by Birch, S. C.
“Oh,” said Lucy, “so that’s why you stopped?”
Jack nodded, “It is indeed.” Then he looked hard at Lucy, “How did you know I stopped?”
“Oh, err, we -” Lucy started.
But Owen cut in, “The car’s tracked.”
Jack sighed. “Of course it is.”
Emily walked round the counter, grabbed her brother’s arm, and dragged him away through the dim halls of the cinema.
“Ah, fuck.” said Jack as his sister stopped walking.
“Don’t do that again.”
“Em, look -”
“Just! Just don’t! Promise me that!”
Jack sighed. “Emily, I can’t stay with you. You know that.”
Emily looked up at her brother, “Why do you always run away?”
Jack placed his hands on her shaking shoulders and crouched down to her eye level. “Em, I love you, okay? Fuck, I love you more than anyone else on this entire fucking planet. But I can’t let you get hurt or any other zombie related bullshit because of me. We both know the rules and we both know how this goes.” Jack felt Emily trembling under his hands. “Okay…Cam’s gonna look after you. He promised me that. And you have Owen as well; you know he’s not going anywhere. But, please, for just now let’s just…let’s just watch the movie. Please?”
Emily sniffed in hard, wiped the back of her hand under her nose, and walked away. And Jack stood in her wake, watching her leave. He gripped the back of his neck and sat on a bench. He stayed there, on his own, until Daniel found him and told him the film was starting.
The gang stole a heart attack’s worth of sweets, loaded up paper bags filled with popcorn, poured as much fizzy juice as their cardboard cups could manage, and set them all in Hall Four. After that, Cameron slipped into the projection room and loaded up their film, then took his seat on the aisle.
Then the film started.
Their eyes were introduced to a murderous zombie rampage throughout a hospital. Everyone was slaughtered by the fast and ravenous zombies. Fake blood and guts flew across the screen and piercing wails bounced along the cinema walls. This lasted for a cringe-worthy amount of time, then the screen went black and the title ‘The Day The Dead Came Back’ dripped onto the screen like sticky blood and a booming music accompanied it.
Owen laughed in embarrassment. The rest whooped and cheered.
It took not long after that when Owen’s face and that scar popped up. And again, they all cheered and clapped him while he groaned. Daniel placed his fingers in his mouth and released a loud wolf-whistle, and Lucy chucked some popcorn at him. And Owen smiled a big, embarrassed smile and hid behind his hands. Then he spoke (from the screen, not in real life).
Owen: “But, Tara, they are already dead.”
Laughter exploded in the cinema, and Owen sunk further into his seat.
Twenty-ish minutes later, Owen careered onto the screen again, atop a motorbike, with a katana on his back.
Owen: “Thank God I found you again! The army is coming and they are shooting everyone on site. Tara, hop on!”
And again, they burst out laughing.
Four minutes later, Owen was dangling from a helicopter with a deranged zombie clinging on to his foot.
Owen: “Today, you die again!”
Then the onscreen Owen shot his pistol into the face of the zombie who flew to the ground below.
“Oh God.” groaned the current Owen.
“I swear I’m getting that line tattooed on me!” Jack shouted.
Then some stuff happened, it was probably exciting, but no one paid attention until Owen appeared again. He bent down over Tara and kissed her as a truck behind them exploded.
“Oh my God! I love this film so much!” Lucy yelled.
“Yeah…” said Owen as he continued to hide behind his hands.
Owen didn’t appear again until the climax of the film. Tara had just been reborn a zombie and flew for Owen.
Owen: “I loved you…”
Then he shot her in the face with his rifle. Tara writhed around on the ground, crying out. Owen walked up to her with tears filling his grey eyes and shot her in the head.
Now that time everyone stayed silent, their eyes glued to the scene in front of them.
Owen split his fingers and peered through them.
The last chunk of the film was spent with Owen and the other characters (only Owen knew what they were called, the rest didn’t care enough), running around a science facility killing zombies, and handing the cure to some bespectacled men in white lab coats. Then, in the final moments of the movie, Owen sacrificed himself to the horde of dead. He shot their thousands and once he ran out of bullets, he sliced them with his sword until they climbed over the top of him and he was devoured. Then something else happened, it was boring, the gang were no longer paying attention. And the credits rolled.
“I hate this movie so much.” Owen said and from behind his hands.
Jack stood up and applauded Owen.
The rest of the gang joined in and all were clapping and cheering.
