Seems Like Cambridge Won This One (Lenora and David)

Lenora had driven all the way to Oxford in the truck that they had escaped the Palace in and to be honest she was surprised that it had made it this far. In some places in London the roads had been completely blocked and gridlocked so that they had to drive on the pavements and around the back alleys just to get through.

From there on they learnt their lesson and they only took the quieter streets which got quieter and quieter the closer they got to Oxford which was a comforting sign to her. Perhaps those things hadn't gotten here yet? Which was why everyone had taken the chance to leave while they still could, leaving only them and the military?

That was how she wanted it to be.

She wasn't sure if that was the case.

The car ride had been nothing short of an experience with David trying to comfort and feed a crying George in his arms, she saw a whole new side to her commanding officer. Who would have known that his weakness in life was children? He seemed the type to her to have a nice wife, and two perfect stepford children.

Apparently not!

Allowing the car to roll into the compound of the Army base in Oxford, Lenora switched off the engine and looked at David with a soft smile on her lips;

"Final stop, Oxford Army Base. Please make sure to take all your personal belongings with you when you exit the vehicle." she joked with a nervous smile "On the plus side though sir, we didn't see any of those things on the way up here, the coast should be clear."

David hated children.

He had come to the conclusion that Dragon was actually closer to being his code-name than he was to being a human child. That was the only way that him being this annoying and this loud made any kind of sense at all. And the mess it made! Yep he was convinced that the 'darling baby boy' prince was actually a dragon in disguise.

Thankful that they were approaching the Oxford military base, he was immediately on guard when there seemed to be no activity around the base.

Like... at all.

It was a large military base, civilians would have come here for protection but... there was no sign of any civilians and even less sign of any military personal. What really did it for David though, was that nothing was missing. There were heavy machine guns set up in front of the gates with sandbags... and they were still here. Honestly, it didn't look like a single shot had been fired.

David frowned before wincing in pain as his bruised ribs flared up. He said bruised because if they'd been broken he'd have figured out by now when they pierced his lungs. Since he was still alive they were just bruised. He frowned deeper and opened the door. Dragon was, for once, asleep so he felt a little more confident,

"Lenora... get your gun ready." he told her quietly as he looked around, "We're going to investigate."

He stood up outside the car, thankful for the chance to stretch his legs, and looked around as he held Dragon against his chest with one arm,

"There's.... there's no one here at all... not even any of those things..." he paused, "Theories Lenora?"

Lenora couldn't help but feel a little bit happy when there were none of those things here at the base, however she knew that it was more than likely going to come back and bite her on the arse in a few minutes. They were probably all around the corner waiting to ambush them. That was a cheering thought, she sighed, berating herself for actually thinking of that before hopping out of the car with her guns about her body.

She was not going to be going anywhere without them, she would have thought that David wouldn't mind that. So what if they weren't licensed to her, they had bigger things to worry about here than her picking up some more guns for their protection.

Bringing up her pistol, the quickest and lightest gun she had Lenora walked forwards, going before David into the beginnings of the base seeing as he had Dragon. Taking a look around past the mounted guns, Lenora shrugged her shoulders and stood in the middle of the entrance way, turning around to see if she could see anyone in any direction within the base.

By the time she had circled around back to David she shook her head;

"You're right, I can't see evidence of anyone being here at all, I can't see anyone and there is nothing out of place. No sign of struggle or anything." she hummed, ruffling her hair under her cap.

When he asked her for theories Lenora thought of only two;

"There are two that I think are somewhat plausible. Either the base relocated to somewhere else, further away from London so that they could set up a defence there against these things spreading any further north. Or...or these things got here so quickly, and spread so fast that they had no time to do anything whatsoever. Someone could have been infected inside the barracks. What do you think sir?"

David was honestly not liking this at all. Groaning a little bit when Dragon seemed to be stirring a little bit, he rocked the child in a way he had found he liked well enough to stop crying. Seriously, they were going to have to find a way to just leave him in the car. After making it soundproof and completely impossible for anyone other than them to open it of course.

He was not about to be responsible for the death of the last piece of the monarchy!

That would look really shitty on his CV he could tell you that for free. Sighing a little bit, he nodded at Lenora's conclusion,

"Yeah seems that we weren't late for any kind of trouble..." he frowned, "Trouble either never arrived or came from inside I'd say."

Nodding towards the barracks, he gestured for her to go first. There were a lot of 1960s era brick office buildings around here in the army base he had to say. Shaking his head a little bit, he frowned when he came across a set of double doors... with a chain locking them closed. He tapped the metal of the door with his gun and suddenly something slammed against the metal and dozens of hands tried to grope through the gap.

