Struggle (The Hibernia Strain) (2 page)

Flynn
’s own unit consisted of a mere twenty men. They were deployed to patrol through the east side of the city. That’s a huge area for such a small unit.

He
described how their convoy of four Nissan Navara jeeps were ambushed and the entire unit was set upon by a mob of at least eighty to a hundred people. Shooting into the crowd only seemed to draw more adversaries to the confrontation. The only option left was to retreat from the scene.

Several of his colleagues were captured then
, and with no word from the rest since they disbanded from the scene he presumes the worst.

Corporal
Maloney and he were lucky to escape as their jeep was surrounded at one point, and the onboard gunner was snatched from the turret position at the back. Only for the fact that they were at the back of the convoy and had enough room to reverse through the crowd, they wouldn’t have made it out alive.

That was when our paths crossed. Flynn was at the wheel and was more concerned with keeping an eye out behind him, that he was oblivious to me in front of him. Without his lights on I was equally oblivious so I guess were both to blame.

Unwillingly to leave an injured civilian behind, they extracted me from the wreckage and took me here to tend to my injuries.

Suddenly an urgent question plants itself on my lips. “What about the other patients in the hospital?”

On any given day the place should be bustling with hundreds of sick and staff. The chilling answer makes me wish I didn’t ask.

“
Slaughtered!”

Why would a virus want to share itself with dying or ill people? The reasoning is simple, erase the competition to put it plainly.
Is it that advanced?
How terrifying.

“But where did it come from?” I ask.

“Where did it come from?” Flynn echoes in a depraved voice.

Getting excitable he repeats again,
“Where did it come from? I’ll tell you where it came from. Fucking boggers man. Some sheep farming redneck in the back end of beyond was screwin’ the livestock. God knows what sort of STD his dick caught but it definitely wasn’t sheep Chlamydia that’s for sure.”

“What?” I interrupt
, confused by this crazy explanation.

“I know, right!
The higher ups were able to ascertain that he visited a relative in an old folk’s home on Thursday and that seems to be where the initial outbreak occurred. He was a carrier, so didn’t have the viral symptoms that the rest of the victims suffer from.

S
omething like sharing a glass of water would have been enough to set the whole epidemic in motion. Messed up huh? It’s like something you’d see in a B movie. Talk about shit been messed up right?”

I have to agree. There are several other insane causes that I could have envisioned
as the origin of such a forceful evil. Perhaps a virus that flew in on a meteorite from space. A lab experiment that had gone wrong wouldn’t seem too farfetched. Hell, even an ancient archaeological dig could have given rise to it, but sheep shagging! Bloody hell, I wasn’t prepared for that.

After giving myself a few moments to allow the newly acquired data to sink in
, I enquire what the soldier’s ultimate goal is. After all, they’re hardly planning to stay lying in a hospital hallway forever. Surely they must have emergency backup procedures or something.

Siobhan
speaks up for the first time, “Look kid.”

Who is she calling kid; she only looks about four or five years older than me.

“We’re staying put for the time being. There are plenty of medical and food supplies available to us here. Right now this is the best place to be. You just focus on recuperating. Understood?”

I
’m quite taken aback by her assertive nature and reply with a rather meek, “Yes.”

I definitely prefer it when Flynn does the talking.

I push in the door to my room and return to bed. Before lying down, I flip the duvet over so the dampness of my sweat from earlier is away from my body.

Tho
se soldiers aren’t the only ones separated from their comrades. My priority is to reunite with Shawn and Emma. It’s been three days since we parted company. If they followed my instructions then they should have moved on from the hotel by now and be at Emma’s homestead.

When I get out of here I
’ll still have to check the hotel though to make sure they haven’t overstayed, on the off chance I’d make an appearance.

By now they must be thinking the worst has happened to me. If so
, I suppose Emma is crying away, and I don’t imagine Shawn will be much comfort to her. Either that or he’s already trying to sleep with her himself, knowing that if I was dead I wouldn’t have any objections.
Sly bastard
. I shake my head with an annoyed grin.

“What
’s so funny?”

It
’s Flynn. I didn’t notice him entering the room.

“Oh it’s nothing really, just a private joke.”

“I see. Well you mustn
’t be feeling too bad if you can manage a laugh. Here, take these.”

He hands me the packet of morphine tablets from earlier
, as well as a small green medical bag.

“I
’ll leave you in charge of self medicating yourself. You should apply some of this antiseptic cream and bandages on a daily basis to help prevent infection too.”

I take the stash, place it securely in my
hoody pocket and thank him.

“By the way, don
’t let her get to ya okay. She’s just on edge. I can’t say I blame her. We’re trained to deal with some heavy shit, but this right here is a whole different ballgame.”

“Don
’t worry I won’t. I can totally understand where she’s coming from.”

Happy that we all seem to be on the same wavelength
, he leaves the room and goes into the one opposite mine, returning minutes later with a selection of different foods.

It turns out they horded all the food and supplies
they could find from around the hospital and stored it in there.

I
’m still famished despite eating a hearty meal earlier so I proceed to fill my face with packet sandwiches, fruit and some crisps.

Once I
’ve gorged myself, I feel like resting for a bit, so I push my seat close to the window and angle the blinds in such a fashion that I’m inconspicuous to the outside world. I can easily scrutinise the vast expanses lying out in front of me from this high vantage point.

