Surviving The Evacuation (Book 4): Unsafe Haven

by Frank Tayell

  “Ran out of petrol?”

  Tuck nodded.

  “Where did it come from? I mean, I can see it’s military, but you don’t…” she stopped, and once again took in in the scars only partially hidden by the blue and white streaked hair and buttoned-up coat. “You were a soldier?”

  Tuck nodded, then gave a shrug, accompanied by a quick movement of her hands, before returning to finish filling her bag. Nilda took that to mean that there was a time and a place, and that wasn’t here and now.

  The bike laden with bags, they headed back towards St Lucian’s. Even though she was cycling, Nilda had difficulty keeping up with Tuck running briskly by her side.

  “Nilda, I see you’ve found someone,” Sebastian called out, when they reached the school. “And another three arrived here whilst you were gone. All from out of town. They saw the smoke and were heading to the Lake District. I—”

  “There’s no time for that,” Nilda said. “I want everyone.” And she looked around and saw that they were all standing there watching. “Except Sylvia and the kids and… Mark, you stay here too. Everyone else grab a bike, grab a bag, and get a weapon.”

  “Why? What’s going on?” Mr Harper asked.

  “This is Tuck,” Nilda said. “She drove here in an Army truck and ran out of fuel in the middle of town. It’s laden with food.” She emptied one of the bags onto the ground. “Enough to keep us going for a couple of months.” She looked around at Tuck and the other three new faces. “Maybe six weeks. No more questions. Come on.”

  And they did. The only delay came when she had to tell some people to put down the cricket bats they’d taken from the pavilion and take an axe or crowbar instead.

  Half an hour later, having only seen one zombie, and that one in the distance, they arrived back at the APC. They found it empty.

  “Who did this?” one of the newcomers asked. Nilda didn’t know his name. She didn’t bother to ask. She thought there would be plenty of time to find out later. But she knew the answer to his question. On the ground, near the rear tyre was the stub of a black-papered roll-up.

  “Rob,” she said flatly.

  “Are you sure?” Sebastian asked.

  She pointed at the roll up. “It’s not evidence, but how many other people can there be left in this town?”

  “And what do you want to do?” Tracy asked. Nilda looked from her to Sebastian, to Jay, and then to Tuck. Only the former soldier didn’t seem nervous.

  “There’s no point hanging around—” she began.

  “Zombies!” one of the newcomers whose name she didn’t know, called out. Nilda turned to look. Seven of them were coming up the road towards them. Nilda wasn’t sure, but she thought that at least one had been part of the group she’d led away from the APC barely an hour before.

  Before Nilda could open her mouth, Jay had drawn his sword and started running towards them. She was stunned, unable to move for a long moment. Tuck didn’t hesitate. She sprinted after the boy, Nilda following close behind.

  Tuck reached him first, barrelling into him, grabbing the back of his jacket. He turned, the sword in his hand swinging in a glittering arc. Tuck jerked back out of the blade’s reach, grabbed him again, and pushed him back along the road. Then Nilda was there.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she yelled.

  “I was…” he began, but stumbled to a halt uncertain how to finish the sentence.

  Nilda shoved him back towards the increasingly nervous group by the Army vehicle, Tuck walking slowly behind them, shotgun in hands, eyes on the undead. After that, they headed straight back to the school.

  When they arrived, she scolded Jay. That hadn’t helped. She’d been treating him like an adult, and he’d been acting like one. Even his foolhardy dash towards danger had been a very grown-up response to the insane world they found themselves in. Sebastian had suggested he go and talk to him, but Tuck had reached out a hand and stopped the old teacher and indicated she’d go.

  “What can you say to him?” Nilda asked, and regretted the ill-chosen remark.

  Tuck took out her pad.

  “That there’s a time to fight and a time to run, and the trick is to know which is which,” she had scrawled.

