by Wood, J N
‘They did well to all survive the initial outbreak,’ Jack said. ‘I’m still amazed we did.’
‘I think we survived it because we were on holiday, so we weren’t interacting with lots of other people. If you’d have been at home you would probably have died.’
Fuck. It had already left my mouth by the time I knew what I was saying. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Chris, you absolute twat.
A few moments of silence passed. All I could hear was the sound of Jack’s hands moving up and down the rope.
‘Sorry mate. I didn’t realise what I was saying. I meant if you’d have been at work, with lots of other people. I’m sure she’ll be fine.’
Jack took in a deep breath and slowly released it. ‘Don’t worry about it. Beth doesn’t really work does she? And she doesn’t have many friends over here. She made it to Sarah and Roy’s, and they left Mountain View to get up here, so those three definitely didn’t catch the initial virus. She’s going to be in this camp, and after a quick look through the list to confirm, I can go and find her.’
‘Yep, she will be.’
I really fucking hope she is.
‘When did Gilberto die?’ Jack asked. ‘It feels like it was a week ago.’
Sleeping during the day and being awake all night was messing with my internal clock, and Jack’s by the sound of it.
‘I think it was today?’ I replied. ‘No, it was yesterday.’
After a few moments of silence, I asked, ‘Am I becoming a bit blasé about people dying, because it’s happening all over the place? Or am I just a horrible twat?’
‘Do you seriously want me to answer?’
‘Okay, maybe you weren’t the best person to ask that.’
The sound of hands pulling on rope continued to faintly echo in the darkness.
‘Hopefully we’re in shock,’ Jack eventually said. ‘Otherwise we are just horrible twats.’
‘Ali and her family are gonna be devastated,’ I said. ‘How do you get over seeing a family member die like that?’
‘They have to carry on. What else can they do?’
‘We’ve only just met these people,’ I said. ‘I’m sure we’d be more upset if they were our friends or family.’
‘Or if your girlfriend died. You know? Ali.’
‘Yeah well done, I get it. Don’t start that shit again. You’d be upset if your new parents died.’
‘Michael and Shannon? I think they’re younger than me.’
‘Fuck off.’
‘Yeah, I think they’re both the same age as each other, thirty one, maybe thirty two.’
‘Fucking hell,’ I said. ‘I better not be the oldest one in the group. Gee must be older than me?’
‘He’s only twenty nine.’
I snapped around my head to look in his direction. In the darkness, I could only see a slightly darker shape next to me. ‘No he fucking isn’t.’
He laughed. ‘Nah, I don’t know really. He must be in his forties. Even if you are the oldest, I wouldn’t worry, nobody will expect you to take charge.’
‘Take charge,’ I scoffed. ‘What is this? The army? I’m more than happy for Shannon to take the lead. It’s not that anyway. Just don’t want to be the oldest, makes me feel old.’
The darkness was impenetrable. I honestly thought my eyes would have grown accustomed, but I might as well have had my eyes closed.
‘Jack?’
‘Yes Chris.’
‘If Beth isn’t in this camp, it doesn’t mean she isn’t already in Canada, or in another camp. There must be other camps.’
‘They’d have headed for here. The most direct route to Canada would take them through here.’
‘Yeah I know, but look at the Rodriguez’s. Their path was blocked loads of times.’
‘We came the same way as Beth. She would have followed the same route we’ve just travelled from Mountain View.’
‘Over a week ago though, things might have changed in that time. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m just telling you not to give up if she’s not in this camp.’
‘Yes I know,’ Jack said.
It turned out we’d been going faster than I’d thought. When we reached the end, Michael leaned in to take my hand, saying, ‘That was quick, think you may have beaten Elliot and Martin’s time.’
‘Don’t care,’ I spluttered. ‘Just get me away from this tunnel.’
Michael pulled me out. I threw my baseball bat to the ground and jogged around them in circles. The cold air on my skin, and in my mouth was the best sensation I’d ever felt.
‘Base to Martin. Ready to go back,’ a voice from behind me said.
