“We can’t go back to the boats,” I told Tanya. “They’ll know where we are and blow us out of the water.”
“I already figured that out,” she told me. “I’m not heading for the boats. Not while these jokers are on our tail, anyway.”
“So where are we going?”
“Anywhere but the coast.”
I felt a twinge of fear. Heading inland could be dangerous. If we came across a town or a city, that could mean facing hundreds or even thousands of zombies. It was also possible that we might unwittingly drive into an area where a large horde was waiting for prey like a thousand spiders waiting for an unwary fly to wander into their web.
Tanya pushed the map at me. “Find a route that will get us out of this area and also be clear of nasties.”
She might as well have asked me to find the lost ark of the covenant. I had no idea which roads might be safe and which might be crawling with zombies.
I found our location on the map and glanced over the surrounding area. There was a motorway a little farther inland or we could stick to these country roads and continue north. At least if we got to the motorway, we could transfer our cargo to another vehicle. I was sure these Land Rovers had trackers installed and that meant we’d never get away from the military as long as we stayed in them.
“There’s a motorway service station a bit further northwest,” I said. “We should probably change vehicles and then double back.”
Tanya nodded. “If we get to the motorway, we can pick up speed and outrun our pursuers. It’s too hard to get any kind of speed on these narrow roads.”
“A headstart should give us a chance to load the crate and footlocker into another car. If we’re fast enough, we could be heading back south while the vehicles behind us are still heading north. Then we can get to the boats and load everything onto them safely.”
“Sounds good,” Tanya said. “How do we get to the motorway?”
I consulted the map. “Take the next left. Then you should see signs.”
She slowed down for the turn and took it. I checked in the mirror to see if Sam was still following us. He was close behind and probably wondering where the hell we were going. There was still no sign of our pursuers, if that was what the other vehicles actually were. I opened my window and stuck my head out for a moment to see if I could still hear them but we were travelling too fast for me to hear anything other than the wind in my ears.
“The motorway’s six miles ahead,” Tanya said, pointing at a road sign. “Once we get onto it, how far is it to the services?”
I closed my window and studied the map. “I’m not sure exactly. Four or five miles, I think.”
She nodded and put her foot down.
Less than ten minutes later, we crossed a bridge that stretched over the motorway. I looked down at the road below us and felt a flood of relief when I didn’t see any vehicles on the the three lanes that headed north. The southbound carriageway was another story; the lanes were full of abandoned cars.
“Why wasn’t anyone heading north?” Tanya asked, peering at the motorway.
“I have no idea,” I said.
She turned onto a ramp that descended to the northbound lanes. Once we were on the motorway, I checked the mirror to see what was behind us. What I saw explained the lack of cars on this stretch of road. It looked like at least a dozen cars had been involved in an accident that had blocked the road. The cars south of our location hadn’t been able to get past the pile up.
“That explains that,” Tanya said, checking her mirror.
Sam came up alongside us and motioned for Tanya to wind down her window.
When she did so, he shouted, “Where are we going?”
“To ditch these vehicles,” she shouted back. “There’s a place up ahead.”
He nodded. “Okay, sounds good.”
“We’ll double back and get to the boats,” I shouted.
“Cool.” He looked in his mirror and his face fell. “Guys, we have company.”
I turned in my seat and checked behind us. Two big boxy-looking vehicles were crossing the bridge. They were painted a sand colour and looked like some sort of armoured personnel carriers. Following them was a long, similarly coloured six-wheeled vehicle. In a matter of minutes, they’d be behind us on the motorway.
“The two lead vehicles are Foxhounds,” Sam shouted to us. “The one in the rear is a Jackal. They’re all personnel carriers so I reckon there could be maybe twenty soldiers back there.”
Sam obviously knew his military vehicles. All I knew about the sandy-coloured monstrosities behind us was that they looked dangerous.
“Right, let’s get the hell out of here,” Tanya said. She pressed the button that closed her window and put her foot down. We raced along the motorway.
“We should be able to outrun them,” she said.
I watched the three vehicles begin their descent of the ramp and hoped she was right.
6
We raced along the empty motorway in the Land Rovers. Our pursuers were still visible in the mirrors but they were losing ground. They were probably burdened with the weight of passengers, equipment, and weapons whereas our vehicles were virtually unladen save for the crate containing Marcus Vess.
A blue sign at the side of the road told us that the services were just a mile ahead.
“We can’t stop,” Tanya said. “They’re still too close behind us. By the time we find a suitable vehicle, they’ll catch up with us.”
I nodded. “Understood. But if we don’t stop at the services, we’re going to be forced to stop anyway.” I pointed ahead. In the distance, every lane of the motorway was clogged with stationary cars. We were running out of clear road.
“Shit,” Tanya muttered.
The slip road that led to the services appeared in front of us and she turned onto it. “We don’t have a choice,” she said as she decelerated.
We entered the car park. A lot of cars were parked here and we’d have our choice of vehicles if only we had more time.
Unfortunately, time was something we didn’t have in abundance.
Tanya slowed our vehicle to a crawl and Sam drove up alongside us. “What’s up?” he asked through his open window.
“We’ve run out of motorway,” Tanya told him.
“Yeah, I saw that. And we don’t have time to stop and switch cars.”
Tanya nodded. “Exactly.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“Maybe set up a defensive position in that building and keep them at bay?” Tanya suggested, pointing to the brick building which housed a KFC and a McDonalds.
“They’ll just send for more reinforcements,” I said. “Besides, the building is full of nasties.” I could see them shambling behind the windows of the two-storey structure.
Sam pointed beyond the building to a wooden fence that served as the boundary between the services and a field. “What if we go off-road?”
Tanya looked in the direction he was pointing. “That’ll work. We might be able to pick up a different road somewhere in that direction. Alex, check the map.”
I did so. If we made it across the field, there was indeed a road on the other side. “Yeah,” I said. “There’s a road over there but we need to lose the soldiers on our tail and I have an idea how we can do that. Or at least slow them down.”
“Okay,” she said. “What is it?”
I pointed at the brick building. “If we release those zombies into the car park, they could cover our escape.”
She nodded. “I like it. Let’s do it.” She drove over to the glass door that served as the entrance and exit for the building. It was probably an automatic door but someone had locked it. I grabbed my baseball bat and got out of the Land Rover.