“And nothing I can say will change your minds?”
Lots of heads shaking and shoulders shrugging to go with the mumbling this time.
I looked around the six concerned-looking faces around the table, three of whom I had known for years, then I turned to look at Daisy who I’d only known for a matter of hours.
“I need a few minutes to think,” I said.
I pushed through the crowd and headed to the back door, then back out to where I’d stood talking to Daisy the night before.
In the daylight the romanticising effect of moonlight and darkness had made the view very different.
There was greenery everywhere, but in the distance, I could see more Zombies emerging like extremely ugly butterflies from their chrysalises.
I didn’t want to go to London. Being honest with myself, I was absolutely petrified at the idea of heading into somewhere with even more of the undead around than there were there.
On the other hand, everyone I knew and was comfortable with was going to go there and face it, and I felt ashamed of myself that I didn’t want to go with them, but I also didn’t want to head north without them by my side.
I was, what’s the modern word for it again, conflicted. I really hadn’t expected, so soon after leaving Lanchcombe, to be presented with such a difficult and potentially life-changing decision to have to make quite so soon.
I’d thought perhaps we might not all have made it to Charlecomb together, but we were only thirty miles from home, the day after leaving, and already I was having to decide which way to head.
In the end I made the decision. One I would have to live with one way or the other, but I decided to do the right thing for me.
I headed back into the house, where it seemed that nobody had moved. Daisy stood up as I came back in and looked nervously at me.
I waited a while, looking at my shoes, just going through the options in my head one more time before I lifted my head and spoke.
“I understand why you feel you need to go to London. I don’t agree with it, and I think you are taking unnecessary risks with your lives. I know there is nothing I’m going to be able to say to dissuade you, but I won’t be going.”
There was an audible gasp from both Jean and Daisy. I carried on. “If Daisy is willing, I’d like to go along with her wherever we decide to go. I know this will be a big—”
“Right then everyone, let’s gather all of our stuff together and get out of here,” Jezza said, interrupting like he so often did, no matter how many times I complain to him about it being rude, “we don’t need to hear this windbag banging on about a parting of the ways, blah, blah.”
I would have liked to have punched the obnoxious twat in the mouth, but I didn’t. The world might have gone to shit on a stick, but I couldn’t see any reason why I should lower my standards of behaviour. At least not yet, unless it threatened to get me killed. Then I would do whatever it takes to survive.
I turned to Daisy, and she was nodding before I asked the question, so I didn’t bother. Instead she pulled me into a huge hug.
“Thank you, Frank. I know I would have been OK on my own but I’m glad you decided to come along too.”
“So am I. If you don’t mind my suggesting it, how about we help this lot get on the way then sit down and plan where we’re going to go then leave tomorrow?”
“Sounds good to me. We can nip into the village shop a bit later and pick up some more supplies if we need them then head off in the morning.”
I nodded. I hoped it was going to work out with Daisy, not in the romantic sense of course, although I wouldn’t object, but in the being together out on the road sense.
I thought it would, but you can never be sure.
Once the rest of the group had accepted my decision, without the alarming alacrity Jezza had, and there had been hugs, backslaps, and tears all round, the rest of the day had been spent loading up the horsebox with as much food and water as we could rustle up, leaving Daisy and I enough for one meal. Once that was done, the group who were leaving loaded themselves into the horsebox, and Penny started up the engine. As it warmed up, I strolled around to the passenger side and looked up at Jezza sitting in one of the passenger seats.
We had hardly spoken a word to each other all afternoon, and I had consciously tried to stay out of his way, but this was likely to be the last time I spoke to him, and I wanted to at least try to get us to part on good terms.
“This is it, then.”
“Yep,” he said, pulling one of Daisy’s spare caps down on his head.
“I understand why you’re going, Gerald.”
“I understand why you’re staying, Francis.”
“Be careful. I love you, you cantankerous git.”
“I love you, you pontificating dick.”
I smiled. It was all I had expected from him and I got that spot on. I held up a hand to shake which he took and shook, then he fixed his gaze out of the windscreen.
As Penny manoeuvred the horsebox around to navigate the drive through the gates, Daisy drove the tractor out of the way, then waved enthusiastically at them as they exited and drove slowly down the lane, back to the main road.
She walked over through the mud of the yard and stood opposite me, staring at me with her soft, gentle, brown eyes.
“You OK?”
“Yeah I think so. I think it’s for the best. A fresh start for everyone and Jezza doing the hero leader thing. A new beginning.”
Daisy leaned up and kissed me on the cheek.
“I’m glad you stayed.”
“Me too,” I said, once Daisy walked by.
I was grinning from ear to ear and didn’t want to put her off.
IX0X0X0X0X0X0XI
Once the sound of the horsebox had dispersed all that was left was the sound of Daisy’s footsteps as she went back to the farmhouse to start to gather up supplies, ready for our departure the next morning, and the calls of crows, disturbed by the engine noise, wheeling, and cawing noisily around the trees opposite the now blocked again gate until they finally settled once more.
