Survival Of The Fittest by Catherine Holland (novel24 .TXT) 📖

a dull bronze, her mother was becoming one of the infected.

Unsheathing the sword from her back, she killed the infected toddler, then held her mother's hand as she took her last breath. When her body was still, Gabby wiped the blood from her sword, and gripped the gun tighter in her hands, she cliked the safety off and hesitated a moment, before she put a bullet through her mother's head.

It took Gabby several minutes to stem the flow of tears, before she went looking for her brother, the only family she had left, ten minutes later, she found him filling a trolley full of various crisps and sweets, he seemed to be enjoying himself, and had already filled another trolley full of alcohol.

Hoping her voice was steady, she said, "Are you planning on throwing a party?" Her brother had grinned, and replied, "Yep, we are going to have a massive party, especially when we get rescued." Gabby had smiled sadly, and said, "I don't think there will be a rescue, we have to stick together in this, which means I need your help, OK?"

Her brother had nodded, the grin slipping from his face, as he replied, "Gabby? Why are you covered in blood? Where's mum?" A few tears had leaked from her eyes, as she said, "I need to show you something, but first, I need two promises from you. The first, no touching, no matter what, and the second, you have to do exactly as I tell you, OK? Can you promise me these two things? They don't just apply for now, but permanently."

After a long delay, her brother had replied, "I promise, so what do you want to show me? I have something for you as well." Gabby had nodded and grabbed one of the trolleys, her brother had followed with the second. A few minutes later, both trolleys were by the car, and her brother was helping her load up. Gabby looked up at the sky, and was shocked to realise that they'd been inside longer than she'd thought.

She turned to her brother, and said, "We don't have long, and what I have to show you is important, OK?" Her brother nodded, and followed her back inside, Gabby stopped a few feet away from her mother's body, and silently pointed. Her brother screamed, and started crying, Gabby was crying with him. They spent a few precious minutes inside, before Gabby led him from the store and to her car.

The sun had almost set by the time they reached safety, Gabby stayed awake that night, listening to the soft chink of glass, as her brother got himself drunk, and then passed out, the grief they were both feeling was overwhelming, but if they wanted to live through the night, then one of them had to stay sober.

 

Chapter Three

Gabby came back to her senses slowly, and she wiped the tear away that was rolling down her cheek, trying hard to lock her memories away, where they could no longer torment her. In the periphery of her vision, she saw that Daryl was sitting up straight, watching her.

She put the swords back in their sheath, and the cleaning kit back in her pack, then drank her cold coffee, Daryl said, "So what happens at dawn?" Gabby replied, "If the storm breaks like it should, then after the infected 'die' for the day, I'm going to put a bullet in each head, to make sure they stay that way."

There was silence for a long moment, then Daryl said, "What if the storm doesn't break?" Gabby was silent for a moment, then replied, "If the storm doesn't break, then you'd better hope that the food lasts for a while, and that the plexi-glass doesn't give out under the pressure, because I can pretty much guarantee that more of the infected will show, and the closer to dawn it gets, the more aggressive they become."

Daryl nodded, "I've seen them become aggressive, and then they just drop, and stay that way until the sun sets." Gabby shook her head, "Imagine the infected at their most aggressive, which is about a minute before they 'die' for the day, now keep them at their most aggressive, and add another twenty-four hours, plus a few hundred more infected to that equation, that's what we'll be facing if the storm doesn't break."

Gabby finished her coffee, put the cup to one side, the pulled the next bag of weapons towards her, she knew it was going to be a long night, and possibly an even longer day, beside her, Daryl inched forwards and asked, "Do you really need all of those weapons?" Gabby looked at him, and replied, "I'd rather have the weapons, and not need them, then not have them, and need them."

He thought for a moment, then said, "Has that ever happened? Not having enough weapons?" Gabby didn't answer, not for a long while, she pushed her memories back and closed them behind a door in her mind, she controlled her breathing, and then replied, "Yes, it's happened before, and I refuse to allow myself to be in that situation again."

Gabby silently loaded more guns, struggling with her inner demons. An hour later, she was loading the last gun, when Daryl said, "So, how do you know how to kill them?" Gabby sighed, and replied, "I taught myself, there were a few near-misses in the beginning, but as time passed, I got better. How long have you been hiding in here for? How have you managed to lose so many people?"

