by Stevens, GJ
The room was about the size of the bedroom upstairs where I spent most of my time in the house, but without the bed and the dated flowered wallpaper, unless it was authentic decaying brick print.
The floor was soft, a mix of rubble and mud I didn't want to spend much time looking at. Along the walls were shelves filled with jam jars, but I couldn't make out anything edible inside. The smell was an improvement from above, but only just; the musk and musty odour made me glad when my breath finally slowed.
The three children huddled around the far edge, holding each other's hands for warmth. It was cold down here, almost as cold as outside.
I wanted to talk, but Andrew insisted we kept silent.
To the side of him was Lane, crouched down in what seemed a strange pose. His hand floated in the air, I thought, until light flashed across a pair of eyes. It was Shadow, Lane's hand stroking his back.
I wanted to say sorry as I stood and looked around the room, wanted to apologise for what I'd said, even though it had only been inside my head. I wanted to say sorry for not letting them in. I wanted to cry out this was all my fault. If they hadn't had to break the door down, they could have kept the horde from overrunning.
I had no more tears left to cry, had nothing inside me left to give. So, I waited as patiently as I could. Waited while listening to everyone's stomach groan and complain for food. Listening to the movement on the boards above, the slow methodical placement of one foot after another.
The creak and crack of activity above slowed, but only after some time had past. No one could say how long, but it was less than a day and more than a few hours.
We'd burnt through two candles and had just lit the last when the sound upstairs rattled my nerves.
It was them. It was Logan and Cassie, I was sure. It was their heavy steps, faster than the others had been. It was their vehicle we'd heard rumbling outside, their vehicle which left and came back and now idled on the road.
Andrew didn't agree but wouldn't voice a reason why it was better to stay here than to venture back up, to peer out through the door and contact whoever it was. But he'd been outside; he'd gone with Lane to fetch back the kid.
I'd seen nothing and I would not make another decision which could end someone's life. Shadow knew it, too, and ran to the stairs before Lane could leap after him; before he could stop him letting loose a bark.
Andrew and Lane subdued him, their hands tight around his mouth.
Now it was too late and we heard their voices, heard Logan and Cassie outside; heard their upset.
The engine revved and they wouldn't be able to hear our shouts, wouldn't be able to hear Shadow's bark echo in the air.
Andrew was first to rise, the first to run up the creaking wooden steps. The first to push up the board covering the hatch and the first to jab the door, to feel it move only an inch as the fridge I'd toppled stayed where it had been pushed by the creatures clambering after me.
Lane was the second to try it, and the third as they put all their weight behind.
I was the first to find my tears again. The children followed shortly after.
79
LOGAN
“Jack mentioned his house. Maybe they'll be there? Or the supermarket? Whatever's left,” I said to Cassie, trying to catch old conversations as they rolled around my head.
When she replied, her voice was distant, her gaze fixed on the road behind.
“They'll be running for their lives,” she said, the words tailing off before rising to a shout. “Stop.”
I pushed my foot to the brake, looked left, looked right and checked ahead, trying to see what had caused the panic. I couldn't see anything in the fading light and turned in my seat, twisting as she leant against the back door, her hand pushing it wide.
“Cassie,” I shouted, as she jumped into the night. Still, I searched the view until I caught movement, something low to the road in the failing light.
Was it a dog bounding up from behind? “Shadow,” I shouted, pulling myself from the seat and following Cassie out.
Forgetting McCole, forgetting the lurking danger, I ran towards Cassie, watching as Shadow slowed. Watching as he came to a stop and turned his head back, his bark rolling over the stone walls and back again.
As Cassie neared, pushing her hand out to pat his head, he turned away and ran in the opposite direction. I'd watched enough episodes of Lassie in my youth not to question what he needed us to do.
With a quick glance in my direction, Cassie continued her chase as I raced back to the Land Rover.
“You know him?” McCole said, as I launched down heavy in the seat.
“Yes, I do,” I replied with a grin, turning the Defender in three points.
The headlights lit the pair almost back at the cottage. Soon overtaking, I jumped to the road, pausing only to grab the tyre iron from the front seat as Shadow raced past and back through the open door.
I didn't need him to lead the way. I could already hear their distant voices calling, growing louder as I passed the bodies we'd stepped over twice before.
Arriving in the kitchen, I followed Shadow's pointed nose towards the fingers hooked around the cupboard door in the corner, his bark rattling the windows as the fridge lay toppled across their escape.
With two heaves, Cassie and I, grinning from ear to ear, dislodged the fridge and slid it across the floor.
Not waiting for a helping hand, the door pushed open and there was Lane and Andrew, with Zoe behind.
Cassie squeezed past them all with her arms open to pull Ellie out from the back.
I paused for a moment, letting my grin lower until Jack led Tish up the steps and into the twilight. To Shadow's barks we laughed and hugged, Andrew trying to calm our voices, reminding us of the reality.
With the tyre iron in my hand, I led them out.
