I wish I couldn’t comprehend the horror that had unfolded here, but unfortunately, I can, I know it well and it fills me with dread. I have to put all of my dismay to one side though, gather my resolve and concentrate on my objective.
I’ve got to head right and follow this long street all the way down to Bayswater Road. I do my work, scan the path of the next part of my journey, pick a hold point, check my six and move, rinse and repeat.
Steering clear of the buildings, especially the ones with open doors or broken windows, I flag them as high risk of hiding Rabids ready to attack. Progress is slow, but as my mother used to say to me when I got my driving licence, better late in this life than early to the next. A motto I never heeded back then or for most of my life.
At the second hold point, a Rabid presents itself. The creature is stumbling around aimlessly in the middle of the road. The young teenage girl, in light blue jeans and trainers, has long blonde hair that reminds me of Emily. She swerves around until she bangs into something, causing her to change direction until she hits another immovable object and changes her direction again.
I bring the M4 to bear, aiming at the back of her head. My sights are filled with her blonde curls as my finger hovers over the rifle's trigger. Shoot, for God’s sake, put her out of her misery, I tell myself. I can’t though, as much as I try, I can’t shoot her. “Fuckin hell,” I whisper under my breath and look for a way past the young girl.
Drawing the rifle in, I drop down, out of sight behind the rear of the car I am using for cover. Staying down low, I edge to the side of the car and peer around its corner on the opposite side to the floundering young Rabid. The pavement is passable if I work around the dead body that spans the width of it. If I time passing the gaps right, the cars lining the side of the road will give me cover. The young Rabid doesn’t look like she is taking much notice of her surroundings, anyway, judging by how many times I’ve just watched her bump into things.
Staying low, I go around to the side of the car and move down its side. Without pausing, I carry onto the next car, but the gap is too small to worry about. The next three cars are also behind me before I reach a piece of road with no cars parked on this side. It is about two car lengths’ gap with no cover to the next parked car. Looking at the road from behind my cover, I cannot see the Rabid, so quickly move to traverse the empty space. Back behind cover, I keep working my way down until I am nearing the Rabid’s position in the road. I know I’m near without having to look. I can hear her feet dragging on the road and an immature growling sound. Typical of any teenager some might say.
A smell is in the air also, one I am becoming over-familiar with. The distinctive stink of Rabids. I can’t remember my nose being so sensitive to the smell before today. Apart from when that one retched virtually in my face as Alice and I entered the Tower of London. I can even smell it over the aroma of rotting bodies that are also in the air. Is it caused by the infection; is it one of the side effects that you can smell these fuckers from a distance? If it is, as much as the smell churns my stomach, I can see how it could be useful.
Another empty space at the side of the road appears, just at the wrong time. I am virtually level with the young Rabid and there is no cover to move forward behind. I have two options, to either do what I couldn’t do before and shoot her or wait until her back is turned and go for it.
She has gone quiet, stopped moving. Peering carefully over the bonnet of the car to see her exact position, it takes me a moment to find her. My nerves suddenly fizz in fright as my eyes meet hers over the top of the bonnet to my left. My head stays perfectly still, hoping I’m mistaken, and she hasn’t actually seen me. My hands tighten their grip of the M4, ready to bring it up as my finger curls around the trigger. A second or two passes and the girl turns away from me to carry on her sad dance in the middle of the road.
Ever ready, I move quietly and quickly down the pavement to the next parked car and away from her. As soon as I reach the body of the car, I stop and drop to my haunches, pressing my back against the car’s doors, the M4 across my body. I take a breather and try to work out what just happened. I was sure the young Rabid was looking straight at me, but then why didn’t she attack? The only explanation I can come up with is because she can’t see. That must be why she is stumbling around aimlessly in the
