Escape Artist (End of the World Book 3) Page 9

I slow down and see that there are dozens of them.

  I don’t know how they managed to get through the fence.

  When I hear Cassie screaming I turn and see that three of them have caught her.

  “Evan!” she screams.

  For some reason I don’t want her to say my name, as if knowing it will give the Infected some kind of power over me.

  They are trying to pull her down to the ground but she is fighting them. I want to help her but the others are moving towards me now.

  “Cassie, it’s okay. I’m going to get you,” I say.

  I can see that she wants to believe me, but it’s not easy. The Infected are too strong for her, they are pulling her down. She is fighting with all her strength but she is no match for them.

  I tell myself that, even with my help, we wouldn’t be able to win. It makes it easier then and it makes it easier later. I take a step back when the Infected move towards me.

  I can’t do anything.

  All I can do is stand there and watch her. Watch them killing her.

  They get her down. She lays flat on her face like the boy in the puddle and I hope that she drowns. But Cassie doesn’t get a chance to. The Infected are upon her. For the second time in my life, I watch them tearing chunks of flesh out of a human being and consume them.

  CHAPTER 21

  I STAND THERE FOR A LONG TIME. UNTIL all I can see is the Infected. There is nothing left of Cassie.

  It seems impossible.

  She was standing next to me a few moments ago. We were talking. Now she is gone.

  More of them are coming but I can’t bring myself to move. I know that, if I don’t, they will kill me the same way they killed Cassie. Perhaps that’s okay. This might be the end for everyone. Whether I go now, or later, doesn’t make any difference in the grand scheme of things.

  I am not sure what I would do if it wasn’t for Harriet.

  If I die here then she will lose both of her parents in one go. She

  Wouldn’t ever find out what happened to us. She would be alone in the world and I refuse to let that happen.

  I worked hard to give her a good home, to make her feel secure. I won’t throw that all away now because it’s easier for myself.

  The thought snaps me out of my funk.

  I turn away from Cassie’s final resting place.

  More of the Infected have appeared behind me. They are struggling to move in the thick mud, which might be the only reason I am still alive. I hope it is enough to keep me alive.

  I start to move.

  The rain makes it difficult to see anything. I wipe it out of my face but more comes almost immediately.

  The Infected turn with me. A few of them fall over and I hear them splash in puddles. My earlier conviction that they are in some way still human is difficult to hold onto. They reach out for me like horror movie villains. I tell myself that, if I keep my head, I can get through this. But that makes it sound easier than it is.

  They lunge towards me.

  I force my way through the mud. It is slow going but I am still quicker than them. They come along behind me but they aren’t catching up.

  The greater danger is the one’s that are waiting in front, for me to reach them.

  There is nothing I can do except keep moving towards them. I have nothing that I can fight with, so I have to hope that I am still quick enough to get past.

  When I am a couple of feet away from the first of them it reaches out to try and grab me.

  I look for a space between them. They are stationary so it isn’t difficult. But there are a lot of them. I have to take the risk of getting close to a couple.

  These Infected are so rotten that I can’t even tell whether they are male or female, young or old.

  One of them reaches for me and I only manage to get out of the way at the last moment. A second later and I would have scratch marks down the side of my face.

  I duck and dive and manage to avoid them for the most part. They are uncoordinated and clumsy, but I try not to let my confidence get out of control.

  At last I see my tent. There are still a dozen Infected standing between me and it.

  There are other people in the area but I don’t call out to them for help.

  I try not to think about what I will do if Harriet isn’t there.

  Finally I reach my tent and pull back the door. It smells of stale clothes and food. It is dark and it takes me a moment to spot Harriet sitting on a stool in the far corner.

  “Daddy?” she says.

  I rush over to her, not thinking about the mud that I am dragging across the floor.

  Harriet stands up and I wrap my arms around her. I have her back and that feels like the most important thing in the world. Best not to think about when I will tell her about Cassie.

  I hug her for as long as I dare.

  “What happened?” she says.

  “I don’t know,” I tell her.

  “What are we going to do?” she says.

  I am about to tell her that I don’t know the answer to that either, when a noise at the entrance startles us both.

  We turn together and see the Infected woman climbing into our tent.

  CHAPTER 22

  AT FIRST I THINK IT’S CASSIE. BUT THAT can’t be. I saw them ripping her apart and, even with the virus inside her, there is no way she would have survived that. When I look again I see that it’s an old woman. Her hair is grey and hangs over her face in filthy ringlets. Beside me, Harriet is screaming.

  I take her hand and together we step back.

  The Infected woman is blocking the entrance to the tent.

  I squeeze Harriet’s hand in a way that I hope will comfort her. “It’s okay sweetheart,” I say. I have no idea whether she can hear me over the screeching of the Infected woman.

  The entrance to the tent isn’t the only way out. This is a canvas tent, pegged to the ground at the corners and a few other places. It wouldn’t take much to pull up an edge and crawl out. The question is whether we would be able to do so before the woman got to us.

