E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (The Beginning of the End) (14 page)

We all looked around at each other, shocked and disturbed by the news.
I felt sick. I hardly knew the guy but tears still welled up in my eyes. He wasn’t going to be around for much longer. That I knew was certain. What do we do about it? Would we wait until he turned and shoot him like we did the rest, or would we shoot him now eliminating the danger before he became a threat to us all?

“What’s your call
Serg?” Leon asked.

The Sergeant stood for a moment and thought. “We ask Greg” The Sergeant replied as he headed off back towards the plane.

A few minutes later the Sergeant came out, leading Greg to the Professor.

“I’m infected aren’t I professor?” Greg asked.

“There’s no easy way to say this, but yes” replied the Professor solemnly.

Greg looked around us all and fell to his knees. “I’m so sorry” he sobbed. “I should have said something, I was afraid this
would happen. I didn’t know what to do; I locked myself away, I tried to stay away. I don’t want to hurt anyone”

He was a
big man, he had a good heart but he was a proper lads lad. Seeing him fall to his knees, he looked like a scared little boy. He was completely and utterly defeated.

I knelt down beside him. “How did it happen?” I asked.

He sat on the floor, wiping his eyes. “One of those fuckers got to the fence beside me, it got its hand through the fence and grabbed me. I pushed it off me and was about to shoot it, when it’s nail scratched through my hand” he said holding his hand up. “After the fight was over I scrubbed my hand trying to get as much shit out of it I could. But it was too late. The damage had already been done.” He started sobbing again.  

The Sergeant knelt down beside him. “What do you want to do
, Soldier?” he asked.

Greg looked up. He scrambled off the floor and bolted for the roof. “The only thing I can do” he shouted as he ran.

We all ran after him, Leon was only a few seconds behind him and catching him up. We were a few paces behind. The Sergeant was screaming for him to stop.

We got to the roof a few seconds too late. He was stood on the very edge, facing the ladder. “I’m sorry
, I’ve let you all down. Please forgive me” he said tears streaming down his face.

“Don’t do anything stupid” Leon said making his way slowly towards Greg.

“Goodbye” Greg answered as he leaned back.

“NOOO” The Sergeant shouted, running towards the edge, trying to stop him. It was too late.

We all heard the crunching of bones as he fell to his death.

The Sergeant called us all in for a meeting. “It is with deepest regret, I must inform you all of Greg’s passing. He was a good man and a good soldier. He developed the virus whilst out on the field. He gave his life so our lives would be spared. He didn’t want to put us all in any danger. He will always be remembered”

Duckface rolled her eyes. I couldn’t believe it. In all this time she still hadn’t lifted a finger, and now she didn’t even seem to care that Greg had lost his life. I bit my tongue, but inside I was infuriated.

It was wrong to think, but I had wished it was her. Inside I knew, if she was ever to get infected, she wouldn’t have sacrificed herself. No, she would have killed us all.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes, paying our respects. I felt numb. I had killed countless numbers of the infected; it got to the stage I had forgotten they were once people. Greg’s passing had brought a new light to the situation. We had to be extra careful. It wasn’t just the bites that were fatal, scratches were too. We needed to stay as far away from the infected as possible. The threat was becoming even greater as time went on.

The Sergeant finally broke the silence. “We need to get back to business. We will no longer stay confined to our bases. We survived for a reason. Greg did not give his life so we could spend ours cowering from the world. We are
all
soldiers now, and we are
all
going to act like it.” He looked around at each and every one of us.

“Prepare the vehicles. I want this whole base cleared TODAY. I want to find out where exactly the infected are coming in from. Once we find their entrance I want it blocked off”

“Serg, how do you know they’re coming in from outside?” Leon asked.

“When they infected staged the attack, I recognised very few of them. Most were civilians, ones that we hadn’t rescued.” The Sergeant
admitted.

The Sergeant was right. The attack on the base was most definitely staged. The runners didn’t come out until the last minute.
The slow moving groups were coming from all directions, it was way too convenient. I don’t know how they did it. But they were certainly showing signs of intelligence I never thought possible.

“I want two vehicles to sweep the area. I want everyone armed to the teeth. Any sign of the infected, you shoot. Aim for the head. We move out at 1600”

We had just under an hour. The boys split into two teams. Lacey and George started to make their way back onto the roof. I was about to join them, when I stopped. I had spent far too long on that roof. I hated seeing the boys in danger, when I was perfectly safe. I wanted to go with them. I hadn’t left the confines of the base in weeks. I knew I had a good shot, plus I would be safe enough in the car. Besides, Lacey and George could easily cover us from above.

