After The Zombies | Novel | Not Human Read online

  'She wasn't making it up when she said she's immune and can't turn into one of those things,' Luke replied.

  'Either way, she's dead. It's a shame.' He shrugged.

  'I'm going to find her,' Luke called after Alan, who was already walking away in the direction of the caravan.

  Alan turned around and marched back to Luke. 'No, you're coming back with me. Safety in numbers. It's not safe to be running off on your own.'

  'What if Donna was missing? Wouldn't you go look for her?'

  'That would be a shame too. There's a real shortage of pussy around here, but no I wouldn't go on a suicide mission to get some.'

  'Are you always so vulgar?' Luke asked.

  'Are you always so willing to die?' Alan retorted.

  Luke turned to leave, but Alan pulled him back. Luke struggled but was no match for Alan. Although it took Alan longer to get back to the caravan, because of Luke's attempts to escape from his grip — while Alan dragged him along.

  'Arsehole,' Luke spat, realising that any chance he had of finding Grace was gone. Whatever had happened, she would be too far away to track down.

  Alan just looked at his watch and stated, 'I've still got another thirty minutes left with Donna. I'm going to make it count. Don't try anything. Your girlfriend is long gone by now.'

  'Whose fault is that?' Luke muttered, but Alan had already returned to Donna's room.

  'Hi,' a woman stepped out of the small shower room. Luke guessed it was the same woman he and Grace had rescued earlier. Now he could see her in the light, he noticed that her dark hair was matted with fresh blood — despite having just cleaned up with the limited amount of water they had. 'I didn't get to introduce myself out there. I'm Julie,' she told him.

  'Luke,' he said. 'What happened to your head?'

  'I tripped and banged it on a tree when I saw...' She went pale and shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.

  'It's okay. You don't have to talk about it, but I can look at that for you. I'm a doctor, I'll see if there's a first-aid kit around here.' He began opening cupboards until he found what he was looking for.

  Julie sat down as Luke located where the blood was coming from.

  'It's not so bad, though if it was a bit deeper it could have been serious,' he told her.

  'That woman. What happened to her?'

  'Grace? I don't know. I tried to go after her, but that dickhead literally dragged me back here. I'd never be able to find her now.' He used a little more pressure than he intended to press the cotton wool covered in antiseptic, to Julie's head, making her wince. 'Sorry.'

  'Is she your girlfriend?'

  'I love her,' Luke replied.

  'I lost everyone I love, the people I was with tonight, I guess they became like my family or what passes for family these days. Now they're gone. I'd do anything to bring them back.'

  'I need to find her,' Luke said.

  'I could go with you. I don't like the look of that big guy anyhow.'

  'You're right. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him,' Luke said. He couldn't help thinking how Grace would have laughed at that if she was there.

  Julie only managed a small smile.

  'We should go now, if we're going,' Luke said.

  They grabbed some weapons and Luke picked up his bag.

  'Going somewhere?' Ethan asked. Luke hadn't even heard him come in.

  'Grace is everything to me. I need to find her.'

  'What if she's dead?' Ethan asked.

  'Then I'll know, but I've got to try.'

  'Okay,' Ethan agreed.

  'Come with us,' Julie said.

  'I can't. My brother and Donna; I can't leave her alone with him.'

  Alan stepped out of the bedroom. 'Nobody's leaving,' he announced. 'Now, who's this?' He stepped forward and stared at Julie, as though mentally undressing her.

  'I'm Julie,' she said. 'We met earlier.'

  'Oh yeah, you look much better when you're not covered in blood. Are you taken? I'm guessing not, since the rest of your group got torn to pieces out there.'

  Julie’s features twisted in disgust at Alan's callousness.

  'Leave her alone, Alan,' Luke spoke up.

  'What? Are you saying she's yours?'

  'She doesn't belong to anyone,' Luke retorted.

  'She does if she wants protection from the munchers. So, Julie.' Alan took a step towards her. 'Whose protection do you want? Mine or his?'

