The Infected (Book 6): Last Shot (5 page)

Chapter Ten

The hallway to my room was quiet once again and I leaned against the door as I tried to open it one handed. Chris was one of the few people that I would not have wanted to hurt. But I just wanted to keep him safe for the sake of Tessa and their baby. I managed to get the door open and stumbled inside. I was exhausted and my face felt like I had an elephant tap dance on it. Wandering across the room I headed for my bed and just collapsed onto it. Rolling onto my good side I closed my eyes and let sleep take me. No doubt I would feel the extent of my injuries in the morning.

Waking up I thought that I had gone blind in one eye but then the pain crawled back with a vengeance and the fight from the day before played out in my head. Someone was knocking on my door so rolling off the bed and onto my feet I staggered to the door.

Mike was stood outside. “You look like shit!”

“Thanks, Mike, I feel like it as well. You want to come in?” I stood to one side opening the door.

He walked past me and sat down in one of the chairs.

“What’s up?” I asked crossing the room and sitting down slowly. My body ached everywhere, but my head hurt the worst.

A small smile crossed his face. “I’ve been up to see Chris this morning. You caused some damage to him!”

“Like I could ever cause him any damage. I just got lucky.” I said shaking my head.

“Anyway…there is no way he is going to be ready to help out with the oil rig.”

“I figured as much.”

“David is saying that he’d have a divorce on his hands if he decided to go. We all know that Amy is never going to help out. Marc, I am having serious doubts about going myself.”

I sighed. “Why do you not want to go?”

He clasped his hands in front of himself “Tessa is having a baby man. My first grandchild.” I nodded and waited for him to finish. “I want to be here for when she has it and if we go to take out the oil rig I doubt anyone will be coming back.”

“You want a drink?”

“Erm…yeah.”

I stood up and walked over the kitchenette. I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and two glasses. I poured out two good measures and carried the glasses back to the chairs. Passing one to Mike I sat down. He sipped at the whiskey and kept looking at me over the rim of the glass as I drank mine.

“In the end mate it is your choice, just like the others. I am not forcing any of you to come with me. In fact to tell you the truth it would probably be easier if it was a solo mission anyway.” I said downing the last of my whiskey.

He looked up quite sharply and the whiskey in his glass slopped over the side a little. “Fuck!” he half shouted. Mike leaned forward and put the glass down on the coffee table.

“Marc the whole reason we came to find you was because your idea to take Benton’s on by yourself was just fucking nuts.”

Nodding I said, “Looking back on it, it may not have been the smartest thing to do.”

“So why in the fuck are you saying you’re going to do it again?”

“Truth be told mate I’m not going to let them harm anyone else. That and they know where we live now. That message Dr Jackson sent was just a way of him saying that he knew where we are.”

“But that doesn’t mean that you or anyone else has to die to get rid of them!”

I smiled “Mate the last thing I want to do is die and hopefully it won’t come to that. If blowing the legs on the oil rig is all it takes then maybe only one person could do it.”

Mike sat there looking at me and I could tell that he was thinking about what I had just said. After a couple of minutes, he stood up and started to pace back and forth. He stopped and turned to face me.

“If that’s all that it would take to bring them down….” he paused “then if someone piloted the boat and another attached the explosives. They could then detonate them from a safe distance.”

“That might have been a good plan if there were two people going, but not to put a dampener on things, there’ll only be me and I don’t really trust anyone else in the bunker except our little circle.”

Mike started to pace back and forth again. He face was showing a lot of emotion. I had to say that I was feeling like a right dick. I knew that he didn’t want to go with me, but I had made it sound so easy and that there wouldn’t be any danger. There could be all kinds of problems getting to the oil rig and countless other problems whilst we were there, but I could see him slowly coming to a decision.

“I fucking hate you sometimes. You do know that?” he paused “I’ll have to fucking come won’t I?” He looked down at me and his face was resigned.

“Look, Mike, you don’t have to come the whole way. You could just get me to the lifeboat and show me how to use the equipment. Then you could head back here. Like I said one person can do the job.”

“Yeah, but it would be harder if there was just you to do the job.” He said sitting down.

I lifted my glass “Want another?” I asked.

“Yes please.” He replied passing me his now empty glass.

Standing up I went and poured two more glasses. As I was walking back there was a knock on the door. After passing Mike his glass headed to the door. Chris was standing outside with his hand and arm in plaster.

“You’re a fucking twat.” He said pushing past me and into my room.

