The Dust: Book Three - Sanctum Read online

‘I’m aware of the problem, Miss Gough.’ The Doyen tapped his pencil on the desk. ‘I have a proposal for you.’ He looked directly at her; she fidgeted, slightly uncomfortable at the formal tone.

  ‘I want you to join our medical unit in Taunton.’

  ‘Taunton.’ She said with surprise, looking at Jeremiah.

  ‘Yes, Taunton. We need all the help we can get.’

  ‘What are you doing in Taunton?’ Jeremiah asked,

  The Doyen sized up the old farmer. Was it any of his business? ‘And you sir, you are?’

  Before he could answer Sharon cut in. ‘Mr Rosser is my assistant.’

  The Doyen laughed. ‘Your assistant?’

  ‘Yes. He assists in all of my work, and knows of everything that I have uncovered.’ She glanced over to Jeremiah and smiled. ‘He has been invaluable.’

  The Doyen could see the woman’s devotion to the old man. ‘You would need him with you?’

  ‘If I decided to go, then yes, he would have to come with me.’ Sharon was insistent.

  The Doyen nodded slowly. ‘And what of the others in your party?’

  ‘Kenny Morris, he was our.’ Jeremiah stopped. Everyone was equal at York, but Kenny was really in charge. He held the group together. ‘He was our leader, I suppose.’

  The Doyen looked at the other man stood by the door, dressed in his white boiler suit. ‘And the other two.’

  ‘A man we picked up at Ruddington. There was an army base there, but it got overrun.’

  ‘By the Infected?’

  ‘Yes.’ Jeremiah looked downwards. ‘It was pretty grim.’

  ‘It’s always grim up North.’ The Doyen laughed. ‘That is why we are here. To sort things out, to mop up the streets.’

  ‘That’s where Mr Morris got injured. He was leading the fight alongside the military. If you can save him he will be a fantastic asset to you. Someone you can work with, he is a natural leader.’ Jeremiah smiled.

  ‘Yes, I’m sure he is.’ Again he looked at the man standing by the door. ‘We need men like him.’

  ‘The woman is Mrs Renton.’ Added Sharon. ‘I’m afraid she isn’t in a good way. She was in charge of looking after the children.’ Sharon stopped. She remembered York castle falling, and the horrific scenes she witnessed. She wished she could erase them from her hard drive, wipe it clean. ‘As you can see, there are no children with us now. I’m sad to say it’s taken its toll on poor Mrs Renton.’

  ‘Very sad.’ The Doyen placed his hands on the desk. ‘Then it’s settled, you will both go to Taunton? Yes?’

  Sharon sighed. ‘I suppose we don’t really have an alternative.’

  ‘Have you come across any other survivors?’ Jeremiah asked. ‘A couple of men and a woman, with a little girl?’

  ‘The Doyen shrugged. ‘I couldn’t say. We pick people up all of the time. Some stay with us, some go their own way.’

  ‘Okay, it was just a thought.’ Jeremiah stood up.

  ‘Do we go now?’ Sharon followed suit. ‘Can we say goodbye to our friends?’

  ‘I’m afraid they have been taken to our hospital at Frenchay.’

  ‘You have a hospital up and running?’ Sharon was excited by that news.

  ‘It’s very early days, but I can assure you your friends are in safe hands.’ He then ushered them both out of the office.

  ‘Well thank you for taking care of them.’ Sharon Gough shook The Doyen’s hand.

  ‘My pleasure.’

  Another shaven headed man then met Jeremiah and Sharon in the corridor to take them away.

  The Doyen closed the door.

  ‘Where are the other survivors?’ He asked the man who had been standing by the door.

  ‘They are in the complex. The soldier isn’t going to make it; his wounds are too bad, too infected. The woman is dead. The other two should be okay though, sir.’

  The Doyen made sure the door was closed. ‘Take the other two to the dockside and eliminate them. Dispose of the bodies out to sea. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes sir, I will do it immediately.’

  The Doyen opened the door. ‘Get rid of them. No trace, just like the others.’

  ‘Of course sir, I understand.’ He was then gone.

  ***

  Angel could see Iris sat on the grass, overlooking the sea. With a heavy heart the group had decided this morning was the time to make tracks. She felt as though she was abandoning Jake, but she also knew they had no other option.