  'Whichever comes without a price tag,' she responded.

  'Welcome to the end of the world, babes. Nothing comes without a price tag anymore.'

  Luke stood up and placed himself between Alan and Julie. Alan opened his mouth to speak, but blood began to ooze out of his head. It was only after he staggered and fell sideways onto the floor, making the entire caravan shake, when Luke saw Donna holding onto Grace's axe with a look of accomplishment across her face.

  'He's right; nothing comes without a price, that was his,' she announced.

  'What did you do?' Ethan demanded.

  'You're a smart guy, figure it out.' She held up the axe as though that was a clue.

  'But why?'

  'You're really going to ask me that,' she retorted. 'You let him...do whatever he wanted to me, touch me wherever he wanted to and fill any hole he wanted with his tongue, hands or that poor excuse for a dick. Now you're asking me why I just stuck an axe through his stupid meat head.'

  'But you were the one who said we should let him do all that. I didn't want to share you with my brother, but you insisted that we needed his protection,' Ethan reasoned.

  'Maybe I changed my mind,' Donna replied.

  'Well maybe I did too, but I thought you were enjoying all the attention.'

  Donna didn't reply, but she pulled a face displaying her disgust at the idea of her enjoying any of the things Alan had ever done to her.

  'I'm going to go. It might be too late to find Grace now, but I've got to try,' Luke spoke up.

  'I'll go with you,' Julie offered.

  Donna pushed past Ethan as she said, 'count me in.'

  'You didn't seem to like Grace that much,' Luke pointed out.

  'Right now, I'd rather be out there looking for Grace, than in here spending one more second looking at his face,' she insisted, glaring at Ethan.

  The three of them took their things and left Ethan alone in the caravan.

  'Are you sure you want to just leave him?' Luke questioned.

  'Yeah, I'm sure,' Donna confirmed.

  Chapter Five

  'Where are we going?' Donna asked, struggling to keep up with Luke and Julie as they walked along the main road.

  'I'm not sure,' Luke admitted, 'but I had a friend who would have suggested following these tyre marks. So that's what I'm going to do.' He pointed to the tracks on the road.

  'Those don't look like a normal car. Possibly a tank,' Julie announced.

  'You're making us follow a tank? You're aware of the kind of people who drive around in tanks, aren't you? I know you had a cushy three months in a basement while...' Donna began.

  'I'm not leading you anywhere. You're welcome to go back to your caravan and to Ethan,' Luke retorted.

  There's nothing there for me anymore,' Donna snapped.

  'Luke didn't mean...' Julie began. 'I'm grateful for what you did back there, I...'

  'I didn't do it for you. I did it for me. If you had any sense, you'd start doing the same. There's no loyalty anymore. Nobody owes a thing to anyone except themselves,' Donna declared.

  Luke opened his mouth and looked at Donna as though considering responding to her words, but he shut his mouth and turned away instead.

  'That sounds like a lonely way to live,' Julie spoke up.

  Luke nodded in quiet support.

  'Lonely is better than dead,' Donna declared.

  After a few miles the markings ended abruptly.

  'They can't have just vanished,' Luke insisted.

  'Maybe nobody took Grace. Perhaps she just go
t tired of seeing you gawping at her like a lost puppy every moment of every day,' Donna suggested.

  'Remind me, why are you here?' Luke asked. He reminded himself that he would never hurt a woman, or at least not unless she was one of the infected. They couldn't be counted anymore.

  'She's here because she didn't want to stay with a man who was happy to share her in return for protection,' Julie pointed out.

  'I could have let Alan fuck you up the arse back then. That was always a popular position with him,' Donna retorted.

  'I thought you said you didn't kill him for me.'

  'I didn't, but same outcome. I should have waited until he was done with you though, then killed him. You'd be too sore to even consider bitching at me now.'

  'Can we not fight among ourselves?' Luke requested. 'Don't you realise? With the infected and the army and whatever passes for a government now, there's plenty going against us already. Or is that the idea, to make it easier for them all?'

