E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (Book 2): The Path of Destruction (20 page)

Jared, I could tell had managed to push his emotions to one side. He was eager to learn from Ryan and Leon, and did all he could to help the group. He seemed to have a real thirst for knowledge which was really refreshing to see. He really did makeup for the lack of interest with Duckface seemed to elude.

Duckface had yet again, locked herself away. We weren’t complaining
, she very rarely left the confines of her room. When she did, she was her usual stuck up self. I had bitten my tongue on many occasions as she purposely pushed past Sarah, in a childish attempt to make her feelings towards her known.

Sarah was mature enough to rise above it. She would simply glare back at her or simply turn her back. I have to admit, I was proud of her on the first few occasions, when she shoved her back.

It wasn’t just Sarah she made her feelings known to. Let’s just say, if looks could kill each and every one of us would be dead by now.

Our reinforcement search hadn’t been very productive. Although we scoured every inch of the house, we could find nothing worthwhile to use. We carried on with the electric gates, as it was our only means of protection. The crowd of infected continued to grow. Before long, the entire town had gathered in all its infected glory.                         

Chapter 22 - Target Practice

“I think it’s about time we came up with an alternative plan.” Ryan suggested one day, as the infected crowd was starting to get out of hand.

A small group of us were gathered in the kitchen; Nick and Paul were washing the dishes as we had just finished lunch.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I think it’s about time we think about moving on.” Ryan replied solemnly.

He had a point. We were down to our last reserves. If we stayed any longer, we would have to make a start on the attic room supplies.

“I’m not sure.” Lacey told us. “I mean, if we go back to the boats, we don’t know where we’ll end up.” She began.

“Yes, I understand that. But staying here, we don’t have any real means of defending ourselves. We have no fire power.
Just a bunch of pitchforks and knives.” Leon interrupted.

They both made valid points. If we were to leave the house, we would be back in the cramped confines of the narrow boats. We couldn’t stay on the water forever. Sooner or later we would have to stop again for fuel, for food and water. Plus, what happened if something went wrong with one of the boats? We couldn’t exactly ring the AA or the RAC, or
whatever the boat equivalent of breakdown service is. It simply didn’t exist anymore.

Leon made a good argument as well. Without a means of defending ourselves, just how were we going to cope, should the worst happen?

If the infected found a way in, we would be trapped in the house. We could probably fight a few off, but with a horde just waiting for an opportunity to descend; we would be sorely outnumbered, without a chance in hell of getting out.

“I really don’t know. I agree
, we need to come up with a plan. But I’m not sure what the best course of action is.” I added in.

“I know the Professor isn’t in any rush to leave.” Nick advised.

“You’re right. Besides, I think the kids like it here.” Paul agreed.

“We’re not kids.” Sarah said as she strolled into the room.

From what I knew of her already, she hated being referred to as a child, and rightly so. She was well on her way to becoming a young woman. If anyone were to be referred to as a child, it would be Duckface, with her selfish and downright psychotic behaviour.

“Sorry.” Paul apologised.

“It’s ok. What are we talking about?” Sarah asked as she hopped onto a newly vacated bar stool.

We all looked towards each other. Ryan nodded towards Leon, as Leon began to explain.

“We’re trying to figure out what to do. The numbers are growing out there.” He said, referring to the crowd of infected gathering directly outside of us.

“We’re thinking about heading back on the boats.” Lacey added.

“What?” Sarah asked with a displeasing tone in her voice.

“If the infected find a way in, we wouldn’t be able to fight them off. There’s too many of them.” Leon defended.

“But we can’t just leave.” Sarah whined.

“We might not have a choice.” Ryan said firmly.

She looked around the rest of us. I started to see the tears well up in her eyes. She really didn’t want to leave, but Ryan was right. We might not have a choice, we had to think of our survival that was the most important thing.

“I’m not leaving. I won’t leave. I’m not leaving Nathan.” She cried. She got up and ran upstairs.

I felt so stupid. How could I have overlooked the fact that a mere few days ago, she had watched one of her best friends being buried?

“I’ll go upstairs and talk to her.” I sighed as I followed her out.

As I climbed the stairs up to the first floor, I heard Jared banging on the main bathroom door.

“Sarah, what’s wrong?” He was shouting.

As I neared the bathroom Jared turned to me.

“What’s happened?” He asked.

I explained to him as best I could, what we were discussing downstairs.

“We’re not saying it’s a definite, and we are going to leave. It’s just something we need to seriously think about.” I told him.

Jared nodded as he took everything in. “Ok, it makes sense. I suppose I knew we couldn’t stay here forever.” Came his reply.

I smiled back. “I think Sarah’s upset because she doesn’t want to leave Nathan.” I said delicately.

“Oh yeah. I forgot about that.” Jared replied as he bowed his head.

“Look, we'll make the decision as a group. We’ll find out how many of us want to stay, and who wants to leave. We’ll decide on a majority vote.” I suggested to Jared.

Before Jared had a chance to respond, we heard the bathroom door click. Sarah had unlocked the door. She opened the door a few centimetres and peered out.

“Do you really mean that?” She sniffled. Her eyes were red and puffy. Her mascara had already run down her face.

“Yes. That’s how we do things here.” I replied.

“Ok.” She squeaked.

She opened the door and stepped out. I pulled her into my arms and gave her a hug. At this point, Lacey came up the stairs to join us.

“We’re sorry about earlier.” She started.

