Rhys reached across and rubbed her left shoulder. The knot of tension eased a little at his touch.

  It took Rhys several more deep breaths to exorcise his adrenaline induced shakes. He pulled the phone and the dead lady’s severed finger from his pocket. The cold digit brought a rich shot of acidic rot with it. He screwed his nose up and looked to see Larissa had the same reaction to the smell.

  “Fucking thing stinks.”

  Larissa didn’t reply. Instead, she focused on the road ahead as she tore through the small town’s tight streets.

  As she negotiated their escape route with sharp turns Rhys snapped one way and then the other. He had to hold the phone with both hands to steady it enough for him to hit redial. He lifted the phone to his ear and the purr of a ring tone made him straighten in his seat.

  “It’s ringing.”

  Larissa eased off slightly and looked across at him.

  At that precise moment a diseased sprung from the darkness to be lit up by the car’s headlights. Rhys pulled his legs up in the chair and Larissa screamed as they crashed straight into it. The thud struck through the car like a sledgehammer blow and the diseased man spun away into the darkness on Larissa’s side of the car.

  With the phone to his ear still Rhys nodded ahead. “Keep your eyes on the road!”

  Although Larissa replied Rhys didn’t hear it because Vicky answered the phone at that moment.

  “Hello.”

  “Vicky? Where the fuck are you?”

  She breathed heavily down the phone and lowered her voice. “I’m trying to get away from Brendan. I can’t see him, but I know he hasn’t given up on our trail. The guy’s a psychopath.”

  The scream of the diseased near Vicky roared so loudly it sent needles of pain into Rhys’ eardrum. He had to pull the phone away from his face. When he put it back he listened to the chaos that clearly surrounded her.

  “Is it bad where you are too?” he asked.

  For a moment Vicky didn’t reply. After several heavy breaths she finally said, “London’s fallen, Rhys. It’s fucked. When I was waiting for you in the police car I saw a helicopter fly over with a cage of those creatures. I think they’ve dropped the diseased into London. Flynn and I are going to have to turn around and head back toward Summit City.”

  “Flynn’s okay is he?”

  Larissa slowed down some more.

  “He’s fine.”

  A look across at his ex-wife and Rhys nodded at her.

  “Let me speak to him,” Larissa said as she reached for the phone. The car swerved and she almost lost control.

  Rhys pulled away. “Focus on driving, Larissa. Vicky, we need to think of somewhere we can meet.”

  “I agree. We need to go south to get away from London. How about Biggin Hill Airport? There’s an old industrial estate next to it. I can’t imagine there’ll be many of the diseased there.”

  More screams hurt Rhys’ ear.

  “Okay,” Rhys said, “we can get to Biggin Hill Airport. Can you meet us there in an hour?”

  Vicky fought for breath and then finally said, “Yes, I can.”

  “Can we speak to Flynn?”

  Although Vicky didn’t reply Rhys heard her pass the phone to his son.

  “Dad?”

  “Flynn, are you okay, mate?”

  “I’m scared, Dad.”

  “It’ll be okay. Just do what Vicky says and you’ll be okay.”

  “Like fuck will he be okay,” Larissa said and ripped the phone from Rhys’ hand. “Flynn, baby.”

  Despite the short distance between them Rhys heard the beeps before she’d said anything.

  Larissa looked at the phone. “The connection dropped.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  About twelve hours ago

  They hadn’t discussed what would happen next and they hadn’t discussed what Vicky should do at this point either. She’d make sure the fake guards had a minute before the real guards turned up so they could let Brendan in. She’d distract the real guards if necessary, and then she’d … what the fuck would she do?

  Still in the foyer of the Alpha Tower Vicky looked around. Surely someone had rumbled her. What if Brendan didn’t destroy the CCTV footage like he’d promised? Someone would see her in the foyer, aimless with a stupid clipboard. They’d be bound to review the footage from the day.

