by Wood, J N
I opened the door to find Benoit and Aurelie sat up in bed watching the television. Roy was sat at the small table in the corner of the room.
‘Morning everyone,’ I said. ‘Sorry if I woke you.’
Aurelie pushed back the covers, swung her bare legs around and stepped out of bed. I realised too late I was looking at her thighs, briefly transfixed by the sight. I quickly moved my gaze over to the television. Out of the corner of my eye I tried to see if Benoit had noticed me staring at his wife.
I can’t tell. He seems engrossed by the TV.
‘Hello Chris. We were awake anyway,’ she said, slipping past me and entering the bathroom.
I walked over and took the other chair next to Roy, who was giving me a very knowing smirk. I shrugged and gave him one back, before asking, ‘What’s the plan? Are we gonna pick some food up from somewhere?’
‘Only if it’s on the way to Scarface’s lorry,’ Roy replied. ‘It’s a three mile walk. Don’t want him to leave without us.’
‘Three miles,’ I exclaimed.
‘We tell you this last night,’ Benoit explained.
‘Can’t remember that,’ I told him.
‘We have bottles of water,’ Benoit said. ‘But not much food.’
Half an hour later we’d all showered and were stood outside the reception, waiting for Aurelie to hand in the keys. She returned with the news there was some kind of food store in the direction we were headed.
We managed to stock up on sandwiches, crisps and chocolate. Not the most nutritious, but better than nothing. There were no buckets.
Brian Tony Scarface was sat in the cab of his lorry. He’d apparently given the Frenchies and Roy a description of it last night, so they spotted it almost straight away. The driver’s side door was open. He was eating what looked like a massive burrito.
When he saw us coming he lumbered out of the cab and quickly shepherded us to the back doors.
‘Need to keep you out of sight,’ he kept repeating.
‘What do we do for a toilet?’ I asked him as he started opening one of the doors.
‘You wait until I stop,’ he informed us. ‘What do you think I do? Piss in my pants?’
‘Oh yeah,’ I said. ‘That makes sense.’
‘He’s not just going to lock us in here for sixty hours,’ Roy told me.
Scarface locked eyes with me and pointing into the trailer, said, ‘Do not do your business in there. I still have to deliver my load.’
‘That means you can’t deliver your load in there Chris,’ Roy said.
I raised my hands, saying, ‘Okay, okay. I won’t shit or piss in there. And what you said Roy means something else.’
Scarface gestured for us to climb aboard. ‘Go right to the end, all the way at the back. Just squeeze through the gaps between the pallets. I’ve left room for you.’
Aurelie started to climb the short ladder.
‘Oh and there’s another one of you lot in there,’ he added.
Aurelie paused halfway through her ascent. ‘Sorry. What do you mean?’
‘There’s already a lady in there,’ he explained.
‘Elena?’ Aurelie asked him.
He shrugged and waved us on. ‘Hurry up before anyone sees you.’
As Benoit climbed the ladder, Aurelie exchanged a few words in French with him.
‘Go to the very end,’ Scarface repeated. ‘Climb over the boxes if you have to, you won’t damage nothing.’
Once I was inside I turned back to Scarface. ‘Any idea when you’re taking your first break?’
He was swinging the door around. ‘Four or five hours,’ he answered, just before he slammed it shut.
It was like I’d been blindfolded.
‘Well that’s really fucking helpful,’ I said. ‘Can anybody else see anything?’
As my eyes started to slowly adjust, I noticed a soft green glow coming from the far end of the trailer, presumably this Elena that Aurelie mentioned. I fished out Jack’s phone and turned on the torch.
‘Follow the green light,’ Aurelie told us.
‘Who is Elena?’ Roy asked, as we forced our way between pallets stacked with boxes, slowly getting closer to the mysterious light at the end.
‘A friend,’ Benoit replied. ‘We met her recently. She is also going to Montreal.’
Roy turned to me, the torch revealing a questioning expression on his face. I just shrugged.
