by Jessica Ward
It was clear. None of us knew where to go, or what to do. The main problem we had, was we didn’t know where was safe, if in fact there was anywhere safe to go.
We had to make a decision, with the winter months closing in fast; our hours of daylight were fading rapidly.
“We should stick to the outskirts, try and avoid the cities and any built up areas.” Leon suggested.
“Ok, I have an idea.” I announced to the group. They all looked at me, waiting for me to formulate some sort of intricate yet genius plan to get us all through this. Sadly, that wasn’t what I had in mind.
“Let’s just flip a coin and see where that takes us?” I suggested, holding up a 50 pence piece I had found in our newly acquired car.
Everyone looked at me, as if I had gone mad. I ignored them as I carried on.
“Heads we go left, tails we go right.” I said pointing in both directions.
They all looked at one another. Nick was the first to agree. “Well, ok, I suppose, if no one has any better ideas?” he asked the group.
He was met again by complete silence. They reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t the best plan, but at this stage we needed to go somewhere. We didn’t know what would be waiting for us around each corner, so putting it into perspective; it wasn’t the worst idea leaving it to fate.
I took a step forward and flipped the coin into the air. I caught it and covered my palm.
“Here goes nothing.” I sighed as I lifted my hand and the coin came into view.
“Heads it is.” I announced.
“Fair enough.” Nick shrugged as we piled back into the cars. We were already facing in the right direction, so I took it as a good sign.
We headed past the countryside, and more into the real world. Nick kept his speed down; we couldn’t afford any accidents in our current circumstances. Ryan, Leon and the remaining group followed closely behind.
As we got to the roundabout, Nick veered off towards the Deanwater Hotel. We were making our way down the same road we had first travelled through, on our way to the main base.
“Is this safe?” I asked Nick, slightly fearful we would come across the same horde that had driven us out of our last home, and into the woods.
“I don’t know, but the way I see it, most of those things will be on the opposite side of the base. I can’t see them coming back on themselves unless they had reason to.”
He was right. Hopefully, they hadn’t found said reason.
We found out soon enough. The whole place looked abandoned. There wasn’t a soul in sight, dead or alive. I couldn’t believe that only a few days ago this whole place was rammed full of the undead, eager to get to us. Where were they?
We didn’t stay long enough to find out. We passed the base and made our way further down the road. I spotted a few infected pottering around the garden centre, most of them elderly. Go figure, Woodford Garden Centre was always full of old people, in fact, all garden centres were.
I don’t know what it is about retirement that makes people want to pot plants. They love nothing more than a leisurely stroll around a garden centre, spending hours drooling over rhododendrons, then once their mouths had sufficiently dried out, taken a trip to the in-house tea room, for a cup of earl grey, and if they feel like walking on the wild side, a toasted teacake. There you have it, retirement at its best.
I found myself drifting into a deep thought. I started to wonder, given the new world we were now part of, would I ever live to see retirement? Would I even want to, if this is all life consists of? No, there had to be more to life than this. I had never really thought about death before. I always felt invincible. I never planned too much into the future; I didn’t feel the need to. I paid into a pension fund at work, and that was about it. Even then, I always resented it.
We passed the Garden Centre and were veering towards Bramhall.
“Where are we going?” I asked Nick. Riding into Bramhall didn’t seem like the best idea; the centre of the village was always back to back traffic.
“Well, we need clothes and supplies don’t we?” he asked me, I nodded although I knew full well this was meant as a rhetorical question.
He carried on “Bramhall is a relatively small village, the shops we need are all close together, and we all know the area. We’ll take risks wherever we go now. This is the least risky option babe.”
Lacey and Paul agreed in the back. I sighed as I leaned back in my seat. He was right. We hadn’t eaten for over a day. Our clothes were covered in dirt. We clearly had a few issues to sort, personal hygiene was becoming a real issue too.
As we passed the Patch Lane and Queensgate crossroads, I had an idea. “Babe, pull into Holly Road, let’s take the back roads, just to be on the safe side” I urged, not wanting to be caught unawares.
He agreed and indicated left. The car behind us followed. I directed Nick around to Syddal Road. We pulled over when we got to Barclays bank. Just as I had imagined, abandoned cars littered the road ahead, blocking our path completely. Although the owners of the cars were nowhere to be seen, I started to feel uneasy. This is the first time we had been in a public area since the virus took over.
We cautiously opened our car doors. Nick cut the engine. He locked the car and pocketed the keys. We regrouped with the rest and decided on a plan. We all crossed the road. We were going to head towards the petrol station first. This was on the outskirts of the village, so we had no choice but to walk.
Cars blocked the main road in all directions. The cold breeze ran through me as I took in my surroundings. The streets were littered with broken glass. The rioters and looters must have had a field day when the outbreak first hit. Abandoned electrical appliances were sprawled out across the pavement. A huge plasma TV sat smashed to smithereens taking up the majority of the pavement to our right.