  The Infected woman takes a step forward.

  I glance at our barren living quarters, hoping to spot something that I could use as a weapon; there is nothing. Unlike when we left our house in London, there is no question of what we will take with us. I turn to Harriet.

  “Get down on the ground,” I say.

  She looks at me as if I’ve gone mad.

  “Pull up the side of the tent and crawl through. I’ll follow you.”

  After a moment she nods. Then she falls to the ground and I hear her pull at the material that has been our home for the last few weeks.

  I take a step towards the Infected woman. No more of them have come into the tent but unarmed. Even one of them might prove too much for me. I have to hope that Harriet will find her way out before violence becomes necessary.

  The woman growls at me. It is an animalistic sound, there seems to be no thought behind it. She is like a tiger stalking its prey.

  She takes another step forwards and we are in danger of meeting in the middle of the room. I listen to Harriet cursing from the floor behind me. If she doesn’t get through soon then I am going to have to fight this woman with my bare hands.

  Her teeth are yellow and crooked. They seem to hang out of her mouth on threads. She might not even be capable of biting through flesh, but I don’t want to find out.

  The woman is a single step away from me. I could reach out and grab her. Then Harriet shouts: “I’ve done it!”

  I turn away as the woman lunges towards me. An instinct which I didn’t realise I have, kicks in and I lift my right arm to defend myself. I knock the woman in the jaw and she cries out in surprise or pain, I’m not sure which. I am moving away from her before she finds out.

  Harriet’s feet disappear through a dark gap in the bottom of the tent. I dive to the ground and follow her through. The Infected woman’s gnarled hands grab my ankles, trying to pull me back but she is too late. I
kick her once and she lets go and then I am out of the tent breathing smoky air.

  I get to my feet next to Harriet. The smoke is thick but I can’t feel the warmth of fire nor see any flames. I look around but it is difficult to see anything.

  The screaming seems to circle us. I look down at the hole we climbed through, I see the old woman’s hands grappling to pull herself through.

  “Come on,” I say to Harriet.

  “Where are we going?” she says. “Where’s mum?”

  There isn’t time to answer her second question. Even if there was, I can’t bring myself to do so yet. How do I tell my daughter that her mother is dead? Wouldn’t it be kinder to let her go on thinking that she might still be alive?

  “To the military zone,” I tell her. If anywhere is safe, it will be there. Worst case scenario, there will be weapons. Best case, there will be Michelle.

  “What about mum?”

  I don’t answer. I grab her wrist and pull her along behind me. We start to run.

  There are people everywhere. The smoke is so thick that I can’t tell who is Infected and who isn’t, so we avoid them all . Those who we are unable to avoid, we shove aside and run past. We have been in this situation before, we both know that it isn’t worth the risk to put ourselves in danger.

  We come out on the main road. We have not been running in the direction I assumed and are as far away from the military zone as it is possible to get.

  Ahead of us, the smoke clears enough for me to see the processing building.

  “We could hide there,” Harriet suggests.

  The buildings are stone or brick. They would offer decent protection, but they would also be a trap. If we go into any of those then we won’t be coming out until the Infected have gone.

  I shake my head.

  I have already lost Cassie. I don’t want to give up on the chance of finding Michelle.

  “We can swing around,” I say. “We’ll go around the fence so we don’t have to go back through the camp.”

  “Won’t that be how they got in?” she says.

  My daughter. She is one step ahead of me. “We could leave?” I say.

  She shakes her head. “Not without mum and Michelle.”

  There’s nothing I can do about her mother, other than tell her the truth. But I’m afraid that the knowledge might break her and I need her to help, or at least not freeze up and do nothing.

  “Michelle’s waiting for us,” I lie. There is no way I can know this, but I hope it with every bone in my body. If I have lost Michelle then I don’t know what I will do. “Okay?”

  “Okay,” she says.

  We start moving again.

  The smoke has cleared a little but all this provides us with is a better view of the chaos. People are running around, screaming and shouting. I see a young mother scoop a small child off the ground.

  I reach for Harriet’s hand and pull her after me. If she isn’t with me then there is no point continuing.

  An Infected man leaps out at us from behind a tent. Without thinking I push him aside and he sprawls on the ground. We run past him and I glance behind to see him get back up but he doesn’t pursue us.

  The military zone appears. The barbed wire fences remain intact and I can hear the steady whine of a helicopter spinning up.

  We stop when a guard comes towards us. He raises his gun and points the sharp end at me. I am only relieved that he has decided not to aim at Harriet.

  “Stay back!” the man shouts.

  “We’re not Infected,” I say. As if there can be any doubt about that. When he doesn’t lower the gun I realise that I am hoping for a miracle.

  “You need to stay back,” he says again.

  “Please,” I say. “You have to let us through.”

  “No civilians,” he says. “This is a military operation.”

  “We’re dying out there,” I say. “Please. Please help us.”

  I know that if I turn around I will see Infected coming and that he will not raise a finger to protect us. Why should he? He has a job to do and orders to follow. What does it matter to him if we die where we stand?

