The Alpha Plague (11 page)

The pulped mess on the ground stirred up the metallic reek of blood. It filled Rhys’ sinuses and settled on his tongue. Hot saliva rained down the back of his throat, and he swung one last time.
 

Rhys wiped his brow with his forearm and turned to see Vicky still engaged in a fight with her diseased. A few more seconds and Lover-girl would be on top of her. “No,” he yelled and closed the distance between them with two long strides. He swung for the girl and knocked her down.

After he drove the bat into her head to make sure, Rhys looked over at Vicky.

She panted almost as heavily as him. Then she broke a smile. “Thanks.”

The scream of more diseased came from somewhere behind them and cut off Rhys’ reply.
 

Vicky’s brilliant blue eyes widened as she stared down the road. “Let’s go.”

Rhys didn’t need to be told twice.

Chapter Fourteen

As they ran, Rhys listened to the footsteps that pounded against the road, the heavy breaths, and the grizzled rattle of fury, or hunger, or whatever the fuck it was behind them. The charge of a thunderous army had picked up their scent, but when he glanced over his shoulder, he couldn’t see them yet. Long may that continue; if he never saw them again, he’d be happy. Yeah right! Like that would fucking happen. They were in Summit City; wishes never came true here.
 

Rhys’ lungs burned as he ran. Much more, and he’d collapse before he found safety. They needed to find somewhere to hide. Maybe the creatures didn’t have their scent. Maybe Rhys and Vicky just happened to be in their way.

Then he saw it. It took an extra effort to pull level with Vicky, but Rhys did it and grabbed her arm. He then tugged on it to guide her toward the entrance to the multi-storey car park.

At first, she resisted, but when he pulled a little harder, she yielded and followed his lead. Thank god she did; who knows where the next rest stop would have been?

As soon as they ran onto the ramp, Rhys ducked down behind a small concrete wall. If these things could hunt… well, it didn’t bear thinking about. Hopefully the gamble would pay off. As he fought for breath, his heart pounded and his lungs burned. Rhys shook where he crouched and waited.
 

The sheer amount of concrete that surrounded them dropped the temperature by a few degrees. The smell of damp hung in the air. If the mob that chased them did have their scent, maybe the wet reek would mask it. Whatever happened, Rhys had no running left in him.
 

With Vicky next to him, both of them held onto their bats and waited as the sound caught up to them.
 

The rumble of the stampede shook the ground beneath their feet. A twitchiness ran through Rhys’ muscles. Vicky’s eyes widened and she seemed to hold her breath.
 

Rhys had made a bad choice. The things could probably smell them. The reek of damp wouldn’t do anything to mask their scent. Vicky should have talked him out of his plan. Not that she could, they hardly debated it. Rhys had just led them to their deaths. What a fucking moron.

Exhaustion and fear stole every ounce of energy from him, and Rhys looked across at Vicky again. The run didn’t seem to have had an impact on her; she looked ready to go again. If they had to bolt at the last minute, she’d be fine. Rhys, on the other hand… Maybe he deserved it for such a stupid fucking plan. He had to sit and wait now. Wait for them to find him and tear huge chunks from him.

The footsteps rounded the corner. Their collective grunts and groans rode on the back of their thunderous beat, and Rhys’ bladder twitched. What if he pissed himself? What would that do to Vicky’s already low opinion of him?
 

Sweat stung his eyes and Rhys continued to fight for breath as he watched the entranceway to the car park. His entire body shook, and his heart beat as if it could explode at any moment. The cold and rough wall stung his back as he pushed harder against it. Armed with hope and a baseball bat, Rhys waited.

Chapter Fifteen

Enough time passed for Rhys to catch his breath. The diseased had gone straight past them, and it remained quiet outside. After a quick glance at Vicky, he stood up and peered over the wall. The bright sun stung his eyes and blinded him. After he’d rubbed them, he looked down at Vicky and said, “It looks clear.”

Vicky stood up and peered over the wall too.
 

Rhys flinched when another scream tore through the city. The mob had taken another victim.

“We need to get out of here,” Vicky said.

A quick nod from Rhys, and the pair of them moved toward the exit.
 

