by RR Haywood
‘That’s good, it’s healing.’ I watch as she swims closer then eases off to tread water a few feet away.
‘This is nice,’ she says softly, ‘good idea…they needed it.’
‘We all do.’
She stares at me for long seconds, her chin dropping and rising out of the water. Clear rivulets stream down her golden skin. She drops her head back to sweep her hair away and faces me with it swept back perfectly black and glistening.
Nothing like Marcy. She’s real and complex, difficult but strong. Maybe that bond between us isn’t ruined forever.
‘What you thinking?’ She asks.
‘About you.’
‘Me?’ She smiles, ‘why?’
‘Cos I want to,’ I smile back.
‘Not whether I’m infected or not then?’
‘Didn’t even think of it to be honest.’
‘You bloody did,’ she giggles, ‘you saw me in my bikini and got all fruity.’
‘Ah bugger off,’ I smile.
‘You going all Hugh Grant on me again Howie?’
‘I might.’
‘Bit late for that don’t you think.’
‘I’m not sure how to take that comment so I stay silent for a few seconds, ‘Lani, I am sorry…’
‘It’s done,’ she says quickly, ‘can’t take it back can we…so we move forward.’
‘Forward?’
‘Mr Howie,’ she laughs, ‘are you fishing to see if I still like you?’
‘Do you?’
‘Pack it in,’ she pushes out to send a wave of water splashing into my face.
‘Do you?’ I ask again with what I hope is a cheeky grin.
‘Not answering,’ she splashes me again but this time I’m ready and dive down out of the way, the water is so clear I can see her body seemingly suspended as she makes tiny movements with her arms and legs to stay afloat. Using my arms I dive down under her body and watch she twists round trying to track my movements. Reaching out I brush my fingers against her foot which causes her to yelp out in half panic.
As I start to surface I go close against her body and see the stomach wound just inches in front of my eyes. The skin looks red and sore but so much more healed than it should be. Gently I reach out and touch it, she twitches but then stays still as I run my fingers gently over the damaged skin. Her hand drops to mine, holding it gently as I feel along the puckered skin.
‘Looks awful doesn't it, will leave a nasty scar,’ she comments as I surface just inches away.
‘No,’ I shake my head gently, ‘it doesn't…so?’
She laughs with delight, ‘so what? You still asking that?’
‘Yep.’
‘Why is it important to know that? It’s not like we can do anything is it?’
Shrugging and glance quickly to the shore, watching the horseplay now fully underway with Meredith running back and forth, Dave stood like a sentinel in the distance, ‘I still like you,’ I say quietly.
‘Do you now?’ She asks with a small smile.
‘Yep, very much.’
‘Oh very much is it?’
‘Very very much.’
‘More than Marcy?’
‘Ouch Lani…’
‘I’m serious,’ she stares at me, reading my face.
‘Marcy was…not real,’ I shake my head, ‘I still don’t know how that happened…but…’
‘But what?’
‘You’re real,’ I smile again.
‘More real than that bitch,’ she growls, ‘yes Howie,’ she adds with a roll of her eyes, ‘I still like you very much.’
‘How much?’ I ask quickly.
‘Stop it,’ she laughs, a beautiful sound that sends my heart soaring.
‘How much?’ I urge splashing her lightly.
‘Enough to think you were mine,’ a flash of seriousness.
‘Yours?’
‘Mine,’ she repeats.
‘I like that.’
‘Do you?’ She asks with genuine surprise.
‘Yeah…I do…I wish I could kiss you.’
‘Howie, what’s got into you…where’s the shy blushing boy gone?’
‘He’s still here…but losing you make me realise…er…well you know…’
‘The shy boy comes back,’ she giggles, ‘but we can’t kiss…not until we know…’
‘And when we know for sure…that you’re immune I mean?’
‘Then we can kiss all we like,’ she says softly.
‘If today goes bad Lani…’
‘Don’t,’ she cuts me off with a warning tone.
