Chapter 5 – Survivors
Getting to the town turned out to be quite a bit of a diversion, but we finally came upon what looked like a small village as the day darkened.
Lara emptied stock out of a large cardboard box, and she put the puppies inside with a shallow container of water. Mark cracked a window open in the front and we all clambered out of the van; Lance came to the back to help Jason as he was still a little shaky.
The surrounding place was very dark without streetlights; we used our torches to check out what seemed to be the village square. As the sweeping beams touched on the large hulking shadows around us, we saw a few stores and run-down houses, really not enough to call the place a town. One store looked like a general store, Mark signalled towards it, so Lance and Lara headed there to look for dog food; they had a large backpack that they could fill up with as much as they could carry. Before leaving the truck, we had changed the batteries in our radios and we all double checked that they worked before we split up. Lara didn’t have one anymore, but Lance promised not to let her out of his sight. Mark stayed next to Jason in case Jason should feel unsteady, and I wanted to stay with them to make sure they were both okay. Mark still wore a bandage over the Ravenous bite he had sustained earlier, I was still uncertain that whatever was wrong with the Ravenous was not catchable and I had seen too many movies not be cautious about being bitten. I watched Mark carefully as the three of us wandered around kicking at the broken glass and stretching our legs as we kept watch for signs of movement on the road or in the houses, but he seemed fine and although he winced in pain when he turned his head he appeared not to have any other effects from the bite and he did not give even the slightest impression that he was turning into one of them.
Jason sat on a pile of rubble and took a drink from his flask, Mark stood close by rubbing the bandage on his neck. I headed over to check the wound, Mark protested that it was ok, but I brushed his hands away and unwrapped the bandage. I could see it was healing well and had scabbed over nicely and commanded, “Don’t scratch it.” Mark waved his hands in resignation and then pointed with a look over my head and a nod. His eyebrows rose conspiratorially.
I glanced in the direction he had indicated and smiled as I saw Jason scratching away furiously at the bandage on his forehead. I rolled my eyes and shook my head; sometimes they were worse than kids.
Checking my radio, I wandered towards the row of houses some had smashed windows or missing doors. I walked inside one of the old-style cottages with beams around the doorway. Its missing door meant it was easy to enter, but I was careful of my footing as I could not see very far in front of me. Mark called out, “don’t disappear” I looked back at them and found myself in the joint beams of both their torches, I held up a hand to shield my eyes. “I need to use the facilities” I called back a little embarrassed. They lowered their torches and Jason called out “ok, but don’t be long, we aren’t staying.” I walked inside waving my torchlight over broken crockery and torn curtains, then my beam moved over something large and out of place. I spun it back and saw it was a large van; it must have smashed into the back of the house and taken out the wall and the stairs. It looked unsafe; I didn’t like the idea of a giant hole in the back of the house. Ravenous could get in, things could collapse, and it all made me feel uneasy, so I backed out again. Jason swung his torch at me as I came out. “That was quick,” he said with a hint of a smile in his voice, I raised my hand again to shield my eyes from the light. “They were closed.” I joked, “I’ll try next door.”
“Anything we need to worry about?” Mark asked as he swung his light over,
I shook my head as I walked to the next house. From outside, this one looked almost the same as the last but the door was intact, so I headed towards the broken front window it was large and low, it had been thoroughly smashed in, and the curtains that dangled outside were long enough to trail in the dirt below the sill. I could see the end of a silver cylinder poking out from the bushes. They really were everywhere.
How had it been done? Why had it been done? Terrorists? The government? Was this the outcome that they had hoped for? Were they out there somewhere in gas masks celebrating a job well done? Did they turn in to ravenous? I had to stop thinking about it all; I did not have the answers and standing around debating was just wasting precious time. I ran my hand over the edge of the window frame, carefully checking for sharp edges and finding nothing dangerous I climbed in.
I jumped as a voice shouted. “Stay alert in there Cathy, we are just going to scout around.” I turned slightly and realised it was Jason. Mark was further away, and they were heading down a short road away from the houses.
