by Ryan Casey
He threw himself at Gav as Gav pulled the crowbar back again. He knocked him down onto the ground. The crowbar tumbled from his hands.
Cody pressed Gav down. Pushed his chest down to the floor with all his weight. “I don’t want to punch you,” he said. “I don’t want to fight. I just want to—”
A punch cracked against his face. He tasted blood as his teeth pierced through his tongue.
He knocked Gav’s fist away as he tried to take another swing. He felt himself losing his ground. Felt Gav wriggling free, making a move for the crowbar. A few metres away, Steve lay on the floor bleeding from his head, out completely cold.
“You’re a fucking traitor,” Gav said, as he swung another punch at Cody, knocking Cody backwards.
But Cody stayed on top of him. Kept his composure. Kept his focus. Kept his calm. “I won’t fight you. I don’t want to hurt you—”
“You’re hurting every fucking person in this camp by not doing what you have to do. By not getting the information we need from that bastard.”
“The way you’re treating him,” Cody said, pressing down more of his weight onto Gav. “The way we’re all treating him. It’s wrong.”
Gav spat in his face. “Fuck you telling us what’s right and wrong.”
“It’s inhumane. Whether Steve’s for real or not, we don’t torture people for information.”
“Fucking pussy. You just don’t understand, do you? You just don’t fucking see the world around you. You don’t fucking see what you have to do.”
Cody took a deep breath. He tasted blood in the back of his throat, felt it trickling from his nose. “I don’t have to do anything. And neither do you. We don’t have to hurt Steve. We don’t have to kill him. We just have to follow him. Don’t you want to find a way out of Britain?”
Gav shook his head. He looked up at Cody like a disappointed parent looked at a child. “You really fucking believe that bullshit he spouted?”
“It matches up. With what Maryam told me. With the plane I saw. The newspapers.”
Gav smiled. Shook his head. “Then that’s just all fine and dandy then, isn’t it? That’s just all fucking fine and—”
Cody didn’t hear Gav’s last word.
He felt a crack across the side of his face. Went flying off Gav, landing by his side.
It was only when he felt the blood pouring from his ear that he realised Gav had grabbed the pliers out of his pocket, punched him with them.
Cody tried to move fast but he felt like he was swimming, or trapped underwater with weights around his ankles. He tried to stand, but he felt lost. He couldn’t hear properly. Couldn’t see properly. His heart raced, the only thing he could hear loudly.
He went to get to his feet when he saw Gav standing over him.
Gav was holding on to the crowbar. He looked down at Cody, on his knees, and rested the crowbar against his cheek.
“You don’t have to do this,” Cody said, although he wasn’t sure how loud or how comprehensible those words came out. “Any of this. You don’t have to do it.”
Gav stood there, still, composed. Behind, Steve was still completely motionless. If Gav had killed him, then Cody was out of here. He was getting away from these people. Because they weren’t what he believed in. They weren’t what he stood for.
If he even got the chance to escape.
“Believe it or not,” Gav said, his voice cutting through Cody’s muffled hearing, “I’m doing you a fucking favour right now. I’m doing you a fucking favour and you don’t even know it.”
Cody swallowed a bloody lump in his throat. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t–”
He felt another crack hit his face. For a split second, his vision went completely black. A high-pitched ringing blasted through his head, and he felt one of his teeth come loose.
Then he felt another crack. This time, right on the back of his head. It reminded him of when he was younger—when he’d been on holiday with a cousin. His cousin threw a stone to the ground, smashing it into smaller pieces. Only one of those pieces had gone flying into Cody’s head, splitting it open and requiring stitches.
He moved his shaky, airy head back up and saw Gav standing there, bloodied crowbar in hand, but horror in his eyes, too. Like he didn’t like what he was doing. Like he wasn’t comfortable.
“You… you don’t have to…”
Gav shook his head. His lips moved. Cody couldn’t work out what he said. Not anymore.
He braced himself. Saw his Sasha and Kelly and readied himself for the final hit, the final impact.
“I won’t fight you,” Cody said.
He watched Gav pull the crowbar back.
Waited for it to crack his skull open.
“Stop this!”
He wasn’t sure where the voice came from at first. Only that it was loud. Then he realised the light at the door was much brighter now. There was someone standing there. A blurred silhouette looking into the room.
Maryam.
“Stop this madness, right this second,” she said. “All of it.”
Cody looked into Maryam’s eyes. He saw the good side of her face. The unburned side. And for a moment, for a split second, he saw hope.
Then he felt a splitting pain crack the top of his head and everything went black.
CHAPTER NINE
Another day passed and Kane was ready to witness a kill.
Sure, he was ready to take a life himself. He couldn’t get e-damned-nough of taking lives.
But today was a special day. Today was graduation day for Spud.
The day he took a human life for the very first time.
And, if Kane had his way, it wouldn’t be for the last time either.
They walked through the streets of a quiet hillside village. They’d passed through a lot of villages on the way down here, and every time they reached a new one, Kane felt excitement build up. Maybe they were finally at the place where Spud did what he had to do.
Only there’d been no people in any of the villages. Just zombies. Which were something to kill, sure. But they weren’t the end-goal here.
