The Infected (Book 6): Last Shot

Last Shot

Infected Series: Book Six

Written By

Justin Gowland

Edited By

Rosa Thomas-Mcbroom

Copyright © 2014 Justin Gowland

All rights reserved.

Dedication

Dedicated to my readers that have made my writing worthwhile.

Disclaimer

All characters contained herein are fictional and all similarities to actual persons, living or dead are purely coincidental. Places and information, while some may be real have been altered for the story and should be taken as such.

Chapter One

We ran through the door from the dining room and headed for the lifts.

“Look we need to get the weapons first,” Chris said as we gathered at the lifts.

I looked at the worried faces “Ok Chris, David and I will go and grab the rifles and ammo. We’ll meet you outside the Bunker. Amy can you find out what’s happening and you can pass the information on to us when we come out.”

Everyone looked nervous as we waited for the lift. The door opened and the others went inside. Chris, David and I waited for the other lift and headed down to the second floor and the armoury. We ran down the hallway past the radio room. As we passed the door it opened and Jake stuck his head out.

“Is it true that there are infected at the rear fence?” He asked his face pale.

“Yeah!” I called over my shoulder as we came to a stop outside the armoury.

“Shit?!” Jake said ducking back inside the radio room and slamming the door behind him.

Chris was banging on the door to the armoury as I caught up. I stood there hoping from one foot to the other. This was the first time in a while that we had infected near the Bunker. Chris lifted his hand to slam on the armoury door when it opened and Tom’s face peered round the opening.

“Erm…Hi guys, what are you after?” He asked.

Wasting no time Chris barged past Tom slamming the door out of his grasp and off the wall.

“Sorry, Tom but there are infected at the fence,” David said following Chris inside.

I waited until Tom had moved away from the door and stepped into the room.

“Infected at the fence?” Tom said his face going a lighter shade.

I nodded and said “Yeah, Philip just came and told us.”

“Oh, shit Philip I just asked him to take some ammo to the guards.”

“Don’t worry he was fine,” I said pulling a rifle off the racks and checking to make sure it was clear and unloaded.

Tom walked to the bench and sat on a stool watching as Chris, David and I grabbed an extra rifle each and several full mags of ammo.

“Tom can you do me a favour?” I asked strapping my rifle to a tactical sling.

“Sure.”

“I need you to go and tell Doc what’s happening and ask him to be ready for any casualties. I don’t think there will be any, but just in case.”

“Yeah of course.” He said heading for the door.

“No mate not yet. You’ll have to lock up after we have gone first.” I said with a small smile.

I could tell he was nervous and on edge. This was probably the first time he had worried about the infected since I rescued them from Jake’s shop. He sat back down and we finished equipping ourselves and headed back toward the lifts. The lift seemed to take it’s time going up the two floors to the entrance. We stepped out into the sunlight and saw people running back toward the entrance. Amy had everyone standing outside.

“I was waiting for you lot. I didn’t want this lot using the lifts and stopping you from coming up.” She said.

A small mousey woman stepped forward and said in a small voice “Can we go back inside now?”

“Gladys you can go in once we have the children inside,” Amy said.

Gladys just looked at Amy like she was speaking a foreign language.

“But...”

“But nothing. The children are the most important people we have.” Amy said staring hard at the small woman.

I passed a rifle to Amy and she started to check it over. I spotted Jennie standing off to one side watching the large group of people gather.

“Jennie!” I called out waving her over.

She looked over and headed toward me.

“Look David you and Chris head to the rear fence line and we’ll catch up,” I said.

“Ok.” He said giving Jennie a peck on the cheek and running behind Chris toward the rear fence.

“What did you want Marc?” Jennie asked.

“Can you make sure the kids get inside first and then the elderly? Make sure you use both lifts.” I asked.

“Sure.” She said smiling.

“Thanks. We’ll be back when we can.” I said running to catch up with David and Chris.

“Marc!” Jennie shouted. I turned round “Make sure you keep David safe.”

Chapter Two

I lifted my hand and gave her a quick wave before turning back around. I caught up with David and Chris just as we saw the fence coming into view. Even from the distance we were at we could hear the loud moans of the infected and every now and then the vibrating fence. The smell of rotten meat slowly wafted toward us on a slight breeze. I lifted my t-shirt over my nose and mouth to try and get rid of it, but it just got worse the nearer we got to the fence. The infected were lined up along the outer fence three or four deep in places. To tell the truth, I lost count after thirty because the noise from their moans seemed to stop me from concentrating. I saw David give his extra rifle to Mike and Chris gave his to Tessa. Amy came to stand beside Tessa and we stood watching the infected get more riled up.