  Now Nilda stood at the front gate, axe in hand, Sebastian next to her, watching her son and the soldier. They seemed to be getting along. Whatever had caused Tuck to lose her hearing - something she resolutely refused to discuss beyond that it had happened some years before - had also damaged her vocal chords. She could talk. She just didn’t like to. But Jay, it turned out, knew some sign language. Judging from the expression on Tuck’s face, the phrases he knew weren’t ones he would dare use around his mother.

  Nilda turned her attention back to their small settlement. Sylvia Harper, with her two children, was working on digging up the playing fields under the direction of Marjory Stowe. Two of the newcomers went to join them. One, a lanky man who seemed all elbows and knees, didn’t seem to know which end of the shovel went in the ground. Nilda made a mental note to ask him his name. And then she looked around properly and wondered whether there was much point.

  “How long will the food last, Seb?” she asked.

  “Until July. Perhaps we can stretch it into August. Just in time for harvest. If there is anything to harvest. But at least those two children seem to be getting on well. They’re helping a fair bit.”

  “Opening cans and stirring pots.”

  “They do anything they’re asked and don’t need to be told twice. Sylvia’s the same, just as long as her husband isn’t around.”

  “Hmm,” she grunted. “But they’ll need protecting. So will she. That means we’ve got one person doing that. And we’ll need another just keeping an eye on the food. You or Tracy or Mark, I don’t trust any of the others. So half of us stay here, the other half go out to gather food. That’s not sustainable.”

  “Be patient. That new chap, Clive,” Sebastian nodded towards the beanpole-thin man in the field. “He saw the smoke from about twenty miles away. More people will come.”

  “And they’ll be coming in on foot. They won’t bring anything with them.”

  “You think we should stop lighting the bonfire? You don’t want any more people here?” he asked.

  “No, I’m thinking the opposite,” Nilda replied. “July or August or even September, it doesn’t matter because there won’t be a harvest. Not this year. All we’ll manage to grow is enough food to add some variety to our diet. No, unless we have enough food to last through winter we might as well give up now. One person, or three, can survive better than this group. We’ve got too many people for the food, but not enough to go out and find more. And then there’s the other problem.”

  “The undead?”

  “No, I meant Rob. He’ll see the smoke. He’ll come and investigate. We can probably scare him off at first. But he’ll get hungry. And then what’s he more likely to do, go out scavenging for himself or just come and take what we have?”

  “There’s enough of us to see him off,” Sebastian said, confidently.

  “If we’re all here, and if we’re prepared to fight. But we’re not ready for a fight. Tuck’s the only professional amongst us. I think Harper can handle himself, but he’s likely to run as stand his ground. Jay…” She didn’t want to think what might happen to her son. “You, Tracy, Mark, and me, if we have numbers on our side, we’re fine, but Rob’s not going to come when we’re all here. He’ll sit and watch and wait until we go out, then he’ll attack. And then people will die and we’ll lose the food. You see the problem? We go out, we risk losing the food we have here. We stay, we end up starving. There’s just so much to do and too few of us to do it.”

  “One thing at a time, Nilda. You know what they say about building Rome?”

  “Yes, but we don’t have time to be patient. That’s the trouble. We have to do it all now. We’re going to end up trapped here, with the undead outside. Then what? If our walls aren’t strong enough, our suppli
es not sufficient, we’ll fight amongst ourselves and we’ll die for scraps that’ll do no more than keep us alive a few more days.”

  “You have to accept what we’re able to do. We’re limited by the people we have. More will come, I’m sure.”

  “And we can’t wait. Like I said, there’s still Rob. That threat has to be neutralised.”

  “I… see. Well, I suppose Tuck has that gun,” Sebastian said slowly. “Perhaps if they were all out in the open… but it’s a shotgun isn’t it? She’d need to be close, and we’d be relying on them still being unarmed.”

  “I didn’t mean kill them Sebastian,” Nilda said. “We’ll ask them to join us.”

  Most of the group, not having any clue who Rob was, had no opinion when, after dinner, she informed them of her plan. There had been more grumbling when she’d told them they would have to stand in watches. It had died away when she said she was sitting the first watch. Jay and Tuck followed her outside.

