He only held it once, one time when Mom wasn’t at home and Dennis went exploring in her bedroom. The old chest was very much off limits, but Dennis was simply too curious, so he found the key, which he knew was in the nightstand drawer, and unlocked it.
There it was, all shiny and bronze-colored and deadly.
The dagger was a lot heavier than it looked, and the handle was very cold and smooth. He only had the nerve to hold it for a few seconds before putting it back and closing the chest, making sure to lock it and put the key back.
He had witnessed Mom kill animals with the dagger from time to time, when she needed to make a sacrifice for some important ritual. And now he has also seen her kill people with it. The thought produces a sinking feeling in his gut.
Mom slides the bolt and opens the door carefully, keeping the dagger ready by her side.
The tunnel is empty. Mom steps out and waves Dennis after her.
He follows Mom down to the ladder leading up. She climbs first, unlocks the hatch and pushes it carefully open, checking in every direction before she climbs up into Holger’s bedroom. She’s gone for a few seconds.
“It’s okay,” she says from above. “You can come now, Dennis.”
Dennis climbs up and looks around the room, where everything looks like they left it.
“You wait here,” Mom tells him as they enter the living room. “I’ll make a quick round to make sure.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Dennis stays behind patiently, fighting back the growing urge to pee, as Mom takes a look around the different rooms.
“All right,” she says, returning to the living room, placing the dagger in her belt. “You can go pee now. I’ll get the vegetables. When you’re done, come help me carry them downstairs.”
Dennis nods, then heads quickly to the bathroom and closes the door behind him. He slips down his boxers and takes a seat on Holger’s toilet. It feels different than the one at home, but at least it’s not cold.
Dennis closes his eyes and concentrates hard on relaxing. After a few seconds, he manages to begin peeing and gives off a deep sigh of relief.
As he sits there, listening to the soft trickling sound, he looks around the bathroom. There’s a single, tiny window high up on the wall, and it’s barred by a thick metal grid. A warm, orange sunlight streams in and creates a gridded pattern on the floor.
Dennis follows the shadows with his eyes like he’s solving a maze, when he reaches the wall and sees something strange.
There’s a shoeprint on the floor, brown from dried-up mud.
But it’s only half a shoeprint.
The other half is cut off by the wall. As though a ghost had walked right through the bathroom wall.
Dennis thinks hard to come up with a reasonable explanation for the weird, half shoeprint—so hard he almost stops peeing—but he can’t think of any.
He lets his eyes wander up the wall, looking for anything which might give him a clue. And there, on one of the white tiles, is a greasy handprint. It’s very hard to see, and it’s only because of the sunlight hitting the tile just right that Dennis can make it out.
He is very enthralled by now; he finishes peeing and pulls his boxers back up without it even registering—his attention is completely absorbed by the wall next to the mirror. He walks over there and looks closer at the prints. The hand looks a little bigger than Dennis’s; it’s probably Holger who made it. But why would he put his palm on the bathroom wall?
Dennis places his own hand on the print. And he feels something strange. The tile gives way a little, only a few millimeters, but enough for him to feel it. He pushes a little, and the tile moves back farther.
Dennis’s heart is racing by now.
He pushes harder, and the tile sinks farther in—until it meets some resistance. Dennis applies just a little more pressure, and there’s a click.
The sound makes him flinch, and he jumps backwards. The wall swings slowly out like a door.
“Oh, my God,” Dennis breathes. “It’s another secret entrance!”
He peeks through the opening and sees a narrow staircase leading down to another tunnel. Without even thinking, Dennis slips inside and goes down the stairs.
He walks through the tunnel, which is very similar to the one leading to the bunker, except this one is longer, and the wooden floor is full of muddy shoeprints.
He reaches a ladder leading up to a metal hatch with a heavy bolt lock.
“It’s got to be to the garden,” Dennis murmurs to himself, feeling very excited, both due to the sheer experience of finding the hidden tunnel, but also at the thought of telling Mom he knows how to get to the vegetables.
He needs to make sure before he goes and tells her, though.
So, he climbs up the ladder and unlocks the hatch. With a little effort, he manages to push it open. Bright sunlight blinds him for a moment, and he can smell the vegetables even before he can see them; tomatoes, spring onion, potatoes, different herbs and even strawberries.
Dennis blinks at the light and looks around as he climbs all the way up and gets to his feet.
“Wow!”
He’s standing in the middle of a giant cage, enclosed by a thick chain-link fence on all sides—also overhead. The cage is the size of a quarter of a soccer field, and all around him are rows of vegetables. There’s even a couple of small greenhouses. A few of the rows have already been harvested. A couple of butterflies are fluttering around, enjoying themselves.
Dennis kneels down and plucks a big, red strawberry. The scent of it is enough to make his mouth water even before he bites into it. It’s sweet and juicy.
Then he notices something odd.
There’s an opening in the fence right next to where he’s standing, just above the ground. It looks like the fence might have been cut open with a pair of bolt-scissors. Like someone had—
A sharp, metallic click-clack comes from behind him, which Dennis takes to be coming from the hatch—it’s probably Mom, who found the hidden door and followed him out here.
