Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (28 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Looking out at the blazing remains
of civilisation was a surreal experience.  Common sense suggested that
Nick should be on his knees, weeping and crying out in desperation, but all he
found himself doing was staring.  The level of horror was so high that
something inside his brain kicked in; a defence mechanism designed to keep his
mind calm…keep him sane amongst the insanity.

Annaliese stood next to him and was staring with the same
numb expression.  Suddenly, she pointed something out.  “Look,” she
said.  “They’re moving away.”

Nick looked down the hill at the car park.  Like a herd
of grazing buffalo, the massive horde of infected people had begun to turn
around and face the direction of the flaming village on the horizon.  A
factory in the distance ignited and went up in a gulf of orange flame and
obsidian smoke.

“It’s the explosions,” Nick said.  “It’s leading them
away.”

“That makes sense.  They operate off sight and
sound.  They’re heading for all the noise.  We might actually be
about to catch a break here.”

Nick took one last look at the infected, funnelling away
into the distance, and then turned to look at Annaliese.  “Let’s get what we
need and tell the others.”

“Okay, let’s head back to the gift shop and load up the tote
bags.”

“Ready when you are.”

They headed back to the gift shop and got to work. 
They loaded up the tote bags with the plastic ponchos and hoodies.  There
was so much stock that they ended up looking like pack mules as they struggled
to carry all of the tote bags.  The last thing they gathered up were the
plush toys from the midway games that they could use as pillows.

“This should be more than enough,” said Nick, peering over
the top of his load.

Annaliese agreed and they started to make their way back
towards the restaurant.  With tote bags wrapped around both of his arms
and a pile of plush toys balanced in front of him, Nick was having a tough time
seeing.  It made him think about how Deana used to make fun of the way he
would always be so determined to get all the shopping bags from the boot of the
car to the house in one single trip.

Guess I haven’t changed completely.

Up ahead, he heard rustling.  It sounded like Annaliese
was heading into the hedges that ringed the park’s outer pathways.  He was
just about to ask her what she was doing when he heard her cry out.

Nick dropped the bags he was carrying and looked around
frantically.  As he did so, he ended up treading on a stuffed
dolphin.  His ankle twisted and he cried out in pain.

Annaliese was struggling on her back with an infected on top
of her.  There was a second infected person coming out of the bushes; a
Chinese guy with broken spectacles.

Shit!  What do I do?

Nick knew that if the infected Chinese man made it over to
Annaliese he would have no problem sinking his teeth into her as she struggled
with the woman.  Nick would have to take the man down first.

Here goes nothing.

With a rapidly swelling ankle, he lolloped towards the
Chinese man and leapt into the air.  He planted a sloppy flying kick in
the best impression of Bruce Lee that he could manage.  The man went
stumbling backwards into the bushes and Nick landed and hissed out in
pain.  He spun around to see that Annaliese had the infected woman around
the throat and was trying to bring up her knees as a barrier between
them. 

Nick went to help her.

He grabbed the infected woman around the waist and tugged
her backwards.  At the same time, Annaliese kicked out her legs and struck
the woman’s abdomen.  The extra momentum sent Nick reeling backwards to
the floor with his arms still wrapped around the woman’s waist.  He held
on tightly as Annaliese hurried to her feet.

“Keep her there,” she shouted.

“Yeah, no problem,” said Nick, sarcastically.

Annaliese disappeared out of sight.  The infected woman
thrashed about in Nick’s arms.  He suddenly felt alone…abandoned.

Then Annaliese reappeared and dove at the infected woman in
his arms.  She swung her arm and cracked the woman across the face. 
Nick felt the body go limp and quickly dumped it to the side.  He scurried
back to his feet and saw that Annaliese held a jagged rock in her hand. 
It dripped with blood.

“Very effective,” he said.  “Think you can-”

Annaliese’s eyes went wide.

Nick was tackled from behind by the infected Chinese
man.  He fell to the floor face down and struck his head on the
pavement.  Immediately his vision dimmed and his hearing buzzed as though
his ears were full of flies.

