0210 Hrs.
'Son of a bitch!'
Mason skidded on the loose ground his boots threw up as he rounded the corner. His brain taking a moment to try and decipher the scene in front of his eyes.
The...thing... seemed to have numerous arms and legs and two heads, the body a large thrashing mass.
Mason could do nothing but stare, his eyes bugging from his skull at the sight.
One head was obstructing the other. He raised the pistol he still held and sighted on the … whatever. It was the scream that snapped him out of his trance.
He saw it then for what it truly was; Mary on the floor, another figure over her rolling, fighting, trying to sink its rotten teeth into her.
He dropped the weapon on the ground and threw himself at them where they lay on the ground. He grabbed the figure on top and with a strength he hardly knew he had threw it through the air to one side. It landed in an untidy heap and slowly but surely started to drag itself to its feet.
Mary lunged at the soldier and wrapped her arms around his neck.
The both swivelled their heads and stared at it as it finally got to its feet.
The sodden remnants of the body armour hung off its bloated frame, the pallid white flesh sloughing from the bones. It looked like a soldier or someone who had belonged to a special military outfit.
Definitely not one of theirs.
Mason didn't know how long the body had been in the water but guessed it may have been some time.
The eyeless head rotated in their direction as Mary gave a small gasp.
The teeth opened and snapped shut with the force of a bear trap and the dead man started to shamble forwards.
Mason reached his hand forward realising in that moment that his weapon was still on the ground behind them. He could do nothing but hold the woman and try and shield her as best he could.
'Don't look.'
The dead ma got closer...closer...
It reached out one rotting water logged hand, the fingers hooked and frozen into ragged claws.
Then as quick as that...it was gone.
Mason hadn't realised that he had closed his eyes as well. He waited for the feel of teeth biting into his flesh that never came. He opened his eyes.
The man...what had once been a man...lay ten feet away, a red pool spreading around what was left of its head. He had never even heard the shot although it must have been loud. They both looked behind them.
The colonel was twenty yards away down on one knee, the smoke still curling from the end of the barrel of his colt. His eyes unwavering where they peered down the open sight.
'What did I tell you soldier? Never leave your weapon out of reach.'
Mason smiled.
'Yes sir, I'll remember that.'
Mary saw Philip and Mason let go. She got to her feet and ran to the other man throwing her arms around his neck shocking him with a huge wet kiss. The two soldiers looked at each other and raised their eyebrows.
Mason started to pat himself down getting the ground from his uniform.
'I'm okay by the way if anyone's interested?'
Thomas sat on an empty ammunition crate his eyes swivelling first to the body on the floor then to his dad and the lady opposite where he was.
'Yucky.'
0215 Hrs.
Mason and Wilkes knelt ready at the barricade of boxes and crates. Guns drawn and magazines ready...close to hand. So far none of the dead that they had seen had noticed them back. As long as they kept quiet and still then they were ignored.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Mary sat against a crate with Thomas, the boys propensity to deal with the situation currently at hand amazed her every-time she was near him. His innocence was refreshing to everyone. Youth tended to have that effect...she just wandered if he would live long enough to enjoy it. She knew if they got out of the village and into the world then it would all change. He would have to change and his would be hardest to accomplish.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Philip stood at the rivers edge watching the body of the soldier slowly sink beneath the surface. He had argued the point about putting it back but Wilkes had said that it had probably been in there for a long time, what damage the virus was going to do it had already done. They knew now that the water was unsafe but there was little they could do about it now.
And it was better out of sight under the surface than in the open where everyone could see...and smell it.
They had said nothing more about the subject. He looked over at where his boy sat with the woman that he had come to care about. And he knew, somewhere deep inside that everyone here in the camp would do anything and everything that they could to protect him and keep him from harm. If something were to happen to him then he knew that he would be taken care of. He felt moisture on his cheek and lifted a hand to wipe away the tear there.
He looked down to the gun in his hand and found himself wondering, not for the first time, what life would be like out in the world past the village. Would a gun be enough to live? Would they even win against an innumerable enemy?...
Would they want to?
Philip walked back to the two people who meant the most to him.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
'Sir?'
Wilkes looked around at the whispered question, one eyebrow raised.
Mason crouch-walked over to him his gaze never leaving the street.
'We need to move, we can't stay here.'
The colonel looked down at the ground for just a moment. He knew the question and time were coming but, how could he tell everyone that he thought there was no hope. The men that he had sent were probably dead. Everybody was probably dead by now.
Where were they going to go?
What would they do when they got there?
Who would be left?
They had less than an hour and if Wilkes knew anything about military strategy at all, then the missile on the way would be a big one. The brass had no idea how far the spread would be so had to err on the side of caution, but they wouldn't send nukes...would they? Surely it hadn't got that far yet? If it had been him he would send an air-fuel explosive and air burst it. The resulting explosion would clear an area of ten miles plus, flash-frying every living thing. The blast wave levelling any standing structure up to twenty miles out.
They had to get at least that far away, preferably further.
How was the question.
They needed transport; something fast yet manoeuvrable.
For that there was only one place to go.
Back into the village.
'Okay, get everyone together. We are leaving.'