It was the distant calls in the night which hurried everyone into the Land Rover, hurried our introductions to McCole.
Still, I took the time to make sure we'd counted each head twice over.
“Where now?” Andrew asked from the front seat.
I couldn't help but smile, glancing over the questioning faces in the back as I told them we had a plan and were taking a trip to a hospital only a short while away.
Cassie spent the whole time with her arms wrapped around her sister, while Ellie squirmed away from the kisses.
“In the morning,” McCole said, causing me to pause.
“In the morning,” I added. “He's right. We don't need to be in the open tonight.”
I drove us the short distance to the hamlet, not answering any of their questions, but peering as best I could along the road and letting the headlights light up each of the doors until I found the perfect place.
I chose the house next to the one in which we'd spent so much time, a house which hadn't been raided by the looters and stood protected with double-glazed windows.
Tipping a wave across the road to the figure back-lit by faint light coming from a bedroom window, I was pleased to see the old guy was still okay and hoped for his wife, too.
I reversed the car down the side of the house, knocking down the short wooden fence so I could get close.
With guns in hand, Lane, Andrew and I left the car, leaving strict instructions of what to do if we got into trouble.
We cleared the outside of the house in the last of the light. A small window by the back door smashed with three hits from a stone and we were in, leaving the doors intact.
I took the first floor and cleared each room. My heart raced as I saw a disembodied head waiting on a dressing table, but instead of launching an attack, I let my breath calm and opened the curtains. It was just a plastic wig stand.
With no fuss or fury from downstairs, everyone piled in and we herded them in to the front room as Andrew secured the back door and window, while I fingertip-searched the rucksacks for torches, candles and matches.
Before we lit the place up, we closed all the curtains whilst watching
as the flowered wallpaper took shape. We found no hidden basement, just a loft hatch, but no ladder to get us up high if we needed.
By the time we'd finished the search, we knew the house inside out. We knew every route. Knew everything of use in each of its four bedrooms and had decanted the water from each of the taps until it ran brown with the sludge from the bottom of the tank. We knew every morsel of food and had it packed in bags; split by each door and ready if we had to take flight, all before feasting on cold beans, tinned tomatoes and the last of the Christmas chocolates. Orange creams never tasted so good.
Tiredness caught up as stomachs filled. We had no idea of the time, with no clocks hanging on the walls or standing, chiming in the hall.
I told everyone as we ate to be ready to leave at first light. Setting a candle to time each watch, we agreed the rota as we all dissipated around the house.
No one had asked about the plan, I was glad. I had no energy to explain, but I would need to have an adult conversation with Jack in the morning. I would need to decide if I should trust everyone with what we’d unintentionally kept as a secret. Did they need to know about the hope which lay on his head? I was too tired to answer the question.
The kids were given the biggest bedroom. Zoe and Cassie were to share the next, leaving the box room at the front for McCole and a lookout with their dual objective.
The dining room was where the other watch would stay awake, looking across the vast garden ready to rouse the house. The large, double front room upstairs was where I would take my turn to rest before the candle burned to its base.
I checked in on Cassie, knocking at the door, but Zoe lay there, out of this world, her eyelids flittering in the candlelight, a space beside her.
I found her in the kid's room, laying fully clothed on top of the covers, her arm around her sister, next to Tish and Jack, huddled together.
I couldn't help but stare at the boy. Couldn't help but wonder how someone so little could hold the key to our future.
My gaze drifted to Cassie and her face as it flickered by the candle in my hand. I'd wanted to say goodnight, to talk about the day, about what tomorrow might bring. I wanted to talk about the rest of our lives. I wanted to know if she was excited about the future too.
Closing the door, I drifted to the front room, heard movement downstairs and, covering the candle, I peered outside.
The street was quiet, unmoving and I tried to force myself to relax, tried to unlearn the fear from the last few days. Tonight was where it started to go right. Tonight was where it would go our way. Tonight was the end of the beginning.
I could hear Cassie's laughter in my head and I chuckled to myself as I undressed, pulling on new underwear from the drawer. They were a little tight, but I was learning to get by.
Folding my clothes and keeping them at hand, I slipped into a dream after barely sliding under the covers, until I bolted upright as a frozen hand touched my shoulder.
80
Her low voice soothed my heavy breath, her other hand so much warmer against my chest as she pushed me down, drawing the covers up and sliding to my side.
Her cold finger warmed against my lips, her mouth silent as I listened to her breath, mine held so I wouldn't disturb the dream.
Her scent rolled over me as she drew close, adding to the most lucid experience I'd had in all my years.
Her palm ran along my chest, bumping over muscles, my ribs pain free as I tensed until her hand settled on my shoulder and there it stayed as our breath slowed and my body relaxed.
It was light when I woke and I turned to see the bed empty next to me. It was a dream and I deflated as the realisation came.
The house was silent and no one had woken me for my watch. I rushed from the bed, smelling a mix of foreign odours, but the hint of smoke in the air made me pull on my clothes and step to the window to see the lone Cord ambling in the road.
