E Virus: The Diary of a Modern Day Girl (Book 2): The Path of Destruction (4 page)

We slowed as we finally reached the cars. I pressed the button again. This time the blue 3 series lit up. “Guess that one’s mine.” I shouted back.

Ryan quickly changed direction along with Leon, George and the Professor.

The rest of us threw ourselves into the 3 series, I handed the keys to Nick as he effortlessly started the car.

Throwing the car into reverse, we quickly made our escape.

The infected were throwing themselves at the cars as we pushed our way through the crowd. As we neared the end, the bride came into view.

She had a beautiful ivory gown; it was strapless and had lace detailing flowing effortlessly down into the train. She had a small veil, held into place by a small diamond tiara. I could tell, had she still been human, she would have made a dazzling bride.

The blood stain on the front of her dress, and the large chunks of flesh missing from her arms and neck proved otherwise. Her pale complexion and black veins showed her for what she really was.

She opened her mouth as the familiar black viscous liquid flowed freely down her mouth and chin, staining her once pristine ivory gown.

She lifted her head to the sky and let out an almighty shriek. Her once perfect blonde locks were now knotted and wild. Chunks of hair were missing and her fingernails, once perfectly manicured were covered in blood. She curled her hands into claws as she leaped towards our car.

“DRIVE!” I shouted to Nick, as he floored the BMW.

As soon as we were clear of the infected, we pulled up along the side of the road. Ryan stopped behind us.

“Where are we going then?” Nick asked, awaiting instruction.

I looked around the car. We were all drawing a blank.

“I don’t know, we didn’t plan this far.” I replied, suddenly realising our mistake.

“Where to mate?”
Ryan asked, getting out the car.

“I was going to ask you the same question.” Nick replied.

I opened the door and looked around me. We were back in the countryside. I almost suggested going back to the apartment. After all we had managed to live in a relatively normal environment, with minimal danger. I would actually be quite happy, having my own home comforts back.

It was then I remembered. I didn’t have my damn keys. Duckface, the rancid, horrible, inconsiderate bitch had stolen them, along with my car. God I hated her. She had run off to find her (ex) husband and left us all to die at the hands of the infected. Not only that, she had done it on purpose. She made damn sure she would be the last to leave the base. She had taken it upon herself to unleash to tenants of the main base, she had done it purely out of spite.

It was her fault we were in this situation. It was her fault we had no safe place, no roof over our heads and no belongings. She had ruined it all. She had made no effort with any of us since this whole fiasco began. She only cared about herself, she had always been that way, and we had all been way too easy on her.

I hoped to god she was alive out there somewhere. If I ever saw her again, I’d make sure she got what she deserved.

I could feel the anger building up inside me just thinking about her.

“Guys, what’s the plan?” Lacey asked as her and Paul stepped out the back.

It was clear. None of us knew where to go, or what to do. The main problem we had, was we didn’t know where was safe, if in fact there was anywhere safe to go.

We had to make a decision, with the winter months closing in fast; our hours of daylight were fading rapidly.

“We should stick to the outskirts, try and avoid the cities and any built up areas.” Leon suggested.

“Ok, I have an idea.” I announced to the group. They all looked at me, waiting for me to formulate some sort of intricate yet genius plan to get us all through this. Sadly, that wasn’t what I had in mind.

“Let’s just flip a coin and see where that takes us?” I suggested, holding up a 50 pence piece I had found in our newly acquired car.

Everyone looked at me, as if I had gone mad. I ignored them as I carried on.

“Heads we go left, tails we go right.” I said pointing in both directions.

They all looked at one another. Nick was the first to agree. “Well, ok, I suppose, if no one has any better ideas?” he asked the group.

He was met again by complete silence. They reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t the best plan, but at this stage we needed to go somewhere. We didn’t know what would be waiting for us around each corner, so putting it into perspective; it wasn’t the worst idea leaving it to fate.

I took a step forward and flipped the coin into the air. I caught it and covered my palm.

“Here goes nothing.” I sighed as I lifted my hand and the coin came into view.

“Heads it is.” I announced.

“Fair enough.” Nick shrugged as we piled back into the cars. We were already facing in the right direction, so I took it as a good sign.