Sarah looked up at her and gave her a hug. Lacey looked towards me. Her face was full of awe.

“She’s so cute” Lacey mouthed. I simply nodded back.

“Come on, let’s go downstairs, we might not have to go anywhere.” Lacey advised.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“We’ve got a surprise for you. Come on, I know you’re going to love this.” She told me as we followed her down.

Lacey led us into the Garage where the rest of the group had converged. They had all gathered round a part of the protruding wall, I was sure it wasn’t there before.

As soon as Leon spotted me, his face beamed.

“Here, you’re
gonna love this.” Leon told me.

“What is it?” I asked as I made my way towards them.

I gasped as I saw what the group was so interested in. There in front of us was a cubby hole, full to the brim with guns and ammo.

“This is unreal.” I gawked ogling the new firepower that had been unearthed.

“George found it.” Nick stated.

“How on earth?”
I was still in shock. How could this have been there this whole time? I mean, this is England for Christ sake. Who keeps secret cupboards full of guns?

“I was looking for anything of use. I came across a button here.” George explained as he pointed to the underside of the counter top.

“I pressed the button and this opened up.” He finished.

“I think now, we have a way to defend ourselves.” Ryan proposed. 

“We do indeed.” I replied.

Ryan and Leon began emptying the contents of our new arsenal. Rifles, pistols and shotguns started to fill the bonnet of the SLR.

“This is SO cool!” Jared exclaimed. “Do you guys know how to use these?” He asked intrigued.

“Yes we do.” I answered staking claim to a rifle. It was very similar to the one I had used on the base. Great for long distances, this was just what I had in mind.

I checked the magazine in my newly acquired gun and made sure I had enough ammo. Ryan looked over to me and smirked.

“You really do love your assault rifles, don’t you?” He asked.

“I stick with what I know.” I replied confidently.

Jared and Sarah stood
back, they were both wide mouthed as they watched us reload our chosen weapons. I pulled my new rifle up so I was eye level with the crosshairs. It felt a lot different than the rifles I had used back at base, it would take some getting used to. 

“Shall we go for a bit of target practise? Get back in the swing of things and thin the herd?” Ryan asked.

“I thought you’d never ask.” I beamed.

We followed Ryan upstairs and into
Duckface’s room. Her window faced directly in front of the house and would give us the best view of the infected. Ryan paused for a second, I could almost hear him thinking, is this really the best idea?

He pushed open the door and led us all to the windows.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Duckface shrieked.

Lacey and I grinned as we walked straight past her, without saying a word. Duckface looked to the guns we were carrying and flipped.

“Where did you get them from?” She demanded. “You know how I feel about guns.” She continued.

I couldn’t help myself, I had to respond. “And you know how we feel about you, but yet, here you are.” I replied matter of fact.

Leon made his way over to Andy, he handed him a rifle and smiled. Without a word, Andy understood our intentions and took his place along the window with the rest of us.

“Andy, what do you think you’re doing? Get back immediately. I won’t allow this behaviour.” Duckface snapped.

“Who died and made you Queen of the Damned?” Lacey bitched.

Duckface glared back “I’m not even going to stoop to your level, you insignificant little…”

Before she could even finish her sentence Lacey pointed her rifle at her, point blank. Duckface froze as the only sound that could be heard was the cock back from Lacey’s gun.

“Just remember, I’m armed.” Lacey threatened.

Duckface took a step back before she spoke again. “Go ahead. You haven’t got it in you.” She cackled.

Lacey took a step forward. “Don’t tempt me.” She replied.

The whole group stood watching the whole ordeal. No one stepped in, they just stood and watched.

Duckface looked around as she threw her hair back and crossed her arms. “You need me more than I need you, just
remember that.” She finished through gritted teeth. “Besides, you don’t have the guts.” She added in for good measure.

With that little remark, I flew my gun round.
“And what about me?” I asked the end of my gun my resting on her forehead.

Duckface backed up. With two guns pointing at her, she knew no good would come of it.

“I’ve had enough.” She said as she stormed off, pushing the Professor out the way as he tried to enter the room.

“Professor, watch her.” Ryan ordered as the Professor stepped into the room.

The Professor looked around at us, baffled by the new events. As his eyes met our guns, he understood. With that, he left the room.

Ryan addressed the rest of the group. The infected had seen us in the windows, and were certainly starting to get excitable.

“You know the drill; we’re looking for as many head shots as possible. Treat each bullet as if it was your last.” He ordered.

We lined up against each window. We would have to take it in turns as we couldn’t all fit. Lacey, Leon and I went first. I pushed the window as far open as it would go. After fiddling with the window restrictor, I managed to push it open all the way.

The smell was the first to hit me. The stench of rotting flesh flew up my nostrils forcing me to take a step back. Leon and Lacey also stood back, as the offending odours also hit them.

“Ugh, that’s disgusting.” Sarah complained as the stench filled the room.

I had almost forgotten how repulsive the undead, moving corpses actually were. I took a deep breath as I pulled my jumper up to my nose and took aim. I watched the infected through my scope. They looked so much worse up close, even more so this time around. For the first time, I could see the fungus protruding from their skin up close. Yellow pus and dark congealed blood seeped out the fungal exit holes. The skin of the infected had deteriorated greatly. The sores that had covered them previously had now scabbed over. The cold dead eyes seemed to have a glimmer of intelligence as the infected I had set my sights on looked straight back at me.