I stopped jogging around and stood still. With my eyes closed I lifted my face up to the sky and took in a deep breath. That was when I realised I could still hear the fireworks going off, just two miles away.
I slowly released the breath. ‘Oh my fucking god. That was horrible.’
‘It wasn’t too bad,’ Shannon said.
‘Nope, fucking horrible,’ I replied.
‘Are you the sheriff?’ Jack was asking.
‘Yes I am. Sheriff McCallany,’ the voice that had crackled out of Martin’s radio said.
Jack was standing at a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Softly glowing light bulbs, I guessed solar powered, hung from the top of the fence. On the other side, standing a few feet away was a man who looked a lot like a sheriff. He had the gold badge to go with his uniform of varying shades of brown. Tired looking would be the best words to describe him. His eyes looked like they were trying to bury themselves into his stubble covered face.
I was disappointed he wasn’t wearing a cowboy hat.
‘Is there any chance I could have a look at the list of everyone that’s entered the camp?’ Jack asked.
The sheriff let out a short bark of a laugh. ‘When you get out of quarantine.’
‘Can I please look at it now?’ Jack pleaded.
‘The list has over forty thousand names in it. You don’t have time to look through it now.’
‘Okay,’ Jack said. ‘But I’m looking for my wife. She’s British, she’s–.’
‘Let me stop you there,’ the sheriff interrupted. ‘In twenty four hours you can sit in my office over here.’ He pointed to another shipping container behind him. ‘Then you can look through the list. I’m more than happy to let you look through it.’
Jack’s whole body slumped, making him look almost a foot smaller.
‘At six o’clock tomorrow morning I’ll let you out of the school.’ Sheriff McCallany pointed over to the building to our left. ‘You don’t have to wait for the rest of your group to arrive, just make your way over there. You’ll have beds and a bit of food. Don’t worry, this is just a precaution. Better to be safe than sorry. I’m sure you understand.’
It was only then, as I looked over to the school, that I got a good look at my surroundings. Behind the fence and the sheriff, was a football pitch, which probably belonged to the school. Bigger and brighter lights illuminated the far side of the pitch. They looked like small floodlights, all shining in our direction. We were on one of six tennis courts, all surrounded by a high chain link fence. A corridor of fencing led from the tennis courts to the school.
I remembered Elliot saying there were two fences on this side of Blaine. ‘Hey Sheriff,’ I said. ‘Where are we in relation to all the zombies that have been distracted by the fireworks?’
‘We are currently between the inner and outer fences. The outer fence is about seven hundred and fifty feet that way.’ He pointed behind me. ‘We’re kind of in the middle.’
‘So we’ve got to spend the twenty four hours in no man’s land?’ I asked, not trying to hide my disbelief.
‘Don’t worry. The outer fence got fixed up this evening, and the school buildings are secure. You’ll be safe. And what we call no man’s land is actually between the border wall and our north fence.’
I looked around at the row of trees, the running track behind me, and the shitload of othe
r dark shapes surrounding us. ‘This isn’t a big open space that can easily be cleared. It’s a big open space with lots of places that zombies can hide.’
‘Son,’ the sheriff said. ‘Zombies don’t hide, but even if they did, these are the rules. If you don’t do the quarantine, you can’t come in.’
I raised my hands in surrender. ‘Okay, fair enough. Just pointing out that I don’t feel safe in your designated quarantine building.’
‘Okay, thank you for your observations. Now, like I’ve already said to your two friends here,’ he said, gesturing to Michael and Shannon. ‘I’ll try and answer any questions you have tomorrow. Right now I’m going to go and sit in my office, and watch out for the rest of your group from there. Just head for that door over there.’ He pointed to a blue door in one of the school buildings, before turning and starting to walk away. ‘There are beds and a little bit of food waiting for you.’
DAY SEVENTEEN
Chapter 8: One Step At A Time
Someone was making shushing noises, and then Sandra was telling someone to be quiet in case they woke everyone up.
Thanks Sandra. You woke me up.
