Roamers (Book 2): Fear. Loss. Survival. Hope.

by Viper, Velveteen

“Goodnight, Colin.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Travis woke to the sound of Hope singing to her baby brother. Scarlett had just fed him, and Hope was cuddled up to her mother while she cradled James. He couldn’t quite make out the words or the tune, but he felt his heart swell at the sight.

  It all felt too good to be true. It felt like he was going to wake up in the beaten old car at any moment. And then some of the fear and uncertainty began to wash over him again. Perhaps it was too good to be true; to have Scarlett and his infant son back from the dead. If it wasn’t a dream, he thought, maybe it was the universe’s cruel way of punishing him for everything. He realised that having Scarlett back and a little boy he thought he’d never meet gave him more to lose.

  Scarlett had been in contact with Grey for the last few days and convinced him that she was being held against her will. He’d asked if she could sneak out and meet him, and from that, she, Piper and Travis had devised a plan involving Jack.

  A tap on the door preceded Kate’s voice, “Are you guys awake in there? It’s almost time.”

  “Come in, Kate.”

  Scarlett stood as Kate entered, “I didn’t want to wake you, but Piper said to come and get these gorgeous little children.”

  “Thank you for looking after them. All being well, we won’t be gone for long.”

  “It’s fine, take as long as you need. I’m looking forward to some baby cuddles, and Hope and I have a book to continue reading together.”

  Scarlett and Travis said goodbye to Hope and James, and Scarlett crawled up the bed to be face-to-face with Travis. His hands were behind his head and Scarlett laid her head on his chest. His arms enveloped her without hesitation.

  “You feelin’ okay about today?”

  “I think so… but I don’t know how I’m going to feel when I’m actually standing in front of him, you know?”

  “Well, I’ll be there. So will Riley and Quinlan. He so much as looks at you wrong and he’s a dead man.”

  Scarlett lifted her head to look at him, and he looked back at her. The rest was in what they didn’t say, and Scarlett was immediately reassured.

  After breakfast, Scarlett began the lonely walk to the opposite side of the burnt-out woods. Travis, Quinlan and Riley would give her a five-minute head-start, while Jack took one of the cars along the road to wait for the signal.

  When she reached the other side of the scorched trees, she stopped and took the radio from her belt.

  “Ethan, I’m here,” she whispered into it. “I don’t think anyone saw me leave, and it looks like I’m alone now.”

  She heard the rustle of sticks and leaves underfoot and, spinning around, she tried to look relieved on seeing Grey approaching. He stood right in front of her, uncomfortably close. Scarlett stood her ground and looked up at his face.

  “Hello, Scarlett,” he said, leaning closer to place a soft kiss on her cheek. Scarlett didn’t flinch and, when he pulled back, Ethan shot her a charismatic smile. “You look good, considering.”

  “Thank you.”

  “They haven’t hurt you, have they?” Scarlett shook her head. “Good. Now listen, I wanted to meet with you because I have a proposition for you, and I couldn’t discuss it over the radio.” Scarlett tried not to flinch when he took her hands, “Hey, it’s okay. I would never hurt you. Not again.”

  “I know,” she replied, “but since I got to Homeside, I don’t know who to trust.”

  “Well you can trust me. I want you to come with me, Scarlett,” he said smoothly. “I want to take care of you and get you away from those people.”

  “I can’t,” Scarlett whispered, allowing false tears to run down her face. “They’ll find me. I’ve tried running before, but they just bring me straight back.”

  “Not this time,” Ethan said proudly. “They might find you, but they’ll never get in. My new compound is well protected. I have guards, I have fences. And by the time they realise you’re with me, it’ll be too late for them.”

  “Why?” Scarlett enquired, determined not to show the thirst for information on her face.

  “Because we’re going to end them before they have a chance.”

  “But they know you’re coming,” Scarlett said desperately. “They’re fortifying; strengthening the fences, and they’re arming themselves.”

  Ethan put his hands on her cheeks, a little too firmly.

  “Don’t worry about that,” he said. “I just need you to come with me. My men and I will take care of the rest.”

