00:30 hours
Mary pulled the steering wheel to the left narrowly avoiding the large Elm tree that appeared out of the darkness. The trucks headlights just illuminating it in time.
The huge tyres slid on the loose ground that made up the surface of the lane for a moment then found purchase. She dragged the wheel back to the right and managed, somehow, to correct the errant course of the vehicle getting it back on an even heading.
She heard the thumps of bodies falling in the trucks bed, the muted curses of the unfortunate men there.
'Sorry!' she shouted, unaware if her apology was even heard.
Mason sat in the passenger seat, face white, eyes darting from Mary to the hedges and trees flashing quickly just outside the window and then back to the woman who was, in his opinion, driving way too fast for such a narrow lane.
He found himself whispering a quiet prayer, something that he hadn't done in a long time. He wasn't even sure that a deity existed any more, but was more than willing to go on a little faith.
He turned and said something to Mary over the roaring of the diesel engine. She flicked her head toward him, a slight shrug of her shoulders to indicate that she hadn't heard over the motor. Mason stopped trying to compete with the sound of the truck, smiled and held up a thumb instead.
She smiled back, catching his meaning and bobbed her head in response.
She turned her attention back to the road.
The exchange had taken maybe twenty seconds at the outside.
More than enough time for the dead man to stumble into the path of the oncoming vehicle.
Mary saw the figure in the middle of the lane but by then it was far too late to do anything about it.
Much, much too late.
The truck hit the man at forty miles an hour.
The effect was both instant and final.
The man, what had once been a man, was hit solidly by the huge metal grill at the front of the truck and just exploded with the contact. Blood and flesh sprayed across the wind shield, fragments of shattered bone ricocheting against the glass.
Organs that had no right outside the body flying through the air making their own mini fountains of gore as they exploded against the roads surface.
The remainder of the body was dragged beneath the wheels and ground to a pup.
They both raised their hands, instinctively to protect their faces and eyes.
Mary realised her mistake as she took her hands from the wheel; the huge truck starting to slide out from underneath her. She grabbed the wheel and tried to wrestle the truck back to a controllable situation, trying to correct the skid they found themselves in.
It wasn't enough.
Once, twice...a third time.
Again and again.
The sides of the truck bounced across trunks of trees and low hedges, the impacts coming ever faster.
She let go of the wheel, unable to control it and resorted to the only thing she could do.
She stamped on the brakes...hard.
The idea was to stall the truck, somehow bring it to a safe halt. The truck however had other ideas.
Axles locked as the truck was still sliding sideways. She heard the sound of someone screaming and realised it was her a moment before the wheels caught on a deep rut in the road.
The machine started to tip, lifting up on one side.
It came down on its side with a huge crash, the window on her side shattering into a million shards.
She hit the side of her head on the metal partition next to the door and everything went black.
00:45
'They're late. Where the hell are they?'
Phillip looked at the colonel, a look of hopelessness in his eyes.
The other man continued to look out the window, the darkness outside hiding whatever may be out there.
He could only shake his head along with the other.
'They will get back, I know they will.'
He just hoped it was sooner rather than later. He was well aware they were rapidly running out of time.
00:50
Mason groaned as he regained his senses.
His eyesight was fuzzy at first but already improving with every passing moment.
'Mary?'
His voice was croaky with the smoke that came through the window. He tried to think, tried to …
Smoke?
His eyes opened with the speed of a steel shutter, senses instantly alert. Why the hell was he hanging sideways? He reached across his chest and down to his side, his fingers found the seatbelt clasp. He pushed the release and fell the few feet onto his ribs. He was up quickly, well as quick as he could anyway. He searched around the cabin and immediately saw Mary not far from him. She lay crumpled against the door underneath her. He reached across and grabbed her shoulder giving it a rough shake.
'Mary! Mary, wake up. We have to go now!'
She groaned loudly one of her hands fluttering to her brow where a large lump had formed.
'You...get the number...of the other guy?'
Mason smiled. At least she would be okay.
'We have to go...can you move?'
She nodded and started to crawl out from the position she was in. In no time they were at the other end of the cab and clambering out into the night. One of the trucks lights had smashed but the other was still on throwing dim shadows on everything. The smoke that Mason had seen was nothing more than dust from the roads surface. At least that was some good news.
He looked over the side and saw a sight that he had not wanted to see.
There, underneath the huge metal bed of the truck was what was left of a pair of black boots, the legs that were in them ended where the truck rested against the floor, the rest of the body out of sight.
He had no idea who it was but at least there was only one of them. That meant at least the other had hopefully survived.
That's when he saw him.
Gibbs was in the road walking back the way they had come. He stumbled as he went, his left leg dragging under him, his right arm angled grotesquely. He walked a few more steps then stopped where he was. He looked over his shoulder and Mason could see the ghost of a smile appear on his lips.
His good arm went up and Mason saw what he held in his hand.
'I hope you can run? It's about to get loud.'
He helped the woman to the ground and they started to run the other way.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Gibbs waited until he was sure the others were gone far enough then turned back to look the way he had been headed.
He could make out the first groans and growls of the approaching pack.
He looked down and forced his hand into his pocket, ignoring the intense pain that flared up his entire arm. He stared at the two faces in the picture: the woman, her flowing black hair and fine features, the boy who looked like a miniature version of himself.
He heard the steps of the dead getting closer by the second but could not pull his gaze from the picture.
The first of the creatures saw him standing there and charged towards him, arms held wide as if to embrace him.
Gibbs smiled as he heard it get closer and only when it was mere feet away did he look up. He pulled his thumb sharply up and tightened his fist at the same time pulling the pin freee of the fragmentation grenade that he held.
He smiled wide and freely, a sigh escaping his lips.
'Go screw yourself.'
The explosion lit up the darkened night.