The men and women who were being attacked immediately realised there was some hope after all and intensified their efforts to fend off the creatures even more. Josh rolled up with a trolley full of various aerosols, and several men and women grabbed them, lit candles and also began to advance down the aisle looking for any stragglers. Jules did not. She remained in the same spot she had been glued to for the last minute, and as the furry attackers gradually disappeared, she looked towards the mutilated body of her friend. The bloody and tattered T-shirt hid very little of the agonising ordeal she had endured. Tears dripped from Jules’s cheeks at first, then they began to pour as she realised she would never see her friend’s smile again. She would never have her comforting arm around her shoulders; she would never hear her warm and soothing, motherly voice. Maggie, Mags, was gone now, gone forever, and with her, a little piece of Jules had died too.
Jules pulled one then another foot from their entrenched positions on the floor. She slowly walked down the aisle towards the blood-soaked corpse. The high-pitched squeals of the rodents and the pounding feet of their pursuers disappeared into the warehouse at the back of the store. The others who had been attacked, all in varying states of well-being, continued to cry out in pain, fear and disbelief, but for now, Jules was deaf to them all. The only thing she could hear as she walked towards her friend was her own heartbeat. Du-dum, du-dum-du-dum. “Mags … Mags!” Du-dum, du-dum, du-dum. “Don’t leave me, Mags. You can’t leave me.” Du-dum, du-dum, du-dum, du-dum. Jules stood over her friend, hoping beyond hope that she would see movement, that there was some way back. Then, as if by magic, the older woman’s shoulder began to move and Jules inhaled a shocked yet excited breath.
She bent down and was about to turn Maggie onto her side when the body of a rat that had got trapped beneath her squeezed itself out into the open. The creature, still a little dazed from the weight of the body that had fallen on it, paused for a second to catch its breath. That was its last mistake. Jules grabbed it and flung it hard at the breezeblock wall. The rodent squealed in fear as it flew through the air then fell silent as it splattered against the solid surface. Jules let out a scream angrier and louder than any that had already been heard before falling to her knees at the side of her friend. She took hold of Maggie’s bloody hand and stayed there with her for some time. The clean-up had begun around her. She heard voices, she even heard her own name on occasions, but it was all in the background. The only thing she could see or focus on was Maggie.
It wasn’t until later, much later, that she felt a warm, consoling arm around her and for a short time she allowed herself to believe it was her dead friend; but then she looked up and saw George there with tears in his eyes. He was kneeling too, and Jules could see he was feeling every ounce of pain that she was. “It’s time we got her out of here, poppet,” he said in a broken voice. Jules looked at him then looked beyond him to the assembled crowd. Her brothers were at the front, waiting to take Maggie’s body away.
Jules looked down. Maggie’s hand was still in hers, and she gave it a squeeze. “Goodnight, Mags,” was all she could say before George helped her to her feet and led her away. Among the stock of tablets they had found on their scavenging trips was a box of zopiclone, a powerful tranquillizer used to combat cases of severe insomnia. George made Jules take one then laid her down to rest on her bed. He stayed with her, holding her hand until she fell asleep.
CHAPTER 20
The next morning, when Jules awoke, her head was fuzzier than she ever remembered it being. She slapped her tongue around her mouth to see if she could taste alcohol or, worse still, vomit, but she could taste neither, it just felt furry. She desperately tried to remember back to the events of the previous evening; then they hit her like a juggernaut. Rats! She rolled out of bed and climbed to her feet, immediately feeling woozy and needing to grab hold of the cold, orange, metal racking supports. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath then peeled back the tarpaulin covering her cubicle and stepped out to face the morning.
She did not quite understand what was going on as she made her way down the aisle, but people were removing the sheets and covers from their cubicles and placing them on the shelves above. She could feel her body swaying from side to side as she walked and still struggled to believe that she had not had an excess of alcohol the night before. Stepladders were being erected, and something was being painted onto the support legs of the giant warehouse racks.
Was she still dreaming? All of this seemed so bizarre. She reached the end aisle and then George came rushing towards her. It took Jules a moment to focus, but then she saw dark, heavy rings beneath his eyes, and finally, everything came rushing back to her. She instinctively threw her arms around him and he uncharacteristically reciprocated. After a brief embrace, she pulled away.
“I remember the attack, but I don’t remember much else.”
“Well, it was your brothers who saved us,” George said.
“Say what?”
“Your brothers. They came up with the idea of using aerosols as flame throwers to beat the rats back. If it wasn’t for them, Jules, I dread to think what could have happened last night. We lost Maggie and two more, but if it wasn’t for their quick thinking, we could have lost everyone.”
“The rats, where did they come from?”
“Hard to say, but my guess is maybe the storm drains as they overflowed.”
“How did they get in here though?”
“Rats are very capable and very intelligent. If they want to get in somewhere, they’ll get in. We managed to chase them all out through the warehouse roller shutter. Your brothers remained on patrol all night, ready to raise the alarm if they came back, but they didn’t, thank Christ.”
