Living with Survival: Part 2
Chapter 3: 20 days earlier
20 days earlier...
Day 10 of the infection. Tim stared around the church. A tear rolled down his cheek, it had only been an hour since Mike, Jon and Liv had left, yet it felt like an eternity. Had he made a mistake? Letting them go out there without him. Mom and Dad were dead; could he watch them die to? In the end the main reason he stayed was for those around him. He stared around at children huddled together with their parents. The wounded sprawled out on the pews. The church began to smell like death, like rot, but it didn't bother Tim much.
The priest hadn't made a sound since Mike knocked him on his arse. He just sat in the room he was placed, reading his bible.
A few days passed. Food was now officially gone.
"We need to send someone out, or a few of us. We need to gather food and medicine" Robb spoke loudly, but not too loudly, no one ever spoke to loudly, less it attract the infected. Robb was a 48 year old taxi driver, his wife and younger daughter were with him. His son was in the army. He always spoke well of his him, almost bragging that his son was out there cleaning this mess up right now. He spoke so highly of him; Tim almost wanted to meet this Private Mailer.
Regret crept into Tims mind. He began to feel like he let his siblings down. Perhaps he should have gone with them.
"I'll go" Tim raised his hand
"Ill go too" Wolvo stepped forward. A 25 year old brick layer from Wolverhampton. A shit hole as he always referred to it as. He was a bricklayer, only came down to London for a week to see his girlfriend that was at university. She was dead. But here he was, this Midlands lad, caught up in this mess so far from home.
"Go for Tesco express, its only a few streets over" Robbs younger daughter said.
Tim grabbed a back pack from the pews. "Sounds as good a plan as any" Wolvo said as he slung his sledgehammer over his shoulder. His warhammer he called it.
The two slipped out the door silently. They peered down the road. Nothing, the surrounding area was quiet. But as always the sound of carnage could be heard in the distance. "Lets go" Wolvos thick midland accent was often pretty humorous to Tim, he couldn't imagine such a docile dialect to ever be intimidating.
They arrived at the shop without incident. They decided to check for a back entrance. Thankfully there was. Locked however, Wolvo without hesitation raised his sledgehammer over his shoulder.
"Wait! Thats going to make a shit loud of sound" Tim almost put himself between him and the door, but then decided against it. "In and out chap, incentive to move your arse". The sledgehammer came crashing down into the door. The whole thing came clean off its hinges. They stared into the dark shop. "Remind me not to fuck with you Wolvo" Tim said as he quietly stepped inside. "You shouldn't need reminding" Wolvo followed.
The shop was untouched, they went to town. Stuffing bags with food and water. "Fucking Christmas Timmy" Wolvo laughed as he tipped a bag of monster munch into his mouth.
"Shhhh" A noise from outside the front of the shop. Then another noise, and another. And then a thunderous downpour of stampeding footsteps. They both got to their knees. Out of site, they peaked over the front till. Tim gasped, even Wolvo was speechless. About twenty soldiers were running up the road, passed the shop, and after them came what could have been hundreds of infected. Then the gunfire started.
"A running battle" Wolvo whispered. The infected fell in the shower of gunfire; dozens were torn to shreds by the automatic fire. But as if by some terrible spell, more and more appeared. It wasn't long before the two dozen soldiers were surrounded. A man on a radio shouted for extraction before he was jumped by three infected.
It didn't last long. The island of green uniforms was enveloped by the red army. The infected trailed past and up the roads. Some remained still battering some of the dead soldiers into a pulp.
"We had better stay the night, sneak past these fuckers when we get the chance" Tim said. They settled in for the night, sleeping top and tail under a service counter.
"You wish you went didn't you?"
"Went where?"
"With your brothers"
"Ive let them down, I know that now" tears began to fall from Tims cheeks
"Now you listen here chap. Those boys will be alright, you worry about the here and now. Its survival now, we have to live with that. I can't survive when I'm thinking about Rebecca, and how I let her down. So I put her out of my mind"
"How did you lose her Wolvo?"
"We should get some sleep" Wolvo said as he turned away, trying to hide the tears that were now in his eyes.
The next day the two slipped out of the shop, with plenty of food, at least for a few days. As they neared the church, Tim could feel something was wrong. When they saw it they knew. The doors were swung wide open. "They got in"
Tim ran straight for the entrance. "Wait" Wolvo warned. But it was too late. Tim was already speeding into the church.
What he found stunned him into silence. Slaughter! Pure carnage. The men, the women, the children, all sprawled across the hall. Tim thought back to a house party he once had, Mikes room was the coat room, his bed piled with layers and layers of coats. That's what this place reminded him of. Layers and layers of flesh and blood.
He looked over it all for a moment "Hello" he said. They jolted up right out of the layers of bodies. At least 8 or 10 of them. It took them mere seconds to charge him. Tim could barely prepare himself.
That's when he heard the battle roar. Wolvo came charging from behind Tim. His warhammer rose over his shoulder. It was only a few seconds, but Tim felt like he watched it all in slow motion.
The hammer swings to the right, an infected is pulverised.
The hammer goes to its left and an infected loses its head.
Swing after swing, the infected fall in the face of Wolvos fury. The ferocity and pure anger that was exploding from him was terrifying and awe inspiring. He only stopped after the last one was on the floor choking on its own blood. Then it all well silent.
Wolvo turned to look at Tim, for a moment Tim thought he was infected, his eyes, his face, pure rage. It died away however.
A banging came from the upstairs. Banging against a door Tim thought.
"What's that" Tim whispered
"I'm not staying here to find out"
Tim didn't argue.
"Come on, we'll crash at my girlfriends old place. It has a tucked away attic we can lie low in"
The two moved out of the church. "Okay, but let's stop off back where those soldiers were killed"
"Why"
"Because if I'm going to be able to keep up with you I'm going to need a gun"
Wolvo grinned
As they left, Tim saw Robb Mailer and his daughter, beaten and bloody, lying in each others embrace.