“Mate,” Jack shouted as he slammed his hands together, “Oscar’s in the bag!”
They laughed, chatted, and sang Owen’s praises as they walked back to the cars.
“Thanks, guys.” said Owen who was on the verge of embarrassed tears, “But back to the real-life zombies. Where’s this hunting shop?”
Jack was still grinning, “Oh, don’t know the address but I can take you there.”
“No need.” said Grace, “It’s logged in Owen’s phone. We can use GPS.”
“Huh, fair point.” said Jack.
Grace walked to the Impala and hid inside it.
Owen found the postcode logged in his phone and shared it amongst the non-hidden.
Cameron walked towards the white car, “Jack, you’re with me.”
“Mate, I can drive.” said Jack.
“Yeah, doesn’t change the fact you’re coming with me. Get in.” said Cameron.
Emily pushed Jack forwards, “Move!”
“Fine.” Jack said, stumbling over his feet, “Who’s taking my car?”
“Your car?” asked Owen with a voice so high in pitch he surprised himself.
“Me.” said Daniel as he swiped the keys from Jack’s hand.
“I’ll come with you.” said Lucy as she walked forwards and popped into the Mustang.
Owen climbed into his filthy, sticky Beloved while the twins got in the sports car. Emily shoved her brother in the back and sat in the front. Then they all drove away. It was a far more relaxing experience than their drive there.
Daniel drove along with Lucy beside him as he followed the electronic map on his dashboard. He drove around the real-life dead, with his shoulders squared and his chest forwards.
“I think that is one of my all-time favourite films ever!” he squeaked.
Lucy twisted in her seat to face Daniel, “I know! I actually can’t believe he was that good! No wonder the world adores him.”
“Lucy?”
“Yep?”
“Why did you come to his house? I was expecting you to make up an excuse not to come.”
Lucy laughed. “Truthfully, Daniel, I like him. We had a few fights and clearly we’re not good for each other, but he is still a friend. More so now, actually…” she thought about the week or so she’d had. “God, can you believe it’s only been ten days?”
Daniel shifted in his seat and shook his head. “I can’t believe that it’s been any amount of days.”
“Soooooo.” started Owen from his car behind Cameron and in front of Daniel, “You going to tell me what that was about?”
“What what was about?” asked Grace as she continued to look out her window.
“With Jack…” Owen flicked his eyes towards Grace who looked like she was having a dull daydream.
“I guess I get why he ran away, but I wish he hadn’t.” Grace said, still staring at the road ahead.
Owen groaned. “Not what
I meant.”
“Really?” Grace looked at him puzzled. “What did you mean?”
“Oh Christ! That fucking smacker of a kiss!” Owen shouted.
“Oh that!” said Grace, “Not sure, really. Seemed like the thing to do.”
Owen burst into laughter at his odd friend. “Grace, you might be my most favourite person in the world.”
Grace smiled in response.
In the front car, Jack fidgeted and squirmed in the back seat as Cameron drove along.
“Jack! Stop it.” Cameron ordered.
“Stop what?”
“Dancing around. It’s distracting.” said Cameron as he shifted gears and hurtled down the road.
With his orders, Jack sat as still as he could. But it didn’t work. He looked around the innards of the car for something to play with. Then Jack found the walkie talkie on the seat beside him. He picked it up and flipped it over. A smile cracked across his face. He saw Owen’s name scratched into it and wondered if his and Emily’s were in the other cars.
Emily craned herself around and watched Jack, “You okay?”
Jack darted his head up at her, “Yeah. It’s nothing.”
She didn’t believe him, but she decided not to press it and sat back in her seat, and as she did, she noticed that Cameron was driving really fucking well. “Cam…?”
“Yeah.”
“Where did you learn to drive like this?”
Jack drew in his eyebrows, “Yeah, actually. When and how? You never drive.”
“Err,” Cameron shifted gear again and took a sharp corner at full speed, “me and Toby have been racing.”
“Racing? Where?” asked Emily, “What? Why?”
“At a track his friend works at. He’s been teaching us over the last year or something.”
“A fucking year?” spat Jack, “Why in the fuck didn’t you say something?”
Cameron thought about it for a moment, “Didn’t see the need to.”
This was a lie. Not long after their parents died, Cameron’s older brother Toby needed some escapism – a way to challenge his fear and anger head on. A friend recommended car racing. He asked Cameron to join. And that was that. And the reason his closest friends didn’t know was simple; it was personal and between him and his brother. And that was that.