When I finally squeezed between the last two pallets, Aurelie and Benoit were talking to a woman. They were illuminated by a green lamp hung from a cable on the wall. It made the scene look a bit like a sci-fi film.
‘I am so glad you made it,’ the woman was saying. ‘When I could not find you I assumed you were caught.’
‘No we are fine,’ Aurelie said.
The woman’s attention was caught by mine and Roy’s appearance.
Aurelie noticed this and turned to us. ‘This is Roy and Chris. They are English, trying to get home.’
A warm smile spread across the woman’s face. She stepped forwards and shook our hands. ‘Hello. I am Elena, also trying to get home.’
‘Hi,’ Roy said. ‘Where is home?’
‘Valladolid,’ she replied, the smile slowly leaving her face. ‘In Spain.’
‘So this is us for a few days,’ Roy stated, gesturing to our surroundings.
We all gazed at the very small space we were to share. There was enough room for the five of us to lie down without touching each other, but only just.
‘Yes,’ Elena said. ‘It is not much.’
‘We should have got some alcohol,’ I said.
Elena walked back to her bag in the corner and pulled out two bottles. She held one in each hand. ‘Happy to share these.’ She raised the one in her left hand. ‘I have whiskey.’ She then spun the other one around so she could read the label. ‘And rum. I actually thought this was vodka, but rum will do.’
‘Absolutely perfect,’ I told her. ‘Maybe not at seven in the morning though. I might wait until at least mid-day.’
‘No not now,’ Elena laughed. ‘I mean for later.’
Like Aurelie and Benoit, her English was excellent.
Aurelie sat down next to her bag, her back resting against the side of the trailer. ‘I have spoken to Javier,’ she said to the Frenchies. ‘He is ready and waiting for us.’
Benoit cleared his throat, glancing at me and Roy.
Elena looked over to us, and then back to Benoit. ‘So what if they know?’ she questioned. ‘As I was saying. Javier has the boat ready for us.’
I exchanged a brief glance with Roy.
‘He has no more money to buy food and water,’ Elena continued. ‘We will have to do that when we arrive. Brian thinks three days until we arrive at the Old Port of Montreal. Javier has the boat north of there.’
‘He said two and a half days to us,’ Aurelie said.
‘I hope so,’ Elena cheerfully replied.
‘We do not have much money left,’ Benoit told her. ‘How much will we need for everything?’
‘We will make do,’ she defiantly replied. ‘We go no matter what. No waiting.’
I looked over to Roy sat next to me, both of us leaning against one of the pallets. I nodded my head, gesturing for him to say something.
‘Erm,’ Roy said. ‘We have some cash.’
‘And are in need of a boat,’ I added.
‘We actually have a fair bit of cash,’ Roy told them. ‘We’d be happy to pay for all the provisions, in exchange for two tickets to England.’
‘We are not going to England,’ Elena said. ‘Our plan is to sail to A Coruna, then travel inland to Valladolid to find our family. Not England. I am sorry.’
Benoit started talking to Elena in very stilted Spanish. Elena grinned throughout his attempt to converse in her mother tongue.
She cut him off mid stutter. ‘Ben, Ben, Ben. Please. Your Spanish is not good. Javier’s boat, a Bavaria 47, can berth nine people. There would be plenty of
room.’ She looked Roy up and down. Then did the same to me. ‘We could actually do with the help to sail it, not just for the money. I am no expert, but I know sailing across the Atlantic is not for the faint hearted.’
‘Spain is better than nothing,’ Roy said. ‘We would help with anything you need.’
‘Roy was in the Sea Cadets,’ I quickly added.
Roy stared at me for a couple of seconds before turning back to Elena. ‘Yes I was in the Sea Cadets, but it was over sixteen years ago.’
I nudged Roy in the ribs with my elbow, trying to shut him up. ‘But he remembers everything,’ I said. ‘He’s an excellent sailor.’
‘I don’t remember everything,’ Roy said. ‘But I’m a very quick learner.’
‘As am I,’ I told her.
‘Like I say,’ Elena said, smiling again. ‘We need the help. My brother Javier will be happy for it. He thinks I am a useless sailor.’