She put the loaded gun into the bag with the others, then looked at Daryl, he was looking part way down the corridor, at the wall, he was staring so intently at it, that Gabby had the impression that he was staring through the wall, with what seemed like a huge effort, he tore his gaze away and looked back at Gabby.

Taking a deep breath, he said, "About two, maybe three months ago, we all received a message, it read, 'please be on the alert, crazy people out and attacking everyone.' When I got the message, I thought it was some kind of a prank, I asked for more information, and tried the radio stations, there was some kind of emergency announcement, but the guy talking didn't really explain much, it wasn't until I started driving around again, that I realised the message wasn't a joke.

"Another message came through, asking all of the drivers to return to the office, I could've gone home, or ignored the message completely, but I didn't. By the time I got here, it was complete pandemonium, there were people, covered in blood, and attacking everyone they saw, most of the driver's who'd gotten here before me, had been attacked, or were being attacked.

"A few other drivers had pulled up at the same time, and I still don't know how so many of us got through, but after a lot of confusion, and a head count, seventeen of us made it through, that first night, a friend of mine helped make the office secure, and we shared what little food there was in the fridge.

"At dawn, the infected started dropping to the floor, and we thought that we were safe, we were proved wrong when my friend stepped out into the front of the office area. One of the infected scratched him, soo after, he became one of them. So, ever since that first night, we always wait until about noon, before venturing out for supplies."

Gabby nodded, "I can understand the logic behind that, but it still doesn't explain why you let Danni walk around, out there, alone, with a storm due, you could've driven her." Daryl didn't answer at first, and Gabby tried not to judge him, as she knew that if the situation was reversed, she wouldn't want to be judged either.

Finally, he replied, "I guess I still resent Danni, I mean, she could have told us all to go home, or told us to find a secure location and try to wait it out, but as for the supplies? Several of us drivers, offered to give her a lift, but she refused. How have you managed to make it this far, on your own?" Gabby was silent for a moment, then looked at Daryl's face, he hadn't meant the question to be mocking, but he was openly curious.

The storm raged on around them, growing in intensity, the infected were beating relentlessly on the door and the plexi-glass, and she could hear Danni, singing softly to Angel. Gabby took a deep breath, and said, "The decisions that Dannie made, when things all went wrong, she made to the best of her ability, and thinking of what decisions she could have made, you should think yourself lucky, and give Danni a break.

"You can tell, simply by looking at her, that she feels extremely guilty, and she carries the weight of all those deaths on her shoulders, and believe me, that is a huge burden to carry. In the beginning, there was just myself, my brother, and mother, we realised pretty quickly, that the attacks from the infected was just the beginning.

"Within the first few days, we developed a routine, we'd sleep in shifts at night, and practice shooting as well as look for survivors during the day, I remember that my mother was a really bad shot, and kept seeing the infected as human, my brother was a better shot than me, but I weilded a sword, or a cross-bow better than both of them.

"At the start of the third week, we made a supermarket run, I let my brother go off on his own, and he had his preferred weapon of the Glock on him. I was with my mother in a different aisle, and we heard the sound of a child crying, we assumed that because it was daytime, we were safe.

"I was wrong, the child was infected, I held my mother's hand as she took her last breath, after I'd killed the infected child, I put a bullet in my mother's head, to stop her coming back as of them." Gabby took a deep, shuddering breath, then stood up and walked into the side room, where she saw Danni and Angel, asleep on the floor.

She covered them with a blanket, and stood over them, watching them sleep, and remembered doing the same with her brother:

The following morning, Gabby checked on her brother, he was out cold on the bed, he'd cried himself to sleep, she didn't have the heart to wake him up, so instead, she cleared away the empty bottles and pulled the covers up over his body.

As she took the rubbish out to the bins, she stood in the glare of the early morning sunlight, and hoped that her mother was in a better place, one free of pain, and free of the infected. She kept going over and over the events of the previous day, wishing that it had been herself who'd gone to check on the child.

But she knew that no amount of wishing would change what had been, and as the tears started to roll freely down her face, she