I couldn’t seem to stop yawning so Lance took over the driving, and to keep me awake he told me about finding Lara and saving her from the ravenous attack, I could see the love and affection on his face as he spoke of her. His voice softened at her name and I was so happy for them. To find love in these dark days was a wonderful thing and gave me hope for the future. It also made me wonder if the thoughts and feelings I seemed to have been developing for Jason were just because of our situation or borne of something deeper.
I found my eyes were still heavy, and so I swapped with Lara and sat in the back, trying to analyse my thoughts about my new family. I wanted to be a useful part of the group and I wanted Jason to… but then I got stuck. Did I want him to love me? Be proud of me? I wasn’t sure. Did I love him like a big brother, or did I want him to be mine? As I pondered these questions, I stood up to look out the front windscreen and there it was, the castle, it appeared almost magically over the crest of a hill, the round solid walls looked sturdy but so ancient and mystical, it all seemed to be part of another world.
It was still quite a way away through the fields, but even from here I could see the brown stone turrets looking high and unyielding; the moat was wide and filled with water; it surrounded the castle and ran under a large drawbridge. The water flowed away from the castle, becoming a pond and then a lake; it was beautiful and looked strong. We gave a ragged cheer, and I wedged myself in between boxes as Lance sped down the hill towards our new home. Suddenly the van shuddered to a halt and those of us in the back fell about crashing into the stock and each other, Jason grabbed Adam and the puppies before they got thrown too far. In the front with Lance, Lara turned to face us, and Mark jumped up at the look of fear on her face.
“What is it?” He asked, rushing to look out of the windows. We all surged forward and stared at the castle; it was still quite a way away but now we could see people were moving around down there. We looked at each other confused “Survivors?” asked Jason but Lance shook his head and pointed towards a small group of individuals that had broken away from the main crowd; they were bent over something and as they moved around, I could see it was the remains of some animal. They drifted as if in a daze and we all realised with a sinking feeling that the castle was infested with ravenous. I sat back down on one of the boxes. My whole body ached, and I just wanted to cry. Jason looked annoyed. He scowled out of the windows, but Mark just looked defeated. Ali was holding Adam and looking at Mark as though he would have the answer. He couldn’t look her in the face, and I knew he felt he had failed her. Lance and Lara climbed over the seats and came to sit with us in the back. My mind raced as I contemplated the scene below, at least thirty or forty ravenous, the drawbridge down. No way through them. They were probably in every room of the castle, and although they were staying well away from the water, they seemed quite settled here. Lance spoke up and said something none of us wanted to hear.
“We will have to go back to the pier, at least there are no ravenous there.”
Lara nodded sadly, and I saw Mark thinking about it. “NO,” said a deep voice behind me, it was Jason “This is our place, it’s a place for survival and living, it is not a place for those things! We must take it back” His voice was trembling, but it was full of conviction.
Mark looked thoughtfully at Jason and he grinned “We could clear them out” he said sounding as though he had a plan.
Jason nodded, “Yes, we could.”
Mark rubbed his hands together, “We need bait.” He smiled and looked gleefully around the group for a volunteer.
After an hour of talking and arguing, the plan was finally set in motion; we drove back to the closest village and searched the houses. We surmised that most of the ravenous at the castle had most likely come from here, so with any luck, the village would be deserted. Each house and store were searched systematically; we all took direction from Mark. Some had bones lying about; dry and picked clean, most had smashed windows and blood up the walls. There were about forty houses and three shops, they all had an ancient, rustic look to them with brown stone walls, keeping with the style of the nearby castle. We found a few corpses in locked toilets or lofts, but there seemed to be no one left who had survived the gas. In one garden Lance found three chickens that were still alive. They had obviously been kept by a householder who had been trying to be green or new age, the poor things had had to eat the corpses of their dead companions and although their yellow skin hung from them and they were all featherless, they had survived.
Lance brought them back with him and gave them some water; he had also brought back some fresh vegetables that he had found growing nearby. We marvelled at the peas, carrots, and onions he had found, and all felt stupid for not checking the fields and gardens more closely for crops.