I looked further afield. The glass fronted shops were now completely abandoned. Cracks appeared within the glass of the shops that hadn’t been completed smashed through. I looked over to Superdrug. Shopping baskets littered the front entrance. Boxes of hair dye, makeup and bath products scattered the floor both inside and out. I made a mental note to visit. With our personal hygiene at an all-time low, the perfume, shower gel and other nice smelling goods would go a long way, to making me feel like a normal girl again.
Just as we crossed the road, a group of infected came out from the bank car park. This was bad news. As soon as they saw us they howled. They were trying to alert the other nearby infected that fresh food was near.
We needed to get somewhere safe, and fast. George shouted over to us, he was half way up the hill leading towards the Royal Mail delivery office. The shutter was already half way down. We could see into the small warehouse, it was completely clear. As more of the infected appeared from the other side of the road, we ran inside. George rushed to the front and started the shutters. We all darted inside as the shutters slowly pulled down, grinding as they descended.
Seeing their food source vanish, the infected started to sprint towards us, rushing to get to us before the shutters secured.
There was only a foot left to go as the first infected launched themselves at the door. We had got there just in time. The shutter reeled to a close as we pulled the double doors to, an extra safety feature beyond the steel shutters.
We were safe. For how long, none of us knew.
I looked around our new space. Parcels and letters of all shapes and sizes dominated the room. What was once a bustling sorting room was now a dormant space filled with undelivered mail, I could see the boys sweeping the area, checking for unwanted guests. The coast was clear.
“Well, that plans out the window then” I sighed, taking a seat on one of the stationary conveyer belts.
I thought about how close we were to Superdrug. I was so close to the shop I could practically smell the array of perfumes. Even before the infection, I always loved my smells. My favourite was vanilla. The sweet musky scent always dominated my shower gels, bath foams and soaps.
>
Now look at me. I was filthy. Covered in dirt with damp, soggy clothes I was a complete mess. I smelt as bad as I looked.
Feeling the frustration build up inside me, I pulled a few small packages out from underneath me. I threw them to one side. It was then I realised, this was a good a place as any to find new clothes. As a regular Ebayer, I was surprised it took me this long to realise. I always bought and sold new clothes; just imagine how many others were doing the same. Potentially this place could be full of clothes; all wrapped up, like slightly dull Christmas presents.
That was all the reasoning I needed. I started filing through the parcels, tearing away at any packages that were soft.
“Babe, what are you doing?” Nick asked baffled by my new found desire to open everything I could get my hands on.
“Looking for clothes” I replied, not even bothering to look up. Lacey immediately cottoned on to my theory and as I was, started ripping apart various parcels and jiffy bags.
I was now sat on the floor surrounded by other people’s mail. It was the most fun I had since the virus took over. This was a definite perk to the new world.
I had already found a Dorothy Perkins jumper in my size, along with a pair of Topshop super soft Leigh jeans (my favourite). I put them in my ‘keep’ pile. Eager to find more I continued with my search. The boys looked on at Lacey and me in astonishment. They clearly didn’t share the same passion we did when it came to opening the mail.
I was just about to throw a box to one side, keen to find more clothes, when the rattling caused me to stop. I turned the box over when I realised what it was.
I quickly pulled off the plastic cellophane holding the lid shut. The contents of the box were a much welcome surprise.
“Guys, look what I’ve found.” I said excitedly.
“What is it?” Leon asked peering over, trying to see into the box.
“It’s a Graze box!” I exclaimed. I pushed through the remaining pile surrounding me and found two more. “Look, that’s just in this pile, they'll be loads of them in here.” I told the group whilst handing them out.
“What on earth is a Graze box?” George asked.
Lacey answered for me, as I was busy tucking into my own box.
“Basically, you go on this website. You put in your address and they send you these boxes on a weekly basis. I get them at work all the time. They’re always offering free boxes. They’re just healthy snacks. Full of nuts and seeds and other stuff.” She told him.
“What a wonderful idea.” The professor exclaimed as he opened his box.
Each box contained four sealed plastic containers. Each container had a different food, and each box had a different selection. I opened the pretzels and pumpkin seeds first. We had gone that long without food, even the most basic of foods tasted amazingly good.
We were all surrounded by discarded wrapping as we opened every parcel we could lay our hands on. Who would have thought the Xboxes, PlayStation’s, iPad’s and phones would get cast aside as unwanted, useless technology. All the while we hunted for the much cheaper, basic necessities.
We were starting to develop a system, we had a communal food collection which was building in the middle of the room whilst each of us had our own clothes pile. We tossed different garments around as we unwrapped more and more.
“Oh Lacey, what do you think of this top?” I asked holding up a River Island lace top.
“I love it, don’t you want it?” Lacey replied, catching the top in mid-air.
“It’s a bit more your style than it is mine” I replied, my attention now on the next package.
We were so wrapped up in opening the different parcels, we forgot about the world going on around us. We had filled up on Graze boxes, and for the first time in ages, we even had chocolate.
The majority of our findings were tossed straight into the ‘crap pile.' That particular pile was slowly but surely starting to look like a car boot seller’s wet dream. It was unbelievable what people were sending through the post these days.
Bicycle parts, jewellery, curtains, a mountain of cables and wires, even living insects (we presume they were live, we all decided against opening those ones) cropped up in amongst our search.
