Chapter 112

Staying overnight in a zone is a unique and unpleasant experience. Thankfully I had managed to avoid these missions mostly. Mission personnel spend a lot longer in the recovery phase than other field operatives.

It’s the silence. I had decided this as I was on guard duty. The night always has something going on, either human, animal or insect, but the zones are dead quiet. That, to the human subconscious, is just wrong. The rest of the team was creating the only noise.

“I hate extended stays.” Hills said from behind me. Not speaking very loudly in an effort not to disturb the others.

“Show me someone who says they do.” I retort. “And I will show you a liar or a madman.” In an equally lower tone.

I don’t bother looking at her as I keep my eyes looking out of the window across the junction and the fog. I know she is well aware that I will not look at her as guard duties, one of the most essential things anyone does during an overnight stay. By the time we had got the trolley secure, it was well past sunset. Patterson pointed out that we had at least nine hours before sunrise. This meant that three three-hour shifts of guards would be arranged as the others tried to sleep. Tried was the operative word. I had drawn the first watch, found the best vantage point and made myself as comfortable as possible.

She moves up and joins me, looking out the window. We haven’t lit any other chemical lights to hide our location. So, everything is dark and we can’t see very far from the window, a few metres at best, really.

“Can’t see anything out there.”

“I know. But a few seconds of warning is better than none.” I remind her.

“True.” She looked around at the rough barricades we had set up around this room using the furniture left behind to maximise our defensive advantage. “The location is not brilliant, but it’s much better than most buildings we passed.”

“That’s why I chose it. Decent enough building with multiple points of egress. Just like the training manual told us.”

We both fall silent for a few minutes.

“Do you think this is going to work?” She asks.

“Maybe.”

“They have committed a lot to this operation.” I turn and look at her. She is looking at me and I can barely make out her facial features in the darkness, but I can tell she’s concerned.

“Is the zone getting to you?” I ask her. She is quiet for a few seconds before answering.

“A bit. We’ve been in here for a long time, which is just getting to me. Nothing to be worried about.”

“I’m not worried.” I tell her. “That you admitted the zones get you is a clear sign you are handling it. It’s the people who claim that they are not being affected you worry about.” I turned my attention back out the window.

“How about you?”

“Hating every fucking second.” I tell her.

“I still wonder why they committed to this mission.”

“That’s easy. It’s what Hawk did not say.”

“What do you mean?” She asks.

“Think about this time last year and then the year before that.”

“Okay.”

“Was there rationing?”

“No.”

“Conscription?”

“No.”

“You know about the riots last week in Liverpool and Birmingham.”

“Yes, they were mainly focused on refugee centres.”

“Because?”

“They claimed that their rations had been cut again.”

“To think they were?” She thinks for a moment before answering.

“I don’t know.”

“The truth is I wouldn’t be surprised. Britain can’t feed itself. That’s the truth since before the First World War. Now factor in God knows how many refugees that have fled to the country and you have a recipe for disaster. Because the traditional means of us getting extra food from other nations is pretty much gone.”

“Is it that bad?” She asks even more quietly than before.

“Yes. They need this to succeed for two reasons. One is hope. And the other is to target more fertile areas for reclaiming. Think about all the missions recently targeting rural farming areas.”

Again, we fell silent as I sensed she was thinking about what I had said. But with me, I’m never too sure.

“Both zombies we fought earlier were freaky as hell. With all the tentacles and stuff.” She was trying to change the direction of the conversation. I couldn’t blame her for this; it got depressing thinking about how close we were to everything falling apart.

“Any new type of horror is not welcome.”

“Never told us where you had seen them before.”

“That’s right. I didn’t.” I confirm. It didn’t take her more than a few seconds to understand what I was saying. Or not in this case.

“Right, one of those missions.” I suspect she had been on some missions we were not allowed to discuss. She was now considered one of the most veteran operatives in command. The attrition rate was an absolute horror for anyone who knew what it indeed was.

“Think about this, Hills.” I tried to cheer her up. “After we are done here, you get an extended period off, no matter what.”

“Well, that’s one thing, at least.” She tried to sound optimistic, but she failed.

## ## ## ## ##

Morning eventually rolled around, or what passed for the morning here in the zone. No one had gotten any restful sleep. To say that we were cranky and tired would be a significant understatement. We quickly ate some energy bars and drank water from my canteens. We all carried extra at the mission’s beginning and were now easily halfway through what we had brought.

