by G G Garcia
“We’ll split up,” Henry suggested. Nobody responded, so Henry continued, “Me and Paul will check out the lounge at the left side.” Henry then nodded at Maxwell. “You and Tony check out the other side, including the three toilets.”
“Three?” Maxwell spoke with confusion.
“Including the disabled one.”
Maxwell watched as Henry and Paul tiptoed through the dusky area, with Paul behind the armed Henry Brown, and went over to the bar area and into the kitchen. Maxwell was a bit more casual and strolled towards the toilets with his gun in his hand with Tony trying to catch up.
Maxwell and Tony entered the gents’ toilets and could see that the place was clear. There were only two cubicles and the doors were open, revealing no one inside.
Tony hung around the disabled toilet, as Maxwell went in for a quick check, and gazed at the window that had been smashed. There was a light wind and it blew the curtains open briefly, revealing that the evening was drawing in, yet it was going to be a beautiful night.
Another gust of wind blew in and the curtains blew apart for a second, revealing a larger gap than before, and Tony cried when he could see three faces that weren’t there seconds before, outside, staring at him. The three IOs jumped through the broken window, one by one, and Maxwell appeared and tried to shoot his gun, but it was jammed.
He grabbed Tony by the shoulder and said, “Come on, shagwit.”
Both males went into the ladies’ toilets.
*
Melvin Leslie could feel the eyes of his wife glaring at him as the four left the first floor and made their way downstairs. Demi and Craig sat in silence, but Mel had a feeling that the silence wouldn’t last long with his wife in the room. He knew she had something to say, so he sighed and asked her what was up.
“What’s up?” she scoffed.
“Yeah.” Melvin looked genuinely confused and asked his wife once more. “What’s up?”
“You didn’t even volunteer to go with those guys.”
“What?”
“You heard.” She released a heavy sigh and shook her head. “Two guys, practically boys, went with those two men and you just sat there and shat your pants.”
“What are you talking about, woman?” Mel looked both perplexed and annoyed.
“You’re about as much use as a cock flavoured lollipop.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“I just don‘t know what goes through your head. I mean ... doesn’t it bother you, or even embarrass you, that two young men who are over twenty years younger than you volunteered to go downstairs, and you’re up here, shitting your kegs?”
“Hang on.” Mel was baffled. It was written all over his face. “I didn’t hear you volunteering.”
“I’m a woman—”
“—Sexist.”
“—who has issues with her knees.”
“Not surprising, considering the weight those bad boys have to carry. At least it makes it harder for you to be kidnapped, I suppose.”
“Fuck off!” Lisa snapped. “You’re hardly in shape yourself, Frodo.”
“Don’t call me that,” Mel huffed and seemed annoyed. “That’s out of order.”
The room fell silent and Lisa announced to the room that she needed to piss like a racehorse. Once she had left the room and the door to the bathroom was shut, Mel could feel the eyes of Craig and Demi looking at him. He looked at Demi, embarrassed, and gave off a thin smile.
“Sorry about that,” he said to the pair of them, and managed a false chuckle. “She can’t be controlled.”
“That’s okay.” Demi felt terrible for Mel and despised Lisa, even though she hardly knew the woman.
“Why did she call you Frodo earlier?” Craig asked.
“Craig!” Demi scolded.
“It’s okay,” said Mel.
“Why?” Craig persisted. “I don’t get it, mate.”
“Lisa thought I was gay at one point. She called me Frodo because she claimed that I had my ring destroyed and I probably had an arsehole like a yawning hippo’s mouth. Her words, not mine. She’s never been a politically correct kind of person.”
“What a vile woman.” Demi screwed her face and shook her head.
Mel agreed. “It really is pathetic from her.”
“Does she insult you all you the time?”
“All the time,” Mel sighed. “I tried to grow a beard a few years ago and she told me to shave it off. She said I looked like I’d covered myself in superglue and had went down on Susan Boyle.”
All three gasped when gunshots could be heard from downstairs, and Lisa quickly came out of the bathroom, pulling up her blue jeans.
She closed the living room door and sat on the floor with her back to it. Nobody said a word.
Chapter Sixty-Three
The cubicle door was shut and Maxwell and Tony stood up, exchanging no words and breathing quietly. The toilet door soon opened and Maxwell and Tony could hear the hurried steps of the three intruders.
Maxwell looked at Tony and pressed his finger against his lips, telling him to be quiet. Tony was confused by Maxwell’s gesture. He hadn’t said a word. Maybe he was breathing too heavy and noisily.
The two men stood and waited, both panic running through their veins, especially Tony. Maxwell raised his gun and waited for them to try the door. A cubicle with its flimsy lock wasn’t going to hold if just one of them tried to get in by using force, so he used his free hand to move Tony to the end of the cubicle, by the toilet.
Tony gently placed the toilet lid down and stood on it and crouched down. Maxwell stood next to him and pointed the gun at the door. There was already a round in the chamber, a brand new magazine had been put in, so it was just a matter of putting them down if they got in.
Both men held their breaths as feet approached near the cubicle door. They could both see the shoes of the individual and could hear the door rattling. It was being tried, and both men were unsure if they knew people were in there or they were simply trying it because it was the only one that was shut and the only one that they couldn’t see inside.
