The Alpha Plague 3 (21 page)

For a moment Vicky didn’t reply. Instead, she watched the lights as the car behind gained on them. When would he give up? She finally said, “Yep, it’s him.”

“Oh God.” Flynn lifted his feet back onto the seat and wrapped his arms around his knees to pull them in closer. “What does he
want
from us? Why won’t he leave us alone? You won’t leave me on my own again, will you?”

The last question stabbed Vicky’s heart and she didn’t reply. Instead, she put her foot down and squinted through the broken windscreen. When Brendan flicked on his full beam headlights she frowned harder than before as she tried to see in the dark.
 

Suddenly an explosion lit up in front of them. The cracks on the windscreen spread the bright light all the way across the window and Vicky swerved. Several more explosions came to life about twenty metres away and completely blinded Vicky.
 

In her attempt to bring the vehicle back under control she snaked from side to side. A glance behind and she saw the bright light of Brendan’s car.
 

Another explosion in front and Vicky hit the brakes. Regardless of what happened behind them, they couldn’t drive straight into the fire in front. But she hit the brakes too hard. The truck tilted up onto one side before it flipped and went into a barrel roll.
 

Although Vicky tried to reach out to Flynn, within seconds she’d lost her bearings as the car rolled over and over. Each time, despite her seatbelt being on, a moment of weightlessness was followed by a loud bang and a heavy impact through a different part of her body. She whacked her knees on the steering wheel, her shoulder against the driver’s side window, and the air flew from her chest from the pressure of her belt when she jolted forward.
 

On the next moment of weightlessness she reached out to Flynn again but grasped only thin air. A bright light then punched through her vision when she whacked her head. A bell rang in her ears and her world went dark.

***

Groggy from the crash Vicky heard a loud
bang
next to her and opened her eyes. Her seat belt held her in place as the truck lay on its side. The weight of her entire body rested on her left ribs. Her door pointed toward the dark sky.
 

Flames roared next to the truck and had turned the temperature up by what felt like a thousand degrees. Sweat had turned her entire body slick. When she looked down she saw Flynn. His door was lowest to the ground and he was lying unconscious against it.
 

Another loud
bang
and the glass from the door on Vicky’s side rained down on her. She shook the window fragments away and looked up to see Brendan standing above her.
 

Vicky shook her head but before she could speak Brendan shouted at her. “Thought you’d gotten away from me? Well, guess again,
bitch
.” Brendan leaned down into the car and cut off her air with a tight grip around her throat.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Unable to breathe, stars flashed in Vicky’s vision as Brendan squeezed tighter. She flapped her hand in the direction of the seat belt release, but couldn’t find it.
 

With her eyes on Brendan she saw the man’s teeth as he clenched his jaw. Veins stood out on his forehead and saliva dripped from his mouth. A large globule landed just below her left eye. If he squeezed much harder he’d break her windpipe for sure.
 

Woozy from the lack of oxygen Vicky fought against her body’s desire to fall limp. Whatever happened, she needed to get Flynn out before the truck blew up.

The heat from the flames pushed against Vicky’s face and turned the air stuffy. If the lack of oxygen didn’t drag her under, the heat would. Vicky gave up on the seatbelt, reached up and grabbed Brendan’s wrist. One last chance to get out of the situation, she dug her nails in hard.
 

Brendan’s eyes flew wide, but he didn’t let go, he squeezed harder instead.

Darkness narrowed Vicky’s vision and she could only hear the sound of herself choking. And then, just before complete blackout, Brendan let go.
 

A hungry gasp of air and Vicky looked up to see Brendan had gone. Seconds later the face of a woman appeared. Although Vicky opened and closed her mouth several times she couldn’t get her words out. She continued to gasp for air. Who the fuck was she?

The woman looked past her at Flynn who lay crumpled at the bottom of the car. “
Flynn
.”

Of course! Vicky finally coughed a word out. “Larissa?”