  Roger had lightened the truck and calculated they had about eight miles left in the tank. It was time to move out and head south.

  ‘A penny for them?’ Roger touched her shoulder. He could see she was feeling a bit down.

  ‘Jake.’ Was all she could reply. She wanted to cry, but that wasn’t her style.

  ‘He will find us, I know that for certain.’ He squeezed Angel’s shoulder and then let go.

  Angel exhaled as if she was releasing all the bad demons. She paused, she wanted to steer the subject away from Jake. ‘You found us.’

  Roger smiled. ‘I did. It wasn’t easy though.’

  ‘You still haven’t told me what exactly happened.’

  ‘It was pretty shitty.’ He gazed down at the floor. ‘Burying your wife and daughters wasn’t what I had in mind when I set off a month or so ago.’

  ‘I’m sorry Roger, let’s talk about something else.’ Angel felt bad enough without bringing Roger down too.

  ‘It’s okay.’ He looked back up and smiled. ‘Really, it’s okay. They are in a better place now.’

  ‘Do you believe in that?’

  ‘Not really, maybe. Anywhere is better that here though, isn’t it? Even the bleakness of nothing.’ He shook himself as he shivered. ‘It was only luck that I bumped into Stephen.’

  ‘The army guy?’

  ‘Yep. I wouldn’t have made it back otherwise. Apart from the Infected killing everything that moved, the Purebloods were sweeping through too.’

  ‘Who exactly are they?’ Angel asked.

  ‘What usually happens when a country is in disarray. A maniac, with ideas above his station, thinks he is God.’

  ‘Why do people fall for it though?’

  Roger folded his arms. ‘Because they want to believe. Desperate people will cling on to anything if someone promises them great things, however absurd.’

  ‘Iris needs something, or someone, to guide her.’ Angel again looked over at the Irishwoman sat on the grass.

  ‘We will help her.’

  ‘I’ve tried.’ Angel whispered. ‘It’s gone beyond that; she blames herself for everything.’

  ‘We will look after her. We have to stick together now.’

  ‘What about him?’ She looked over to Harry James, who was now shackled to the truck.

  ‘He comes with us. Let’s see how it pans out. He’s young and impressionable, perhaps he needs a break.’

  ‘I’m not too sure about that.’ Angel turned away. ‘I’m going to have a little chat to Iris. Tell her it’s time we all moved south.’

  ‘Good girl.’ Roger smiled at Angel. There was a time where they could barely stand the sight of each other but their fractured little group had brought out the best in both of them.

  Iris was tearing at the grass. Pulling out clumps and then tossing them into the breeze. She stared blankly out to sea, the waves hypnotising her.

  Angel sat down beside her. ‘You okay, honey?’

  Iris didn’t answer, just kept ripping at the blades of grass.

  ‘We are thinking of leaving soon.’ Angel placed her hand on Iris’s knee. ‘We need to find the cottage in Devon. You can remember talking about Old Mill can’t you?’

  Iris slowly turned to face Angel. ‘Leave? We can’t leave.’

  Angel smiled softly. ‘We must; it’s the sensible thing to do. To find a permanent place to live.’

  ‘We can’t leave.’ Iris’s voice grew a little louder. ‘We can’t go yet, they’re not here.’ She started to visibly
shake.

  Angel assumed Iris was talking about Jake. ‘It’s okay, they will find us.’

  Iris shot up. ‘No, we can’t leave. We must stay, I can’t leave them.’

  Angel tried to take a hold of Iris’s arm, but she pulled away.

  ‘No!’ She screamed. ‘I won’t leave Hannah, I promised I would look after her.’ Iris started to stumble, as if she was about to faint.

  Angel panicked and looked for Roger, but he wasn’t there. She went to steady Iris, but again she moved away from her.

  ‘And Alice, what about Alice?’ Tears now dampened her grief stricken face. ‘I can’t find little Alice.’ She started to look around, as if she had just mislaid her.

  Angel held out her hands to steady her. ‘Iris, look at me.’ She tried to calm the Irishwoman. ‘We need to find the cottage, somewhere to live.’

  ‘Hannah, beautiful Hannah. We must wait for her, I can’t leave her.’ Her tears now ran into the mucus streaming from her nose and mouth. ‘We must wait, we can’t leave.’ She began to turn around in small circles like a rabid dog.

