British Zombie Breakout: Part Three (4 page)

Alex smiled.
'Alright, Mr Clever, which way do we go?'

'When they
brought us here, the van lurched right just before it stopped in
the side street, so this way,' Steve pointed to the left.

Setting off in
reasonable spirits, they took the road back towards the hotel,
relieved that the van had gone in the opposite direction. At first
they walked along the pavement, close to the shops, feeling that if
necessary, they could dodge into one of the darkened recesses to
keep out of sight. Some of the street lights were still operating,
while others were smashed and their eyes soon became accustomed to
the dim light. Even so, there were frequent obstacles, where shops
had been looted and debris left where they fell.

There were also
black wells of shadow and it wasn't long before the pair became
aware of rustlings and movement around them. Steve picked up a
stone and threw it through the smashed window of a shoe shop. They
heard it smack into the back wall and roll across the floor, to the
accompaniment of a squeak and frantic scratching.

'Steve!'

'Perhaps it's
best to ignore them.'

'Rats?' Alex
shuddered and gripped Steve's arm.

'I'm hoping
that's all it is.'

'Can't be
zombies, they'd have been on us straight away.'

'At least
there's that. Come on, let's walk in the middle of the road,
there's less rubbish there and we're not exactly about to be mown
down in the rush of traffic.'

A hundred yards
further on, Steve picked up a length of piping. 'I'm not much for
weapons but somehow I feel better holding this.'

'We could
perhaps pick up the pace a bit, too.' Alex shivered. 'This place
gives me the creeps, the noises, everything wrecked up and half the
street lights out.'

Steve wasn't
about to argue with that and they set off at a fast walk.

After another
few hundred yards, a voice spoke quietly but distinctly from a deep
shadow on the right, 'That's not going to help you, matey.'

Steve raised
his length of pipe and looked behind to see three kids of a similar
age, all dressed in black, all looking underfed and not unlike the
three with the van.

'Run,' Steve
said, pulling Alex forward but then having to stop when two more
kids stepped out a half dozen yards ahead.

'Well, well,
well. What's a nicely turned out pair like you doing out at this
time of night?' said the one who had spoken from the shadows.

'Look, we don't
want any trouble,' Alex said. 'We just want to get home.'

'Where's home,
then darlin'?'

'Mile or two
down that way,' Steve said, avoiding mentioning the hotel this time
and nodding in the direction they'd been travelling.

'Oh, up the
posh end.' The lad chuckled. 'You don't want to be caught hanging
about here, there's bad boys around here.'

'Let's have yer
money.' One of the other lads said. 'Posh folk like you always have
money.'

'Yeah, give us
your dosh and we promise not to 'urt you,' said one of the boys in
a sneery tone.

'Just cough up
yer dough and we won't give you no grief.'

'Look,' Alex
said, 'we've had enough of this! We've escaped from a load of
zombies, been kidnapped and some guys took our van, so if you
wouldn't mind...'

'We don't have
any money, either,' Steve said.

'Phones,
watches, we don't care, whatever you've got.'

'And there'll
be soldiers out looking for us,' Alex said.

'Hold up, hold
up,' the first lad said, raising a fist at the side of his head.
'What's that about zombies? You seen 'em? Round here?'

'Orrible
things,' one of the others said. 'Don't want none of them on our
patch.'

'We've seen
real zombies alright,' Alex said, 'Close up, too.'

Steve noticed
that the two lads in front of them had retreated several steps
towards the shadows, leaving what he hoped was a big enough
gap.

'You've got
TV?' Alex said.

'Course we got
TV, who do think we are?' The boys edged closer to each other and
further away from Alex and Steve.

In Alex's mind,
somewhere behind the fear, she smiled to herself at the thought
that in a Britain ravaged by zombies, even the rough kids on the
block still watched TV.

'Well, we've
come from Kilkorne. That village in the news, where the latest
rampage was.'

'You mean the
breakout… where they all legged-it from that Breathdeep place?'

'Yeah! We saw
loads of zombies, right in our school,' Alex said in a menacing
tone Steve had never heard her use before. 'We squished 'em, too.'
Alex took a step towards the boys. 'Squished 'em dead! Real zombie
blood and goo and everything.'