“What’s going on?” Jules said, gesturing back to the aisle she had come from.
“Well, as a precautionary measure, we’re moving everybody off ground level. These racks are four shelves high, with an equal distance between each shelf. The upper shelves won’t be as comfortable as the ones on the ground floor, but we’re greasing the legs, so if those things come back, it’s going to be virtually impossible for them to get up. We’re moving everyone from the spread of the shop floor to just two aisles, so it’s going to be a bit like living in a high-rise block of flats.”
“Sounds great, people are going to love that.”
“Listen, after what happened last night, people would live in a waste skip if it meant they didn’t have to face that again.”
“What’s happened to the others who were attacked?”
“We’ve moved the infirmary to the meeting room upstairs. There’s going to be a constant guard just in case. Some of them were really badly injured. We’ve given them some antibiotics, but, to be honest, without any kind of real medical knowledge, we’re just clutching at straws.”
The stress lines on Jules’s face deepened the more George told her. “I mean, Jesus, rats. They’re full of disease. God knows what we might be dealing with.”
George looked down towards the floor as if something Jules said had saddened him. He reached into his pocket. “On the subject of Jesus and God, I know Maggie would have wanted you to have this.” He handed her a gold crucifix on a chain. Jules held it up and watched it spinning for a few seconds before opening the clasp and putting it around her neck.
“I hope wherever she is now, she’s not suffering.”
“We should plant something, say a few words later.”
“Yeah.”
“She thought the world of you.”
“She thought the world of you too.”
“I’ll miss her.”
“Me too.” Jules looked around as people climbed ladders and tied ropes to the upper shelves.
One of the children walked by with his mother. “It’s going to be like sleeping in giant bunk beds,” he said.
The innocent comment brought a temporary smile to George’s and Jules’s face, but it was just that, temporary. “So, this is going to be our life n
ow? Scared to go outside cos of the zombies and armed gangs. Scared to stay inside cos of the rats.”
“We’ll get on top of it like we get on top of everything,” George replied.
“How? You got a past working for Rentokil that you haven’t told me about?”
“Every problem has a solution, Jules,” he said, gesturing towards the preparations.
“I suppose you’re right. What are we doing to block entrances? I mean they must have come from somewhere.”
“That’s a tough one. There are gaps under external doors, there are the air and heating ducts, the drains, toilets, there are a thousand different ways for them to get in. They caught us completely unaware last night. I think we should concentrate all our efforts today on making sure that if they get in again, nobody gets hurt.”
“That’s probably smart. Okay, what about the food?”
“What do you mean?” George asked.
“Did they get to the food last night?”
A look of panic swept across George’s face. “Oh God, with everything else that was going on I didn’t even think about that.” They both walked quickly down the aisle towards the back, and when they reached the food store, they let out audible breaths of relief.
“Right. We won’t tempt fate, if those little fuckers show up again we won’t be as lucky a second time. Let’s get all this stuff onto pallets, I’ll go get the forklift, and we’ll load it onto some of the higher shelves. Mary might not be too happy that she won’t have the same access to it, but it’s better than the alternative.”
“Have you got a counterbalance licence?” George asked.
“Do I look like the type of girl who’d have a fuckin’ counterbalance licence? Look, wait until we’ve got all of this stuff out of here then you can report me to the Health and Safety Executive,” she said with a smirk.
“I was only asking.”
“Yeah, well, you should know better. Now go get some bodies to help us with this.”
Everyone worked tirelessly all morning to make the building as rodent-proof as possible. A small group patrolled to make sure there was no sign of the creatures reappearing before the preparations were completed. After lunch, there was another small planting ceremony to pay tribute to the people they’d lost. George said a few words on behalf of Ben, and then Jules stepped forward to speak about Maggie.
“Maggie was like a second ma to me. She was always there when I needed her. She always picked me up when I fell down. In fact, I’m pretty certain that wasn’t just me; that was all of us. She believed in this place. She believed we could make it work, she believed in the people here. When I woke up this morning, there was part of me that didn’t want to face the day. We all know what happened last night. I was there, front and centre. I saw what happened to my friend. There was part of me this morning that asked what the point was. What was the point of continuing all of this? But then the answer came to me. Maggie. That’s the point. She believed in us, and if I didn’t carry on, then I would be disrespecting her memory. We all would. We’re in hard times. There’ll be plenty more ahead of us. I might get pissed off; I might get disheartened; I might need some of you to pick me up now and again,” she said, looking towards George and then to her brothers. “But I promise you, while I’ve got a breath left in me I’m never going to give up. Now, there’s still some work to do, and Mags would be the first one giving me grief if I slacked off.” A small ripple of laughter circulated through the crowd. Jules smiled too then headed out of the small memorial enclosure.
