The Divine Infection

Chapter Fifteen: Safe & Sound

The van is unusually silent as Jake drives on. Alex, Jim, Crilly and Alaya are still fast asleep, surprisingly, and Barrone is just studying the three newest additions to our group. 

"So. Tom. Pip. Frenchy. What brings you here, to Paisley?" 

"Uhm. We live here." Tom shrugs, smiling slightly. "We heard the transmission saying about the safe point in Dundee, and arranged to make our way there. Then we heard about the collection point, and took up that opportunity. And uh, here we are." 

"Are you infected?" Barrone asks, looking between the three of them. 

"What? No!" Frenchy, the man with curly brown hair like some kind of an afro, gapes. "We're clean!" 

"Sh. You'll wake the babies." Jake shushes him, smiling slightly. 

"What are you, a proud mother?" Pip grins. 

"Kind of. Just wish I still had a wild Chappell handy." 

"Wild Chappell?" The long-ginger-haired man questions. 

"It's a long story." Barrone says quietly, voice utterly monotone as he continues to look between the three men. "So. Headed to Dundee, not infected. Anything else?" 

"What are you, dealing the law out?" I ask, looking over the back of my seat and shooting him an odd look. 

"I am the law." Barrone says, obviously joking and yet still looking serious as ever. 

"Dredd." Tom chuckles. "Good taste in movies." 

"The comics were better. Damn, I wish I hadn't left them back in Beccles." The sandy-haired man frowns even deeper. 

"Haven't I seen you guys before?" Pip asks, cocking his head to the side and studying Barrone. "Like, before this all started?" Then it seems to click, because he's suddenly gaping, wide-eyed, at Barrone. "You're Barrone! From-" 

"Thought I recognised you." Tom smiles. I cock an eyebrow, and the dark-brown-haired man explains. "We played a gig or two together, back in the day. Well, we supported them." 

"Oh." Am I just surrounded by band members? This would be a dream come true, if it weren't for the fact my life is in constant danger. 

"So, does your group have a name or something?" Jake asks. "I mean, the name thing is pointless now, we're not all together anymore. But still." 

"Not really." Tom shrugs. "Wait, there's more of you?" 

"We split up in Lutton." Barrone says blankly. 

"Lutton?! How far have you travelled?!" 

"From Beccles. After various van breakdowns, deaths, all that, we're almost there." Jake smiles. "Dundee. Hey, remember that gig we played there, Alex?" 

Alex mumbles something in reply that I don't quite catch, but proves that he's awake. 

"Yeah, it was fun. Wish we could've gotten the chance to play there again." Jake sighs. 

"Dundee's a fun place." Frenchy smiles. Everyone shoots him an incredulous look. "What? Okay, not in an apocalypse, it's not." He grins apologetically. "Still, it's got to be better than half the stuff out there." 

"Or half the stuff we've seen." I sigh. Frenchy looks at me in question. "We saw a weird dragon-type thing. Like a demon. Except demons aren't real." 

"How do you know? Could be. You've seen half the stuff out in the open, that's not natural." Tom says pointedly. 

"It's definitely not natural. It's all man-made." Alex says sleepily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.