  “Where did you get the truck and that food from?” Nilda asked the soldier.

  Tuck took out the pad and pen and scrawled a brief note.

  “The enclaves are gone. There was a battle. A mutiny. Too much fighting. The undead came. The walls were breached. All that food came from there,” Nilda read.

  “And…” Nilda tried to find a non-intrusive way to ask a question that was nothing but personal. “The scars. How did that happen?”

  Tuck’s hands moved rapidly. Nilda glanced at her son.

  “Don’t look at me,” Jay said. “I’ve no idea what that means.”

  Tuck scrawled another note. “When you understand, then I’ll tell you.”

  “Figures,” Nilda muttered. “Tomorrow I’ll ask Rob nicely if he’d like to come here, but I’d like you and your shotgun to be standing behind me when I do.”

  Tuck nodded, then wrote another note.

  “What if he doesn’t want to join us?” she wrote.

  “He will.”

  16th March

  He didn’t.

  “I’m not surprised to see you back here,” Rob said. “Thought it was only a matter of time. But, no. We don’t want to join you. You could join us, if you want. I reckon you’ve something you can trade. Just you and her.” He nodded up the street to where Tuck, shotgun held casually in one hand, stood next to Mark.

  “It was her food,” Nilda said. “In that truck.”

  “And now it’s mine,” Rob said, with a wolfish grin.

  Nilda nodded, feeling a slight sense of relief that there wasn’t some other group lurking in the town.

  “How many zombies have you killed, Rob?” she asked, loudly.

  “There aren’t any ‘round here,” one of his men said. Rob stayed quiet.

  “Yes, they are. And you saw them. The dead ones around that Army truck.”

  There was a sharing of looks among the group. Nilda nodded, she’d guessed that right. There had been too much food for even the six of them to carry by hand. That meant they must have used a trolley or stock-cart, probably from one of the shops. At the same time, she doubted he would have left his stash unprotected. So only one or two knew. Perhaps that meant there were only one or two he really trusted, and that was something that she might be able to use.

  “I lured twelve of them away from there,” she said. “When we got back, there were seven more heading down the road. That’s nineteen of them, and that was yesterday. The day before, we went to the hospital and there were dozens, maybe hundreds of them there. Tomorrow there will be more. And they will come here. You’ll have to kill them. All of them. If you don’t, you’ll be trapped. Are you ready for that, Rob? Do you have enough food and water to last in there forever? No help is coming. The government’s gone. The enclaves have collapsed. We’re all that’s left. But we’ve got water, shelter, and food. We’re planting crops. We’re going to survive.” She met the eyes of each of the small group. “And we’re offering you a place with us. We’ll share the work, and we’ll keep each other safe.”

  “I just told you, we’re not interested. We’ve got food.”

  “But you’ll run out. You can’t grow any here. I know what you’re thinking, but you won’t be able to take it from us.”

  “No?” he scoffed.

  “No. You’ll be surrounded by the undead. You’ll be trapped. You probably won’t starve to death. It’s more likely you’ll die of thirst. The water’s stopped running, hasn’t it?” There was another sly exchange of glances. “I thought so. Then this is your last chance. You can stay here and die, or come and join us.” She looked around the faces and saw uncertainty and fear. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything to further reinforce their doubts, Rob spoke.

  “Like I said, if you’re that scared, stay here,” he leered. “We’ll keep you safe.”

  She stared up at him for a moment, then turned and walked back up the road to Mark and Tuck.

  “What now?” Mark asked. “Leave them to it?”

  Tuck shook her head slowly.

  “No. We can’t,” Nilda said. “You can’t see it from here, but they’re filthy. They’ve no water. Give it a couple of days and they will come looking for us. Perhaps this was a stupid idea, but it’s too late now.” She glanced at Tuck and her shotgun. “One way or another, this has to end.”

  Tuck nodded her agreement. Nilda didn’t find that reassuring.

  “You want to attack?” Mark asked.

  “There’s one last thing we can try. Come on.”

  She led them a few minutes across town, stopping outside a corner shop.

