by Thomas Hall
He turned around and started hurrying away. Beth followed as close behind him as she could manage.
She wondered what could have happened. It took an embarrassingly long time for her to realise that it must have been a retaliation by the Townies, but by then it barely registered with her. Beth guessed that she was in some kind of shock, because her thoughts flitted back and forth between, sometimes she didn’t seem to think at all.
Beth began to worry when they were about a mile away from the street. Until then it hadn’t occurred to her that anyone might be hurt. Her first thoughts were of Dawn and she vowed a personal vengeance against the Townies if anything had happened to her sister.
Dark smoke drifted across the sky. There was no wind so it seemed to just hang there lifelessly. She watched it as they approached. She could smell it already and wondered how choking it must be closer to the source.
‘Slow down a second,’ Noel said.
Beth didn’t want to slow down, but she could see that Noel was exhausted. He put out an arm and she saw that he was going to fall. She caught him but his weight threw her off balance and she almost fell down with him.
She paced around while Noel recovered.
‘Do you know what happened?’ she said.
Noel looked up at her and shook his head. ‘Russell sent me to find you.’
Beth stopped and frowned at him. ‘How did you find me?’
‘Dawn told me where you were.’
For a moment Beth forgot about the fact that, somehow, Dawn had known where she was, and just hoped that meant she was okay. ‘Is Dawn alright?’
Noel nodded. She knew he was slowing down his recovery by asking questions, but she couldn’t help it. She needed to know more about what she was walking into. ‘She’s fine. It was in number 98.’
That was at the very end of the street, the same house that the Townies had spray painted with their little welcome message. Well, at least that was gone now.
‘Help me up,’ Noel said, holding out his arm.
Beth heaved him back onto his feet and he brushed snow off his legs. They turned back to the street and, together, set off on the final leg of their journey.
The smoke was thick enough to gag on and she couldn’t see more than a metre or in any direction.
There didn’t appear to be any fire still burning, but she could see the blackened, gutted out remains of number 98 and the start of the same at number 96. After that there was nothing except smoke.
‘This way,’ Noel said. He seemed able to see better than she could, or perhaps he was just less shocked by what they had found.
She let him lead her into the smoky street, but put her other arm out, not trusting him to see well enough to avoid obstacles.
Now she could hear people shouting and she wondered why they were still there. Whoever had taken charge in her absence (Russell?) should have moved them somewhere safe, somewhere that wasn’t full of smoke.
Shapes darted back and forth in front of her and, for a moment, she expected to see zombies. It would have been the perfect camouflage for them to attack and pick off her people one at a time, she doubted they would be affected by the smoke.
Beth had never been in a war zone, but she imagined it would be something like this. Confusion and chaos, things that were out of sight, but threatening. She expected to hear gunfire and explosion. Instead she heard children crying.
They changed direction a couple of times before she saw shapes in the smoke. She let go of his hand and started moving towards them, more quickly than he seemed willing to go.
She found the first shape and put out a hand to touch them. Colette turned to look at her.
Colette’s eyes were wide and bright but the rest of her face was blackened. She looked at Beth, but didn’t seem to recognise her. After a moment Beth realised that her friend was shaking and on the verge of tears.
Beth pulled Colette towards her, wrapped her arms around her and squeezed. ‘It’s okay,’ Beth said. ‘Everything’s going to be okay.’
There were others there as well. She could hear them and see shapes moving around, but no one was clear enough to single out. The air was warm and uncomfortable.
‘Go with Noel,’ Beth said.
Colette looked at her, frowning.
Beth turned away and grabbed Noel’s arm, pulling him towards them. ‘I want you to roundup everyone you can,’ she said. ‘Get them out of the smoke and start seeing who needs help.’
‘What are you doing?’ Noel said.
‘I need to make sure everyone’s here,’ she said. Beth turned back to Colette. ‘Where’s your dad?’
Colette shook her head and Beth could see that she wasn’t going to be able to help her. She was in too much shock.
‘Follow Noel,’ she said again. ‘He’ll make sure you’re okay.’
She handed Colette off to Noel and stepped away, leaving him to take care of the most obvious people. Beth walked towards the row of houses, orienting herself based on the location of the caravans. They were half buried in the snow and she began to wish they had taken better care of them.
Beth called out, to no one in particular, and didn’t get a response. There were too many other people doing the same, and the fog made it impossible for them to see one another.
She stopped in what she thought was the middle of the street. The people moving around her were like ghosts, ephemeral, close enough to touch, but without form or substance. She couldn’t talk to them, or make them see her.
Beth realised that she had to try something different. There was no point being another voice in the crowd. So, instead of shouting along with everyone else, she decided to try listening.
At first the rush of voices was a cacophony. There were people talking to her from every direction, she couldn’t make out one sound from another. Then, as she listened, it gradually became clearer.
