Spiteful (The Infected Book 3) Page 5

  “Yeah, and they might try to come and take over the bunker.” He said.

  Chapter Seven

  I hadn’t thought of that. I was saved from having too many ideas running round my head when Amy came into the range and said “Dinner's ready. Jennie has a few more people in the kitchen since you brought that new group here so we now have a bit more variety on offer.”

  I smiled at her and she gave me a puzzled look in return.

  “Something up, Marc?” She asked.

  “No, no, everything is okay.” I said.

  To tell you the truth, since the shower incident every time I see her I go weak at the knees, and before you say anything, yes it is a sad thing to behold, but I still felt that way.

  “Come on, let’s get some food and I’ll talk to Jake later.” I said, grabbing the MP5 and attaching the tactical harness to my webbing.

  We all headed to the armoury so that Philip could put his SA80 back onto the rack. Then we headed for the lifts and went up to the dining room for something to eat. As we entered the dining room, the smell from the kitchen hit me and my stomach rumbled. I hadn’t had a decent meal in days and I was looking forward to what Jennie and her team had cooked up.

  Grabbing a plate, I joined the end of the queue behind Amy and slowly worked my way toward the counter. From where I stood, I could see a curry of some sort and a thick broth. I got to the front and grabbed a bowl of curry and boiled rice. At the other end of the counter was a fruit crumble and custard. Now I was in heaven. I couldn’t remember the last time I had crumble. Grabbing a large bowl I headed over to a table in the far corner. Sitting down I felt a large shadow fall over the table. Looking up, I saw Chris grinning at me.

  “Mind if I sit with you?” He asked.

  “Mate, that is the most stupid thing I have ever heard you say. Of course you can sit here.” I said, laughing.

  Next came Amy and then David. Mike and Tessa walked over and sat down at the table near us. I started on the curry and found that it was a vegetable curry. I still ate it even though I felt it could do with either beef or pork. I had almost finished the bowl of curry when Mike cleared his voice.

  “Marc? I know this is probably the wrong time to ask but is there any way I could get trained up on a rifle?”

  “I’d like to get some training as well.” Tessa said.

  Speaking round a mouthful of curry, I said “You need to ask Chris about firearms training, but I also suggest that you do some unarmed training as well.”

  “Who do we ask about that?” Tessa asked.

  “Me.” Amy said from beside me.

  “Oh!” Tessa replied.

  I pushed the empty curry bowl away from me and picked up a spoon to dive into the fruit crumble.

  “Do you train anyone?” Mike asked.

  Looking up, I said “Me train anyone? Are you nuts?”

  “Why not? You seem to be able to handle yourself.” Tessa said.

  I hadn’t even got a spoonful of the crumble in my mouth. I sighed and put the spoon on the table in front of me.

  “Amy and Chris were in the infantry and I used to be what was called a blanket stacker in the Army. So they are both best trained to help you. I, on the other hand, just wing it half the time and the other half take advice from the others.” I said.

  “Er…I would like to say that you are also pretty good at being a sneaky bastard.” Chris said.

  “That’s a given. I’ve always been a sneaky git.” I said, laughing.

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Time and time again you have gone up against the infected, usually on your own and survived. There are not many people at this table that could say they have done that.” Amy said, reaching out to hold my hand.

  “Just luck.” I said in my defence.

  “I remember what you did for me and my family in Thirsk and that wasn’t luck.” David said quietly.

  “All this is moot because I can’t teach anyone how to be a sneaky bastard.” I said, picking the spoon up again.

  Everyone went quiet around the tables and I finally managed to get a spoonful of fruit crumble and custard in my mouth.

  “What about teaching people on how to kill the infected?” Mike asked.

  I shook my head and mumbled “Amy is doing the unarmed combat training.”

  “Yeah, but is that going to be the same as fighting the infected?” He asked.

  “The training I will be doing will concentrate on getting out of holds and how to inflict massive head injury.” Amy answered.

