Designated (Book 1): Designated Infected (24 page)

Bursts of orange and yellow caught their attention
below.

'Gun fire.' was Hawks only comment, pressing his finger
to his ear he listened to the chatter of his radio. 'Seems the AU
have set aside their quarrels for now and are sweeping the entire
area. Their combined forces are covering over seven hundred square
miles via plane, satellite and land reconnaissance. Systematically
wiping out any one within one hundred miles of the Infected zone and
checking the rest for symptoms.'

Rook snorted in disgust.

'So what the fuck were we doing here then?'

Hawk shrugged.

'Don't know brother, I just don't know.'

24

Baker shut the folder with a snap, running his hand over
his bald head.

'Ouch, those boys got a pasting didn't they?' Colinson
nodded. Standing Baker stretched his back popping as he moved.

'You
going to tell me who Rook is now?'

Baker smiled as he looked at Colinson, walking to the
door he opened it slowly.

'May I present to you Sergeant Alexander “Rook”
Richards and Corporal Jonathan “Hawk” Stabbler, they're
on loan from Division Thirty-Six. Well I say on loan I basically
poached them.'

Colinson shook his head in wonderment, the two men who
stood before had been the advanced combat instructors on base for the
past eight months.

'Baker how did you slip this past me?' Baker grinned.

'Simple, I slipped the paper work for them in with the
annual reports, you just sign on the line until finished with those.
Then once you were finished I had Susan filter out the forms and send
them off. So like I said, simple.'

His secretary blushed shame faced as she looked round at
the use of her name. Colinson shook his head a smile tugging at his
features.

'As you were gentlemen, this is beyond my ability to
alter now, so carry on.'

Both men saluted subconsciously reverting to the
American system, then turned on their heels and left the room,
Richards slowed as he neared Susan’s desk. Leaning close to her
he winked.

'So sweetheart we still on for this weekend?'

Susan blushed deeply as she stared into his crystal blue
eyes.

'Uh, I, well, yes we are.'

'Good, see you at seven on Friday'

Susan blushing deeper nodded before hiding behind the
flat screen monitor in front of her. Stabbler chuckled to himself as
they walked out of the offices and back to the barracks.

Williams and Sheperd stood on top of the small, four
story building watching the throng of milling Infected below, the
chopper was banking slowly in the distance, as the two men looked up.

'Well looks like our little sojourn into the village of
the damned is at an end bud.'

Sheperd laughed through his nose as Williams finished
speaking.

'Seems that way don't it, but it looks like we have a
fast ride out of this place, Choppers banking back our way.'

Williams glanced at Sheperd.

'Pub'

Sheperd
grinned.

'Aye sounds like a plan'

25

Goodmayes.

Outer London.

England.

10:30 A.M local time.

February second. 2012.

The truck squealed to a halt as the men threw the rear
doors open in their haste to exit the vehicle. Their booted feet
thumped against the tarmac and paving slabs as they sprinted to the
front door of the tower block. The crowds gathered behind the steel
security fencing, vied for a view of the men, clad in pale grey as
they stacked up in formation on the door.

Their breath hung in the air as it seeped through the
Nomex balaclavas they wore, glistening moisture clinging to the
material as their breath condensed in the fabric. Holding up a gloved
hand, one of them motioned to his ear and every man moved in sync
switching on their radios.

'Right lads, we are in the public eye, so keep your head
on straight and locked tight, Joe six pack doesn't know we exist and
for the time being it's staying that way. As far as they are
concerned we are a new branch of the Police, so keep it zipped,
'orite.'

The other five men nodded in unison. 'Good. Okay,
Vatican detailed this as a class-two break. 'It's contained, but the
media got wind of whatever the fuck sparked this off, we reckon some
latent carrier from the Africa incident two years ago went viral.
'They've been popping up all over the shop recently, something to do
with antibodies in their blood fighting the infection, or some
bollocks. Baker was talking, but I wasn't paying much attention, all
a bit of a rush to be honest.'

Turning his head, Davies caught sight of a camera man
zooming in on them, motioning frantically to a Police officer; he
watched as the man was pushed back and his camera confiscated.

'Tosser. Any way; we go in, sweep and clear, any
civvies inside are to be cuffed and detained and a beacon light
hooked onto the window outside the building. Any Infected well, you
know what to do boys, just watch your footing and check the stairs as
you go. This building is due for demolition in a month and there
shouldn't be a very high civilian presence.'

The team nodded as one watching Davies intently as he
held up a black leather gloved hand.

The world went silent as one by one his fingers dropped
from three to one then with a jerking motion of his arm and a closed
fist the team burst in through the doors.

****

The building was plunged into darkness as the team
entered, with a snap of their heads night vision monoculars dropped
down over their left eyes.

A soft electrical whine turned the world a hazy green as
they stared into the hardened rubber eye piece. Scanning left and
right as they moved, the light reactive beams of their rifles danced
in their vision. The beams slid over the rippled, water-stained
concrete walls like a snake through water. The air was ripe with the
smell of mould and fungus, the cloying stench of damp and stagnant
water clung to their throats leaving a rancid taste, akin to rotten
meat in the backs of their throats. Davies suddenly lifted a closed
fist, and slowly dropped to one knee.

The five men following, slipped close to the walls as
they hunkered down, their rifles raised and pulled tight to their
shoulders. Cocking his head to one side, Davies listened intently,
his mouth opening, stretching the coarse fabric of his Nomex as his
hearing cleared, free from the sound of his own beating heart. A
hollow, scraping clunk echoed next to his head, turning slowly his
boots crushing the grit beneath them to powder as he looked at the
wall.

