Viro (Book 4): Viro Read online

  VIRO

  BOOK FOUR

  VIRO

  BOOK FOUR

  Barnaby Taylor

  For Iris, as per usual and always …

  Copyright  Barnaby Taylor 2019

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN 978-1-9996332-9-5 (Ebook)

  First Edition

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Barnaby Taylor

  www.falconboy.ie

  Dead

  Ellis was crying. I heard the hurt falling out her eyes. Her breath was gaspy. It was not good. It was all loud. Vinnie shushed her.

  ‘Don’t cry, Sis. We have to keep quiet. We can’t let the kids hear. They’ll get upset and then Ciaran will know we’re here.’

  Ellis gugged. She couldn’t breathe. Her tears kept falling. She didn’t speak properly.

  ‘But he’s dead. Jake’s dead.’

  I couldn’t move. It was weird. My ears were fine. There was things in my head. But I couldn’t say them. My mouth was broken. I heard more whispers. It was Abe. He was scared.

  ‘Is this my fault? Did I make this happen?’

  Vinnie spoke to Abe.

  ‘No one made this happen. Only the world and everything in it. It certainly wasn’t you, Abe.’

  ‘But I was so mean to him. I said such nasty silly things.’

  There was a breath deep inside me. I couldn’t let it out. It made my chest thick.

  Amber was speaking now.

  ‘You were silly, Abe. You said mean things to Jake but he forgave you. He doesn’t hate you. He never did.’

  ‘But what if I made him to do this.’

  Amber sighed.

  ‘I’d say that missing his Mum and Baxter being shot were probably more upsetting than you and your silly jealousy.’

  ‘It wasn’t silly.’

  ‘It was, Abe. It really was.’

  Fear

  My breath fell out my mouth like sick. I gasped very big. I coughed. I was really full of choke.

  Ellis grabbed me.

  ‘He’s not dead. Jake’s not dead.’

  I opened my eyes. Everyone was staring. It was really weird. All their faces were full of a fear I had made for them. My mouth was nearly working.

  ‘I’m sorry …’

  My throat was all tight. My words died in the air. Ellis held my head. She was crying.

  ‘Don’t speak, Jake. Just breathe.’

  Vinnie lay his jumper under my head. He was worried.

  ‘It’s okay, Jake. We’re all good here.’

  I nodded with my eyes. I knew he was sad for me. I didn’t like it. My mouth opened again.

  ‘I never meant to …’

  Amber held my hand.

  ‘Vinnie’s right, Jake. It’s all good here.’

  Someone held my other hand. It was Abe. He didn’t speak. He nodded at me. I tried to nod back. It hurt when I did. Vinnie whispered to the others.

  ‘We should get David to look at him. He must have done some first aid training in the forces.’

  A little later David was sitting next to me.

  ‘How are you feeling, Jake? Can you breathe normally? Does it hurt anywhere else?’

  I thought about my body. I had deep pain inside my heart. That was always there. My throat was sore. The skin felt raw. My knee hurt a bit where I hit the ground.

  ‘I think I’m okay. I feel bad for scaring people but nothing is broken.’

  David nodded.

  ‘There is nothing to feel bad about. You’ve done well to get this far. It was inevitable that you would have a wobble some time. The last few days have been really traumatic. I’m surprised more of us haven’t succumbed to the darkness.’

  Better

  It was the afternoon. Ciaran was still outside the station. We all were still silent. I was sitting by the stairs. Abe had found some cushions and made me a bed. He gave me a blanket.

  ‘Try and rest, Jake. We all need you back to normal as soon as possible. We can’t survive without you.’

  I liked Abe’s words. When he was kind he was so nice. I think I understood why he had been mean to me. I knew he liked Ellis. I knew he knew I liked her too. It was very hard to grow up.

  ‘Thanks, Abe. Can you sit with me?’

  ‘Sure thing, Jake.’

  Abe sat on a cushion. He leaned back against the wall.

  ‘You know what, Jake, if none of this viro stuff had ever happened, I would still have wanted to hang around with you. We would have got up to all kinds of crazy things.’

  ‘Me too, Abe. I’ve never had real friends before. Mum is my best friend. I find it hard to trust people. Because I look like this. I expect people to laugh at me. Or make fun. I get all worried.’

  ‘That’s only because they never knew you. Anyone who spends time with you can see how good a friend you are. Anyone who can’t see that doesn’t deserve your friendship. That’s what I think.’

  My face went red. Abe was being nice. I had to get used to feeling this way. I had to trust people, especially now that I was alone.

  ‘I trust you, Abe. I trust all of you. I am a better boy with you all. I like it this way. I am who I want to be.’

  I did a small laugh.

  ‘The world ending made me better. What a mad thing to happen.’

  Abe shook his head.

  ‘You’ve always been a great person, Jake. You’ve just never had the chance to show the world.’

  ‘I have now.’

  ‘You sure have.’

  Rethink

  David was talking later on.

  ‘There’s no way we can all get away from here without transport. The kids won’t last five minutes on the road. I won’t last much longer like this.’

  David looked worried.