"Jesus Christ..." he muttered before looking up and seeing someone standing by a window, apparently looking down at them, "Hey Lenora... hey..."

He pointed up at the figure, who seemed to look at them before it ran away from the window. David swore slightly as crashing sounds and growls came from the building,

"Fuck... tactical retreat may be advised Lenora..."

Lenora hummed softly as she followed David through the barracks, she thought that this was all a little bit too eerie, there were all sorts of weapons just left where they should be, there had been no shots fired no holes gauged out of the brick by stray bullets...nothing. She bet if she picked them up they would be fully loaded and not even warm.

That still left the question of where everyone was though.

The double doors with the chain on them made Lenora nervous, especially when it started almost bulging open with the freaks trying to get through it into the open. Perhaps her theory had been correct after all?

"It seems as though I might have been right, this infection probably broke out in the barracks, and whoever escaped from them locked them up tight and decided to make a run for it out of here. I can't say I would blame them either but...they left all these weapons here. I would have taken as many as I could."

Looking up at the window that had caught David's attention Lenora grinned hopefully at him;

"It must be one of the survivors, we should go into the building, they might need our help." she stated "Perhaps they'll be able to give us the keys to one of the army vehicles - they're more sturdy than our jeep at the moment."

Gently, and very slowly Lenora took baby George from David, hugging him to her chest and lulling him back to sleep as he stirred from the exchange. She thought that he would be glad to have his arms back so that if he needed to he could have both hands free for his weapon, they might need them if these guys were bandits or something.

"There you go, I'll take care of him for a little while now. You can go in first, I'll be right behind you." she stated with a soft smile, holding her pistol in the other hand to the one she was using to hold George with "Quickly now before that buildings doors give in."

David was not happy to hear that Lenora's theory had been right. To be honest it was the only one that fitted the evidence but that didn't mean he had to like it at all. Swearing under his breath, he bent down and picked up a rifle with a bayonet attached to it. This would be useful later. Slinging it onto his back carefully, he held onto Dragon with his one free hand,

"Yeah... Jesus Christ, if there's the whole base in there that's easily a few hundred people in there." he told her with a frown, "All of them just gone... that's... disgusting."

Giving up the baby to Lenora, David swung the rifle around so it landed in his hands smoothly. He tested the tip of the bayonet and found it deadly sharp. He gritted his teeth,

"I have a feeling that these people don't want out help..." he muttered before began to move forwards anyway, "But I've been wrong before I suppose."

He nodded in agreement and was almost to the door when it burst open and a deranged looking man (you could tell he wasn't infected by the way he was trying to stab David with a knife) barrelled out towards them. Acting completely out of instinct, David speared him right through the throat with the bayonet. The man fell, twitching and bleeding, to the ground. David read the sign on the door, ignoring the dying man,

"This is the Army motor pool... this is where we'll find out ride." he told her before pushing the door open carefully and slipping inside. It seemed to be mostly deserted but the chained doors to the other building were groaning. He waved her inside and began pulling a sofa to block the door, "Go go go... we'll want an office with a grey safe box or two attached to the wall."

Lenora couldn't help the noise of surprise that escaped her when she saw that there was someone trying to charge David from the building that they were trying to enter, it was perhaps the first non infected person here and they had been driven mad by what they had seen most likely. The only question was why they hadn't gone and gotten keys for a motor and driven the hell out of here when they could of.

Maybe this building, and the people in it weren't so friendly after all.

"Are you okay David, he didn't get you or anything?" she asked softly, looking over her friend with concerned eyes "Be careful moving that thing, don't take too long I might need you upstairs."

Slowly, Lenora began to ascend the stairs, and she pointed her pistol out straight in front of her. Seeing nothing she slunk to the wall and stuck to it as she followed the corridor around, looking in the office windows to see if the safes that she had been told about were in any of them. So far all she could see were computers and empty office space - no safes.

However there was a slightly smaller office, two doors down that looked as if it might be the place. It was empty, and the door was unlocked.

"Almost too good to be true." she murmured softly, entering the room she picked one of the keys off the rack in an open safe, on it was written the number of the vehicle, Lenora took several keys in case some of them had been taken or were damaged, one of them was bound to still be serviceable and in the barracks.

Emerging from the office, Lenora looked down the T section of corridor, the ones branching out in each direction from this central one had offices at either end too. Unable to stop her jump when a figure crossed the drawn blind of the office to the right, Lenora whispered to David;

"D-david...I have the keys but...but there's someone in that office. It might be the person that we saw before. Should we check it out or...or just get out of here?"