  Scarlett pretended to consider his offer before nodding gently.

  “Okay,” she smiled, “but I need to sort out a few things first.”

  “I hope you’re not referring to the baby, Scarlett,” he sneered. “I’m afraid it’s not invited.”

  “Why not?”

  Scarlett realised that Grey was unaware she’d been reunited with Hope.

  “It’ll get in the way; cloud your judgement.”

  “But he’s my son--”

  “And you’ll have more one day, I’m sure. It’s not that I don’t like children; they’re vital to our survival. But right now, when we have so much to achieve, I need your head to be focussed on the mission. That’s the one condition to you being with me, Scarlett. If you go back, you’ll die with your kids and the people holding you captive, and I don’t want that. It would be such a waste.”

  “Fine, but I don’t want to be there when you attack them. I’ll come to you tomorrow. Your new compound, is it far from here?”

  “Did you bring a map?” Scarlett nodded and handed it over. “Right here,” he said, pointing. “It’s not as big as the base, but we’ve made some… upgrades to the grounds.”

  “I can’t wait to see. I’ll leave tomorrow night. That’ll give me time to say goodbye to my son and I can sneak out while everyone sleeps.” Behind her back, Scarlett held the walkie-talkie and switched it to channel two before taking a deep breath and pressing the button down, “Tell the guards that when I arrive, I’ll hold my rifle above my head so they know I’m not a threat.”

  On hearing the code word, Travis took aim at the back of Ethan’s head with his crossbow from behind the fallen tree and waited for the sound of the vehicle. It sped along the narrow road, screeching to a halt right next to Scarlett and Ethan.

  Jack promptly stepped out of the driver seat. In one hand he held a pistol, taking aim at Grey while he bundled a struggling Scarlett into the back with his spare arm, slamming the door. They were leaving again by the time that Ethan had realised what was happening.

  “Are you alright, Fox?” Jack asked. Both were still panting with the adrenaline.

  “Yeah, that was easier than I thought. I’ve got his location, and he won’t be attacking before he thinks I’ve left tomorrow night.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “Go to the military base; see if there’s anything left. Then we get ready for a fight. We leave tomorrow morning.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Riley wished that he and Scarlett had travelled back to the base alone. He stared at her, longing to say something, but unable to. Jack and Mouse were sitting up front, and without a doubt, they would hear him. Instead, he edged his hand toward hers until she felt his fingertips brush against it. She finally looked at him. She didn’t speak, but turned her hand over and enclosed it around his.

  Jack stopped the car around a hundred yards from the base.

  “Alright, we’re going in blind here,” Jack said.

  Riley was amazed how much of the building was still standing, “Drive around the back. There’s a separate building where I found the explosives.”

  “Chances are that we’ll be outnumbered in there, so bring your guns, but use them as a last resort,” Scarlett instructed.

  Jack hit the accelerator again to make for the rear of the base. Sure enough, the armoury was untouched by the blast.

  With an axe in each hand, Scarlett was first to exit the vehicle. There weren’t ma
ny Roamers wandering the grounds, but the ones out there were already approaching the car.

  Mouse took the first ones, jabbing upward with his ice pick into one head, then another. The four of them took out the closest cadavers efficiently, and silently agreed that the rest could wait.

  Riley approached the armoury door first and discovered that it had been left ajar.

  “Looks like whoever survived the blast took some stuff before they left,” he observed.

  “Be careful,” Scarlett whispered from the back, “there could be Roamers in there.”

  She watched Riley, Jack and Mouse enter. Scanning her surroundings, she softly closed the armoury door and made toward the main building. She wanted her locket back.

  Inside the armoury, Riley made straight for the grey storage units. Sure enough, several rifles had been taken.

  Jack noticed the ammunition littering the ground, “Looks like they were in a hurry.”

  “We should be too,” Mouse said.

  “Load up what you can,” Riley ordered, already filling his holdall, “we need everybody armed.”

  The outside wall of Grey’s office had been reduced to rubble and dust, littering the ground and what remained of the furniture. The desk still stood proudly in the middle of the room; grubby and covered in brick, but in one piece.

