“Ollie, love, is that you out there?”
He rolled his eyes, and gulped down the tobacco-tasting spit gathering in his mouth.
“Yeah, it’s me, beaut.”
“What you doing out there at this hour, mun?”
He put the cigarette out on the sole of his boot, and called back to her. “Was just taking a look around the place. I found a water pump around back. It must be hooked up to the mains – looks like it is pumping fresh water anyways.”
“So what’s all the shouting about?”
“They’ve done our fucking bikes in. Taken knives or something to the tyres and slashed them to ribbons, like. They have even battered the bodies bad enough to crack the fuel tanks. Bloody bastards.”
“And the truck, is it okay?”
“Two tyres have been cut on that. We won’t be going anywhere this morning. How did they know to do this? I think they are getting smart, Rox.”
“Oh,” was all that Roxie could come back with.
“Yeah, ‘Oh’ is right, beaut. Are Jeff and Maria awake yet?
“Not yet, you want me to call them, do you?”
“No, leave them sleep for a bit.” He paused, then spoke again. “What about Amy, beaut?”
“She is still sleeping, bless her.”
“Why don’t you come on out here and join me.”
He heard her scramble up and over the driver’s seat; she made her way on hands and knees to the passenger door. Ollie turned and helped her down. She saw that the skies were still grey and heavy. No wind stirred the grass, or ruffled their hair. It had been like this since the outbreak began. The sky had lost all of its charm. No sun, no rain, no nothing. Just night and day. A sense of time lost.
“Any idea of the time, Oll, love?”
He shook his head slowly, “Nope, none. I came out here just as it became light. I took over from Jeff at around six-ish. Been out here for about an hour or so I’d say, beaut.”
“Had they gone by then?”
“Yeah, well, some of them were still hanging about; it was still a bit dusky out here, you know?”
“What we going to do about the truck then, Oll? We’ve got no way out of here now the bikes have been wrecked as well, like”
He could hear her starting to snort back tears; he turned and pulled her in close to him.
“Hey, come here, mun. We managed to come this far, didn’t we? And you heard Jeff last night: he has a plane. All we have to do is make it to that hangar in Cardiff, and we are out of here, innit?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Come on. We’ll be fine. I know I was a bit short tempered last night, but I was pissed off.” He gripped her at the top of the arms, and slightly pushed her away from himself. Seeing the tears in her gray-green eyes made his throat tighten; he had to gulp several times to get rid of it. He drew her back to his chest. “Please, Roxie. Don’t upset yourself anymore. Tell you what, you go and call Jeff and ask him to come out here to me, okay?”
“Okay,” she managed. Her voice sounded harsh and rasping, the lack of fluid beginning to show.
“Thas my good girl.” He watched her climb back through the truck, and heard her go into the cottage. “What the hell are we going to do?” he spat, looking at the two huge rips in the truck’s front and back tyres.
He surveyed the scene about him – from where he stood he could only see woods. Not totally dense, but quite thick. The garden that Ollie stood in was overgrown with weeds and grass that stretched to his knee. A picket fence had once stood erect, but Jeff had smashed through it with the truck. Some of the strewn planks were visible in the knee-high grass, their timber brittle and flaky.
In-between Ollie and the woods was grassland. It gave the impression that it had once been a place of work, because to the right stood a rusted barn. Within its decaying walls of tin and timber were a corroded tractor and bailer. So maybe this cottage once belonged to a farming family?
Just past the barn was the brow of a hill. Ollie’s inquisitive mind managed to get the better of him, and he decided to walk the quarter of a mile or so to the top, to find out what was on the other side.
Roxie gave Jeff a rough shake by the shoulder. He was huddled by the window in the corner of the room; Maria snug under his arm, a jacket over the top of them. The machine gun stood by his side against the wall.
“Jeff, Jeff. Wake up, mun,” she called. She looked over at the child, who was still sleeping. Roxie had spent the night by her, her arm around the girl. Amy hadn’t protested against it, just snuggled in closer to Roxie.
“Mmmm,” he managed, before finally coming around. He squinted his eyes open, yawned, then said, “What time is it, Roxie?”