  I had finished the crumble and pushed the bowl away and leaned back in my chair with a satisfied groan. Chris just laughed and Amy smiled.

  “We need to go over what we are doing tomorrow.” I said.

  “I still think that I should take David and Amy should plant the tracker.” Chris said.

  I was about to have another go at Chris about the plan when Jake came rushing through the doors. Spotting us in the corner he headed straight over.

  “What’s up, dad?” Mike asked, climbing to his feet.

  “I think that you all might want to come down to the comms room.” He said turning to leave.

  Standing I said “Jake, what’s up?”

  Turning, he looked at me and said “Not here.”

  I shrugged and started to follow him. I heard the scrapping of chairs as the others stood to follow.

  Exiting the lift we walked down to the comms room. With all of us in the small room it was a little cramped. Jake sat down in his chair and started turning dials on the radio sets in front of him. Lifting a set of headphones, he listened to one speaker as he used his other hand to do fine tuning. After a few minutes he reached over and pulled the cable free from the radio.

  A burst of static filled the room and then faded to a female voice.

  “…is Tracy calling the bunker. I know you are listening.”

  “Bollocks, what does that fucking bitch want?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. She has been repeating that message for the last hour.” Jake said.

  “Have you spoken to her?” Mike asked.

  “I thought it best to find Marc before I did anything.” Jake said to his son.

  “You did the right thing.” Amy said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

  “Suggestions.” I asked.

  “Tell her to fuck off.” Chris said.

  “I think the best course of action would be to ignore her.” David said.

  I stood thinking about what I should do and the more I thought about it the more I wanted to speak with her.

  Walking over to the desk I picked up the mic and keyed the transmit button and said “What do you want?”

  “Hello, Marc. Nice to see you managed to get away okay.” Tracy said, her voice sounding tinny coming from the speakers in the room.

  “No thanks to you and your bunch of dickheads.” I replied.

  “Well, you can’t blame a lady for trying.” She said.

  “You, a lady?!” I said, laughing “How many of those men did you have to fuck in order for them to follow you?” I asked.

  “I HAVE DONE NOTHING LIKE THAT.” She screamed.

  “Yeah, right. Anyway, what do you want?” I asked.

  It must have taken her a while to calm down because it was a few minutes before we heard her voice again.

  “You and your little gang are all stuck in that hole in the ground. I have a proposition for you.”

  “Let me guess, you let us go and we give you the bunker. Correct?” I asked.

  “Exactly. Of course you can take supplies and weapons for defence but everything else stays in the bunker.” She said, sounding smug.

  “Did one of the biker’s fuck you in the ear and cause you some brain damage? We are fine down here you and your little band are stuck out there with the infected.” I said.

  “You know, I am trying to be nice about all this and you are being nothing but nasty about it. Have a think about it and get back to me in the morning.”
She said.

  She was up to something. I dropped the mic and ran over to the security room. Slamming the door open I quickly change the monitors from internal view to external. The others quickly ran into the room behind me. Looking at each camera in turn I finally stopped on four images.

  “That fucking bitch.” I said.

  “What’s the matter?” Amy asked.

  Chris leaned over my shoulder and looked at the monitors.

  “Are they doing what I think they are doing?” He asked.

  “Yeah, they’re covering the air intakes.” I said, watching figures carrying things and placing them on the ground. All four monitors showed nearly the same activity.

  “So?” Mike said.

  I turned to him and said “Look, we are underground, right?” He nodded “Well, we need air to breathe. Where do you think we get that air from?”

  His eyes went wide and he said “I never thought of that.”

  “Well, it looks like Tracy or one of her goons had thought of it.” Chris said.

  “We have to get those intakes cleared soon.” Amy said.

  “Okay. it’s starting to get dark out there. Chris, do you know if we have any night vision gear in the armoury?” I asked.

  He thought about it, smiled and said “Yeah, we do.”

