LIFERS Chapter Thirty Three

‘Hey, did you find a ban−’ the instant Jill saw Gregg with the bloodbag in his mouth; she dropped Nick’s hand and turned to see his eyes wide with shock and realisation.

‘You’re one of them,’ he said.

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Nick,’ she told him.

Nick stepped back, drew his gun.

‘Put it down, Nick,’ she said.

‘No, he’s one of them.’

‘He’s not, he’s one of us.’

Nick pulled back the hammer. ‘I knew there was something going on between you two when you stopped me seeing that shoulder wound.’ He moved his gaze to Gregg. ‘And now I think about it, you’re the only one who’s not been out in the rain.’

‘I can explain that, Nick, all of it,’ Gregg told him.

‘No,’ Nick said. ‘I don’t need any explanations.’

‘Look at me, Nick,’ Jill shouted. ‘Will you look at me?’

After a second he did.

‘Remember what Gregg told you about that injection and about the virus and how it turns people in to what they are?’

‘What’s that got to do with it?’

‘Well that’s what they did to him, trust me, he’s not one of them. If he was, do you think he'd have shot the one out there just so you could take photographs of him?’

‘But he won’t go out in the rain, and he was drinking blood from that bag.’

‘Maybe he was, but you’re still wrong about him.’

‘Well I happen to think otherwise, now get out of the way.’

‘No, Nick, you’re going to have to shoot me first.’

‘Would you stop being stupid and move?’ He altered his aim to her head; his face slick with sweat, his eyes blinking in rapid motion. ‘Or so help me I will.’

Jill didn’t think he’d carry out the threat, but his hands were shaking so much he just might pull the trigger by accident. So in the hope he’d back down, she drew her gun and pointed it at him. And now both weapons were only inches away from their respective points of impact.

‘Now why don’t ya both put down ya guns, huh?’ drawled a voice from over by the oil truck.

Jill looked to her left and Nick to his right, and both saw a thin, weasel-faced man standing next to the hatch, his dark-grey overcoat fastened tight up to his neck and his shotgun moving between both of them.

Jill pursed her lips. ‘Fuck.’

‘Very slowly now,’ he said. ‘I want you to place the guns on the floor and kick em’ over t’me, and then ya can both get ya hands up.’

Nick and Jill did as the man asked.

‘Well now, I knew you were in here, fat boy; saw ya climbin’ under the door there,’ he said. ‘Almost got ya, too. And you,’ he added. ‘You must be one of them new ones Hal fetched in earlier. But where’s that nosey little fuck investigator? Where’s he a hidin’, huh?’

Jill saw Nick glance at Gregg in the office behind her, she had no doubt he was about to speak up and reveal his location just to save his own skin. ‘He’s in the stationroom; Nick here blew his brains out. That’s what we were shouting about, wasn’t it, Nick.’

The man eyed her through narrow slits before he turned to Nick. ‘Izzat right, blubber boy, ya done shot y’self a nice fat pig?’

Again Nick flicked his eyes to where Gregg was, then licked his lips before he looked back at the man. ‘Yeah, I did him all right, got him straight between the eyes.’

‘Good, saves me a job then done it. Now, I was told to shoot ya’ll to fuck on sight, but I’m thinkin’ different, see. If I shoot fat-fuck here, I can have me some nice fresh pussy. And I can tell ya, I ain’t had that for some time. Well, not while it still had a pulse anyways,’ he said, then took one step away from the hatch and levelled the shotgun to Nick’s face.

Jill looked on in as Nick stared at the man who was about to take his head off. He looked to be holding his breath, waiting in some kind of accepted silence for his life to end, and then, of all things strange, he pointed at her feet.

‘Snake, Jill,’ he shouted.

Innate fear made Jill look down and was about to scream bloody murder when she heard the gun go off. She looked up and found Nick still there and unhurt. She snapped her head round to the office to see the short barrel of Gregg’s gun still smouldering. Then all three turned to see the man, now with a small black hole in the centre of his forehead, drop to his knees and fall sideward back into the shaft he just climbed from.

..

Gregg shoved the Colt into the back his jeans and walked over to the hatch. He kicked the shotgun down the shaft where it thumped its way to the fourth step before he retrieved Jill and Nick’s guns.