“Time you got up, I think, bach. The tyres have been slashed on the truck, Jeff. I’m worried, but Ollie seems alright about it. He’s outside waiting for you.”
“They have gone then, I take it?”
He yawned again, rotating his neck to ease the stiffness. Maria stirred and murmured with his movements. Jeff took his arm from behind Maria, and worked the pins and needles out of it by shaking it. He slowly lifted her head from his chest and gently put her to rest on the floor. She didn’t wake.
He got to his feet, arched his back and moaned with delight as his back clicked. He went to the front door and opened it. The light from outside hurt his eyes. Roxie stood behind him.
He climbed into the truck, and shuffled over to the passenger side. He looked first, before jumping out onto open ground. Ollie was nowhere to be seen. Jeff turned back and told Roxie, who immediately flew through the truck, pushing past Jeff at the other side to start looking for her boyfriend. When she couldn’t see him, she began calling his name.
“Ollll, Olllllie. Where are you?”
She scanned the area with frantically before Jeff finally put her mind at ease.
“He’s over there, look, on top of that small hill.”
“What does he think he’s playing at, mun? Going off like that and not saying anything to us. For-fuck’s sake, he wanted me to wake you so he could have a chat with you. So why go bloody walking off like that?”
“Couldn’t tell you, sorry, Roxie. The man must have something on his mind. Let’s just wait here for a bit, he will come back soon enough.”
Jeff and Roxie watched as Ollie crossed the field towards them. He’d done nothing but stand at the top of the hill, before turning around and coming back. While they waited for the big man to get back to them, Roxie showed Jeff the ruined tyres of the truck.
“Well, I think there’s a spare underneath,” Jeff said. “There should be anyway. Depending on how far out of Cardiff we are, we could drive there on one crippled tyre.”
“But that will do damage, won’t it? Roxie said.
“We may end up destroying the wheel, but that won’t matter.”
“We’ll have the plane when we get to the hangar, anyways,” she said.
“Totally fucked, innit, butty?” Ollie sounded slightly out of breath as he spoke.
“I was just telling Roxie, there should be a spare underneath.”
“That’s only one though. We’ll need two, like?” Ollie said
“Not necessarily,” Jeff said. “I think we could make Cardiff on the rim.”
“Not sure, butty,” Ollie said. “I do have some good news though. There’s a town just over that hill.”
“Is there?” Roxie said.
“Yeah. A town by the name of Twsc, I think it said – couldn’t quite make it out.”
“Hmm. Maybe we could spend the night then,” Jeff said. “Get some supplies in.”
“There might be survivors down there, like?” Roxie said.
“Damn, I never thought about that?” Jeff said. “So why don’t we go and have a look?”
“An idea just came to me,” Ollie said.
“What?” Jeff said.
“We got ourselves a town over there, right? So why don’t we find a nice 4x4, or something like that, fill it with what we need, th
en drive it to that hangar of yours?”
“Hmm,” Jeff said, rubbing at his chin.
“I guess this truck is not our only ticket out of here, boys,” Roxie said. “But I suggest we stock the car up and leave it in town somewhere.”
“Yeah, okay,” Jeff said. “We could bring food back here for the night, and then leave early tomorrow. What do you two think?”
“Yeah, good plan.”
“I’m up for that too,” Ollie said.
“One more night is not going to harm us,” said Roxie.
“Sounds like we have plan then, guys?” Jeff said, smiling.
“Yeah, butty, we do,” Ollie said.
“Wait a minute. Amy. We will have to take her into town too.”
“Shit, I forgot. Damn,” Roxie said.
“It would be too dangerous to leave her here on her own,” Jeff said.
Before heading out later that morning, Jeff woke Maria, and the five of them washed with fresh water from the pump at the rear of the cottage.
The five of them set out from the cottage. As they crossed the field, Ollie covered the rear while Jeff led the way, leaving the women and child in the middle to keep their eyes peeled for any trouble. Amy had come along without any fuss.
