Chapter 8
As my hand reaches to put the car into drive, my ear buzzes again. Looking down at my phone, Dan’s name is displayed in green on the screen. I hope this isn’t bad news, and I press to answer.
“Andy?” Dan says in a hushed voice before I even say hello; it is highly unusual for him to use my first name, so this can’t be good.
“Yes, Dan. Go.”
“Boss, we have multiple hostiles outside the walls. We are keeping low so we don’t draw their attention and give away our position. These things are in the street outside the gate and they are growing in number constantly. Are you close?”
“Affirmative, just about to go under the flyover. ETA four minutes.”
“Shit, I thought you’d be closer. I am ready to open the gate as soon as I hear your car approaching.”
“Understood.”
“Get a shift on, Boss, we need to fall back inside, A-SAP.”
My earpiece bleeps and Dan is gone. I quickly grab the binoculars from the passenger seat and use them to scan under the flyover and beyond.
From this distance, they look like ordinary people, but something is off; they move differently, giving them away. Some look hunched slightly in some kind of twisted walk, others are running and leaping, arms splayed. And my God, they are fast, moving towards the flyover.
Large numbers of these rabid people or whatever they are, are swarming up the Edgware Road, straight towards our position. We have no choice; we must move, move now and move towards them. Dropping the car into drive, I push my foot to the floor as far as it will go.
“Get down, girls, and stay down until I say. No matter what you hear, okay?” With whimpers from the back, both girls immediately comply.
Rapidly, the car’s speedo moves up, reaching sixty before we get to the underpass. I see the sniper above us; he is not interested in this car, however. His rifle is pointed down again, repeatedly firing.
A ‘Rabid’ comes at the car from the left, jumping right into the middle of the road fifteen feet in front of us, its grim face looking right at me! The hideous creature jumps again but it is just too late, the bottom of its legs hit the front of the car's bonnet with a sickening thud. The thing flails over the windscreen and hits the roof before I glimpse the blur of it falling back into the road behind.
“It’s okay, girls, keep down,” I quickly say.
About to cross the threshold of the flyover, my heart is racing, and the palms of my hands are wet with sweat. I can now see clearly just how many are swarming in the sun on the other side of the flyover. The front of this swarm is obviously under heavy fire from the flyover above, and they are getting shot to pieces and falling, but still, the swarm moves forward, and I could swear some that have gone down are getting back up!
There is no way we are going to make it through the battle underway in front of us; we would be inundated and probably shot to pieces. My plan had been to turn right into the Basin just past the flyover, but that will be deep into the swarm! Another option is to go right up Harrow Road adjacent to the A40 and then take one of the smaller roads off to the left into the Basin, but the route is farther and there is no guarantee it is any clearer?
As we leave the sunlight and move under the flyover, the decision is made for me!
At least six lines of smoke from above where the troops are streak down into the swarm of Rabids. RPGs!
“Stay down!” I shout.
I break right as the explosions hit. They are massive and the car rocks heavily on its suspension as the shockwaves blast us. Balls of fire and debris hit the left side of the car, threating to implode the glass but thankfully it holds, debris raining down on top of the car and onto the windscreen.
I ignore it, straighten the car into Harrow Road and plant my foot to the floor, leaving that carnage behind, only to probably drive into more. There is crying coming from the back seats; glancing over my shoulder, Stacey and Emily are holding hands and it looks like both are upset, as far as I can tell from the tops of their heads and the whimpers.
“We are okay, girls, but this isn’t over yet so keep your heads down.”
I switch on the windscreen wiper to get rid of the debris strewn across my windscreen, I see at least one severed finger and an ear wipe across in front of me, leaving smears on the glass and I pull the washer lever.
The first left-hand turn into the Basin is quickly upon us but Rabids are streaming out of it, all of them running—if you can call it that—straight out, over Harrow Road and beyond, underneath the flyover. There are too many to count, so that entry is not an option. Accelerating again, I power through the stream coming from the street on the left, bodies flying everywhere, one coming up onto the bonnet, but I don’t slow down. Thuds and bangs reverberate around the inside of the car as we smash into the torsos and shatter the skulls.
We break through the stream of bodies and back onto a visible road, one twisted body still riding atop the bonnet and sliding towards me; it is still moving. I swerve to the right and the Rabid quickly slides sideways off the bonnet into the road and rolls away. I’m certain it's still moving as we leave it behind!
The next turning is only a short distance away and only a few Rabids are coming out of this road but there is a bloody car side-on, blocking the entrance
