by RR Haywood
‘Don’t you listen?’ Blowers snaps, ‘they’re going after that girl, Clarence just said…’
‘Oh right,’ Cookey nods, ‘ha, yeah got it now.’
‘Bloody hell Cookey,’ Clarence sighs.
‘What! Sorry.’
‘Never mind mate,’ Clarence mutters. ‘Is this heat ever going to stop?’
‘Getting worse by the day,’ Blowers comments.
‘It can’t keep getting hotter can it?’ Cookey stares up at the clear sky, ‘I know it gets hot here sometimes, but not like this.’
‘Fuck knows,’ Blowers replies, ‘we won’t be able to keep going if it does, we’re struggling enough as it is now.’
‘Down there,’ Clarence points, ‘keep going then left at the bottom.’
‘Got it,’ Blowers turns the wheel, ‘so the fort is fucked, the Saxon is fucked, we’re going to be chasing some little kid in this heat and Nick is fast asleep somewhere.’
‘Pretty much,’ Clarence says, ‘we hope Nick is asleep anyway.’
‘Either that or he’s blowing something up, or setting fire to something,’ Cookey laughs, ‘wish I could do what he does…shit that didn’t make any sense,’ Cookey laughs at himself, ‘I mean I wish I could understand electrical shit like he does.’
‘I think we understood you the first time,’ Clarence chuckles, ‘the lads got a gift though.’
‘What gifts have we got then?’ Cookey asks Blowers, ‘I know what yours is,’ he smirks.
‘Don’t tell me,’ Blowers grins, ‘something to do with bumming zombies?’
‘Ha! How did you know…you must be telepathy too.’
‘Telepathic you thick twat. So what’s your gift?’
‘Me?’ Cookey asks, ‘I make you laugh,’ he grins.
‘Do you fuck!’ Blowers laughs.
‘See, you’re laughing now.’
‘At you, I’m laughing at you not with you.’
‘Same difference,’ Cookey shrugs.
‘There,’ Clarence calls out, ‘Lani and Howie…see?’
‘Got it,’ Blowers glides the car down the street, grinning while Cookey waves out the window at Lani and Howie turning round.
‘Morning!’ Howie grins, ‘where the bloody hell have you two been?’
‘Morning,’ Cookey yells running forward to greet Howie, ‘what happened? Where did you go? Clarence said you had good news?’
‘Easy mate,’ Howie laughs, ‘Blowers, you alright mate?’
‘Boss,’ Blowers nods seriously, but a huge grin stretches across his face, ‘good to see you again.’
‘You too mate, both of you,’ Howie grins back, ‘you up to speed then?’ He looks at Clarence for confirmation.
‘Saxon, fort, girl and Nick,’ Clarence says curtly, ‘but not the other thing, thought I’d leave that for you.’
‘What other thing?’ Cookey asks excitedly, ‘what? What is it?’
Howie smiles and looks at them both, their faces eager as they wait for some good news for once. Pausing for effect he nonchalantly pushes a hand through his hair.
‘Oh for god’s sake,’ Lani sighs, ‘stop messing about.’
‘I’m immune,’ Howie blurts. He grins as their jaws go slack.
‘What the fuck?’ Blowers mumbles in shock, ‘how?’
‘Lost her again,’ walking out into the street Dave nods casually at Blowers and Cookey, ‘you two alright?’
‘Fine Dave,’ Blowers replies. A temporary distraction comes bounding over as Meredith greets the lads.
‘Again?’ Howie groans, ‘how?’
‘Over the fences,’ Dave shrugs, ‘couldn’t figure out which way she went.’
‘What about the dog?’ Lani asks.
‘She took a crap on the grass instead,’ Dave explains.
‘Sorry,’ Cookey says loudly, ‘immune?’
‘Yeah,’ Howie grins then launches into the story of the previous evening all the way through to waking up this morning to watch Dave slaughtering the entire remains of the horde.
‘Fuck,’ Cookey grimaces, ‘in your mouth?’
‘Yes mate.’
‘A whole heart?’
‘I think so,’ Howie replies.
‘Really?’ he grimaces again.
‘Still beating too.’
‘No way,’ Cookey exclaims, ‘a beating heart? Urgh that’s so gross.’