I nodded and shouted a short “Yep” back at him as I clambered inside the house. Stooping low to avoid any shards of glass still poking out from the top of the frame I hooked my leg over the sill and tripped a little on the trailing curtains, I untangled my feet and steadied myself. As I stood up I waited for a few moments breathing gently and listening for any sounds, the living room was dark, gloomy and smelt of neglect but as I swung my light around, I could see the chintzy wallpaper and flowery settee that had once been placed here with love and care. Not hearing anything other than the breeze picking up, I walked across the front room. Crunching over broken glass and busted ornaments, the depressing remains of a tiny china doll cracked under my feet as I moved through the room, its smashed face in the torchlight reminded me that this used to be somebody’s home and my chest ached for whomever had lived here. I ploughed slowly through the debris, trying not to step on any other fallen items; I stopped as my torch’s shaft of light lit up a family portrait hanging on the wall. It was hard to make out the family’s features with just a small beam of light moving over the surface, but I marvelled that this picture had somehow managed to stay up when almost everything else had fallen and been smashed. I wanted to take it with me, something so normal and so regular needed protecting from this harsh new world but I knew it had no purpose and that I had no way of carrying such a large glass frame. I turned from it, feeling sad and wishing I could just wake up back home in bed with all this forgotten as a terrifying nightmare. As I headed into the passage, I found that there were a few doors across a narrow hall. The small bathroom was behind the first door I tried, it opened easily but the smell hit me forcibly. I glanced inside and could see the toilet was overflowing so I quickly closed the door; as I gasped for breath, it reminded me of my toilet back home before I’d left.
I looked questioningly at the stairs at the end of the hall, wondering if it was worth trying to get upstairs to the other bathroom that I hoped would be there. I didn’t want to go upstairs as the thought of possible rotting corpses lying in their beds filled me with renewed fear and disgust. Unsheathing my knife and keeping my torch raised, I examined the stairs; the first thing I noticed was that most of them were gone. The carpet had been ripped up, and the stairway looked as though someone had hacked at it, I followed the damage to the top with my light and I noticed a couple of long wooden planks leaning against the wall. Something was niggling at the back of my mind, a thought I couldn’t grasp. Suddenly there was a commotion behind me, I swung my torch around and saw Jason and Mark rushing towards me. Both were raising their bows and loading them ready to fire, I almost dropped my knife in shock. “It’s me,” I exclaimed, in case they thought I was ravenous, but they slowed as they neared the stairs and Jason flashed his torch towards the broken staircase.
“What’s going on?” I whispered, feeling my heartbeat begin to slow after the initial shock. Jason looked down at me as he climbed up the first few steps, “We saw movement at an upstairs window and your flashlight was still shining downstairs, so we came to make sure you were ok.”
I felt a little flattered, but then had a moment of overwhelming realisation, the thought that had been waving for attention finally dawned on me. The dirty toilet and the broken steps all indicated that someone alive was here or had been here. I felt a bit foolish for
not thinking of it before, but that feeling was swept aside. It was more important that someone could need our help. They were probably hiding from the ravenous. The broken steps made sense as it would stop the ravenous from getting to the upper level of the house, and the wooden boards I had seen were probably used to get down the stairs when the coast was clear. I watched Jason climb the banister; he had to put his bow over his shoulder, and I saw it was a new one and that Mark had one too. Mark climbed after Jason, “Where did you get the weaponry?” I whispered as I followed him. Mark stroked the bow as he put it in a holster on his back, “Jason saw an archery range by the church. We broke into the storeroom. As we were coming back to the truck with supplies, we saw the movement. Got you some more ammo as well. This bow is nicer than my old one, but don’t tell Jason.” The last part he whispered with a smile, I smiled back and let him help me over the gaping hole in the stairway. Looking down into it, it seemed to go into the basement. I saw movement, there were bodies below me. I was about to say something when Jason’s voice interrupted my train of thought. “We’re here to help!” he said loudly, and I heard a woman sobbing. Mark swung his light into an open doorway and I saw two women sitting on a double bed, one had a knife, but it was dangling from her hand and the other was sobbing with her arms over her face, the room stank and had rubbish piled in the corner by the bed. I flashed my torch at their eyes just in case, but they looked normal, both women were stick thin, their hair hung down greasily, matted and clumped together, they both looked like they could be in their twenties. The room was sweltering, and they only had grubby vests and pants on. Jason holstered his weapon and walked into the bedroom. I remembered the movement in the basement and pulled Mark’s arm, “at the stairs, I saw something moving below.” Mark looked behind us and moved towards the stairs but one of the women spoke up, “It’s my husband and our neighbour’s” she said sadly.