They took their time crossing the muddy field, in case one of them slipped and hurt themselves. At the top of the hill, they looked down to the town of Twsc – the place appeared nothing but an empty wasteland, dry of any human life or activity. Burning wrecks littered the streets, along with dead bodies. Buildings smouldered, and thick plums of grey smoke blanketed the town. Debris and rubbish filled the main road through the large town, and mangy dogs nuzzled at the dead. Their hungry growls and the sound of teeth gnawing on flesh were audible over the roaring flames.
“If anyone is alive down there, I’ll be shocked,” Jeff said.
The dense smoke burned their eyes, and brought tears on. Maria had a headache developing, but said nothing to the others. The heavy smell of burning petrol and charred bodies clung to the air, sickening her to the core.
“Yeah, me too,” Roxie said.
“We’ll have to watch the dogs, boys and girls,” Ollie said.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Maria said.
As they walked into town, Ollie spotted a Toyota, Hilux Surf 4x4, mounted on a kerb just opposite a newsagents’. The driver had been pulled from the jeep, his face smashed in. A pool of dried blood had gathered on the concrete. The windshield had small flecks of crusted blood on it. Flies were hovering over the body to feed.
Ollie stepped over to the 4x4 and pulled the dead man free, leaving the body to slam to the floor with a dull crack. Ollie couldn’t bear to look at the caved in face.
“I think I can get this thing going. Keep Amy back there with you lot.”
He jumped in behind the wheel, only to find the key barrel empty. He searched the dead man, but the key didn’t turn up – it was nowhere to be found.
“Oh, fuck!” Ollie shouted, as he kneed the wing of the jeep.
Maria walked over to Ollie, and put a hand to his shoulder, “Let me try. I used to be pretty good at hotwiring cars at one time.” She turned back to Roxie and Jeff, who were looking at her agog. “What can I say, I had a misspent youth,” she said smiling. She faced Ollie again, “I might need your help.”
“Okay, what you want me to do then, beaut?”
“Hey, Jeff, why don’t you take Roxie and try to find us some supplies, this may take me awhile. We’ll keep Amy here with us.”
“Okay, we’ll meet you back here in about an hour or so.”
“Hey, butt, pick me up some cigarettes if you come across any. I’m busting for one.”
Jeff couldn’t help but smile, “Sure thing.”
Ollie watched as his girlfriend walked off with Jeff. He felt uneasy. Maybe I should be the one going with her? No, Jeff was more than capable. But the worry remained.
Chapter 5
Amy sat in the backseat of the 4x4, her head bent. She wanted to speak to them, she really did. She just didn’t feel up to it yet. But she knew she needed to talk to these people, maybe Roxie first. But every time she went to speak, she had to fight back tears. All she could think about was her dead parents, “Cut into pieces,” as Eddie had said. Then Ollie caught her eye – he winked at her and mouthed, Are you okay? She held back tears, smiled and nodded at him. His smile was warm, inviting.
Ollie turned to Maria, who was now inside the jeep and bent over. “So, what’s your story, Maria? How comes you and Jeff managed to hook up? Were you with him at the start of all this mess?”
Maria grunted, pushed herself up from under the steering column, and sat up, facing Ollie so that she could speak to him. “I’m not sure you want to know, Ollie. It was not a pretty sight. I saw people die.” Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and Ollie stepped closer to her, putting a hand to her delicate shoulder. She looked up at him, and for the first time she saw the good person in him, his soft nature. Sure he was hot-headed and rough. But deep down, he was like the rest of them. Scared. “Sorry, I…I…”
“Hey, it’s okay, gal. We have all done things we didn’t want to do. That includes me, like.” He rubbed her shoulder.
She smiled at him, knowing that she could open up to him, and began to speak.
“I work at a petrol station in a small town by the name Porth, and the night before last I came under attack by the infected,” she said. She bent back down under the steering column as she continued to speak. “I had pulled the nightshift again, because the other girl I work on rota with, Sara, hates doing them.”
She paused, and got back up again. She looked back at Amy; the child seemed transfixed on something and appeared not to be listening. Even so, Maria lowered her voice. “I’m pretty sure she was giving our boss, Jim, sexual favours to get out of the nightshifts.”