‘Listen,’ I laugh, ‘if it goes badly then I will be grabbing you for a big smooch…just as they’re coming to chomp our noses off…’
‘Smooch?’ She laughs again, ‘you gonna smooch me?’
‘Yeah, a big old fashioned smooching session with one finger stuck up at the zombies like this,’ I emulate a wet kiss while showing the finger. She bursts out laughing so loud it makes everyone turn to look.
‘I thought we’d go down fighting.’
‘Fighting and kissing, we can wave our axes about as we snog.’
‘I don’t use an axe…’
‘Okay picky pants…wave our axes and meat cleavers about then.’
‘What about the one finger? How we gonna do that if we’re kissing and trying to fight.’
‘Uh? Good point…sounds complicated…let’s just stick to the kissing instead then.’
‘Okay,’ she carries on laughing, ‘I like this side of you.’
‘I like all the sides of you,’ I grin wolfishly which makes her splash water in my face.
‘Cheesy…but,’ her tone switches to serious, ‘what if I am infected? What then?’
‘Find a cure,’ I reply instantly, ‘I won’t lose you Lani…we won’t lose you…we’ve lost too many already and it won’t happen.’
‘And if there is no cure?’
‘There will be,’ I say firmly, ‘you are living proof of that…you might be the cure, something is different with you so that proves it isn’t as final as…’
‘What if it takes a year to find a cure?’
‘Then I’ll wait a year.’
‘Ten years?’
‘I’ll wait ten years.’
‘Twenty years?’
‘Nah, that’s too long…you can sod off…oi that went in my mouth,’ I spit the salt water out.
‘You’ll wait all that time to kiss me? Why?’
‘Because I kissed you once already and I remember it…so it doesn't matter how long it takes or what I have to do.’
‘That was a nice kiss,’ she smiles, remembering the stolen few minutes we shared.
‘Yeah it was alright…argh,’ I hold my breath as she dunks me under, then I pull her down and we start playing, swimming after each other, splashing about as we get closer to the lads and join in with messing about.
But all good things must come to an end and enough time passes for us to be walking out to drip water onto the sand as we gather our rifles and stroll back to the Saxon, getting halfway before we all start hopping and jogging from the hot sand.
Getting dressed the banter is light and easy, all of us smiling and joking as Meredith runs back and forth shaking her coat again and again. Dave drops down to pour water into a bowl which she laps greedily while water drips from her coat to soak instantly into the ground. We drink warm Lucozade and smoke, taking our time as though we can dictate the event that lies ahead of us. Fooling ourselves that we somehow control this environment and choose to do as we please.
Inevitability awaits us. There will much death but no worse than we’ve seen before and I know one more thing. Once we’ve killed this lot we’ll find the next group and kill them too, and the rest and we won’t stop until either we find a cure or the last one falls.
Whichever comes sooner.
Thirty Two
‘Is that it?’ Roy asks staring down at the supplies stacked on the floor.
‘Er,’
Paula consults her notebook, again checking the stacked items against the list compiled with Dave, ‘yeah,’ she nods looking up at him, ‘that’s it.’
‘Shit,’ Maddox exclaims, ‘you can make bombs from that?’
‘Apparently,’ Paula replies, ‘we got Hydrogen Peroxide…I can’t believe how easy that was to find…er…nails and screws for the fragments, then we have…’
‘Yeah I can see it,’ Maddox cuts her off, ‘what’s next?’
‘Those plastic tubs,’ she points to the empty thirty litre plastic buckets piled up to one side, ‘will be the casing…we get some cardboard or something and fold it round to create an outer ring in the tubs, then we stack the outer ring with the fragments and the explosive stuff goes in the middle. Then we get the wiring,’ she points to the drum holding the looped electrical cable, ‘and run it back from tub to tub all the way back to a car battery…when we connect the wires to the battery it goes bang…I hope.’
‘How many tubs we got?’ Maddox counts them off quickly, ‘there’s thirty here, we gonna use all of them?’
‘Just keep going until we run out of stuff I guess,’ Paula shrugs, ‘did you get the razor wire?’