The woman pointed down the vehicle. “Get me my boy. Get him before this truck blows up.”

Still groggy from the crash and with a headache pounding in her temples, Vicky found the seatbelt release this time and popped the button. She managed to catch the steering wheel as she fell and stopped herself just short of landing on the boy by pulling her legs up to her chest.
 

Although knocked out, Flynn’s body moved with his shallow breaths. A gentle tap on the side of his face and he opened his eyes.
 

“Hey,” said Vicky, her voice no more than a quiet croak, “look who’s here.”

The dazed boy turned and looked up. He drew a sharp intake of breath. “Mum?”

“Oh, Flynn,” Larissa replied. “Flynn, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
 

Vicky watched the woman as she cried and leaned into the car. Vicky then lifted Flynn up so his mum could take him. After she’d dragged Flynn out of the car Vicky stepped up on the handbrake and poked her head out of the driver’s side window.
 

An entire car park of cars burned in front of them. The flames seemed dangerously close. Close enough that she could smell her own singed hair and the heat prickled her skin.
 

After she’d boosted herself out of the truck, Vicky jumped down. When she hit the ground the impact stung her knees and she nearly fell over. Larissa and Flynn headed over to the woodland area, but Vicky saw Brendan and Rhys locked in a battle on the hard road. The scream of the diseased roared behind them. Before long they’d be swarmed by the horrible fuckers.
 

Vicky removed the telescopic baton from her pocket and snapped it open. She ran as fast as her weak legs could carry her, wound back, and cracked Brendan with the baton. The first swing hit his shoulder, and it did enough for the big man to scream and let go of Rhys.
 

When Rhys jumped away Vicky clenched her jaw and swung the baton into Brendan’s stomach.
 

The shrieks from the darkness behind them got louder.
 

Vicky drove another blow to Brendan’s side and he wheezed as if winded. After a deep breath she hit him as hard as she could on the bloody patch on his right thigh.
 

Brendan screamed like he’d been set fire to and the diseased behind answered his call in kind. Although Vicky wanted to hit him again Rhys tugged on her arm and dragged her away. “Come on, Vick, they’ll be on us soon. We have to go now.”

***

Vicky, Rhys, Flynn, and Larissa hid in the darkness of the trees and watched as shadows emerged from the road behind Brendan. The burning cars gave off enough light to expose their shuffling forms. One of the lead diseased spotted Brendan. It called out and a mob descended on him.
 

The first one to reach him bit hard into the side of Brendan’s face and the man screamed so loud it echoed through the night. Another one arrived a second later and bit his leg.
 

Drained and with the heat of the fire pressed against her, Vicky’s vision blurred as she stood there.
 
She needed to see this. The man she loved and hated had met his end, but she had to make sure.

When she felt a tug on her arm Vicky turned to Rhys. He, Larissa, and Flynn all looked at her as Rhys said, “Come on, Vicky, it’s over. It’s done.”

A deep sigh and Vicky nodded. He was right. It was done.
 

She followed the family as they ducked into the darkness of the woods.
 

When they were no more than ten metres in a loud explosion shook the ground beneath their feet. Vicky turned around to see the truck she’d driven smothered in flames. She watched it for a second before she followed after the other three again.

Chapter Thirty-Six

In the cover of the trees Vicky stood back while Rhys and Larissa hugged their boy.

“Oh, my God,” Larissa said as she seemed to purposely turn her back on Vicky, “I’ve missed you
so
much. I’m so glad you’re okay. Mummy’s never going to leave you again.”

Smothered by his parents, it seemed that Flynn could barely move as they both held him tight.
 

There had to be a perfectly rational reason for Larissa to be topless, save for a bra, but now wasn’t the time to address it. Instead, Vicky stood back and waited, the smell of tree sap a welcome change from that of the diseased. The sound of the creatures still called out close behind them. Having taken Brendan down, they seemed to be on the lookout for something else to attack.
 

“You must have been petrified, mate,” Rhys said as he ruffled his boy’s hair.

