Robyn shrugged. “Turn you into jerky and keep walking until I hit something.”
Mila burst out laughing. “Very funny. It is good that we can still laugh.”
“Who was joking?” Robyn replied with a smile on her face. “Okay, so what are our options?”
“If we head around this hill,” she began, pulling her compass out, “and down the other side; in about two miles there is a … I forget the word.”
“Village?”
“No, smaller than village.”
“Err… Yeah, right after geography and maths, my next worse subject was English. Let’s just call it a small village.”
Mila nodded. “That is where we should go.”
“It’s as good as anywhere, I suppose. Who knows? we might find transport there.”
“Who knows?”
“Before we head off again, I could really do with something to eat.”
“Yes, I also could eat. I don’t think we should start a fire.”
“No, definitely not.”
“So, it is cold baked beans or digestive biscuits.”
“Biscuits? You’ve got biscuits?”
“Yes.”
“Where? I never saw them in the larder.”
“I never kept them in the larder. This is my emergency pack that I keep in my rucksack.”
“I can’t believe you have biscuits and you never told me.”
“They are only digestive biscuits, and neither did you ask nor did an appropriate conversation take place that would require me to share this information.”
“That sounds like the kind of thing one of those fancy lawyers would come out with on LA Law or something.”
“Although I am not particularly familiar with this LA Law, I doubt very much that there was ever an episode involving a case with digestive biscuits.”
“So you never saw the one where the woman had been hiding biscuits from her best friend and the best friend ended up murdering her brutally?”
“I think I would have remembered.”
“Yeah well, cough up the bikkies, best friend, or you might get the starring role in the remake.”
Mila smiled broadly, not just because of the humour but because Robyn had used the term best friend so naturally and comfortably. There had been no pause to think about it, she had just said it. Of course, there was not a lot to think about. They were friends, and Mila was the only other person Robyn knew outside of her sister and Georgie, but she would happily take any term of endearment that was thrown her way.
“I suppose this is a kind of emergency.”
“Seriously, if they’re not in my hand in the next five seconds, it will be a full-blown emergency.”
“I will ration them. I don’t believe you have sufficient self-control to be entrusted with an entire packet.”
Robyn fixed her with a stern stare then said, “Actually, that’s fair enough. I’m like that blue muppet, what’s his name?”
Mila undid the wrapping and handed three digestives across. “This was not a muppet. I think you are referring to—”
“It totally was,” Robyn replied, stuffing a whole digestive into her mouth and chomping down on it. Her cheeks jutted out like a hamster’s, and when she opened her mouth again, the biscuit was wedged. She tried to speak but was barely intelligible. “Nam nom nom nom.”
“Yes, I know who you mean, but he was not a muppet. He was from Sesame Street. We had this in Germany also. His name was Cookie Monster.”
It took Robyn a few seconds to chew enough of the digestive to be able to speak again. “Yeah, but he was a muppet.”
“No, he was a puppet. The muppets were on the Muppet Show. He was a puppet on Sesame Street.”
“Same thing,” Robyn said, placing another whole biscuit in her mouth.
Mila was about to argue when she stopped herself and bit a chunk out of her own biscuit. The two of them ate in comfortable silence, washing the sweet snacks down with water. “I suppose we should begin our journey.”
“Yeah. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find a nice place to bed down for the night. I really don’t want to be out after dark if we can help it.”
“We are very isolated out here. I don’t think there’s that much to worry about.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”
Within a minute they were on the march again. For the moment, the insect repellent was working, and the trees were providing adequate cover from the sun. The more time that passed, the more optimistic their moods became as they felt sure that their pursuers had finally given up the chase.
By the time they reached the edge of the forest, it was mid-afternoon. The tall hill behind them looked beautiful in the sun, and it could just as easily have been a snapshot from the Canadian wilds as where they were. They made their way across the fields, ever vigilant.
Mila removed the compass from her pocket and checked it then slid the map out of her rucksack once again. “Over there,” she said, pointing to more woods. “Maybe we can forage for some mushrooms and other bits and pieces so as not to run down our supplies so quickly, yes?”
“Oh yeah. That would totally make my day. I was wondering what could top getting chased up a mountain by a gang of vicious thugs and you have so hit the nail on the head with that suggestion.”
“Good, then we are agreed.”
“Err … FYI, I was being sarcastic.”
“No, really? It is good that you tell me because I miss these things,” Mila replied, raising her left eyebrow.
“Okay. Sarky cow!”
“Ah yes, this is the kettle calling the pot black.”
“I think it’s the other way round.”
“So they are both black?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So why does the order matter?”
Robyn’s mouth opened to answer then suddenly her brow creased when she realised she couldn’t. “Okay, you’re starting to give me a headache now.”
“Anyway, as I was saying, it will be good to find a little food if we can so we don’t use everything we have brought.”
“Okay, whatever,” Robyn said as they continued over the fields towards the woodland.
