“Look,” Percy said and his voice was full of awe. We followed his gaze. Where once there had been a large green hill, there no longer was one. In its place was a vast and seemingly never ending deep crater and in that crater under tons upon tons of rubble, rocks, dirt, trees and God knows what else were the Twice Dead.
Some had survived, we could see them in the distance, like small ants trying to climb up the crater walls without much success. They were a long way off, further than they had been to our last known position before the explosion.
Where we were there were no Twice Dead, at least not those who were all in one piece. Most of the body parts that had survived the blast radius had been washed away with us to where we had come to a halt, which was on the edge of a slope that lead down onto an open field.
“Yuck, yuck, yuck!” Eden said when she caught sight the body parts scattered all around, “Stevie, you are kneeling on someone.”
Stevie looked and then moved, revealing a torso embedded face down in the mud. The head was held on the shattered stump by a strand of muscle at the back of the neck. When Stevie moved, it snapped away and the head lolled to one side, mud covered and as wet as we all were. The weight of our combined bodies had pushed the Twice Dead corpse deeper into the mud gloop we were sitting or lying on.
Stevie wasn't fazed by this discovery, he just moved himself to a Twice Dead free piece of land and surveyed his surroundings.
Eden pulled twigs and weeds out of her hair. She was now humming to herself. The scabby scar on her head was raised and red but at least it wasn’t bleeding.
“It’s a body farm on steroids,” Wolf muttered from where he was standing. He lifted his booted foot off what was someone’s severed head.
“So glad we don't have to bury this lot,” Rodriquez said pointedly.
Mitch leaned over and picked up a head by a thatch of sodden hair. The water had washed this one’s face clean. The eyes were wide open, the black tongue protruding from swollen lips.
“Still got your teeth, I see,” Mitch said and then tossed the head to one side, “I need a fucking fag.”
“Anyone who starts making jokes about everyone being in pieces will find themselves with a Twice Dead arm shoved up their backsides,” Percy looked pointedly at Bubba, “And I will shove it in sideways for good measure.”
This caused some merriment with nearly everyone, a sure sign that people were accepting their survival and were dealing with it in the only way they knew how. With inappropriate humour, rude comments and of course sarcasm.
I tried to orientate myself. We had actually been swept quite a long way by the river, taking the water’s route of least resistance. How we had all survived that Alton Towers moment I don’t know to this day.
“Adag, Paul,” I mouthed their names, tasting my grief in the dirt that had filled my mouth. There was no sign of the Land Rover, in fact I couldn’t even work out where it had been before it had been blown apart.
Ground zero. Our ground zero. Wolf immediately started to count heads, getting numbers as he called it.
“We fucking survived,” Mitch said as the reality of what had happened suddenly hit home. He let out a laugh, “We all fucking survived!” He sat where he was, soaking wet, covered in mud, slime, dirt and soggy grass.
My heart was fit to burst. I was in a bubble that had yet to explode. I was lost, I did not know what to do. I followed the others, picking my way down the wet hill, looking for land that we didn’t sink into up to our knees.
I found I was edging away from everyone, not looking at them, not speaking.
“Did anyone see what happened to Duke?” Wolf said. I had forgotten about him.
“He ran over there,” Stevie pointed to a thatch of trees. Had he got away? Perhaps he had I thought numbly, but who gave a shit, I didn’t, not right then. I became aware of Wolf’s eyes on me.
“Get back over here Lucy,” he said, I was a good five feet away from the person nearest to me.
“My name is Lucia,” I said, my throat hurt, my eyes burned, and I wanted to start screaming, screaming and screaming until I passed out, “Not Lucy.”
“Over here, now,” Wolf said in a hard voice. I was about to tell him to go screw himself but my words were drowned out by the sudden blasting of a vehicle horn.
Eden screamed and grabbed hold of Stevie’s arm.
“It’s the coach!” Percy shouted all of a sudden and he began to jump up and down, waving frantically and screaming at the top of his lungs, “Oh my God, look! It’s our coach! It’s our coach! Gabe! Gabe!”