By the time we got the trolley back out and rolled into position to start down the road again, sunlight was slowly beginning to creep through the fog. This only increased our range of view by a little.

“Do you think we should win another half-hour?” Patterson asked.

“We should get going and get this over with. The mission takes precedence.” Davids butted in. I looked around at the conditions we were dealing with.

“The head off in fifteen minutes. Same setup as yesterday.” Patterson just nodded, but it was clear that Davids was still unhappy with the command situation. Electronic watches did not work in the zone, but mechanical ones still did for a time. No pun intended.

The following 15 minutes were spent by everyone getting into position and checking their equipment to ensure nothing was left behind. I had expected to face a lot more resistance but was thankful for what little we had encountered. I knew today would be different as we were now going deeper than any other British team, as far as I was aware.

“Contact. Right!” Came from Hills suddenly.

To our right, three zombies had appeared down the road junction and were quickly moving towards us. All five operatives in our group moved to meet them. Hills, Davids and I collided with them. We were able to break their advance and focus their attacks on us. Patel and Holden came in from the flanks and began to take them down.

The fight was over incredibly quickly as these were not mutated like the others but regular zombies. I could see this while inspecting the bodies. I did notice was a good or a bad sign.

“Patterson, fire a flare. We need to get moving. There’s a good chance more will be on the way.” Everyone quickly leaps into action because they know I’m right and do not want to encounter more hostiles. It takes two attempts from Patterson to fire off the flare as the first fails, but eventually, one goes flying into the sky. Its red colour tints the fog around us as we quickly begin moving.

As we walk down the road past some bus and tram pickup points, I roll my right shoulder to loosen up. The collisions with the zombies had been brief, but the impacts were intense. Three zombies fighting five operatives had been a quick and brutal affair and I genuinely hope that today will continue to be like this. But I knew that somewhere down this road, we would get screwed over by good old Murphy.

Like the previous day, we continue moving down the dual carriageway, occasionally stopping to move vehicles out of the way. It was slow monotonous work, but we were making headway as we were now in the city proper. We reached a bend in the dual carriageway and one of the signs indicated that the Palais des Sports de Saint-Denis was the large building next to us.

“We are stopping here for a few minutes.” I tell the group. We are making excellent time considering where we are. We had to fire off a flare for this milestone location, and I began loading up the gun from a utility belt. I hear someone approaching and turn to see Patterson with Davids in tow.

“We are doing well.” I tell them. Patterson nods affirmatively in agreement. Davids however seems agitated.

“Are we continuing along the dual carriageway, or are we taking this road.” He points to the road leading off the bend the carriageway is taking.

“We follow the road will cut the journey time.” They both nodded at this, but Davids still seemed agitated or annoyed by something. I don’t have the time to find out what it is because we are on the clock. If we want to get this beach sealed by sundown, we need to get moving again. I fire off the flare and we are soon underway again.

We have been given maps of the dual carriageway here and cutting through the centre of Saint-Denis along a road almost straight to our objective, the Stade de France on the other side of the river.

Hills is consulting her map and knows we will soon be at our target if all goes well. She’s been quiet for most of the day like she was yesterday. After all, this is done might have a word with her to see what’s happening. She seems distant for a zone operative; that isn’t good while on mission. Patterson and Davids join me again.

“Right, we’re going straight down the road through Saint-Denis. I know there are more chances of traffic blocks, but ill cut a lot more time off our journey.” They both nod in affirmative as they see this is the most logical thing to do now.

We cross the junction and head onto the more minor roads. A more built-up environment now surrounds us. Both Hills and I are checking above and around us because danger comes from all angles here.

We didn’t get far down the road before we started encountering the occasional abandoned vehicle. For the moment, they were scattered across the street and we could move around them without slowing us.

However, this changed near a café where we encountered several cars in a pileup. There was room to go around along the tram tracks. As we began to move, however, things turned for the worse.

“Rrroarr!” Echoed around the streets and buildings. We all instantly became tense and battle ready.

“What the hell was that?” Hills hissed.

“I have no idea.” I quickly looked behind and saw the support team will form a defensive circle around the breacher operating team and the device. I was unsure what direction the roar came from, but I suspect it was a front beyond the vehicle pileup. I indicated to Hills to keep their attention in that direction and as she turned, something landed on the wrecks and then jumped at her.