✽ ✽ ✽
A minibus and a small lorry pulled into the farmyard and parked next to the box van. The driver of the minibus climbed out and walked straight over to where Cullen’s body lay. Snape went across to join him.
“Y’alright Dalton?” Snape asked.
The other man didn’t even acknowledge the question. He looked briefly towards Snape then back down at the corpse. “Why didn’t you radio me when this first happened? Why wait until you’re back here and the trail’s gone cold?”
“Well, err … we were chasing them down. We didn’t think they’d get away.”
“You didn’t think they’d get away?” More men climbed out of the minibus and down from the cab of the lorry to join them.
“We all went after them, but they were fast.”
Dalton shook his head and rolled his eyes then looked up towards the sun. “Not a lot of daylight left. I suggest we bed down here for the night, post a guard in case they come back. Then tomorrow we’ll have a drive around.”
“They could be anywhere by now.”
“That they could. But there’s no way I’m going back to Loch Uig minus one lieutenant without putting a bit of effort in at least. I’ve become quite attached to my balls; I don’t want them ripping off just yet. You lot, on the other hand,” he said, looking around at the assembled men, “you’d better hope and pray we find them.”
“It’s not like we let this happen. It was all over when—”
“Save it, Snape. I’m not the one you need to convince. I’m just going to make sure I did everything I could before I head back.”
Dalton glared at him and then walked away. Snape remained standing there, looking down at Cullen’s body.
“Those cigarettes I gave you,” said Jefferson, walking up beside him.
“What about t
hem?”
“I couldn’t bum a couple, could I?”
“You serious?”
“They were my last two packs, and if I get a final request, I don’t want to rely on my executioner having one to spare.”
chapter 13
Robyn shook the can of insect repellent; it was almost empty. They would need at least some for tomorrow, and as the day was gradually coming to a close, she could not justify using any more.
“I’m begging you. We’ve been in these bloody woods for hours. Please, please can we go?”
Mila smiled. “Yes. We have a good haul. Maybe we can come back this way. It is very bountiful.”
“Oh yeah. That would be awesome. Remind me, I’ll make sure I slit my wrists bef— oh shit! I’m sorry. That was a bad joke.”
“You don’t have to walk on the eggshells around me. I became sad, I didn’t see a way out, I nearly killed myself. It was a bad patch, but meeting you changed everything. I am better now.”
“Still. It wasn’t a good thing to say, I’m sorry.”
“So, you will come foraging again?”
“God, no.”
Mila checked her compass, and the pair of them started walking. As they reached the other side of the woods, the sun was very low in the sky. “Maybe we spent a little too long in there.”
“I could have told you that … about an hour ago.”
They carried on over the fields until they came to an abandoned tractor. “We are not too far away from civilisation.”
“I don’t think that when things were normal this would count as civilisation.”
“Ha! Yes, you are probably right.”
They continued, finally reaching a single track road, which they walked along side by side.
“Huh! That’s weird,” Robyn said as three houses all in close proximity to one another came into view.
“What is weird?”
“All this space and they build these houses so close together.”
“No, this is not weird. It is actually very common. Generations of the same families live on these crofts, and it is not unusual to have two, three, sometimes more properties all close together.”
“God, that would be a nightmare. Can you imagine getting married and then living right under your parents’ noses?”
“I loved my mutter und vater, but I loved them a lot more when I moved over here.” They both laughed.
“Yeah, this setup doesn’t really lend itself to a romantic lifestyle, does it? You sneak upstairs for some nookie, and by the time you come back down, Granny’s walked into the wrong house, and she’s sitting in your kitchen with her knitting and your dad and brothers are watching the match in the living room ’cause your mum wants to catch up with her cookery program.”
“You are funny,” Mila said, but the smile immediately disappeared from her face as she saw movement. “Shh!” She stopped dead and put her hand out to stop Robyn too. They were still about a hundred metres back from the entrance to the small courtyard.
“What is it?” Robyn asked.
“I think I saw movement.”
Robyn reached over her shoulder and wrapped her fingers around the grip to one of the swords. “Do you think it’s one of them?”
“One of them?”
“The men from Loch Uig?”
“I have no idea, Robyn. I just saw movement. Fast, brief. That is all.”
“Okay. Maybe we should think about looking for somewhere else.”
“We would not get anywhere before dark. We can carry on or go back into the woods, maybe hide in a tree until morning.”
“Ooh, that sounds like fun.” Robyn looked back towards the houses. “Are you sure you saw something?”
“I am sure.”
“Well, if it was those men, they’re not really subtle types. If they caught sight of us, I think bullets would be flying in our direction now.”
“So, we go on?”
“We go on, but keep your eyes peeled.”
They carried on slowly. Everything seemed a little more threatening. They stopped again at the entrance. There was one large white house and two smaller ones with boarded windows on the other side of the yard. A Land Rover Discovery was parked in front of the big house and a black Audi A4 stood at the far end. “Okay. No vans, no groups of men emptying houses. I think we are s—”
“What do you want?” shouted a voice.