He was hardly aware of what happened next as he lay on the
floor impotently.  Sounds of a desperate struggle ensued, but he was
unable to do anything.

I need to help, Anna.

Or she needs to help me.

There was a wet sound.

And then silence.

Nick was still dazed when the struggling stopped.  He
wanted to roll onto his back and see what was happening, but every time he
tried to move, a wave of nausea flooded over him.  His head clanged like a
kettle drum.

I think I’m going to puke.

A hand clamped down on his wrist and squeezed.  The
breath caught in his chest as he lay there, still powerless.

“Come on,” Annaliese told him.  “I handled it.”

Nick blinked and tried to stop his vision from
tilting.  He took a few deep breaths before he was able to place his palms
on the pavement and push himself up.  Annaliese helped him to his knees
and then, slowly, onto his feet.

He wobbled a bit and she grabbed a hold of him.  “Whoa,
you okay?  You took a pretty big bang on the head, there.  I can
already see the swelling coming up.”

“I don’t feel right, I…”  His words trailed off as he
saw the blood pouring from Annaliese’s neck.  He reached out a hand, but
then stopped himself.

Her blood could be infected.  Don’t touch it!

Annaliese stepped away from his grasp and frowned.  She
followed his gaze and looked down at her shoulder.  She saw the blood
there and her mouth dropped open.

“Oh, no,” she said.  “No, no, no.”

Nick stepped forward and put his hands on both her
shoulders.  Suddenly his headache was gone, replaced by trepidation and
fear.  He caught Annaliese’s gaze and looked her dead in the eye. 
“Are you bit?” he asked her.  But she didn’t seem to hear the question and
stared into space.  “I said, are you bitten?

“I…I don’t know.”

Nick shook his head.  “Damn it!”

Annaliese began unclasping the buttons of her shirt and
tugged the material away from her neck and shoulder.  Nick leant forward
to examine her wound.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

There was a lot of blood.  It was bright red and
already clotting.  It wasn’t from a deep wound, but that wouldn’t matter
if it was from a bite.  Nick followed the bleeding to its source, until it
became clear what they were dealing with.

I can’t believe it.

He stepped away from her and let out a sigh.

Annaliese eyes went impossibly wide.  “What?” she
pleaded.  “Am I bitten?”

Nick shook his head and stepped closer to her.  He
reached a hand around her neck and plucked something from a gash he had
discovered on the back of her shoulder. 

Annaliese flinched.  “Shit!  What was that?”

Nick held the sharp twig out in front of her and watched the
relief take over her.  He couldn’t help but laugh with relief.  “It
was sticking right out of you.  It was in pretty deep, but there’s no
bite.”

Annaliese put a hand to her forehead and rubbed. 
“Thank God!  I must have landed on it when the infected woman took me down
to the ground.  Jeez, that was close.”

“What were they doing up here anyway?” he asked her, hoping
she would have an answer.

“They must have followed you up in the cable car,” she
said.  “Climbed up the hill after you.”

Nick looked around anxiously, eyeing the treeline that
surrounded the park and led down the hill.  “You think there are more?”

Annaliese shrugged.  “I bet there are more in the
trees, but if we get out of sight they should all head back down towards the
village with the others.  These two must have been nearby when the
explosions happened.  They probably already had us in their sights.”

Nick looked down at the scattered items they had been
carrying back to the restaurant.  Then he looked back up at
Annaliese.  “I think that once we get all this stuff back, our only
priority for now should be getting this place secure.  The infected may be
heading away for now, but I’m sure more will come by eventually.”

Annaliese nodded her head, staring at the ground as she
thought about things.  “We need to make this place a fortress.”

“Either that,” said Nick.  “Or we need to start
watching our backs every second.”

Chapter Thirty

Almost three weeks had passed since
the decision was made to dig in five-hundred feet above the ground.  Nick
was grateful for stumbling upon the survivors at Ripley Heights.  He knew
he would be dead if he hadn’t.

