Safe Haven (Novella 2): Before Safe Haven [Alex] Read online

  A zombie novella

  before safe haven: Alex

  Christopher Artinian

  Published by Headless RAM Publishing

  COPYRIGHT © 2018

  CHRISTOPHER ARTINIAN

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  DEDICATION

  Blood makes you relatives., love makes you family.

  Family is everything.

  Chapter One

  Day 1

  “I swear, you’re all bloody spineless,” barked Mike as the cricket team finished their drinks. “I’d field close in myself, but it’s a bit bloody difficult when I’m the one doing the fucking bowling.” The rest of the men cast their eyes down to the floor, and Alex let out a small laugh. Mike had a knack for shaming people.

  “Look,” said Alex, “Brian, can keep wicket, and I’ll go to silly-mid-on.”

  “No! Bollocks to that. You’re the keeper, you’re keeping. I just won’t have any close in fielders for my bowling.”

  “It’s not like we’re going to win. We need five wickets, and they only need twenty-eight runs,” said one of the men.

  “What did you say?” said Mike taking a step towards the man who’d spoken. It was only then the other player realised he’d spoken out loud. He shuffled in his chair and suddenly looked nervous. “What did you say?” asked Mike again.

  Alex headed over and put his hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Calm down,” he whispered.

  “Yeah, I’ll calm down alright,” said Mike shooting icy stares towards the other man. “With that bloody attitude we’ll never win a thing. Games are won in the head long before they’re won on the field. Sounds like you lot have already given up. Well, I’m not giving up until the last ball’s bowled. Tossers,” he said, storming out of the changing room.

  When he left, all heads turned towards Alex. “You need to control him,” said one of the other team members. “He can’t talk to people like that. Vice-captain or not. I hope to Christ Jack’s better for next week’s game. This shit just saps the fun out of playing.”

  “Mike takes the game seriously. It’s a pride and honour thing with him,” said Alex.

  “Yeah, in the meantime, the rest of us bloody suffer for his pride and honour. Having a fucking kid speaking to us like that. It’s not on.”

  “Tell him then,” said Alex, smiling.

  “Oh yeah, and wake up in St James’ hospital. No thanks.”

  “Come on,” said another of the cricketers standing up. Let’s get this over with. We’ll be at the pub for eight o’clock the rate this match is going.”

  Mike was already in the middle as he watched the rest of the team come out from the dressing room. “So you’re their secret weapon,” laughed the batsman as he practiced a forward defensive shot.” Mike just looked at him. “You know it’s these wooden things here that you’re aiming for,” he said pointing to the wickets, and he and the other batsman laughed again. Mike remained silent, but continued to stare.

  “You might regret that comment,” said Alex to the first batsman as he crouched behind the stumps. He looked round to see the slip fielders were well back. He couldn’t blame them. Mike was a very, very fast bowler. Alex often wondered if he could have gone professional if he hadn’t been sent away to that young offenders institute.

  “Oh yeah?” said the batsman. “I highly doubt that.”

  Mike ran up to the delivery crease and a ball of red lightning left his hand. It bounced on the dry pitch and swung in so quickly that the batsmen fell to the floor, holding his crotch before he even registered the sound of the rock-hard cricket ball smashing into the protective box that covered his delicate areas. Despite the protection, the speed and angle of the ball caused a collision resulting in agonising pain. Tears came to the batsman’s eyes, and ripples of laughter could be heard over the ground.

  “What were you saying?” asked Alex, smirking and walking around the stumps to help the pained batsman to his feet. Mike didn’t even acknowledge the fallen man, he retrieved the ball, retraced his run up, and waited until the umpire said play was in session again.

  After a few minutes, the young batsman took guard and nodded. The umpire turned and nodded to Mike, who immediately began his freight train approach to the delivery crease. He released the ball and there was another echoing clatter. This time, the middle wicket collapsed. Alex had to dodge out of the way as the heavy wood cartwheeled past him.

  The Umpire raised his finger and the batsman, far less sure of himself than he had been a few minutes earlier, started the walk back to the pavilion.

  “Prick!” muttered Mike as the other man walked past him. The batsman was going to respond, but saw the look in Mike’s eyes and thought better of it.

  The match was finished off within fifteen minutes. Mike took three of the five wickets they needed and ran another player out. He didn’t speak to anyone as they all got changed after the match, not even Alex. Mike was prone to dark moods. Alex had been his step father for long enough to know when to approach him and when to leave him alone.

  The players showered, dressed and despite them winning the match, none of them were in a celebratory mood. They had been proved wrong as Mike had almost single handedly won the game. “See you at the pub, Alex,” said the final player as he left the dressing room, leaving Alex to talk to Mike, alone.

  “You never have to doubt that I’m on your side. It’s just sometimes...tact is an issue for you,” said Alex.

  “Tell me. What’s the virtue of using tact around people like that? They’re all bloody defeatists. How can they possibly win games with the attitudes they have?”