Once all the structures were searched and secured, we picked two opposite each other and parked the truck in the back garden of the safest looking of the two houses. The supplies were left inside as we clambered out of the van and traipsed upstairs; we made sure the largest windows faced the direction we needed. As everyone got into position and found a comfy spot to wait, I left and headed out onto the streets. Jason came with me and we found a car a few roads away that he could hot wire. It was an old, tiny silver four seated smart car, just like the one I had been daydreaming about only a few weeks ago. That day seemed so far away, I envied my past self and the worries I’d had then of rent payments and work commitments. I could never have imagined that a few weeks later I’d have abandoned my home and be wandering the streets searching for a way to get rid of a large group of humans that wanted to kill and eat me.
Jason got the car going, and I got into the driver seat, he got out of the way and then leaned over and kissed my cheek as his rough lips brushed against my skin I felt his stubble and smelt his breath, it smelt of the raw peas we had just been eating “Good luck” he said gruffly and with that he marched back towards the houses. I sat for a few minutes wondering what had just happened. I touched my cheek and felt amazement building inside me; I wanted to giggle like a schoolgirl or chase him and kiss him back. I wanted to let him know that I had feelings for him and to ask him what he felt for me but I had a job to do and no time for this teenage angst, I pushed my feelings away put the car in gear, and headed to the top of the hill. It wasn’t a long drive, and I felt my heart racing as I got closer to the castle, I was sweating with the thought of facing the ravenous, so I opened a window to get a little air. I could hear birds twittering, braking gently I listened harder over the car’s soft engine, I was out of sight of the castle, but I still had to be careful not to be seen. As I sat in the car, I watched a small group of birds glided through the sky high above me, they danced in the air and called to one another; they looked so beautiful, and I hoped it was a sign that this castle idea that I had started was a good one.
I closed the window as joy overwhelmed me and I felt my courage rising; I pressed down on the accelerator, driving quickly down the hill. As I got closer to the castle, I got the attention of the ravenous and they started to run towards me. My instincts said to turn around and drive away, but I had to keep going and get as many as possible to follow me, I drove straight towards them and swerved around half-naked people as they clambered around the car; it occurred to me that one or two ravenous were not really a problem if you could outrun them, but hordes of them could overpower me even in a car. I drove carefully, making sure I avoided the denser areas, and I did a few circuits of the castle before passing the little bridge over the lake; I had a small crowd of ravenous running behind me. They grabbed the bumper and got dragged behind, but as they let go and rolled away, they jumped back up and came after me again. Finally, when I felt most of the ravenous were following me, I headed back the way I had come, trailing the ravenous like a comet’s tail. I couldn’t drive too fast otherwise they would give up as they had done when chasing the van at different times on our journey, so I had to keep watching the rear-view mirror and making sure that they didn’
t lose interest, a few times I honked the horn or slowed right down to let them get closer but always I was away once two or three had surrounded the car.
The journey was a short one, but every bump and every swerve made my heart race harder. Finally, I was approaching the village and as I tried to watch the road ahead and the ravenous behind, I nearly hit another car. Swerving at the last minute, I found my vision being blurred by the sweat pouring from my face; I felt sick and dizzy and then I spied the houses that we had chosen for this task; the group had painted a large red cross over each house to make it easy to see. The house I needed to use appeared on my right and I could see that the door had been smashed down and some of the front wall was missing too, I knew the others had been busy working on all this. I turned the car sharply and drove straight in, crashing into the front room and hitting a rather large leather sofa. The ravenous were seconds behind me. As I jumped out of the car, I could hear them crashing into the walls and as they clambered into the room, the dead chickens and rotting meat that had been strewn about got their attention and some of them stopped to feed which impeded the ones behind them. I headed for the back garden; quite a few of them were still chasing me, so I weaved towards the kitchen and leapt out of the small window. Jason caught me as I crashed onto the grass and we rolled a little way down the lawn, he jumped up leaving me lying on the grass and lit a match. I tried to get my breath back as I watched it fly into the building; it set alight the gasoline Jason had poured everywhere and with a ‘whoomph’ sound the house was suddenly ablaze. He ran back to my side and helped me up, we kept low as we scurried to the fence and climbed over it just as the flames licked at our backs, in a little alley we stopped for a moment checking that no ravenous had followed us then we quickly checked ourselves over for injuries. Jason turned his back to me, “Can you check me over, I can’t see back there.” I ran my hands over him, checking for burnt material or cuts, but his heavy jacket had held up well. “All ok, now do me,” I said, turning around. He began to run his hands down my back, and I felt a shiver go up my spine. “Fine,” he said, and I turned to face him, I checked my legs and arms and I tried not to catch his eye as my hands roamed my body. We seemed fine, I felt a little bruised and Jason’s plaster had come off his head and exposed the gash beneath, but it was healing well. It reminded me of the farmhouse and our run-in with those stupid teenagers. I felt a lump in my throat as I remembered how I had felt when I thought I was going to lose him. He noticed me looking at his head and moved his hand to reattach the bandage, his questing fingers touched the scab as he tried to pull the medical tape across his forehead. He rubbed it back down securely and smiled at me, I looked away embarrassed that he might be able to see my feelings for him shining from my eyes. Quickly I rubbed at my arms and legs and after a final pat down we ran up the alley towards the front of the house.