“How are we going to do this?” David asked.

“Teams of two I suppose,” Chris said going to stand next to Tessa.

“No way Chris you’re with Marc!” Tessa said smiling in my direction.

I just shrugged. I went to one knee and lifted the rifle, and zeroed in on the first infected that came into view. Out the corner of my eye, I saw everyone looking at me.

“What?” I asked them.

“No, speeches?” Chris asked.

“Why?”

“Just the way you took charge.” He said smiling.

“Fuck you!” I said firing my first shot.

It caught the infected through its moaning mouth blasted bone, green slime and black blood out the back. It hung on the fence with dead fingers until it was trampled by those behind it as they pushed forward. I heard the others start to open up and watched the infected slowly disintegrate in the hail of bullets. As each went down it was replaced by another. Taking my time, I slowly worked my little patch and ended up creating a small wall of rotting infected flesh. Chris was getting creative with his shooting and was going for the hardest shots he could. Either through the eye or mouth. I swear that with one shot he managed to take out one infected and also the one behind it. Amy was kneeling next to Tessa and in between reloads they were chatting over the sound of the shots. How they managed to hear a word that was said was beyond me.

The pile of infected slowly grew as they fell to the point that I had to stand. I never did like standing and shooting because I felt so unbalanced. Philip ran backwards and forwards getting ammo from the bunker and a few of the guards came to help. One hour turned to two and the infected tapered off to just a handful. The infected corpses that were pushed into the fence by their comrades seemed to ooze through the gaps and the smell seemed to roll from them in waves.

“We need to check the fence,” David shouted.

“What? I can’t hear you!” Chris shouted pointing to his ears.

David walked over till he was about a foot from Chris and shouted “We need to go out and check the fence.”

Chris nodded and said “Ok but try not to shout next time.”

I grinned and followed the two of them back to the main gate. The guards took their time opening the gates to let us through. I just hoped that they would open them quickly enough if we came running. Stepping outside the fenced area felt like we had walked out to no man’s land. We raised our rifles and headed down the fence toward the stench of the infected. Even from near the gate we could smell their rotten flesh. As we rounded the corner we heard some low moans coming from the treeline and we stopped. Out of the low bushes came four infected all in the weepy stage of the infection. It looked like they had been dipped in green candle wax which had never set. Snapping off our shots they collapsed to the ground still leaking the green slime. I casually wondered what that green slime might be doing to the ground. Chris trotted over and made sure that they were all truly dead.

From twenty yards away we could see the pile of infected and slowly walked toward them. I looked at the tree line and saw some freshly cut tree stumps.

“David! Do you know if anyone was out here before the infected attacked?” I asked.

He looked off into the distance and I could see his eyes narrow as he thought about it. Chris had stopped at the first fresh stump and was looking down at the ground.

“Shit!” He said as he bent over and lifted a chainsaw out of the long grass.

Poor David his eyes widened as he saw Chris lift the chainsaw.

I walked over to the infected and saw some fresh blood scattered amongst the remains. Amy and Tessa stood watching us move amongst the corpse’s that littered the ground beside the fence.

“Here I know this one,” David said in a quiet voice.

Chapter Three

Chris and I walked over and looked down at the mauled body. The body’s throat had been ripped out and half of his lower body had been ripped into. His intestines were lying on the ground next to his body. I could see a slight steam drifting up off them. He hadn’t been dead very long. Looking back at the tree line I started to walk toward it.

“Where are you off to?” Chris asked.

“I don’t know what it is, but something just feels off about this.”

“Hold on I’ll come with you,” Chris said jogging to catch me up.

“I’ll stay and make sure they are all dead,” David shouted as I entered the treeline and lost sight of him.

Chris and I walked for a good twenty minutes following the trampled grass and bushes that the infected had left in their wake. I could see slivers of grey rotting flesh on branches and bushes as we walked.

“If I ever get bitten mate. I want you to finish me off before I become one of these fucker’s” I whispered.

Smiling Chris said, “Not to worry mate.”

“Sounds about right you fucker!”

He just let his rifle fall on his harness and stuck his fingers up at me. Just ahead, I caught a glimpse of a clearing and stopped dead. I pointed toward it and Chris nodded and then pointed off to the right. I nodded and headed into the bushes on the left and slowly weaved in and out of the trees and bushes toward the clearing. Being careful not to make any noise I edged to the tree line and looked into the clearing. A small dirt track entered on the other side, but that wasn’t the thing that had caught my attention. It was the large semi that sat on the dirt track with the rear doors open. I leaned back against a tree and wondered what the fuck was going on.

Seeing movement on the other side of the clearing caused me to look that way.