‘Yeah they’re loading it now, you want a hand mixing all this stuff? We doin’ it here or what?’
‘Dave said the mixture is safe to be carried and won’t go off unless an electrical charge is applied or intense heat,’ Paula says, biting her bottom lip as she once more flicks through her notebook.
They set to work, mixing household chemicals in the order and amounts as explained by Dave. Each tub has the centre ring pushed in and then the nails and screws stacked in between the inner layer and the casing of the tub.
Maddox watches with interest as Paula makes the first one, stepping back within a few minutes to stare down at the innocuous looking filled bucket.
On reaching twenty of the improvised explosive devices they realise the buckets will run out long before the rest of the materials, so youths are dispatched into the aisles of the DIY store to source more tubs, buckets and anything that can hold nails and chemicals.
Bomb after bomb is made and set aside and with each one Paula is astounded at the ease of the process. Although the ingredients are very specific and the staff would be trained to be alert to anyone purchasing large amounts of them, it is still shocking just how simple it is.
They keep going, stacking the bombs near the ruined front doors and getting the youths to carry them out to the waiting vehicles. Coils of Razor wire already in the vans along with rope and as many bottles of flammable white spirit and paint thinner as they can find.
While Howie and Lani talk quietly in the cooling sea, Paula, Roy, Maddox and his crews sweat with the exertion of mixing, carrying, loading and running back for the next load. When the first vehicle is filled to the brim, Maddox orders two of his crew to take it to the town to leave with Mohammed then bring more vehicles back.
They do as told and by the time they return the store is exhausted of bomb making supplies, with every nail, screw and tub in the place now turned into deadly bombs.
Driving back to the town after a back breaking session of carrying them all out into the blistering sun, Paula drinks quickly from a bottle of water and mops the sweat from her forehead. Roy drives in silence, unfazed by the whole situation and worrying at a new sore spot he thinks he can detect on the inside of his gum.
Reaching the town centre they drive down the High Street, Roy leading the other vehicles driven by Maddox and his youths. A large crowd waits for them at the junction with the side road, a crowd made up of youths armed with assault rifles, shotguns and farm rifles. Knives hanging from belts, bats with nails sticking out the end and all manner of inventive weapons. The youths jostle and joke, excited at the prospect of fighting as they wait for Maddox to give them instructions.
As they draw closer and the view of the junction opens up, Paula notices the vehicles jammed in tight, far more than she would have imagined and more arriving by the minute. Mohammed stood on the top of a big van waving his arms to direct the waiting vans and lorries into place.
‘Bloody hell,’ Roy mutters at the sight of the two shiny red fire engines parked off to one side.
‘How the hell did you get this done so quickly?’ Paula shouts to Maddox.
‘We don’t mess about,’ Maddox replies without looking, ‘Mo Mo,’ he shouts over the top of the group. The youth on top of the van turns to wave, ‘good job but I want double this amount and get ‘em stretched back past the junction.’
Mohammed gives a quick thumbs up before turning to shout more instructions. Maddox, turning to the fire engines asks who got them. Several kids step out from the crowd grinning proudly as Maddox tells them they’ve done a good job.
‘You done well so you get the reward,’ he grins as they watch him expectantly, ‘they’s need emptying so get them hoses working, you get me?’
A look of pure joy spreads over their faces as they turn to sprint towards the fire trucks, others running with them to have the fun of using the powerful hoses. The trucks are started up, spluttering to life noisily as the big diesel engines roar into the quiet air. The youths swarm as they pull the side flaps down to reveal the equipment and dials on show. The end of the hoses get yanked and dragged away towards the beach, the engines increase in pitch as they start to work the pumps talking in excited tones as the older kids work out how to activate the flow of water. The hose stiffens as the right buttons and levers are pressed, the children holding them shouting with delighted joy as they scrabble to release the water flow. When the first one bursts to life, spraying a long jet down onto the sands a dull cheer goes up, quickly followed by hoots of laughter as the two small lads holding the hose get thrown about by the strength of the water coming out. The girl operating the hose at the engine doesn't switch it off but lets the end twist and buck wildly as more kids run down to leap on the animated end, fighting to control it.
