by John Riley
‘What?’ Sarah asked, ‘what’s wrong now?’
‘We can’t untie him.’ She replied, folding her arms, ‘we don’t know if it’s going to start working.’
‘So, we’re just going to leave him tied up?’ Sarah laughed, ‘til when?’
‘I don’t know!’ Mary snapped, ‘I’ve never injected somebody with contaminated blood in the hopes of turning them into a monster before.’
‘Fine, but you’re supposed to be a nurse, isn’t there a test you can do?’
‘Not without equipment and even then, I’m a bloody nurse not a scientist!’ The two women stared daggers at each other,
‘Erm, Sarah?’ Daniel called sheepishly,
‘What Dan.’ Sarah looked away from Mary to stare at the hatch in the vat.
‘I was just…’ He cleared his throat, ‘could I get something to drink?’
Sarah shook her head and started for the store room.
‘Sarah.’ Mary called, annoyance evident,
‘Hmm?’ She turned and caught the bottle of water Mary had thrown.
Sarah stomped to the vat and pushed the bottle through the hatch, turning to go back to Miles.
‘I’m sorry.’ Daniel whispered, ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you, I would never knowingly hurt you…’
‘Dan…’ Sarah stopped and closed her eyes, she silently mulled over what she wanted to say for a moment, ‘I know.’
‘...What?’
‘I know you don’t want to hurt me.’ She said quietly, ‘I believe that you’re still you… sort of.’
‘Sort of?’ He scooted closer to the hatch, she heard his clothes on the floor of the vat.
‘Right now, I can hear you. You Dan, my Dan.’ She paused, ‘But what if I were to let you see me?’
She demonstrated by crouching to get her head level with the hatch. For a split second she saw her husband-to-be, before he howled with feral rage and lunged for the tiny gap, fingers scrabbling at the metal. She didn’t flinch, she had expected it. She straightened and was standing next to Miles again when she heard the noises stop.
‘S...Sarah?’ Daniel called tentatively, ‘did I just…?’
‘Yup.’
‘Fuck!’ He yelled, the metal booonged again as he punched it.
‘Yup.’ Sarah repeated.
‘It’s stopped hurting now.’ Miles muttered bitterly, ‘there’s nothing at all, it didn’t work.’
The bleakness in his tone softened Sarah’s response,
‘We’ll figure something out.’ She said, ‘it might just be sinking in or something anyway,’
‘She’s right.’ Mary stated, ‘we still can’t untie you until we’re sure.’
‘What are we going to do about Daniel?’ Sarah asked. She didn’t want him here anymore, it hurt to have him close.
‘We can’t let him out without endangering all of our lives.’ Mary said frowning, ‘he’ll have to stay for now.’
‘Ok, then I’m gonna go check on the kids.’ Sarah said, not waiting for a response and rushing up the catwalk steps.
She made her way quietly into the canteen and saw Laura and Steven sitting near the radio as it fizzed and popped.
‘Hey,’ Sarah smiled at them, ‘you two ok?’
‘Bored.’ Laura said with a grimace, ‘which I guess is better than running for our lives.’
Sarah laughed and sat down next to them, she could just about make out the sound of music now she was close to the radio.
‘Anything interesting on?’ She asked, Laura shrugged,
‘There’s a lot about the monsters if you read between the lines.’
‘Like what?’ Sarah asked,
‘Like the hospitals are empty now.’ Laura put an arm around her brother, ‘some people have gone missing too.’
Sarah realised she meant there were other people like them, untouched and still fully human, hiding from the monsters.
They sat and listened to the music in silence for a while, Steven had apparently found some little pieces of plastic in the store room and was playing with them like they were toy cars.
‘Any news that says this is happening anywhere else?’ Sarah asked suddenly, she wasn’t holding her breath,
‘No.’ Laura shrugged apologetically, ‘but we could have just not heard anything yet.’
‘I’m sure we’ll find out before too long,’ Sarah mused, ‘what we really need is a TV…’
Sarah’s thoughts were interrupted by feet pounding on metal and for a moment she thought the worst. But it was just Mary, breathing hard and clutching her phone to her chest,
‘They’re ok!’