‘Slightly,’ Howie accepts.
‘What did it taste like?’
‘Cookey!’ Blowers snaps.
‘What? I never met anyone who ate a heart before.’
‘I didn’t eat it,’ Howie says.
‘What happened to it then?’
‘I took it out,’ Dave cuts in.
‘Was it a whole heart?’ Cookey probes for the gory details.
‘It was,’ Dave replies.
‘Ah,’ Cookey spits but unable to help himself he asks again, ‘what did it taste like?’
‘I don’t know,’ Howie shrugs, ‘it was hot and rubbery and…’
‘Urgh no stop!’ Cookey shouts, ‘no don’t stop…was blood coming out?’
‘It was still beating,’ Howie explains, ‘pumping blood into my throat.’
‘Ah no…don’t…’ Cookey steps back in horror, ‘shit… did you drink it?’
‘Either that or drown mate.’
‘Worst thing,’ Lani says in a matter of fact voice, ‘he kissed me when he saw me earlier.’
‘You didn’t?’ Cookey recoils, ‘oh that’s awful…could you taste it too?’
‘No,’ Lani scoffs.
‘Did you brush your teeth?’ Cookey asks, ‘was there like bits of goo in…’
‘Stop it,’ Blowers shouts, ‘fucking disgusting.’
‘Hang on,’ Cookey shakes his head, ‘so you’re both immune….’
‘And I bit a finger off,’ Howie adds enjoying the gory story to watch the lads faces.
‘Clean off?’ Blowers stares in horror.
‘Think so,’ Howie nods, ‘and popped an eye so the juice went in my mouth.’
‘Shit Howie,’ Lani glares at him, ‘it’s not something to boast about.’
‘Wait wait,’ Cookey shakes his head again trying to snap his own attention away from morbid curiosity, ‘so if you’re both immune then…well how did that happen? Is it when you snogged at the fort?’
‘How does everyone know about that?’ Howie asks.
‘Does that mean we’ve got to snog you?’ Cookey asks taking another step away, ‘Blowers might like it but…’
‘Fuck off,’ Blowers snaps.
‘I’m not snogging any of you,’ Howie points out.
‘What about Lani?’ Cookey grins with a mischievous glint in his eye, ‘will Mr Howie beat us all up if…’
‘In your dreams Cookey,’ Lani laughs.
‘Can we get this girl?’ Dave cuts in seriously.
‘We don’t know anything more now than we did before.’ Howie nods at Dave before continuing quickly, ‘I could have passed on immunity, or Lani could have…or we could both be resistant or carriers or…’ he shrugs, ‘we just don’t know.’
‘You can’t pass immunity for something by kissing,’ Blowers says, ‘that’s not possible is it?’
‘I’ve never heard of it,’ Howie nods, ‘so we don’t know anything.’
‘Are we all immune?’ Cookey asks quickly.
‘No idea,’ Howie replies, ‘not the sort of thing we can find out really.’
‘Maybe we can’t catch zombie,’ Cookey says to himself more than anything, ‘that would be cool…oh fuck!’
‘What?’ Howie asks as an angry look crosses Cookey’s face.
‘April,’ the lad groans, ‘fucking hell! I could have been immune and she was right there…’
‘Don’t be a twat,’ Blowers snorts.
‘Oh April,’ Cookey sighs ruefully, ‘the love of my life…what could have been between us…’
‘Yeah, twenty seconds of grunting probably,’ Blowers laughs.
>
‘Stop,’ Lani warns, ‘I do not wish to be reminded of that night thank you.’
‘Oh shit, yeah Marcy,’ Cookey says quickly as the rest groan at him mentioning her name.
‘Little girl?’ Dave prompts.
‘Yes,’ Howie seizes on the distraction, noting the glare now being offered by Lani. ‘Any news on Nick?’ He asks quickly.
Shaking his head, Cookey explains about the note as an uncomfortable silence descends.
‘We get this done and head back then,’ Howie says firmly, ‘Nick’s switched on, he’ll be alright.’
‘He’s a hard lad,’ Clarence offers in his deep voice, ‘he can fight alright.’
Thirty
‘I’ve never heard of it,’ Nick says, ‘Chapsworth House? Nah, no idea.’