Jason bent down beside her, “Are they dead?” he asked gently.
The woman looked up and shook her head, “They are crazy,” she said and hugged the woman beside her who was still sobbing. Jason looked up at me and Mark for help. I stepped forward and touched the crying woman on the shoulder; gently I said, “let’s get you out of here” and motioned for them to follow me. They looked a little worried but then Mark said, “it’s safe, we have food. We will look after you”. At his words, the woman who had spoken got up from the bed and collected some things from around the room. The sobbing woman watched her companion bundling clothes into a bin bag and seemed to realise they were going somewhere, she walked to the corner of the room and bent down in front of what I thought was an old pile of rags, It stood up making me step back in surprise. It was a child. In the darkness I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, but it seemed to be about six or seven and filthy. I raised my eyebrows at Jason, who just looked on in amazement. At that moment Mark’s radio crackled into life and Lance’s voice filled the room. “Where are you guys? Over,” Mark grabbed it as the child ran into the woman’s arms full of fear. “We are on our way, we have survivors. Over,”
I heard Lance gasp on the other end of the walky-talky, but he muttered, “Received, over and out.”
Jason and Mark led the way, they put the boards across the gaping stairwell, and we clambered down, Mark kept telling them not to look down, and a few times I heard shuffling and scratching noises below us. The youngster stayed close to the woman who had been crying, and I assumed she was its mother. As we got outside, both women looked around fearfully and kept the child protectively between them. Lara ran over as we got clear of the house but at the sight of the rag clothed child her eyes grew wide with astonishment and she followed us to the van in silence. Lance opened the truck doors and beckoned to us. “Come on, let’s go. I can hear something coming.”
We ran to the truck closely followed by our new companions who seemed to know that if something was coming, it probably wasn’t good, as we bundled into the back it was a squash to make sure there was enough room for the new people and although our new guests didn’t smell very nice Lara and I had no choice but to share our travelling space with them. Mark, Lance and Jason climbed in the front and we sped off towards the main road. As we got settled in the van, the child saw the puppies and with a delighted squeal it climbed into the box with them, its mother sat by the box keeping her eyes fixed on every move the youngster made.
I passed the other woman a cloth and some stream water and she washed herself awkwardly as we drove down bumpy mud tracks. I gave her some liquid soap and asked her name. She scrubbed at her skinny arms and began to speak, “I’m Del and this is my sister Ali, that’s her little boy Adam. Thank you for coming to get us, we have been up there since the gas. Do you have a base camp?” I shook my head, “I am afraid we are just a small group of survivors. This is all of us; we are on this crazy road trip just trying to find a place to call home, a place we can defend.” I am not sure why, but I didn’t feel like sharing our plan just yet. Del seemed a little downcast by this, but she looked at her sister and then volunteered their story, “My husband was at home when it happened. He was asleep downstairs, he must have fallen asleep in front of the telly, he often did that, but we were all upstairs. My sister had come to stay for a few days; she was awake with Adam when the gas came. It was late at night, but Adam has never slept well. She saw the gas seeping in, she woke me and then ran down to warn my husband, he….” Del stopped suddenly and looked at Ali sadly but with questions in her eyes, “He attacked her, I guess, it looked like he bit her. She escaped and ran back up to get me. I heard the commotion and came out; he must have caught her again because I saw them fighting on the stairs. Ali was trying to kick him away, and he was trying to rip at her. I shouted and screamed, but he didn’t even look up. I thought he had gone crazy, I didn’t know what to do, but I had to protect my sister; I ran and got the chainsaw from the toolbox in the spare room, I turned it on and hit Charles with it, blood spurted everywhere, and he fell down the stairs, but he got back up and came after us again. It was like a horror movie. I accidentally cut into the stairway as I tried to fend him off, and a few of the planks gave out. Charles fell through; I could hear him moving down there, trying to scratch his way out. I cut some more stairs up to use as weapons to defend ourselves with, and Ali and I hid in my room with Adam. Some other people came, but they couldn’t get up the stairs and fell into the basement. They had white eyes and one of them was chewing on a dead bird. We kept Adam in the room out of the way and sometimes when it was quiet, I went out and got supplies but the crazy ones always came back when they heard us moving around. Neither of us can drive so where could we go? I didn’t know how to get help or if there was anyone left. Everywhere in the village looks so dead and empty; I thought no one was left.” Her voice broke as she said the last words; she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her body shuddering with emotion. Lara approached her tentatively and hugged her lightly; Del responded with a warm embrace and reached out for her sister’s hand. The three of them stayed like that for a moment and then Del said in a disgusted tone, “boy, I stink. Let’s get changed.”
