Twenty-Five Percent (Book 3): Vengeance Read online

  The couple he’d disturbed had escaped out the front and run before anyone could stop them. Feeling a rare twinge of guilt for having driven them from their hiding place, Darren hoped they made it.

  With the building secure and their group of twenty-five moved in, they shifted the eaters outside closer to guard the front doors. It was still only early afternoon so with Chester, Boot and Valerie going over their plan for the following day and the rest of Boot’s bodyguards occupied with various duties, Darren found a book, settled into his room, and took advantage of the opportunity to relax in relative comfort and safety.

  Before things got really unpleasant tomorrow.

  5

  “They’re still there.”

  Alex lowered to his stomach and used his elbows to shuffle up beside Micah at the top of the bank. Flattening himself into the tall, scrubby grass, he stared down at the horde.

  “At least they aren’t eating anymore,” he said.

  He looked to his right, spotting Jean’s dark red estate near the front of the extensive pile-up of cars, vans, military vehicles, a very large lorry lying on its side, and one tank. The door was still open. It had been almost two weeks since they’d rescued her and almost been caught by the same horde they were watching now. Alex wondered how she was.

  When they’d first been here, the horde was feeding. Alex and Micah had hoped the eaters would have wandered off in the intervening time. They hadn’t. Now they were simply milling around, the asphalt beneath them stained a deep brownish red and covered with shreds of clothing and stark, white bones.

  At least they were all in one place. If they’d still been scattered throughout the crush of vehicles as they were after their heart-pounding chase through the pile-up, it might have been even more of a problem, but they’d returned to the area where they’d been feeding. It seemed to be their favourite spot.

  “They must have run out of bodies,” Micah said.

  Alex flicked a small beetle off his arm and rested his chin on his hands. “We have to get rid of them somehow. The last thing we want is to have them sneaking up behind us while we’re trying to deal with Boot’s horde.”

  “If we could lure them away...”

  “How? And where to? We barely got away from them the first time.” He glanced at Micah beside him, almost doing a double take at the huge grin on his face. “What?”

  “I have an idea. Possibly the coolest idea ever.”

  Micah’s smile was making Alex nervous. “What?”

  He was almost bouncing with excitement. “The tank.”

  “The tank?”

  “Yes! It can drive over anything. It’s perfect. We can lead the eaters away, and we’ll be safe inside.”

  “If it’s so safe inside, what happened to the soldiers inside it?”

  Micah’s grin didn’t falter. “They were probably trapped, panicked, and got out when they shouldn’t have. Rookie mistake. We know better.”

  Alex sighed. “You just want to drive a tank, don’t you?”

  “Of course I want to drive a tank. It’s a tank! Don’t you want to drive a tank? We can take turns.” He pushed Alex’s arm, his smile growing even wider. Micah seemed to have regressed to being five years old.

  Alex shook his head. “You scare me sometimes.”

  They left their bikes away from the road, circled around the hill to the back end of the pile-up, then made their way through the masses of vehicles, past the overturned lorry, and on to the tank abandoned in the middle of the mess.

  Alex looked at the cars around it, sceptical. “How are we going to get it out?”

  Micah shrugged as he climbed up onto the hull. “It’s a tank. We can just drive over the top.”

  “Are you sure? Why didn’t the crew just do that?”

  Micah glanced down at him in irritation. “How am I supposed to know? Maybe they didn’t want to crush any of the people still in the cars. Stop harshing my buzz and get up here.”

  Climbing up beside Micah, Alex wondered why he was being so reticent. He was usually the one suggesting the insane plans without worrying about what could go wrong. But then that was before someone he cared about died because of his lack of forward thinking.

  Micah lowered to his knees to avoid being seen by the horde a few hundred feet ahead and crawled onto the turret, approaching the hatch which was open a crack. He peered through the gap.

  “It’s too dark, I can’t see anything.”

