed in front of its friend which suddenly toppled over as Amy’s shot hit it fully the face. The dog turned and looked towards us before running down the alley away from us and out of sight.

Standing I whispered “Ungrateful shit.”

Amy just shook her head and said “What did you expect?”

I just shrugged and we headed off toward where the dog had disappeared. Amy took point again. I had to admit she was one spooky woman. We stopped short of the road and looked out in both directions. This time we would have to head off down a mud track along the back of some houses. The problem with this was that the houses backed on to a small open grass area. From where we were I could see a few bobbing heads out on that grass area.

We crossed the road and hid behind some bushes as we watched the infected move from one side to the other then back again; like some demented game of ping pong. Keeping the fences of the gardens to our backs we edged along the path. Every time we saw an infected stop we would stop. This was not going to be an easy way out if we had to come back this way. We had made it roughly two thirds of the way along the fence when Amy just stopped and looked back the way we had come. Turning round I couldn’t believe my eyes. The German Shepherd was creeping along behind us in the tall grass up against the fences. How the hell had Amy seen it? I was looking straight at it and could hardly see it. I just waved her on and we made it to the end of the path. It opened on to a large car park that still had a few cars parked on it. I couldn’t see any infected in between any of the cars so we slowly threaded our way through them. Looking over my shoulder I saw the dog stood at the edge of the car park with its tail between its legs.

Did it know something we didn’t about this car park? Suddenly there was a scream and I spun to see Amy falling down. Now I could see why the dog was so scared of coming into the car park. A infected was under one of the cars and had grabbed Amy’s ankle as she walked past causing her to fall. I quickly stood on its neck and placed my rifle to the back of its head. Pulling the trigger the MP5 coughed and I felt the rifle thud back into my hands. The round split its skull like it was a melon. Pulling Amy up by her hands she fell forward and I caught her. I could actually feel her shaking when she hit my chest. I heard a low woof and looked down to see that our shadow had appeared in between two cars just behind us.

Looking at the dog I said “A fucking warning would be helpful next time.”

I swear to god with its tongue hanging out the fucker looked like it was laughing at me.

Amy pushed away from me and said “Thank you.”

We turned and continued walking, but this time she looked down every few feet. I didn’t blame her, that would have frightened the shit out of me. After a few hundred yards I heard a clicking from behind me and turned round. There was our shadow, only this time he was about six feet away and its tail was wagging. What the fuck did it want? Was it looking to see the stupid humans become infected food? I just decided to ignore it and carried on. The car park backed on to a public house and we could tell there must have been some fighting here. Bloated bodies of both the infected and just plain dead littered the area. Skirting round the bodies and hundreds of flies we exited on to what looked like a main road.

“Can you remember which way to go?” I asked.

Looking up and down the main road she pointed to the left and we continued on. The whole street was empty of every car and the houses stood with their doors open. The infected were nowhere in sight. Amy held up her hand and we stopped. It was like someone had put the whole world on mute. The only noise came from mine and Amy’s breathing and the panting of our shadow. After a while we heard the sound of a large engine getting closer. Diving behind a large set of bushes we slowly wormed our way to the front so we could see the road. The bushes were so low to the ground that whoever was coming would have to get on their hands and knees to see us. I felt something warm and furry push in beside me and turned to see our shadow had given up playing hard to get and now wanted to be my BFF.

“I think he likes you.” Amy whispered in my ear.

Which caused me to flinch and her to quietly laugh.

After a few minutes we saw a large Land Rover slowly crawl passed. It was playing some kind of techno music crap that had always got on my nerves. Amy edged forward just a little more to see how many where inside. Easing back we watched as the car moved off further down the street round the corner and out of sight. Just then the radio in my ear burst into life.

“Team One to Team Two come in.” Chris’ voice said.

“Team Two here.” Amy answered.

“We are at the shopping centre. It looks like it has been stripped of all the food and drink.”

“We are about twenty minutes away.”

“What took you so long?”

“There is someone moving around the area in a silver Land Rover. We thought it might be a good idea if we laid up for a short while.” She answered.

“So you and Marc are laid up somewhere?” Chris said and we could both hear David sniggering as well.

“Will you two fucking grow up?” I said.

“We’ll get moving as soon as we know the area is clear. Team two out.” Amy said.

Squeezing out from under the bush we looked toward where the Land Rover had headed. The noise of its engine was the only sound echoing between the buildings. The dog crawled out and moved away from us and stood watching. We settled our gear and headed the opposite way from the Land Rover. We made it to the end of the street as the first infected attacked. She was dressed in a torn flower print dress. She had a bite marks all over her arms to the extent that the meat on one had been eaten right off the bone. The whiteness of the bone stood out against her dirty skin.

Stepping to the side as the infected tried to grab her Amy lashed out with the butt of the rifle striking it on the side of the head. I raised my rifle when a low growl came from behind me. Turning round I saw our shadow looking back the way we came. Out of the houses came more moans.

“Amy we need to get out of here now!” I said.

“I can hear them coming.” She said.

I pulled the crowbar from my belt and threw it to her. Catching it she whirled round and impaled the infected through her eye. The green slime and blood ran down the crowbar as the infected slowly fell backward. Grabbing the crowbar Amy placed her foot on its neck and twisted it free with a sucking/crunching sound of bone and meat.

“Let’s get moving and find somewhere so we can get out of sight.” Amy said moving quickly.

Not wanting to say anything I followed. We rounded the end of the street and headed down the next street. Taking an alleyway between the houses we headed further into the village. The alley opened out behind what looked like a row of shops.