Robyn and Mila turned to where the sound had come from to see an open window with a double-barrel shotgun pointing towards them. “We don’t want anything,” Robyn called back. “We saw movement and—” A bang echoed around the small courtyard, stopping Robyn in mid-sentence. She and Mila immediately turned towards one of the smaller houses. Hammering started on the thick wooden door, and suddenly they could hear the excited growls of the infected from within.
“Be on your way,” the gruff voice commanded.
“What the hell is this? There are infected here. We need to—”
“We don’t need to do anything. Now, I’m telling you. Be on your way.”
Another crashing thud sounded against the door of the second house. “What the hell’s going on here?” Robyn asked.
“Just go. Go—”
Robyn and Mila suddenly heard another voice, and a muffled conversation continued behind the lace curtains. The banging against the doors continued as did the growling and the pair of them kept turning to survey the whole courtyard, half expecting to see creatures tearing towards them, but none did. They remained there for over a minute before the door to the big house finally clicked open. They looked at each other and then cautiously walked towards it.
They entered the narrow, dark hallway, but whoever had unlocked the door had already disappeared. The sound of crackling flames led them into the living room where they saw a man standing with a broken shotgun resting over one arm and a woman sitting by his side. “You’ve been sent to us, haven’t you?” the woman said.
“Err … no. We were just looking for somewhere to sleep. We saw this place and thought it might be empty,” Robyn replied.
The woman smiled. “Well, maybe you don’t know why you’re here, but I do. I prayed and prayed and prayed for help, and our good Lord has finally sent it.”
“I’m sorry. I think you’ve got us mixed up with someone else.”
“Two angels. He’s sent two angels to deliver us from our suffering.”
“I—”
“Cathy, why don’t you go prepare some food? These girls look starving,” the man said.
“Och! Where are my manners?” the woman asked, standing up and disappearing out of the room.
“Err … I don’t really understand what’s going on here. One minute you’re all get off my land and the next we’re angels sent to save you,” Robyn said, looking at the man.
He was in his fifties and had a weathered face from years spent outdoors. The flames from the fire flickered in his big brown eyes reflecting deep sorrow and pain. He slumped down onto the arm of a chair and just looked towards Robyn and Mila for a few seconds. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all of this,” he said, gesturing towards the shotgun. “I’m sorry for my wife. She … she hasn’t been the same since it all happened.”
“Since what all happened?” Robyn asked.
“Our two sons.” He nodded towards the smaller houses. “When the news of the outbreak first came, they both headed out to get supplies before it got really bad. They were too late. The infection was already everywhere. They both got bitten. Neither lasted the night, and they took their wives and children with them. I didn’t think. I didn’t think to separate them. They were my boys; they would never hurt their families. Well, it sent Cathy a little strange. A dozen times I’ve woken up, taken my shotgun and walked up to their doors. I even got as far as putting my fingers on the handle one time, but I can’t do it. I can’t put them out of their misery even though I know it’s the right thing, the humane thing to do. I know they’re not my sons anymore. I know they’re not my
grandchildren anymore, but I just can’t.”
“You boarded the windows so you wouldn’t see them,” Mila said softly.
“I boarded up the windows on the first day so they wouldn’t break out. I didn’t want to be put in a position where my weakness meant that it could put Cathy in danger. I needed more time, that was my thinking. If I had time to come to terms with the idea then eventually I’d be able to do it. But the time never came.”
“All that stuff your wife said about praying. What was that?” Robyn asked.
“I told you, she hasn’t really been right. She gets on with the day-to-day stuff. Like if I say I want a cup of tea or the plants need watering, she responds just as she always would, but then she keeps drifting too. On one level she knows what’s going on. On another level, it’s like she’s living in a different world. I hear her talking to God a lot. I hear her praying a lot. I’m guessing she’s praying for a husband who has the guts to do what needs to be done.” He swallowed hard and looked towards the fire. Tears appeared in his eyes and the scary man who had shouted threats through the window was now much more vulnerable.
Robyn took a step towards him. “Look, it’s easy to blame yourself, but there’s nothing easy about this world. If I was faced with killing my sister or my parents after they’d turned, I don’t know what I’d be like. I’m thankful that I’ve never had to deal with it.”
He turned towards her. “It’s good of you to say that.”
“I’m Robyn, this is my friend, Mila.”
A thin, sad smile cracked on the man’s face. “I’m Patrick.”
“Okay, Patrick. Look, we need something, and you need something. Maybe we can help each other out.”
“What do you need?”
“We need transport. If we take care of your problem, can you help us with ours?”
“The Audi out there, it belongs to Jonathon, my eldest. If you help me, it’s yours.”
Robyn walked to the window and pulled the net curtains open. The sun was just a slip of light on the horizon, and the red sky was gradually giving way to darkness. “Tomorrow morning, first light, we’ll sort it for you. I always avoid doing this kind of stuff in the dark where possible.”
“It sounds like you do this all the time.”
The End of Everything (Book 7): The End of Everything Page 9