‘Then we need to find a guidebook,’ Lilly replies, ‘or a map or…I was about to say a computer so we can access the internet.’
‘I wish,’ Nick remarks. Leaning forward, he looks down at Todd fast asleep in the middle of the double passenger seat, ‘maybe you should sleep too.’
‘Not yet,’ she says quickly, ‘I couldn’t sleep anyway. Listen Nick, thank you for doing this.’
‘Don’t worry,’ he says, ‘we’ll get your brother and go to the fort but just…’ he pauses.
‘But what?’
‘Fucking hell, listen if there’s like loads of people there with guns and stuff we might have to go to the fort first and get the others.’
‘But…’
‘We’ll see okay,’ he says quickly, ‘I’m just saying that we don’t want to bundle into something we can’t handle.’
‘Okay,’ she replies quietly with a worried frown.
‘I know he’s your brother but we’ve got Todd with us and…’
‘I get it,’ she nods, ‘I do.’
Nick stops himself from glancing over at her again. The way the sunlight was behind her reflects from her hair and casts a golden glow on her skin. Amidst the horror he can’t help himself from admiring the natural beauty of the woman. It is an organic reaction and one which cannot be resisted despite the circumstances. Lilly is terrified yet determined to do the right thing and do it as fast as possible.
‘Were you in the army then?’ She breaks his train of thought and the expression of interest in his life, as casual as the question is, makes his face flush once again.
‘Yeah sort of,’ he replies, ‘we were on our first weekend when it started.’
‘Oh,’ Lilly nods, ‘so you didn’t get to do all the training and er…things then?’
‘No,’ he replies.
‘But what you did back there, shooting those men so quickly even though I was attacking you…how did you know to do that? Why didn’t you shoot me?’
Nick snorts with a humourless laugh, ‘that’s Dave.’ He shakes his head and smiles wryly, ‘target perception is probably what he’d call it.’
‘Wow, sounds good,’ she smiles, noticing the way he keeps blushing and trying to keep the conversation going casually.
‘No offence but I didn’t really see you as a threat,’ Nick explains, ‘you didn’t have a weapon and the punches were good but you were just like fucking smacking them down all over the place. The other blokes were the dangerous ones, especially the one with the limp.’
‘Okay,’ Lilly adjusts position, ‘what should I have done then?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘When I attacked you, what should I have done?’ She repeats, ‘say the same thing happens again?’
‘Well for a start, don’t go attacking some bloke with a fucking gun…shit…sorry…I am trying not to swear.’
‘It’s okay,’ she laughs gently.
‘But if you do have no other choice, then, well I guess you do what we do, you have an explosion of force but direct it.’
‘You mean the punches yes?’
‘Punches, kicks, slaps, gouging…remember you are a woman so that means you got less strength than a bloke, so don’t just punch, go for the eyes, the ears…shit, go for his nuts if you can…’
‘Nuts?’ She laughs, a pleasant sound that fills the van.
‘Sorry,’ Nick smiles slowly,’ I meant his private bits.’
‘I know!’
‘Okay, yeah don’t just try punching but go for whatever you can see. If you got a knife then stab and stab and don’t stop until he’s dead. Same with the zombies, if you have to fight them then go for it…don’t be holding back…’
‘Have you killed many of them?’
‘Thousands,’ Nick replies quickly, ‘between us I mean, not just me…probably tens of thousands, maybe more,’ he shrugs.
‘All with guns?’
‘Fuck I wish it was,’ Nick laughs, ‘no, half of ‘em were with bloody axes and whatever else we could find.’
‘Oh my,’ Lilly stares in surprise, ‘with your hands?’
‘Yeah,’ Nick half grins and grimaces at the only too recent memories.
‘Do you just go round killing them?’ Lilly asks, genuinely interested.
‘Not quite,’ Nick explains, ‘we got the fort after getting out of London, and sort of decided to try and set it up as a safe place. Then they all came to the fort…’
‘Sorry, who did?’ Lilly leans forward staring at him with keen interest. Glancing over, he catches sight of those deep blue eyes staring at him and for a second he becomes flustered again, trying to change gear where no gear change is needed.
‘What was that?’ Lilly asks as the van jolts from being pushed into fourth when fifth was perfectly okay as it was.