David tried to shrug it off but the simple fact was that he had just cut someone's throat out without thinking about it. And the worst thing was that right now he couldn't even feel bad about it. All he could think was that he was glad that the bastard hadn't been able to hurt either Lenora or George. Dragon and Lenora had to make it out of this damned Army base alive, he was certain about that and one crazed bastard changed nothing about that,

"I'm fine Lenora, don't worry about me." he assured her as he checked the inside of the building with a frown, "You be careful alright? Make sure you keep the two of you safe, I'm expendable compared to the two of you."

Moving the sofa in front of the door had been a little bit loud he admitted but it was better than having absolutely nothing in front of the door for when - not if - the chained doors broke inwards like he knew they would. He took a deep breath before scowling and turning around, aiming the gun perfectly between the eyes of a black man who had been sneaking up on him with a knife. The man began whimpering,

"Man... come on man... come on man I was only gun' shiv yer... it ain' lik it were personal!" he begged David, who remained impassive, "Come on man... you woul'a done the same thing!"

David could tell what this man had planned for him, Lenora and George... and felt absolutely no guilt when he pulled the trigger and scattered the man's brains across the far wall. He had indeed done the same thing it seemed. Moving upstairs to meet up with Lenora, he frowned a little bit and nodded,

"Alright... head downstairs alright? Don't go anywhere just... stand at the bottom of the stairs alright? Mind the blood." he told her quietly before raising his weapon to ready it and nudging the door to the office open. He glanced around the office to make sure that the only person in here was... wait. No there were three people in the room. Two seemed to be sat down, heads bowed, and one was pacing up and down in front of the window. David frowned, "Hey... what are you guys..."

"RAORG!"

That was the closest thing he could describe the cry of the infected to be as the standing infected charged across the room at him as the other two scrambled to their feet, kicking their chairs over in their haste. Firing twice (having missed the first time), David put the first one down before falling back and slamming the door closed in the face of the other two. He rushed downstairs as the sound of meat hitting wood echoed through the office as even more seemed to be waking up. He rushed down the stairs,

"Lenora! Come on lets get out of here!" he told her as he rushed towards the motorpool area, "We need something big... riot vans in the army are built like camervans... see if you can find one of those! I'll hold them off!"

Kneeling down in front of the door to the motor pool (which was as deserted as the rest of outside), he raised the gun to aim down the length of the corridor, already picking off some of the infected scrambling towards them.

Lenora head a gunshot from down below and she was jogging towards the stairs as quietly as she could to see if David was okay, she knew that he had said that he was expendable but that just wasn't true. In terms of experience he had well more than she did and would be able to get Dragon up to Scotland a lot better than she would be able to. Perhaps it would just be best to say they both needed each other, and to keep each other alive.

No need for a heroes sacrifice when the two of them could make it out alive if a little battered and bruised on their accounts.

"O-okay...I heard a gunshot though is everything alright?" Lenora asked, confused as David walked past her towards the office rooms where she had seen some people in before "I_I can come with you if you want..."

Seeing that he wanted her to go and get a vehicle, Lenora did so, she hurried downstairs, only slipping a little bit in the pool of blood she couldn't avoid, and made it to the vehicles. Checking the first set of keys, she saw that they were for a jeep with mounted gun - not bad but David wanted a van.

The next set of keys led her to another jeep.

The third set, finally was a van and perfectly it was ready to drive out of this place. Opening the door Lenora grinned happily and was ready to put George inside when she was knocked onto the floor, her body curling around George to protect him from harm as she fell. Immediately she was kicking at the weight on top of her, the growling snarls let her know it was an infected person and she swiftly opened her eyes aimed her pistol and shot it point blank in the skull.

It was too close for her liking as it slumped down dead on the lower half of her legs.

Kicking it away in disgust, Lenora hopped into the drivers seat and put the key in the ignition starting up the van now that there were no more nasty surprises.

"Come on David! I have one! Get your ass here and we can leave!" Lenora yelled, revving the engine.

David couldn't keep them all away.

There were simply too many of them and they were running at him too damn fast. Gritting his teeth, he flicked the switch on the gun and fired it in it's fully automatic state, raking it back and forth at eye-level for the best results. Dozens of the infected fell to the ground, tripping others. And his rifle ran out of bullets.

There were only a few infected left it seemed. One of them charged him and David slammed it's skull into the wall with the butt of the rifle, smashing it open like a ripe melon. Another came at him and he smashed the butt down on top of it's head, stunning it. With it stunned he spun the rifle and stabbed it with the bayonet. The next infected managed to get in close and pin him to the ground though. Grabbing the head, David swallowed thickly before pushing his fingers into it's eyes for grip and twisting savagely. With it dead again he pushed it off and made his way towards the garage.

