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

let herself go, let the grief overtake her. By mid-afternoon, Gabby was back inside the house, she secured the door, and went to check on her brother, he was still sleeping, and had worked his way through two crates of beer.

Gabby left his door open, and headed downstairs for a mug of coffee, figuring that they would have enough time to look for survivors and find a new place to stay. She was staring into space when her brother walked into the kitchen, his eyes were red, from where he'd been crying, but he didn't talk to her, he just headed straight for the coffee machine.

He sat opposite her at the table, occassionally rubbing his eyes, and Gabby knew that he'd been closer to their mother then she'd been. After their third mug of coffee, Gabby said, "We need to be going soon, both to look for survivors and a new place to stay." Her brother hadn't answered for a long moment, then he replied, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here, but you can go on ahead."

Gabby shook her head, "I'm not going anywhere, not without you, we have to stick together on this, you know that, you're all I have left." Her brother didn't say anything for a long while, then after he'd drained his coffee, he replied, "Can we stay here? Just for a few days? I want to go back and bury mum, she doesn't deserve to just be left there."

Her brother was looking at her, pleading with her, she knew he wanted a little normalcy, even needed it, she nodded her head, and said, "If we work together, we can probably have mum buried well before dark, but we can only stay here one more night, maybe two, but no longer, if we do, then we'll be up to our eyes in the infected."

There was a long moment of silence, then her brother replied, "OK, but we do need to find a new place to stay, without fear of the infected finding us, somewhere we can call home, somewhere we can bring other survivors, people like us." Gabby nodded in agreement, "You got no argument there, shall we get going? It's late afternoon, and we don't have much time."

They both stood up and headed for the front door, a few minutes later, they were in the car and heading back towards the supermarket. Fifteen minutes later, they parked outside the store, took a deep breath, before shutting down the engine and getting out of the car. They had to go in the store for the shovels, so Gabby looked at ehr brother, and said, "Two minutes, in and out, ready?"

He nodded, and they both headed inside the store, they were ready in less than five, both were wearing thick gloves, as they lifted their mother's body into a trolley, then rolled it outside. There was a medium-sized flower bed nearby, which they dug up, then gently placed their mother's body in the hole, and set about covering it up.

They got back to the house fifteen minutes before the sun set, and once inside, her brother once again started drinking, leaving Gabby to watch out for the infected. By the following morning, Gabby was drinking the energy juice, she checked on her brother, then crept silently around the house, making sure that everything was secure.

She clutched the locket in her hand, having removed it from her mother's neck, she'd left it to soak for several hours, then put it through a special cleaning kit. After confirming that everything was as it should be, Gabby went back upstairs and watched her brother sleeping peacefully, she then headed back into the room she was staying in, keeping watch.

As the first lights of dawn crept across the sky, she had a feeling that she was going to lose her brother, and soon. Only not in the way she expected.

 

Chapter Four

Gabby was pulled from her memories, when a deep male voice in her ear, said, "You could be done for stalking, you know." She turned around with a hand on her sword handle, she looked up, and then up a little more.

The guy standing behind her was huge, he was at least six foot, six inches tall, his skin was tanned a deep brown, as though he'd been in the sun for long periods of time, he was well built, and had intelligence showing in his eyes, she also knew that he was the man she'd seen in the side office. Gabby took a deep breath, and replied, "It's not stalking, I'm just making sure that Danni and Angel are sleeping OK."

He tilted his head to the side, and said, "Angel? Cute name, how old is she?" Gabby shrugged, and replied, "I think she's about six weeks, I don't know for sure, Angel isn't her real name, I gave her that name, as it seemed a miracle she survived." The man studied her for a moment, then said, "Most people would've left her, why didn't you?"

Gabby looked back at Angel, movement in the periphery of her vision made her turn around, Daryl was stood by the door, listening to the conversation, Gabby turned, so that she could see both of them, and replied, "I almost did leave her behind, but if I'd have done that, it would have been the equivelant of me putting a bullet in her head."

"I had already put a bullet through her mother's head, and her father was dead, maybe it would have been a mercy, but in the end, she deserves a chance to live." Gabby went to walk away, back into the kitchen, when Daryl said, "Tell Dominic why you thought she deserved a chance." Gabby realised that the man she'd been talking to, was Dominic.

