by TW Brown
“…those lights over there?” Caron’s voice said with a tone that brought Shadiyah out of her ruminations.
Standing to get a better look, she spotted what looked like a dozen camp fires burning in the distance. Of course they were far enough away, and it was so dark, that it was impossible to tell what sort of people could so blatantly flaunt their whereabouts. With that many blazes going in what, at least from here, looked like a straight line, she had to guess that there were a great many people gathered to the north of their position.
“Good thing we are sitting in the dark,” Shadiyah finally said.
“Will you always be so distrustful of others?” Caron asked, sounding genuinely concerned and perhaps just a little sad.
“Will you not?”
“I understand that something terrible befell your sister. I wish it were not so, but you can’t believe that every bloody person still alive is as evil as those men,” Caron said softly. “There might come a day when we meet other survivors who wish to join us. For as wonderful and charming as you might be, I don’t fancy spending the rest of forever with it being just the two of us.”
Shadiyah sighed. It was clear that Caron did not understand what Assi’s attack and subsequent death meant to her. With all the horror and death surrounding them, it might be a simple thing for some to just put everything away and maybe pretend that it never happened.
Come to think of it, Shadiyah thought with a bit of a jolt, Caron had not mentioned one single friend, family member, or loved one. Surely she must have lost somebody. No person alive was so solitary that they did not know a single soul.
“Who?” Shadiyah said that one word and let it hang in the darkness that engulfed the pair as they sat looking out on a dead, silent world.
For a while, Shadiyah believed that perhaps Caron was going to ignore her inquiry. She was certain that there was no need for her to elaborate. It was a simple, straightforward question that required no explanation.
“My husband and daughter,” the woman finally whispered. “We were on holiday…it was our Lizzie’s fourth birthday. We had gone out to Whitby…that is where I met Nigel. Oddly enough, it was while I was on break from university and having a bit of my own down time away from everything. The last thing I planned was to meet a man…much less marry the fool six months later.
“We had just left the Captain Cook Museum and Lizzie was riding around on a carousel with little boats. We planned to pop in to Humble Pie when we heard the crash. Some poor bloke managed to crawl out of his car, and he was a mess. Nigel rushed over to help…that is just how he was when it came to people in need…quite the opposite of me if I am being honest.
“All I saw was Nigel bent over the man. I thought perhaps that he was recovering, because the man sat up after not moving for a bit. He reached up and grabbed Nigel, then I heard my Lizzie scream. I turned as these people were all stumbling over the rail where tourists had been in the queue for their children to take a turn on the ride. One of them had fallen across Lizzie’s little pink boat and had her arm. I thought that he might be some sort of brazen pedophile set to snatch my Lizzie in broad daylight. It turned out that he was worse.”
Caron went silent and Shadiyah did not dare speak for fear that she might not continue. It was not that she wanted to necessarily hear what would come next, but she truly believed that it would do the woman some good to get it out of her system. At last, Caron sipped on her glass of wine and then resumed her tale.
“I will never forget that scream as long as I live. When that thing bit my Lizzie, it broke the spell that had kept me frozen in place. I dashed over and beat that bloody prick with my handbag of all things. When I yanked Lizzie away, I just stared at her as she screamed bloody murder. I was frozen…until the other screams broke through.
“Looking around, I saw people on the ground, fighting other men and women. But what made me take notice was all the blood. These people weren’t hitting or kicking…they were biting and tearing at flesh. That made me remember Nigel, and when I turned to where I’d last seen him helping that bloke who had crashed his car, I was actually angry. There he was helping some poor woman while our Lizzie was screaming and bleeding. I yelled at him, but he didn’t reply, so I hurried over, prepared to give him what for and to insist that we rush our girl straight to the hospital.
“That was when I saw him lean down and tear away a piece of that woman’s face. Once again I found myself frozen and unable to move. Then this horrible looking woman grabbed at me. She was covered in blood and there were bits of her hanging out that shouldn’t be. Her eyes, though, that is what I remember. Those terrible black squiggles and that hideous film that covered them just make it seem so much more gruesome, ya know?
“Anyways, I shoved her away and turned back to Nigel who had gotten to his feet. I yelled at him, and when he turned to face me, I almost dropped Lizzie. He had those same eyes, and there was blood all over his face, dripping from his mouth. His throat was a mess and he only took one step before some bloke crashed into him and they went to the ground. Nigel and three more of those things tore into that man and I guess something in me finally broke loose, because I ran as fast as I could.
“I reached the street and saw a car just sitting there with its doors open and the motor running. I decided that my daughter getting to the hospital was the most important thing in the world. I actually took the time to buckle her in the back seat. Somehow, I guess I just tuned out what was happening behind me as people were being torn into and then joining in on the attack.
“When we arrived at the hospital it was a madhouse. People were actually running out of the place. Perhaps that should have been my clue, but all I could think of was getting my Lizzie to a doctor. I didn’t bother with finding a parking space…after all, it wasn’t my bloody car.