‘That is amazing,’ I said. ‘We’re incredibly grateful.’
‘It is no problem,’ Elena told us. I noticed her eyes linger a little bit longer on Roy.
‘Welcome aboard,’ Aurelie said to us.
‘Oui,’ Benoit agreed. ‘I am sorry. I did not realise the size of the boat. I thought it much smaller.’
‘Don’t worry about it Benoit,’ I said. ‘As long as I have passage to Europe, I don’t care about anything else.’
‘Is a Bavaria 47 capable of sailing across the Atlantic?’ Roy asked her.
‘Javier assures me it is,’ Elena replied. ‘He has sailed the Atlantic once before, but he did it from Tenerife to Barbados, not so far north.’
‘Is the north route more difficult?’ Roy asked.
‘I believe so,’ she said. ‘But we will be fine with Javier.’
I patted Roy on the knee, a huge grin on my face.
Fucking get in there. Our luck is definitely improving.
I tried to get some more sleep after the excitement of gaining passage had lessened slightly. While I gradually nodded off, I could hear Roy asking Elena more questions about the boat, and the ocean, and Javier.
My sleep had been fitful, but I didn’t properly wake up until after the lorry had stopped. Roy was kicking my foot to rouse me.
We all made our way to the back. Scarface opened the door and told us we had an hour before he was setting off again, with or without us. We used the toilets in the middle of the car park. Roy and I spent forty dollars on the vending machines, coming away with armfuls of sweets, cans of Diet Pepsi and crisps. The Frenchies and Elena were already in the lorry by the time we got back.
I dumped our purchases on the floor and told everyone to help themselves. ‘What were you doing over here Elena?’ I asked. ‘When the virus and everything started.’
She opened one of the cans. ‘I was visiting Javier. He has been living in Montreal for three years now. It was very bad timing, but I’d put two weeks aside to do some travelling. I was in Seattle when people start dying from the virus. I have been trying to get back to Javier ever since.’
‘Bet he was worried sick,’ Roy said.
‘He was,’ she agreed. ‘I only managed to speak to him one week ago. He feared I was dead. He was only going to wait another week or two, before sailing back to Spain.’
‘How did you get into Canada?’ I asked her.
She took a swig of the Diet Pepsi and swallowed it down. ‘Four of us took a small row boat and we followed the coast. We did it at night and managed to slip through the Canadian defences. We left the boat offshore and swam at the end.’
‘That will have been cold,’ I said.
‘Freezing.’ She stared at the can in her hand. ‘Only two of us made it to land. I think the others die of hypothermia. I did not see them go under. It was too dark.’
‘And thank the Lord, she found us,’ Aurelie said, causing Elena to look up and smile.
‘Yes,’ Elena said. ‘Although really they found me. I’d already spoken to Javier by then, so I asked this lovely couple if they would like to join me in trying to get to Montreal.’
‘When she mentioned sailing to Spain,’ Benoit said. ‘We asked her if we can join them.’
The back door slammed shut, with Scarface not even bothering to check if we were in here.
‘Guess he wasn’t joking about leaving us behind,’ I said.
‘Guess not,’ Roy agreed. ‘Let’s not mess about whenever he stops.’
The time spent on the back of Scarface’s lorry was strange and mostly boring. The days and nights seemed to merge, distorting everyone’s perception of time. Every four of five hours we’d be allowed to leave the trailer and relieve ourselves. There were two extended periods when Scarface slept, so we just frustratingly sat in the back of his stationary lorry.
Elena’s bottles of whiskey and rum came in very handy on the evenings, just to help us get to sleep more than anything. Four or five swigs each certainly helped.
In the daylight hours, which we saw very little of, we’d sit and chat about our friends and families back home, and what we thought the world was going to be like now. None of us were too hopeful about the whole situation. One thing we all had in common was that we were trying to take it one day at a time.
Easier said than done.
Get to the coast and sail across the Atlantic, then we can worry about what life will be like in an unknown Europe.
During the many discussions, we found out more about Elena and the Frenchies.