On entering the school in the early hours of this morning, we’d found what looked like a former classroom. Two rows of bunkbeds now ran down two of the walls, opposite each other. In the middle of the room were four long tables, and more than enough chairs for us all. I’d counted fifty bunks. One hundred people sharing this space would have been a nightmare. Six portable toilets, much like the ones I’d used at festivals, sat outside in a row.
After the sheriff had retired to his office, we’d tried waiting for everyone else to arrive, but we were too tired. We knew that Ali, Sandra and Gee would take care of everyone, so we shuffled ourselves off to bed.
‘Morning Chris,’ Shannon said brightly. ‘We have coffee, milk and bread.’
‘The luxury,’ I mumbled. ‘Is it still morning?’
‘Only just,’ Shannon replied, glancing down at her watch.
Sleeping on a mattress had actually felt quite luxurious. Up until I was very rudely awoken by Sandra, I’d had a great sleep.
Still fully dressed, I got out of bed. I’d been too tired to do anything other than collapse onto a bottom bunk. I stumbled over to where Shannon, Michael and Gee sat around one of the tables.
Shannon stood up and stepped towards me. She leaned in so she was just a couple of inches from my face. The peak of her cap was almost touching my nose.
I was suddenly very aware that my breath would probably stink. ‘Morning Shannon. What ya doing?’
‘The band aids have fallen off your face,’ she said. ‘Just looking at my handiwork.’
‘How does it look? Do I still look like I was splattered with someone’s insides?’
She briefly screwed up her face, before reverting back to normal. ‘No, it looks good. I’m very impressed with myself.’
‘Good, so am I. Just glad you were there. If it had just been me and Jack, I’d have probably ended up leaving the bits in my face. I wouldn’t have trusted Jack to do it.’
Shannon sat herself back down and picked up her coffee. ‘When you get the chance, you should definitely get checked for Hepatitis and the rest.’
Gee leaned in once I’d sat down. ‘Earlier I go for walk,’ he whispered. ‘I think we can escape.’
I looked at the walls and to the corners, expecting to see security cameras or some other kind of monitoring equipment.
‘Why are you whispering?’ I whispered back.
‘They probably watch us,’ Gee replied, a deadly serious expression on his face.
Michael sat back on his chair, a big grin on his face. ‘Gee thinks we’ve been imprisoned and they’re spying on us, in case we have some kind of valuable information.’
Gee sat up straight. ‘I do not think that,’ he said, his voice returning to its normal volume.
‘I don’t think we need to…’ I paused and leaned in to whisper, ‘Escape,’ before sitting back up and speaking normally. ‘We just have to sit tight and wait until the quarantine period is up.’
‘I walk around here for hours,’ Gee said. ‘There is no sound of people. Where are thousands of people they talk of? Only sound is hissing of dead.’
‘We’re not in the camp,’ I said. ‘We’re between the–.’
‘In daylight you can see inner and outer fences from outside,’ Gee interrupted. ‘I only see two, maybe three people guarding inner fence. Not thousands of people.’
‘Oh right,’ I said, not really sure how to respond.
‘Gee has got his conspiracy head on today, that’s all,’ Shannon said, placing a hand on Gee’s arm. ‘He’s not going to do anything stupid until after the twenty four hours is up. After that, and if they’re still keeping us locked up, I’ve given him permission to go crazy and smash the place up.’
‘How are the Rodriguez’s doing?’ I asked.
‘They’re very quiet,’ Michael replied.
A cup of coffee was suddenly slammed onto the table, startling everyone, apart from Gee I noticed, who sat there like a statue.
‘Oops sorry,’ Ali said, a grimace on her face. ‘Didn’t mean to bang it down that hard.’ She sat down on one of the chairs. ‘This place is weird. Apart from the hissing, it’s really quiet out there.’
‘Don’t you start,’ Michael said. ‘You and Gee would make the perfect couple.’
Gee and Ali shared confused glances.
Standing up, I said, ‘I’m gonna get a coffee. Then you can take me outside for some fresh air. I can see what you’re all talking about then.’ I quickly scanned the room, looking for Jack. He wasn’t in there. ‘Anyone seen Jack?’
