The Virus by Lee, Damien (summer books txt) 📕

head. Frank watched as the soldier scrambled to his feet and rushed inside.

“You said you got them all, Lurch!” Razor snapped as more screeches sounded nearby.

“No, I didn’t. I said one or two might have got past.”

“Well, there’s more than one or two here, you dumb fuck. Can’t you count?”

The group readied their weapons as a series of zombies rounded the corner. A multitude of gunfire echoed around the courtyard. They banded together as the undead ran straight at them from both sides of the building. As each corpse fell, another took its place in the endless assault.

“One or two!” Gus raged over the gunfire. “You need your fucking eyes tested.”

Lurch scowled. He gripped Tina’s hand and ushered her away as the gunfire continued.

“How many bullets you got left, Frank?” Gus shouted.

“Enough.” He blasted a woman as she drew close, reducing her top half to a bloody mush. “I think that’s the lot.”

“Good, because I’m out,” Gus muttered, returning the weapon to its holster.

“Do you have any more guns?” Frank asked him.

“I think there are some back inside.”

“Right, Pinky and Perky,” Frank said, turning to Simon and Elaine. “Go inside, get some guns and bring them out here. We need to make sure the rest of this place is secure.”

He turned back to the rest but stopped in his tracks when he heard the click of a handgun.

“No. We’re not following your orders anymore!”

Frank turned, eying Simon and the handgun that shook in his chubby hand.

“Where the hell did you get that?”

“From the back of that bloody lorry. You’re not going to order us about anymore. Me and Elaine are getting the hell out of here.”

“Fuck me, you sure know how to pick ‘em, Frankie.” Gus chuckled until Simon’s wavering aim rested on him.

“Fuck you!”

“Now hold on a minute,” Gus started, raising his hands as he stepped forward.

“No, you hold on!” Simon lurched toward him, aiming the handgun at his head.

“Oh, you fat twat. I’m bored with this. Frankie, kill him.”

Simon snapped his aim at Frank, whose shotgun remained by his side.

“Frank, shoot him!” Gus repeated.

“I can’t, I’m out of bullets.”

“What? You just said you had enough bullets?”

“I did. I used it on that last zombie.”

“Oh, well, fuck a moose on a winter’s night!” Gus spat. “Blondie, you shoot him.”

“Nobody is going to shoot us,” Simon snapped. He aimed the gun at each of them as he and Elaine backed away.

“What’re you gonna do, Simon?” Lisa asked.

“We’re getting in one of those jets and we’re getting away from here.”

“But where? Everywhere’s fucked.”

“We’ll go to France, Spain, Italy. Anywhere but here.”

“Have you forgotten about the Channel Tunnel?” Frank asked, “Europe is gone. Asia is gone.”

“Then we’ll go to Africa.”

“Africa?” Gus laughed. “Even if they’re not infected; they’ll still eat you.”

“Then we’ll go to America. I can fly us there.”

“Pull the other one. You’d never make it to the Yanks in one of those.”

“We’ll take our chances.” Simon swung the weapon from side to side as he steered Elaine back with his free hand.

“We need to stick together.” Lisa protested.

“We are.”

“You’re being stupid.”

“Am I?”

The pair reached the side of the building. Simon made to speak further, but a startled gasp from his wife stole his tongue. He whirled around as two undead soldiers rushed at them from behind the wall.

“Shit!”

The group looked on at the unfolding events. Simon shot one of the men, sending him crumpling to the ground. Elaine held out a hand to keep the remaining attacker at bay. She shrieked as it lunged for her, grabbing its face as it snapped toward her neck. Her palm blocked the zombie until it ripped into the flesh between her thumb and forefinger.

A second shot drowned Elaine’s screams as Simon killed the creature. He wrapped Elaine in his arms as the group rushed over.

“Stay where you are!” He aimed the gun at the group.

“Simon, you need to kill her.” Lisa urged.

“Like hell I do!”

“There’s no cure!” She brandished the folded pages. Simon aimed the weapon at Lisa as she glared at him. They locked stares before another series of shrieks filled the air.

“Fuck it, I’m off,” Gus stammered.

He turned on his heel and ran back to the military base, with Frank and Lisa close behind. The trio bounded over the corpse near the doorway and rushed inside.

Frank looked back, watching the fleeing couple. Simon fired at the zombies as they rushed towards the jet. Some fell to the ground, others ploughed on, determined to reach them before they escaped.

A straggling zombie turned the corner. After looking between the two morsels, it attacked the army base. Frank pulled the door shut, seconds before the creature crashed against it. It cried out in frustration, slamming itself against the wooden pane.

“Did they get away?” Gus asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“Fuck me, I’ve never seen a fat twat run so fast.”

Frank shook his head as he joined Lisa and Zielinski next to a gap in a window.

“You’d think McDonald’s were giving out freebies,” Razor continued.

He stepped away from the door as the zombie continued its relentless assault.

“Shut up, Gus.” Frank strained his neck to see more of the airfield, but the wooden planks obstructed most of his view.

“Do you think they made it?” Lisa whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“There really isn’t a cure. These scientists have created a bioweapon; a nerve agent to infect the enemy.”

“What?”

“It’s all here.” Lisa handed the paperwork over. “Apparently gaseous agents are too easy to identify. They’ve manufactured a new strain which is transmitted via fluid.”

“So it turns them into zombies?” Frank asked.

“Not at first. It’s designed to kill them. But it continues to release neurotransmitters