Elena was working in a library in Valladolid before she came to visit her brother. She finished university last year with a degree in history, but then decided she wasn’t interested in a career that involved history. She was considering becoming a photographer, or had been at least, before the virus hit. She thinks photographers won’t be needed for a long time to come.
Benoit surprised us all by telling us he was employed by a small company that did a lot of work for the French space program. It was something to do with predicting satellite’s orbits. I was impressed until he started to delve into the many intricate details that went into his job. I lost interest pretty quickly after that.
Aurelie was a translator, mostly translating medical and science journals from English, German and Dutch into French. She said it was sometimes interesting, but mostly incredibly boring.
Late one evening, it could have been any time come to think of it, Elena asked Roy about his wife. Roy was hesitant to tell us at first, a few more swigs of rum must have made it easier to talk.
Not long after leaving Mountain View, Roy, Sarah and Beth were in a large food store, picking up a few essentials. He claims he made the mistake of telling them to split up as it would be faster.
He heard his wife’s screams and went in search of her. She was down on the tiled floor in one of the aisles, trying to fight off the five zombies biting chunks out of her flesh. By the time Roy and Beth dragged the zombies off her and killed them, Sarah had already lost a lot of blood, and a large section of her throat was missing.
She bled out cradled in her husband’s arms, desperately fighting to stay alive, right to the very last moment.
DAY THIRTY
Chapter 13: Homeless
The back doors opened up to darkness. It was pitch black out there, which was a worry considering we were supposed to be in the middle of Montreal.
‘Brian, where are we?’ Elena asked.
‘Montreal,’ he replied. ‘Street lights go off for most of the night nowadays. I hope you all had a pleasant trip.’ He closed the door behind us and walked back to his cab.
‘Thanks Brian,’ I called out to him, and turned on Jack’s phone to check the time. Half one in the morning.
I honestly thought it was still yesterday afternoon.
‘Check your phone Chris,’ Roy said. ‘Let’s make sure we are in Montreal.’
I swiped to the map, quickly confirming we were indeed where we were supposed to be.
‘Javier is expecting us in eight hours,’ Elena told us. �
��Now there are more of us we cannot just turn up to the boat at this time. We may be caught by the Border Security.’
‘What do you want to do?’ I asked.
‘I’ll go and find Javier and the boat,’ she replied.
Roy scanned the warehouses around us and asked, ‘What do we do?’
Elena also looked at our limited options.
‘Have you got a phone?’ I asked her.
She smiled and shoved her hand into the inside of her coat, when it came out she was holding her phone. We quickly exchanged numbers.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I’ll text or call when it is time.’ She paused for a few seconds and looked to the sky. ‘It may be best to come before light, so I will call before the eight hours is up.’
‘Are you sure you don’t want one of us to come with you?’ Roy asked.
‘That’s sweet,’ she said, locking eyes with Roy. ‘But not necessary. I will be fine. So, how much money do you actually have? I will need to give it to Javier. He knows what supplies we need for the journey.’
Roy and I shared a quick glance. ‘Don’t know,’ I told her. ‘About ten grand.’
Better save a little bit of money for us, just in case. That should leave us with at least a thousand dollars.
‘Okay,’ Elena said. ‘Give it to me. That will be more than enough.’
I hesitated with my hand in the bag for a few seconds. It’s a lot of money to hand over to someone who is gonna just disappear into the night. I turned to Roy. He didn’t look concerned in the slightest.
Fuck it.
I emptied my socks, some of which I’d worn during the journey here, and handed her the bundles of cash. I didn’t bother to count them, leaving two rolls in my bag.
‘How did you get all this money?’ Elena asked as she stuffed it into her bag.
‘I’ll tell you later,’ I said. ‘I need to tell you the full story.’
With a little nod of her head, she said, ‘Okay. I shall see you all soon.’
As we watched her walking away, Roy seemed to be watching certain parts of her more intently than others. I wondered if it’d been long enough since the death of his wife for me to take the piss out of him.
I’ll leave it a little bit longer, just in case. It’s only been weeks after all.