Seeing Lenora behind the wheel made him sigh in relief.

Until one of the infected freaks tried to take a bite out of his shoulder. Thankfully his bullet proof vest covered that part of his shoulder with the strap. Acting out of panic, David used his police training and flipped the thing over his shoulder onto the ground. Instead of handcuffing it like his instincts told him too, he pressed his pistol against it's skull and fired. Staggering into the riot van, he closed and locked the door, collapsing on the floor. Baby George made a happy gurgling sound and he laughed a little bit,

"Yeah... good to see you two as well..." he just relaxed on the metal floor, "Fuck... and I used to like my job too..."

Lenora as soon as David was in the van began to drive the fuck out of the base and she put her foot to the floor, driving out of the garage as quickly as she could she burst out onto the main road and got on their way away from that base. Honestly she had no idea where they were going to go now, but at least they had a better, more secure and more pimped out ride. It was somewhere they could stay overnight and they wouldn't have to worry about attracting those things. No sound would be getting out of these walls.

"Are you alright David?" she asked softly, turning to look at him sprawled on the floor, he wasn't bitten but he looked very much shaken there had been a lot of infected and the one that got the jump on her was nothing compared to what he had to fight off.

Looking out of the wing mirrors on either side of this thing, Lenora blanched in complete horror when she saw that they literally had just gotten out of that place in time. Not only had there been infected in that office block, the doors had smashed open from the barrack sleeping quarters as well and there was a literal hoarde coming their way.

Or well...coming Oxfords way, they wouldn't be able to catch up to the van on these open roads. Even if they did there would need to be a whole lot of them to bring it down.

"Oh my god..." she whispered "Look how many of them there are...is there a radio or something in here? Anything that we can use to maybe warn the nearby residents that they're coming? Or the police force?"

Biting her lip Lenora focused herself back on driving and she felt the pounding of her heart in her chest lessen slightly;

"David will you take George? See if he's okay? We had a little bit of a fall, I don't think he got scraped or anything I took the flack but if he is he might need some disinfectant spray just in case." Lenora cooed softly, gently pushing the babies squishy nose as she drove one hand on the wheel.

David chuckled a little bit as he looked up at the ceiling of the metal campervan they had managed to take for themselves. Of course the thing had six inch armour plating, bomb and bullet proof glass, grenade launchers build in with gas and explosives, a high powered water canon and shotguns that fire rubber bullets. He slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position and then managed to stumble onto his feet,

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine." he told her with a little grin as he held onto the wall to keep from being thrown around, "That was... surprisingly rather energising."

He blinked a little bit and moved over to the back window slot, barely more than two inches tall but about a foot wide. Glancing through it, he whistled at the sheer number of the infected pouring out of the buildings. They looked like the locusts from the movies about the plagues of Egypt! He shook his head slightly but moved over to the passenger seat where there was a radio. Setting Dragon on his lap, he picked up the radio and flicked it to emergency channels,

"This is officer David Carnitine to all personal within Oxford..." he sent out the call. He waited to see if anyone would call back but when no one did he decided to finish the message anyway, "If you can hear this message then hide as best you can or escape the city... a massive horde of infected is inbound. Godspeed. Out."

Putting the receiver away, he turned the radio down before looking Dragon over for any injuries. Finding a little scrape, he tutted at the baby as he took the anti-septic spray and a tissue,

"Come on Dragon..." he tutted as he began cleaning the little scrape, "You're not really earning your hardened scales here! Got to be tough boy...!"

Lenora looked over at David as he radioed the Oxford police, although she felt so guilty about letting those things out onto the public, or what was left of the public, she was glad that they were at least sending a warning to all those who were left that things were about to get a whole lot worse so they should button down the hatches or up sticks and move.

"It doesn't sound like the south has much of a chance against these things." she murmured softly "How far north do you think they have gotten? Hopefully we will be able to reach Scotland, and by the time we do they would have fortified the Estate against these things enough so we can leave Dragon there and he'll be safe.

It was a bit of wishful thinking, she knew. With all that was happening down south Scotland would barely have a week, maybe a few days tops to get everything sorted and to stop the infected taking over the estate. If that was compromised, Lenora didn't know what she would do. What they would do.

Tutting softly when she heard Dragon had gotten a scrape Lenora smiled gently;

"Oh I'm sorry little guy, did mean old Lenora give you a sore arm? Well I'm sure I'll make it up to you later when we make you some formula."

When they came to the fork in the road that they had taken beforehand, Lenora sighed softly and turned the van so that it would be taking to route away from London, avoiding the motorway because it was sure to be gridlocked she decided she would take the smaller roads towards the north. It would take longer but at least they'd get there.