Infectious (Book 1): Death is Just the Beginning Read online

  Releasing my grip I threw myself forward on to the creature, keeping my face toward the ground in an attempt to shield it from the massive teeth that were rushing to meet me. My shoulder slammed into the Hounds throat and my body continued on and over the creature, my arms wrapping around the animals thick and muscular neck, pulling its head into toward my chest as I twisted my body back around.

  Flat on my back now with this struggling monstrosity on top of me scrabbling to get up, I released its neck and instead grabbed its muzzle with one hand and an ear with my other. Using these two as handles I attempted to twist its head around, trying to break the things neck.

  As strong as I now was, the Hound was much stronger. I wrapped my legs around its back, pinning its rear legs between my own, trying desperately to gain more leverage in a struggle that I was beginning to lose. In one violent twist to the right, the Hound roared in victory as it forced itself from my grip. Back on its huge paws it looked me right in the eyes, blinked once then jumped at my head with its mouth wide open showing off the biggest and most fearsome fangs I had ever seen.

  Its massive weight crashed into me, slamming me into the ground and almost into unconsciousness as my head struck a rock. The thing just lay there, panting on top of me. It took a few seconds for me to notice the handle in the top of its skull, and I only noticed it then because somewhere in my damaged brain a little voice said “Since when did these things come with handles?”

  Even as the thought was being processed, a familiar hand had reached down plucked the large hunting knife from the skull of the now dead Hound.

  “Tanith? Are you alright? What the fuck man!?”. My surprise, and delight, at Tanith being alive was mixed in with anger that I even cared. I had to snap out of this and stop seeing her as anything more than trouble and a potential threat, personal feelings had no place in this world anymore and she could very easily be my own dinner one day.

  “Yeah, I’m alright Shambles. Fucking thing knocked the wind right out of me, I couldn’t breathe. Are you OK? What was that thing?”

  “I’m just peachy, and that was what I call a Hell Hound. I’ve only ever seen a few of them, and I’ve never fought one before; running away is always the best way to deal with these things. We got lucky Tanith; Hounds are usually bigger than this one and not all of them used to be dogs…”

  I stood there and just watched her, an aching in my chest telling me all that I needed to know about how I would feel if anything happened to her. Try as I might, I could not deny my own feelings for this woman – even if I knew that she would dash my hopes and dreams against the rocks if she ever suspected. And quite likely my head too. Besides, I had known her for just a few hours – what was wrong with me?

  “We should keep moving Shambles, we need to find shelter. Do Hounds travel in packs?”

  Giving my head a mental shake, my eyes refocused as I snapped back to reality. “Yeah, shelter is probably a good idea. I’ve no idea if they travel in packs exactly, but I have seen groups of two and three of them before. If you know where we are, I suggest you lead the way to something with walls, at least until morning”

  “Well, it’s going to be hard to find in the dark, but there is an old tree shelter near here. If we can get up there then we should be safe, at least for a few hours. Once Church realises that we are gone, I can’t guarantee that he won’t chase after us”

  “Right, a treehouse – why the fuck not. Has anybody ever told you people that you are just plain weird?”

  “Once or twice”, Tanith replied without any sign of humour at all “but the ones that have said it are usually the ones buying from us, so where does that leave them on the weird-o-meter?”

  I didn’t bother replying to that, instead I decided to focus on the situation at hand. “Why did you help me leave the camp? I thought Church was your Moses or something? He’s going to pretty mad you know, he might even shake his fist in the air and shout ‘Why I oughta…’”

  With the slightest hint of a smiler, Tanith replied with “Never call me weird again, Shambles”, before the almost-smile disappeared again. “Church is insane, a zombie army would never work; we can control them in small groups but that’s it, any large group would just turn on us in the end. What Church is proposing is, ultimately, suicide. We have to find a cure, build bigger or failing that, find a way to wipe them all out before they kill us all”

  “I’m hoping it isn’t too late for a cure, but I seriously doubt that we could help anybody that is already infected; we may end up having to kill them anyway, you know?”. I was looking in her general direction as we talked, trying not to trip and fall flat on my face in the process.

  “I don’t really have a problem with that but a cure has to be the first priority, we have to stop this thing from turning anymore people. If your blood can get us a step closer to that, then I cannot let Church keep his crazy little hands on you”

  “Well, whatever your reasons Tanith, I’m just pretty damn happy to be alive right now”. I didn’t feel very ironic saying that, but I could have sworn I heard Tanith choke back a laugh.

  My eyes had adjusted to the night as much as they were ever going to, which was actually pretty decent considering they were technically dead. It was near pitch dark, the quilt of shimmering starlight above us was our only light and it was a weak one at that. Having left the trees behind already, I was wondering when this treehouse was going to appear. The field that we now found ourselves in was mercifully flat, I wasn’t having to constantly check my footing and could concentrate on straining my eyes to see through the darkness ahead instead.

  It was no use though, I couldn’t see a damn thing. We came to a shallow and slow moving stream before long, both of us lost in our own thoughts until then.