  Alex sat down beside his step son. “Listen to me. These guys enjoy a good game, but it’s as much a social thing for them as anything else. It’s not like the last club you were in. They’re not in that league, Mike. You have to appreciate that.”

  Mike clasped his hands together and stared at them for a moment. “I really don’t understand them,” he said.

  Alex smiled. “I know you don’t, mate, and that’s what makes you who you are, but you need to trust me on this.”

  When Alex had first come onto the scene, neither Mike or his sister Emma had taken to him. He was merely a usurper. Someone who would take their mum’s affection away from them. Alex had known it from the start. He had probably tried too hard, and that had alienated the pair of them. Then when Alex and Sandra had got pregnant, first with Sammy, and then with Jake, Mike and Emma became even more withdrawn. For years they had suffered at the hands of an abusive father, and they were instinctively mistrustful. Alex didn’t blame them, and he refused to give up. It had been worth it. Not only was Mike a son to him now, but since Sandra had died, they had become the very best of friends.

  “C’mon, let’s go to the pub and build a few bridges,” said Alex standing up and ruffling Mike’s hair.

  “I’m pretty certain they won’t want to see me there,” said Mike.

  “You’d be surprised at people’s capacity to forgive when they’ve got a couple of pints in them,” said Alex.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The chatter was wild yet nervous as they entered the pub. Screens of mobile phones flashed all over the tavern. “Over here, Alex,” called one of the team members, waving. “Have you seen this?” he asked, showing them both a mobile phone screen as they approached.

  “Seen what?” asked Alex.

  “This!” said the man, as a Youtube video began playing. The country had been subjected to multiple cyber-attacks over the last few months, resulting in very patchy network services. For the last three days, there had been no internet anywhere in the country. Mobile phone networks
had been struggling too. There had been voice calls but no data. For the time being, though, the small screen held its audience as broken images of what appeared to be amateur footage showed a group of wild looking people running down a street, before attacking a mother carrying her child. Not just attacking, but biting, ripping, tearing. Mike and Alex leaned into the phone to hear the soundtrack over the noise in the pub. The person taking the video was gasping in horror.

  “There are thousands of videos like this, all over the world,” said Alex’s friend.

  “That type of stuff’s been around forever. They’re just hoaxes,” said Mike, heading to the bar.

  “I don’t think they are y’know.”

  “Okay, Jimmy, if they’re not hoaxes, what do you think they are?” asked Alex.

  “Do you remember that series? The old BBC one. It was about a rabies outbreak. It looks a hell of a lot like that to me,” said Jimmy. Alex sat back and looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow, then he looked around the rest of the pub. Whatever it was, it had other people convinced too.

  Mike returned with pints for himself, Alex and Jimmy.

  “Cheers, they all said in unison clinking their glasses together.”

  Suddenly, the time bell rang and everyone turned round to look at the bar. There was still three hours before the pub shut, what the hell was going on?

  “Quiet! The lot of you!” shouted the barman. As he looked towards the large TV screen hanging on the wall and turned the volume up to the maximum.

  WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM TO BRING YOU AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER.

  “Oh shit! This is it,” said Jimmy. “It’s true. It’s all true.”

  Chapter Two

  The screen went black for a moment, and then the Prime Minister, Andy Beck appeared. He began to speak, and every set of eyes in the place were glued to the screen.

  “My fellow citizens, these are grave times. Grave times demand grave measures, and it is for this reason I am addressing you this evening.”

  Mike and Alex immediately looked towards each other. What the hell was going on?

  “The deadliest virus our scientists have ever encountered is sweeping across the planet. It is unlike anything we have seen before. Something that was previously science fiction has become science fact. The dead are coming back to life.”

  Someone laughed and said “Bollocks” to which a dozen more told him to shut up. All eyes returned to the screen.

  “This virus is not airborne. It is transmitted by bites, scratches or any other ingestion of bodily fluids from a carrier. It is for this reason that I am taking the unprecedented measure of closing our borders.

  As of 1700 hours, I have invoked a strict ban on international travel. All our airports will be closed to international flights. Our ports will close, and the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force will be patrolling our waters to guarantee our safety. I have been in close contact with the Irish premiere and she has agreed the same. Britain and Ireland are two of the last places to have no cases of infection. I have recalled every serving member of the military back to our shores. Each one will be subject to a strict physical and medical examination, and after a short period of quarantine will return to serving their country.

  Every household in the country will receive an information pack about this virus in the next few days. In it there will be details on how to identify signs of the infection. What you should do if you suspect someone of being infected, and there will also be a list of emergency numbers.

  Make no mistake, this is the greatest challenge this country has ever faced, and it is more important than ever that we face it together. It is for this reason that I am invoking another set of measures. As every citizen of this country will be aware, the downturn in international commerce has seen unemployment skyrocket. While we have endeavoured to protect our social security system the best we can, the situation is now becoming untenable.