Emily watched her friend who up till that point and as far as she knew, spent his weekends on his computer. “My God,” she said, “it’s like I don’t know you.”
Cameron cocked a smile, “Em, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
Cameron and the twins reached the hunting shop first. Then Daniel and Lucy, followed by the last two. Jack led them through to the back, past aisles of fishing and camping equipment, and into a stuffy little room filled with shotguns and rifles. All of them real. They took everything they thought would be important. A few zombies littered the shop, but Jack had killed them on his first stop. Emily scooped up ammunition and crammed it into bags. Owen broke open the door at the back of the room and walked inside, finding a small treasure trove of weapons and taking what he wanted. Daniel picked up knives and torches, handing them to Grace and she carried everything back to the cars. While Lucy grabbed the things none of the others thought of (but could arguably be just as useful), such as duct tape, wind up lanterns, binoculars, camp stoves, cool boxes, and water bottles, and nabbed Grace on her trip back from the cars to help her take it all back.
Then they went on their way again.
***
“Mortimer! I’m so sorry!” Owen said as he dropped to his knees once back home and patted his dog. “Come on, boy, let’s get you some food.”
Everyone else took their latest haul to the fort room and looked at everything they had.
Seven rifles.
Eight shotguns.
More ammunition for the guns than anyone wanted to count.
Four machetes.
Eight butterfly knives.
Two compound bows in a case.
Two crossbows, also in a case.
Enough protective clothing for the bows for four people.
One hundred and forty-four arrows.
And a book on each weapon.
“Holy shit,” said Emily as she looked at it all, “I think we might have, you know, went a bit over the top.”
“You think?” Daniel asked, “I didn’t think you could have too many weapons in an apocalypse.”
Lucy looked at their goods, a little disgusted with how much they had stolen, “I guess that’s true.”
Jack had walked to the fort. He sat under it, alone and quiet. Emily looked from their weapons and to him. She watched him sitting there. She knew her brother well. She knew his brain was filled with thoughts he didn’t want to have. And Emily resolved herself to distract him. She walked over to him.
“Jack?” Emily asked.
“’Sup?”
She didn’t reply. She pushed the comic box to his feet and sat down beside him.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“I’m just trying to keep you distracted so you don’t run away again.” she replied.
“Ow.” Jack said, “Scathing.”
Emily looked at her brother, but he didn’t look back at her. He kept staring at his hands. She pulled out a comic and held it out to him. Still without looking at her he took it and flipped it open. And Emily saw a small smile on his face. He had the dumbest smile. She loved it.
Owen sat down beside them, “So we’re on Jack duty then, I take it?”
Lucy came over then, “That hardly seems fair on you two. Jack is, after all, an utter bastard to babysit -”
“Hey!” Jack said, “I’m right here!”
“For now…” Daniel added, grinning.
Jack looked up from his comic and to Daniel, then burst into laughter. In fact, they all did.
This night became one of their greatest nights. Everyone sat together, talking and joking. Laughing and shouting. Relishing each other’s company. It was going to be their last night all together after so many years of nights together. Nobody wasted it. And even when tears and despair found one of them, the rest gave comfort and support. It was truly blissful. Especially for Jack; for a few hours, he escaped his death, and he truly lived.
Day Eleven
Jack wasn’t entirely sure what led him to his current location. Or even where his current location was. But there was one thing Jack was acutely aware of: he was fucking hammered. He squinted hard while two suns in the sky blinded him. His brain felt like it was bouncing inside his skull. The muddy ground he was sinking into swayed. Jack could feel something that felt like spitting on his face so heaved his whole arm over his eyes, blocking the inordinate amount of suns from his vision, and stopping the pattering hitting his face. Then Jack was aware of another thing: lots and lots and lots of shouting. Each voice louder than the last and all of it just a ramble of noises.
Jack swung his head towards the babble. His friends were the cause of the noise. They were all standing nearby, screaming and wailing at each other.
Jack looked around in a bid to work out where he was, and realised he was lying in the garden, getting soaked by the sprinklers. He could feel the mud start to seep into his clothes and chill him. Although his vision was blurred, Jack spied a half-empty bottle of bourbon beside him. After reaching forwards and nabbing the bottle, he twisted open the cap and tried to take a drink. Sticky brown booze ran down his chin and behind his ears. The small amount that managed to make its way into his mouth got trapped in his throat. Jack started coughing and choking.