The hospital is on the edge of the city. The i
mmediate area surrounding it isn’t densely built up and there are plenty of green areas. Further in the distance, plumes of smoke swirl into the sky. Presumably it’s the result of the infected setting fire to buildings to force the inhabitants to take flight in to the dangerous streets outside. Such cruel master mindedness it is.

The road networks are quiet
now. It’s hardly surprising. Its being so many days since this all began, that anyone who hasn’t fled already probably isn’t going to now.
Is there even anyone left to flee?

I
hold strong at my lookout post until darkness begins to fall. With the visibility reduced, there’s little point in continuing. I close the blinds and move into the hallway.

A dim
radiance illuminates the hall from the various emergency exit signs and other minor light sources scattered about, like vending machines and blinking medical equipment. The hospital must have its own backup generator.

I can tell from the glow bei
ng emitted from the scope on Siobhan’s gun that it has night vision equipped. She’s as tentative to her duties as ever, still scanning the far end of the hall.

“I hope you don
’t cramp up,” I whisper, trying to show some friendly pseudo concern.

S
he looks away for the first time from her target area, and throws me the dirtiest of looks. Even through the shadowiness, her glare pierces into me making me wish I hadn’t opened my mouth. I’m glad I’m not one of the infected, because I’m afraid to think what she’d do to me if she got her hands on me.

A quiet snigger from Flynn is enough to break her stare and she returns to her scope. I make a wide eyed questioning gesture to him. He just comically throws a hand in the air.

He has to pull it down again with speed to grab a hold of his weapon, as a few rounds burst forth from the muzzle of Siobhan’s machine gun. The rounds flash up the hallway like shooting stars lighting up the night sky, until they thud into their intended targets. My ears are ringing from the loudness of the firing.

“Targets down,” she informs us,
“If there’s more of ‘em then they’re gonna know were here now.”

Flynn
unhesitatingly ushers me into the lift and hands me his side arm from a holster strapped to his leg.

“You know how to use one of these?” he questions.

I shake my head.

“It
’s easy, look here. Safety on, safety off, squeeze the trigger to shoot,” he explains as he demonstrates the gun.

“It
’s simple right? Use it only if you have to ok, there’s only one magazine.”

“INCOMING,”
is the call from Siobhan, as she lights up the corridor once again with a hail of gun fire. Flynn flicks on a light switch before hurriedly joining her. The fluorescent bulbs slowly flicker to life, as he takes a kneeling position just as a herd of aggressors come barging round the corner.

I wait in the lift
, shakily holding the gun upright. Admittedly it does make me feel slightly more protected than if I didn’t have it.

The hall now fully lit up from the strip lighting on the ceiling
, enables us to see exactly what were dealing with. Corporal Fitzgerald mows down the majority with sustained firing, while Walker picks off any that manage to make it past her stream of bullets.

I count ten to have fallen but more keep coming. This next lot
are smarter however. They don’t just rush headlong into the bullets. Instead they’re seeking out cover in doorways and anywhere else that will provide shelter. The screams and taunting roars that can be heard through the intermittent firing, is not just intimidating, but pants soilingly terrifying.

Some
have managed to weasel their way to about halfway up the hall, about thirty feet away from us.

“Tac reload
,” Flynn shouts as he swops out one cartridge of ammo for another. His speed is impressive and I can only assume he’s spent many an hour practising.

He just
about gets his eye to his sights again as a mass of bodies comes barrelling towards us. Some of whom are carrying blunt objects such as bed pans and medical equipment to offer limited protection from the bullets.

Most fall as the bullets rip through them but the overwhelming numbers mean that they
’re gaining ground on us too quickly. Flynn taps Siobhan on the shoulder to indicate retreating. She doesn’t budge. He attempts to help her up but she pushes him away.

“Get the fuck out of here,”
she bellows.

“I
’m not leaving you,” he argues.

“There
’s no time to move me. Just go,” she counter argues defiantly.

Earlier, it struck me as strange that they hadn
’t shared shifts aiming down the corridor, but I just shrugged it off as her being thorough. I hadn’t paid enough attention to notice, but now Flynn’s attempt to help her to her feet has unearthed a well hidden secret.

The unnatural positioning of her legs is a dead giveaway that one of
them is broken. To avoid slowing down our escape she’s going to sacrifice herself. I swallow hard; disgusted with the fact we’re just going to leave her here to die.

Flynn
moves backwards into the lift, kicking away the fire extinguisher in the process, but holds the door open with his hand as if to give her time to reconsider. She doesn’t budge.

“
SIOBHAN,” he shouts, but she still stays put.

With a
quick turn of her head, she mouths the words “Go,” before facing away again, letting us know she’s intent on killing as many as she can.

With the horde almost upon us
, Flynn releases his grip on the door and fires until it shuts across in front of him.

“Stupid crazy bitch,”
he roars thumping the metal walls in frustration and anger.

As the lift moves I can still hear the rattle of the Browning until it stops all of a sudden. No more shots are heard ringing through
out the hospital.

I drop my head as a sign of respect and sorrow for
the obvious outcome of Siobhan’s suicidal showdown. Flynn’s equally dejected, but is managing to keep himself together.

Before we had ever gotten int
o the lift, it was already prepared to go to the underground car park.

“When the doors open
, run for the jeep. It’s parked beside the lift entrance,” Flynn instructs.