  ‘I think we may have to rethink our plan.’

  I didn’t like this much. David was a clever man. He knew lots of useful things.

  ‘What rethink? Our plan is working fine.’

  ‘For now, Jake, but not for much longer.’

  David pointed at the cupboards.

  ‘We have enough food for another day and then that’s it. After that, we’ll have problems very quickly. Hunger is our worst enemy right now.’

  David looked at the window.

  ‘Ciaran is a problem but on his own he’s nothing compared to all of us going without food for a few days. That is going to be really tough, especially for the kids.’

  Vinnie looked at David.

  ‘What do you think we should do?’

  ‘I think that some of us need to go and find help while the rest of us stay here. It would make sense for me to stay with the kids and let you lot go. You all work well together. Also the fewer of us here, the longer we might be able to eke out our remaining rations. These kids don’t eat much and my appetite isn’t great at the moment.’

  I wasn’t sure what David was saying.

  ‘Where would we get help? Who’s out there?’

  ‘I don’t know, Jake. It’s likely that the aerodrome is out of bounds now so that only leaves the asylum. You might run into a patrol but given the recent activity in this sector, I’d say the chances of that are pretty slim.’

  Vinnie nodded. He spoke like an adult.

  ‘I doubt we’ll find our way to the asylum on foot. Ciaran seemed to think it was miles from here. But if we could find some means of transport then we could come back and get you all.’

  David liked Vinnie’s words.

  ‘That sounds like a great idea.’

  I didn’t like his words as much.

  Sor
ry

  Ellis came back from her turn on guard. It was Florence who was next. Ellis said something. Her voice was soft.

  ‘He’s still there. Just standing and waiting. He knows we’re here.’

  David was happy.

  ‘As long as he still alone, I’m happy.’

  ‘I didn’t see anyone else.’

  Vinnie looked at David.

  ‘Should we kill Ciaran? Should we take him down before he ends up drawing a swarm upon us?’

  David wasn’t sure.

  ‘We could but who would do it? I’m not mobile enough.’

  Vinnie looked at all of us.

  ‘I’m pretty sure we could handle him.’

  David didn’t look surprised.

  ‘I’m very sure you could.’

  Abe liked this idea.

  ‘If we killed Ciaran it might mean we could make this place our base. Some of us could go looking for food while the rest of us waited here. You never know, a patrol might pass this way looking for diesel.’

  I didn’t want this. This was no plan.

  ‘We need to find the asylum. And Mum. There will be soldiers. They know what to do. We can’t just hide here. We should keep going.’

  Abe didn’t like my words.

  ‘Keep going where, Jake? We can’t just wander the countryside for the rest of our lives. That’s all we’ve done since we met you.’

  Abe looked at the others.

  ‘I don’t know about anyone else but I’m really tired of all this. I wish we could just stay put for a while.’

  I looked at Ellis and Vinnie.

  ‘What about your farm? We would live there. We would find Mum and all go to your farm. We could be happy there.’

  Ellis didn’t speak. Vinnie did.

  ‘I know, Jake. I really understand what you’re saying but we have to be realistic. We have no way of getting to the asylum. We have no way of knowing who’s still there. And as for the farm; it could be totally overrun by those things.’

  Vinnie saw his words had hurt me.

  ‘I’m sorry, Jake. I really am.’

  Gather

  I was worried. I didn’t understand my friends now. I had to find Mum. They said they would help. But they wanted to stay. That was not help. How could I find her alone? I needed them.

  I sat watching Ciaran. He just stood there. His head twitched a bit. Like he was listening. Waiting to hear us speak. But we were beating him. He couldn’t hear. Vinnie sat next to me. He was whispering.

  ‘David has found a radio. He is trying to get it working. That might help us find out what is going on out there.’

  I didn’t speak. I was watching Ciaran. He started to move. There was a shadow next to him. And another. I watched as two more viros appeared. They stood next to Ciaran. One was tall and covered in mud. Another was a kid wearing a ripped school uniform. I nudged Vinnie and pointed.

  ‘Ciaran has some friends.’

  Soon I counted twenty viros. They were waiting. They would attack when they saw us. I wondered how long the gate would last. It looked solid.

  When Abe took over, I joined the others in the radio room. David was sitting by the desk. He had a small walkie-talkie in his hand.

  ‘The power is long gone so I can’t get the big radio working. I found this but have no idea about the battery. I have cleaned it as best I can but we might only have enough for one short message.’

  David looked worried.

  ‘If that swarm outside gets any bigger they’ll have the gate down in no time. Once that happens, we’re done for.’

  Vinnie said things.

  ‘We have no choice now, David. We need to get out of here as soon as we can.’

  He looked out into the main room.

  ‘We’ll never be able to fight the swarm and look after the kids at the same time.’

  David nodded.

  ‘We need to evacuate straight away.’

  Damian

  Cecily came into the room. She was crying.

  ‘Damian won’t play the game anymore. He has gone outside to run around.’

  David looked at Vinnie.

  ‘You’ve got to get him back. You’ve got to stop the swarm from seeing him.’

  Abe came running in.