I turned in time to see him sit down in my chair. “Hey Mike!” he said before lifting my glass and downing the contents in one swallow.

“Hi, Chris!” Mike said sipping at his own whiskey.

Chris lifted the empty glass “I’ll have another.”

Grumbling as I walked over I snatched the glass out of his hand and refilled it. I grabbed another glass and filled it for myself before handing the other to Chris. He downed it again and set the glass on the coffee table.

“Aren’t you on painkillers?” I asked him.

He shrugged “Like that has ever stopped me from having a drink.” He turned to look at Mike. “I thought you would be in here with him,” he said jerking his uninjured hand in my direction.

Mike nodded.

“I suppose you were talking about the oil rig?”

I sat on the edge of my bed and said “Yeah, I was just telling Mike that if he showed me how to use the lifeboat I could do the job on my own.”

Chris looked at Mike and raised his eyebrow.

Mike looked at the glass in his hand and said “I haven’t given you an answer to that yet Marc. Like I said you really do need two people and I also said I would come with you.”

I turned to face him “Mike not to be too polite but I really only need your help in showing me how to pilot the lifeboat.”

“Marc do you really think that we’re all chicken?” Chris said in his rumbling tone.

I paused before saying anything because my temper was starting to rise. “Look I don’t think any of you are chicken, but each one of you has a good reason for not going. Chris, you and Tessa are having a kid. Mike is going to be said kids granddad. David has his wife and his two kids. Amy just fucking hates me at the minute. So that just leaves me and the fucking pup and I don’t trust that fucking dog.”

Mike stood and walked over to the counter and poured some water into his glass. He drank that before coming to sit back down. “Look, Marc, everyone would want to help take them out. Well everyone but Amy for some reason. But is this the right time to do it?” he said perching on the edge of his chair.

I looked at the ceiling before answering “I’m not certain if it is the right time to do it, but I am beginning to think it might be the only time to get it done.”

Chris actually nodded and said “To be honest I agree with you Marc, but you can’t do it on your own.”

I was starting to get sick of going round and round. “Ok how about this, Mike you come and show me how to use the lifeboat. Chris, you set up some delayed charges for the legs, something that will stick to them. I’ll tootle (travel in a leisurely way) out to the oil rig. Chuck the charges on the legs and tootle back to shore before they blow.”

Chris started laughing “Did you just fucking say ‘Tootle’?”

Mike was grinning as well.

“So what if I did?”

“Nothing you just sound like an old geezer when you said it.”

“Fuck you! You’re older than I am.” I said grinning.

We all started laughing and the tension seemed to slowly drift out of the room. For the rest of the night, we sat drinking and laughing. Tessa came in later on and dragged both Chris and Mike out of my room whilst casting the evil eye at me. I was too pissed to be bothered, so I blew her a kiss and waved them all good night before falling onto my bed.

Chapter Eleven

That night I had another nightmare. I was struggling against hands that were trying to hold me down, but their faces were shrouded in darkness. The hands were pushing hard into my shoulders and every time I cried out to be released they would grip tighter. This seemed to drag on and on. The pain from their hands getting worse with each second. I started to cry and said that I would do anything if they would only release me.

“Anything?” a ghostly voice asked.

“Anything please,” I said crying, tears streaming down the sides of my face and running into my hair.

The hands disappeared and I struggled to my feet. I was standing in a dark room and could see no further than a few feet in any direction. A light clicked on and I saw a little girl tied to a chair.

The voice returned “Kill her!” it said.

“No, why would I kill a child?” I shouted.

“If you do not kill her we will cause you more pain than you could possibly handle.”

I shook my head and screamed “No…no, I won’t do it!”

The hands returned and pushed me back to the ground and the pain was worse. I screamed into the darkness and the hands gripped tighter and tighter. This seemed to go on forever till I begged to kill the child. Knowing in my heart that I would never be able to, but I might be able to free her from her bonds. The hands faded and I staggered upright. With wobbling legs, I staggered to the child. She had a cloth over her eyes and mouth. She was no older than four or five, had the darkest hair I have ever seen. Her dress might have been yellow at one time but was so filthy you might never have known. Her small legs were just as dirty and she was barefoot.

“How am I going to kill her?” I asked to the darkened room.

A large hunting knife was slid out of the darkness. I picked it up and looked at the handle and saw a cross of bone inlaid into it.

“One strike.” The darkness said. “One strike is the only chance you will get.”

