Eyes of the infected ✔ [COMPLETED]

Chapter five

CHAPTER FIVE

In the space of an hour, things began to get more and more hectic.
Where the roads had been jam packed before, in the space of ten minutes it worsened as cars began to flood even into the sidewalk; it was completely manic. Car horns were blaring, sirens screaming along with people, and pedestrians lined the streets with banners and billboards in protests, some in groups and some alone. The signs all showed the same basic message, but one message scrawled on a piece of cardboard was etched in my mind. The sign was held by a scruffy looking man who sported torn clothes and a worn out expression, clearly homeless.
‘What do I have to lose?’ The words screamed from the cardboard, right into my heart. How right he was.


I dared not ask where we were heading in the car, I wasn’t totally sure I wanted to know. We could go as far North as the UK would take us, the land had to end sometime. Then what? Would there be more of those creatures on the other side of the UK, were they rearing their heads in other countries? Dad had mentioned earlier than flights had been cancelled, what about boats? What if they were cancelled too?
Was I just having a bad dream?
Please, please be a dream.


‘Lucas, be a good lad and pull out the yellow bag from under the seats’ Dad broke the hour long tension with the command to my brother who’d been muttering quietly to Keith. In the blink of an eye, he was holding a yellow sports bag which was brimming with food, bags of crisps spilling out the top.
‘There should be some sandwiches in there somewhere, grab a few and pass them around, I think we’re all starving’.
Even though I was terrified my stomach would violently reject any food I swallowed, I took a ham sandwich and spent the next twenty minutes mindlessly eating  till all that remained in my hand was a useless plastic bag. It was funny but I couldn’t taste a thing, like I’d been biting my way through cardboard.
‘Everybody’s scared’ Joel piped up, his voice faltering a little, ‘but I’m going to be a brave boy’.
‘Mummy’s soldier’ Mum smiled, ruffling his hair, ‘You’re braver than all of us. Do you want to read a book? I think I have a few in my bag’ she began to rifle through her own bag while I leaned my head back on the seat, wondering how my six year old brother could be braver than me. I wasn’t the picture of a soldier, with long brunette hair falling below my shoulders framing my large blue eyes and pale skin. Lucas and I looked very similar, almost like twins we were always told. Joel was the exception, he took after Mum with his shaggy blonde hair while we took after our Dad.
Looking towards my level headed father made my fists unclench; he had all of our fear on his shoulders at the moment. He was driving, making plans, keeping us all sane and informed whereas I was quietly content that I wasn’t screaming and crying, launching myself from the backseat of this car. Pushing a stray hair away from my face, I looked out the window and wondered if anything could ever be the same again.


‘Oh shit’ Keith muttered to Lucas, eyes narrowed as though he’d come to some kind of realisation.
 ‘Language’ Dad scolded, ‘Kids present’ he gestured to Joel who pointed to himself with a grin.
‘Sorry sir’ Keith bowed his head, looking sheepish, ‘But those people out there, all I can think of are those cheap blockbuster movies with all the stage make up, the zombie ones. Have you ever seen 28 days later?’
‘I did’ Lucas and I said in unison. We’d watched it together actually, I’d been terrified and fascinated at the same time – it was those movies which pulled me into the horror genre, it was so captivating in such a weird way.
‘Then tell me you don’t see it, honestly’. Keith studied our reactions, waiting for something, anything. After a breath, I snorted with laughter causing everyone to glance at me in surprise. I hadn’t actually meant to laugh, it was probably blind fear, but the fact there was a complete stranger sat in our car who claimed we were running away from rampaging zombies eating their way through our town struck me as funny.
‘You can’t be serious’ I gasped through laughs which sounded more and more ridiculous and forced by the second.
‘How can you not be serious?’ he countered quietly, silencing me.
‘Oh, I’m serious’ I argued, ‘I’m terrified. But I’m not going to start throwing around theories that a disease or something, whatever this is, has to be linked to some fairy-tale creature who by the way, is ‘dead’. These people aren’t dead, they’re diseased’.
‘Did you not see the thing that was running towards us, breaking through the car? It was fucking snarling, Harley!’ Lucas cried.
‘Language’ Dad boomed again, ‘and no more talk of zombies. I’ve dealt with disease my whole life, it’s my career for goodness sake, and ‘zombies’ are not scientifically or realistically possible. If somebody dies then their body goes with them, may they rest in peace. Now I know as much as you do but my bet is that a vicious, contagious disease is raging down south, maybe it is triggering a rage response in the brain, maybe these infected people are simply relying on natural instincts, eat, survive. Either way, they are not zombies and we are getting as far away from whatever is happening as possible because I love my family and I want them safe’.
‘I understand, sir’ Keith nodded once again, seeming a little taken aback. I was too, something my father said had triggered something within me.
This was real, we were running for our lives.
I just hoped everybody was safer than I felt.