  CHAPTER 23

  “DAD?” HARRIET SAYS.

  I DON’T TURN TO HER. I can’t bare to see the look of disappointment that I am sure will be all over her face. I try to work out what to do next, but all I am capable of is churning through everything that has happened in the last hour.

  “Dad!” she says again.

  This time I turn to her and I do not see the anxious expression I was expecting.

  “Look!” she says.

  I turn in the direction she is pointing and I see a figure coming towards us. At a distance it is impossible to see anything except the body armour and helmet. It is a soldier.

  Should we run?

  Prepare to fight?

  Either seems useless. Where would we run to? What possible chance do we have of defending ourselves against a soldier.

  I am ready to give up. Whatever happens next, there is nothing I can do about it. I would rather not spend the final few seconds of my life worrying. If it wasn’t for Harriet, then I could allow myself the luxury of quitting. But I can’t stand the thought of knowing that I did nothing to save my daughters life.

  “Get behind me,” I say.

  “What? Why?”

  “Don’t argue Harriet, do it.”

  She moves behind me. I stand up tall, hoping to present a somewhat intimidating figure to the oncoming soldier. The last few weeks in the farm have done wonders for my physique, but I am sure that it is no match for a semi-automatic gun.

  I wait.

  Harriet is shaking behind me and I don’t know whether it is fear or the shock of everything that has happened. She doesn’t say anything.

  I stand my ground.

  I wait.

  The soldier slows down. I still can’t see anything other than the large gun that is hanging from their shoulder. The black tinted mask covers their eyes.

  They stop in front of me. I turn to look for the guard but he has gone. Not even he is going to help us now. I wait for the soldier to raise their gun.

  Instead of reaching for the gun, they raise their hands to their mask and I am confused about what is happening. This is not how I expected this to play out.

  “Michelle?” I say. It seems like years have passed since I last saw her.

  “What are you doing here?” she says.

  I am still not completely sure that she isn’t going to kill us. Strange as that may seem.

  “Evan?” she says.

  Several seconds have passed during which I have been completely unable to speak.

  “Are you okay?” Michelle says.

  I manage to nod.

  “We need to get you inside,” she says. “It isn’t safe out here.”

  I nod again. I want to tell her that I’ve been trying to get us inside but the guard won’t let us. I want to tell her that she has saved our lives, again, but I don’t seem to be able to make my mouth work.

  She leads us towards the military zone and the guard appears again. He approaches her.

  “They aren’t allowed in,” he says. “This is a military operation.”

  “They’re with me,” Michelle says. “Have you got a problem with that?”

  The man looks as if he has a very big problem with that, but it is clear from their body language that she outranks him. He shakes his head. “No problem m’am.”

  She doesn’t respond to him, she walks past and we follow. I don’t turn to check, but I am sure that if I did, I would see the man scowling at us.

  CHAPTER 24

  INSIDE, THE MILITARY ZONE IS EXACTLY AS I remember it. There is a series of corridors that lead us through the building to the open ground on the other side of the fence. Michelle doesn’t speak as she leads us through. It is only now that I realise how much she has grown in the last few weeks. Her shoulders are broader and she moves with a confidence that seems foreign. My Michelle has ch
anged almost beyond recognition, but I know that she is still mine.

  She takes us past the helicopters and tanks and I notice a strange lack of activity. From the chaos I saw in the camp, I would have assumed that the soldiers would be getting ready to fight the Infected. I want to ask Michelle about it, but I doubt I could make myself heard over the sound of engines.

  We don’t stop until we reach the building on the other side of the zone. Here there is better sound proofing and as soon as the doors close I relax. Michelle doesn’t stop walking but I call after her.

  “Where are we going?” I say.

  “To the mess,” she says.

  I didn’t realise that the soldiers ate away from everyone else, but I suppose it makes sense. They are on regular duty shifts and sometimes our little camp wouldn’t be able to provide them with a hot meal. But I don’t understand why she seems pissed off with me.

  “When are they going to fight?” I say.

  “Soon,” she says. But I can tell she’s dismissing the question.

  “Why aren’t they out there already?” I say. “People are being killed.”

  “I know,” is her only response.

  So we keep walking, until we reach the mess hall.

  There are hundreds of soldiers sitting at tables but they aren’t eating. Some of them are talking but most are staring into space as if they don’t have a thought in their head. Or too many.

  Michelle leads us to a quiet table at the back and nods at the bench.

  I sit down. Harriet sits beside me and Michelle sits opposite her.

  She looks around and I can see that she is nervous. It is a strange expression to see on her face.

  “Michelle,” I say. I lean across the table and try to take her hand, but she pulls back. “What’s going on?”

  “They’re evacuating the camp,” she says.

  My spirits rise. “That’s a good, isn’t it?” I don’t know why she looks so distressed about it. Evacuation seems like a pretty good idea.

  “You don’t understand,” she says.

  “What don’t I understand?”