Army Sheewee-designed with the British and American female armed forces in mind, allowing female soldiers/officers to be able to urinate whilst standing up in combat situations where there are no toilet facilities. A soft rubber extension pipe allows the person to direct the urine away from their feet. Standard army green colour, small, compact and easy to transport.
In the valley below us was indeed the coach. Moving steadily over a dirt track, and keeping well away from the boggy earth that we were standing on. It lurched to a sudden stop. I stared down at it. What the hell was it doing here? Was it being chased by the Twice Dead? I moved forward, squinting as the vehicle was quite a bit away from us.
I pushed my hands through my sodden hair, becoming aware that my bad leg was really hurting.
I felt a hand slip into mine. I started to pull away, but then realised it was Stevie. He gripped my hand tightly.
“You OK?” I asked him. My own complex emotions were just below the surface, simmering away, held down by sheer will power and stubbornness.
“No,” he said and I understood what he meant.
Wolf had got his Glock out of his holster, we hadn’t got our swords anymore, they had been swept away. I realised just then that I still had my canvas shoulder bag, I had put is across my shoulder and it hadn’t been swept away by the river as it had been held in place by me being crushed against Wolf.
I fumbled with it, my Glock was still there, surprisingly not all that wet as the inside lining of the bag itself was a recycled plastic. I snapped a magazine into the handle of the gun.
Stevie moved away from me, and he suddenly bent down, his fingers pushing through the mud and he pulled out his cricket bat, covered in mud, slime and other river gloop. Of all the things he managed to find, among body parts and river debris.
“No sword,” he said with a forlorn expression on his face.
In the distance as we began our descent down the slope, the door of the coach had swung open and people were now pouring out. I saw combat green uniforms, two small figures, children, then we heard the barking. High pitched and excited.
Stevie began to smile, “Our dogs,” he said and there was joy in his voice, “Jack! Russell! Karma!” His voice carried across the valley, three dogs pushed their way out of the coach, and they began to hurtle toward us, followed by the others. I made out Gabe, in the melee, Jasmine, she was holding something in her arms, I couldn’t quite make out what it was just then.
I looked for Private Jasper and Corporal Peters, trying to identify everyone as we moved downward and they started upwards so we could meet somewhere in the middle, people and their features became more visible. I saw Cassidy stumble out of the coach, he looked around, disorientated probably, I knew exactly how he felt.
The dogs got to us first of course. They raced toward Percy who was shouting their names along with Stevie who was now jumping up and down. Eden was laughing, and shouting Jasmine’s name. I saw Jasmine start to run, followed by Corporal Peters, who caught hold of her elbow, slowing her down. I could hear words being shouted, not whole sentences, as they were still quite a way from us.
“Alive…shit…Duke…all of them…How…fuck…Twice Dead…Duke…wounded…Colonel…”
I watched the scene of reunion unfold before me, numb inside, grief stricken and empty. Like an Oyster shell with its pearl removed. Paul, Adag, both gone. Why had they done it? We had a plan, it wasn’t much of a plan b
ut it was a plan.
My mind was in turmoil; it was shifting from one emotion to another in the blink of an eye. I shaded my gaze with my palm and looked at the land before me, and I wondered with a jolt of concern if Seb and Elise had got to safety.
Jack made it to Percy first, he leapt into his arms, his small body shaking with joy, Russell was close behind, he jumped up and down like a veritable Tigger. Percy fell to his knees. He was crying now. Great gulping sobs. His emotions had finally got the better of him.
Karma was running around us all, barking and leaping up and down. He covered Stevie’s face with doggy slobber, then moved to Eden who shrieked with more laughter and ruffled his dark fur as the dog washed her river cold face with a warm pink tongue.
Gabe made it to Percy moments later and crushed his partner in a powerful embrace, kneeling on the damp earth with him, their beloved dogs yipping, licking and barking in delight. They both sobbed out their joy and heartache.
“Oh God I thought I’d never see you again!” I heard Gabe weep as he pressed his forehead to Percy’s and clutched the sides of his face, their tears mingling on their flesh, “I love you so much Percy!” He kissed the older man, and then wrapped his arms around him, and held him in a powerful embrace, the dogs squeezed between them, overjoyed to be with their beloved pack masters.