But as he turns around, Mom is nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Dennis meets a young man’s face staring at him from behind a couple of tall maize stalks. The guy’s head is tilted slightly sideways, and he’s pointing at Dennis with what looks like a black metal rod.
“Don’t move,” he says in a low voice, which Dennis immediately recognizes from the surveillance audio. “And don’t say anything.”
Dennis couldn’t disobey the guy if he wanted to; the sheer surprise has nailed him to the ground, and he can only stand and stare as the guy stands up straight and squeezes through the maize. It’s not until the guy is fully visible that Dennis finally realizes the thing pointed at him is a rifle—probably the exact same one the guy used to kill the dead people in the courtyard.
“What’s your name?” the guy asks, not lowering the weapon. “It’s okay, you can talk.”
Dennis’s tongue has suddenly gone limp. He manages to stammer: “D-Dennis.”
“Okay, Dennis. I’m Silas. If you do like I ask, you’ll be fine. I’m not here to harm anyone. You read me?”
Dennis nods stiffly.
“Great. Now, first off, tell me: how many are inside the house right now?”
“Ju-just my m-mom.”
“She’s the one we spoke to last night?”
“Uh-huh.”
“No one else?”
Dennis shakes his head.
“You sure, Dennis? I don’t want you lying to me.”
“No, I’m not lying!”
“It’s just you and your mom here, then?”
He nods emphatically.
“All right. Who killed Holger?”
The question makes Dennis blink. He really doesn’t want to answer. He’s afraid of what Mom will do to him if she finds out he told on her. “I … I don’t … it was … an accident,” he croaks, the lie all too obvious in his shaky voice.
“Dennis,” Silas says, sounding almost overbearing. “I told you n
ot to lie.”
Dennis just stands there, gaping and shaking his head, unable to speak.
Silas looks him up and down briefly, then goes on: “I’m going to guess you didn’t do it. Was it your mom? She actually sounded like someone who had the balls to do it. Was it her?”
Dennis closes his mouth and manages a faint nod.
Silas raises his eyebrows. “Damn. Takes a special woman to stab someone in the neck. All right, stay right where you are for me.”
Silas lowers the rifle to hip-level, the tip still aimed at Dennis’s chest, then finds a cell phone and calls up someone.
“Yeah, I got one. Told you it’d work.” A quick smirk, then Silas’s expression returns to business. “It’s a boy. Teenager. He claims it’s just him and his mom. Yeah, the mom’s the one we—yeah. And get this, she killed Holger. I know. Right. Sure. See you in a bit.”
He disconnects and slips the phone back into his pocket.
Dennis notices he’s dressed in a hunter’s outfit: all dark green and brown, cap, long sleeves and pants. It looks way too warm for the weather. But that’s why Dennis didn’t notice him amongst the maize.
“Now, Dennis,” Silas says, raising the rifle to his shoulder again. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re gonna climb back down the way you came, and I’ll follow right behind you, so don’t do anything moronic like trying to run, okay? I’ll have this pointed at you the whole time, and if you do anything I haven’t told you to do, I’m going to have to shoot you. We understand each other?”
Dennis tries to answer, but his mouth is too dry. He nods instead.
“Good. You’re going to lead me back inside the house, and then we’ll have a little chat with your mama.”
Dennis stiffens even more, his whole body trembling.
Silas cocks his head. “Hey, you look like you’re about to shit yourself. It’s okay, I told you I’m not going to shoot anyone, as long as you do what I tell you. Okay?”
Dennis swallows dryly. “So you … you won’t hurt my mom?”
Silas grins. “Of course not. Trust me, it’s going to be fine. We just want a safe place to stay. I’m sure we can make it work so everyone is happy.” He gestures with the rifle towards the hatch. “Come on, now. Lead the way.”
TWENTY-FIVE
“What was that?”
Dan stops in the middle of the street and looks around. Ozzy stops, too, raising its ears.
“What was what?” William asks.
“There was a sound,” Dan says, listening. “A loud bang somewhere nearby. Didn’t you hear it?”
“No, but I think Ozzy did.”
Dan notices the dog, patiently standing at William’s side, its ears turning like radar discs.
“Was it a gunshot?” William asks.
“No, it sounded more like something crashing. A car, maybe.”
“Oh. Well, that’s not a good sign either. We’d better hurry up.”
William walks briskly towards the building on the other side of the street, Ozzy following suit.
Dan runs to catch up. “You think it’s already here?”
“I think it’s spreading even faster than I thought,” William says, stopping in front of the door. “Number 202, it’s here.”
They open the door and step inside.
William runs his finger down the list of names. “Jensen … Abrahamsen … there, Møller! Sebastian Møller. That’s him. Second floor.”
“Great,” Dan says, darting another look out at the street through the window in the front door. It’s completely empty, both of cars and pedestrians. The whole town seems eerily quiet. Maybe it’s because of the curfew, but he gets the sense that everything is holding its breath, waiting for something bad to happen.
