by RR Haywood
There is no choice, they have to find food or risk the boys becoming sick from starvation or malnutrition. It’s one thing to be inside a house where the rate of energy consumption is low, but now they’re walking and in this heat they’ll be using up valuable energy very quickly. The water is almost gone too, all of them using it as a way of warding off the hunger pangs.
But still the two adult men, who should be leading and guiding the others, are slipping further into their deep conversation. They share life stories and trade anecdotes. Ill-equipped and never designed to withstand this kind of hardship, they find solace in the company of a like-minded person.
‘We’re going to have to try those houses,’ Lilly stops at the junction, completely aware that her father and Norman have strolled right across it without a second glance.
‘What?’ Oh yes, up there,’ Andrew turns and nods, ‘what do you think Norman? Worth a go?’
Shaking her head in disbelief, Lilly stares daggers at the two men, willing them to firm up and be decisive. Can’t they see they have two young children here that are starving and are getting quieter with every passing hour.
‘Well,’ Norman rocks back on his heels, ‘I think it’s probably worth a go, see if we can’t find us a tasty morsel or two to snack on.’
‘They look intact,’ Andrew comments, walking towards the first house. So did the last one, Lilly muses, seeing that neither of them have learnt anything from the previous address. What was her father doing those nights he went out? He kept coming back saying how bad it was, the bodies and the destruction but meeting Norman has seemed to dull his wits.
She lets them lead the way this time. Both her and Sam stare with alert eyes at the windows and door, rotating round to view the road and surrounding area, heads cocked as they listen.
‘Locked,’ Andrew reports on trying the door again.
‘Blast,’ Norman replies, ‘shall we try the back?’
‘Yes, lets,’ Andrew moves away to join Norman as they tread noisily along the gravel path to the rear. Lilly winces, willing them to take a step to the left or right and walk on the grass. They let her take the back on her own last time, but now they have to go together.
‘Stay here,’ she whispers to Sam, moving off silently across the grass with one hand tucked behind and holding the handle of the knife. She watches the two adults stroll into the back garden, both of them commenting on the layout and design before they even glance at the back of the house. Lilly clocks the windows are fastened closed but the back door is wide open, same as the last time and the hairs on the back of her neck prickle with the sensation that something isn’t right here too.
But the food is desperately needed, even a packet of crisps to give the boys some energy. It has to be risked, so she watches the men walk up to the back door and politely call out, hanging around and waiting as if some kind old granny wearing an apron and carrying a freshly baked apple pie is about to appear and invite them in to drink home-made lemonade.
Eventually they go inside, which prompts Lilly to move closer. They’re not even aware that she’s with them. They didn’t look about or check behind them, nor did they take any notice of the large shed in the garden with the door hanging open. Holding position, she watches both the back of the house and the shed, staying quiet to listen for any unusual sounds but the only noises are her father and Norman plodding around inside as they chat happily away.
Gritting her teeth, Lilly heads over to the shed and checks inside. Nothing there, just tools and gardening stuff. Satisfied, she walks over and through the back door, heading straight into the kitchen where she instantly spots the open cupboard doors. Again, the cupboards have been looted, but at least there’s no body slumped on the floor this time.
‘Oh you came in too,’ Norman comments, leading Andrew into the kitchen.
‘There’s no food here,’ Lilly ignores the remark, biting down the reply that they should have bloody heard her coming in.
‘Oh dear,’ Andrew tuts, checking through the cupboards that Lilly just went through. She looks over to see Norman smiling at her. A fatherly gesture but there’s something odd in his eyes, and she notices his gaze drops down to her chest before he coughs and starts checking the same cupboards that Andrew is going through.
‘They’re empty, I checked,’ Lilly states, staring at the back of Norman’s head and feeling very uncomfortable.
‘Certainly appears that way,’ Andrew steps back, ‘on to the next one then.’
‘Er, we could still get some water though,’ Lilly suggests.
‘Oh water, of course yes…hang on, I’ll call the others in,’ Andrew goes straight to the front door, unlocking it and calling out loudly to Sam and the two boys. Lilly winces at his booming voice, tutting to herself.
