Dead & Alive (Book 1): Survive
SURVIVE
BOOK ONE
BY
I.J. SMITH
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
All work is Copyright © I.J. Smith November 2015
I.J. Smith has asserted his moral rights
Cover illustrations by I.J. Smith, Copyright © May 2015
Dead & Alive: Survive book, names, characters and all related work is Copyright of I.J. Smith
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO A VERY SPECIAL PERSON
IN MY LIFE MY FATHER
AS A KID HE HAD ME WATCH ALL THE CLASSIC HORROR FILMS
WITH HIM, SIMPLY BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT TO WATCH
THEM ALONE!
SO MY LOVE OF HORROR IS THANKS TO HIM.
ALSO I WOULD LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS TO ALL THE
DREAMERS OUT THERE!
NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS
KEEP FIGHTING FOR YOUR DREAMS.
FOUR months ago: A missile appeared in the skies of a town called Gosport; the missiles deployed a white mist over the coastal town.
One Hour after the missile: patients all complaining of serious headaches, vomiting and bleeding from the eyes quickly overran local hospitals. The hospitals had no idea what was wrong with people. Everyone admitted infected by a deadly virus.
Six hours after infection: The military deployed force in the south of England, a quarantine was put in place to prevent the spread of the infected, a communication blackout commenced.
Twenty-Four hours after infection: A reported two million people dead. England officially placed under quarantine. All transport in and out of the country stopped.
Seven days after infection: Evacuation commenced throughout England, a deadline is placed and those not infected must be evacuated within twenty-four hours. Those who miss the deadline, are left behind.
Four months after infection: Survivors are scattered in camps around the world, England is now a nation in need looking to the rest of the world for help.
Less than a million British citizens survive.
THREE MONTHS AFTER OUTBREAK
England was now under full quarantine, no one goes in and most important of all nothing comes out. The coastal waters were under guard, ships of the British navy as well as ships from other countries patrolled the waters, making sure, the virus could not escape the mainland and spread across the world. Twenty miles off the southern coast of England, H.M.S. Albion patrolled slowly through the ocean.
On board the navy personnel went about their daily duties, the atmosphere on board was one of great despair, and emotion, everyone on board had lost someone they loved to the virus. The harsh reality of millions dead had left the survivors without hope of ever seeing their loved ones or their home again.
A young sailor walked the decks, looking out across the ocean towards the England mainland. He had lost all his family to the virus and blamed himself for not being there to help them; he was due shore leave just before the outbreak, but opted to stay on board and save his leave for Christmas, and the guilt haunted him. As he stood there looking out at the waves, he heard a rumbling in the sky, looking up he could see a helicopter heading towards the ship. Signalman rushed to guide the helicopter to its landing place. The sailor looked on in confusion, he knew this was not a scheduled visit; they had been resupplied just a week before. Since the outbreak, the government officials that survived the outbreak were struggling to help the survivors, so visits to the ship were rare. As the helicopter landed, the ship’s decks became flooded with sailors, all hoping to hear news that more people had survived the virus, and in hope it was a loved one.
The helicopter doors slid open, a well-dressed middle-aged bald man was first to disembark, quickly followed by a female army officer. They both walked clear of the helicopter blades. An overweight man in uniform approached them, “Captain Jenkins, it’s good to have you on boa
rd,
I’m Commander Groves, we have everything set up and ready for you,” he said to the tall woman with long black hair and a stern look on her face.
Captain Jenkins extended her hand “Thank you Commander, we are on a tight schedule and need to get things moving.” She said while shaking his hand. The Commander extended his hand to the middle-aged man, “Nice to meet you, Sir.” The middle-aged man just looked at the Commander. “Commander, let me make it clear, this man was never here!” Captain Jenkins told the Commander in a firm voice.
Commander Groves looked at them both and simply replied, “Understood, would you please follow me.”
Commander Groves led the guests down some steps to a long walkway. He entered a room with a large table that was surrounded by chairs in the middle of it and pictures of past naval ships hung on the walls. Captain Jenkins walked around the table, “This will do. Thank you Commander.” The middle- aged man had still not said a word; he walked to the back of the room and took a seat at the head of the table.
Commander Groves, looked at them both, he knew not to ask questions, he simply asked, “If there is anything you need during your stay, there will be a guard outside to service your needs.” Captain Jenkins looked directly at him, “NO!” she snapped at him. “There is to be no one outside, is that clear, Commander.”