  “Okay, this is how we play it. David and Chris are Team One, Amy and I are Team Two. Using the night vision gear and supressed weapons we converge on the intakes from different directions. I want one of her goons alive. I think we have found an easier way to find Tracy. Okay, let’s get geared up and outside.” I said heading for the door.

  Chris, David, Amy and I headed to the armoury and got the night vision gear and a silencer for our rifles. We also took a tactical radio each. I knew that even with the silencers our rifles would be loud enough to hear so we were going to have to time our shots. As we headed up in the lift we checked our rifles and the radios.

  Stepping out into the lit entranceway, I said “Chris, turn these lights off. I want us to leave once it gets dark and the last thing we need is a bright light announcing that we are coming.”

  He nodded headed over to light switches. David, Amy and I went to stand next to the hatch. When we were in position Chris turn the lights off, bathing us in darkness.

  There was a grunt, then “Fuck!”

  The three of us at the door started to laugh. We all knew that Chris had hit his leg or something in the dark.

  “Shut up.” He said sullenly.

  We waited whilst our eyes got used to the dark before opening the hatch and stepping outside. Lowering the night vision gear we looked around. Not seeing anyone, we slipped round the back of the bunker and toward the flat area that had the air intakes.

  “Chris, you and David head right. Amy and I will take the left.” I said barely above a whisper.

  Chris and David split off and moved off into the green lit night. Amy and I headed out and circled in from the left. We could see lights and the red glow of cigarettes in the distance and slowly headed toward them. The bright light from the torches flared in the green glow from the night vision gear.

  “Team Two to Team One.” I said quietly.

  There was a crackle in my ear then I heard “Team One here.”

  “The torches are making it hard for me to get a head count. Any luck on your side?” I asked.

  “Only just we can make out six. Confirmed six of them.”

  “Okay, that makes this a bad night for them then. Remember, we need one alive. How about the one with the torch that’s furthest away from the others?” I said.

  “Fine with me, Team Two. Ready on your mark.”

  “Let us get set up.”

  “Okay, waiting on your go. Team One out.”

  Turning to Amy, I said “Why don’t you head about ten meters off to our right and I’ll stay here? Once you're there, let me know and we hit them.”

  “Okay, and, Marc, be careful I only just got you back.” She said before slipping into the darkness.

  It wasn’t long before I heard “Ready.” In my ear.

  “Team One, this is Team Two. Let’s light them up.” I said, sighting on the nearest target. Firing a quick two shot burst I hit him high in the stomach and chest pitching him on to his back. I was aware of other shots coming from round the intakes and it was over as quickly as it started. Walking over to the fallen bodies I looked round hoping to see Tracy’s right-hand goon Thomas, but my luck wasn’t with me. Dragging the bodies out of the way David, Chris and I set to work clearing the intakes. We all turned as Amy walked in with our hostage. He wasn’t anything special. He wasn’t much taller than Amy and was skinny to the point of looking malnourished. Dark hair, dark eyes and a long pointed nose. The word rat came to mind just looking at him.

  “The little turd started running when his friends started to fall over. I had to run the little shit down.” Amy said.

  “Get him to sit down.” I said, turning round to help move some more stuff off the intakes.

  I heard a grunt and a body fall to the ground. Smiling, I carried on working beside Chris and David. It took us about half an hour to move everything out of the way. Turning around, I looked down at Mr. Rat and shrugged.

  “Okay, guys, let’s get this scumbag back into the bunker.”

  Chris and David pulled him to his feet and pushed him toward the bunker entrance. Amy and I walked behind them and every now and then either David or Chris would lean in and whisper in Mr. Rat’s ear and when they moved away I would hear a whimper. I’m sure if it was something important Chris or David would say something. We got to the hatch without any problems and Chris keyed in the code and the hatch unlocked. Sooner or later I’m going to have to ask for the code. Stepping inside we closed the hatch and Chris turned the lights back on.