Several more infected people had found their way into the
park grounds over the days that followed.  They quickly lost Greg to one
of them.  He had been checking out the woods when an infected man dressed
in a Royal Mail uniform jumped out at him and took him to the ground.  He
was dead before anybody could get to him. 

The group had mourned Greg’s loss and had shared a common
regret that nobody knew him well.  It just made everyone feel even luckier
to still be alive.  

Dave had hunted down most of the infected in the nearby
woods after that, by himself.  He took them out with his chef’s knife and
came back every night covered in blood.  The man now kept the blade
constantly strapped to his waist like Rambo.

It had now been more than four days since any infected had
been spotted inside the park.  Things had finally begun to feel a little
safer.  The makeshift walls, fences, and barriers that they had erected in
key areas also added to that feeling of security.

Still, it was far from ideal living.  The power had
finally failed and the water pressure was getting lower each day.  They no
longer used any of the park’s toilets and had taken to finding their own
individual spots in the woods.  It was a degrading devolution of their
once civil habits.  They now had to go shit in the woods like any other
animal.  Human superiority had been reduced to nothing.   

Now that everyone had time to think and rest up a little, a
dark mood had fallen over the group.  They each began to mourn the losses
of both their previous life and their all of their friends and loved
ones.  Nick, too, had become morose as the full weight of what had
happened finally washed over him.  He would often wander off on his own,
just to cry.  Never again would he see his wife and son.  He would
never even get to see a photograph of them.  All he had were the rapidly
fading images in his mind.  He would never get to play football with James
or make love to Deana.  They were both gone.  Forever.  The
burden of that loss had tarnished his soul.  He was no longer the man he
used to be.

No longer a man at all.

In the last few days, the group had formed a ‘camp’ around
the
Big Dog
restaurant.  They had erected a waist-high wire fence
around a large portion of the grounds, separating the steep decline of the
surrounding hill from the level pathways of the park.  It was not high
enough to stop any infected entering, but it would at least slow them
down.  The least secured place in the whole park was the access road that
led down the hill to the nearby villages.  It was located by Ripley
Hall.  Nick and Alan had done their best to block it off with a portable
candy floss stand and a ride-on lawnmower they had found in the warehouse, but
it wasn’t ideal.

But, as things went, they were in as good a position as they
could be.  The burning villages in the distance made clear that any remnant
or morsel of safety was a true privilege.  To still be alive after all
that had happened was a lottery win.

“Hey, man, you’re never going to believe this,” said Mike.

Nick shook his head and frowned.  “Believe what?”

Mike grinned.  “Just come.”

Nick followed him towards the zoo.  The group had not
spent much time amongst the animals, but Anna had been making sure they were
all fed and watered.  Nobody said it, but they all knew that the animals
would probably end up as food eventually; none of them wanted to get too
attached.

Much harder to eat a pig with a name.

Mike led Nick past the pig stys and up to a large enclosure
with a big fat tree in its centre, then he stopped and looked at him as though
there was supposed to be something obvious he was seeing.

Nick shrugged his shoulders.  “What?”

Mike sighed and pointed.  “You blind, or what?”

When Nick finally saw it, his mouth dropped open. 
“Wow!  Is that real?”

“Course it’s real.”

Nick stared up at the Orang-utan perched in the trees and
could barely believe it.  It was hanging around as if it were no different
than a common grey squirrel.  Nick supposed that the animal belonged to
the zoo and had somehow gotten loose?”

“Is it…dangerous?” Nick asked.

“Beats me,” said Mike.  “Alan has run off to get Anna. 
She’ll know what to do.”

Nick eased himself down onto the floor and sat on a patch of
grass.  He propped his head up on his hands and gazed at the
copper-coloured creature in the treetops.

Amazing
.

The orang-utan stared down at the assembled group with
something approaching disinterest.  It seemed completely at home in the
trees and was no doubt satisfied to have such freedom after having been
enclosed in the zoo for what may have been its entire lifetime.

Good for you.  Hope you’re enjoying yourself.