After thinking it over I approached the Sergeant.
“Sergeant, I’m coming with you” I told him bravely.

He studied me for a while,
“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to scope from above?” he asked me. I shook my head. “Fair enough” he shrugged “Arm yourself quickly.”

“You can ride with me”
The Corporal said as he handed me a handgun. “Is that it?” I asked him. He smiled and took a step to the side. Behind him was a line of assault rifles, shotguns and submachine guns. “I’ll take that one” I said pointing to the shotgun.

“Nice choice” he replied as he made his way to the driver’s seat. 

Nick quickly came over to me. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked, clearly annoyed.

“I’m going with you” I told him.

He looked at me, a mixture of panic and frustration washed over him “I don’t want you going anywhere” He said sternly grabbing my arm.

I pulled my arm loose
“Babe, I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl I can take care of myself”

His expression changed. He looked upset. I knew he was worried about me; he didn’t want me in any danger. But it wasn’t his choice it was mine. “Ok, be safe” he kissed me on the head. He knew this was a battle he couldn’t possibly win. I was very stubborn. Once I had made my mind up about
something that was it. No one was going to change it.

Nick headed off to join Andy
and Paul, clearly still not impressed. Leon and Josh went over to choose their weapons.

I wa
ndered over to the front of the truck, I opened the passenger door as Leon came around the side of the van.

“What do you think you’re doing getting in the front?” Leon joked.

I looked at him and smiled. “Shotgun” I replied coolly, pumping the cartridge into place.

“Can’t argue with that mate” The Corporal laughed as
I climbed into the front seat.

“Try not to hurt yourself” he sniggered as he go in the back.

We started by driving around the outskirts of the base checking out the area around us. We didn’t see any of the infected at all. The further out we drove, the more greenery we saw. It was stunning. Glorious green fields spanned for miles, completely untouched. The weather outside was cold and crisp. We were in early October so the leaves were just starting to fall off the trees, turning the leaves a lovely golden bronze. They crackled as the cold breeze ran through them. There were no more buildings around us, just the concrete runway.

The afternoon sun would soon be starting to set.

“The perimeter looks secure so far” The Corporal announced. I carried on looking out the windows. The whole base seemed so quiet. As we carried on around the base we got to the back end of a business park. Still nothing could be seen or heard. We slowed down as we checked the fencing, making sure there were no gaps. All was secure.

We did a full circle, until we came to the main base. It was still on total lockdown. The base itself was huge. The building must have been at least a mile long and a mile wide. I shuddered as I thought back to all the people trapped inside, all infected. We drove all around the building.

“How many people were inside there when it got locked down?” I asked the Corporal. He looked at me, his face pained by the memory “At least 1000” He replied sadly. “We did what we had to do” he went on. “There’s no way they can get out, don’t worry”

He pulled the truck around to the main entrance. There was a small crowd of the infected gathering, obviously alerted to our presence. They were pushed up against the reinforced entrance trying desperately to get to us.

Leon banged on the roof.

“What do we do Jameson? Shall we take them out?”

The Corporal looked around and stepped out the truck. The Sergeant had stopped behind us, and was getting out the car. He looked at the Corporal sternly. “Take them out” He ordered as he went to relay his instructions to the rest of the boys.

The Corporal looked at me, “stay in the truck, I’m leaving the engine running, I need you to stay on the lookout.”

I did as I was told. I hadn’t been this close to so many of the infected before. The smell was the first thing that hit me. Remember the smell when you open your outdoor bin, a day before the dustbin men come to remove it, and you find that the bags in there have all split? Well imagine that smell mixed in with the smell of heavily blocked drains.  Well that doesn’t even come close.

Flies surrounded the infected. Sores were protruding through their
pale yellowing skin, some had already burst, dripping yellow viscous liquid down their faces. Signs of decay were present; parts of the skin not covered in sores looked as if they were being eaten alive from the inside.

Looking into the eyes of the infected would give me nightmares for weeks after. The corneas were completely red; the pupils were completely dilated and had completely
removed the iris. The areas around the eyes were covered in black veins, which covered the whole of their faces.