  “OK Shambles, follow this to the right. I’m not sure exactly where we are in the field, but we should only have to follow this for a few minutes”

  Only half listening, I was crouched down in the stream with my fingers dangling in the cool water. I wanted to bury my face in it, to drink as much as I could and stop this never ending thirst. That wasn’t possible though, as drinking water only made my need for meat even stronger – Tanith would not stand a chance and I could not allow myself to hurt her, not for anything.

  I couldn’t figure out just what it is about this girl, what made her so special. She was beautiful, there was no question there, but why my sudden and deep affection? It angered and thrilled me in equal measure, and the more it invaded my thoughts the more confused I became.

  “Tanith, could you not call me Shambles anymore?” I didn’t look up as I spoke, instead opting to stare at the surface of the water. My reflection looked up at me, the sadness in its eyes seemed never ending. The emptiness in my heart felt just as vast.

  “Sure, OK. It’s George, Right? I’m sorry, I find it hard not to see you as one of them. I have met ones like you before, but they never seemed to want to hold on to that spark of humanity that still lived in them. What keeps you going, George? Why are you so different from all those monsters out there?

  A few people, back at the camp, think you were sent here to save us. If your blood really is special, maybe they were right.”

  “I carry on because this cannot be our legacy; mankind can’t just walk into the night because we couldn’t control our own baser urges. You said yourself that these creatures survive on pure instinct, on basic needs and wants. Strip away our so called civilisation, our cars and glass towers, and is that really all that we are?

  I refuse to quit, because I refuse to believe that we cannot be more than what those things show us to be. We were so busy dividing ourselves that we forgot what we are. We are human beings, living miracles, and we can choose not to be savages.

  Those poor bastards that you call Shamblers? They had the choice stripped away from them. I didn’t and I choose not to be turned into one of those freaks just because it’s easier to give in”

  There was no response from Tanith, just empty si
lence as I rose and walked away down stream. I didn’t hear her following at first, and for a moment I thought she wasn’t going to come. She did though after a moment, and placed her hand on my shoulder as she caught up to me.

  “I’m sorry George”.

  That was all she said, the catch in her throat told me more though. I turned around, half expecting a grin to be plastered on her face as she tried not to laugh at me. I was prepared to hit her, it had hurt to say the things I did; it was just so soul destroying the things that were going on in the world, what was happening to me. I couldn’t take it if she mocked me, I just couldn’t.

  When I turned at looked at her though, the sadness in her eyes matched my own. The tiny, single tear making a clean path down her right cheek sparkled in the still night air.

  I didn’t expect that, or the feather light kiss she placed on my lips, just for a second. Leaving me feeling more confused than ever, she moved past me and continued on down the stream.

  My head was swimming, did that really just happen? What did it mean? I couldn’t let myself believe that she actually felt something for me other than pity, but why would she kiss my lips if that was indeed the case? Questions were dancing around inside of my head, pushing and shoving each other for position, trying to be the first to gain my full attention. Pushing them all aside, forcing the last two minutes out of my mind, I turned again and continued on down the stream after Tanith.

  Resolving not to say anything to her about what just happened, I caught up to her as quickly and quietly as I could; Not to creep up on her, but sound carries over open ground and especially now there were so few man made noise pollutants anymore. There was no guarantee that there were not more infected around; that Hound had caused a lot of noise and we had to put as much distance between us and it as we could, as quietly as we could.

  “Hey, do you know if we are close yet?” I whispered as I got level with her, my jacket sleeve brushing lightly against her bare arm. It was a tiny little thing, not even real contact, but it gave me imaginary goosebumps anyway.

  “Yeah, the breeze is different and I can just hear it going through the leaves and branches. I’ll let you know George, just grab onto my belt when we get there so you don’t get lost”

  So I don’t get lost? It’s a bloody treehouse! I never knew when Tanith was trying to be funny with me or not, but I didn’t sense any humour in her voice, just warmth. We continued on in silence, the darkness surrounding us broken only by the sparkling sky above and the shimmering water under our feet. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes more when I saw it, the stars had disappeared in the portion of the sky we were walking toward. The darkness immediately before us now seemed much blacker and deeper than the rest of the night.

  Something was before us, something enormous. Even as Tanith reached behind her, taking my hand and guiding it to her belt, I whispered “That can’t be a tree, no way!” As we moved closer I was able to see the thing a little more clearly, and I saw the biggest tree I had ever laid eyes on. Even as I took in the enormity of the thing I thought, this cannot possibly be natural.

  “Be careful here George, I am going to lead you to the rope; it’s not going to be an easy climb, but it’s the only way up in the dark.”

  “Is this an actual tree, Tanith? It’s enormous, I’ve never seen anything like it!”

  “If you think it’s big now, George, just wait until we get inside”

  Inside? This whole thing was just too weird to be true. As Tanith began the ascent up a near invisible rope, the seat of her pants actually brushing against my nose as she went, I gripped the rope in two hands and waited for enough clearance to jump up.