For some reason, seeing an animal so wild and free lifted
Nick’s spirits.  It brought him back slightly from the deep melancholy
which had encased his soul for so many days.  When Annaliese finally
arrived at the scene, he had not taken his eyes off the animal once in several
minutes.

“Lily!”  Annaliese put a hand on her mouth. 
“Wow!”

Nick stood up off the ground and patted the dirt from his
woollen coat.  “Lily?  Is that the monkey’s name?”

“She’s not a monkey.  She’s an ape.”

Nick nodded.  “Okay.  So, where did
Lily
come from?”

“This enclosure you’re standing right in front of. 
This was her habitat.”

“How did she get out?”

“I let her out,” said Annaliese.  “Sort of.”

“Is she dangerous?”

Annaliese chewed at her lower lip for a second then said,
“Could she be dangerous if she wanted to be?  Sure.  She could crush
our skulls with a single swipe, but do I think we need to be worried? 
No.  From what I know about her, she is very intelligent and
sensitive.  She’s lost her family just like the rest of us.”

Nick glanced at her.  “What do you mean?”

“There was a mate in the pen with her, and an infant. 
You can see them, there, under the blankets.  When the first infected
people appeared, they flooded into the enclosure and attacked Lily and her
family.  She was the only one that made it.”

“So, the infected attack animals as well?” Nick asked, his
eyebrows raised.

Annaliese shook her head.  “They walked right past the
other animals as if they weren’t even there.  I’m guessing that a primate
is enough like a human being to pass for a target.  They must get
confused.”

Mike walked up to the both of them and looked up at Lily in
the trees, like they were.  “Why is she hanging around here?”

“Only she knows that,” Annaliese said.  “But I think
it’s because she doesn’t want to be alone.  The infected are as much a
threat to her as they are to us.  Maybe she’s been down the hill and
realised that this is the safest place to be.”

“She doesn’t seem to mind people,” Mike commented.

“No, she doesn’t,” said Annaliese.  She waved a hand in
the air.  Lily shocked everyone by waving right back.  “She probably
misses the safety of her enclosure.  That’s why she’s stuck to being
nearby.”

“Should we feed her?” Nick asked.

“I don’t think Shawcross would like that,” said Mike. 
“He and Dave are already kicking up a fuss about the daily rations being too
high.”

“Screw them,” Annaliese said.  “We feed her what we
can.  Lily’s a part of this group, too.  A survivor.  Anybody
has a problem with that, they can talk to me.”

“Fine by me,” said Nick.  “I think I’d like having her
around, and feeding her is one way to ensure that.”

Annaliese smiled at him.  “How’s your head.  Along
with your various other wounds.”

Nick felt the faint bump on his forehead.  “It’s
better.  I still feel a bit sick when I first wake up, but the headaches
have stopped.  I’ve just been trying to rest as much as possible.”

“I think you probably had a mild concussion,” she
said.  “Just keep resting up and you’ll soon be on the mend.”

“I’m just lucky to have such a small brain.  Otherwise
I could really have been hurt.”

Annaliese frowned at him.  “Don’t be so silly. 
You and Mike are the only people I can talk any sense to.  You’re both
just the right amount of insane.”

Nick looked at Mike who was giggling.  It was ironic;
Nick had never been a big valuer of friendships in his previous life, but it
was comforting to have the trust of Mike and Annaliese.  They were his
comrades in arms.  His buddies.  It was nowhere near a replacement
for the family he had lost, but it was something at least.

“So, where are Shawcross and Dave?” Nick asked.  Both
men had been in a constant battle for authority over the last few days, trying
to be the one that made all the decisions.  The pathetic thing was that
neither man had noticed how little the rest of the group cared who was in
charge.  It was a thankless job which no one else wanted.

Like two bulls fighting over a marble.

Annaliese answered the question.  “They’re both back at
the restaurant with Pauline and Eve.  They’re working on a map of the park
and marking it out with emergency weapon drops and food stashes.  Dave
doesn’t think it’s a good idea to have all our supplies in one place, in case
something happens.  Shawcross agreed with him, for once.”