As they snarled and chewed at the air, I could see that most of them had parts of the mouth missing. Holes caused by decay were tearing the muscle from their cheeks, revealing their teeth as they gnashed. The gums had all but gone, revealing the jawbone pooling with blood.

I was terrified. They looked so much worse up close. The desperation to get to us was frightening. I watched as body parts flew off into the air and into the emerging crowd, as assault rifles and submachine guns cut through the flesh of our enemy.

They screeched and hissed as shards of metals pi
erced through their stronghold, leaving a path of death and destruction directly opposite the entrance.

It didn’t take long for the boys to dispatch of them all. I sat back in the truck. Looking around at the trail of death that lined the road made my stomach turn. The innards of the recently departed
both smelled and looked foul. Steam was coming from the bodies as they laid to rest in the cold air.

Not forgetting about the mission the Corporal jumped back in the truck. “Let’s carry on” he said to me as he looked over, his expression completely normal. “Are you ok?” He asked me slightly concerned.
I hadn’t moved a muscle since the ceasefire stopped. I was still trying to take in everything that had happened around me.  

“Yes, fine” I replied quickly shrugging him off.

We continued the rest of our journey in silence.

We carried on around the perimeter of the fence, and we came to some smaller buildings. Most were derelict and served no purpose for the army. They were clearly from the days of the war, the brickwork was crumbling, some of the structures had already caved in.

As we passed them I noticed the road ahead was familiar. We were back on Old Hall Lane, on the other side of the fence. I remembered the emergency exit sign we had passed when it all came rushing back to me. “I know where they’re coming in from” I told the Corporal. “What? Where from?” He asked slightly confused.

I directed him to the entrance we had come through when we first
discovered the  base.

“We closed the gate behind us once we got in. We made sure we did. But if those things can figure out a way to ambush us, I have no doubt in my mind they could figure out how to open a gate” I told the Corporal.

He agreed as we pulled up to the gate. It wasn’t how we left it. The gate wasn’t closed properly. The bar had been pulled right across, stopping it from closing completely. The Corporal walked up to the gate for a closer inspection. He closed the gate properly and walked to the back of the truck. I stepped out the passenger side, to get a breath of fresh air. I was still shaken up by the previous bloodshed I had witnessed. I started to understand why Duckface didn’t want to be a part of it.

“We do what we have to, to survive” Leon
said as he strolled along side me, noticing my inner turmoil.

“It’s not that” I told him, “It’s the way they looked, they weren’t people. Those things. Whatever they are, the
y’re not people!” I wasn’t making much sense, but Leon seemed to understand perfectly.

I watched the Corporal as he pulled out a metal chain from the truck, he was securing the gate so nothing else could get in.

As he wrapped the first coil around the gate, a set of sprinters came running towards him. Without thinking we all ran to the gate. Leon and Josh pulled out their handguns and started firing. I ran over to the Corporal to help him wrap the chain into place.

More and more of the infected came pouring out the nearby golf club. To our right, the Sergeant was racing towards us with the second lot of troops.
He stopped short as they jumped out the car and started firing directly at the club house. The sprinters kept on coming. The boys were taking them out as they got to the path in front of them. They couldn’t shoot all of them, and they managed to outrun the attack.

The sprinters were getting closer and closer to us as we
finally locked the chain into place. We stepped back with seconds to spare, as the first sprinter launched himself at the gate, pulling at the chain.

He looked up at me and the Corporal, his eyes filled with hatred. He knew what we had done, we had stopped their entry to the base. He let out an hear piercing
scream as he shook the gate wildly. The Corporal quickly placed a bullet through his head.

More and more came out all running for the gate, pulling on the chains. I reached for my handgun as my hands shook.
I was terrified, seeing them up close was all the more disturbing. I was still trembling as I flicked the safety off and took two out, hitting them point blank.

The fear was starting to leave my body as the adrenaline took over.

As I took more and more of them out, already getting used to being in such close range of the danger, I climbed to the top of the truck with the shotgun on my back. I pulled the shotgun towards me and emptied the barrel into the crowd that was gathering below. I took 4 out with one shot. I cracked a smile. It was so wrong, but I was proud of myself. I almost wish someone was there to video it. It was a good shot.

When I was out of ammo, I jumped down. Ditching the shotgun I pulled
the handgun out of its holster around my thigh. I emptied the remainder of my magazine into the crowd. Still, they kept coming.