I raised the knife and for anyone looking it looked like I was about to plunge the knife into the poor girls head. My hand struck downward but at the last second my hand moved and I sliced through the bounds tying the girl to the chair.

“Run quickly!” I shouted turning my back to her. Hoping the hands would return whilst I had the knife.

“That is most unfortunate.” The darkness said right before something landed on my back growling in my ear.

I turned my head slightly as I fell and saw the little girl grasping my shoulder. Her eyes were gone and her mouth was filled with rotten stumps. She pulled back opening her mouth so wide I thought I might fall in. Her head came down so quickly all I could do was scream. I fell forward with the feeling that the skin on my neck and shoulder was being torn away in chunks.

I woke with sweat streaming into my good eye and my head felt like I had a jackhammer instead of a brain inside. Rolling to the side of the bed I screamed out loud in pain. I had rolled over onto my injured elbow. I rolled quickly onto the other side of the bed and I threw up everything that was in my stomach which was much more than bile and stomach juices. I rolled onto my back whilst trying to calm my rolling stomach. The burning in my throat made me feel like throwing up again. Slowly I opened my good eye and stared at the ceiling. The smell of the sick beside the bed made my stomach roll again. I sat up quickly and shuffled to the bottom of the bed and stood up. The room spun and I ended up sitting back down quickly. Taking my time I tried standing and then took baby steps toward the bathroom. Turning I sat on the toilet and held my head in my hands. The room had stopped spinning and my head started to clear. When I felt that I could stand and not fall over I looked into the mirror. My eye was still swollen shut and the bruising still covered most of that side of my face, but it did seem to have faded slightly. Shaking my head, I stripped and turned on the shower. Ten minutes later I felt better and was climbing into my clothes when I heard a knock at the door. Trying hard not to hurt my arm as I pulled on my t-shirt I opened the door and Amy was scowling back at me.

Running my hand through my hair I mumbled “Morning Amy!”

She stood there looking at me and she looked as if she wanted to fight me just like Chris. The only difference in that was that I doubted that I would be able to stop her, at least not in my current state.

“Fuck you’re good morning!”

‘Oh, shit!’ I thought.

“Look, Amy, just get it over with so I can clean up my puke.”

That shocked her; it took her a few seconds to think her way around that. “Do you know how much trouble you have caused?” she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders “To tell you the truth I don’t have a fucking clue what you are going on about. Mind you everything I have done lately according to you has caused heartache and pain.”

“This isn’t a joking matter.”

“Look I know that all women think that men can read minds, but we fucking don’t! So why don’t you tell me what’s got you all bent out of shape?” I asked slowly getting pissed off with her cryptic words.

“Tessa is upset and it’s not good for her.”

At last her cryptic words began to make sense. “Look all I did was have a few drinks with Chris and her dad last night.”

She put her hands on her hips “That’s just thing you didn’t just have drinks with them. You started to make plans for assaulting the oil rig.”

I paused and soaked in that information because to tell you the truth with the hangover I couldn’t remember what exactly we had ended up agreeing on. “So what have I supposedly done then?”

Amy looked at me in my good eye and said “You convinced Mike into helping you with the boat and Chris has been down in the armoury all morning sorting out explosives for you. Tessa is beside herself because she thinks that Chris is going to follow you to the lifeboat. She thinks that if they do go with you, then it will be the last time she sees one or both of them.”

I shook my head “Look it’s clear that you think I am the fucking devil or something, but I can’t and won’t stop either of them doing what they want. Unlike you I am not a fucking control freak.”

Amy’s face went bright red and her hands started to flex at her sides. To be honest I knew she was losing it but I really didn’t give a shit about it. If Chris and Mike felt the need to help rid the world of that shit stain Benton’s Pharmaceuticals then who was I to stop them. I just wanted to put right all the mistakes that I had made by letting that fucking cat out of that lab.

Amy finally opened her mouth “Just who the…..” I didn’t let her finish, I slammed the door in her face and locked it from the inside.

I could hear her screaming at the door and even heard a few bangs on it. I spent the next half hour cleaning up the puke and trying to get rid of the smell using anything smelly I could find in my room. When I had finished I noticed that the screaming had stopped and so had any banging on my door. Throwing the cleaning materials in the large bin I headed for the door.

I actually paused before opening the door. I was scared that Amy might still be out there in the hallway and this time she would have a gun pointed at the door just waiting for me to open it.