A second later, Rhys grabbed Vicky’s arm. When she looked at him, he pointed to an alleyway across the street. The shadows shifted and groaned. Hundreds of the diseased were packed into the tight space.

The pair ducked back down behind the wall.

“They’re coming our way,” Rhys said. “The streets are too dangerous.” His hushed tones echoed in the hard open space of the car park.

Vicky threw her arms up. “Where else can we go?”

Rhys looked at the red door opposite them. It led to the higher levels.

Vicky shook her head. “No way. Why would I go farther into the car park? We’re trapped in here.”

“At least we have a chance to wait it out if we hide away.”

Although she stared hard at him, Vicky clearly didn’t have an argument. Rhys took her soft hand. “It’s the only way.”

She looked far from convinced.

***

When Rhys pulled the swing door open, the hinges groaned. The sound raced up the cavernous stairwell. The hinges as good as cackled when Rhys pushed the door a little wider.

After they’d both stepped though, Rhys closed the door to the same dramatic response. His voice echoed when he said, “What’s wrong with a bit of fucking oil?”

Vicky scowled at him.

The stone stairwell allowed access to every floor. As damp as the rest of the car park, the eye-watering reek of ammonia hung in the air. With his nose held in a tight pinch, Rhys shook his head. “How many dirty bastards have pissed in this place?”

The dark expression on Vicky’s face remained unchanged.

Each step strained Rhys’ weak legs as he ascended the stairs. Vicky followed behind.

As they climbed, Rhys looked over his shoulder at Vicky. She continued to glare at him and made light work of the stairs.

Once they’d passed level three, Rhys broke the silence. “The good thing about those dodgy hinges is they’re a dead giveaway if we’re being followed. I take the silence as an indication that we seem to have gotten away with it.”

“Let’s not get too cocky.”

Rhys shrugged.
 

“Where are we going, anyway?” Vicky said.

“Higher ground. If we have a better view of the city, we can plan our route out of here.”

“You do realise we’re going to the top
of a multi-storey car park, right? I mean, it’s kind of like hiding in an alley with a dead end. What if they follow us up?”

“Haven’t we just had this conversation? Where else can we go? You heard that scream as clearly as I did. You saw the monsters in the alleyway. It ain’t safe in the city; at least, not if we’re just chancing our luck. We need some sort of plan if we’re going to survive this, and I didn’t want to be formulating it while I waited for that mob down there to get to the end of their alley.”

“We had a plan. Run like the fucking wind until we make it to the one bridge that hasn’t been blown up.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” The more Rhys spoke, the less he could breathe. “I don’t have the running in me.”

“So I have to risk my life because you’re a slob?”

“We’ve got to be smarter, Vicky. This disease is spreading quickly. We can’t outrun it.”

“You can’t outrun it. I can outrun anything if my life depends on it.”

“Alright, love, there’s no need to be so fucking smug about it.”

Vicky looked like she wanted to swing for him.

***

At the top of the stairs, Rhys pulled the door open—quickly this time to bypass any groaning theatrics. He held it wide for Vicky.

For a moment, Vicky didn’t move. With her hands on her hips, she looked between the open door and Rhys.

“Oh, right,” Rhys said. “It used to be polite to let a woman go first. That was before those things lurked behind every fucking door. Sorry. Old habits and all that.”
 

The bright sun hit Rhys the second he stepped out. The metre-high wall around the outer edge of the car park blocked the wind and turned the place into a suntrap. Black asphalt coated the ground.
 

Rhys walked to the edge and peered over. When he saw ten or so diseased below them, he drew a sharp intake of breath and pulled back.
 

When Vicky looked at him, he shrugged. “There’s some of them down there. I think we should wait it out up here for a while to give them a chance to clear out.”

“But what if they don’t?”

“Then we’ll be in no worse a situation than we’re currently in. What do we have to lose?”

After a pause, Vicky’s face softened and she finally nodded. “Okay.”

The wall on the opposite side of the car park created the only shade on the entire floor. Rhys moved over to it at a crouched run and sat down with his back against it.

Despite her obvious reluctance with every step of Rhys’ plan, Vicky followed and sat down next to him.
 