  “This’ll do,” she said, dismounting.

  “It’s been looted,” Mark said. “Probably by Rob.”

  “He won’t have taken what I’m after. Mark, keep watch. Tuck, have a look around. Find me some washing line or rope or something.”

  Nilda stepped over broken shelves, climbed over the counter, and went into the back of the store. Amidst the piles of magazines, toilet paper - she made a mental note to come back to collect some of that - and other household sundries, she found what she was looking for. A flat piece of wood, three feet square, with a wheel in each corner. She found an old pair of gloves next to it. Tuck couldn’t find any rope or washing line, but she did find a five-metre long extension cable.

  “That’ll do,” Nilda said.

  “Now what?” Mark asked.

  “Help me carry it. We need to keep quiet.”

  Awkwardly, with only Nilda knowing where they were going, they carried the cart another half mile, not quite towards her terrace, but to the road where she killed her first zombie.

  “You’re not… oh no! You can’t be serious!” Mark exclaimed.

  “Just keep an eye out for the undead,” she said, as she pulled the corpse up onto the cart. She tied it down with the cable.

  “I can’t believe you’re going to do this,” Mark said when she’d finished.

  “The thing about first impressions is that sometimes they’re not the ones that stick,” she replied. Together, they pulled the creature back towards Rob and his barricade. The cart rattled all the way.

  “It’s noisy,” Mark murmured. “It’ll summon all the undead in the town.”

  “That’s the plan. They can join us. Or they’ll get surrounded. Either way they won’t be a threat.”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Rob yelled when they got within shouting range. He and the other five youths were standing on the barricade, an assortment of weapons in hand.

  Nilda kept pulling the cart closer, not stopping until she was ten feet away.

  “This is a zombie. One of the undead. We killed it, just now, about five streets from here. How long were we gone, Rob? Thirty minutes? How long until there’s one in this street? How long until there’s scores of them? How long until you’re trapped? We’re at the school. Come and join us. Bring your food. Or stay here and die. It’s your choice. All of you.”

  She turned and briskly walked away.

  “How did
it go?” Jay asked when they got back. He and Tracy had been waiting by the school gates.

  “I don’t know yet,” she said. Tuck went to stand by the gate, shotgun in hand, and an almost amused expression on her face.

  “Four more people have arrived,” Tracy said. “They came from the south. They said they were fleeing the undead.”

  “Right,” Nilda murmured.

  “There’s been no one from the north,” Tracy added. “It’s odd really. Unless there’s some haven up there where it’s safe.”

  “Maybe,” Nilda said, but she wasn’t really listening. She had her eyes fixed on the road, waiting to see if her plan would work.

  Just before sunset, Rob and his gang arrived at the school gates.

  “Welcome,” Nilda said, before Rob had a chance to say anything. “All the food is shared. You can leave it at the pavilion. There’s dinner cooking and we’ve showers that work. The water’s cold, but I doubt you’ll mind that. Once you’ve eaten you can wash. And we’ve clean clothes.”

  Rob nodded, and opened his mouth.

  “You’re all welcome here,” she said again, before he could speak, “Get some food, and then get some rest. There’s work to be done tomorrow. Go on.”

  It was obvious that Rob wanted to make some attempt to exert his authority. But the lure of food was too much for his followers. They pushed past him towards the pavilion. Wanting to follow from the front, he went after them. Only the large man lingered.

  “The zombies came,” he said. “Whilst we were… arguing. Seven of them.”

  Nilda nodded.

  “My name’s Nilda, This is Tuck.”

  “Charlie,” he said. “The thing is, um… about Rob… um—”

  “Go and get something to eat,” Nilda cut in, forcing a smile “It’ll be a long day tomorrow.”

  She watched him head off to the pavilion. She didn’t need his warning to know to keep an eye on the gangly youth, but perhaps they weren’t all like their leader. There was some hope in that. She watched long enough to see Tracy pigeon-hole one of the youths, Mark another, Sebastian a third, leading them to separate spots on the pavilion steps.