The scene at the front was horrific, ravenous swarmed out of the house squeezing past the bulk of the crashed car, burning as they stumbled blindly about, the air smelt of cooked flesh and the few ravenous that had not been caught by the flames were being shot at by the rest of our group positioned in the upstairs windows of the house across the road.
Within a few minutes it was over, the ravenous fell as they burnt up and the ones not on fire had been felled by shots from the others. Jason and I walked out of the alleyway and everyone cheered. We waved and laughed; I grabbed Jason and kissed the side of his chin; I’d been aiming for his lips, but the effect was still astounding. He froze with a grin on his face and the cheering from the house doubled in volume. I waved again and walked towards the noise, Jason was behind me standing stock still and it was only when I turned to say, “Come on or I’ll do it again,” that I saw the ravenous coming up the street. Some of them must have fallen behind the group and they were now coming up the street straight towards Jason, but he hadn’t noticed he was too busy looking at me with an amazed expression. Mark had seen them, and he called from the window, “Jason, move it,” just as Lara screamed. I ran back towards Jason, but suddenly Lance overtook me. He had a spray can and a lighter, I caught hold of Jason’s arm and we ran towards the house. Neither of us had weapons as we knew the escape from the house would have been impossible with extra weight and running with them was just too hard, we had to get to the house while the guys at the windows fired at the small crowd rushing up the street. We made it to the front door, and I rushed in but Jason wasn’t by my side, I turned to see him striding back towards the crowd, Lance had his back towards us and he was trying to fire the can at the lead ravenous, I heard Lara shout. “Use your sword”. Lance turned towards the sound of her voice and the ravenous took advantage of that gap in the fire to leap on him. I ran after Jason as shot gun pellets and arrows rained down, he reached the heaving mass that had landed on Lance and dragged the ravenous off him, I raced to his side and pulled a small knife from Lance's belt, I slashed at the ones that got too close trying to protect Jason from their grasping hands and snapping teeth, I felt a sudden pain in my arm as one bit down on my skin. Its teeth ripped but there was no time to think, I could see blood on the mouths of the others and knew it was Lance’s. Finally, Jason dragged Lance out; he was covered in bites and seemed to be unconscious. Mark and Lara had dispensed with most of the ravenous, and some were on their knees in flames from Lance’s efforts. Jason carried Lance towards the house, and I walked backward ready to fend off any attacks. Mark had raced down the stairs and as Jason rushed in with Lance he came out and began to hack at the few remaining ravenous. I raced forward to help him, my arm had a deep rip in it, but I ignored the throbbing pain. As I swung my knife, I made contact with flesh and was disgusted by the blood swimming around me. Mark’s large machete did a lot of damage and I found myself just trying to keep them back until Mark was ready to finish them off. By the time we had finished none of the ravenous were moving, we sheathed our knives and headed back in. I was already thinking about bandages and antiseptic lotions, we found Lance on the floor in the hallway, Lara was bandaging his neck whilst trying to stem the blood flowing from his wounds and pooling by his head. Ali was tying a tourniquet above a large piece of his missing thigh; Jason was sitting on the bottom of the stairs with his head in his hands and Adam was at the top watching everything with tears streaming down his face. I took one look at the terrible injury’s Lance had sustained and fear gripped my heart, I wanted to scream and run away, not watch my friend die. His face had chunks missing and his entire body was covered in blood, I looked at Mark and saw he knew as well as me that Lance couldn’t be saved. We didn’t have the facilities or the medical knowledge to deal with this, I bent by Lara and tried to talk to her, but she batted me away. I knew she didn’t want to hear what I was going to say, and I didn’t blame her. I put my hands on Ali’s shoulders, she looked up at me and I could see in her expression that she knew it was too late. I nodded, and she stood up and walked slowly up the stairs past Jason and up to Adam, she held him close and took him into a back room. Mark passed me a bandage for my arm and then knelt beside Lara “We can’t help him now” he said quietly, Lara stopped bandaging and began to cry “No” she said softly over and over, she caressed Lance’s face her hands covered in his blood, she left red marks on