“I pulled Lizzie out of the back and didn’t even notice the way she was acting. At least not at first. She started to paw at me, and that was when I realized that she had stopped crying at some point. I looked down and she was staring up at me. But it wasn’t her. A mother knows her child, and while I have run into a few people who have denied what their own hearts and eyes told them, I knew right then what had happened. My Lizzie was gone, and this…thing…this terrible beast in my arms was mocking me as she looked at me with what was almost my daughter’s face, but not quite.”
Once again, Caron stopped talking and sat quietly. Occasionally she would sip from her glass, but she did not say another word. Eventually, Shadiyah found her eyes growing heavy. The soft snores beside her signaled that Caron had already drifted away. Reaching over, Shadiyah pulled the quilt in the woman’s lap up a bit to cover her.
As sleep came, Shadiyah dreamed of her sister. Assi’s broken body was coming for her with Miranda Wood at her side. She was on the roof of Clyde Court Towers, and her only choice was to jump.
***
“Do we know for certain that they will be coming for us?” Mrs. Raye asked.
Simon looked out at the people gathered once again in the gymnasium. Cedric was nowhere to be seen and he had to assume that the man was out with his team. That was the first thing that he wanted to change for the immediate future. He felt that it would be best if everybody stayed inside the perimeter for now and put all efforts into shoring up the defense against any possible attack.
“Based on what I did actually hear, I would say that is a very real possibility,” Simon replied. That caused a ripple of alarm to run through the crowd. Simon held up his arms to get them to settle. “But I believe that we can hold these people off, and if that is not the case, then we can best them.”
“And how do you imagine we can do that? They have guns…a military vehicle,” a voice shouted.
“How do we know they were not provoked? Those bastards in New Mick might have brought trouble down on their heads with that smug attitude they are so quick to show,” an elderly woman bellowed, raising her cane in anger.
“We don’t even know how many th
ere are!” another chimed in. This brought sounds of agreement from several people and once more, Simon had to still them.
“While I admit that we are in the dark when it comes to their numbers and their intentions, the fact remains that there have been reports of a military unit skulking about and causing trouble…raiding and pillaging small groups of survivors,” Simon said, trying to be a source of calm for the people to draw from. “If they come here, we have to be prepared to do the unthinkable. I can tell you from experience that it is no easy thing to take a human life.” The face of the man whose skull he had crushed flashed in his mind’s eye and instantly brought on a hint of bile that burned the back of his throat.
“And again, how do you expect us to stand against a force made up of our soldiers?” a voice roared.
“This is your town,” Simon said simply. “You know every blind corner and dead end there is. Anybody who comes here will be groping recklessly. If we use that knowledge to our advantage…”
Simon continued for a few more minutes as he did his best to rally the citizens of Micklefield. Slowly, people began to show signs of hope. Before long, there were suggestions as to where the best locations existed where they could set up traps and perhaps take down this rogue band of soldiers that might come.
A handful of people were chosen to oversee specific portions of their planned defense. They knew the time was short and that it would not allow for anything elaborate, but Simon had them believing that simplicity would carry the day. By the time that the crowd dispersed, the talks were not of running or their eventual doom, but instead it was full of optimism. Simon hoped that some of those spirits would remain when the first of their people died.
He did not have to wait long.
“Simon!” The door to the townhouse flew open and Cedric almost fell flat on his face as he barged in the door, panting heavily with a smear of blood showing a bright red on his forehead. “That army detachment is here! They came through the fields south of the town and are over at the football field where they already have five prisoners. They have demanded to speak to the person in charge or they will execute a prisoner every ten minutes until they run out. After that—”
“Then those people are dead,” a voice from behind Simon made everybody jump.
Geoff, Melena, Nelson and Simon were all gathered around a map of the town, busy with planning the best way to defend against the invaders. The voice belonged to Mrs. Raye. She was just coming in through the back door at the same time and her sudden arrival startled everybody.
“I think that may be a bit hasty,” Simon said with a hint of hesitation.
“No, it isn’t,” Mrs. Raye countered. She came up to where they were gathered at the table and pointed to the spot on the map where the football field sat behind the school. “They are here. We are setting up all along the Churchville area with the ambush points at either end and have a fallback planned that meets at the cemetery. We can’t spare one single person.”
“So we just let those people die?” Melena asked incredulously.
“I am sorry to say, but yes. That was always going to be a possibility when they volunteered to try and defend that ridiculous roadblock that would not stop a scooter, much less a Foxhound.” Mrs. Raye shot a look at Geoff. “I warned you all that we needed to stay concentrated and close. I said that spreading out would play into their hands, and that is now exactly what is coming to pass.”
“Does a light come on inside your mouth when you open it?” Cedric grumbled.
“If you think that, despite our having overwhelming numbers, this will go off and we escape without any casualties, then you are a fool,” Mrs. Raye replied with all the calm that Simon expected.