  Vicky hunched down again with her clipboard and wrote more nonsense on the form. She’d have to replace it with a legit one later. If they asked to see her paper trail they’d uncover the ramblings of a mad woman … or a terrorist.

  Adrenaline surged through Vicky’s blood as she remained hunched by the socket. It didn’t take anybody that long to examine a plug socket. Not even Vicky.

  When she stood up she nearly fell down again.

  Fear had turned her legs bandy as she walked across the foyer. If she looked at the cameras now it would be so obvious she had something to hide. She had to style it out, walk like she owned the place, and get back to her office as soon as fucking possible.

  As she crossed the space the lift doors pinged and the two legitimate security guards from a few minutes ago returned. They marched across the room and their heels clicked in unison with one another’s.

  When one of them opened the door his loud voice echoed in the open space. “Where are they?”

  A lady in her mid to late forties entered the building and the security guard stepped in front of her. “Have you seen them?”

  “Who?”

  “The two security guards.”

  The woman looked at the security guard and then at his colleague next to him. Although her mouth moved up and down she didn’t say anything.

  “Fine,” the guard said, “show me your pass.”

  The woman did as she’d been ordered and then moved on when the guard let her through.

  The first guard must have been the senior of the two because he lifted his walkie-talkie and said, “Check the labs. Check the labs now.”

  The other guard made eye contact with Vicky. It was the same one that had looked at her before. Her pulse soared and every part of her screamed that she should run, but she wouldn’t make it to the end of the foyer before the guy caught up with her. She’d worn her trainers to work that day, but the guys in security were serious athletes.

  “You,” the guard said. Vicky pointed at herself and he nodded. “Yep. You were down here when the two fake guards were on watch. What did you see?”

  Her body temperature went up by what felt like a thousand degrees and her shirt stuck to her clammy body. “I … uh … I … ”

  The ping of the lift cut through her pathetic response. The gold-plated doors slid open and inside, amongst blood and guts, stood a family of four and two scientists, or rather they used to be.

  Not anymore.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I hate that that woman has our boy,” Larissa said as she frowned deeper than before and the car sped up.

  After he’d looked down at her foot on the accelerator, Rhys said, “She’ll look after him. I’m sure of it.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t trust your judgment, Rhys. After all, you were the one who left him with her in the first place.”

  Maybe she had a point. “I did the best I could do at the time. He wanted you back so what else could I have done? I should have fucking left you to die in the city.” Before she could answer him Rhys said, “Anyway, I trust Vicky. She’s given me no reason to think I shouldn’t. Besides, Oscar was a certified lunatic so I can’t take his word for anything.”

  Rhys looked at Larissa’s slim hands as they wrung the faux leather steering wheel. She ground her jaw and accelerated even harder than before.

  Although Larissa had switched the car’s full beams on their visibility had been seriously reduced by the lack of streetlights now that they were out of the town. Rhys’ eyes stung as he stared into the darkness, afraid to blink. Another glance at her accelerator foot and he said, “You could slow down a little, you know. The last thing we need is another diseased springing us and writing the car off.”

  “If you’re going to criticise my driving, Rhys, why don’t you do it?”

  Despite the tension in the car Rhys laughed.

  Larissa glanced across at him with a hard frown on her face as she barked, “What’s so funny?”

  “It feels like we never broke up.”

  “And we wouldn’t have if you hadn’t fucked another woman.”

  “Here we go again.”

  Larissa finally eased off the gas and looked at him. “I’m sorry, are you getting bored of talking about how you broke mine and Flynn’s hearts?”

  “Look … ”

  Larissa glared at him again. “Look what?”

  “I was scared.”

  “Scared?”

  It did sound pathetic. “It was scary being a new dad. I freaked out and I fucked up.”

  Larissa shook her head and the car shook with it. “Oh, well that’s all right then. Silly me. Everything seems so much clearer now. You lost your bottle a little bit at the prospect of becoming a parent so you decided to go off and fuck some old tart.”