Pushing himself up from the floor by the sheer strength
of his legs, he settled on to the balls of his feet, his rifle
trained on the concrete slab in front of him.

The thumping and groaning increased as he watched the
water stained wall. Motioning to the others to follow, he moved left
rounding a corner. The hallway was dark and vacant. Cold seemed to
seep from every surface, pushing its way through them like a knife
through warm butter, leaving all chilled to the very core of their
being. Reaching for the door handle, Davies subconsciously grinned as
the rest of the team stacked up around him.

Twisting the handle, he pushed the door open and moved
in. The door swung back creaking slightly as the aged and dirty brass
hinges ground against each other, a soft thump echoing round the room
as the door hit the plaster coated wall.

With short, sharp motions, Davies sent three men towards
the rear of the flat as he, Reiley, and Baxter moved off to clear the
rest.

Three soft clicks buzzed in Davies' ear as the others
signalled the remainder of the ground floor flat was clear. Raising
his foot, Davies slammed it into a door, splintering the frame and
sending it flying open. The door shot back, cracking in to the wall
with a powder filled thump, burying the rounded handle deep into the
soft breeze block wall.

Two Infected stared up at the intrusion, their faces
smeared with the blood and excrement of the man in whose stomach and
chest they were elbow deep. The smell of offal and faeces permeated
the room, making the men gag, Davies' rifle zeroed in on the two
Infected in front of him, his finger curling, drawing tight on the
trigger.

The recoil thumped gently into his shoulder as he fired
three short, sharp, shots. The lifeless bodies of the Infected
crumpled, falling to the floor as the bullets tore through them,
spraying the wall and ceiling with grey matter. He gritted his teeth,
stifling a curse as he saw the small slightly smoking hole in the
wall where his third round had gone wide.

Racing forwards, they cleared the remaining room and
headed back into the main lounge. Standing there in the centre of the
room, a sense of uneasy calm descended upon them all. It was eerie
given the sights that lingered just beyond the door way the rest of
the one story two bedroom dwelling was simply untouched, not a chair
or table out of place.

Shaking his head, Davies turned and made a hasty exit
from the room. Motioning to the door, he watched Clarkenwell stop and
pull out a roll of black and yellow bio-hazard tape and seal the door
shut with it.

Motioning to the left hand corridor the team split.
Jones, along with Reiley and Baxter, peeled off heading down the
corridor, their rifles levelled, trained ahead of them.

The heavy metal and hardened plastic weapons tugged on
their shoulders, the webbing sling pulling at their uniforms as they
panned left to right sweeping the corridor. Their breath began to
condense on the insides of the Nomex balaclavas hugging their
features, a wall of water forming against their mouths and noses as
they breathed sending the tepid stale water up through their nose
almost choking them.

Screaming cut through any irritation the damp clinging
material caused them as all three men broke into a dead sprint. A
door ahead of them burst open as a youth in a hooded sweat shirt
crashed through it slamming into the wall. His cry of anger quickly
turned into one of pure unadulterated rage as he saw the object of
his untimely ejection appear in the door way.

'You fucking cunt, I'll slice you in half.'

The Infected in front of him seemed to regard him
quizzically for a second as if his curse filled cry had somehow
registered against a dim glow of a rapidly dying brain.

Its guttural moan quickly rose to the fore as it ran
towards him, the boy ducked low driving the carving knife deep into
its abdomen. Again and again the blade flashed as he kept driving it
deeper and deeper into the depths of the creatures gut. Wrenching the
blade free, he pushed the Infected away its head cracking into the
concrete wall.

The dull crack of splitting bone echoed down the hall
way as its skull split like an over ripe melon. Standing, his chest
heaving the youth ran a sleeve covered wrist over his mouth, his eyes
boggled as he watched what he thought to be a defeated opponent begin
to struggle to its feet.

Leaping forwards he slammed his trainer covered foot
into the back of its head, driving it face first into the unyielding
concrete below. The sickening crunch of a collapsing occipital bone
was quickly swallowed up by the wet slapping of a foot meeting brain
matter as the boy continued his deluge.

'Fucking
mother fucker, screw with me is it, teach you bruv no one fucks with
my fam and walks away bruv, N
o
one!
'

Jones ran forwards and dragged the boy away as a second
Infected lurched out the door, the boys face became as mask of pure
terror as his eyes locked on to what was before him.

'M, m, m, mum, nah man no, she, nah way bruv. No, she
dead, that prick merced her I fucking saw it!' He screamed, half
scared out of his mind as he watched the Infected body of his mother
lurch towards them. The Infected corralled between Jones, Baxter, and
Reiley seemed to be torn between which of the three men it would
consume first.

It's flat, dead eyes scanned the hall before they
latched on to the petrified gaze of the young teenager behind Jones,
lurching into a stumbling run, it propelled itself towards its prey.
Without a second's hesitation all three men fired a single round, the
three bullets entered the skull of the Infected in almost perfect
sync, obliterating the upper half of the creatures head as they
trisected its skull.

The boy watched in horror as his mothers head vanished
in a burst of blood and gore. The red mist falling like rain as the
body dropped lifelessly to the floor. Jones snapped his hand in the
direction of the door and watched as Baxter and Reiley both
disappeared through it.

'You, you, you.'