Steve saw a
look of horror spread across the boys' faces and they backed away
even further.

'Go!' Steve
said, grabbing Alex's arm and setting off at a run. He threw his
pipe at the nearer of the two lads and then ran as fast as he
could, Alex alongside him. For a few seconds they heard the boys
running after them, then a pebble hit Alex in the back and she
glimpsed round to see the boys had stopped and were picking up
stones to throw at them. 'Steve, quick!' she shrieked, dodging from
side to side.

Chapter 8: Weirdos

They kept
running, until they were out of range of the stones and the boys
had vanished a long way behind. Finally, Steve called a halt at a
crossroads. A cracked sign above a newsagent's shop did the job of
the defunct street light.

'Alex, stop!'
he gasped. 'I want some puff left… in case we meet any more of
them.'

'We can't be
anywhere near the hotel yet. It's no good stopping.'

'What those
last guys said.' Steve patted all his pockets while Alex gave him a
curious look. 'Phones, Alex. I guess I've lost mine or left it in
the hotel…'

'Oh, I must
have a screw loose! Mine's in my pocket.'

'Well, no-one's
given us much chance to stop and think.'

Alex dialled a
number which was answered within one ring.

'Mrs
Reynolds?'

'Yes. Yes,
Steve's here with me… No, they drove about ten minutes down the
road, held us for a while, then just left. Oh, of course. We're
at…' she beckoned at Steve to call out the street names.

'That's it.
We'll be coming back down the main road. Please, tell them to hurry
up.'

'OK. Yes, Mrs
Reynolds, he's right here.'

Alex passed the
phone to Steve. 'Yes, mum, of course we're OK. No, we won't go
anywhere else.'

Alex couldn't
hear what Steve's mum said but she guessed it was some "I'm your
mother and I'm worried" kind of deal.

'Just send the
army guys, there's weirdos all over the place. They've tried to rob
us once already. Alright, I've got to go now.' He hit the 'end
call' button and gave the phone back to Alex.

'Oh, that'll
have reassured her!' Alex said.

'What do you
mean?' He seemed genuinely puzzled.

'You're nearly
as big a numbskull as I am.'

'Really? Steve
smiled. 'At least I didn't forget I had a phone.'

'I can't
believe you told your mum there are weirdos out here and that they
tried to rob us.'

'Well there
are, and they did!'

'Yes, but you
can't tell your mum that and just switch the phone off. She'll be
worried half to death!'

'Didn't she say
the soldiers were coming to meet us?'

'Yes but…'

'So, they'll be
here in a minute.'

'Shh, I can
hear something.'

'Probably rats
again.'

'No,
listen.'

The sound of a
vehicle being driven at speed grew in volume.

'The soldiers,'
Alex grinned. 'That was quick!'

'No, wrong
direction. That's coming from behind us. Get in the shop, now.'

Steve ran in
through the open door of the shop and tripped over something wet
and soggy, banging his head on the counter. Alex grabbed the half
dazed Steve by his jacket, dragging him into the back of the shop,
doing her best to ignore the sound of scurrying rats.

The van they'd
been kidnapped in drove up and stopped at the crossroads. Alex
heard a number of adult voices, arguing over which way to go. It
was obvious from the London accents it wasn't the men who'd
kidnapped them, neither was it the youths who took the van. She
shuddered in fear as someone stepped into the front of the
shop.

'What if they
heard us coming?'

'What if they
did?'

'They might
have ducked in a shop, that's what.'

Alex was
kneeling on the floor behind the counter, Steve's head in her lap.
She glanced down at his face as a man shone a light around the
shop. Steve's eyes were half-closed and Alex held her breath,
terrified he would move or make a noise.

'Come on out
kids.' The voice by the door said in a patronising tone. 'We're
only trying to help you.'

'Like hell!'
Alex thought, her whole body stiff with fear.

'They in
there?' a different voice said from outside.

'Nah, doubt
they'd come in here,' the first man said, knocking papers and empty
cans around with his foot. 'Looks a right rat's nest.'