The door continued to rattle gently, with little force, and suddenly came to a close. The shoes moved away from the cubicle door and the sound of the main door to the toilet could be heard. Maxwell wasn’t sure if the Savs would be able to work out how to exit because the metal door handle needed pulling, but they somehow did. Were they getting cleverer? Or had some lost more of their motor skills than others? Nobody knew.
The place was silent, and with the people upstairs and Henry and Paul at the other side of the lounge, Maxwell knew he couldn’t just hide in the toilets. He didn’t want to anyway.
He said to Tony, “I’m going to check the place out. Then we go back out there.”
Tony gulped. These were words he didn’t want to hear, but he nodded anyway.
Maxwell reached for the lock with his free hand and slowly slid it back. Tony could see that Maxwell’s hand was shaking and grabbed his knife tighter with his clammy hand, ready for the unexpected.
Maxwell stepped out and took a quick look around.
“Seems clear,” he said to a frightened looking Tony.
“Okay.” Tony gulped.
“Just gonna check the rest of the cubicles, just in case—”
A female jumped on Maxwell’s back and released a horrific caterwaul. Her legs were wrapped around his waist and his arms around his throat, and she took a large bite out of the side of his neck. Maxwell screamed, fired two shots into the floor, and then dropped the gun as his assailant took another bite in the same area. There were more screams from Maxwell, and now he and his attacker fell backwards. Tony watched from the toilet seat in horror as two more IOs entered the toilet area.
They went for Maxwell, and now all Tony could see was Maxwell’s legs and three infected on top of him. Once they were done with Maxwell, Tony knew he was next but couldn’t move for the shock.
One male IO walked away from Maxwell’
s body, leaving his two companions to it, and once he was in line with the cubicle Tony was in, he turned and looked. Tony was still crouching on the toilet seat and shrieked as the male ran for him.
*
Two gunshots went off and Paul and Henry gazed at each other with wide eyes.
Maxwell!
“Sounds like the toilets,” Paul said.
The two of them ran through the lounge and went to the gents’ toilets. They had no idea if the noise had come from the gents’ or the ladies’, but they had guessed correctly. Henry was the first to enter the toilets and could see two individuals on top of Maxwell. Henry released a whistle and the two turned and ran at him, and another one exited from the cubicles with its chin covered in blood. Henry raised his gun and released a slug, making the man drop. Two more shots were fired and the second IO took two in the chest. It fell over and the third IO that exited the cubicle fell over the two dead bodies. It dropped to the floor and Paul ran over and stuck his blade into its back.
Both men were panting and looked on in horror at the mess they had created. Three humans had been murdered and Paul and Henry were beginning to get used to this scenario.
Henry stepped slowly over towards Maxwell and could see that his friend was dead. The side of his neck had been torn out, there were a few bites to his face, and the blood began to pool around his head and shoulders.
To his side, Maxwell could hear a gurgling sound and looked to his left. He looked behind him and called Paul over. Before he made a move, Paul knew it was Tony.
He stepped over the bodies, trying not to get any blood on his shoes, and stood next to Henry. He looked in the same direction where Henry was looking and could see his friend slumped on the floor. Tony’s left cheek on his face had been torn off and he was also bleeding from his neck where he had been bitten. Paul could see that Tony was bleeding all over his chest area, on his shirt, and was looking up at Paul, his head wobbling like a drunk.
“Paul,” Tony mumbled.
“Ya alright, mate.” Paul stepped into the cubicle and crouched down. He touched his friend on the head. “Ya gonna be fine.”
Blood ran from the corner of Tony’s lips, and the blood continued to seep out of the wound from his neck and cheek.
“I’m scared, Paul,” Tony groaned.
“Why?”
“I’m dying. I’m losing blood.”
“We’ll get ya patched up.”
Paul leaned over and kissed his friend on his head. He got to his feet and turned to Henry. “We’re gonna have to get him upstairs. We can sort him out.”
Henry sighed, “Look ... Paul...”
“I think we can save him.”
“There’s no point.”
“There’s a first aid kit in the kitchen,” Paul said. “If we hurry, we can—”
“Forget it.” Henry lowered his head and ran his fingers through his dark hair.
Paul pleaded, “We have to do somethin’.”
Henry shook his head and told Paul to turn around.
Paul did as he was told and could see that Tony wasn’t moving.
He was dead.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Paul took Maxwell’s gun before the two men left, and once they entered the lounge area they could see more IOs climbing through the smashed window.
“Better make a run for it upstairs,” Henry suggested.
The two men went around the bar and sprinted upstairs. Henry couldn’t budge the door and gave the door a knock. Lisa was in the way and he was told that it was free to open. They entered the living room where the rest of the petrified residents were, and Henry could see Craig, Melvin, Lisa and Demi all standing with their knives out.
“We thought it was them,” Mel said. “We heard shots being fired.”
Henry shut the door and asked Craig to give him a hand moving the sofa against it. Once that was achieved, Demi asked the question that Mel was about to ask.
“Where’s the other two?” she asked.