She looked at him and said, "I chopped a child's head off, not too long ago, the same child that had killed my mother. I held her hand, as she took her last breath, then put a bullet in her head, to stop her coming back as one of the infected." Daryl let her walk past him, and stared at Dominic, he nodded once and looked at the sleeping forms of Danni and Angel, then headed into the kitchen. Gabby was filling the kettle, purely for something to do.

She then checked the supplies in the fridge, seemingly satisfied, she then checked the levels of the tea, coffee, sugar, and powdered milk, then touched the locket on her neck for reassurance, and the chain that was wrapped several times around her wrist. The storm outside still continued on, and after a few moments, Gabby watched the display of thunder and lightning.

She looked up at Daryl, and said, "There's enough supplies here to last for three days, as long as you're careful. The storm will break an hour after dawn, and ten minutes after that, the infected will be killed and removed, I suggest you try and find somewhere else to stay, that plexi-glass won't last forever." Daryl was silent for a few minutes, then replied, "So, you're not going to stay here?"

Gabby shook her head, then said, "I made my brother a promise, and I intend to keep it." A few long moments passed, then Daryl replied, "What was the promise?" She looked at him for a few minutes, then said, "I promised him three things, the first was that I'd get him to safety, the second was that he could go home, the third was that I find the cause of this infection and stop it."

There was a long moment of silence, then Daryl said, "Out of the three, how many have you kept so far?" Gabby looked at him for a long, hard moment, then she heard Angel start to cry, she turned away without answering Daryl, and hurried into the side room, Dannie was still sleeping, so she picked Angel up, and grabbed the shoulder bag, then headed back into the kitchen.

Angel needed changing and feeding, so Gabby changed her nappy and soiled clothing, then heated up a bottle of milk, she tested the temperature of the milk, then started feeding her, whilst packing the nappies, wipes, and folding changing mat back into the bag. She could feel both Daryl and Dominic watching her, she looked up at them both, and said, "What?" Dominic replied, "You've made that look easy, I've seen other women struggle, doing the same thing."

Gabby shrugged, "It's a matter of co-ordination, and being able to multi-task," Once Angel had finished half the bottle, she was asleep, so Gabby patted her lightly on the back to bring up the wind, then sat cross-legged on the floor, placing Angel in her lap and securing her with one arm, with her other hand, she brought out a gun, made sure the safety was in place, then rested her hand on her knee, and closed her eyes:

Gabby decided to get some sleep when the sun had risen, she checked on her brother first, then laid down on the double bed, set her internal alarm clock for two in the afternoon, and closed her eyes. She was woken up by her brother a mere two hours later.

"What's wrong?" She had asked, her brother replied, "Nothing, but you have to listen to this, Gabby." She sat up and scooted over on the bed, leaving room for her brother could sit down, he had a portable radio in his hands, he turned the dial to the right station, then turned the volume up, so Gabby could hear the announcement. "

If you're just joining us, we'll repeat the message, to all survivors, there are several U.S. Submarines currently docking at various ports throughout the U.K. They can guarantee safety from the infected, food, shelter, and help to start a new life. Don't delay, head to the nearest major docks in your area, and after a simple test to prove you're infection free, salvation will be yours."

Gabby didn't react for a moment, her brother was looking at her with a grin on his face, she looked at him, and said, "Did they say how long the Submarine would wait?" Her brother nodded, "Six hours, so we have until just before sunset tonight, we're getting rescued, Gabby." She smiled at him, and said, "Go and pack, we'll take a drive up there and see if they went early."

Her brother ran from her room, she could hear him humming loudly to one of his favourite songs. Gabby got dressed and packed up her laptop, cameras, and guns, then carried them downstairs to the kitchen, where she filled two thermos' full of fresh coffee. Her brother joined her a moment later, "Are we going?" She smiled at him, and nodded her head.

They both headed outside to her car, and after Gabby had unlocked it, and loaded her stuff into the boot, along with her brothers' things, and the bag that was already there, she started the engine and drove away from their temporary home. Her brother talking excitedly along the way. Just before they hit the motorway, Gabby spotted a car that had broken down, she pulled over, and told her brother to stay in