‘Right, I suggest Andrew, that we go to the next house while these get some water, good idea?’
‘Agreed!’ Andrew beams. The two men start of, walking out the front door leaving a stunned Lilly in the kitchen while Samantha fills glasses with water for the boys.
‘Where are we meeting?’ She rushes to the door, calling out in a low voice, ‘we staying here or coming after you?’
‘Good point,’ Norman points a finger in the air, ‘well said that girl, yes er…stay here?’ He asks Andrew.
‘Yes yes, stay here and get some water, we’ll be right back.’
‘Clever girl your Lilly,’ Norman comments audibly.
‘Like her mother,’ Andrew replies, ‘old head on young shoulders.’
‘Hmmm,’ Norman glances back at Lilly standing in the doorway, a furtive glance that takes in her developed figure. ‘Quite so.’
Lilly moves away quickly, hating every second of this ridiculous plan. Storming back into the kitchen she can barely conceal her anger, something which Sam picks up on straight away.
‘They didn’t even tell us what to do, I mean if we should stay here or go with them,’ Lilly replies after Sam asks her what’s wrong.
‘They’re in a world of their own, that’s for sure,’ Sam comments.
‘My dad had a nervous breakdown, he’s been a bag of nerves since this started but he changed completely meeting your dad last night, look at them now…’
‘Mines the same,’ Sam cuts her off, ‘he would only go out when we were desperate, just kept us inside hiding behind the curtains and not making any noise. The nights were the hardest….Todd was having nightmares and I had to stay with him to make sure he didn’t cry out.’
‘Jesus,’ Lilly stares at the girl. Taking the offered glass she drinks it down quickly before taking the empties from the two boys and re-filling them, ‘come on you two, drink it down.’
‘Is there any juice?’ Billy asks, ‘I don’t like water.’
‘I know Billy, but no juice here, maybe we’ll find some later.’
‘And some sweets?’ Todd asks.
‘Maybe,’ Sam smiles sadly, ‘there’s some cars up that road, I saw them as we came up…do you think they’ll let us take one?’
‘Probably not,’ Lilly sighs, ‘we should, we should be getting out of here…that last house was all emptied and that lady was…’ she glances down at the boys.
‘Yeah I know,’ Sam nods.
‘Well, someone has been in and taken everything here too…and if they’re going to do that to an old lady then what about us? We shouldn’t be here.’
Sam leans back against the worktop, clutching her glass with two hands and a very worried expression, ‘if it was just me and you we would take a car, can you drive?’
‘No, can’t be that hard though…if them two can do it then how difficult can it be?’ She laughs, a soft sound that makes the boys stare up smiling.
‘True,’ Sam snorts, ‘well, we might have to give it like the full on nagging mode, you know…like proper whining…’
‘Ha, like when your phone needs topping up,’ Lilly laughs.
‘Yeah, or there’s a sale on at TK Maxx.’
‘Oh, seriousl
y full on whining, got it,’ Lilly nods.
The four of them wait, drinking water until bladders are full and taking it in turns to use the toilet. The delay is worrying, causing concern to both girls who do their best to keep the boys spirits up, playing eye spy and guessing games until a dull silence descends.
Not being able to stand it any longer they head outside. Two fifteen year old girls, leading two small boys, hands firmly gripping knife handles. In the sunshine they move down the path and into the road, staring up and down for a few seconds.
‘Come on,’ Lilly nods, leading the way up the road and past the houses. Scanning windows, doors and straining for any noise coming from anywhere. The heat is incredible; searing down with scorching sunshine that threatens to burn any exposed fair skin. The boys go quiet, simply beaten into submission by the oppressive heat.
‘There,’ Sam points ahead at the two figures coming out from a driveway into the lane. Lilly breathes a sigh of relief and notices instantly they’re carrying bags in their hands.
‘Hey hey!’ Andrew calls out in a voice that carries easily down the lane, ‘we got some goodies.’