She couldn’t hear all of the voices, but many of them. Noel was talking quietly, some distance behind her, Colette seemed to have recovered from her shock and was helping him. Then she heard the voice that she had been listening for all along.
‘Beth?’
She turned towards Russell. In the smoke he was a dark shape, looming as large as the super zombie. For a moment Beth thought that was who had spoken.
‘I’m here,’ she said. ‘Russell, I’m over here.’
A moment later she felt his hands on her arms. She breathed a sigh of deep relief.
‘Where were you?’ he said.
Beth ignored the question. ‘What happened?’
‘Later,’ Russell said. ‘We’ve got a bigger problem to deal with first.’
She didn’t know what he meant, but she couldn’t see what could be worse than the whole street being filled with smoke. She wanted to turn and run away, but if that had ever been an option, it wasn’t anymore.
They walked out of the smoke to the other end of the street. She saw her house on the other side of the road and was pleased that it hadn’t burned to the ground. There were people standing around, helping one another and tending injuries. She looked for familiar faces and saw Dawn and Rachel looking back at her. She tried to smile but there wasn’t any joy in it.
Russell ignored them completely.
Beth tried to gather from his expression where he was taking her, but he wasn’t giving anything away. They kept going together, until the group of survivors were a long way behind them and they were approaching the other end of the street.
He stopped outside a house.
‘Here?’ Beth said.
He nodded.
She put a hand on the cold banister and started to climb. The door at the top was open. After a final look back at Russell, she went inside.
It was dark, but she was growing used to that. As the winter progressed, more and more of her time seemed to be spent in darkness.
The house was quiet and Russell hadn’t followed her in. Beth had no idea what she was there to see.
The first door she c
ame to was locked. She was about to walk away from it, but then heard movement on the other side. She stepped back and the door opened and Darrel was standing there.
‘What are you doing here?’ she said.
He stepped away from the door and Beth saw that he wasn’t alone.
There was a boy sitting in a chair. Beth didn’t recognise him. She looked back at Darrel.
‘What’s going on?’ Beth said.
‘You’d better come in,’ Russell said, his voice coming from behind her. He was a big man but he’d managed to sneak up on her. She wasn’t sure whether she should be impressed or concerned.
She went into the room and Russell followed her. The boy was tied to the chair. Beth didn’t ask why.
‘His name’s Will,’ Darrel said.
‘We picked him up running out of town,’ Russell said.
‘He won’t tell us anything else.’
‘You think he planted the bomb though?’ Beth said.
Russell and Darrel nodded.
She looked at the boy and saw that he wasn’t really a boy at all. He was her age, at least, but he looked skinny and malnourished. He looked like all the other Townies she’d seen.
‘Why do you think it was him?’ she said.
‘Why else would he be running away?’ Darrel said.
Beth could think of a few reasons, but she kept them to herself. Instead she looked at the man, Will, and tried to make up her own mind.
Will turned his head away when she bent down to look at him. He tightened his jaw and she could see the muscles tensing.
‘Did you plant the bomb?’ she said.
Again, he didn’t answer, but she saw the way he flinched and she thought that might be answer enough. If he hadn’t planted it, then why wouldn’t he just say so?
‘Do you know who did plant it?’ Beth said.
Will said nothing.
‘Tell me who planted the bomb,’ Beth said.
Will turned to look at her but he still didn’t speak. It was clear that he wasn’t willing to answer her questions. Beth stood and walked back to the door, beckoning Russell and Darrel to follow her.
‘What do you want to do with him?’ she said.
‘I know what I’d like to do with him,’ Darrel replied.
‘He’ll have to go back,’ Russell said. ‘We can’t keep him here.’
‘We can’t just send him back,’ Darrel said.
‘Why do you think he was running away?’ Russell said. ‘He wasn’t going in the direction of the town hall, was he? He wasn’t with anyone else, was he? Maybe he was acting alone?’
Beth thought that was a very reasonable assumption. Darrel seemed unconvinced.
‘He won’t be safe here,’ she said. ‘When people find out what he did...’
‘I’ll take him back,’ Russell said.
Beth shook her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Russell, but something about that setup didn’t feel right. If anyone was going it should be her. She began trying to explain that to him, but before she got more than a couple of words out, she was interrupted by a scream from outside.
She rushed to the door and Russell followed. The closer she got the more she could hear. There wasn’t just screaming now, there was crying, proper whales of distress. Beth ran down the stairs and out into the street, not knowing what to expect, but fearing the worst.
At the bottom of the stairs a group of people had gathered, surrounding something on the ground. Beth couldn’t see what, but she had a terrible feeling it was actually a ‘who’.
She stopped momentarily, to pull herself together, then started pushing her way through.
Almost at once she wished that she hadn’t.
Beth took a step back and trod on Russell’s foot. He didn’t say anything, because he had seen it too.