‘Wha… Who?’ Sarah frowned, standing up,
‘My boys!’ Mary said smiling, ‘My boys are ok!’
20
‘My ex called, just now.’ Mary explained, her face flushed but relieved.
‘Where are they?’ Laura asked, moving Steven to stand up,
‘The clinic!’ Mary said happily, ‘He thought that was where I’d be.’
Mary frowned at Sarah,
‘I’m sorry our lives collapsing inconvenienced you.’ Sarah said sarcastically, ‘trust me.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ The woman’s smile returned, ‘as soon as Stevie and Laura hop into the car I can be back with my boys!’ She turned on her heel and rushed out before Sarah could reply,
‘Did she just…?’ She muttered, then turned to the kids, ‘c’mon, we need to talk.’
The three of them followed Mary down the stairs and met her standing by Miles,
‘Right, so Sarah will stay here and watch you.’ She said matter-of-factly,
‘Excuse me.’ Sarah growled, ‘You’re not taking them anywhere.’
‘We’re not going to leave Miles here!’ Laura said, appalled.
‘I feel fine now,’ Miles rumbled, turning his head to look at them, ‘it didn’t work.’
‘What about me?’ Daniel piped up, ‘it’s cold and uncomfortable in here.’
‘We can’t let you go,’ Mary sighed exasperatedly, ignoring Daniel ‘we don’t know if you might change! It might just be taking it’s time to work.’
‘So, we wait for a while and see if anything happens, then we untie him and all go to the clinic.’ Sarah stated, folding her arms.
‘No!’ Mary said loudly, ‘I’m not going to take one of those things to my kids!’
‘Then just go!’ Sarah snapped back, ‘We’ll stay here and you can do whatever you like!’
‘I’m not going to leave Laura and Steven here.’ The other woman stated finally, ‘it’s not safe.’
‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed but nowhere is safe!’ Sarah spat, ‘you just don’t trust us.’
‘Of course not!’ Mary agreed, ‘have you seen them?’
She gestured to the children. Steven was holding his bandaged arm to himself, he had blood in his hair and his face was as filthy as his clothes. Laura held her weight with one leg, had a previously unnoticed bruise down the left side of her face and looked exhausted. Sarah knew she looked about the same, they’d been through a lot today.
‘We got attacked, what were we supposed to do?’ Sarah replied weakly,
‘You brought them to an abandoned factory!’ Mary cried, ‘in what universe is that safe!’
‘We just…’
‘Then you left them alone!’ She threw her hands up in disgust, ‘followed by bringing a man you’ve only just met to them!’
‘Miles saved my life!’ Sarah growled warningly, ‘I trust him.’
‘Then you managed to lacerate Stevie’s arm!’ Mary pointed to Steven again, ‘the only truly responsible thing you've done today was bringing them to me!’
Sarah slammed her fist into the vat next to them. The dull bong reverberated for a moment, cutting Mary’s tirade off.
‘I could have left them to die when their Mother attacked them.’ She growled, ‘I could have stayed out of sight when Miles was attacked.’
Mary opened her mouth to reply an
d Sarah stepped towards her,
‘We could have told you nothing and just let the damn monsters in when we left.’
‘But you didn’t.’ Mary said quickly,
‘No, I didn’t.’ Sarah agreed, ‘because I’m a good person. I did the best I could for everybody I could.’
‘Mary?’ Laura said after a few moments of silence,
‘Yes?’
‘We’re not leaving Miles and Sarah.’ She pulled Steven to her, ‘thank you for worrying about us, but they’ve been helping us all day, we would look much worse without them.’ Sarah smiled at her and she smiled back.
‘Sarah.’ Mary sighed, annoyance taking over from anger, ‘You’ve got them in a filthy factory that they’ve already been attacked in twice. You have barely any clean water, little to no food, one,’ She paused and glanced at Miles, ‘possibly two of those monsters in here with you and no plan for the future.’