We had eventually made our way through the majority of the parcels. We ended up having the most unusual feast. Graze boxes, jam preserves and crackers, washed down with ale, all with the strangest of names topped off with Thorntons, Cadburys and various other sweet treats.
We packed together as much food as we could carry. I grabbed my new clothes and a pack of baby wipes, which I had found amongst a baby hamper, and went to clean off as much dirt and grime as I could, which had caked into my skin, during our time in the woods.
I was that covered in dirt, I pretty much used up a full pack. It wasn’t a hot shower I was so longing for, but I felt considerably better than before.
I pulled my new skinny jeans on and the jumper I had first found. Grabbing a can of deodorant from my pile, I covered myself completely from head to toe. I was starting to feel normal again.
Although I had chosen my clothes a size smaller than what I usually would be, they still felt a little baggy. I didn’t realise how much weight I had actually lost since the infection took over.
I strolled over to the rest of the group. We had all changed our clothes and were looking a lot more civilian than we had done before. This was actually the first time I had seen Leon or Ryan out of uniform. I hardly recognised them. I couldn’t believe how normal they looked.
They had both found dark wash jeans and plain t-shirts, but they weren’t the most stylish. They had definitely dressed for practicality rather than style, but even then, they looked good.
The boys had come across a few electric razors in among the post, so they had all for the first time in a long time, had a decent shave.
“Well, I have to say, we’re all starting to look relatively normal again.” I said to the group.
“Feels much better, these socks are great.” Paul said lifting up his foot. “I’m taking these babies with me” he picked up the rest of the pack, still half wrapped.
Lacey and I started to giggle. Bless Paul, he was so thrilled with his new socks, they were all he seemed to be bothered about. The socks were plain black and covered in cookie monsters, he looked so comical in his Sesame Street novelty socks.
“You Muppet.” Lacey laughed shaking her head.
Right at that moment George and the Professor stepped forward. They were holding a small jiffy bag, it was marked Special Delivery.
"It seems we have a new heading” George announced holding up a small key.
Chapter 5 – All Hands on Deck
“What’s that for?” I asked George, gesturing to the key.
“It’s a boat, well the keys to a boat to be more precise.” The Professor interjected.
George pulled out a letter from the jiffy bag he was holding. It was sent by ‘Venetian Marina.' It read:
Dear Mr Anderton,
Re: Lion Heart, 1997, 70ft Traditional Style Narrowboat
Thank you for your recent purchase. We have received your payment in full, and are pleased to enclose the keys to your new boat.
As discussed, your Narrow Boat is currently docked with us here at the Marina in bay V43.
May we take this opportunity to thank you for your custom and we wish you all the best for the future.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Hope
Director
Venetian Marina (Nantwich) Ltd
“Poor Mr Anderton.” Lacey said shaking her head. “Bet that boat would have come in useful in this mess” she added.
“Yeah, suppose, but good news for us. We’ll be much safer on the water; did you see those things when we were in the lake? I don’t think they like water.” Paul replied.
“Yes, yes this is all true.” George agreed, trying to steer the conversation.
“But we have a few obstacles to get past first.” he said, bri
nging us all back to reality.
“How exactly are we going to get back to the cars?” I asked. “Plus, Nantwich is just over an hour away from here” I reminded the group.
“Yeah, but think about it, it’s all back roads.” Paul chimed in, his excitement not quite ready to fade. His mood had been lifted, just by putting on those ridiculous Cookie Monster socks. He was the happiest I had ever seen him. Nothing could bring him down.
“Ok, ok, let’s pack up here, and we’ll try and find a way out.” I agreed.
I was trying to be realistic. As great as it was that we now had somewhere to go, realistically we still had a long way to go to get there. It was naïve to think we could simply drive there, and hop straight onto the boat and live happily ever after. We didn’t know what dangers we faced on the other side of that door, let alone what we would encounter along the way.
But still, it was worth a try. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it was something we needed to do. I still held out a little hope that somewhere out there, was a safe place. Free from infection, and with other survivors like ourselves. There had to be. We just needed to find it.
“Right then, shall we split the food up first and divide it between us?” Lacey asked, getting down to business.
“Me take cookies!” Paul answered in his best Cookie Monster voice.
He was sitting on an old conveyor belt. As giddy as a school girl would be, having just met One Direction for the first time.
Lacey rolled her eyes “I think you’ve had too much sugar” she quipped as she tried to arrange the food supply.
Paul pulled his feet up and wiggled his toes “Om, nom nom nom” he replied in his familiar Cookie Monster tone.
We all laughed, but Lacey shook her head. “You do realise that’s all we’re going to get out of him now.” she said pointing to him as if he were a naughty child.
“Ooooh Cookie Monster said, you from Grouchland” Paul replied Cookie style, seemingly unfazed to her irritation.
That was it; she couldn’t keep her face straight any longer, and neither could we. We all burst out into hysterical laughter. Tears streamed down our faces as we struggled to compose ourselves. Even Ryan and Leon struggled to stand upright they were laughing so much.