Ollie choked out a laugh at this, but said nothing. He kept listening to what Maria had to say.
“I got to work and Jim was pissed off with me about being late again, he gave me the same old crap about ‘did I want to keep my job’ and shit, blah, blah, blah. When I took the keys off him, he was attacked as he walked to his car. They came from nowhere.” Again she kept her voice low, not wanting Amy to hear everything she was saying. “Must have been at least six or seven of them, and they just laid into him with all sorts of weapons – axes, knifes, hammers, chains the lot. It was horrible.
“I wanted to rush and help him, but I knew I would be no good. Besides, Jim was dead before he even hit the floor. So I locked the door, and just prayed they would go away, I had no idea what the hell was going on. Fucking brutal pigs,” Maria snapped, then continued work on the multicoloured wires.
Ollie looked on in shock. It was the first time he had heard her truly swear since knowing her. But he guessed she had every right. Fancy seeing your boss slaughtered like that? Even if he was a bastard, he didn’t deserve to die that way. Chopped and hacked to death.
“Hey, come on, it’s okay,” he said, his tough-man image now totally gone. He put a hand to her back, and soothed her. He heard her take a deep breath before starting to talk again. He had to bend slightly, as her voice was muffled.
“Then the whole place plunged into darkness, because they were tampering with the fuse box outside. But the back-up generator kicked in, which gave me some light. I’d lost the TV monitors too, so I couldn’t really tell what some of them were up to out there. And the phone had gone down. I was totally cut off.”
Ollie took the weight off his feet by leaning against the 4x4. He kept scanning the town, but nothing seemed to move.
“When I knew I was finally safe inside, I put the radio on, and was shocked at what I was hearing. It said that most of South Wales had succumbed to some virus or other and that people should stay inside. But deaths and injuries were rising by the hour. A few hours later, I thought I heard the army break into the building that the news programme was being reported from, and gun down
the presenters.
“It was bad, Ollie. I think that was the longest night of my life trapped in the station, with nothing to keep me company but them and their groans. When morning came, it was no better. Even though they had gone, I didn’t want to go outside – I was too scared of them still being there. I didn’t know then that they didn’t like the daylight. So I stayed inside, and watched as the crows pecked away at Jim’s body. I looked for weapons, but only managed to find a skewer from a throwaway BBQ set.”
Ollie pushed off the 4x4 and circled the jeep. He looked at the tyres, making sure that they were all in good shape. He lifted the bonnet, checked the oil and water. Satisfied, he went back around to the driver’s side, all the while keeping his eye on his surroundings.
“Jeff showed up the second night, which was a good thing, because I had planned to leave the next day at first light. He came at the petrol station in the army jeep and shot them all.”
“Lucky he didn’t hit one of the petrol tanks, beaut? Or you would have all gone up,” Ollie said.
“Yeah.”
“Bloody lucky, hey?” Ollie laughed out.
“Yes, I guess so. So after he killed them all I let him into the shop. I was a little wary at first, but the man had just saved my life.”
“Thas one hell of a story,” Ollie said.
“Yeah. I’m just so glad it is over.”
“Fuck, it sounded as though it was right mayhem.”
“It was. And after I let him in, we gathered a few things up and I switched the pumps back on so that he could fuel the truck up with petrol.” Just then, the Toyota fired up, and Maria smiled. “Got it.”
“Well done, beaut. Now all we have to do is wait for them to come back.”
“I’m hungry,” a voice said.
Ollie and Maria both turned to Amy, and smiled. It was the first time she had spoken since she had told them her name last night.
Chapter 6
Jeff and Roxie began searching for shops that would be useful to them. Twsc appeared to be a big town, and took a bit of time to investigate.
The first thing they came across was an Asda superstore. The green lettering of the shop didn’t make the place look inviting. The car park was amassed with jammed cars; it looked like the drivers had been trying to leave in a hurry. Dead bodies lay everywhere, and the stench of death hung in the air. Blackbirds sat on the roofs of the trolley bays, and on the store itself. Some could be seen pecking and tearing away at the flesh of the dead. The sight of their claws dripping red was chilling.
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