his cheeks and his lips. “Wake up please,” she said through her tears, Mark helped her up and she followed him to the garden. I sat by Lance as I wrapped the bandage tightly around my bleeding wrist, I checked he wasn’t breathing wanting to be sure before we gave up on him. I reasoned he had died before Mark and I had got back in; the blood loss had been too great; the neck bite had gone through his windpipe and he looked as though he had hit his head hard on the cobbles outside. I looked up at Jason who hadn’t moved through any of this, he was still sitting with his head bowed. “Can you help me?” I asked as I tried to lift Lance’s body. “We need to move him so the ravenous don’t get at him” Jason didn’t move, I lowered Lance to the floor again and walked up the stairs to Jason’s side. “Are you ok?” it seemed such a silly
question, but I didn’t know what else to ask. Jason looked at me with tears running down his blackened face; they made trails in the soot and fell from his chin. I wiped my bloody hands on my trousers and bent down beside him, I hadn’t seen him cry and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. “He came out to save me” Jason whispered, I knew he was feeling guilty, but it wasn’t his fault. “He came out for us both,” I whispered back and took his hand. “All we can do for him now is give him a decent burial.” Jason suddenly looked very angry “You’re right, those things are getting nowhere near him” He jumped up and lifted Lance over his shoulder oblivious of the blood running everywhere. I followed him outside, Mark and Lara stood in the garden. At our approach, Lara looked up and with a whimper and she buried her face in Marks's chest; Jason laid Lance out on the ground and walked to the small shed in the corner. There were loud smashing noises and then he came back a few seconds later with a spade and began to dig a hole; Mark beckoned to me, so I walked over to his side. Gently he moved Lara across to me and headed to the shed, a few moments later he had a small spade as well. The two of them dug deep, neither spoke nor stopped and the only sounds in the small garden were the earth piling up and an occasional sob from Lara. After a while, I took her in, and we stood looking out of the kitchen window at them both sweating over the grave they were digging. Lara was shaky, so I sat her down on a kitchen chair; Ali came down to join us. “Is Adam ok?” I asked she nodded and mimed him sleeping. Quietly she began to search the cupboards and after watching her for a few seconds I could see she was looking for something to cook, I got up cleaning my hands on a kitchen tea towel and began to help her. We found a few tins of soup and some dried noodles, Ali went to her backpack and pulled out a small gas camping stove, she lit it and we began to heat the soup using the pans and crockery in the cupboards. Halfway through Adam came down and sat by his mother on the floor, Lara laid her head on the table and seemed to be sleeping and I reckoned all the crying had tired her out. Just as the soup was getting to the boiling point we crumbled in the noodles and stirred in some salt and pepper. The guys came in and sat silently around the table, they were covered in dirt but had washed their hands and faces in the small pond outside. Ali served up the soup and woke Lara; she looked around sleepily and noticed the dirt on Marks's shirt. The tears began again as she realised it hadn’t been a dream, Mark put his arms around her shoulders and held her until her sobs subsided. I had been searching the kitchen and had managed to find a few bottles of dusty red wine. I opened one now and poured us all a drink, Lara refused so I left it by her arm and raised my glass “To Lance” I said my voice cracking as I tried to continue “He was a great friend, brave and kind, and we will all miss him.” Mark nodded and we all took a sip, Lara lifted her head and sipped from her glass too, Jason stood up as I took my seat. “Lance was a hero and if I could change places with him I would, he saved my life and I can never repay that. He was a great guy and….” He couldn’t say anymore but raised his glass again and we all followed suit, the wine was cheap tasting but had been stored in a dark cupboard so had not turned tinny or sour. Lara picked up her glass sadly and for a few minutes she stared at the wine swirling around the glass then she raised it to her lips and drank it all down in one swallow. We all watched her warily as though she was a wild animal that might attack or an injured pet that could snap at any minute and take it’s hurt out on us all. But Lara just walked slowly around the table and then headed out into the garden; we looked at each other but thought it best to leave her outside alone with Lance’s grave for a while.
Surviving The Ravenous Page 11