  'You're right. Sorry,' Julie apologised.

  Donna fell silent and didn't bother to question where they were going when Luke led them off the road and down a country lane. They arrived outside a cottage ten minutes later. Luke tried the door. It opened easily.

  'We should stay here, at least for tonight, but we should make sure...' he began, before two figures stumbled towards him.

  'Hungry,' one mumbled.

  Luke turned to look at Donna, wondering if she had heard. He had only ever come across two people who were infected and could talk. Maybe the infected talking had become a more regular occurrence. He had feared this, but hoped he was wrong. He could have imagined it, he told himself. He was already finding it difficult enough dehumanising them, to make killing them easier to deal with.

  'They've been doing that a lot recently,' Julie confirmed his worst fears.

  'For fuck sake.' Donna stepped forward and sliced the axe through one of their heads. She pushed until it slid through, then swung around and did the same to the second. Luke and Julie stared at her in disbelief. 'What? They're already dead, talking or not.'

  'She's right,' Julie admitted. 'My boyfriend went to help one of them, because she said the word "help” then she and the others munched on my boyfriend's flesh and took out the rest of my friends.'

  'Call them munchers if you have to, Alan wasn't right about much, but he was right about that. It distinguishes them from us,' Donna stated defensively.

  Nobody else spoke, as they searched the rest of the cottage, then secured all the doors and windows. Luke sat down in an old armchair when they had finished.

  There's only one bed upstairs,' Donna said.'

  'You two should take it. I can sleep in this chair. I've been sleeping on a basement floor for three months, so this is definitely a step up.'

  'You take it; the other armchair will be fine for me,' Julie announced. She sat down as though claiming it.

  Donna turned and went upstairs.

  'Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh earlier, but maybe Donna's right. Munchers is a good name for them. They're not human anymore. I don't think they can be cured.'

  'I know, but I wish things were different. I should be used to killing them by now, but... '

  'I thought you were hiding in a basement for three months. It doesn't sound like you've had time to get used to it yet,' Julie reasoned.

  'I'm from Manchester. Did you hear about the MERS outbreak?'

  'Yeah, I thought that was strange, I'm guessing it wasn't MERS?'

  'Not unless MERS makes you hungry for human flesh, which I know for a fact it doesn't.'

  'Shit, so you had the trial run of this thing. What do you think they're planning? The government I mean.'

  'I'm not even sure they know anymore. It just seems like a series of major cock ups,' Luke pointed out.

  'It’s about control though, or at least it seems that way, but it's way out of control now,' Julie stated.

  Luke nodded, then closed his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep. He saw Graces face the last time they'd spoken. He had yelled at her. Another image of Grace flashed into his mind. She was crying out his name and pleading with him to help her. He opened his eyes and shook his head. He knew it couldn't be real. The only times he'd been able to read Grace's mind was when he'd had her blood in his system. It hadn't been anything like what just happened, and he didn't have her blood in his system anymore.

  'Are you okay?' Julie asked.

  'Just thinking about Grace. I had this feeling.'

  'What kind of feeling?'

  'Like she's still alive and she needs my help.'

  'What's she like? Tell me about her,' Julie said.

  'She's kind and gentle, which I know in this world aren't good traits if you want to survive. She never wanted to kill anyone, but she wants to survive. So she does, kill I mean. Sometimes I worry that it’s damaging her.'

  'I think this outbreak has damaged us all in different ways.'

  'She was held against her will and made to believe she imagined the whole outbreak in Manchester, on top of everything else. I wonder sometimes if it was all too much. Then other times she's Grace again, the real Grace. I start thinking she'll be okay.'

  'But you love her either way, I can tell,' Julie pointed out.

  She's just...Grace, no matter what state of mind she happens to be in,' Luke insisted, smiling sadly to himself.

  'We will find her,' Julie promised.

  They both fell asleep in the armchairs and were only woken by the sound of the door rattling as someone tried to get into the house.

  'Munchers?' Donna questioned, as she appeared in the doorway of the front room. Luke and Julie didn't reply, but grabbed their guns.

