The serenity of the moment was killed when I heard someone shout, “Get out of the vehicle!”
Moving quickly back the way I had come, I stayed low as I approached the camper van. What I saw made my heart sink.
At least a dozen soldiers surrounded the van, rifles aimed at Sam, Tanya, Jax, and Doctor Colbert. My friends had their hands up and offered no resistance as the soldiers herded them along the track toward the road where a truck waited.
I heard someone say, “What have we got here, then?”
“Survivors,” came a reply. “Fuck knows how they lasted this long.”
My friends climbed into the back of the truck at gunpoint. A soldier closed the tailgate, and the truck drove away toward Site Alpha Two.
I waited a few minutes to make sure the area was clear. It was possible that the soldiers might leave a guard her to watch the camper van, but the more I thought about that, the more unlikely it seemed. It would probably be foolish to leave a couple of men in a wood full of zombies. And why bother guarding an empty vehicle? They were securing this whole area, so they could return to the camper van whenever they wanted. It wasn’t going anywhere.
I crept into the clearing, pausing every couple of seconds to listen for a sound that might tell me my theory about a guard was wrong. By the time I reached the camper van, I was sure I was alone here.
I opened the side door and went into the vehicle. The soldiers had taken the weapons and some of the equipment we had brought with us but they had left a backpack of rations, and the pack that contained the H1NZ1. They had missed it in their hasty search, not understood what it was, or decided to come back later to search the vehicle properly.
I slung the pack onto my back and adjusted the straps so that it fit comfortably. I wasn’t sure why I was taking it with me but I couldn’t abandon the thing we had worked so hard to obtain. There might be some way I could get it to Doctor Colbert, and I was going to try my best to do that.
Besides, Johnny Drake had died for this chemical so I wasn’t going to just leave it here.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I STAYED AWAY from the road as I crept through the woods toward the facility. I had the Desert Eagle in my hand, but there was no way I was going to get into a shootout with soldiers. I refused to shoot at living human beings. Also, I had hardly ever shot a gun, and I was sure to be killed instantly if I went up against men who were highly trained in the use of firearms.
I had no idea what I was going to do once I found out where they were holding my friends, other than try to liberate them from the army’s clutches.
Luckily, I met no resistance, and soon reached an area at the edge of the woods where I could observe the facility and remain out of sight, staying low and close to the tree trunks and undergrowth.
The military had built a camp within the perimeter fence of Site Alpha Two. Dozens of green tents huddled together in the compound. The parking lot was full of army trucks and Land Rovers. There were soldiers scurrying everywhere. As I watched, a Chinook helicopter descended onto a flat area of grass, the ramp at the rear lowering to allow even more personnel into the camp. After a few moments, the Chinook took off again, presumably to fetch even more personnel. It whirred away over the distant hills and out of sight.
The compound, which had been quiet yesterday when we’d arrived, was buzzing with noise and an atmosphere of expectancy. The fire in the building seemed to have died out. Black soot covered the outer walls above the second floor windows and a foul smell of burnt rubber and plastic hung in the air, but I couldn’t see any flames or smoke.
Teams of soldiers were being shown floor plans of the building on a large screen, the areas of interest pointed out by a large man wearing a maroon beret. I couldn’t believe they were going to send more people in there after what had happened to Recon One.
Somewhere, in one of the tents, Sam, Tanya, Jax, and Doctor Colbert were probably being questioned. Maybe they could warn the soldiers not to go into the building, tell them about Vess. I laughed at that thought. Would the men in charge listen? I already knew the answer to that.
There seemed to be nothing I could do to help my friends. If I tried to get into the compound, I was going to be caught. That wouldn’t help anyone.
I sat back against a tree trunk and checked my watch. Did any of this even matter when we had less than fourteen hours left to live? If Tanya, Sam, and Jax turned while being held in the camp, the soldiers were going to be sorry. I doubted that there would be anyone left alive in there by morning.
Was there anything I could do other than sit here and wait? It felt wrong to spend my last few hours sitting alone in these woods while my friends spent theirs as prisoners of the army.
I studied the compound again. Guards were posted at the gate and in the security-guard station that we had occupied earlier. I wondered if they were using the camera monitors to explore the interior of the building just as we had. How would things be different in there now that most of level 2 had gone up in smoke? The zombies in the stairwell had probably been driven up to higher levels or down to level 1. Probably both.
And where was Vess? Was he still roaming the air vents or had he found refuge elsewhere? One thing was certain; with the army sending more men inside, Vess was going to have plenty of prey to hunt down and tear apart.
The military presence seemed to be concentrated at the front of the building, the grassy area at the rear being deserted. With the amount of men they were flying in, they would probably have to extend the camp to that area too, eventually, but for now it was still empty of soldiers.
If I could get over the fence around the back, I wouldn’t have to worry about the guards at the gate. I’d have a good chance of getting into the compound undiscovered. But what would I do once I was in there? I couldn’t go knocking on every tent, asking if anyone had seen my friends.
I put the Desert Eagle in its holster. I had no ideas left. We had done well to get the H1NZ1 but in the end, a superior force had overwhelmed us. We couldn’t fight against the army.
My journey since the first day of the zombie breakout had been a harrowing one. I’d avoided army patrols, escaped from a zombie-infested lighthouse, been part of a mission to the Survivor Radio studios, and entered a secret government site to extract a chemical that would be used to create an antivirus.
And I’d fallen in love. My biggest regret about ending my journey here, among these trees, was that I wasn’t with Lucy. But I was still thankful that I had at least met Lucy and spent precious time with her, even if I couldn’t be with her at the end.
I looked down at the Desert Eagle in its holster. Should I just blow my brains out now? If I waited until I was about to turn, I might not have the will to do it. I had no idea what signs to look for that would mean I was on the verge of turning. And by the time I recognized them, it might be too late, my brain already under the control of the virus.
The army would probably kill me eventually but how many innocent people would I tear apart before they managed to catch me?
I sat staring at the trees around me, letting my thoughts zone out. When I checked my watch later, the countdown told me that I had been sitting there for over an hour.
I was wasting precious time. If I was going to end this on my own terms, then I needed to get on with it.
A distant sound caught my attention. Standing up to stretch my aching muscles, I saw the Chinook coming over the hills, probably bringing more personnel to the camp.
As I watched the chopper’s approach, a shout went up near the building.
Recon One had blown the main door off its hinges when they had gone inside earlier but no one had thought to seal the doorway afterward, and now dozens of zombies were shambling out into the camp, attracted by the noise and movement.