'Try the next
one, then.'

Alex listened
intently while the men looked in several more shops on either side
of the road. She heard them crashing around, the sound of breaking
glass and splintering wood.

'What are you
doing, bustin' in there?'

'They might of
got in an' then locked the door.'

'Don't be daft.
We'd have seen a light.'

'Light?'

'Would you go
in there without a torch?'

Something small
ran across Alex's hand. She had to bury her face in her sleeve to
stop herself from screaming.

'It's got to be
worth our while if we can grab 'em.'

'Didn't your
lad say they looked a right pair of toffs?'

'Yeah, there's
got to be someone who'd pay to get 'em back.'

'But we can't
grab 'em if we can't find 'em.'

'Any sign over
there?'

'Nah, they must
have kept on running.'

'Come on then,
back in the van. If we carry on, we'll catch 'em.'

Alex heard the
men slamming the van doors. A couple of seconds later, it passed
the shop and kept on going.

'Steve? Are you
alright?'

'Think so. I
was pretty much out of it for a minute or two. Then I heard the
voices and thought I'd better keep quiet.'

'Good move,
they were after a reward for finding us.'

Steve caught
hold of the counter and pulled himself up. 'I can't imagine what I
tripped on.'

'I can but I'd
rather not.'

Alex crept to
the door of the shop and looked out, almost tripping herself over
what turned out to be a rain-sodden, rucked up section of carpet.
Brushing herself down, she shivered at the thought of the horrors
lurking where they'd been hiding. She peered round the corner,
still able to hear the van. Steve joined her in time for them both
to hear a squealing of brakes, then more screeching of tires and
the sound of an engine being pushed to the limit. Seconds later, a
pair of headlights reappeared, bobbing and lurching as the van
swerved to avoid potholes and rubbish in the road. Another set of
lights rounded a corner behind it, bigger and brighter.

Alex strained
to see as the vehicles got closer, tugging at Steve's jacket.
'It's…'

'Yes, it's an
armoured car chasing the van back this way.'

The van
whistled past but the armoured car stopped at the cross-roads, the
sound of its engine reverberating off the walls of the deserted
street. Alex and Steve hung back, waiting to see what would happen.
Two soldiers jumped out of the cab and one of them fired a volley
of shots over the roof of the van. 'Don't reckon they'll be back in
a hurry,' he said.

The other
soldier shone a torch at the street names and then spoke to someone
else inside the cab, 'Sarge, we're here.'

Alex stepped
out of the shop doorway, causing the soldier to swing his gun in
her direction. Steve moved in front of her, raising his hands and
saying, 'Don't shoot, it's us.'

Chapter
9:
Decisions

When Alex and
Steve arrived at the hotel, they found all except the main doors
had been boarded up and there were twice as many soldiers milling
around. Once they'd had a minute or two to get cleaned up and
changed out of their ratty clothes, they were taken straight into
the bar to meet the others and tell their side of the story.

Later the same
evening, a report came through that the Minister for Home Affairs
had been taken into custody that morning and a number of his
associates were rounded up by late afternoon. The announcement led
to general rejoicing. It wasn't until much later, when Alex was
tucked up in bed trying to go to sleep, that she remembered about
the virus having been stolen.

A quite
different group, however, had no such lapse of memory: Professor
Albert Mason, Commander Douglas Hodgeson, the Home Secretary and
the Foreign Secretary met with the Prime Minister to discuss the
implications of the day's events.

'So far, no
foreign power has admitted stealing the virus,' the PM said.

'And we haven't
broached the subject either?' Commander Hodgeson said.

The foreign
secretary looked taken aback. 'Certainly not.'

'We can't just
ignore the fact,' Professor Mason countered. 'Sooner or later
someone is going to use that virus on someone else.'

'I have to
admit, this is the last thing I expected, after our borders were
shut from the outside.'

'Making it
absolutely clear that no-one would be getting either into or out of
the UK.'

The PM wrinkled
his nose. 'This all has the smell of an inside job.'

'No-one would
be mad enough to do that, surely!'