  A sudden burst of laughter had me turn round and I saw David doubled over laughing his head off.

  “What?” I asked.

  It took a few seconds for David to compose himself and just as he was about to say something he started laughing again.

  “For fuck sake what?” I said.

  Chapter Eight

  This time all he could do was point and he was pointing at Mr. Rat, or to be more specific Mr. Rat’s groin. You see, whatever David and Chris had been saying to him on the walk back had made him piss himself. There was a huge damp patch on his jeans all the way from his crotch down his legs. Amy started laughing next followed by Chris and although I was dying to laugh I thought it might be best not to. The poor man had lost too much already tonight. I pressed the button for the lift and the doors opened. We entered and headed to the first floor and the operations room. I knew that it had a conference room and we could use that as a makeshift jail. The captured Mr. Rat was going to be better off than I was. We pushed open the door and Chris pushed our guest inside. Closing the door, I locked it with a key I had taken from the security room before we left.

  “David, do you mind keeping guard until I can get something sorted?” I asked.

  “Not a problem.” He said, sitting down at a desk facing the conference room door.

  Chris, Amy and I headed down to the second floor and the comms room. Jake was sitting with his feet on the desk as usual.

  “Jake, any chance you could get Tracy back?” I asked.

  “Sure, give me a second.” He said, lowering his feet and starting to twist dials.

  “Thanks.” I said turning toward Chris.

  “Okay, Chris, what did you say to Mr. Rat that made him piss himself?”

  “Mr. Rat? Oh, yeah, he does look a bit rat-ish.” He said.

  “Spill.” I said.

  “David and I were coming up with different ways to kill the little shit. Looks like he didn’t like any of them.” He replied, grinning.

  “What happens if he has a heart attack? I need to get information first.” I said.

  “Sorry, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.” He said.

  “It’s okay. Just
a little warning next time.” I said, turning back to watch Jake.

  After a few minutes, Jake said he had the right channel and I picked up the mike.

  Keying the call button, I said “Marc to the spiteful bitch, come in spiteful bitch.”

  I waited and was about to transmit when a male voice answered “Hi, Marc, long time no speak.”

  “Hey, Tommy boy, missed you tonight.” I answered.

  “What do you mean by that, Marc?” He said. I could hear the tension in his voice.

  “Get your missus on the line. I don’t really feel like repeating myself.”

  The radio went quiet and then Tracy answered “Well, hello, Marc, you wanting to give up your bunker yet?”

  I smiled because she didn’t know that her men were dead.

  “Not just yet, but you might want to send someone to go move those dead bodies we left outside.” I said.

  “What dead bodies?” She said.

  “The ones that were trying to cover the air intakes. Seems that they got ventilated.” I said, laughing.

  Amy and Jake just covered their faces and groaned. Chris just started laughing.

  “WHAT?!” She screamed over the speakers.

  “Tracy, you really need to get some sort of control on your anger or you’re going to burst a blood vessel.” I said, leaning over to turn off the speakers before she could deafen us all.

  “You do realize that you have royally pissed her off, don’t you?” Amy said, laughing.

  “Maybe but now she knows that we will defend ourselves.” I said.

  “Well, we have to sort out someone to keep an eye on the prisoner. At least for tonight.” Chris said.

  “I’m going to go and have a chat with him now.” I said, leaving the room and heading up to the first floor.

  Amy and Chris followed me into the lift. Whilst I pressed the button for the first floor, Chris and Amy pressed the third and fourth floors.

  I stepped out on the first floor and turned to ask “Where are you two off to?”

  “I’m going to talk with Mike and see if we can get a guard roster sorted.” Chris said.

  “I’m off to bed.” Amy said.

  Now that surprised me. But before I could ask why, the lift doors closed and I heard the lift move. Turning round I headed for the Operations Room and our guest. Opening the door, I saw David still sat at the table cleaning his rifle. He looked up when I walked in and waved.