I followed her back to the farmhouse and closed the door behind me.
“I vote we eat, then spend the evening getting ready and early to bed to get away first thing in the morning to avoid all the traffic.”
I couldn’t help laughing at the idea that we might hit traffic. Apart from the horsebox and the tractor I hadn’t seen anything moving on the roads and the night sky the evening before had shown no signs of headlights in the darkness. It had shown no sign of any other kind of lights either for that matter.
I still liked the idea of going early though. From what I’d seen of the undead, they seemed to be more active during daylight hours. Most of the time I’d watched them at night back at Lanchcombe, they had just stood around aimlessly unless there was a noise to guide them to a target.
The foxes that used to play on the lawns were much too quick for the undead. The only animals I ever saw them catch were hedgehogs, and they evidently didn’t provide much of a meal, especially the needles which wedged in their mouths leaving them walking around with gaping mouths during the day.
“I vote that you have that dead right. Listen. I’ve been thinking. The cab of your tractor is tiny. How are we going to pack the things we need inside and still have room for both of us?”
“Good point. I had been planning on travelling alone and travelling light. The seats aren’t great, so we might struggle to sleep in the cab.”
“So, what was your plan?”
“Didn’t really have one in truth. I’ve got some camping gear, so we have something to cook on.” Daisy said brightly.
“That’s great, Daisy,” I said, “but having nowhere to sleep could be an issue.” I hadn’t realised quite how unprepared Daisy was, but then I thought back to how we had all escaped from Lanchcombe with what we were wearing and one torch, so I could hardly complain.
“It could, Frank, but it won’t. There must be thousands of
houses that don’t have Zombies in. It’s just a case of finding them.”
“Very true, Daisy, and well said. I tend to look on the dark side sometimes. Having you looking on the bright side might help me with that.”
Daisy was quiet for a moment or two, watching me all the time which was a little unnerving.
“What are you, Frank? I know you said you were a country boy but what kind of country boy?”
“Does it matter? Whether I’m a king or a commoner, we’re all in the same boat now, aren’t we?”
“I suppose not. I just want to get to know you a little before we go.”
“Then I suggest you get to know me as I am now, because there is no going back to what we were before. The farmer’s daughter and the posh country boy are both gone. From now on we find out what we really are.”
Daisy looked at me for a few moments. I really wanted to look away because her eyes were incredibly intense. I mean, I could have smiled to put a stop to it but somehow, I couldn’t. It was like I was under her spell.
“So what are you, Frank. What are you, really?”
“So far, I’m just a survivor who wants to keep it that way. I haven’t truly been tested yet, but that day will come won’t it?”
She nodded slowly. “Probably. Let’s just hope we’re ready for whatever comes our way.”
The rest of the evening passed off peaceably. We planned the route we would take by sticking to back roads and avoiding any kind of town or large village wherever we could. Daisy did make the point that if push came to shove, we could always cut across country in the tractor, given that was what they were designed for. I found that quite reassuring after what I’d seen so far.
My heart’s desire was not to be some heroic figure who fought his way through crowds of marauding undead, rather it was to avoid them at pretty much all costs. I mean if someone was in trouble I’d help them and all, but I wasn’t going to go out of my way to pick a fight with a group of them.
As my mind skittered about, at one point I found myself trying to decide what a group of Zombies should be called. You know, like a group of crows is a murder and group of lions is a pride, so what about a group of Zombies?
We picked over a few ideas.
A slaughter.
A disembowelling.
A horror.
A Grimes
A Romero
In the end, and after a few more laughable attempts, we decided that the collective noun for a group of Zombies should be Groaners. Zombies sounds so … well, childish in normal use, so unbelievable even though they were out there, sharing the same earth as us.
I know it probably wasn’t terribly original, but it suited them.
When it came to time for sleep, I opted for the spare bedroom now there was no need to use a sofa. It was right next to the bathroom, so I would have been delighted to have had use of it the night before, but the three girls had used it to ensure they kept their privacy.
When I checked around I saw a small gold chain sticking out from the bottom of the bed, as though it had been dropped there, and kicked underneath accidentally. A locket was on the chain. Quite large it was, and when I opened it up, it had a photo of Penny in it with a man and a woman either side. The man was tall while the woman was about the same height as Penny. Apart from looking older they looked so similar it was not difficult to accept that they were mother and daughter.
I bundled it up and slid it into my pocket then I blew out the candle and opened a thin slit between the curtains, so I could watch the Groaners outside still piling up against the wall, as if they knew we were in the house and that no matter how long it took they would eventually get to us.
I shuddered at that thought. There were hundreds of them. I shut the curtains, plunging the room into darkness and felt my way across to the bed and sat down. I could still smell the perfume one of the girls must have been wearing. Slightly sweet and sickly but so faint that it was almost undetectable. That was when I heard the creak on the landing outside the door and the shadow of someone standing outside the room cast by the gently flickering light of a lantern.