The way she was laying on the ground made it look as if she was asleep. Beth even thought that she could see a serine half-smile on her face. But that wasn’t it at all. There was no need to get any closer. She could tell from where she stood.
‘She’s dead?’ Russell said, his voice oddly soft.
Beth nodded.
Someone had closed her eyes, but it did little to detract from the horror. Beth had only known Kathy for a short time but had come to care for her. She knew that other members of the group regarded her with a kind of reverence.
Now she was dead.
The story would come out in time, how Noel and David had finished rounding up everyone on the street and then gone back to check inside the houses, how they had found her face down on her living room floor. Beth would learn how they had dragged her out, not realising yet that she was already dead. That didn’t matter now though.
It didn’t matter that the Townie, or the Townie’s had attacked them, it didn’t matter that it complicated the situation further. It didn’t matter that they had a suspect tied to a chair in the front room of a house and that when people found out they would want blood.
The only thing that mattered now was that Kathy was dead.
Beth stood in front of Russell and beside Dawn. A hush fell over them all as they looked down at Kathy. She hadn’t hurt anyone, but they’d hurt her. The time for revenge might come later but, before that, they would grieve for what they had lost.
CHAPTER 12
IT WAS A MIRACLE THAT MORE PEOPLE WEREN’T killed. Once the smoke had cleared they counted themselves and found no one missing. Several people had burns and they were all suffering coughs from smoke inhalation; Rachel was going to be kept busy for some time.
No one was in a mood to travel, but they accepted Beth’s instruction, that they needed to get far enough away from the street that they wouldn’t have to worry about the fire following them, a distance that, in the end was only a few hundred metres.
The houses they found were basically identical to the one’s they’d left. There were enough of them that they could each have their own place, but instead people gathered together and each house ended up containing as many people as would fit. Between thirty-two of them they occupied only four buildings.
There was no question that they would have a funeral for Kathy. She had been with the convoy for as long as any of them, and it wasn’t just Beth who looked upon her as a grandmotherly figure. Her body was placed in a garage where it was cold enough that it wouldn’t cause any problems and they would have enough time to properly arrange things.
Beth did her best to guide the group through the difficult time, but she was suffering as well and she doubted that she was as effective as she should have been. They moved everything that they had collected, but they were forced to leave the caravans behind. By the time they were accessible again, once the snow and ice had cleared, Beth feared they would be useless. Although they were only one street away she felt as if she was saying goodbye to that life forever.
Will came with them.
Since Kathy had died Beth hadn’t been to see him. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be capable of having a rational conversation about what to do with him. Although she didn’t believe in capital punishment, he had killed Kathy. She left him in Darrel’s care and sometimes hoped that he would deal with the problem without her having to make a decision.
Beth sat in her bedroom, trying to gather the strength to get up and do something. She could hear other people in the house and knew that she ought to go and join them. But she also knew there would be questions which she didn’t have an answer for.
It was two days since the explosion and time was rapidly running out for her to make a choice. As yet, no one other than herself, Russell and Darrel knew that they were keeping Will prisoner. He still hadn’t confessed to anything, but his lack of denial was proof enough.
A sound outside her room prompted her to get up. It was still cold enough that she went to bed fully dressed. Although the fire had been lit in the evening, no one had much interest in sitting around it. She guessed they’d all had their fill of flames.
Downstairs there were
half a dozen people gathered in her living room. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and tried to decide whether it was better to try and sneak out to avoid them, or face it head on. She’d had enough of running so she straightened out her clothes and walked into the room.
They descended on her at once.
David was the first to reach her, mainly because he had been so much closer to begin with. Beth looked around but she couldn’t see Rachel there.
‘Can we talk?’ he said, rubbing the back of his neck, he looked almost embarrassed.
Beth nodded and turned away, he followed her into the kitchen and shut the door behind them.
She switched on the hob and stuck the camping kettle on top.
‘Coffee?’ she said.
David was still standing by the door, his hands working anxiously in front of him. He didn’t reply.
‘David?’ she said.
He looked at her as if it was the first time she’d spoken.
‘Coffee?’
‘Oh, yes, please.’
Beth turned away and wondered why he was so nervous. They had never been particularly close, but they’d known each other since Harmony. She didn’t think she’d ever given him a reason to be scared of her.
‘Take a seat,’ she said, putting the coffee down on the table.
He sat, but he didn’t look any more comfortable.
Beth sipped her coffee, too hot to drink, and gave him the chance to say what he wanted. When he didn’t say anything, didn’t even reach for his cup, she asked him what he had come to see her about.
‘It’s Rachel,’ he said.
Beth nodded.
‘She doesn’t know I’m here.’
‘She won’t hear about it from me.’
He smiled at last.
‘What can I do to help?’
He sighed and Beth could see that it was difficult for him. She expected him to say that Rachel was overworked and stressed out, both of which were undoubtedly true. She would say she understood and that as soon as she could, she would find someone to share the burden. But that wasn’t what he said.