  “Try knocking,” Alex said, crawling up beside him, “just in case they didn’t actually leave.”

  Micah tapped his knuckles twice on the hatch. When there was no response from inside, Alex leaned in close to the gap and sniffed. The air was slightly stale, but there was no indication of either decay or eater. He hoped that was a good sign.

  Taking hold of the edges of the hatch, he pulled it open. Out of habit, and a sense of self-preservation honed over weeks of dealing with eaters and the occasional uninfected person who wanted to kill them, both he and Micah sat back out of arm’s reach of the opening. When no arms reached from inside, they leaned over to look.

  “Looks clear,” Micah said, his smile returning. “I’m going in.”

  “Be careful,” Alex said, then grimaced. He was turning into his mother.

  Micah lowered himself feet first into the gloomy interior of the tank. Alex lifted his head to scan the surrounding area, making sure nothing was sneaking up on them. Satisfied it was clear, he raised up as far as he dared to check the horde for any change in their behaviour.

  “Hey, you should come in,” Micah’s voice drifted from the open hatch. “It is beyond cool in here.”

  Alex couldn’t help smiling at his excited tone. At least one of them was having a good time. With one last look around, he swivelled his legs into the hatch and dropped to the floor inside.

  The inside of the metal behemoth was surprisingly roomy and yet remarkably cramped at the same time. Alex wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but in his mind he’d imagined a more user-friendly, streamlined interior; something out of a sci-fi movie with all smooth, grey consoles and controls and screens. Possibly a few LED lights to make it look extra cool. Instead, every surface was covered with pipes and wires and displays and buttons and controls and bits of metal sticking out for no apparent reason other than to scrape elbows and knees. He had to duck slightly to be able to move around. The interior of his ten year old car looked more hi-tech.

  There were signs of the previous occupants everywhere; a photo of a young woman in a bikini stuck to the wall next to a chair, a mug with the words World’s Best Dad in red written on the side, various bits of clothing and other personal items scattered around.

  “I wonder what happened to them,” he said quietly.

  Micah glanced at him from where he was studying the seating near the front. His gaze dropped to the floor where a pair of glasses lay, one side crushed as if it had been trodden on. “Maybe they got away.”

  Alex didn’t answer, but he doubted it.

  “I think this is the driver’s seat,” Micah said, pointing into a snug space right at the front surrounded by a plethora of instruments. “I wonder how we start it up.”

  “Or steer,” Alex said, studying the range of levers and buttons. “Or brake. Or accelerate. Or...”

  “Okay, okay, I get it. We have no idea what we’re doing.”

  The disappointment on Micah’s face made Alex feel like he’d taken away his favourite toy. Shrugging off his backpack, he rummaged amongst the spare magazines, skull-spikers and muesli bars, and pulled out the satellite phone. It was answered on the fourth ring.

  “I’ll pass you to Collins,” Lieutenant Tracey Dent said when Alex had explained the situation to her. “He can drive anything.”

  Alex switched the phone to speaker.

  “What can I do you for?” Private Matt Collins’ voice echoed in the confines of the tank.

  “Collins, can you drive a tank?”

  “I’m in the Royal E
lectrical and Mechanical Engineers, I can drive anything. I can also fix anything. Kind of. But when you say a tank, what do you mean? Because there are tanks, and there are tanks.”

  Alex wasn’t sure what the difference was between a tank and a tank, but he had a look around for any indication of the name of the metal hulk they were inside. Micah pointed to a sign by the hatch.

  “Um... it says it’s a Challenger Two?” Alex said.

  There were a couple of seconds of silence before Collins uttered an expletive. When he spoke again, his voice sounded far away, as if he was holding the phone away from his mouth. “Guys! They have a sodding Challenger!”

  A chorus of excited voices sounded in the background.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll ask.” He brought the phone back to his mouth. “Are you sure it’s a Challenger Two?”

  “That’s what it says,” Alex said. “Is that good?”