✽ ✽ ✽
People were tired but nervous as they settled down for the evening. They had a number of lookouts in place and more lights than usual, but that did not stop everybody being more watchful than ever. It was after eleven o’clock when panicked voices issued a chilling prelude to what was to come. The sheets, flaps of plastic and tarpaulins all peeled back as what seemed like double the amount of rats than had arrived the previous night stormed the building. The smell was horrific, just like that of the overflowing drains at the back of the store.
The brown bodies ran like a river between the aisles. Dozens of creatures desperately tried to scale the greased legs of the racking, only to fail in their endeavours.
If any got too high, a sudden burst of flame ignited the potential aggressor and acted as a stark warning to others. It was all working to plan, and, as horrific and sickening as the sight was, the realisation that while they remained high on the racks they were safe eased the tension in the air. But then, as a terrified scream instantly drowned out the high-pitched squeals of the creatures, everyone realised that something had gone wrong.
CHAPTER 21
The sound had come from the far end of the racking system that Jules’s shelf was on. She frantically began to move towards it, gripping the cold metal frame of the rack, invading living space after living space while people froze and huddled with terror. She swung and dived and crawled like deranged orangutan until she finally reached the end cubicle. Two rats were clinging to a young woman. Her child was huddled in a corner, petrified, while the beasts clawed and gnawed at her mother’s arm.
Jules grabbed the first of the creatures, squeezing it like a shit-smelling sponge. The rat squealed with pain, releasing its grip, and Jules flung it over the edge to the ground before doing the same to the next. “How did they get up here?” she demanded.
The woman pointed to the racking against the wall. Nobody was living on that, and so they had not bothered to grease the legs. A number of the rodents had climbed onto the shelves and were attempting to leap across. So far only two had made it. Jules reached for the aerosol, candle and lighter that every living space had been issued with just in case. At that second, another two creatures launched themselves from the other shelving unit. Jules did not watch, she lit the candle, brought the aerosol up and fired. The two creatures were mere inches away when they turned into shrieking balls of flames and fell to the ground. “Okay, now!” shouted Jules at the top of her voice.
The woman and the child looked on in confusion, not understanding who Jules was shouting at, but then, multiple loud whooshes sounded and bright flashes of light lit the interior of the showroom as Molotov cocktails were flung.
The pained squeals of the creatures became almost deafening, and the smell of flesh cooking and burning was so strong that it coated everyone and everything like thick gloss paint. As the small beasts began to beat a retreat once more, the grease on some of the racking legs caught fire.
When the majority of the rats had disappeared, several small groups began a mopping-up process. They climbed down from the relative safety of their shelves and used the makeshift flamethrowers to kill and chase any leftover attackers.
A group of firefighters began to run around the showroom dousing anything that had caught fire.
The rats did not come back that night, but there was a feeling shared by everyone that they would see them again.
✽ ✽ ✽
On the third evening, they arrived earlier and came in still greater numbers. All the legs in the place had been greased this time. The patients in the meeting room upstairs had been barricaded in, and a group of four guards all armed with flame throwers were ready and waiting.
Despite the efforts of the rats, they did not get near anyone or any of the food. When the Molotov cocktails were tossed, the creatures retreated once again. Despite the fact they had got through the night unscathed, a chilling darkness began to fall over the Home and Garden Depot. Was this what life was going to be like now?
✽ ✽ ✽
The following day, Jules called a meeting in her office with the people who had all been key in drawing up and executing the plans to deal with the rat problem.
“As far as brainstorming sessions go,” she said, looking down at the almost blank piece of paper in front of her, “this doesn’t say very fuckin’ much for any of us.”
“In all honesty, I don’t know what else we can do,” said an older woman who had b
een one of Maggie’s friends and now taken up the crusade with Jules to honour her memory. “I mean we’re killing more of them each night, but still more appear. For the time being, I think if none of us are getting hurt, then that’s a victory.”
“If that’s what we’re calling a victory these days, that’s pretty fuckin’ sad. Look, we need—”
“Shit!” Andy cried, looking out of the window.
All eyes in the room shot towards him.
“What is it?” Jules asked.
“We’ve got company,” he said, unshouldering his rifle and charging out of the room; others followed, leaving Jules and just a small handful of her inner circle to run to the window and see what was going on.
They all watched from behind the blinds as a lorry came to a stop and two women climbed out, one with blonde hair, one with dark hair. They walked to the rear of the vehicle and unlocked the door. Two more jumped down, and the first two climbed onto the loading dock, disappearing from view beneath the canopy.
A steady procession of females of all ages gradually filtered out of the back of the lorry.
“Jesus Christ,” Jules said as she watched the terrified looking crowd gather and turn towards the building.
“Where do you suppose they’re from?” George asked.
“God only knows, but it doesn’t look like they’ve had an easy ride,” Jules replied, continuing to watch. “We’ll know soon enough when Andy and the boys bring them up here.”
Before Safe Haven (Book 4): Jules Page 14