We headed past the countryside, and more into the real world. Nick kept his speed down; we couldn’t afford any accidents in our current circumstances. Ryan, Leon and the remaining group followed closely behind.

As we got to the roundabout, Nick veered off towards the Deanwater Hotel. We were making our way down the same road we had first travelled through, on our way to the main base.

“Is this safe?” I asked Nick, slightly fearful we would come across the same horde that had driven us out of our last home, and into the woods.

“I don’t know, but the way I see it, most of those things will be on the opposite side of the base. I can’t see them coming back on themselves unless they had reason to.”

He was right. Hopefully, they hadn’t found said reason.

We found out soon enough. The whole place looked abandoned. There wasn’t a soul in sight, dead or alive. I couldn’t believe that only a few days ago this whole place was rammed full of the undead, eager to get to us. Where were they?

We didn’t stay long enough to find out. We passed the base and made our way further down the road. I spotted a few infected pottering around the garden centre, most of them elderly. Go figure, Woodford Garden Centre was always full of old people, in fact, all garden centres were.

I don’t know what it is about retirement that makes people want to pot plants. They love nothing more than a leisurely stroll around a garden centre, spending hours drooling over rhododendrons, then once their mouths had sufficiently dried out, taken a trip to the in-house tea room, for a cup of earl grey, and if they feel like walking on the wild side, a toasted teacake. There you have it, retirement at its best.

I found myself drifting into a deep thought. I started to wonder, given the new world we were now part of, would I
ever live to see retirement? Would I even want to, if this is all life consists of? No, there had to be more to life than this. I had never really thought about death before. I always felt invincible. I never planned too much into the future; I didn’t feel the need to. I paid into a pension fund at work, and that was about it. Even then, I always resented it.

We passed the Garden Centre and were veering towards
Bramhall.

“Where are we going?” I asked Nick. Riding into
Bramhall didn’t seem like the best idea; the centre of the village was always back to back traffic.

“Well, we need clothes and supplies don’t we?” he asked me, I nodded although I knew full well this was meant as a rhetorical question.

He carried on “Bramhall is a relatively small village, the shops we need are all close together, and we all know the area. We’ll take risks wherever we go now. This is the least risky option babe.”

Lacey and Paul agreed in the back. I sighed as I leaned back in my seat. He was right. We hadn’t eaten for over a day. Our clothes were covered in dirt. We clearly had a few issues to sort, personal hygiene was becoming a real issue too.

As we passed the Patch Lane and Queensgate crossroads, I had an idea. “Babe, pull into Holly Road, let’s take the back roads, just to be on the safe side” I urged, not wanting to be caught unawares.

He agreed and indicated left. The car behind us followed. I directed Nick around to
Syddal Road. We pulled over when we got to Barclays bank. Just as I had imagined, abandoned cars littered the road ahead, blocking our path completely. Although the owners of the cars were nowhere to be seen, I started to feel uneasy. This is the first time we had been in a public area since the virus took over.

We cautiously opened our car doors. Nick cut the engine. He locked the car and pocketed the keys. We regrouped with the rest and decided on a plan. We all crossed the road. We were going to head towards the petrol station first. This was on the outskirts of the village, so we had no choice but to walk.

Cars blocked the main road in all directions. The cold breeze ran through me as I took in my surroundings. The streets were littered with broken glass. The rioters and looters must have had a field day when the outbreak first hit. Abandoned electrical appliances were sprawled out across the pavement. A huge plasma TV sat smashed to smithereens taking up the majority of the pavement to our right.

I looked further afield. The glass fronted shops were now completely abandoned. Cracks appeared within the glass of the shops that hadn’t been completed smashed through. I looked over to Superdrug.  Shopping baskets littered the front entrance. Boxes of hair dye, makeup and bath products scattered the floor both inside and out. I made a mental note to visit. With our personal hygiene at an all-time low, the perfume, shower gel and other nice smelling goods would go a long way, to making me feel like a normal girl again.

Just as we crossed the road, a group of infected came out from the bank car park. This was bad news. As soon as they saw us they howled. They were trying to alert the other nearby infected that fresh food was near.