“Dead,” Henry sighed. He then turned to Demi and snapped, “I thought this place was meant to be safe.”
Craig gasped at the announcement that Maxwell and Tony had died, and all he could muster was, “What?
It was Paul’s turn to speak and his response wasn’t as cold as Henry’s. “They were both attacked in the toilets,” he said. “Both have passed away from their injuries.”
“Are they ... are they still down there?” Demi queried the pair of them.
“We couldn’t move them. More of the IOs were coming through the window so we had to make our way back up here. We’ll get them moved once it’s safe.”
“What now?”
Henry stood on the couch and placed his ear against the door. He could hear feet running up the stairs to the first floor landing. He turned to the other five and said, “Now ... we shut the fuck up. They’re coming?”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Henry and Paul put their bodyweight against the couch, whilst Mel, Craig and Lisa looked on. The sound of feet could be heard coming up the stairs, and then banging and thudding was heard on the floor they were on. The door to the living room was banged a couple of times, but it appeared that none of the infected were trying to get in.
The sound of running continued and all five waited patiently. Eventually the sounds died down, and the steps didn’t seem so hurried and frantic. Minutes went by and there was eventual silence.
Demi was the first to speak. “Do you think they’ve gone,” she whispered over to Henry.
Henry turned around and shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure.”
“They’re not hiding, you think?”
“Not too sure they’re capable of being sneaky like that. Then again, wasn’t sure they could climb, until I saw them come through the window.”
“Well, we can’t sit here all fucking night,” Lisa huffed. “Don’t wanna spend all night in here with you muppets. It’s bad enough sleeping with him.” She pointed at Mel.
Nobody responded to Lisa’s remarks. In truth, they all wanted her to shut the fuck up. No one was sure if the IOs had left the establishment yet.
“Will give it another minute,” Henry said, “and then Paul and I will go out and check.”
“Why me?” Paul asked Henry.
“Because you have the other gun.”
A long minute eventually passed and Henry raised his eyebrows at Paul, suggesting that it was time.
“We’ll check the place out,” Henry began, “and then we can start blocking up the window.”
“Why don’t we just block off the stairs,” Mel suggested. “We could stay up here for a few more days.”
Henry tried to respond, but Lisa had beaten him to it.
“What in blue fuck are you talking about?” She groaned and wagged her finger at her husband, like he was a child. “Most of the food and drink are still in those two cellars.”
“Oh, yeah.” Mel scratched his ear, looking uncomfortable. “I forgot about that.”
“Mel does kind of have a good idea.” Henry tried to stick up for the clearly embarrassed Melvin Leslie.
“Kind of a good idea,” Lisa guffawed, angering her husband.
“What we can do,” Henry tried to explain, “is check out the place downstairs. We can block the smashed window and move all the stuff from the two cellars upstairs.”
“Not too sure we’ll have time to do all that tonight.” Paul looked at his Raymond Weil limited edition Beatles watch. It was nearly eight o’clock.
“If we all muck in, I think we can do it.”
“It’d be good if we could get it done tonight,” said Mel, still annoyed by his wife’s berating earlier.
“Agreed.” Paul nodded and then added, “Being on the ground floor and having windows makes us vulnerable from attacks. This is only the third day, so more will come. We want to ride this thing out, but it’s easier said than done. But now we have the stuff from the cellars, what I brought back and Henry and Demi, we could probably
stay up here for a week without moving.”
“Sounds boring, mate,” said Craig.
“Maybe, but we’ll be alive.”
There was a few seconds of silence and it was just starting to hit some of them that they had lost a friend. Henry had lost Maxwell, and Craig and Paul had lost Tony. It was hard to get their head around. Three days ago they were coming back from a nightclub in Stafford, like they did most weekends, and now they were held up in a pub, hiding from infected people who had cannibalistic intentions. The situation was beyond surreal.
“What are we going to do about Tony and Maxwell?” Demi spoke up.
Henry dropped his head in thought. “We’ll have to leave them there.”
“Rotting in some stinking toilet?” Demi shook her head and her face looked annoyed. It was strange, because she was neither close with Maxwell or Tony. “No way.”
Henry looked at Paul and could see by his facial expression that he also agreed with Demi. Maybe Henry could leave Maxwell, but Paul couldn’t leave his best mate’s body in the pub’s toilets.
“Okay.” Henry cleared his throat. “We could temporarily block the stairs off tonight once the supplies are up here, and then we can unblock the barricade tomorrow morning, if it’s safe, and bury the bodies.”
“Or wrap them up and place them in the water,” Mel suggested.
“That’s a better idea.” Henry winked and pointed at Mel. “And easier, and will take less time.”
“Well, let’s just check out the ground floor first.” Paul looked at the gun he was holding and was unsure how to use it.
“You wanna quick demo?” Henry asked him, knowing that Paul Newbold looked nervous holding the thing.
“Let me go with you, Henry,” Demi said and walked over to Paul.
Demi looked at Paul, held out her hand, and he gladly placed the gun on her palm. She inspected the gun, released the magazine to see how many bullets were in there, placed it back, and then chambered a round in preparation. She then showed Paul that the trigger safety was off and that he shouldn’t be waving the thing about.