  The rope itself was heavily knotted, making the climb much easier than I anticipated, and it felt at least as thick as my wrist. I still could not see anything around me very clearly, I could only just see the rope if I really concentrated on it and focused. It would seem that my ‘enhanced’ vision is useless if there is no ambient light, and with this hulking great tree blocking out the sky there was none to be had.

  Looking up, the giant canopy gave nothing away. I could no longer see Tanith either but the sounds of her labouring told my ears that she was no more than a foot or so above me.

  We climbed in silence the whole way up, though I have no idea how long that was or how high we were. After a while, though, I heard a whistling above my head; I knew that it was Tanith – No bird on Earth, however zombified it may or may not be, made that kind of ‘stuck in the throat of a cat’ warble.

  Seconds later she got a reply, and this time there was no attempt at bird call.

  “Alright, pack it in – we know who you are; There’s only one bird around that murders the signal like that. Get up here Tan’, you’re late”

  So, Tanith was expected was she? Perhaps she only helped me because I just happened to be there, in her way. I hoped that wasn’t true, because that would make everything else a lie. Was she really interested in helping me to find a cure? Until I found out who this new guy was, I needed to keep my mouth shut and my questions to myself.

  We left the rope and steadied ourselves on a narrow ledge, just visible by the candlelight coming from inside the tree. Following Tanith, I edged my way forward slowly and deliberately.

  I was wondering why they would have the rope access this far from the actual entrance, but the narrow ledge answered that; it was much easier to defend this way. No attacking force was ever going to take this… Whatever this was.

  We stepped off the ledge and into a wooden room. There really is no other way of describing it, this really was a room made of wood. Roughly cut into the giant tree itself, this room was easily a bus length long and at least twice as wide.

  There were ‘doorways’ cut into the walls, two to my left and one more to my right. The walls, floor and ceiling looked scorched – and I doubt it was from the candles on the center table and torches that lined the walls. The table was little more than sheets of wood and board, supported by large rocks and boulders at regular intervals around it. Spaced around the table were ten chairs; four on each side, with one either end. Tanith had walked to the side of the room and was talking to a large bearded man that wouldn’t have looked out of place hunting mammoth.

  I left them to it, there was nothing that I could contribute. I didn’t even know what this place was, or what was going to happen next. Instead I just took in my surroundings with quiet awe. I hadn’t so much as climbed a tree since I was a kid, and now I was stood inside one that had, what looked like, a dining room!

  The walls had framed photographs and newspaper clippings. Some were from just before the outbreak, others were from when things were starting to get real bad. One frame held the front page of the The Guardian newspaper, shortly after the decision to strike against the African Continent was taken. Millions of people were fleeing the region in whatever they could cram themselves into, and the oil rich African nations were helping them do it.

  Everyday, hundreds of vessels were attempting to leave, to escape the infection, desperately seeking refuge and protection from other countries, away from the growing army of undead snapping at their heels. At this stage, the western world was still convinced that the infection could be contained. But the trouble, as they saw it, was that they could not battle their own legions of infected, while the undead ranks were being strengthened by the refugees that were being attacked from within their floating coffins.

  The fleeing vessels were almost guaranteed to be carrying at least one infected; and they were nearly always overwhelmed by the time they got to shore. At first they tried blockading Africa, destroying the vessels if they refused to turn back. But as the crisis in the west deepened, the precious warships became too valuable to waste trying to contain a worsening crisis that was threatening to burst from the continent.

  The Guardian told quite accurately what happened next. The stock photograph of a nuclear blast took up most of the page, the headline taking the rest.

 
AFRICA GLASSED!

  Short and to the point. While the continent burned, and countless millions were killed, politicians across the rest of the world were tail spinning into a blind panic. The destruction of the continent probably saved humanity as a species, but the relentless march of the undead destroyed our civilization. Perhaps forever. Even then, as the bombs were falling, they realised the war was not going to be won in this way. Africa may give them enough breathing space to fallback and solidify defences, but a decisive strike against the horde was impossible.

  Africa wasn’t the only place to feel the warmth of a nuclear sun either; tactical nukes were deployed wherever the undead were gathered in large numbers and away from major cities.

  Although that policy didn’t stop the destruction of New York, two weeks after Africa was burned. The actual buildings are still standing, tombstones for the tens of millions that perished. It is impossible to say where in the cities it started, it hardly matters now and would not have not have changed anything then, but the virus spread with a ferocity that was matched only by the outbreak in Mumbai; within 48 hours almost everybody in the great city was either torn apart or turned.

  Mumbai, one of the most populated cities in the world, was reduced to a memory in less than two days. The same was said for nearly everywhere else too, with people slowly drifting back into smaller towns when the infected moved on to find more food. Villages were among the first to be repopulated, with raiding parties being organised to recapture territory once the defences were up.

  As I moved around the room, I was trying to hear what Tanith was saying to the man that had been standing near the ‘door’ when we arrived. I could not make much out, their voices were deliberately low and nothing more than mumbles to me. I could only make out a few words, but they were clearly talking about me. While I was still trying to piece the words together, trying to figure out what they could be saying, they both walked over to where I was standing.