Spiteful (The Infected Book 3) (3 page)

Chapter Three

After a short while I heard some shouting and feet running down the hallway. I stood up and faced the door.

Tessa’s dad barged inside and said “The infected have managed to get inside somehow. We need everyone’s help to fight them off.”

“What’s in it for me?” I asked.

He looked shocked and then angry.

“What do you mean? You have to help!” He said.

“You’ve had me tied up in here for the last few days and now that you have a problem, you want my help. Like I said, what’s in it for me?”

“Tracy and her gang have fucked off and you’re the only one left that has any experience in fighting them.” He said.

I looked at his face and I could tell he was worried about the people left here.

“Okay fine. Get me loose and I’ll help.” I said.

He walked over and unfastened the cuff round my ankle and let the chain fall to the ground. Quickly, he ran out of the room and into the hallway and I followed. We headed back to the doors to the central room. We burst inside and found men, women and children cowering in the corners of it. Tessa was standing facing some double doors that had furniture piled up in front of them.

“Okay, Tessa’s dad, what’s your name?” I asked.

“Mike.” He said, turning to look at me.

“Okay, Mike. I want you to get all the women and children together and spread them out in those rooms we just passed. Make sure they take food and water with them. I want the doors closed and for the women to lock them from the inside. The doors to that hallway will be our fall-back position. I want all the men to get their hands on anything that can be used as a club or spear. The only way to kill them is by trauma to the head. Get started on that and I’ll go see where our guests are.” I said.

Turning away from Mike I headed to the double doors and clambered over the furniture to take a look through the small window in one of the doors. I couldn’t see any movement on the other side, but just because I couldn’t see them didn’t mean that they weren’t out there. I heard the smashing of furniture and turned to see half a dozen men smashing some chairs and tables. One man had ripped a four foot length of pipe from the wall and was thrusting it forward and back like a medieval pike. Tessa was herding the women and children down the hallway and into the empty rooms.

A movement on the other side of the doors caught my eye and I saw three infected lurch into view. Only three of them. This was going to be easy, but as you’ve guessed it I spoke to soon and another eight appeared and then four more. Bloody hell, we were up shit creek. If I had my rifle it might not have been too bad, but I could more than likely guarantee that Tracy or one of her gang had it.

I had to make sure, though, so I shouted over to Mike “Has Tracy or one of her goons got my rifle?”

Mike looked over and said “Yeah, that Thomas had it the last time that I saw it.”

“Shit.”

“But I do have your pistol, though.” He said running over to a desk opening the drawer and pulling out my 9mm Sig.

I nearly cried for joy and I also nearly broke my neck jumping down from the stack of furniture. I stumbled over and grabbed the pistol out of his hand and worked the slide to check it was loaded. Pulling out the mag, I had eight rounds in it. Not enough to put all the infected down, but if I had another mag I might be laughing.

“Are there any more mags or rounds?” I asked.

“Sorry, but that’s all it has. That was why Tracy let us have it.” Mike said, looking at the floor.

“Look, don’t worry about it. Let’s gather everyone and I’ll give you a quick rundown on what you need to know when fighting the infected.” I said.

We gathered in the centre of the room just as the infected started to bang on the doors behind the barricade.

“Okay, taking on the infected is not too hard. All you need to remember is keep space between you and them. If they manage to grab you then they will go for a bite. They are slow movers but when they lunge they can be quite quick. Remember they only die by head trauma so you may have to hit them more than once to finish them off. If one falls to the ground and is still moving, stomp on its neck. That will sever the spinal column and keep them down till we finish the others off. As far as I can see there are fifteen of them out there. I am going to head over and see if I can thin them out a little using what shots I have left. Hopefully there will only be about five or six for us to deal with when I am finished.” I said, heading back to the doorway.

Climbing over the furniture I stood with my legs apart aiming through the glass at the infected as they slammed their rotten hands and bodies against the doors. With each slam I could feel the jumble of furniture move under my feet. Taking aim, I sighted on a male and sighted on his ruined face. His eyes were both hanging out of their sockets on the optical nerves. How he could see where he was going was beyond me. The rest of his face looked like it had been peeled from his skull leaving muscle and scraps of flesh hanging off the bone underneath. His body slammed against the doors in a sort of rhythm. Slowly pulling on the trigger I held the pistol as level as I could. Considering the movement of the furniture pile under my feet, it was hard going. The pistol bucked in my hand as the bang echoed round the room and created a spider webbed hole in the small glass window.

The shot took the infected just to the right of his nose and must have ricochet upward into his brain. It left his skull through the crown and sprayed green and red back down the hallway and over the other infected.

I watched as a female infected stepped on top of her fallen friend. The doors shuddered and the pile of furniture moved more. Quickly snapping off shot after shot I managed to put her down and another five infected before my slide locked back. So out of the fifteen infected I had managed to take down nearly half. I clambered down the pile and joined the others in the centre of the room and Mike passed me a club made out of a table leg.

“Well?” Mike asked.

“Seven down and that leaves eight that I could see.” I said, looking at the shaking pile of furniture.

“Dad, I’m scared.” Tessa said.

Spinning round, I saw Tessa stood at the back of the group.

“Tessa, what are you doing here? I asked for all the women and children to hide out in the other rooms.” I said.

She actually looked upset with me saying that.

“I said she could stay and help us out.” Mike said.

“Fine. Just make sure you only take one infected on. When they break through, make sure you have enough space between you and the person next to you.” I reminded them.