William’s car is parked across the street. In the passenger-side windows Dan can see his dad’s face looking out at him. He insisted on coming along, but Dan convinced him it was smarter that only the two fastest of them went out. Even with his still aching ankle, Dan knows he can outrun his dad, who hasn’t done any sports since high school. But it wasn’t until William told him they were bringing Ozzy, that Dan’s father finally consented to staying in the car with Dorte, Nasira and Ali.
“You comin’?”
Dan realizes William is already going up the stairs, and he hurries after him. They stop by the door on second floor.
“It’s here,” William says. “Let’s just hope he’s home.”
He knocks on the door. They wait for half a minute. Then, someone comes to the door, unlocking it.
A tall guy with black hair—who looks like he was recently sleeping—looks out at them. “What can I help you gentlemen with?”
“Sebastian, right?” William asks. “You’re a pilot?”
The guy frowns. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
“My name’s William. I’m a friend of your brother’s. Can we please come in?”
Soon as his brother is mentioned, something changes on the guy’s face. He steps aside and gestures for them to come in. Then he closes the door behind them.
“You okay with the dog?” William asks. “He’s very well trained.”
“I can tell,” Sebastian says.
Dan looks around the entrance; it bears the signs of a single guy not spending much time at home, the interior is very sparse and unpersonal, save for the occasional kid’s drawing on the wall.
Dan didn’t realize Sebastian was old enough to have kids. As though the thought has caused her to appear, a girl at around ten years of age steps out from the living room, holding what looks like a glass of ice tea.
“Who are you?” she asks, sipping the glass.
“We’re friends of your uncle,” William says, smiling at her. “And that drink looks really good. Do you happen to have another?”
“Sure, I’ll make you one,” the girl says, surprisingly unshy. She looks at Dan. “You want one, too?”
“I would love one.”
“What about the dog?”
“He prefers water, thank you,” William says.
The girl nods, then walks to the kitchen.
Sebastian gestures towards the living room. “Come in and sit down.”
They each take a seat at the dinner table. Ozzy walks around the table once, patrolling the surroundings, then, finding nothing to cause alarm, sits down besides William’s chair.
“I was prepared for bad news,” Sebastian says, folding his hands. “But I wasn’t prepared for two civilians and a dog to break it to me.”
“It’s kind of a long story,” William says. “Well, actually, I can make it very brief.” He takes a breath, then glances towards the kitchen before he looks Sebastian in the eye and says in a low voice: “Janus is dead.”
Dan watches the news sink in on Sebastian’s face. Besides from a few tics at the mouth, he takes it incredibly cool. Even though Dan has just met him, Sebastian already strikes him as a guy with amazing levels of self-control.
“How did it happen?” he asks in a calm voice. “Please skip out any details in case my daughter hears you.”
“It was the infected people,” William says gravely. “They got him when he tried to save his girlfriend.”
Sebastian just looks at him, as though expecting something more, so William goes on.
“She was inside a grocery store. He went inside to get her out, even though he didn’t have to. He was very brave.”
Still, Sebastian doesn’t react or say anything.
“I … I, uhm, was there with him,” William says, hesitation sneaking into his voice. “I should have gone with him to help, but …” He shrugs. “Guess I’m a coward.”
Sebastian nods, not so much to show agreement with that last statement so as to acknowledge what William just told him.
“Where did this happen?”
“In Viborg.”
“Okay, so … why are you here? I’m flattered to think you came all this way just to tell me, but I’m guessing that’s not the whole story.”
“Thank you,” he smiles at the girl, taking the glass. It’s all he can do to down it all in one go. It tastes wonderful.
The girl gets a bowl of water and puts it in front of Ozzy.
William gulps down his drink, wipes his mouth and then looks at Sebastian. “We want you to fly us out of the country.”
Sebastian raises one eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ve heard about the borders being closed down? That goes for any air traffic as well.”
“We know, but we need to get out of the country before it’s too late. And we thought flying was our best chance.”
Sebastian leans forward. “Before it’s too late? What does that mean, exactly? What are you expecting to happen?”
William glances at the girl, who’s taken a seat next to her father. “Thank you for that lovely drink. Could I ask you another favor and let us talk with your dad alone for five minutes?”
The girl looks at her father with a do-I-have-to-expression.
Sebastian nods. “Please put your headphones on, sweetheart.”
The girl gets up and goes to the couch at the other end of the room. She picks up an iPad and connects a set of earmuffs to it.
“Okay, listen,” William says, talking fast now. “This thing with the infection—it might well become the end of society as we know it. Those things you see on the news, waddling around in the streets? That’s not people anymore. It’s zombies. Both me and Dan have seen it happen firsthand; someone getting bit, then dying, then coming back to life. Whatever the authorities are calling it, they’re wrong. However they’re dealing with it, they won’t succeed.” William places a finger on the table. “Our last and only hope is getting as far away from here as quickly as possible. For every hour we waste, it’ll only get more difficult. If you love your daughter over there, and if you don’t want her to end up like your brother, then you need to get out of the country.”
Sebastian is quiet for several seconds after William stops talking. He looks from William to Dan and back again. Then over at his daughter, who’s listening to music.
Then, finally, he says: “Tell me what you had in mind.”
Dead Meat Box Set, Vol. 2 | Days 4-6 Page 33