“Probably a good idea,” said Mike.  “At the moment,
we’re screwed if we lose the restaurant.”

“So what are Alan and Michelle doing?”

Mike answered this one.  “Before Lily made an
appearance they were rooting through the warehouse next to the office
building.  Alan told me they found a bunch of fireworks in there!”

“Don’t think there’s going to be much chance for a display,”
said Nick.

“No,” Mike agreed.  “But they would be a perfect way to
signal help if it ever arrives.”

Nick didn’t think it was a possibility, but he could see the
reasoning.  “Anything else in there?”

“Yeah, some gardening equipment; shovels and stuff. 
Alan suggested digging some pits around the edge of the park.  Like booby
traps, you know?”

Nick nodded.  “I like that idea.  Over time we
could probably dig quite a few.”

“So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?” 
Annaliese asked.

Nick shrugged his shoulders and then looked up at Lily in
the trees.  “I guess I’ll fill in where I’m needed.  First thing I’m going
to do, though, is go and tell Eve about the newest member of our group. 
She’s been pretty low the last few days – we all have – so maybe it will cheer
her up a bit.”

“Okay,” said Annaliese.  Then she and Mike waved Nick
off as he headed back for the amusement park area and the
Big Dog
restaurant.

The restaurant was near the centre of the park and was now
fronted by a minefield of plates, pans, and cutlery.  The theory being
that it would create noise if any infected people were to walk across it. 
The windows had also been boarded up permanently with table tops and chairs.
 Only a single window was left clear to act as an access in and out.

Our very own Fort Knox.

Heading up the few steps to the building, Nick could already
hear the bickering voices of Dave and Shawcross inside.  It sounded like
they were discussing Jan and Renee, who were still imprisoned in the
cellar.  Nick had been popping down to see them a couple times a day,
bringing them food, beers, and a pack of cards from the gift shop.  But
their good nature about the situation was beginning to sour and Jan had now
expressed a growing desire to be let out.  Nick didn’t blame the man at
all.  It must be mind-numbing having spent so long in that cellar.

“They can help with the jobs around here,” said Dave. 
“They’re two strong men.”

“They could kill us all in our sleep,” Shawcross rebutted.

“They’re not murders,” said Dave.

“What, because they told you so?  You have no way of
knowing what they were in prison for.  The big one looks like a sodding
serial killer.”

Nick hopped in through the window and immediately joined in
the conversation.  “His name is Jan, and he’s a reformed bank
robber.  He told me how much he regrets his past and I believe him.”

“Of course, he said that.”  Shawcross folded his arms
and sighed.  “He probably had it rehearsed from all of his failed
probation hearings.”

Nick rolled his eyes and decided not to say anything
more.  There was no point getting caught up in the ceaseless bickering
between the two men.  Dave probably didn’t even care if Jan and Renee were
released or not; he just liked undermining Shawcross at every corner.

Eve and Pauline were sitting at a table nearby, sharing a
cup of lemonade between them.  Eve rolled her eyes as Nick approached
them.  “We were supposed to be working out our defences,” she said, “but
then they just started arguing.”

“Yeah,” said Pauline.  “It’s been about twenty minutes
so far.”

“Best to just let them get on with it.”  Nick took a
seat and started telling them about Lily.  It seemed to get a positive
reaction, just like he hoped it would. 

“So, she’s just sitting there in the trees?” said Eve.

Nick nodded.  “Go see for yourself.  She seems
friendly; even waved to Anna.”

“No shit?  Soon as I’m done here, I’m heading straight
to the zoo.”

“What’s this supply map, I’ve been hearing about then?” Nick
asked.

“Dave’s idea,” replied Pauline.  “We’re going to choose
a few places around the park and drop off food and weapons, so that if
something happens we can resupply.  Good idea, I suppose.  They’re
just trying to work out whether or not to let Jan and Renee out to help. 
I think Shawcross has taken it far enough now.  We should let those poor
men out.  Cassie told us about what they did to save you in the cable
car.”