  So, I am conscripting all unemployed people between the ages of 16 and 40 to serve in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces; and all the able bodied aged between forty-one and sixty-five who are currently unemployed will be drafted into the food, textile, arms manufacturing and utilities industries. I am re-opening all mothballed coal mines and renationalising all transport, communication companies and utility companies.

  I realise online communications have been increasingly erratic over the past months, and so in an effort to facilitate the free flow of crucial information, internet service will now be free and available to everyone nationwide.

  Our scientists are still receiving data from counterparts in several countries and as Ireland and ourselves are the last remaining nations with a cohesive infrastructure, it has fallen on us to supply any state or country still trying to beat the outbreak with all the help we can. This is no time to be profiteering from the misfortunes of others, but the simple fact is we cannot afford to provide endless supplies of medicines, food and arms which we may very well end up needing ourselves. So, in return for our help, we have set up trade deals with the United States, Russia, Norway, France and a number of other nations still capable of operating on a basic logistical level. This will strengthen our own resilience in combatting this near apocalyptic catastrophe, and give these nations a fighting chance they would not have had before.

  Although I am confident we are taking every precaution to avoid the infection reaching us, I have asked our best scientists and military minds to coordinate with COBRA in developing a response plan should there be an outbreak.

  I believe as a nation we have the capacity to weather this greatest of storms. We have the strength to fight back and rebuild. Britain will prevail, it will survive this test, and it will become great again.

  My fellow citizens, now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to stand tall, to be the best we can be. Your family needs you, your country needs you, your planet needs you.

  Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow our war begins, and this is one I have no intention of losing.

  Good night, and may your God go with you.”

  There was a pause before frightened chatter began all around the pub. Many people got up and left. Mike and Alex sat for a moment. They sipped their beers in silence.

  “I’d better get home to our lass,” said Jimmy. “I’ll see the pair of you later.”

  Alex and Mike said goodbye to him and then said the same to each team mate, as one by one, the cricket team disappeared. Before long, they were among the last people sitting in the pub.

  The barman called across to them. “He couldn’t have put that bloody broadcast out at closing time, could he? Can’t ever get you bastards out of here at closing time. He had to do it just when people were finding it easier to get into their wallets.” He continued wiping down the surface, then folded the cloth. “I’ll be closing up a bit earlier tonight gents,” he said to anyone who was listening, then disappeared into the back.

  Alex’s mobile phone rang. “Hi, Em,” he said. “Yes, yes, we’re on our way back. We won’t be long love… Sammy and Jake didn’t see the broadcast did they? That’s good. See you soon.” He hung up the phone and took another sip of beer.

  Mike took a few gulps from his, leaving half the drink still in the glass, and got up ready to leave. “C’mon then,” he said.

  “Where are you going?” asked Alex.

  “Home,” replied Mike.

  “Just sit down for a minute,” replied Alex.

  Mike sat down. “I don’t understand, we should get home to Em and the kids.” Just then, Mike’s phone rang. “It’s Gran,” he said, looking towards Alex.

  “Call her back.”

  Mike pressed the decline call button and put his mobile phone away. “Why aren’t we going home?”

  “We are,” said Alex, “I just need to talk to you first. Listen, this is huge. Things are never going to be the same again, and it could go one of two ways.”

  “How do you mean?” asked Mike.

  “Well, people might wait and see w
hat happens or people might get swept up by fear and panic. Don’t get me wrong. Everybody is scared right now, but there’s a dividing line between being scared and still possessing reason, and being terrified and not. We could wake up tomorrow and there could be looting, mayhem...it could be like a scene from a bloody horror movie. On the other hand, that speech might have been enough to inspire the ‘stiff upper lip’ us Brits are known for,” said Alex.

  “Okay, so what are you saying?” asked Mike.

  “I’m saying, this is you and me. We don’t have doubts or fears with anyone but each other. Us two are strong for Em, we’re strong for Sammy, we’re strong for Jake. Whether we wake up tomorrow in Hell or not, you and me look after the family, at all costs.” He took a few gulps from his glass.

  Mike gulped the rest of his drink and placed the glass down hard on the beer mat. “Okay, I’m fine with that, but don’t you want to stockpile a bit? Get a few canned goods just in case?”

  “Have you seen our cupboards? Bloody hell, when your sister comes to visit it’s like she buys one of everything from Asda.” The pair of them smiled. “You’re going to get some people emptying the shelves. Let them. Supermarkets will be battle zones for the next few days. Things will hopefully settle down. We just need to keep our heads. See what happens next.”

  “What if what happens next is what’s happened everywhere else?” asked Mike.

  “Then we deal with it, Mike. You and I will deal with whatever we need to, to keep the family safe, but behaving like panicky fools won’t help anyone.” Alex knew that if things got that bad, a few extra cans and supplies would do nothing but delay the inevitable. He wouldn’t do that to his family, he wouldn’t draw out their suffering.

  chapter three

  The streets were unnervingly quiet as Alex and Mike left the pub. The evening had turned very chilly, not just in temperature, but the overall atmosphere too. A new time had dawned in the space of a few hours.