Lara smiled and grabbed some clothes from a black sack; she began helping Del to change her clothes and gave them all some water to drink and a box of cereal each. Del seemed glad to have told her story and relieved that someone was willing to listening. Her sister was silent as she stroked her boy’s head and watched us as we talked. Adam began to fall asleep, so Ali pulled him into her lap and hummed softly to him. As the miles rolled away, we helped Del to bandage a wound on her arm that she said had happened on a foraging trip and then she sat by her sister wiping her hair down with a damp cloth; I saw Lara was dozing leaning against the boxes and felt my own eyes growing heavy.
I awoke as we got back out onto the highway, there were a few cars blocking the way, abandoned or worse, and we had to swerve around them. Mark decided it was safer if we waited till morning to navigate the road, as we could easily crash in the dark.
; We discussed shifts, explaining to the newest members of our group that we always tried to be on guard. The rota was simple and meant we all got a few hours’ sleep. My shift was first with Jason and Del; we sat, and Jason talked about the castle and our plans. I felt a little unsure of divulging so much to people we didn’t know and as I looked over at Del bathed in the light of our small fire; I noticed that she looked unimpressed, but she didn’t make any comments. Jason gave me the ammo bolts he and Mark had collected for me, I was grateful as they were excellent quality. He commented that he knew how to make arrows and crossbow bolts from scratch, but these store brought ones would work better. Del asked for something to protect herself with, so we handed over Mark’s knives, I felt uneasy arming her but she had every right to a weapon and I had no valid reason to voice any opposition to her being able to defend herself. Jason sat and chatted with her about her husband and she showed him a picture, I tried to catch a peek, but she put it away too quickly. They began talking about the past and Jason seemed enthralled by her stories all about her husband’s life in the army and her connections to famous people. She name-dropped quite a few big stars, and I tried to nod along, but all the stories seemed a little farfetched. Her husband seemed to be a real-life superhero. He had fought in every war and been decorated so many times that it was a wonder that he had been alive to succumb to the gas. I chastised myself for being suspicious and thought that she had every right to make her husband into a hero. If the stories were fake who cared, all that mattered was it comforted her and was something to be proud of. I tried to listen a little more but found myself snorting and trying not to laugh as she spoke of her modelling and acting career. She was very pretty and since she had cleaned herself up, I could see she had long, nice looking hair and even longer legs, but she was making herself into a Hollywood star. I had never heard of her and I had read most fashion magazines and blogs online. Again, I shook myself and swallowed my hostile thoughts. Why was I being this way? Was it her interest in Jason or my jealousy at her pretty smile and skinny frame? I swallowed my unkind comments and blocked out my darker thoughts as I tried to get involved. Waiting for a gap in the narrative I asked a question about the unit she said her husband had been with in the army. Del looked at me as though she had forgotten I was there and said. “That’s really not important to the story, dear.” Then she flashed me a look that made me feel like dirt, I must have looked shocked because a smile leapt onto her face and she turned away purring to Jason. “Where was I? I don’t do well with interruptions.”
Surviving The Ravenous Page 8