‘A snake?’ Jill shouted at Nick.

‘It was all I could think of.’

‘But a snake?’

‘You were blocking his line of sight; if you hadn’t ducked I’d be dead right now.’

‘So why didn’t you just yell duck, then?’’

‘Because I've never heard of anyone being afraid of ducks.’

‘You … but ... he …’

‘Snakes, huh?’ Gregg said, giving Jill her gun.

‘Yeah, they kind of freak me out, okay?’

‘I wouldn’t let it worry you,’ Nick told her. ‘Everyone’s afraid of something.’

Gregg passed him the 45. ‘In that case,’ he said. ‘What that guy just told us should scare us all.’

Jill tucked the gun under her poncho and walked into the office. ‘What do you mean?’ she said.

‘He said he was sent out to kill us, which means they know for certain that we’re out here, it also means they could send more after us at any time.’

‘So you think there are more of them out there?’ Jill said.

Gregg peered from the window, he didn’t see signs of anyone, but then again, he didn’t expect to. ‘I don’t know. It’s possible.’ He turned back. ‘Did either of you manage get the fuel turned on?’

‘No,’ Nick said. ‘According to that valve it’s already on and should be flowing.’
‘So there has to be another switch somewhere, a junction box for the pumps like the one for the shutter electrics. We find that and we’re half way out of here.’

‘Like a fireman’s switch?’ Nick said.
Gregg nodded. ‘And it’ll be somewhere outside.’

Jill pulled a tin box from under the small serving counter beneath the window. Inside was an array of dressings, a glass bottle of Aspirin, and, of all things ironic, a snake-bite kit.

‘Give me your hand, Nick,’ she said.

The gash wasn’t too deep, but it spanned two thirds the width of his left palm. She used one bandage to wipe it clean and opened another to wrap it up. ‘Not great,’ she said. ‘But it’ll keep the dirt out.’

‘Thanks,’ Nick said. He turned to Gregg. ‘Hey … I mean … look, thanks, man, I owe you one, a big one.’

‘Forget it, Nick. If Jill and I had been more upfront with you in the first place, perhaps none of that would have happened.’

‘Still, if it wasn’t for you...’

‘I said forget it, but tell me what changed your mind.’

‘Having that shotgun aimed at my face with a fanatic for blood-letting on the other end of it ready to squeeze the trigger and take my head off kinda helped. And what Jill said about those girls, and how she’s certain they’re still alive. Plus her tenacity in trying to convince me that you weren’t one of them. But what sealed it was you pointing your gun at him and not me, which again, I’m indebted to you for.’ He shrugged. ‘I suppose I got scared when I saw you drinking that blood and it really freaked me out. I panicked.’

‘Listen,’ Jill said. ‘I’m going to leave you two tough guys to hug this thing out because I really gotta ... well, ya know …’ she thumbed backward with a self-conscious smile then disappeared around the side of the oil truck.

Gregg turned back to Nick. ‘Tell you what,’ he said. ‘Find that pump-switch and we’ll call it even. Oh, and by the way,’ he added as he passed Nick the un-punctured blood-bag. ‘I’m still one of you, okay?’

Nick smiled, embarrassed. ‘Yeah, sure. But why the sudden rush for the gas, didn’t you want to find those girls before you got out of here?’

‘The girls are still my number one priority, and no matter how I have to do it, I am going to rescue them and get them home.’

‘So do you have a plan?’

Gregg nodded. ‘When I was in here contemplating that bag of blood I came up with a way of getting in and back out of the town hall with the girls in tow, and getting that gas is the biggest part of it. Once we have it you need to get some to your van and get it back here. The one thing we can’t risk is all of you running aimlessly through those woods, especially if the rain stops, because they will find you, believe me.’

Nick frowned. ‘That sounds like you’re not coming with us.’

Gregg shook his head. ‘I’m not. In a few hours, if not sooner, I’m going to be just like the rest of them here, so there’s no going back for me.’

‘That’s a tough break.’

‘Perhaps it is, but if we can save those girls it’s more than a fair trade.’

‘And if we can’t save them?’

‘Well it won’t be from a want of trying, Nick.’