Before the Commander could reply Captain Jenkins spoke again, “If you could let Corporal Adams know we are ready for him and his team, and please hurry.” Commander Groves just tilted his head, “straight away,” he replied. The Commander walked out of the room; he closed the door behind him, whispering under his breath “Uptight bitch”.
As Commander Groves was walking down the walkway once again and passed crew members at the turning. As they stood to salute the office, the Commander said, “As you were” as he returned their salute. He walked a little further and entered the mess hall where he saw a group of people sitting at the back wearing army uniforms.
The group of eight were sitting there talking and eating. “Corporal Adams, the Captain has arrived and is ready and waiting for you all,” he told the group.
A tall man with graying short hair and Corporal stripes on his arm stood up, “Thank you Groves, come on, let’s get this over with” he said. A much broader shouldered man with short hair and a rugged look stood up next; he started to walk towards the Commander, “She still got a stick up her ass.”
The broad man said with a smile to Groves. Commander Groves smiled back, “A big one Jack,” he replied. Lance Corporal Jack Mason was second in command of the Section, he looked back to the rest of the Section, he watched as Corporal Adams was trying to get the team moving. Jack looked at him; Jack had only been with the Section for the last year after transferring from another unit, during this time he had noticed the weakness in Adams ability to command. Jack looked and sighed, “Come on you lot, let’s get this shit over with!” He shouted to the Section. They all stood immediately and moved towards the door. Corporal Adams walked behind them, “Thanks Mason” he said while walking past Jack.
Commander Groves looked at Jack, “Good luck, you’re going to need it,” he said while walking away with a laugh in his voice.
Jack caught up to the rest of his Section; together they approached the room where Captain Jenkins was waiting for them. Corporal Adams knocked on the door, a female voice shouted out “Come in!”
The entire Section, followed the Corporal into the room and stood side by side, they all saluted the Captain, “Take a seat,” she said while pointing to the seats, ignoring the salute. The Section all took seats around the table.
“Corporal, would you introduce your team?” She told Corporal Adams.
The Corporal stood up, “Of course,” he replied.
He indicated to the person at the end of the table and worked his way round the team, “This is, Private Walsh, Private Atkinson, Private Ross, Lance Corporal Ma…,” before he could finish, he was interrupted, “I already know Mason,” she said, “Good to see you again Jack,” She said to him. Jack looked at Jenkins, “Been a long time, Captain” Jack replied. Corporal Adams, looked taken aback by this, but then continued, “also, we have Private Murray, Private Carter and finally Private Reid, Captain” he finished. “Thank you Corporal, please retake your seat,” she replied.
“OK, let’s get started, for those of you that do not know I am Captain Jenkins, I have been with military intelligence since the outbreak. For the purpose of this meeting you will direct all questions to me and not to our guest, who will remain anonymous” she told everyone in the room.
Captain Jenkins took a seat, “Right, everything you will hear has been classified Top Secret, repeating anything you hear will result in your incarceration,” she told everyone. The room remained silent, “Right, since the evacuation of England, all the survivors have been scattered around military camps and taken in by other countries around the world. It is our hope that eventually we can return to our own country, as we all know that is something we believe impossible for many years due to the virus surviving in the bodies of the decomposing remains scattered around the country. That was until seven hours ago,” she told them. The army Section looked around at each other with puzzled looks. “Are you saying we can return?” asked Corporal Adams. “No, not yet, I will let my colleague tell you the details of what I mean.”
The middle-aged man opened his case and pulled out a laptop, opening it up, he looked at everyone, “Seven hours ago we received this,” he said while pressing a button on the laptop. An audio message started to play, “Help me, please. I am alive and I was never infected. I am Doctor David Grant, Pleas…” The middle-aged man switched off the recording. He shut the laptop, “Was there anything else in the message?” Lance Corporal asked, “Nothing important!” the middle-aged man replied. Both he and Jack Mason looked at each other; Jack knew he was not telling them everything. Captain Jenkins noticed this and carried on, “Doctor Grant was part of the team looking for a cure when the outbreak first happened, he was moved from the hot zone to a secure location, that is where he has been ever since. Now we need him out of there, he has worked out a defense against the virus,” Jenkins told everyone. Jack continued to look skeptical, “I am guessing we are getting this information for a reason,” Jack said sarcastically. “JACK” Corporal Adams snapped at him. “It’s Ok Corporal; I know Lance Corporal Mason has a loose tongue.” She replied to Corporal Adams. Captain Jenkins continued, “Jack is correct, you are getting this information for a reason. At 22:00 hours your Section will be flown into the quarantine zone by a stealth helicopter, you will then have 24 hours to locate and extract Doctor Grant,” she finished saying.