Cassidy was lumbering up the hill, I watched him, his eyes were on Stevie, he waved frantically to his friend, beaming with joy and Stevie moved toward him, waving back. I smiled a tiny smile, glad that the boys were reunited. They crashed into each other and hugged, they started to laugh and then together dance around in a circle.
Eden had started to run down the hill and she met her friend and Corporal Peters with a shriek of joy. The three of them clung to each other in a tight circle, they were a family I thought. I watched as Jasmine showed Eden what she was holding in her arms. A pink blanket that fell away. A baby. Poppy. Zimmerman’s Great-niece. She had survived.
Wolf, his Glock held at his side had momentarily forgotten me. He strode over to Nat and clapped him on the shoulder and they started to speak. Bubba and Rodriquez were greeting their fellow soldiers, there was more back slapping, rude comments, and banter.
Where was Phoenix? Private Jasper? Salter? I limped slowly in the direction of the coach, my eyes on it, I heard people greet me, I was slapped on the shoulder by a few people. I nodded my head at them, saying nothing for what was there to say?
It was noisy. So noisy, shouting, laughing, crying. Karma bounded up to me and nudged me with his huge head. My free hand reached out for his ears, pulling on the silky softness as we moved together.
“Lucy!” Cassidy’s voice made me turn. He lumbered toward me and then he had me in his arms, hugging me tightly. That was a good feeling. I hugged him back, feeling his giant warmth. He pulled away and grinned at me.
“You’re wet,” he said making a face, “And stinky, like Stevie!”
Stevie was close behind him, Eden came bouncing over to us, she grabbed Cassidy’s arm and he was distracted, hugging her and then he was being dragged over to Jasmine.
Stevie stayed with me, Karma had sat down by my legs, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, he was a very happy dog.
“Can you see if Phoenix, Salter and Private Jasper are on the coach?” I said to Stevie and he hurried off. Karma followed him. I moved toward the coach, not hurrying, just putting one foot in front of the other. I was on automatic.
Mitch was with Bubba and some of the other soldiers, standing in a circle at the back of the coach. He was lighting a cigarette. He looked tired I thought, tired, but alive. I heard Rodriquez telling the story of Bubba’s fart which got bellows of disgusted laughter from the listening soldiers.
“He farted in my face,” Stevie said as he walked passed the group of men, and he looked directly at Bubba and curled his lip, “Stink bottom!” this caused more hilarity.
“I could murder a cup of tea,” Mitch said.
Gabe and Percy were now on their feet, pressed close to each other, holding their dogs. They didn’t expect to be incorporated into the happy reunion, they were two Gay men and these were macho soldiers, probably as homophobic as they came.
But Rodriquez moved from where he was standing and flung his arm around Percy’s shoulders.
“You’ve got one hell of a husband,” he said to Gabe, “He’s one brave mother fucker!”
“One wet and stinky brave mother fucker,” Percy said with just a hint of pride in his voice, and then he added, “Who was almost gassed to death by his deadly arse!” he glared at Bubba who laughed along with the others in the group. He was having his arm bandaged by Nat who had moved from Wolf who had headed for the coach, probably to speak to that dick Zimmerman who I presumed was inside the vehicle.
“I can’t believe you’re alive,” Gabe said tearfully, “I wanted to be with you,” he clutched at Percy’s arm.
“Be glad you weren’t,” Percy said, and he sniffed as he eyed Bubba with elegant distain.
One of the soldiers, the name sewn on to his combat shirt was Bryson, who was standing next to Rodriquez moved forward and he held out his hand to Percy. He looked him squarely in the eye and said in a soft Southern drawl, “I’m a God fearing Christian, all my life I’ve been told that people like you are sinners, that God will strike you down because of what you are, but you’re no sinner, you choose to make a stand for someone you were willing to die for, I still believe in God, but I now also believe we aren’t all that different from each other as I once thought.”
Percy blinked, hesitantly he reached out for the outstretched hand and took it. They stared at each other for the longest time and then Percy said, “Please tell me you don’t fart like him,” And he looked at Bubba and curled his lip.