  Scarlett ran to it and began rooting around in the drawers. She found her locket and promptly stuffed it into her pocket. Next, she found Grey’s revolver. Without thinking, she took it, slipping it into her holdall with the ammo boxes.

  The large door leading to the corridor was barely clinging to its hinges, and Scarlett could hear Roamers on the other side.

  Backing away from it, she stumbled over Grey’s overturned chair, tumbling over it onto her back.

  She suddenly grasped how stupid her determination to find her locket had made her when dead hands slapped against the door.

  As the heavy door swung open and fell with the force of the bodies, it collided with the crumbling wall.

  A few uncertain seconds passed before the cracking of wood and brick sounded.

  Scarlett kicked the chair away as Roamers spilled into the room and the ceiling gave way. She instinctively covered her head with her arms, coughing against the dust assaulting her lungs.

  If she’d been closer to the exit, she would have been grateful for the temporary barricade between her and the cadavers. But she swiftly realised that she couldn’t move.

  “Where’s Scarlett?” Riley suddenly asked.

  “She was right behind me,” Mouse said.

  Riley dropped his holdall and sped back to the door.

  Through the window, he could make out seven or eight sets of sunken eyes begging to be let in. He tried to look past them for Scarlett and Mouse appeared behind him.

  “Can you see her?”

  “She’s not out there.” Riley was sounding increasingly panicked. He reached for the door handle and Jack pulled him away.

  “Stop,” he demanded, “they’ll spill straight in here and we’ll have no chance.”

  Riley thought back to Shadowhurst School and crashed his hammer through the glass. As each Roamer craned its neck through the gap, he brought his weapon down hard, shattering their brittle skulls.

  When he’d put them all down, he pushed against the door. The pile of bodies resting against it had Riley, Jack and Mouse trapped.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Jack said, exasperated. He stood behind them with his holdall over a shoulder and dragging Riley’s behind. He dropped them both and pushed past Riley and Mouse, “We’ll all have to shove it at once.”

  On Jack’s count, the three of them forced themselves against the heavy door. With each thrust, the door opened a little more. They tried to ignore the squelching sound of rancid bodies from the other side.

  With their final effort, the door flew open and they fell through. Jack landed directly on the pile of bodies, coating him in their gooey remains.

  Ceiling beams had Scarlett pinned between the desk and a pile of rubble. The holdall was digging into her back and she couldn’t bend forward to access her pistols.

  She could hear the dead scrambling to get to her over the wreckage. Not for the first time, Scarlett wondered how the fuck she’d managed to survive for so long.

  The Roamer closest to her was visible, and Scarlett tried in vain to lift one of the beams. She cried out with the effort, but her arms were placed too awkwardly to be able to push with full force.

  She lay there, panting with the effort, her mouth full of the taste of death as the nameless corpse leered over her, snapping its jaws.

  It caught a hand on a large splinter of wood, tearing flesh from bone. As its shredded fingers reached out for her, Scarlett squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Scarlett!”

  Jack’s voice came as a relief, but Scarlett couldn’t tell where he was. He coughed and spluttered on the fragments floating in the air. She could hear him hacking at bodies with his trench knife; taking them out to make a path to her.

  “Jack, I’m down here,” she cried.

  She worked out that he was where the door once stood, while she could hear Riley and Mouse somewhere behind her. They began desperately shifting rubble, hoping that they could drag her out if Jack didn’t make it in time.

  Jack stumbled over the wreckage to get to her, while the Roamer dropped closer and closer to her face. Scarlett turned her head to the side, unable to move any further away from the creature.

  At last, Jack reached out for it; groaning with the effort, and slid his knife through the top of its head.

  They breathed a collective sigh of relief, and Scarlett was finally able to shuffle backwards to free herself.

  Jack jumped down from the pile of rubble and stared at her. He was saturated with gelatinous, black blood from escaping the armoury and dragging himself over bodies. He did not look impressed.

  “I’m so sorry,” Scarlett panted.

  “What the fuck were you thinking, Foxy?” Jack spat. “You could have got us all killed!”