The Section looked like they had just been handed a death sentence, in truth, they had been, and going back into England would expose them to the virus. The Corporal looked like he was going to say something, but could not build the courage to question a superior officer. “This is a joke right!” Jack asked aloud. “No joke!” Jenkins responded.
“England is locked down; it is clearly forbidden to enter England. No way would the world leaders allow it.” Jack replied. Jenkins looked at Jack, “You’re right, they would never allow it. That is why this is a closed book operation, we have worked in a 24-hour window to allow this,” she replied.
A new female voice spoke out, “What happens after 24 hours?” Private Atkinson asked. Jenkins looked over to Atkinson; she was a pretty woman, with her long brown hair tied back and her face covered in freckles.
“If you fail to meet the helicopter on time, you will be left behind,” she told her. Atkinson looked on in despair and shock.
The middle-aged man decided to speak out, “This must be a shock for all of you, and I felt the same when I found out Doctor Grant was alive, but this could be the answer to everything. Imagine being able to return home,” he told everyone.
Jack replied, “I don’t have a problem risking my life for the greater cause, but the moment we land we are exposed,” Jenkins quickly replies, “The virus is not airborne, avoid the bodies, get to the Doctor, make your way to the roof and wait for extraction,”.
Jack looked confused, “The roof, if you know where the Doctor is, why not just have him meet the helicopter on the roof?” he said. “Not that simple, we cannot return a communication to Doctor Grant, we were lucky to receive this message without anyone else picking it up. Doctor Grant is located at MI6 headquarters in London, from the satellite pictures there is debris on the roof, you will have to move it before the helicopter can land,” Jenkins replied.
The Corporal finally worked up the courage to say something, “If we can’t land on the roof, where will be landing?” He asked.
“There is a park less than half a mile from the building, you will be taken there. This is an easy mission, land, walk half a mile, find the Doctor and get to the roof, clear a place for the helicopter to land and wait. The toughest job will be the waiting,” Jenkins replied to the Corporal.
The Captain then told them something they could not believe, “Also, this mission is to be operated under radio silence, so you will be leaving all radios behind,” she told a shocked room.
Everyone in the room remained silent; the Section needed time to allow it to let it sink in. Jack was the first to break the silence, “Is this Doctor Grant worth the risk, can he really give us our home back?” Jack asked.
Captain Jenkins looked at her middle-aged colleague; she turned back to Jack, “Doctor Grant is the future of our survival. Also, I understand what we are asking all of you to do and risk, so you have my personal guarantee that all of you will be first in-line for the vaccine, as recognition for your bravery and commitment to England” Captain Jenkins told everyone.
Corporal Adams spoke out, “It is an honor to be chosen for a mission of this importance”. Jack looked at his commanding officer in disgust. “We only have a few hours till 22:00 hours, if it’s OK with everyone, I am sure all the Section would like some time to themselves,” Jack stated to his superior officers.
Captain Jenkins nodded her head, “Of course, I want to thank all of you on behalf of England, and remember this is Top Secret, you are all dismissed” Captain replied. The Section stood up and all of them gave a half-hearted salute, “Come on team,” Corporal Adams said.
As the Section began to leave, Captain Jenkins spoke again, “Actually, Jack could we have a private word,” she said to Jack. “Yes, Captain,” Jack, replied.
The Corporal once again looked uncomfortable; he asked Captain Jenkins, “Would you also like me to stay Captain?”
“No, you can go, “she instantly replied.
Corporal Adams did not respond, he just gave a nod and with a jealous look left.
Jack stood to attention in front of the Captain and her colleague, “At ease, Lance Corporal,” She told him.
Jack relaxed and just looked on. “Please, take a seat,” Captain Jenkins said to Jack.
Taking a seat, Captain Jenkins began talking within seconds, “Jack we may not be friends, but I do feel we have a respect for each other as soldiers,” she said to him.
“Of course,” Jack responded.
“Look, I know what you did last year, choosing to transfer and drop rank was a tough choice. I am not the only one who feels you should be leading this Section,” she said to Jack.
He looked surprised, “Frank is the Corporal, I knew that when I transferred,” he replied.
Jenkins looked at him with a small smile on her face, “Yes, but we know he is not exactly up for the job, and he certainly does not have your skill set.