We needed to get somewhere safe, and fast. George shouted over to us, he was half way up the hill leading towards the Royal Mail delivery office. The shutter was already half way down. We could see into the small warehouse, it was completely clear. As more of the infected appeared from the other side of the road, we ran inside. George rushed to the front and started the shutters. We all darted inside as the shutters slowly pulled down, grinding as they descended.

Seeing their food source vanish, the infected started to sprint towards us, rushing to get to us before the shutters secured.

There was only a foot left to go as the first infected launched themselves at the door. We had got there just in time. The shutter reeled to a close as we pulled the double doors to, an extra safety feature beyond the steel shutters.

We were safe. For how long, none of us knew.

I looked around our new space. Parcels and letters of all shapes and sizes dominated the room. What was once a bustling sorting room was now a dormant space filled with undelivered mail, I could see the boys sweeping the area, checking for unwanted guests. The coast was clear.

“Well, that plans out the window then” I sighed, taking a seat on one of the stationary conveyer belts.

I thought about how close we were to Superdrug. I was so close to the shop I could practically smell the array of perfumes. Even before the infection, I always loved my smells. My favourite was vanilla. The sweet musky scent always dominated my shower gels, bath foams and soaps.

Now look at me. I was filthy. Covered in dirt with damp, soggy clothes I was a complete mess. I smelt as bad as I looked.

Feeling the frustration build up inside me, I pulled a few small packages out from underneath me. I threw them to one side. It was then I realised, this was a good a place as any to find new clothes. As a regular
Ebayer, I was surprised it took me this long to realise. I always bought and sold new clothes; just imagine how many others were doing the same. Potentially this place could be full of clothes; all wrapped up, like slightly dull Christmas presents.

That was all the reasoning I needed. I started filing through the parcels, tearing away at any packages that were soft.

“Babe, what are you doing?” Nick asked baffled by my new found desire to open everything I could get my hands on.

“Looking for clothes” I replied, not even bothering to look up. Lacey immediately cottoned on to my theory and as I was, started ripping apart various parcels and jiffy bags.

I was now sat on the floor surrounded by other people’s mail. It was the most fun I had since the virus took over. This was a definite perk to the new world.

I had already found a Dorothy Perkins jumper in my size, along with a pair of
Topshop super soft Leigh jeans (my favourite). I put them in my ‘keep’ pile. Eager to find more I continued with my search. The boys looked on at Lacey and me in astonishment. They clearly didn’t share the same passion we did when it came to opening the mail.

I was just about to throw a box to one side, keen to find more clothes, when the rattling caused me to stop. I turned the box over when I realised what it was.

I quickly pulled off the plastic cellophane holding the lid shut. The contents of the box were a much welcome surprise.

“Guys, look what I’ve found.” I said excitedly.

“What is it?” Leon asked peering over, trying to see into the box.

“It’s a Graze box!” I exclaimed. I pushed through the remaining pile surrounding me and found two more. “Look, that’s just in this
pile, they'll be loads of them in here.” I told the group whilst handing them out.

“What on earth is a Graze box?” George asked.

Lacey answered for me, as I was busy tucking into my own box.

“Basically, you go on this website. You put in your address and they send you these boxes on a weekly basis. I get them at work all the time. They’re always offering free boxes. They’re
just healthy snacks. Full of nuts and seeds and other stuff.” She told him.

“What a wonderful idea.” The professor exclaimed as he opened his box.

Each box contained four sealed plastic containers. Each container had a different food, and each box had a different selection. I opened the pretzels and pumpkin seeds first. We had gone that long without food, even the most basic of foods tasted amazingly good.

We were all surrounded by discarded wrapping as we opened every parcel we could lay our hands on. Who would have thought the Xboxes, PlayStation’s,
iPad’s and phones would get cast aside as unwanted, useless technology. All the while we hunted for the much cheaper, basic necessities. 

We were starting to develop a system, we had a communal food collection which was building in the middle of the room whilst each of us had our own clothes pile. We tossed different garments around as we unwrapped more and more.

“Oh Lacey, what do you think of this top?” I asked holding up a River Island lace top.

“I love it, don’t you want it?” Lacey replied, catching the top in mid-air.

“It’s a bit more your style than it is mine” I replied, my attention now on the next package.