‘Ok,’ Sarah nodded, ‘what’s your plan?’
‘Take these two, get my boys and drive to my brother’s farm out of town.’
‘How do you know he isn’t one of them?’
‘He’s out of the country.’ She replied simply,
‘How long will you last there though really?’ Sarah asked, she was grasping at straws and knew it, ‘we don’t know what’s going on, maybe everybody is changed and we’re the last humans alive!’
‘Then we’ll last longer on my brother’s farm than we would in this dingy death trap.’
‘Mary.’ Laura said quietly, ‘you’re not listening. If Sarah and Miles can’t come then we aren’t coming.’
‘There isn’t enough room!’ Mary pleaded,
‘What about your ex?’ Sarah asked, ‘surely he drove to the clinic?’
‘He’s not coming!’ Mary said angrily.
‘You’re worried he’s going to be violent.’ Miles said suddenly, ‘he carried on threatening you when you split up?’
Mary bit her lip in silence for a moment,
‘Yes.’ She answered eventually,
‘Well then you have nothing to worry about,’ He said, ‘I’ll be there. I’ll make sure you’re safe.’
‘And if you change?’
‘I haven’t yet.’ He shrugged, ‘you said yourself it would happen fast.’
‘I had no idea what would happen!’ Mary held her hands up to her face and screamed into them. The scream was muffled but still made them all jump.
‘When did you tell your ex, we’d meet him?’ Sarah asked when she was done. Mary didn’t move her hands,
‘Within the hour.’ came the muffled reply,
‘Ok, so we wait another hour.’ Sarah stated, ‘then we untie Miles, drop some rope for Daniel and get going.’
‘Sarah?’ Daniel called,
‘You have to promise me you’ll wait until we’re gone.’ She said emotionlessly,
‘Of course, but…’
‘I mean it Dan.’ Sarah warned, ‘if you see us you’ll try and kill us and I won’t ever forgive you.’
‘I get it, I won’t get out until you’re gone but…’
‘Good.’ She turned away from the vat and stalked out of the room. Taking the stairs would have left her in view for too long so she found herself back in the store room in dim light.
She leant against the window sill and looked out over the filthy tarmac outside. A sound at the door made her turn around.
‘You’re going to get them killed.’ It was Mary.
‘I didn’t start any of this,’ Sarah replied, looking away, ‘I didn’t ask for any of this and I certainly don’t want it now it’s here.’
‘You’re both as bad as each other do you know that?’ the other woman spat,
‘What do you mean?’ Sarah didn’t really care, she kept her eyes focused on the outside, letting the light breeze brush against her skin.
‘He’s practically suicidal, willing to sacrifice anything including you to get back to his family.’ She said, ‘he’s only saying he’ll come now because of the kids. If I took them with me I’m sure he’d keep trying to get turned.’
‘He just wants his life back.’ Sarah murmured,
‘I can respect that,’ Mary said quickly, ‘or at least understand it. It’s you that I don’t get.’
Sarah turned from the window to look at the other woman. She had her hands on her hips and was standing angrily in the doorway.
‘What’s to get?’ Sarah asked, ‘I’m just trying to stay alive.’
‘No, you’re hiding.’ Mary spat, ‘you’re probably scared of dying that’s true; but what you’re really scared of is not being you anymore.’
Sarah raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond.
‘When I lived with Nathan I was always scared.’ Mary confessed, ‘Before the boys he was loving and never touched me. But once they were born and my attention moved from him to them…’
Sarah had heard similar stories from other abused women.
‘He was an arsehole.’ She grudgingly agreed.
‘He was a different person,’ Mary said shaking her head, ‘he turned from my loving husband to the monster that beat me. The thing that locked me in my own home and forced me to lose everything.
‘Do you want me to say, “I’m sorry”?’ Sarah asked quizzically, ‘because I am, it’s not like I think you deserved it.’
‘No Sarah,’ She said, ‘I want you to know that I’ve lived for years with what you’ve experienced today.’