We all spread out to other areas of the room and waited. Tessa was standing near to me and her hands were shaking as she held her table leg club.

“Tessa, try to stay behind me and watch my back. I’ll try and keep them off you.” I said.

She looked over and mouthed ‘Thank You’ at the same moment there was a crash as furniture fell to the floor. I turned and watched as the whole pile of furniture in front of the doors moved further into the room as the infected pushed on the other side. I could see grey hands pushing through the gap between the doors. It wasn’t going to be much longer before they got inside. Tessa moved behind me and to one of the corners of the room. I walked forward so I would be the first thing the infected saw when they entered. The doors finally gave way but the infected were still stuck on the other side of the stacked furniture. On seeing me, they let out a moan so loud I heard Tessa whimper.

“Remember to try and keep them spaced out. If you get more than one on you, run away. Because if you don’t, you’ll soon be joining them.” I shouted over the noise.

The infected started to crawl over the top of the blockade. As the first one toppled down the other side I stepped up and with an overhand I smashed the table leg into the back of its head. It slumped to the floor and immediately tried to get back up. Lifting my foot I brought it down with all the strength I had on the back of its neck, and was greeted by the crunch of bones breaking. I had to skip back because just as I started to grind my foot on its neck another infected tumbled down the pile and nearly knocked me over. Mike steamed passed me and shoved an infected into the corner of the room and then backed up to deliver a side swing that took its head clean off its shoulders sending it bouncing over to the other side of the room. A scream had me spinning round to see two infected kneeling over one of our group chewing at his arms and legs. Running over, I slammed the table leg into one of the two faces lifting the infected up and on to its back. This time I reversed the table leg and hammered it down on the face of the infected smashing the nose and what remained of its one eye into its skull with a squelching\crunching noise. The infected shuddered and then lay still. The other men were cowering in the corners of the room as Mike and I tried to kill the infected before there were any further casualties.

Next thing I know is Tessa has flew across the room and using her table leg like cricket bat has launched the other munching infected off the poor defender. The infected landed on its head with a sickening crunch and didn’t move anymore. We only had three other infected to deal with and they were slowly lurching toward the other defenders that were standing doing nothing but cry and hold their weapons out as if just holding them would keep the infected at bay. I body slammed one of the infected from behind and as it landed on the floor, the defender that had the pipe ran forward and stabbed it through the back of its skull. Tessa tried to follow the same tactic but found out to late that she didn’t have the body mass to knock the infected down and only ended up falling on her arse. The infected lurched round and saw her sitting on the floor and went for her. Mike had seen all this and side tackled the infected to the ground and as they both hit the floor rolled off and away. Running after the last infected I rammed the table leg into the back of its head and slammed it off the wall where it left a large smear of green and red as it slid to the floor. Turning round, I saw Tessa and her father both slamming their clubs into the infected on the floor sending bone, blood and green slime spraying out in a fan pattern.

That only left the defender that had been bitten and was now lying against the wall crying and moaning. Taking the pipe from the defender that had actually had the balls to help, I walked over and bent down.

“Sorry, buddy.” I said, looking him in the eyes.

He stopped crying and looked at me.

“Not…not you’re…fault. I should…have been quicker.” He said.

I sighed before saying “What’s your name?”

“Dave.” He coughed out.

“Dave, you saved a lot of lives today, mate. You have nothing to be sorry about.” I said, feeling sorry for the man.

“I managed to…save my…my…my wife and daughter.” He said as his eyes started to close.

“That you did, mate. That you did.” I said, standing.

I watched as he breathed his last breaths and then he just stopped. I didn’t want him coming back as an infected so I drove the pipe through his eye socket and into his brain. Pulling it free, I dropped it to the floor. Taking Dave by the shoulders, I lowered him to the ground and closed his remaining eye. Looking about the room I saw a jacket lying in a corner. Standing, I walked over, picked it up and returned to drape it over Dave’s corpse. I could hear Tessa crying behind me. Bowing my head, I said a short prayer and hoped that he found his way to whatever lay after this mess.

I now had something else to hate Tracy and her goon squad for. But first I need to have a little chat with our would-be defenders.

Turning round, I pointed at the defender who had used the pipe.

“Can you go and stand with Mike and his daughter, please.” I said.

He nodded and went over to where Mike was holding Tessa. Turning back to look at the other defenders, I smiled.

“Well, that went better than I thought it might.” I said. They all started to smile. “WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU LOT GOT TO SMILE ABOUT?” I screamed.

Without looking, I pointed over to Dave’s covered corpse and said “If just one of you had the balls to help, he might not have died and he would be holding his family. His death is on your hands and you lot are going to find a way to inform his family that you let him die. And don’t fucking think that Mike or I will be doing it for you. Now go and let the women and children know it’s safe to come out.” I said, turning my back on them.

Mike walked over as the defenders left the room to go and get the women and children.

“Don’t you think that was a bit harsh?” He asked.

“No.” Was all I said.

I walked passed him and sat down with my back to the wall and my legs stretched out in front. Tessa walked over and stood looking down at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You really do know what you’re doing, don’t you?” She asked.

“What the fuck do you mean about that?”

“You didn’t stop. You just headed straight in there and killed them without thinking about it.”

“Look, if I had to stop and think about it every time I came across one of them, well, let’s just say I’d be dead.”

“It was nice what you did for Dave, letting him slip away and then making sure he never came back.” She said.