  Her glare took on a new level of malice that made Rhys physically recoil.

  “What do you think I did when you went off with her?”

  Any answer would be wrong so Rhys didn’t respond.

  “I womaned the fuck up and took care of our little boy. You keep giving it the big I am about how you’ve saved me from Building Seventy-two, but we wouldn’t have a beautiful little boy that wanted me back if I hadn’t been there to change his nappies and read to him at night. You want to know why I fought you for the custody of Flynn?”

  When Rhys opened his mouth Larissa cut him short. “That was a rhetorical question. I fought you because I felt like you didn’t deserve to have any part in his life.”

  Some of the tension appeared to leave Larissa’s body as she slumped back in her seat with a sigh. “I’ve hated you for the longest time.”

  “I understand.” Rhys leaned across and squeezed Larissa’s shoulder again. “I’m going to be here now. It can’t make up for what I’ve done, but I’ll be here whenever you need me. I hope that one day you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me.”

  A tremble took over Larissa’s bottom lip and her emerald eyes glazed. When she blinked a single tear rolled down her cheek. “Why did you have to fuck everything up? We could have been great as a family. Even now, with Clive more of a dad than you’ve ever been, Flynn asks about you. He really needed you.”

  Grief caught in Rhys’ throat as a sharp lump. “He does?”

  “Of course he fucking does.” The tears now streamed down Larissa’s cheeks. “They say that young kids forget their early years, but Flynn has never forgotten you. We leave a photo of you on his bedside table. I wanted to take it down but Clive insisted we left it there.”

  The air left Rhys’ lungs and he couldn’t find the words.

  “He did it because he felt that Flynn should always make the choice who his parents were. As much as he loved Clive he always chose you.”

  The bubble burst and hot tears ran down Rhys’ cheeks. “Why didn’t—”

  His words were cut dead by a loud bang! Rhys looked in front and flinched as a body flew toward him and hit the windscreen. A spider web of cracks popped across the glass and Rhys spun around to see the diseased hit the road behind, jump to its feet, and roar at them before it gave chase.

  Larissa weaved her head to try to see as she drove. “I can’t see anything. The window’s fucked, Rhys. I can’t see a damn thing.”

  Another loud bang and they hit another diseased. It took the same path as the first and hit the windshield with another crunch.

  More cracks blinded Rhys and Larissa screamed, “Rhys, do something. I can’t drive like this.”

  They hit another diseased with yet another loud thud!

  All the while Larissa kept her foot down and the car raced through the dark streets. If she had a similar view to Rhys she couldn’t see fuck all at that moment. “Do you think that’s the last of ‘em?” she asked.

  “I dunno, I hope so.” Rhys then popped his seatbelt off and lifted his feet up in front of him.

  “What are you doing?”

  Instead of a reply Rhys kicked out at the screen. It didn’t budge and the shock ran all the way to the base of his back. The pain from his bike accident returned as a numbness at the tops of his legs. With clenched teeth he growled and kicked out at the window again.

  The top left corner came free from the frame.

  Rhys kicked again and it came free a little more.

  When he kicked again the entire window moved.

  He kicked out one final time and yelled. The window flopped forward. A rush of wind filled the car before the window flipped back into place. “Fuck it.”

  Another kick and Rhys managed to dislodge the bottom of the window. He then leaned forward, grabbed the screen, and wiggled it to work the bottom corner by Larissa free. It finally came loose and he pulled the window away.

  The wind continued to push against the large sheet of glass, but Rhys managed to move it across inch by inch. Once he’d shifted it far enough out of place he pushed it around the side of the car.

  The whoosh of the window hit the ground and skidded across the road surface before it vanished behind them.

  The breezed flapped in Rhys’ ears and ruffled his hair. Gone ten in the evening the wind had a sharp bite that it hadn’t had earlier that day.