  ‘Iris!’ Angel shouted. ‘Calm down, please.’ Not knowing what to do, Angel tried to snap Iris out of her madness. ‘Hannah and Alice are gone. The beach, do you remember the beach?’

  Iris’s eyes widened. ‘Gone, They’re not gone. I have to look after them, I promised.’ She started to laugh manically. ‘They’re not gone, they are here, and I can see them. Look over there.’ She started pointing.

  Angel, confused by what was happening, looked to where Iris was pointing, which was directly behind her. She realised there was nobody there, and twisted around back towards Iris, who was still laughing and screaming. The Irishwoman now had her back to Angel, and she was running away from her.

  ‘Noooo!’ Angel yelled, and ran after Iris.

  It was too late. Iris O Neil had leapt from the cliffs of East Quantoxhead, onto the jagged rocks below. Her blood splashed across the stones, and mixed with the frothing surf as it lapped the shore. She was very much dead.

  Angel stood on the edge looking down. Dumbfounded at what she had just witnessed, she turned to where the truck was parked.

  Facing her was little Lou Pepper, clutching her teddy bear. Angel had nothing to say, she was in a state of shock.

  Chapter Four

  Jake patted the Suzuki Bandit on the leather seat. It had delivered just at the right time.

  Looking across the road to the small harbour, he knew now was the time for yet another mode of transport.

  ‘I’m hungry, Daddy.’ Amber stretched her arms into the air.

  This sentence was now becoming familiar to Jake. He had forgotten how much food his growing Barnacle needed to keep her strength up. Kids and their growth spurts.

  They had both spent the night camped next to the bike. Waiting for first light to check out the harbour, Jake also felt some morning hunger pangs.

  ‘We’ll take a look over there.’ Jake could see a small newsagents on the corner of the road.

  Ten minutes of foraging had produced three tins of spaghetti in sauce and some dried noodles. No liquids could be found and this was becoming a worry, they both needed a drink.

  ‘That’s yummy.’ Amber tucked into the cold pasta with gusto, plunging her plastic fork deep into the tin.

  Jake wasn’t so enthusiastic. How he would kill for some egg and chips, or maybe a nice thick pork sausage. He looked at the orange sludge that seemed to be glowing on the end of his plastic utensil. Beggars can’t be choosers.

  ‘Are we going on a boat?’ Amber asked.

  ‘Yes sweetheart.’ Jake looked across at the twenty or so boats moored up in the small harbour. It seemed to be a subsidiary of the much larger Prince of Wales dock.

  He quickly discounted anything with a mast. That looked way too complicated. The only vessels Jake had ever been in were a rowing boat and a rubber dinghy. Remembering his last journey under the second Severn Crossing, sailing had gone way down on his list of pastimes.

  Any boat too big was also crossed off his wish list. That left about six vessels. All of them looked like the plastic Noddy cruisers that were the weekend play things of the wealthy accountant or banker.

  ‘Right sweetheart, stick close to me and if you see anything moving you tell me straight away.’ Jake looked into Amber’s eyes.

  ‘Yes Daddy.’ She saluted

  Jake smiled and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Just stick to me like glue.’

  Both of them crouched as they ran across the street to the harbour gate. Jake opened it ,and they were soon both walking down the floating planks that lay between the boats.

  ‘This one.’ Amber tugged her dad’s arm.

  ‘No sweetheart, it’s too big.’ He slowly walked past another two boats. ‘This one.’

  ‘That’s small.’ Amber complained.

  ‘That’s how I like them.’ Jake clambered aboard but it was locked. The shutters were up on the windows and nobody was at home, dead or alive.

  Another similar boat was boarded but again it was locked up.

  ‘Daddy, over there.’ Amber could see a door open on a smaller boat at the end of the boardwalk.

  ‘Bingo.’ He smiled at his little girl, who was standing next to him as proud as punch.

  Jake pulled Amber up onto the deck. He quickly scanned the area, it was eerily silent. Since they had left Newport they hadn’t seen a living thing.

  He quickly popped his head into the open hatch, which led to below decks, and the stench that hit his nostrils told him only one thing.