We were driving at a complete snails pace and had been for a few hours; I was completely restless in the back of the car. Roads were packed with cars, ambulances, vans, lorries and even people flooding the streets. Honestly, I couldn’t even imagine seeing or being near one of those infected people again, but I knew if it happened now, we would be absolutely stuck. We were compressed, the combined body heat of everyone in the car becoming almost unbearable, even in the wintery weather. Rain had started  to lightly fall on the roof, looking more beautiful than usual, delicately slapping on the car which we’d been stuck in for so many hours on end it felt as though it was a new home.
‘Can I open my window?’ my voice croaked; I hadn’t spoken in a fair while, nobody had.
‘Yeah, sweetheart’ my Mum smiled, catching my eye in the mirror, ‘You guys feeling alright back there?’
I turned to Lucas, Keith and now Joel, covering my hand with my mouth hurriedly so I didn’t laugh. They were all asleep:  Lucas’ head balanced on Keith’s shoulder and Joel laying over both of them with his head buried within Lucas’ stomach. It was completely comical, Keith and Lucas looked like an old married couple. After their uneasy start, they’d clicked almost instantly, realising their interests were almost identical along with their sense of humour. For the last hour before they’d obviously crashed out, they’d been trading stories, laughing in the backseat, seeming to become friends in such a short time. It kind of made me happy, realising there could still be some good in this mess. I’d chatted with Keith properly too,clicking with him instantly in a way I rarely did with anyone; usually I was gripped by fear when meeting new people but for whatever reason, this boy put me at ease. He was a guy, just surviving like us. I liked him; I genuinely hoped we could stay close when this was over.
If it was ever over.


How long would this take to be over? It felt like it hadn’t even started, I still knew nothing, naivety was the scariest part. With a shudder, I began to reach for my window to open it with the tiny button.
‘Don’t’ Dad called. I stopped immediately with my arm hanging in mid-air.
‘Erm?’ I mumbled in a question.
‘Sorry honey, but for all we know this thing could be airborne. Until we know more, we’re gonna have to stay cooped up. Sorry’.
‘I guess you’re right’ I sighed, wishing I could just stretch my legs, ‘Where are we anyway?’
‘The last sign I passed said we were in Alnwick’.
‘Never heard of it’ I frowned, wishing I’d paid more attention in Geography.
‘A long way from home’ Dad chuckled, the look in his eyes sad.
‘We’ll be back soon’ I smiled at him through the mirror, full well knowing it wasn’t quite reaching my eyes.
‘I know, wouldn’t want my best girls getting homesick. We’re heading up the route for Edinburgh, so I was thinking we could stay there tonight, somewhere which isn’t the car’.
I couldn’t supress my gasp, ‘Edinburgh?!’
‘We’ve been on the road for a very long time, chook. Traffic’s getting worse though, and it’ll start getting late soon’.
‘Can’t we stay here for a while? We’re at a standstill’.
‘She’s right, Chris’ Mum cut in, ‘I feel awful about the kids sleeping in a damn car, they need a bed’.
‘I know’ he sighed, ‘we need to buy some decent food as well’. Suddenly, I felt bad, I couldn’t even imagine how hard it must feel, looking after three kids in some kind of disaster. Lucas was an adult and so was I practically, we could easily take care of things.
‘Well, Lucas and I could take Keith and pay for a hotel while you guys find a room somewhere else’ I suggested, ‘It means we can split the cost and I doubt anywhere will have enough rooms for all of us’.
‘No’ Mum and Dad both said in unison, ‘We’re not leaving you’ Mum said firmly.
‘Yeah, you can’ Lucas mumbled, making me jump.
‘How long have you been awake for?’
‘Long enough to know I’ve been sleeping on a guy’ he whined, shifting his body so he was no longer dependant on Keith, ‘Harley’s right, I can take care of things and nowhere is gonna have five beds including a double; two places might be easier. We could meet in the morning’.
‘No’ Dad said again, sounding slightly more unsure, ‘Besides, we couldn’t sleep not knowing you were safe. I can’t rationally explain what we saw at that petrol station. If that is the disease we’re running from, we need to stick together all the more than before’.
‘I get that’ Lucas sighed, ‘But we’re hours and hours from where we were when that happened, for all we know they could have just been crazy costume people’.
‘Oh, don’t be stupid’ I narrowed my eyes, ‘What happened was real as day and you know it’.
‘I do’ he muttered, ‘I just can’t explain it. No matter how many times I replay it in my head, it still doesn’t seem like it actually happened’.
‘There could be an explanation’ my Mum spoke frankly, ‘There probably is one. You’re right though, we need a hotel with a TV, if we don’t know what we’re up against, we can’t fight it’.
‘But you saw what it was like in Sunderland, there were barely any beds going, let alone five’ I said, ‘Although I’d happily sleep on the floor’ I mumbled the last part.
‘She’s right’ Lucas spoke to the front of the car, rubbing his eyes, ‘I know it’s not practical but we’ll have to split, and you know I’ll take care of Harley’.
‘We know’ Dad muttered, massaging the lines on his forehead, ‘We’re going to check for places first, but if there are no rooms spare, and that is only ‘if’, we’ll split. But keep your damn  phone on’.
‘Okay’ I sighed in relief, the idea of a bed seeming like pure heaven to my mind, ‘What time is it anyway?’
‘Five o clock, it’ll take about an hour to get out of this traffic I reckon so sit tight guys. You hungry?’
‘Starving’ we chorused, genuinely smiling at each other for the first time in what seemed like weeks. It felt strange, smiling when there was a huge time bomb heading for us, a time bomb which would explode the second it touched the ground.