  “Good? That’s the main battle tank of the British Army! It’s practically indestructible. It’s like the Iron Man of combat vehicles. I can’t believe you have a Challenger!” He sounded as excited as Micah looked who was now grinning from ear to ear. “We could take down Boot and anything he threw at us. Is there ammunition?”

  “Where would it be?” Micah said, looking around.

  “Well, there is a compartment for it, but during combat it could be pretty much anywhere inside they could fit it. Challengers have a crew of four men, plus all their gear, supplies and ammunition. It can get kind of snug.”

  Alex and Micah took a minute to search the interior of the tank for ammunition. All they found were a few spent shell casings.

  “There’s nothing here,” Alex said. “It must have all been used.”

  “Oh. That’s a shame,” Collins said, sounding disappointed. “But still, a Challenger will be a useful thing to have. And maybe we’ll be able to find some ammunition for it. So what did you need me for?”

  Micah answered immediately. “I want to drive it.” He glanced at Alex. “We want to drive it, I mean.”

  It took some time for Collins to explain to them how to start, steer, and stop the battle tank without crashing or destroying everything around it. It sounded complicated.

  “It’s really quite easy once you get the hang of it,” he said. “The difficult bit is judging where you’re going because the range of vision is limited. But if one of you has his head out the hatch and shouts directions, that helps.”

  Alex wasn’t sure how easy it would be to get the hang of while being chased by several hundred hungry eaters, but he kept that to himself. At least they’d be safe inside.

  “Where are you now?” Micah said into the phone.

  “We’re near Kettering,” Collins replied. “We got held up having to circle around a big horde, but we’re making fairly good time now. The trackers are showing Boot is still at Cambridge so we think he’s going to stay there tonight. We should be there soon, but we’ll wait for you.”

  “We’ll be on our way once we’ve got rid of this horde,” Alex said.

  “Have fun,” Collins said before hanging up.

  “Right, so what are we going to do with the horde once we get them to follow us?” Micah said, sitting in a seat in front of a blank screen surrounded by square buttons.

  Lowering to the floor next to him, Alex leaned his back against the seat and thought through his limited knowledge of the area.

  After a minute or so, Micah said, “Could we lead them into the river?”

  “I don’t know. Is this one of those tanks that transforms into a boat you hear so much about? I think it’s called the Chitty Chitty Bang Tank.”

  “You know, you’re not nearly as funny as you think you are.”

  Alex went back to thinking. “We need some sort of enclosure where we can drive the tank in one side and out the other and trap the horde inside.”

  Micah suddenly sat up, jostling Alex’s shoulder. “I’ve got it. There’s an industrial estate not far from here. Warehouses mostly. I used to work there a few years ago. They have entrances big enough for a tank and lots of room inside.”

  Alex nodded slowly. “That could work.”

  “What do you mean could work? It’s perfect. It’ll work like a charm.”

  “Have you learned nothing in the last few weeks?”

  Micah snorted. “Where’s your optimism? We have a tank now. A tank! What could go wrong? Can we go now?”

  Alex sighed. “I think you are overestimating this hunk of metal we’re in. It’s a tank, not the Death Star.”

  “The Death Star had some major design flaws, like an exhaust system that could destroy the whole thing. But this is a tank. Can we go now?”

  “You don’t know. If someone shoved a potato up the exhaust pipe...”

  “So we’ll keep an eye out for eaters carrying potatoes.” Micah ran his hands over the controls. “I can’t wait to drive it. Can we go now?”

  Alex shook his head. “You must be a nightmare on Christmas morning.”

  Micah grinned and moved to the driver’s seat, wriggling into the tight space and looking around. “It’s a good thing I don’t have claustrophobia. Oh, hey, I can see the big gun from here. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could fire it one day?”

  Returning to the hatch, Alex climbed up the short ladder to look out. “Alright, it’s clear out here.”

