For Those In Peril (Book 2): The Outbreak by Colin M. Drysdale

hit.’
    Claire
turned her attention back to the road ahead just as the Range Rover crashed
through the barrier. The car skidded and Claire had to fight hard to keep it
under control. I felt the SUV slide across the tarmac and we side-swiped the
barriers on the far side, causing Iliana’s body to rattle back and forth between
Daz and me, sending blood flying in all directions. Claire wrestled with the
steering wheel, managing to keep us moving in the right direction. She glanced
at Tom’s shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, it looks like it’s only a flesh wound, but
we’ll need to get some pressure on that pretty quickly so you don’t lose too
much blood.’ She turned to me. ‘Are we out of their range yet?’
    I
nervously inched my head upwards until I could see out of the back window: the
soldiers were no longer in sight. I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Yeah.’
    ‘And
they’re not following us?’
    ‘No.’
I wondered why this was. Maybe we were still inside the cordon they’d set up to
stop people leaving the city. If that was the case, we’d need to find another
way out.
    ‘Good.’ Claire stood on the brakes. Tom yelped as he was thrown against his seat
belt and Iliana’s lifeless body slammed into the back of his seat. The car
screeched to a halt and Claire jumped out. She pulled open the back door.
‘Sophie, you need to take Jake.’
    The
teenage girl got out and took the small boy from Tom, kissing his head and
stroking his hair before climbing back into the car. I glanced at him. He seemed
listless, almost as if he was unaware of all that was going on around him.
    ‘You,’
Claire pointed at me, ‘get that body out of there and then help me get him,’ she
pointed at Tom, ‘into the back seat.’
    I
opened the passenger door, stepped out and reached back to the car. I grabbed
Iliana and pulled, but she didn’t move. I changed my hold to get a better grip
and tried again. This time I managed to drag her lifeless body out of the car
and there was a sickening thump as it hit the ground. I glanced down and saw
that Iliana’s blood, mixed with flecks of her brains, was now smeared across my
jacket; I had to work hard to stop myself throwing up. Trying not to look at
Iliana again, I helped Tom out of the front seat, while Claire disappeared round
the back of the Range Rover. She reappeared a second later carrying a
rectangular black bag.
    ‘Get
him in here.’ She pointed to the back seat, and then she looked up at me. ‘D’you
know how to drive?’
    ‘No,
not really; not cars at any rate.’
    Claire
turned to Daz, ‘What about you?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Good.
Get up front and let’s get going again.’
    Daz
slid behind the wheel as I clambered in the passenger side. I heard Daz fiddle
with the seat, moving it back and forth until he was comfortable. All the time I
was watching Claire: she’d torn Tom’s shirt open and was pressing a thick white
pad she’d taken from her bag against a ragged wound in his right shoulder.
    ‘Why
aren’t we moving?’ Claire glared at Daz as she worked on Tom.
    ‘Where’re we headin’?’ Daz looked from Claire to me and back again.
    I
thought for a second. ‘Try the tunnel. We might still be able to get out that
way.’
    The
Range Rover leapt forward as Daz floored the accelerator. I turned my attention
back to Tom and Claire. She seemed to know what I was thinking. ‘Don’t worry. I
know what I’m doing.’ She smiled at me. ‘I’m a doctor.’
    ‘Fuck!
More polis.’ Daz was pointing ahead, where three police cars were parked —
lights flashing but empty — across the road leading to the tunnel that I hoped
would take us under the River Clyde and out to Glasgow’s Southside. At first, it
seemed like our path was blocked, but then I saw they’d been positioned too far
forward and there was a way for us to get past. ‘Daz, take that slip road to the
left and then turn sharp right. We can get round