I’d never thought too much about death, it always seemed so foreign and distant from me. I’d had virtually no experience with it before, my life was sheltered to say the least. The closest I ever got was losing a distant great aunt whom I met once in my life; she was somewhat a black sheep of the family but I still cried all night, suddenly terrified that my mother or father would be next, or perhaps my brother and best friend, maybe even our pet fish. Either way, it suddenly seemed as though the world was a much scarier place and I began to notice deaths in the news, in the papers, even through hearsay. But still, I never imagined I could be facing it like this. In the space of a day, I was suddenly wading through this new world, in which I didn’t know how many people I loved were safe, I didn’t know how to run and I still didn’t know how to protect my family. The scary thing was, in a way, not much had changed.

                                                                                         ******

‘Oh god, a bed’ I cried dramatically, falling back through the air till my back hit the sheets which were soon enveloping me. I couldn’t shed the feeling we were doing the wrong thing, taking a break. If this thing was chasing us up the country, halting our escape, in my mind, was the worst thing we could possibly do, but I really didn’t have the energy to argue.
‘Tell me about it’ Lucas mumbled, walking from the en suite bathroom, towel drying his hair, ‘This place is no palace but it has a shower, so it’s alright in my books’.
‘Damn straight’ I stretched by arms out, my tiredness suddenly catching up with me, ‘Where’d Keith go?’
‘The lady wants me?’ Keith waltzed into the room, his grin infectious, ‘Because I hate to be a bother, but your brother has become my chum and I’m not gonna b-‘
‘Don’t finish that sentence’ Lucas growled, ‘My sister is off limits’.
‘As you wish, sir’ Keith saluted, sending me a wink. I rolled my eyes as let them fall closed, praying for a good nights sleep where I’d wake up in my own bed, in my own town and with a smile on my face.


Our parents and Joel were off at a B&B while we got lucky with the only room left in a small hotel; it was cramped but I wasn’t ready to complain about the conditions, they could be so much worse.
‘Don’t sleep yet’ Lucas scolded, his voice close.
‘Oh bugger off’ I mumbled, my mind already foggy with delayed exhaustion.
‘No, Dad said he’d call to check we’re alright which means if I’m staying up then so are you’.
‘I hate you’ I muttered as I forced my eyelids open, the room blearily coming into view, ‘Can’t you just wake me?’
‘Let the girl sleep, you monster’ Keith called from the en suite. He wasn’t a bad guy.
‘Oh, fine’ Lucas grumpily agreed, ‘Layabout, lazy cow, bloody female, cheeky..’
It was to his curses that I fell asleep, the terrifying eyes of the people from the petrol station invading my dreams.


The wails from my nightmare seemed to still ring in my ears when I woke up. After a few seconds of bleary confusion though, I realised that the screams were in fact outside my dreams and alarmingly close to me.
‘Lucas?’ I called, scrambling from the bed, goosebumps rising on my arms, ‘Keith?’
Silence.
‘Where are you?’ My voice rose, unsteadily calling for the people I so desperately needed. The room was empty, the shouts and yells outside seeming to get closer and closer until I found the strength to sprint to the en suite bathroom and slam it shut behind me, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps.
‘Shit’ I muttered, dragging my hands through my already tousled hair. Where the hell were they? My instinct had been to run but inside the strange security of the bathroom, I just wanted to leave and find my brother.
What if he was hurt? What if those things from the petrol station had reappeared?
Why didn’t he stay put?