Bryson’s serious expression, curved into a smile. He spluttered back a laugh and then they were all laughing and they hugged. A warm natural hug, and Gabe and Percy were pulled into the banter with the soldiers, both male and female.
Jasmine came over to me, Eden was holding the baby now who was half asleep, there was a look of awe on her face. Stevie was asking to hold the baby and very carefully Eden put her into his arms. She moved, snuggling into him, wanting to sleep. I saw him smile, a look of wonderment on his face.
The two boys, Dov and Seth if I remembered rightly, hovered nearby, uncertain of what to do. Corporal Peters called out to them, putting an arm around each of their shoulders when they hesitantly walked over to him.
The older the of the two children moved to Jasmine who immediately took hold of his hand and put her arms around him. The younger child pushed a thumb into his mouth and began to suck. He looked bewildered and Corporal Peters picked him up, hoisting him onto his hip. The little boy folded against him, resting his head on the soldier’s shoulder.
Families and new friendships were being created before my eyes. It wouldn’t be easy, there would be disagreements, angry words, disputes to deal with, but it was a start of a new world for them.
“Lucy,” I turned, it was Nat. He smiled at me. I nodded my head at him “How’s your leg?”
“Still where it should be.” I said which made him chuckle, “Why did you come back here?”
“The explosion,” he said becoming serious, “It caused one hell of a landslide all across the hills up there,” his eyes moved to the hills behind us, “It opened one long sinkhole, we almost ended up in a couple of them! We were trying to find a way out, Gabe,” he nodded toward Percy’s partner, “He said we needed to be near to wild garlic, we were trying to find some kind of road or dirt track, we were well overloaded in the coach, we ended up going back on ourselves.”
“Did you know what Adag and Paul were going to do?” I had to ask the question.
He shook his head, “When we set off, we thought they were behind us, I should have realised she was up to something, she wouldn’t let anyone else into the vehicle, she said there was no room, I wasn’t going to argue with her, we had to get going.”
“Why didn’t you take the van as well?” I asked him.
Nat grimaced, “No keys,” he said “And no, none of us can hot-wire a vehicle,” Of course, Corporal Peters had automatically given Mitch the keys to the van back when we had stopped at the edge of Ashby Forest, and Mitch was with us.
I closed my eyes. Why couldn’t I cry? Where, were my tears?
“Adag…Paul…they saved all of us,” Nat said, “If it’s any consolation.”
“It’s not,” I said and I rubbed my throat, it was hurting, throbbing in fact.
“I’m so sorry,” he said and he was. I had no right to be angry with him.
“What about Zimmerman?”
“Busted ankle, he’s alive, Private Jasper and Salter are guarding him, not exactly Mr. Trustworthy is he?”
“I don’t even think he is human,” I said.
“He is human,” the voice was that of Rachel Bach, Zimmerman’s sister. She was on the steps of the coach, Nat held out a hand for her to take so she could step down onto the dirt ground, “Just not a very wise human.”
“He did this,” I said and my eyes moved to the decimation in the distance, “He was part of it.”
“I know,” I heard the grief in her voice, “Oh I know.”
“Duke was part of it too,” Nat pointed out.
“So was Private Charles,” I said shocking Nat, “My only consolation is that the Twice Dead got her, karma can be a real bitch, can’t she?”
“It’s not a nice way to die,” Rachel said to me gently.
“No?” I said contemptuously, “Forgive me for not caring.”
“She saved my Grandson Dov.”
I looked sharply at Rachel, “Before the attack, he had asked to go to the toilet, she had taken him there, they were trapped in the house, by the time they got out, the trucks were moving, they had to run, the Twice Dead you call them, went after them, Dov, he’s just a little boy, only four years old, he couldn’t run fast enough, she could have left him, she didn’t, she picked him up and she ran with him, the back of the last truck was open, she had a choice, drop Dov and run and jump onto the truck, but she didn’t, she threw him into the truck as she ran, one of the soldiers caught him, in throwing him, it took her off balance…she fell…” I didn’t need to hear the rest of the story.
The Abandoned Trilogy (Book 1): Twice Dead (Contagion) Page 36