I’d been carrying a fantasy around in my head most of the evening that either Daisy would invite me to her bed or be such a devilishly horny young lady—not to mention desperate—that she would invite me to have her across the kitchen table but that was all it was. Just some stupid, desperate fantasy.
I couldn’t be that lucky and I wouldn’t wish that kind of bad luck on Daisy either.
I sat silently and watched the shadow not moving as it stood by the door. Then the shadow moved away.
“Daisy,” I shouted.
The shadow returned. “Yes.”
“Are you OK?”
“I think so.”
I gulped before I said anything else, then cleared my suddenly tight throat. “Did you want to come in.”
“Do you want me to come in?”
“It’s up to you.”
“Not really. It’s your room.”
“It’s your house.”
“Have you got any clothes on?”
“I’ve got all my clothes on, I’m perfectly decent.”
“Oh. Hang on a minute.” I noted a disappointed edge to her voice. The shadow disappeared for a minute then reappeared at door.
“Yeah, I’m decent too.”
I couldn’t help but laugh quietly because I knew if I was doing what she was doing I would be equally clumsy, if not worse. I mean I wasn’t completely virginal but for a thirty-eight-year-old man who had been sexually active for twenty-two years, having had sex less than twenty-two times probably didn’t make me a red-hot lover. Whatever one of those is.
“Then please feel free to come in,” I said. My bloody voice was trembling already
The door clicked open and Daisy held the lantern in front of her then peeked around the doorway. Like the gentleman I was, I stood up.
“See,” I said, “perfectly decent.”
She stepped in and nodded, I thought approvingly but I could be wrong. “Yes, you really are, aren’t you?”
It was my turn to nod.
She pushed the door to behind her and when she turned back, she seemed about as nervous as I was. “I’m sorry to disturb you like this, Frank, but I was wondering something.”
“And what exactly were you wondering?”
She unzipped the hooded top she had on, pushed down her pyjama bottoms to the floor, and stepped out of them.
“I was wondering, as there’s just the two of us, if you wanted to be indecent for a while?”
She turned out the lantern, plunging the room into darkness and I could hear her feet padding across the wooden floor. Then I felt her hands rub over my shoulders.
“But you will need to get undressed first.”
I didn’t need asking twice.
***
As I lay in the bed, Daisy’s back to me, and my arms around her—I think it’s called spooning in modern parlance—I could feel and hear Daisy’s regular breathing as she slept. I could also hear the Groaners outside, the noise they were making seeming to carry further in the still night air. I infinitely preferred the sound Daisy was making. Her hair smelt sweetly of coconut and when she stirred in her sleep, shifting slightly in front of me, pressing herself back against me, it was all I could do to think of something revolting to stop myself thinking of … well you know.
I found myself hoping I wasn’t a disappointment to her.
I know my self-esteem is pretty poor. So would yours be in my situation, but I thought it had gone rather well, by which I mean it lasted more than a few seconds. For me that is exceptional, given my lack of practice.
Eventually I felt my eyes becoming heavy and sleep approaching, one of those sleeps where you dive straight into a dream. Tropical islands, palm trees, coconuts, and Daisy stepping out of the surging waves, naked and dripping wet were all involved. That didn’t last long though before my wired brain finally switched off and I sank into darkness.
/> When I woke up, Daisy wasn’t there which was a shame because, well, morning glory and all that. I did wonder where she was until she crept back into the room, tiptoed to the bed, and sat down.
I couldn’t quite work out, still sleep-addled, what the banging noises were.
“Frank. We have a situation.”
“Really?” I said with what I hoped was a lascivious grin on my face.
“No, not that. A serious situation.”
I switched faces to serious. “What is it?” I sat up in bed.
“The wall is down and there are Groaners surrounding the house both front and back.”
“Really?” I still hadn’t woken up properly and although it was noisy, and the Groaners were louder again, what she said didn’t sink in.
“Go and look for yourself but don’t make a noise. I heard banging on the door downstairs and thought the others might have come back. It was only smelling them that stopped me opening the door to them.”
I threw on my clothes, walked over to the window, and opened the curtains again. In the distance I could see a horde of Groaners spilling through the gap they had made in the wall. They had then taken down the gate Daisy and I had stood at and had filled the back yard to busting.
“Is the front as bad?”
“Noy yet, but it’s getting there.”
“We need to get out of here.”
“I know but how? How are we supposed to reach the tractor with all those things out there? I’m scared, Frank. What if they get in?”
I reached out and pulled her into a hug. “They will get in. That’s why we need to go while we can.”
“How?” Daisy was looking more than a little panic-stricken and I couldn’t blame her, the crowd around the back of the house was already ten or fifteen deep and the house itself was making some very threatening groaning noises in sympathy with the creatures out there.
“How many ways out to the front are there?”
“You can’t be serious, surely? There’s bloody loads of them out there.”
“Is there more than out the back?”
“No.”
“In that case we have to go out the front, plus the tractor’s out there.”
The One Percent (Episode 2): The One Percent Page 2