“The first thing we need to do is to get out of this city,” Rhys said. “Then I’m going to get Flynn. Whatever happens, I’m going to get to him. I know you say you won’t come with me, but please reconsider.”

Vicky turned away from him.
 

“You find that works for you?”

Vicky continued to look away.
 

“The whole ice queen thing; that sees you right in your life, does it? Shut everyone and everything out and make sure Vicky’s okay?”

“What do you want from me, Rhys? I’ve already saved your life.”

“But my life’s nothing without Flynn.”

“Have you considered that Flynn might be,”—she paused—”gone when you get there?”

Of course, he’d thought about it. He couldn’t think about anything else. Still, her words drove a knife into his heart. “I have to go to his school. All I have are hopes and prayers. I’ll ride their vapours if I need to, but I have to get to his school. Nothing’s lost until it’s lost.”

Vicky didn’t reply.

“Come on, Vicky, there’s a heart in there somewhere. He’s six years old. I need to get to him because God knows I can’t rely on his mother. Besides,”—Rhys looked at the buildings that surrounded them; all of which were locked down with steel shutters—“she’s locked in Building Seventy-Two. I need you, Vicky. You know how to fight these things.”

Although she still had her back to him, Rhys saw her grind her jaw.

Rhys retrieved the photo of his boy from his pocket and reached around to hold it in front of her. “This is him.”

She knocked his arm away.
 

“Go on,” Rhys said, “look at him. Look into the warm eyes of my innocent boy and tell me you won’t help me save his life. If you can do that, I’ll stop hassling you.”

When she snatched the photo from Rhys, he flinched.
 

As she stared down at it, she spoke in monotone. “I don’t want to help you save him.”

The reply nearly winded Rhys, who took the photo back and looked at his little boy. “You must have been really fucking lonely in your life before this happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“To be so switched off. To care so little about anyone but yourself.”

She shrugged. “It is what it is.”

A shake of his head, and Rhys turned his back on her. “Wow.”

Chapter Sixteen

As they sat in the shade, the heat of the day inescapable, Rhys listened. He had nothing more to say to Vicky. It had been a while since they’d heard the call of the diseased, but Rhys didn’t want to look over the wall. If the crowd below had grown, they’d be fucked. But if he didn’t look, they could end up waiting all day. The longer he waited the less chance Flynn had of survival.
 

Just as he moved to stand up, Vicky spoke. “You don’t want me with you anyway.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t want me with you. I can’t be trusted. I act in my own self-interest. I’m not like you. I don’t do the right thing.”
 

Rhys waited for her to continue.

“I knew about this virus well before it was released and I did nothing. I stayed in my shitty job because that was what worked best for me. I didn’t give a fuck about what was best for other people.” She couldn’t even look at him. Her brilliant blue eyes glazed with tears.

Despite the urge to lean across and touch her, Rhys kept his hands to himself. “That’s not true; you saved me when you didn’t have to. There was no reason for you to barge that diseased into the water fountain, but you did.”

“It was in my way.”

“If you’re so selfish, then why do you keep waiting for me when I can’t keep up? You could have left, and you’d probably be on the other side of the river by now.”
 

She looked away and the light caught her high cheekbones.
 

After a moment’s silence, Rhys looked at the floor. “Do you know why I’m not with Flynn’s mum anymore?”

“How would I know that?”

“I cheated on her. I had a wife and beautiful boy at home, and I cheated on them. My relationship with Larissa was loveless, and I should have ended it. That would have been the right thing to do. Instead, I got myself to a point where I was so miserable, I was happy to fuck another woman. Instead of taking responsibility for my life, I convinced myself that it was okay to fuck someone else while maintaining the shitty relationship I was trapped in. I haven’t always done the right thing either. In fact, it was doing the wrong thing that taught me to change.”

“And what happened to the other woman?”

Rhys kicked a stone on the floor in front of him and laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“She’s always referred to as ‘the other woman’. It’s like she’s a stereotype and not a person. It didn’t work out. Emotions were running too high, and I decided to walk away from it. I was a mess, and she didn’t need to deal with that.”