‘Yeah he’s outside,’ Ali said. ‘He’s been staring at that container in the soccer field for ages.’
‘Football pitch,’ I corrected.
With a wave of her hand, Ali replied, ‘Whatever.’
I made myself a coffee, with two little pots of milk, the kind you find in a hotel room. There was also a large bowl full of plastic wrapped pastries. I moved the cheese ones aside, and grabbed a cinnamon Danish.
Ali and I made our way outside. At the end of the chain link corridor, I could see Jack in the fenced off tennis courts.
As we approached him, I said, ‘Morning Jack, or afternoon.’
As he turned, I noticed the hissing sound coming from the south, still sounding like crickets.
‘Hi,’ Jack said. ‘I’m just trying to get the sheriff’s attention, to see if he’ll let me look at the list.’
I peered through the fence. ‘Have you seen him? Is he definitely in there?’
Jack turned again to gaze at the container. ‘Nope, not seen anyone, apart from those few guys at the far fence,’ he said, pointing towards the other end of the football pitch.
There was another fence similar to the one around the tennis courts, although it looked a lot sturdier. There were large concrete posts situated along the area that was visible to us, and the chain link fence seemed to be attached to the posts. I could see two men standing on what may have been platforms or small stages.
Ali placed a hand on my shoulder and spun me around. ‘The zombies are just on the other side of that,’ she said, pointing to the south.
Beyond the tennis courts was a running track, on the other side of that was some kind of playing field, and on the other side of that there was a wall of shit. That was the best way to describe it. It must have been about fifteen feet high, made up of corrugated metal mostly, but really anything the people could get their hands on by the look of it. There were large wooden sections, parts had been bricked up, and some of it looked like concrete breeze blocks.
‘So that’s the outer fence then?’ I asked.
‘Yep, doesn’t look too secure, does it?’ Jack said.
‘Nope, looks like a bag of shite.’
The sun was shining but it was still a bit cold, Jack was even shivering.
‘Come on then, let’s get bac
k inside,’ I suggested. ‘Just be patient Jack. Sheriff Hopper, or whatever he was called–.’
‘McCallany,’ Ali said.
‘Yeah that’s the one. He said he was more than happy for you to look at the list once we’re out.’
With a small groan, Jack spun around and started towards the school. Ali and I exchanged a glance before I nodded towards Jack.
‘Why can’t we hear the people in the camp though?’ Ali asked. ‘It’s literally just there.’ She was pointing towards the camp.
‘They’ll be staying as quiet as possible,’ Jack said, without turning back. ‘So not to draw the attention of the zombies. They don’t like noise around here.’
‘It’s not working,’ Ali said.
Jack made an exaggerated shrug. ‘I don’t know. Maybe there’d be a lot more trying to get in if there was more noise.’
‘See, what I tell you?’ Gee said, as we walked inside. ‘We are being held against our willies.’
‘Nobody is holding my willy,’ Michael said, laughing.
The kids found this especially funny, they were almost in hysterics.
‘Held against our wills Gee,’ Shannon said. ‘And you’re right. We are, but only until tomorrow.’
‘That is what I said, willies,’ Gee said, this time drawing out the word willies even more so, eliciting more high pitched laughter from the three young boys.
‘Nope, you’re saying willies Gee,’ I said.
Seth, Jonah and even the very quiet Max started repeating the word willies, a couple of times actually doing very good impressions of Gee’s thick Lithuanian accent.
‘Boys,’ Sandra scolded, albeit through a smile. ‘Stop saying willies please.’
Sat on one of the bottom bunks near the kids, Theo actually let out a chuckle, before glancing at his older brother and stopping himself. Pete looked back at him, giving him a small smile and a nod.
Steve’s blood splattered face suddenly flashed through my mind, the expression he was making as he handed me Max. He’d looked like he’d been resigned to his fate, almost relieved it was all over after saving the boy.
A shiver ran through my entire body.
Michael was pointing towards the only window in the room. ‘Erm…everyone. I just saw two people walking around out there.’