  “Jack, I’m sorry.”

  “Isn’t it enough that we’re here, fighting someone else’s fight? Isn’t it enough that we still don’t really know what’s waiting for us when we go to find Grey? You feel the need to throw shit like this our way too. Next time, take Travis with you. He’s more likely to want to save your life.”

  “Jack, stop,” Riley defended. “Scar, why were you in here?”

  Scarlett slowly pulled out the silver locket to show him, and he smiled understandingly. Even Jack felt a little bad.

  “Let’s get back, shall we?” he said.

  “I’d say that’s a great idea,” Mouse piped up, staring into the distance out of the ruins of Grey’s office. He was loading his rifle. “But it’s time to use our guns.”

  The others turned in his direction. Their eyes were drawn to a fast-moving group of Roamers coming from the north. Their teeth were bared and their seeing eyes were wide and focused on the four survivors.

  The acknowledgement that their luck couldn’t get any worse was a serious oversight. Before they’d had a chance to start running for the car, the unstable building began to creak and sway again. This time, the last intact corner of Grey’s old office crumbled. Mouse realised too late.

  The others watched as he disappeared under a pile of brick, metal and wood. Scarlett threw herself down beside the heap and immediately began trying to find him while Riley and Jack opened fire on the Roamers.

  Scarlett could feel the shards of brick scraping her hands as she dug through the rubble. When she found him, his face, shirt, arms and jeans were drenched with patches of blood. He was awake; staring at the sky with the shock.

  Scarlett got to her feet and took his limp arms, desperately trying to lift him.

  “Help me!” she screamed.

  Riley came to her aid and, together, they prized him free of the wreckage. They dragged him ahead of Jack toward the vehicle, each trying their
best to fire their weapons one-handed. Jack couldn’t hold the Biters back alone.

  “Scar, I have to help Jack,” Riley panted.

  “Go,” she insisted. “I’ll get Mouse to the car. Hurry up.”

  When Riley let go, the sudden addition of the rest of Mouse’s weight came as a surprise, momentarily pulling Scarlett down. She quickly got to her feet again, her thighs burning with the strain, and staggered to the vehicle.

  She threw him into the back seat and followed. He was struggling for breath. Scarlett reached under the passenger seat for a bottle of alcohol and sat herself across Mouse’s legs. She poured the liquid over the lacerations covering his body, and although it felt like she’d just set fire to him, Mouse couldn’t scream.

  Riley and Jack finally threw themselves into the front seats, and Jack wasted no time in speeding back toward Homeside.

  Scarlett shook her combat jacket off and bundled it tightly onto the bloodiest gash on his upper arm, desperately trying to steady herself while the car bounced and swerved. The blood was pooling and soaking into the car’s upholstery.

  “Is he gonna be okay?” Jack asked, glancing into the rear-view mirror.

  “I have no idea, he’s really struggling to breathe.” She turned her attention to Mouse, “But I’m not just going to let you die.”

  Mouse had turned grey. He was dripping with sweat and his face was expressionless. Shock or blood loss or both, Scarlett didn’t know.

  While Jack pulled onto Homeside’s gravel drive and through the wooden gate, Scarlett was already opening the door. She and Riley dragged Mouse out of the car and made for Kate’s room.

  “What happened?” Kate asked, clearing her bed off to make way for Mouse.

  “A ceiling collapsed on him,” Scarlett panted. “He’s in a really bad way; injuries everywhere.”

  Kate began examining him, starting with his airways. When she didn’t find a blockage, she put her ear on his chest. She heard a rasping, crunching sound, synchronised to his heartbeat.

  “Everybody be quiet,” she said, listening intently. “It’s Hamman’s Sign. His lung’s collapsed. I need a cannula, twelve gauge, and tubing, right now.”

  Kate ripped his shirt open and Riley hastily found her a cannula. She began feeling for an insertion point on Mouse’s chest. First, she found either end of the clavicle and ran her finger along to its centre point, and then placed two fingers against the underside of it, showing her the second intercostal space, just above his third rib.