  Rhys looked to his right and watched the city burn. He looked ahead again and the coast seemed clear, although they’d lost one of the headlights when they hit the diseased so he couldn’t be sure.

  Rhys looked to see Larissa’s hair tossed about by the strong gusts. She gripped the steering wheel as if it would stop her blowing away. As she stared into the oncoming gale she blinked repeatedly and maintained their fast pace.

  Rhys had to shout to be heard. “Well done, ‘Rissa.” He reached across and stroked her forearm. He’d not called her that in a very long time. “Well done.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  About twelve hours ago

  Before the six people in the lift emerged their screams filled the foyer. Everyone turned to see the nightmare that had just entered their world. As one, each ravenous once-human exploded from their confined space and attacked the first person they could. The slap of bodies smashed together and seconds later they each hit the ground with a series of thuds that ran vibrations through the soles of Vicky’s feet. The victim’s cries were amplified by the large open space.

  The security guard next to Vicky pulled a small black pole from his pocket and snapped his wrist. It turned into a baton as long as his arm. Balled at the end he raised it above his head and ran forward.

  When the second security guard followed the first Vicky saw her opportunity. She dropped her clipboard and ran out of the tower.

  Sure to close the door behind her Vicky looked out over the quiet square. Many people sat on or around the benches and enjoyed a lunch in the summer sun. After she’d looked back into the Alpha Tower at the chaos that tore through the place she removed her phone from her pocket and called Brendan.

  The wet pulse of the connected phone rang in her ear and Vicky shook as she continued to watch the insanity inside the tower. It had already gotten to the point where she couldn’t tell who had the disease and who didn’t, although it seemed abundantly clear which side would win. Before long the entire city would be overrun.

  Brendan answered the phone. Out of breath, she could hear his feet hit the ground as he ran.

  “Hello?”

  “Brendan! What shall I do?”

  Vicky listened to him run but he didn’t reply. “Brendan? Where shall I meet you? Where do you want me to go to?”

  A loud explosion shook the ground beneath her feet and Vicky heard it through Brendan’s phone too. He was closer to it than her. “Brendan what’s happening? Are you okay?”

  Vicky heard Brendan stop running and a car door slammed shut a second later. He gasped for breath down the phone.

  “Brendan?”

  Vicky heard the screech of tyres both on her left and through Brendan’s phone. She then saw a black car with darkened windows as it accelerated away. “Is that you in the car? Where are you going to pick me up from? Where shall I meet you?”

  Once his breath had settled he finally responded. “Meet me?”

  The screams from the foyer grew louder and Vicky stepped away another pace.

  Brendan laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You didn’t seriously think I was in love with you did you?”

  The words hit Vicky like a gut punch and a shot of acidic bile lifted up her throat. “But … what?”

  “Come on, Vicky, don’t be a fucking moron. You were hand selected. We picked you because you were vulnerable. You think it was a coincidence that I was there when you were at your lowest ebb? I didn’t have a grandma you stupid idiot. That was just a ruse to make you trust me. Truth be told I was waiting for your mum to die so I could be that shoulder to cry on. I made sure I stood next to you in the queue in the hospital’s coffee shop for that very reason.”

  Sweat lifted on Vicky’s skin and her breaths grew shallow. “But … but …”

  “Listen to yourself will ya? Have some self-respect woman. Jesus. Women are so fucking weak. And you know what else?”

  So numb she couldn’t even cry Vicky let Brendan continue.

  “That night of our first date, the one where you nearly got on the train that blew up. Who do you think blew the train up?”

  Vicky gasped as she moved around the side of the Alpha Tower away from the front door.

  “It served two purposes. It killed some of the West’s citizens, and it made you believe in fate. We knew you’d be useful once I had your complete trust. It also helped that I wanted to fuck you. You were like my own private whore. Instead of money I paid you with faux affection. God, you’re gullible girl.”

 

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