Sarah blinked.
‘But you don’t act like an abused woman.’ Mary continued, ‘I used to get angry at myself, for being afraid of him still. Even though he hasn’t touched me in years. I still flinch when he raises his voice…’
Sarah hated hearing about domestic abuse, it made her insides boil. Mary shook herself and looked up at Sarah.
‘But you’re not angry,’ She stated, ‘you’re not scared. You’re resigned; you’ve accepted that this is how it is now and you’re out.’
‘What are you saying?’ Sarah asked, a tone of warning in her voice.
Mary shook her head and sighed,
‘You Sarah, would be perfectly happy alone.’ She waved her arms, ‘you left your fiancé when anybody else would have gone back or stayed close. You left the kids the second you deemed it necessary and now you’re in here.’
Sarah didn’t know how to respond.
‘Alone.’ Mary finished.
Sarah shrugged,
‘You’re probably right.’ She agreed, ‘but I don’t see why it matters. I’m here, I have responsibilities and I refuse to just let them walk out with you. Especially now I know what your ex is like.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’ Mary said, ‘I just want you to know that if anything goes wrong, it’ll be your fault.’
The other woman turned on her heel and walked out, leaving Sarah alone with her thoughts. So, she was afraid to change and afraid to be with anybody. A loner sociopath. It explained how she managed to shed and pick up friends at the rate she did. It was probably something to do with the lukewarm love she’d received from her parents; everything could be traced back to them she thought wryly.
Mary’s idea of going out of town was a good one and seeing as Sarah didn’t have family who lived on a farm within driving distance, it made a lot of sense to tag along. As abhorrent as the idea of spending the rest of her life with Mary was. Sarah sighed and played with the shards of glass on the windowsill. Daniel would leave just after them, with any luck she wouldn’t have to see him again and face the questions she didn’t want to answer. Lucky that the apocalypse happened really, she obviously wasn’t capable of keeping a marriage together. Even luckier that she had escaped getting turned, un-killable and stuck with the man she loved for all of time. Just what was wrong with her?
She spent a while staring blankly out of the window, wondering what kind of person she really was; when Laura interrupted her thoughts.
‘Mary says it’s time to go.’ She was alone and holding her arms close to her
self,
‘Ok.’ Sarah moved from the window stiffly, ‘has she calmed down?’
‘Not really.’ the girl grimaced, ‘Sarah, what is going to happen to us?’
‘I don’t know.’ Sarah replied, ‘but we’re going to look after you I promise.’
Laura smiled,
‘Thank you.’
The pair left the store room and saw Mary already untying Miles,
‘No point in worrying about it now.’ She heard her mutter,
‘Thanks Mary.’ Miles said in a monotone.
Sarah helped to get the last of the bindings off and started gathering them together.
‘What are you doing?’ Mary put a hand on Sarah’s arm,
‘Giving them to Daniel, he can make a rope when we leave.’
‘Just leave him.’ Mary whispered urgently, Sarah pulled from out of her grasp and carried the strips up to the catwalk.
‘We’ll meet you outside.’ Mary called to her, stalking haughtily out.
‘I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave,’ Miles said as he followed, ‘be careful.’
The kids left the room after Miles, and Sarah was alone with Daniel.
‘You’re not coming back are you?’ He said miserably. Sarah took a peek over the catwalk and saw him sat with his head in his hands,
‘I can’t Dan,’ She said quietly, ‘you’d kill me.’
‘ I didn’t die!’ He pleaded, ‘if anything I got stronger and…’
‘And not you.’ Sarah finished for him, ‘my Dan struggled when we moved house. My Dan got tired hiking. My Dan died.’
‘I got stronger so now I’m not who I was?’
‘No.’ Sarah’s voice caught, ‘you tried to kill me so you’re not who you were.’
She dropped the bundled fabric into the vat and hurried across the catwalk,
‘Sarah please!’ He called, she tripped as she sped down the steps, catching herself before she fell, ‘please!’
She ignored him and all but ran across the factory floor.