After he’d nodded Flynn pointed at Vicky. “It was okay though, Vicky really looked after me. She said we should imagine we were playing Call of Duty: Zombies, so we did. How many points did we score, Vicky?”

In spite of everything that had happened Vicky smiled as she looked at the boy. Her voice still croaked from where she’d been strangled. “It had to be a new high score for sure. We beat it, Flynn.” She then held her hand out for Flynn to give her a high five. His tiny hand hit hers as she repeated, “We
beat
it.”

The ice that Larissa had projected at Vicky seemed to melt and the topless woman managed a smile at her.
 

Before they could say anything to one another Rhys pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “I still think we should head to Biggin Hill Airport. We need to get away from here as soon as possible. Maybe we can catch a private jet before it takes off? Besides,” he said as he looked back to where they’d just come from, “if we wait around here, those things are bound to find us.”

Without another word the group set off in the direction of the airport.

***

They may not have been able to see them, but the sound of the diseased served as a constant reminder that they hadn’t shaken them. Vicky kept looking over her shoulder expecting to see their clumsy forms amongst the trees. Maybe no more than a coincidence, but the pack on their tail seemed to be just that; on their tail. Maybe they’d seen or even smelled them. Or maybe it was just bad luck that they’d chosen the same path.

They’d started out at a fast walk, but the four of them gradually picked their pace up until they moved at a jog. Rhys had thrown Flynn over his shoulder and carried him like a fireman would.
 

Vicky’s exhausted muscles hurt and she had to dig deep to keep her limbs working, but she pushed on anyway and kept up with the others. No doubt they felt much like she did. Their pained grimaces certainly suggested they did.

***

When they reached the edge of the woodland and with the airport in sight Vicky looked at the group. The strained relationship between Rhys and Larissa had obviously been healed. An apocalypse seemed like a great way to gain some perspective.

Before she spoke she listened to the call of the diseased. The murmur of suffering and discontent rode on the breeze. The smell of burned rubber joined the sounds as the car park behind them continued to glow in the night. The diseased sounded far enough away. “I think if we’re going to go for it, it needs to be now,” Vicky said.

Each person in the group nodded.

“The terminal for the private jets is on the other side of the airport. We’ll need to be quick because we’ll be out in open space when we leave the cover of the trees.”
 

Again, the other three nodded their agreement with Vicky.
 

After a deep breath Vicky counted them down. “Okay, three, two, one … ” She sprinted from the cover of the woods and heard the footsteps as the others followed her.
 

But the second they stepped out into the open a diseased scream called out in the night.
 

When Vicky looked over her shoulder she saw them. A crowd bigger than any she’d seen before descended on them. They filled the road and the burning cars behind showed her more of them than she wanted the see. The glazed look in their wide eyes spoke of their desire to get at the four.

They had no chance of outrunning the creatures to the airport terminal. They needed a change of plan.
 

About twenty metal shipping containers lay dotted about in the car park of one of the empty units. Despite the poor light Vicky saw the ladder propped up against the side of one.
 

She headed for it. In their current predicament they needed higher ground above all else.
 

Vicky arrived at the container first and her lungs burned as she climbed the ladder with wobbly legs.
 

Before she’d gotten to the top Larissa had arrived and followed her up.
 

Rhys brought up the rear and put Flynn on the ladder first. Vicky watched him bounce on the spot as his boy climbed. The diseased bore down on him.

Rhys jumped on the ladder a second later. As he made his way up Vicky saw the diseased moments before it grabbed his ankle.

Rhys kicked the thing in the face and knocked it backwards. When it fell on its arse Rhys quickened his climb.
 

By the time Rhys had reached the top the thing had gotten back to its feet. Before it could do anything else, Vicky, clumsy with the adrenaline that ran through her blood, lifted the ladder. She nearly fell when the lead diseased grabbed the bottom rung and tugged her down, but Larissa pulled Vicky back to keep her from dropping into the diseased below.