The tempers began to flare, and twice Simon had to physically step between Mrs. Raye and the others. The first time it was Cedric, the second time it was Melena. At last, he sent Geoff, Melena, Cedric and Nelson out with their instructions. When the room was empty except for him and Mrs. Raye, he turned to the woman.
“Do you think we have a chance in hell?” he sighed, running his hands over his face.
“I believe this will be over and done in minutes and that it will not be too terrible in the number of lives lost,” she replied, patting him on the arm.
Simon froze. “Then why all that doom and gloom?”
“If they expect it to go poorly and it does, then they were already prepared for it. But if it goes off well, then it will eventually be attributed to your leadership and quick thinking. You will be the savior of the town. The people will fall in line and it will be much easier from here forward for things to get accomplished.”
If Simon was astounded before, he was positively dumbstruck now. He opened and closed his mouth three or four times before he could actually speak.
“Why would you do that…and why would you tell me?”
“Simon, like it or not, you have been thrust into a position of being the leader here. We are facing something that nobody except a complete nutter could have anticipated. You will have difficult choices ahead. And believe it or not, this might be the easiest in many days and weeks to come. As a leader, you need to be able to prepare for the worst. If you fill people’s heads with a bunch of false hope, you will be the easiest target for their scorn.”
Simon thought it over for a moment and came to the conclusion that he no longer doubted in even the slightest bit that Mrs. Raye worked for the Crown in her younger days. He also decided that he would be keeping her close to help him navigate the rough waters ahead.
“I should get out there and be visible to our people so that they don’t think me a coward. I know that one thing I hated in the past was how easy it was for those in charge to send others to die for their causes.” Simon brought the machinegun around and hefted it. His hands ran over it and his eyes scrutinized it like it was some amazing riddle to be solved. “But before I go, perhaps you could show me how this bloody thing works?”
12
Meeting
Shadiyah stepped around the stumbling zombie that was lunging for her and then broke into a sprint. Her actual target grew larger in her eyes as she approached with her scimitar in her hands.
“Let her go!” she snarled as she swung low, her weapon biting into the leg of her target.
There was a howl of pain and the man fell back, sending Caron sprawling to the ground in the opposite direction. Without waiting for the man to recover, she drew the knife from her belt, hurried over to the man, grabbed him by the hair, yanked his head back, and slit his throat. She then turned to Caron, seemingly oblivious as the man gurgled and kicked his feet a few times in the throes of death.
“Are you okay?” She reached out a hand to help the woman to her feet.
“Yeah…fine,” Caron gasped, rubbing her throat where the man had been trying to choke her. She walked over to the body that now stared up at the sky with lifeless eyes and gave him a solid kick in the ribs.
“I told you there was something off about that bloke,” Shadiyah said with a hint of anger in her voice.
“He couldn’t be more than eighteen or nineteen years old,” Caron uttered with a hint of sadness.
“He was eyeing our gear the moment we met.”
“But we would have shared, why would he think he needed to try and take it all?”
“Do you really expect anybody to be in their right minds?”
With that comment, the two women continued on as they kept the M1 to their left and the city of Garforth to their right. While there were plenty of fires burning, apparent by the many snaking tendrils of smoke that rose to the sky to be absorbed by the low clouds overhead, it was not nearly as bad as what was happening in Leeds.
The day was cloudy, but it was becoming difficult to tell if it was from regular weather, or if it was enhanced by the number of fires still burning out of control. As they walked, both women were glad to be wearing goggles that Shadiyah had insisted they go back for at the auto junkyard. A continuous sprinkling of fine as
h continued to fall as they made their way towards the destination of Micklefield.
It was approaching midday, and they were rounding the outskirts of the northern edge of Garforth when they heard a strange sound. It took them a few moments to figure it out, but they both agreed that what they had heard was distant gunfire. It had been a steady buzz at first, but then faded to a few short bursts, and then nothing. A single curl of smoke rose to the south of their location.
“You think our friend is actually going to be there?” Caron said as she tipped up her canteen and took a drink.
They had stopped at the edge of a large field that had rows of plants with domed covers. Running right through it all was a massive gash of destruction. Only, it was not something that men had done; with the bits of clothing and even a few limbs and hunks of unidentifiable organs, this path was made by a considerable number of the walking dead.
“I have no idea.” Shadiyah accepted the canteen Caron offered and took a drink of the tepid water. “But that is where he said he was headed. If he is there, then I can tell him the news…” She considered what she was about to say next and then decided that the days of sugar-coating things was past. Directness and being frank were what had to be the new norm. “And I am almost certain that he was bitten. If that is true and he has survived and made it this far, then it gives us just a bit more hope for your situation.”
“That would be quite nice, actually,” Caron admitted.
“Yes, well it would be a miraculous discovery to know that a bite is not a definite end. But then I imagine that there has to be some sort of immunity, right. I’m no doctor, but I seem to recall hearing somewhere that there is always a small percentage of people who tend to show the ability to resist certain things. I once saw a story about a man who had three partners die from AIDS. The whole time, he thought that he was being cheated on, turns out that he carried the HIV virus but expressed none of the symptoms.”