‘Oh my god,’ Sam seethes quietly, ‘tell him to shut up!’ The girls spin round, knowing his voice would have been heard from every direction.
‘Did you hear?’ Norman shouts down, ‘we got food!’
‘Ssshhh,’ Lilly pushes a finger to her lips while waving the other hand at them.
‘Oh Lilly, you are a worrier aren’t you,’ Andrew remarks. Her mouth drops open at being called a worrier. This, coming from the man going through a nervous breakdown and medicated to the eyeballs.
‘You’re so loud, anyone could hear you,’ Sam cuts in, staring at her own father.
‘There’s no one here,’ Norman looks at Andrew with an expression that begs forgiveness for his stupid daughter.
‘Where did you get the food?’ Lilly asks.
‘Er…a few houses up,’ Andrew replies, ‘we got beans and spaghetti, tinned vegetables, corned beef er….some spam….tuna and look,’ he pulls a bottle out of the bag, ‘some salad cream too, not even opened…’
All thoughts of noise and safety are gone at the sight of the food, both the men holding the bags up to show the delicious goods inside. Lilly feels the pangs of hunger stabbing at her stomach and an image of ripping the bag from her father to start devouring the food now flits through her mind.
‘Come on then,’ Andrew grins, ‘who’s up for some lunch? Billy? You hungry?’
‘Yeah,’ Billy grins excitedly, running alongside his father as they head back towards the first house. In the kitchen they empty the contents of the bags onto the dining room table as Lilly and Sam ferry plates, cutlery and a tin opener from the kitchen.
‘Look at this,’ Norman smiles with triumph, pulling a tin of custard out to show off proudly, ‘eh, doesn't that look nice,’ he says at the two boys, glancing again at Lilly. She keeps her eyes downcast and places the plates down before moving to the other side of the table next to her father.
Tins are opened and the contents spooned out. Tuna is mixed with salad cream and placed with tinned vegetables and cold baked beans. Weird mixtures and contrasting flavours, but the food is delicious. The hungry mouths devour every morsel placed in front of them. Speaking ceases as the focus becomes solely on the food.
Stomachs that are starved of food shrink fast and take far less to be filled than they were once used to. Within minutes the group are struggling to finish what they’ve opened. Even the grown adults struggle, with Andrew and Norman feeling that their eyes were bigger than their bellies.
‘That was lovely,’ Andrew sighs rubbing his stomach while looking round the table, ‘all that walking has made me a bit sleepy you know,’ he adds yawning with a big stretch.
‘Our two little soldiers look a tad snoozey too,’ Norman comments, ‘perhaps a short break for them to rest is in order.’
‘We should keep going,’ Lilly cuts in quickly, ‘if we take a car the boys can sleep in the back.’
‘And how do you propose we fit six people into one car?’ Andrew asks with eyebrows lifted.
‘Er…two cars,’ Lilly shrugs, ‘there’s enough of them left here.’
‘Oh right yes, of course….makes sense I suppose,’ Andrew sniffs while Norman gives Lilly a sly smile that makes her skin crawl.
‘I think we’re better off on foot,’ Norman drops the smile and leans forward. Deepening his voice to sound serious, he looks round the table in a weak attempt to add gravitas to his manner, but again his gaze lingers on Lilly. ‘Several reasons for this thought process,’ he continues in the same forced tone, ‘one, we are quieter and less intrusive on foot so we can stay undetected, a car engine makes noise. Two, er…’ he stops, thinking frantically for another reason. Now he’s said there are several reasons he can’t just offer one, ‘er…it would mean dividing our party which I am uncomfortable with, what if we take a wrong turn or get separated?’
‘How would that…’ Sam starts to ask.
‘Three,’ Norman exclaims, excited at thinking of another reason to offer, ‘we’ve all been cooped up for days on end so er…the fresh air and er…sunshine will be good for us…yes…er, we need the exercise too.’ He looks to Andrew for help, imploring him with his eyes.
