Devouring The Dead (Book 2): Nemesis by Russ Watts Page B

sail a boat, none of us knew how. So we thought we’d leave all this shit behind and get to France.”
    “That’s how we met Laurent,” said Jackson.
    “What these guys didn’t know was that I was doing the same thing,” Laurent said quietly. “Paris was hit by the infection too. Hell, the whole of France was. Is. I was an engineer on the tunnel trains and me and a friend decided to get out. It wasn’t hard. There was a few of us to begin with. When it all kicked off, we couldn’t get back to our homes, so we stayed at work. There was a workshop and some small warehouses that were inside the tunnel perimeter so they were well protected. There was a tall fence running around it, designed to stop illegal immigrants from getting onto the trains into England. It turned out to be quite effective at stopping the zombies too.
    “ Anyway, we heard sporadic reports of what was happening in Paris and then the news just died out. The television, the radio, the phones; everything stopped working. The land outside the working yard was flat and we could see them. The dead were everywhere. I could not believe it to start with. There were women and infants. Some really young infants, just babies, you know? I can see their faces now, pressed up against the fence. My God, it was terrible.
    “ After, I think five or six days, we began to run out of food. There was a canteen at work, but it was small. I managed to keep in contact with my wife for a while. She was at home, thankfully. I implored her to stay there, and stay hidden, but…
    “ Me and two of my colleagues decided to try our luck in England. Without any news, we weren’t sure if the virus had spread there, but there seemed no point in staying. We would just starve to death. We knew how to drive the trains, and the power lines were still operating. We didn’t know for how long, so we decided to leave. I told my wife to come with us. I told her to drive to work and I would get her in somehow. My God, I was an idiot. She made it to my depot, but there were so many...so many.
    “I don’t know what happened to my friends I left behind. If they didn’t starve to death, then they would have had to go outside to find food. I don’t think they would get very far. I was travelling with Pierre and Patrice. They were good men. We managed to get the train through the tunnel okay. Officially, it was sealed off. The government ordered it closed as soon as the trouble started. In reality, it was just a few empty carriages blocking the entrance. We shunted them out of the way and hoped we would get out the other end. The tunnel was deserted, and we found nothing stopping us once we got to England. We were through in a couple of hours and everything looked fine. The fields looked so green I was sure we were safe. Pierre kept shouting, ‘We’ve made it!’ I didn’t feel like celebrating with him, not with how I left my wife. It was my fault she died. I should have told her to stay where she was. If she had…
    “Anyway, we never made it to London. When the train was approaching Ebbsfleet, we slowed down and thought we would get off and look for help. We pulled into the station, and I don’t know, something didn’t seem quite right. It was deserted. It was the middle of the day, so I thought there would be someone around, even if it was just the station manager or someone. We got off and began wandering around the station, but there was not a soul anywhere. The waiting room, café, car park, and the road to the station were all empty. Pierre said we should carry on into London, because there was no way London would be deserted too. We were about to leave when Patrice suddenly saw them. There was a young couple walking down the road toward us. We were so relieved, I can’t begin to tell you.
    “Patrice ran up to meet them , but...you can guess they were not so friendly. They pounced on him and he would’ve been dead quite quickly I think. Me and Pierre turned and ran. We had