The second hose starts spraying, but these youths are braced and ready. Jeering at the first lot as they handle the hose with ease. The two long sprays arching high to spatter down onto the sand like two huge fountains.
Paula and Roy laugh at the sight, smiling broadly at the almost perfect view of children playing and having fun, their young voices shouting insults and jokes but they both notice the way they work together, a strong unit that belies their age and immaturity.
‘Where you want them?’ Maddox asks, referring to the fire engines, ‘you filling them with fuel yeah? I figured you would. One should go by the junction set back with the hose set to spray onto the open land…’
‘That’s what I was thinking…we just got to work out a way of igniting it from a distance.’
Stepping forward, Roy looks first at the engines and the spray coming from the hoses, then over at the junction, ‘fire arrow will do that, let the hoses spray first to soak the ground then I can fire from a distance once everyone has fallen back.’
‘Good,’ Maddox nods quickly, ‘Howie wants everyone here so we can open up when they spread out from the road…we gotta make everyone aware not to shoot the fire trucks.’
‘We go forward then,’ Paula remarks, ‘so we’re in front of them…then when we give the signal and start dropping back someone turns the hose on.’
‘Howie will be coming from that road,’ Maddox points to the coastal carriageway, ‘so we make a gap for him to get through then start dropping back in line with his vehicle…yeah then once we’re clear we get the hoses spraying juice then Roy ignites it.’
‘Hose not hoses,’ Paula corrects, ‘seeing as we got two we’ll use the next one up the road...’
‘We could put the second one on the beach,’ Roy cuts in, ‘the fire engine I mean…put it on the beach with the hose directing out towards the junction…ha! Will be a wall of fucking flames…’
Glancing again at the way the swear words just don’t suit him Paula considers the suggestion. The spray from the hoses is great eno
ugh to reach across the width of the road.
‘If we do that,’ Maddox speaks up, ‘we need to leave it until they get further in here otherwise they can just hold back till the flames burn out…but that means whoever is switching them on is isolated…how about,’ he thinks quickly, his expression focussed, ‘the first engine on the junction…the crew on that one run into the back road and round the behind the shops to the side road…the truck on the beach,’ he switches his gaze over, ‘the crew on that will have to run through the hotels, or down the beach and get back onto the road.’
‘Yes, yes I think that will work,’ Paula visualises the hoses spraying flames out and the youths scarpering to sprint away, ‘then can we get these doors opened up so some of your crews can get to the roofs of those buildings so they can fire down or drop fire bombs…’
‘Fire bombs?’ Maddox queries, ‘you mean Molotov cocktails?’
‘Yeah sorry,’ Paula grins, ‘get them all set up first with rags sticking out then just light the wicks and drop them down.’
‘Those bottles are plastic, they won’t break like glass,’ Roy adds.
‘They’ll still ignite or burst apart as the liquid explodes,’ Paula replies.
‘Jagger!’ Maddox shouts, watching as a youth breaks free, running towards him, ‘see if you can get on those roofs and find a way to work along and come back down further up the street…get the inside doors opened up so you got plenty of escape routes down yeah? We gonna shoot down from up there and drop cocktails.’
‘Yeah I got it Mads,’ the youth replies, ‘where you got the cocktails then?’
‘Bottles of white spirit,’ Maddox explains.
‘They’s shit, they ain’t as good as whiskey bottles or milk bottles…we tried ‘em before innit.’
‘Do they flame?’ Roy asks.
‘Yeah course,’ Jagger says, ‘but like the flames spread out and don’t explode like glass does when it smashes, swear down it still works but…’
‘S’all we got Jagger,’ Maddox cuts in.
Jagger shrugs and moves off, motioning his crew to follow him.
‘Next?’ Maddox asks.
‘We can’t put those bombs in the street,’ Roy says, ‘they’ll go off from the firing.’