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Authors: Luke Duffy
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airfield?”
“Clean as a whistle, Sam, and the fuel tanks are full. It won’t be a problem to get the place fully operational. There’s a few maggot-sacks knocking about but nothing like down at the harbours. That’s where I can see our main trouble coming from. Once the docks are cleared it’s a straight run up to the airfield and then from there, the forward units can begin leap-frogging into London by helicopter while the support troops come up in vehicles.”
“What about London itself?”
Marty shook his head.
“Not a chance. We couldn’t even get near it, Sam. The roads are clogged bumper to bumper and the outlying areas are teeming with the infected. The nearest we could get to the place was about fifteen kilometres to the south-west of Hounslow. To be honest, I really don’t know why we’re trying to take the place back.”
“The new Prime Minister is under the impression that capturing London would be a symbolic victory and would raise the moral of the people.” Samantha’s tone made it sound more of an automated rhetoric than a heartfelt conviction.
“A slaughter more like,” Marty huffed. “Even if we managed to completely clear the city of those things, it would be a bio-hazard for the next twenty years.”
Samantha nodded, still keeping her focus on the road ahead of them and snaking the vehicle through the twisting bends while doing her best to negotiate the Land Rover around the deepest potholes.
“If we had more aircraft we wouldn’t need to think about the harbour,” she replied, “but as it stands, it’s our only way of resupply and reinforcement in the large numbers needed to keep up the momentum of the offensive. The main objective will be securing the airfield. Once the first wave has gone in every infected body for miles around will converge on the perimeter. I just hope we have enough troops and that they can get the harbour and the roads cleared to link up with the advanced units.”
“Well that’s up to the head-shed to work out. We’ve done our bit.”
The vehicle suddenly jolted violently as Samantha was unable to avoid a large dip in the road. The suspension rattled and Marty was buffeted in his seat. Holding onto the dashboard he turned and looked at Bull and Danny, and then down at the crate. Bull nodded back to him reassuringly.
“You do know that we’ve kept a close eye on you, don’t you?” Samantha informed Marty with an air of warning in her voice.
Marty rubbed at the inside of his forearm in the area where the bio-tracker had been implanted beneath the skin. Most of the time, he forgot that it was there but now Samantha reminded him that he was never too far away from the prying eyes of the operations staff.
“Fucking ‘big-brother’,” he grumbled. “Are you referring to the fact that we covered a larger area than we were tasked with?”
“Yeah. Your trackers were all over the place and quite a few questions were being asked within the Ops Room.” She turned and glanced at him with a wry smile. “You been doing your own little thing again instead of sticking to the mission?”
Marty laughed.
“Hey, it’s not our fault if we have to take detours. There’s a lot of those things on the streets these days. Is it going to be a problem with Thompson?”
“Not at all. I just thought you should have prior warning in case they asked. Anyway, what’s in the box you brought back with you?”
Marty looked over his shoulder and eyed Bull who shifted in his seat and turned his body so that his bulk was between him and Samantha, and protecting their precious crate.
“Nothing much,” Marty replied, “just something we found that could be useful to us back at the barn.”
Samantha knew that she was unlikely to get any more information than that from them and shrugged with disinterest.
“It can only be one of a couple of things,” she reasoned aloud. “With the way that the big lump is hovering over it, it’s either a box full of women’s
“Clean as a whistle, Sam, and the fuel tanks are full. It won’t be a problem to get the place fully operational. There’s a few maggot-sacks knocking about but nothing like down at the harbours. That’s where I can see our main trouble coming from. Once the docks are cleared it’s a straight run up to the airfield and then from there, the forward units can begin leap-frogging into London by helicopter while the support troops come up in vehicles.”
“What about London itself?”
Marty shook his head.
“Not a chance. We couldn’t even get near it, Sam. The roads are clogged bumper to bumper and the outlying areas are teeming with the infected. The nearest we could get to the place was about fifteen kilometres to the south-west of Hounslow. To be honest, I really don’t know why we’re trying to take the place back.”
“The new Prime Minister is under the impression that capturing London would be a symbolic victory and would raise the moral of the people.” Samantha’s tone made it sound more of an automated rhetoric than a heartfelt conviction.
“A slaughter more like,” Marty huffed. “Even if we managed to completely clear the city of those things, it would be a bio-hazard for the next twenty years.”
Samantha nodded, still keeping her focus on the road ahead of them and snaking the vehicle through the twisting bends while doing her best to negotiate the Land Rover around the deepest potholes.
“If we had more aircraft we wouldn’t need to think about the harbour,” she replied, “but as it stands, it’s our only way of resupply and reinforcement in the large numbers needed to keep up the momentum of the offensive. The main objective will be securing the airfield. Once the first wave has gone in every infected body for miles around will converge on the perimeter. I just hope we have enough troops and that they can get the harbour and the roads cleared to link up with the advanced units.”
“Well that’s up to the head-shed to work out. We’ve done our bit.”
The vehicle suddenly jolted violently as Samantha was unable to avoid a large dip in the road. The suspension rattled and Marty was buffeted in his seat. Holding onto the dashboard he turned and looked at Bull and Danny, and then down at the crate. Bull nodded back to him reassuringly.
“You do know that we’ve kept a close eye on you, don’t you?” Samantha informed Marty with an air of warning in her voice.
Marty rubbed at the inside of his forearm in the area where the bio-tracker had been implanted beneath the skin. Most of the time, he forgot that it was there but now Samantha reminded him that he was never too far away from the prying eyes of the operations staff.
“Fucking ‘big-brother’,” he grumbled. “Are you referring to the fact that we covered a larger area than we were tasked with?”
“Yeah. Your trackers were all over the place and quite a few questions were being asked within the Ops Room.” She turned and glanced at him with a wry smile. “You been doing your own little thing again instead of sticking to the mission?”
Marty laughed.
“Hey, it’s not our fault if we have to take detours. There’s a lot of those things on the streets these days. Is it going to be a problem with Thompson?”
“Not at all. I just thought you should have prior warning in case they asked. Anyway, what’s in the box you brought back with you?”
Marty looked over his shoulder and eyed Bull who shifted in his seat and turned his body so that his bulk was between him and Samantha, and protecting their precious crate.
“Nothing much,” Marty replied, “just something we found that could be useful to us back at the barn.”
Samantha knew that she was unlikely to get any more information than that from them and shrugged with disinterest.
“It can only be one of a couple of things,” she reasoned aloud. “With the way that the big lump is hovering over it, it’s either a box full of women’s
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