Keying the radio I asked “Team Two to Team One.”

“Team One receiving.” I heard Chris say in my ear.

“We’re behind the shops, where are you?”

“If you head to the end there is a large public house. We’re on the second floor overlooking them. There’s about thirty infected out front so be careful.”

“We will. Team Two out.” I answered.

Chapter Twenty One

Looking round the delivery area at the back of the shops we walked out of the alley. With our rifles raised we walked slowly toward the other end of the shops. Hearing a familiar clicking I turned to see our little doggie friend following us. We walked behind the shops till we came to the corner and looked round it at the public house across the street. The only problem we had was that there were eight infected between us and the pub and those were just the ones we could see. Pulling back we stood behind the shops.

"Team Two to Team One you there?" Amy asked over the radio.

After a short while David's voice entered my ear "Team Two this is Team One we can hear you."

"David where is Chris?" I asked.

"Err...he's taking care of some private business." He said.

"You mean he's taking a dump." I said smiling.

"Yeah." Came his reply.

"Look can you see the road in front of the shops?" Amy asked.

"Hold on a second.” he said "Yes I can see the road from the front window. Why?"

"Are there any cars on it or nearby?" She asked.

"There are a couple of small cars and a van."

"Any with the doors open?"

I could see where she was heading and I didn't like the idea.

"It looks like a mini still has the driver's side open." David said.

"How far down the street is it from the pub?" I asked joining in the conversation.

"Twenty maybe thirty yards." He said.

"Ok give us a couple of minutes to sort this out and we'll get back to you." Amy said.

"Ok Team One out." David said ending the transmission.

Looking at Amy I knew she was thinking about what I did back in Thirsk, but to be on the safe side I had to ask.

"By any chance are you thinking about the trick I did back in Thirsk?" I asked her.

Blushing she said "Well it was a good idea."

"Yeah it was a good idea when I was on the dirt bike and I could escape into the fields. I don’t know if you noticed but the fields round Thorne all have stone walls. How am I supposed to circle back round to you?" I asked.

"Look you don't need to head outside the village just down a few side streets and then back here." Amy said.

I could see that I wasn't going to change her mind about it. So I choose a different track.

"Ok so I'm running like the fucking idiot I am. What are you going to be doing?" I asked.

"Waiting here for Chris and David. So we can raid these shops for what we need." She said smiling.

"You know I must be fucking nuts to be even thinking about doing this." I said shaking my head.

Amy got back on to Chris and David in the pub and told them the plan and Chris' answer was "Not a fucking chance." Laughing at his reply I just headed to the corner of the building and got ready to run. Steadying myself against the side of the building I felt a hand on my shoulder and was pushed roughly against the wall. Suddenly there were soft sweet tasting lips on mine. Opening my eyes I saw Amy looking back at me.

Pulling away she said "That’s for luck."

To be honest I think I was blushing but that thought was lost in my head as I looked at her.

Smiling she said "Well go on then. We don't have all the time in the world you know."

Snatching a quick kiss on her cheek, I ran down the side of the building toward the front. As I ran I heard the clicking of toenails and looked down at my side. My shadow had decided to come along.

"So you fancy a ride eh?" I asked the dog.

All I got was a woof and a low growl. Looking back up I saw we had halved the distance between us and the infected. They turned and with a single moan headed toward me. Firing my rifle from the hip I hit the first three in the legs and they all fell to the floor. This made the ones behind fall on top of their friends. Skirting round the pile of thrashing arms and legs, I headed out on to the main road and the front of the shops. Now was the hard part. Looking down the road there were infected all over the street. I kept on running and I saw the mini not too far. All I had to do was dodge the infected between here and there.

I managed to dodge the first three infected, but the next couple I had to drop with some good shots. The next one I wasn't so lucky. He lunged just as I pulled my trigger and the shot went high. He managed to grab my webbing and tried to pull me toward him. Next thing I saw was a flash of white followed by a crunch. The tugging on my webbing suddenly stopped and I looked down to see my shadow had literally snapped the arm off the infected at his elbow and was standing on its chest. I started running again and the dog leapt from the infected and followed me. I managed to get to the Mini and started to climb inside when I heard another woof.

"Ok get in then." I said to the dog.

Stepping to the side it jumped past me into the car and over on to the passenger seat, its tongue hanging from its mouth. I quickly climbed in and slammed the door behind me. I looked for the keys and was relieved to see them in the barrel. Turning the keys I was glad to see there was fuel in the tank as well. The dog looked over at me and woofed at me.

"Yes I know they're coming keep your hair on." I said.

Turning the engine over and putting the car in gear I pulled away from the kerb. The infected in the area had taken notice of the engine noise and turned toward the car. They were crossing in front of it and walking in the street behind me. Weaving in and out of them was harder than you might expect and I ended up hitting a few of them. Making my way down the street, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the infected lurching along behind me. Winding down the window I let fresh air flow into the car.

The dog looked like it was enjoying itself sitting on the passenger seat. Taking the infected on a little trip round the neighbourhood, I pulled round the third corner with the infected behind me. Slowing to dodge an abandoned car, I heard the bang of the shot before the windscreen shattered. Looking forward I saw a silver Land Rover parked further down the street with its door open. The light was behind the Land Rover so I could only just make out the shape of a figure standing beside it. With the way he or she was stood they were pointing a gun of some sort at the car. Slamming on the brakes my little doggy friend tumbled into the foot well of the car yelping. There was bang and this time something hit the bonnet and sparks bounced inside. Rolling out of the door, I tried to keep the car between myself and the gunman.