  ‘Stay here by the door. If you see or hear anything you run down the steps to find me. Okay?’

  ‘Okay Daddy.’ This time there was no salute. Amber could see how worried her dad was.

  Jake slowly descended the steps and found himself down below, where the air was humid and stinking with death.

  Walking through the small galley kitchen, he noticed a bottle of wine on the table at the end. More importantly he could see a six pack of unopened bottled water.

  As he neared the door at the end of the small corridor, Jake had to put his hand over his nose and mouth as the smell became unbearable.

  Pushing the door open he caught a glimpse of a leg. The colour drained from the flesh, it looked like a slab of grey meat. Jake opened the door fully and the full horror lay before him.

  His images of wealthy bankers and solicitors quickly vanished as the two lifeless corpses rotting on the bed were, as far as he could make out, a retired couple.

  The man of around seventy was bloated, and his stomach had already ruptured; the putrid remains were now seeping out onto the blue silk sheets.

  The woman, he assumed the man’s wife, was face down and going green. Jake knew he would have to remove them both before he would let Amber down below to eat, drink and rest. He couldn’t calculate how long the trip would take, and if he could even find his way to another harbour in Devon.

  ‘Barnacle, get to the back of the boat!’ Jake called out ahead of him, as he dragged the dead fat man through the kitchen.

  He could hear her call back, but he was too busy trying to keep the handkerchief tied around his face to reply. Dropping the body onto the floor, he walked up the first two steps. Bending down he grabbed the corpse and started to pull him up the steps. The congealed blood was now running down the side of his mottled skin and onto the floor.

  Jake heaved again, and suddenly he flew backwards, banging his head on the final step.

  ‘Fucking shit.’ He looked up at the evening sky and blinked. The pain in his head was sharp, but short lived. He could still feel the arm he was holding in his hand, but the weight had seemed to disappear.

  Looking back down the steps Jake gasped as he realised one of the arms had completely detached itself from the main body.

  ‘Arghhhh.’ He yelled out, and threw down the dismembered arm. ‘Shit, shit, shit, shit.’ He jumped up, rubbing his hands on his combat trousers.

  ‘Daddy, are you ok
ay?’

  Jake then panicked. ‘Yes, yes Barnacle. Stay where you are. Don’t move.’

  Amber started to cry. ‘Daddy I’m scared. What’s happening?’

  Jake composed himself, walked around the side of the boat and calmed his daughter down. ‘Just be a good girl and sit here. Please don’t turn around. Daddy’s just cleaning up the boat.’

  Amber nodded and kissed her father on the cheek.

  Jake took a deep breath. He slowly walked down the stairs and past the body of the old man. He picked up the arm lying on the bottom step. It felt squidgy, he couldn’t look at it.

  Sprinting back up the stairs, he got to the deck and hurled the arm over board, watching the splash in the water.

  ‘Daddy, what was that?’

  Jake took a deep breath; the tinned spaghetti was rising in his throat. ‘Still cleaning sweetheart, still cleaning.’

  He managed to pull the old guy up to the safety ropes, and using a fireman’s lift he levered the body up and then into the water. Swallowing hard he could feel his stomach swelling. Jake needed a drink of water, but he wasn’t opening anything up until he cleared the boat of anything that was dead.

  The bloated woman was slightly easier to move, but her belly opened up and smeared the deck as he dragged her across the well varnished wood. Pushing her overboard, Jake said a silent prayer; he wasn’t a religious man, but he felt leaving them to be fish food wasn’t the most dignified way to be buried.

  After a quick clean-up he ushered Amber down below, where they filled their dry throats with fresh water.

  ‘You tired, Barnacle?’ He asked his daughter, who was looking increasingly weary.

  ‘A little bit.’ Amber felt so tired that she could sleep for a hundred years, but she didn’t want to let daddy down.

  Jake stroked her hair. ‘I know when my little girl is tired. Go and sleep on the couch by the table. We won’t leave the boat till tomorrow; it’s quite safe on here.’

  Amber smiled, and kissed her daddy on the cheek. ‘I love you.’

  Jake's heart melted, he had travelled hundreds of miles to hear that. ‘I love you too, Barnacle.’

  Back up on the deck Jake turned the key, and pressed the big green ‘start’ button. Sure enough the engines roared into life.