My chest tightened as foreign sounds started from downstairs; the noise of activity, of action.
I checked the bedrooms and found them all empty. My heart raced as I searched the landing for anything heavy, but found only the mistake I’d made in leaving everything of use downstairs. I would have to attack unarmed.
Creeping back to the bedroom, I pulled on my clothes and quickly found a bottle of perfume, its tapered cap the best I could do as I took the first step down, willing myself to peer around the corner with sweat building on my forehead.
81
Halfway down the stairs my fist went out, the tapered bottle nestled below my knuckles as a face came around the corner.
Pulling back the lunge, the perfume bottle slipped from my hand as I saw Lane's wide smile staring back. My hands went out, flailing in the air for the glass, taking hold just before it could smash hard against his face.
With an unnecessary juggle between my hands, I had it gripped tight, watching as his wide smile narrowed and his head turned to the side as he locked on to the tapered glass.
“Good morning,” he said in reply to my shrug before disappearing towards the kitchen.
I rose back to the top step, leaving the bottle to rest on a bookcase in the landing before hurrying down the stairs with the smell of charred meat filling my lungs.
“Barbecue,” I said under my breath as I peered out of the window to the thin wisp of white smoke.
Following the smell through the kitchen and into the dining room, I found the long table set for eight places with everyone but Zoe sat down as she moved around the table, forking out food to each setting.
All eyes turned to me as I entered; even Shadow took his stare from the plate of food as it moved around the room. At his feet, a bowl already stood empty.
Cassie sat between Andrew and Ellie, smiling in my direction, only turning away as Zoe filled her plate.
“We found a full freezer. It thawed, but the stuff at the bottom was still cold,” Andrew said, a half smile filling his face.
“Who’s watching?” I replied, my mouth not curling up as it filled with saliva. “There’s one out there,” I said, looking between the faces.
“Just one?” Andrew replied.
I nodded.
“The doors are locked and everyone is here,” he added, looking around the table. “It’ll be fine while we eat,” and attacked his food with his knife and fork, sounds of pleasure issuing from his mouth.
I knew he was probably right and I also knew too well the pull of the food on the table.
“Why didn't anyone wake me for my turn?” I asked, still standing in the doorway.
“You needed the sleep,” Lane replied, to nods around the table as he cut the food on McCole's plate.
I watched a grin appear on Cassie's face and she looked me straight in the eye, biting her bottom lip as she dipped her head; it hadn't been a dream.
Shadow joined me at my side as I took the seat at the head of the table and ate like it was only the second proper meal I'd had in days.
Despite being able to finish my plate, I let Shadow take the last of the prime meat and watched him gulp it down, barely chewing as I ran my palm down his black coat.
Last night was where it all changed, but the first real change came only moments later.
A fist, not heavy but firm, banged on the front door.
Lane, Andrew, McCole and I shared a look, pausing before we jumped to our feet, knocking the table as we rose.
The three of us who were able had the same thought, grabbing table knives in our fists as we ran to the front door.
“No, no, no,” came the voice from the other side as I struggled with the door, finding it double locked; we didn't find a key last night.
I shrugged my jacket on and gingerly opened the back door, a gust of wind rushing across my face.
With Andrew at my back we crept around the corner, my hand fumbling in the pocket for the handgun, only then remembering I was the rifleman now.
Nearing the corner and brushing down the side of the Land Rover, I could hear a low m
oan in the street and saw Cords ambling in the distance. The procession shared the same pace, slowing rolling down the street. I turned back and glanced at Andrew, silently confirming with a shake of my head they hadn’t been there a moment ago.
At the front was the old man I recognised from across the road, banging at our door and repeating the same word.
“What's wrong?” I asked, letting my fist down, despite the shotgun cracked open in the crook of his arm.
As he saw me, then Andrew at my back, his eyes opened wide, his free arm reaching out.
“What's wrong?” I repeated.
“The smell, the smell,” he said.
I stopped moving but didn't need long to figure out he was talking about the food smell still only just dissipating.
“It's drawing them in.”
I turned again, looking behind me. Although the creatures still ambled slowly, they were getting close and another pack was coming from the other end of the row of houses.
“Shit,” I said, turning to Andrew. “We've got to go and quick.”
Andrew disappeared down the side of the house and I turned back to the old man.
“Listen,” I said, trying to calm his continued repetition. “We need to go now,” but when he didn't react, I built my voice up.
“We've found a safe place, a hospital a few miles away. The military are there, they'll help. You can come with us if you want?”
We didn't really have the room but would have to make do. I couldn't leave these people here when we could give them hope.
He stopped talking; stopped repeating his words and eventually nodded with great enthusiasm.
“Go back to your wife, get ready and we'll come and get you,” I said, and watched as he turned, hobbling across the road as the horde drew in from either side.
By the time I was back in the house, thanks to our planning last night, everyone was queuing up at the back door with the supplies in hand, Lane helping McCole to line up whilst handing me the rifle.