  'Donna? Is that you? a voice called from outside.

  'Ethan?'

  'Yes, it’s me, let me in,' he called back.

  'Why should I?' Donna asked, remembering she was still mad at him.

  'Because I have soldiers and munchers after me from different directions. I know I was a shitty boyfriend to you, but do you really want me to be eaten alive, or to be taken away as a test subject?'

  'Do you seriously want me to answer that question right now?' Donna asked.

  'Donna, please,' Ethan pleaded with her. Julie stared at Donna questioningly, but Luke stepped forward to unblock the door to let Ethan in.

  'Fine,' Donna snapped, as she begrudgingly helped Luke to open the door.

  'Thank you,' Ethan said as he hurried inside and helped them block the door again.

  'Whatever,' Donna said, as she threw herself down onto one of the armchairs.

  'Did they see where you went?' Luke questioned.

  'I don't think so, but there aren't too many places to hide around here.

  'Did you happen to see any kind of building where they could be keeping Grace?' Julie asked.

  'Yeah, maybe. There was a huge building, about two miles west and there was a hell of a lot of activity going on around it, tanks, armed guards, the works,' Ethan informed her.

  'That's where I'm going then,' Luke spoke up.

  'I'm in,' Julie said.

  'Well I'm not,' Donna grumbled.

  'I'll take Donna and go somewhere. Sorry Luke, maybe if my brother was still...'

  'You're not taking me anywhere,' Donna argued. 'Whatever direction you're going in; I'm going in the opposite direction.'

  'You shouldn't be alone right now. I can protect you,' Ethan stated.

  'Like you protected me from your brother you mean?'

  'I'm sorry okay? But now isn't the time to go off alone.'

  'Fine, then I'll go with them, if it'll make you leave and go somewhere far away from me,' Donna announced.

  'Really? You're going to come with us and help rescue Grace?' Luke asked.

  'Sure, why not?' Donna shrugged.

  'You'll need this.' Luke tried to hand her a gun.

  'No thanks, I've got this.' She picked up the blood-stained axe.

  'Grace is going to want that back
when we find her,' Luke said.

  'Grace is going to be so grateful we saved her sorry arse, that an axe is going to be a small price to pay in comparison to saving her life.' Donna held onto the axe, claiming it as her own and staring at Luke, silently challenging him to try to take it from her.

  'Fine, I'm sure she can get another one after we get her out of there.'

  Chapter Six

  Grace lay completely still on the bed. Not only because she was handcuffed to it, but because she was remembering the last time she found herself in a similar position. The doctor who tried to make her think she was crazy was dead. There seemed to be plenty more people like that doctor, ready to take her place. Grace laughed uncontrollably.

  'What's so funny?' a male voice asked from somewhere in the darkness.

  Grace's eyes followed the direction of the voice. She could make out the outline of someone else on another bed. She guessed he was here against his will too.

  'Sorry, nothing, but I've been here before,' she said.

  'Really?'

  'Not here in this place, but tied to a bed and used for their research.'

  'And why is that funny?'

  'It's not, I guess. I haven't been myself though, not since a doctor tried to make me think I was insane. I guess it worked,' she announced to the stranger.

  'Why did the doctor want you to think you're insane?' Grace's room-mate questioned.

  She explained what happened when the government tried to take the cure from her, but for their own reasons rather than to cure everyone. Footsteps approached, so she stopped talking. The door opened. Another male voice spoke — this one sounded harsh and cold.

  'Which one of you is first?' Neither of them spoke. 'Okay, ladies first.'

  The man switched on the light and Grace could see how tall he was. At least over 6 feet, well-built and he was holding a large needle. Grace wondered if she would be put through all the tests again. She spotted the man she had been talking to. His dark hair made him look a little like Mark, although his features were slightly softer as though he hadn't been through as much as Mark had before he had died, His eyes seemed older though, like he had seen a lot. Grace thought that maybe this man was just better at dealing with everything than Mark had been.