‘So, this plan, how we gonna do it?’

‘If what’s in that truck really is paraffin oil, we pour it into the tunnels and set fire to it so they can’t use them. Then you and I take your van up to the town hall and set fires all around it to force them out and into the rain. Hopefully, in the commotion of their panic, and before the place burns to the ground, I can get in and get to the girls; we put them in the van and you drive back here where you pick Jill up and then all of you leave.’

‘And what, you stay behind to burn with the rest of them?’

Gregg drew his gun. ‘I’ve got two shots left,’ he said. ‘One of them’s for me.’

‘And what if you have to use those shots to get in or out of the place?’

He shook his head. ‘They’ll be too preoccupied with their own worthless survival to even notice me being there.’

Nick pointed to the hatch. ‘What about the shotgun?’

‘Too clumsy.’

‘Then take this,’ he said, and offered up the 45.

‘No. If they’re on the streets you and Jill will need all the protection you’ve got.’

‘And you’re sure that’s how you wanna play this out?’

Gregg nodded. ‘Once I know the girls are safe, that is.’

‘What about Jill, are you going to tell her you won’t be coming back?’

‘I don’t think she needs to know.’

‘Perhaps not, but she just put herself between you and a bullet. And even though it was me on the other end she still had a lotta guts to do that. And, all jokes aside, you’re a good-looking guy, so I doubt there wasn’t an ulterior motive hidden somewhere in there, too.’

Gregg lifted an eyebrow. ‘Ulterior motive?’

‘Huh huh.’

‘Well that’s even more of a reason to keep it from her.’

Nick stared, said nothing.

‘Don’t look at me like that, Nick. You think I don’t know she deserves more than that from me? God knows I owe her my life twice over already, but telling her won’t help our situation, and if I thought for one second that it would, I’d have told her long before I told you.’

Nick nodded. ‘Well, I suppose it’s for the best. So, You’re gonna burn down the town hall?’

‘Like I said; if what’s in that tanker turns out to be oil I will.’

‘What if I could offer you a more powerful alternative?’

‘I’m listening.’

‘I’ve got a shit-load of display fireworks in my van, and I’m not talking just whizz, bang, pop and fizz here. I mean some real mean-fuckers. Japanese round shells they call them, which is just another term for the plain-looking ball of T.N.T. they really are.’

‘Do you have enough to bring down the town hall?’

‘That depends on its construction and how big the place is.’

Gregg looked around. ‘I’d guess at three times this, maybe a bit bigger, and it’s wooden, the whole town’s wooden, except for this place.’

Nick sucked in a breath, shook his head. ‘With something that big I can’t guarantee total destruction, but they’d rip this tin shack to bits like it was paper.’

‘Then we’ll just have to move them somewhere smaller.’

‘How?’

‘Don’t know.’

‘So what’s the plan?’ Jill said, popping up behind Nick.

Gregg tossed her the bloodbag. ‘First,’ he said. ‘I won’t need that.’

She smiled. ‘Glad to hear it.’ Then slid open the office window and tossed it into the rain.
Gregg pulled out his gun and used one of his remaining bullets; the bag exploded and spread its contents over the wet ground in a red gossamer veil. He saw Nick look at him. “One left” he mouthed.

‘The plan …’ Gregg finally said. ‘First we get fuel, then we get Nick’s van back here, and then we discuss what I have in mind. But before we can do any of that, we need to find that junction box, which means you two will have to go back outside to look for it.’

Jill rolled her eyes and attempted to run her fingers through the fuzz on her head, then looked at Gregg. ‘When you and I finally get out of here, I’m sending you my hairdresser’s bill.’

Gregg smiled, said nothing.

‘Come on, Nick,’ Jill said. ‘Let’s go find that switch.’

Once they ducked under the shutter, Gregg lowered it behind them and went over to the far side of the oil truck where he opened a tap at the rear to see if it was Paraffin Oil. Thankfully it was, and it flowed quite well.

He wondered then about a combination of both the oil and the fireworks. He could use the oil to smoke them into the tunnels and force them some place smaller than the town hall, and then have Nick use the fireworks to destroy that location whilst he got into the town hall and back out again with the girls in tow.