‘Right,’ Andrew replies slowly, unsure of the way this was going, ‘yes er…um…’ He holds Norman in high esteem and already the two of them are getting on so well. Andrew, being a nervous and fearful man was only too happy to find a like-minded individual to team up with. To disagree with him now might invoke a negative reaction, which he is desperate to avoid. Taking a car was the original plan and it does make sense not to walk the whole journey but Norman has obviously thought this through.
‘Well, yes…there are some serious merits to your proposal and yes, I guess we could all do with the exercise and fresh air so er, well I don’t have any problem with continuing on foot for a while, maybe if the boys get too tired we can find a car later?’
‘Agreed,’ Norman beams, ‘the committee has passed the motion and we’ll stay on foot for now.’
Lilly stares at her father. She saw the concern flash across his face, then just as quickly disappear as he blithely agrees with Norman. She drops her gaze, berating herself for thinking of her father as a weak and pathetic man. He’s just doing his best. He was a business man, not a soldier or survivalist expert, and besides, he’s had all those problems with the breakdown. She suppresses the urge to speak out and disagree, simply for not wishing to oppose her father.
A thought reaches her, the common sense genes passed down from her mother’s side work quickly to spur her mind into over-drive. That woman was murdered, no doubt about it. Her throat was cut and she’d been raped too, what other reason would there be for her knickers being round her ankles?
‘Dad,’ Lilly speaks up, making sure her tone is light, ‘those other houses, the ones you checked before you found the food, we’re they all empty?’
‘Of course they were,’ Andrew replies, ‘we haven’t seen anyone.’
‘No I mean the food? In the kitchens? We’re they all gone and how did you get in?’
‘Eh? Oh er…the back doors were open and yes, some of them had been emptied but we found one that wasn’t so…’ he shrugs. She can see he is thinking the same thing but just doesn't want to admit it.
‘Didn’t you say someone was going through the houses in our town? Like, taking all the food and things?’
‘Well yes,’ Andrew concedes, ‘but we’re in the countryside now, not in the town.’
‘Saw those too,’ Norman cuts in, ‘just other survivors like us, getting food and getting out.’
Nodding back Lilly absorbs into her own thoughts. That house with the body of the old woman had been entered from the back and all her food taken. These houses have been entered from the back too and all the food taken, apart from that one where they got this food.
An image fills her mind, of
men going from house to house to strip it clean. Filling a vehicle, leaving when it’s full and returning to continue. They’ll come back then. Not all of these houses have been cleared yet.
‘We really should go,’ Lilly says quickly, looking up to stare directly at her father.
‘We just agreed to let the boys get some rest,’ Norman replies.
‘No, now…and we should take a car and go quickly…someone is clearing all these houses of food, so they’ll be back to carry on with the ones they haven’t done yet.’
Her father agrees, she can see it in his eyes. The risk of being confronted by other men terrifies him. A man of average build and physically out of shape, she doubts he’s ever had a fight in his life. ‘Dad, they’ll come back,’ she repeats, ‘we don’t want to be here…we have to go.’
‘Maybe Lilly is right,’ Andrew turns to Norman, ‘of course your idea of being on foot was good but er…’
Thinking quickly Norman stares round, his mind whirring to come up with reasons to keep them on foot. The last thing he wants is to get to this fort straight away, not today and certainly not tonight. His gaze flicks to Lilly again, unable to help himself from glancing at her chest straining against that flimsy vest top.
‘She’s right,’ he adds seriously, ‘well done Lilly,’ he nods at her, trying to convey a serious adult to adult acknowledgment, ‘we should go right away, er…but I’m thinking we shouldn’t take a car from here, if these people come back they’ll know we’ve taken one and be looking out for us. Yes, good idea,’ he says out loud, rushing on to cover the slip up, ‘let’s get this cleared up and hidden and get away quickly, we’ll go into the countryside and keep going until we’ve got a good distance between us…bloody hell,’ he stands up, nodding again at Lilly, ‘good thinking Lilly,’ he starts grabbing plates and tins, piling them up to carry out to the kitchen.
Andrew jumps up, the thought of a returning group propelling him to work as fast as possible, ‘Lilly, grab a bin bag and we’ll get this lot cleared up.’