  There were ten seconds of silence. Followed by another ten seconds of silence.

  Alex ducked his head back inside. “Are we thinking of leaving today?”

  “I’m just familiarising myself with... oh, got it.”

  The tank’s engine rumbled into life. A few seconds later it lurched forward, stopped, then lurched again. Alex grabbed the edge of the hatch opening to keep from falling.

  “How’s it going down there?” he called past his legs into the tank.

  “I’ll get it. Just give me a minute. This isn’t as easy as it looks.”

  “It doesn’t look easy at all.”

  “My point exactly.”

  A few more small lurches later Micah called out, “Okay, I think I’ve got it now. Hold on. And tell me which way to go because I can only see straight ahead.”

  “Just go straight for now,” Alex said, looking towards the horde. He could already see heads turning in their direction.

  The tank’s engine roared and they began to move, slowly at first, bouncing off the flattened car it was straddling and onto the top of another in front. Alex gripped the edge of the hatch tighter as they heaved and lurched.

  He heard a giggle.

  “Did you just giggle?” he shouted over the sound of the engine and the cracking of tortured metal.

  “That was not a giggle,” Micah called back. “That was a masculine chuckle of joy.”

  Alex watched as they mounted another car, its frame buckling beneath the tank’s treads, unable to stand up to the dozens of tonnes bearing down on it. It was a peculiarly satisfying sight.

  “Turn right a little,” he shouted into the hatch.

  Their direction changed.

  “That way?” Micah called.

  “Now straighten up. There are fewer cars over the other side. We’ll get onto flat ground quicker.”

  They bounced over the central reservation, the crash barriers no match for the Challenger, and made short work of a silver Mercedes on the other side. A minibus with ‘Northgate Comprehensive’ written on the side forced Micah to practice tight manoeuvres as they edged around it.

  The noise of the engine combined with the screeching metal carnage was deafening and Alex alternated his attention between working out a route through the crash and keeping an eye on the horde. They weren’t moving fast enough to outrun the infected yet.

  Movement up ahead and to his left caught Alex’s eye and he rose up to check the horde again. Their noisy progress had not gone unnoticed. Eaters were heading in their direction.

  “The eaters are coming,” he shouted to Micah.

  Micah’s reply was laughter.
“Bring it on.”

  After what seemed to Alex like hours of jerking and lurching through the car graveyard, they finally reached the end of the pile-up and bounced down onto the road surface. Alex breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at the path of destruction they’d left through the abandoned vehicles.

  “Okay,” he murmured, “that is very cool.”

  “Uh, Alex? What do I do now? Should I speed up and get past them?”

  Alex looked forward to see the horde scrambling, tripping and falling over the crash barriers and each other as they tried to follow them across the central reservation. One pioneering man had already succeeded and lurched into the path of the tank.

  Micah yelped and swerved. The eater disappeared from view beneath the treads.

  “Did I hit it?” Micah shouted. “Is it dead?”

  Alex looked back at the slightly lumpy, but predominantly flat red smear on the asphalt, and immediately regretted it.

  “I think ‘dead’ might be an understatement.” He watched the eaters attempting to follow them. “I think if you get a bit ahead of them and stop, then we can wait for them to catch up and do our Pied Piper thing.”

  Micah drove a further fifty yards and stopped, the engine idling as they waited. With the eaters in this horde having all been turned at roughly the same time, they were all more or less at the same stage of development. Remembering the Co-op debacle of a week before, trying to lead eaters into the store and their disparate speeds causing such problems, Alex was grateful for that. He hoped this lot would stick together like the horde they were.

  “How are they doing?” Micah said.

  “They’re getting the hang of the crash barrier. At least, they’re getting the hang of falling over it and getting up again. They’ll make it.”

  “Okay, just tell me when and I’ll get this baby moving again.”

  Alex couldn’t help smiling at his tone. “You are having way too much fun.”

  “I’m driving a tank!”