‘Oh nothing,’ Nick covers it up, pushing the clutch down a few times and wiggling the gear stick, ‘just seemed a bit sticky…the gear stick…’
‘Sticky stick,’ Lilly observes, making the poor lad blush even more. Laughing at the sight, she looks away and leans closer to the open window. Men are so funny, the way they either try and boast about everything and show off or get like this, all tongue tied and flustered.
Something about the lad makes her smile. Very good looking, tall and dark, with lean, hard muscles and that shy grin which hides how very capable he is. The quickness of his reactions, the shots he took when she was hitting him. He could have battered her aside with ease and just apologised later but he didn’t, he took the blows to save them all.
A feeling of guilt rushes through her that she’s even thinking about Nick like that at a time like this. Billy is god knows , with strangers that could be doing awful things, and here she is thinking like this.
‘Gift shop,’ she announces, startling Nick into snapping his head round.
‘Eh?’
‘We need a gift shop or something like that, for a map or guide book,’ she explains with perfect pronunciation, her voice strong and cultured.
‘Okay,’ Nick replies, ‘a fucking gift shop it is.’ Wincing at himself for not being able to stop swearing, he focusses on driving. Stop fucking swearing, he thinks, you sound like a twat.
Shame hits him, shame that he can’t read or write and now can’t stop swearing for more than a few minutes. This poor woman, lost in this wasteland of horror trying to rescue her brother and all she gets is a uneducated, thick idiot who swears all the time.
‘What?’ He asks, aware she was speaking but so absorbed in self-depreciation that he missed the actual words.
‘I said how can we find one?’ Lilly says and watches whilst a confused look etches onto his face. ‘A gift shop?’
‘Gift shop, oh right yes…a gift shop…er…not back there that’s for sure, everything is on fire so…er…maybe the next village or town probably.’
‘Wow,’ she smiles.
‘What?’
‘You said a whole sentence without swearing.’
‘Ha, sorry,’ he grins, ‘do you want me to say it again with some curse words?’
‘Curse words?’ She laughs, ‘I haven’t heard that for years.’
‘My nan always called them curse words,’
Nick says.
‘Did you like her?’
‘My nan? Yeah loads,’ Nick nods, ‘she pretty much raised me on her own.’
‘Oh, what about your parents? Were they working?’
‘Working! My parents? No way, getting pissed more like, oh and watching Jeremy Kyle.’
‘That’s sad,’ Lilly frowns, ‘but it’s good you had your nan.’
‘Yeah, yeah it was, she died a few years ago.’
‘Oh that’s awful.’
‘At the time but now,’ he motions out the window, ‘I don’t know, maybe she is better off now all this has happened.’
‘Well I am sorry Nick,’ she says politely.
‘Thanks,’ Nick glances across. The way she speaks is so nice, all the letters being pronounced properly like someone off the telly when they read the news. ‘What about you?’
‘Me?’ Lilly asks, ‘er I lived with my mum and dad and Billy of course. Dad…well, he er…’
‘Shit! I’m sorry Lilly, I just don’t fucking think sometimes.’
‘No don’t be silly,’ she says quickly, ‘er, well my mother worked in a care home. She was working when it happened and she just never came home.’
‘Fuck,’ Nick groans sadly, ‘that’s awful.’
‘Yeah it was, Dad went to pieces. He just couldn’t cope without her. We stayed there for ages, well until yesterday actually, but I kept going on saying we should leave and find somewhere else. I nagged and went on and now look what happened.’
‘You didn’t know that,’ Nick interrupts softly, ‘none of us know what will happen.’
‘I know,’ she whispers.
‘How did you escape last night?’
‘I didn’t escape,’ she says quickly with a change in tone that Nick picks up on instantly.
‘Oh,’ he says when she doesn't elaborate, ‘okay.’
‘We met this other family,’ Lilly says in a low tone, ‘Norman and his two children. Sam, the girl I said about previously, and of course Todd. We found a forest and Norman said we should stay there the night to stay out of sight. Norman and I took the first watch while everyone else slept…’
‘You don’t have to explain,’ Nick says at hearing the pain in her voice.
‘No it’s okay,’ she says more for herself, ‘Norman said he heard something and went off into the forest and then called me. He said he could see lights in the distance like a town or something like that.’