  ‘Guys, Damian is standing by the gate. He’s talking to the kid viro.’

  We ran for the window. Damian was standing at the gate. He was doing a silly dance. He was speaking to the viros. I saw the kid viro grab him. Damian screamed. The kid viro tried to bite him. Damian screamed louder. The viros started to get happy. They wobbled the gate. Damian screamed again. He said my name.

  ‘Help me, Jake. You’ve got to help me.’

  I watched it happening. It was like the worst horror story ever. David spoke quickly. His voice broke the spell.

  ‘That’s it, then. Get everyone together and meet me by the stairs.’

  We made a plan. Me and Vinnie and Abe would climb over the back wall. We would get the viros at the gate to see us. They would chase after us. Amber and Ellis would get Damian back inside. Florence would help David with the other kids.

  Vinnie grabbed an axe. So did me and Abe. The axe was heavy. I didn’t know how to swing it hard. I had no time to learn. Vinnie went out the back.

  ‘This way. We’ll climb on that old tank and hop over the back wall.’

  The tank was high. It was hard to get up. Abe helped me. He pushed my hips. Vinnie pulled him up. Vinnie went over the wall. He hit the ground. He was crouching. He looked around.

  ‘All clear. Come on.’

  Abe went next. He landed hard.

  ‘I’m ok. Come on, Jake.’

  I jumped off. The wall was high. The ground made my knee hurt. It felt twisty. Vinnie saw I had pain.

  ‘You okay, Jake? Can you do this?’

  I held the axe. I nodded.

  ‘Let’s get going.’

  Clowning

  Vinnie led on. Me and Abe were walking behind. We came to the edge of the wall. Vinnie peeped round. He ducked back.

  ‘There’s loads of them.’

  Abe nodded. Vinnie breathed hard.

  ‘Let’s go.’

  We ran around the corner. The viros were swarming. There was lots everywhere. An old one had blood all over. It screamed. The others looked at us. Vinnie went up the road.

  ‘Follow me, guys. We’ve got to lead them away from the gate.’

  Abe picked up a stone. He chucked it at the viros. It hit a big one on the head. The viro roared. Abe grabbed another stone. He laughed. Abe missed. Vinnie turned around.

  ‘C’mon, Abe. We haven’t got time for clowning around. We’ve got to shift this swarm.’

  ‘I’m not clowning, Vinnie. I’m getting their attention.’

  Vinnie pointed at the swarm. It was all heading to us.

  ‘We’ve got their attention alright!’

  We ran up a road. There was small houses. They looked empty. I saw a field with a gate. There was a rope tied to the gate. As I ran I saw a dead horse tied to the rope. It was all rotten. I saw all the bones it had sticking out. Abe saw it too.

  ‘That’s gross, Jake.’

  ‘Poor thing. It must have been really scared.’

  Abe shrugged.

  ‘We got to keep moving, Jake, or we’ll end up like that horse.’

  Vinnie was ahead of us. He stopped. He pointed behind me.

  ‘Here they come, every single one of them.’

  I turned round. The viros were at the end of the road. They were trying to catch us. They were going as fast as they could. I knew we could outrun them every time. Then I heard a click to my side. And a voice.

  ‘What the hell are you silly boys doing?’

  I turned. There was a lady. She had white hair. And a big shotgun.

  Riled

  The lady was angry.

  ‘You’ve got them all riled up now. They’ll never go away.’

  I tried to speak.

  ‘We’re trapped down there
. The viros stood at the gate. We had to get them away.’

  ‘The what at the gate?’

  I pointed down the road.

  ‘The viros.’

  ‘Those poor unfortunates? What do they want with you?’

  Vinnie stood next to me.

  ‘We escaped from Dungeness and got as far as here. A giant swarm of these things attacked the army. It was chaos.’

  ‘I imagine it was, my dear.’

  The lady looked at the viros.

  ‘We’d better stop gossiping and get off the street before they get here.’

  She nodded towards a house.

  ‘In there, everybody, as quick as you can.’

  The lady stepped through a broken door. We followed. The viros were getting closer. It was dark inside. I heard the lady above me.

  ‘Follow the stairs and watch your step. Some of the boards are a little bit loose. When you get to the top you’ll see a small door. Wait for me on the other side.’

  I walked past the lady. She was pulling a rope.

  ‘Keep going, dear. Go through that door.’

  The lady pulled the rope. She saw me watching her.

  ‘Just a little something to block the stairs. They’ll sit at the bottom for a while and then likely get bored. They have a very short attention span.’

  I did what she said. The door was low. I ducked through. I felt someone grab my arm. It was Vinnie.

  Daphne

  The lady came after us. She put her finger on her lip. She was whispering.

  ‘Follow the carpet until you get to the window. Once there, climb out and walk all the way along the wall. Go to the other window and climb in. Don’t step off the carpet or they’ll hear you. Don’t fall off the wall or they’ll eat you.’

  I went first. I walked the carpet. It was dirty and thin. I thought each step would make danger. I climbed out the window. The wall was thick and high. I wobbled. I looked down. I was between two houses. There was grass under me. It was a nice garden. I went in the other window.