Chris slipped out of the trees and crept toward the side of the semi. I lined myself up with the open doors and slowly crept across the clearing. The closer I got the more I heard muffled music coming from the front. Sliding along the side I met Chris at the back of the drivers cab.

Leaning in to whisper in my ear he said, “There is one in the cab and I haven’t seen any sign of anyone else.”

Nodding I whispered “Ok you take this door and I will take the other.”

I climbed over the rear to the other side and pulled the door when I heard Chris opening his. The man in the driver’s seat went for a knife that was on the dash.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Chris said pointing his rifle at the head of the man.

“Fuck off! I haven’t done anything.” He shouted.

“I very much doubt that dickhead,” I said causing the man to spin in his seat.

“Get out!” Chris barked at him.

The man dropped the knife and slowly edged out of the cab. I had taken a few steps back and had my rifle pointed at his groin.

His eye’s narrowed so I said, “Don’t even think about it unless you want to have no balls for the rest of your short life. Now kneel!”

He fell to his knees as Chris came round the front of the cab. The driver looked to be in his forties, greying brown hair and a large round face that seemed to say he wasn’t to be trusted.

“Ok fuckwit what are you doing letting a boat load of infected loose near our camp?” Chris said with a face like thunder.

“Look…” the man stammered “I didn’t know what was inside. I was just told to come to these woods and let them out.”

I shook my head “You’re full of it mate.”

“No honest! Please, they gave me three weeks of food and water to do it.” He said looking from Chris to me and back again.

Chris walked to the cab and yanked open the door. We watched him step up and look inside. I had stepped back two steps just in case this idiot decided to go for my rifle. I needn’t have worried because I saw a patch of wet started to spread from his crotch to his knees.

“There’s about two days’ worth in there if that,” Chris said stepping back down.

“Again dickhead! Who told you to dump the infected here and why?” I growled pointing the rifle at his head.

His face showed pure panic. He had lied to us and been caught out and now he had to either tell the truth or try to get away. He decided to choose option number two and dove toward me. Firing the rifle I landed a shot that caught him high in the shoulder which threw him onto his back. I fired another shot on instinct and it smashed into his face creating a red pulpy mess. One eye looked at me from his ruined face and seemed to accuse me before all life faded from it.

“Shit!” Chris groaned.

“Sorry mate the second shot was just force of habit.”

“I know. It’s a pity though.”

I nodded my head and just watched the blood flow from his wounds and soak into the soil.

“Come on let’s see if there is anything in the cab that might shed some light on things.”

Chris headed back to the cab and climbed inside. I walked round the front and climbed in the passenger side and started to look through the glove box whilst Chris went through the small sleeping area behind the seats. I found a small hand written note that gave directions to where we were, but it had no other information on it. I turned to watch Chris slowly going through the sleeping area. After what seemed like an hour he crawled back into the driver’s seat. In his huge hands was a small radio that looked a lot like a mobile phone and some pictures.

“You might want to have a look at these.” He said handing me the pictures.

The first picture was of Amy. It was a little grainy, but you could tell who it was. The next pictures were of David, Mike and Chris outside of the lifeboat station. The last was of me walking out of the pub that Matthew had died in.

“What the fuck?” I said looking up.

“Have a look on the back mate,” Chris said his face was like thunder.

Flipping the pictures over there were amounts of food and water on each of them. But each amount was different. Amy’s was the lowest; David and Mike were the same amounts. But the surprise came when both Chris and mine had very high amounts.

“Are these fucking bounties?” I said looking shocked.

“Bloody looks like it, doesn’t it!”

“Why the fuck?”

“To be honest there could be any number of reasons but I have felt that we have become a thorn in someone's side and I think you know who.”

“Benton’s,” I said with my hand shaking.

Chris nodded his head and started to play with the switches on the radio.

Sitting there in the cab looking out into the clearing I struggled to think of what to do or say. I mean we had been targeted once before when we went to save Jane and her group off the ship. But Benton’s had never come looking for us or attacked us here at the bunker. I mean they must know where we are. I heard a click and hiss come from where Chris was sitting and turned in my seat to see what was happening.

“Well, I’ve managed to turn this on. The only thing is I haven’t got a clue how to tune it in.” He said looking at the radio first one way and then the other.

“Come on lets head back we can figure out how it works back in the Bunker,” I said placing my hand on the door.

“Hold on Marc are you sure you want to take this back to the bunker. For all, we know it could have the virus inside and it could spray it out when it gets inside. If that happens then we are all dead.”

I sat back down “You might be right. So what do you think we should do?”

Chris looked down at the radio “How about we leave it here?”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said.