They passed through the village of grey-bricked houses and saw a tree-lined road ahead. A sense of regret filled Kane’s body, but he could see from the look in Spud’s eyes that he was relieved. Relieved that he’d missed an opportunity to kill, once again. Spud was quiet, but he was a good kid in all truth. Even better now his hands were pasted in the blood of all the zombies he’d killed over the last day. He was getting there, slowly but surely. Kane knew what it was. An outpouring of anger after watching his mummy and daddy die in front of his eyes.
Spud knew he couldn’t just kill Kane, though. Kane knew why. He was alive ’cause of him.
Did he want to kill Kane? Kane didn’t doubt it.
But it was healthy to have a few murderous aspirations every now and again. Nothing wrong with a taste for blood, even against those closest to you.
“Quiet this afternoon, Sir Spuddington.”
Spud glanced up at Kane. There was hate in his bloodshot eyes. Hate and fear.
Kane smiled. “Most people tell you to let go of hate. To let it pass. I’d be lying if I said that. Hate’s good for you. Good for the mind, good for the soul. Without a little hate, we go mad.”
Spud didn’t say anything in return. Just kept on snivelling. His favourite damned hobby.
“I’m sorry. About what I had to do to your parents.” A lie, of course. He wasn’t fucking sorry in the slightest. He’d had a blast! Why be sorry about something so fun? “But you’ll be stronger for it. Don’t you see that? The life you were living at the farm, it wasn’t the real world. It was a fantasy. Say Mummy and Daddy had disappeared one day. Got attacked by the undead. How would you’ve survived?”
Spud didn’t answer. He kept his focus on the ground ahead.
“You wouldn’t. Whereas now, well. I saw the way you took down those zombies a few villages back. You’re getting tougher already. Just imagine how tough yo
u’ll be tomorrow. How tough you’ll be in a year. Just image how tough you’ll—”
“Zombies.”
Kane frowned. “What…”
Kane saw them up ahead. A small crowd of zombies, eight or nine of them. All of them were standing still by the side of the tree-lined road. All of them were drifting aimlessly like they hadn’t seen Kane or Spud yet.
“Well?” Kane said.
Spud shook his head. “Maybe we can go through the woods. They haven’t seen us.”
Kane smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe.”
Then he put his fingers in his mouth and whistled.
The zombies turned right away, started moving towards Kane and Spud.
He looked back at Spud, who stood there, stunned. “Oops. Better clear them out. After you.”
Kane watched Spud approach the oncoming zombies, his shoulders sunken and his head low. He never looked comfortable taking on the zombies. Was anybody ever?
But he looked more assured than he’d looked just a day ago. He looked more sure of himself. Progress.
Kane lifted a gun he’d found a few villages back as Spud approached the zombies. It only had one bullet, so he had to be ready as backup, just in case Spud got himself in any danger. He had another little throwing knife too, but he didn’t want to take his chances with that right now. He didn’t want to lose Spud. Not now he was so close to watching Spud graduate into his perfect little serial killer friend.
Spud pulled back the knife. The first of the zombies stretched out to reach him.
Then something happened.
An arrow blasted through the zombie’s head.
More arrows flew at the zombies from the other side of the road, all of them taking the zombies down, one by one.
Spud turned. Looked back at Kane. Kane saw the fear in his eyes.
Then in the distance, ahead of the zombies, he saw figures.
The figures of two men.
He ran into the trees. Up ahead, Spud followed his lead. That annoyed him. This was it. This was Spud’s chance. He should be out there luring those people into a false sense of security, not moping off like a little fucking baby.
He crept over towards Spud. As he got closer, the men appeared in view. Both of them looked skinny, but they had crossbows and fresh-looking clothes, which meant they had to be from some bigger camp.
And them being from a bigger camp meant they came from somewhere where there were more people.
He put a hand on Spud’s shoulder. “This is it. This is your chance.”
Spud shook his head as the men got closer, retrieving their arrows from the fallen zombies. “I can’t.”
“You can. Don’t ever tell yourself you can’t, Spud. Because you can do this. You’re strong enough to do this. You have to be.”
Spud kept on shaking his head. All the strength he’d grown fighting the zombies was falling apart, piece by piece.
Kane grabbed both of Spud’s arms. “You just go out there and you take down one of them. I’ll deal with the second one. Hell, you can get it done quickly if you want. I mean, waste of a good person not to have fun with them when you kill them, but I can see why that might be difficult for you. Kind of.”
“I don’t want to kill anyone.”
Kane smacked Spud around his face, anger and irritation taking over.
Why don’t you just kill the fucking kid?
Let Spud die. He’s holding you back.
KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM.
Kane shook his head. Snapped away from the voices. “Just go down there. Approach them. Tell them you need help. You’re a fucking kid, Spud. They won’t hurt you. They’ll treat you like royalty.”
Tears streamed down Spud’s face. The men got further away.
“Do it. Or I’ll leave. I’ll walk away. Then let’s just see how you get along without my training. Let’s just see how you get along without my help.”
Spud looked at him with total defeat, like a kid being bullied into stealing something, and for a moment, Kane felt pitiful.
He felt like telling Spud he didn’t have to do this if he didn’t want to. That they could delay his graduation by a day or two. That they could—
“Okay,” Spud said. He stepped away from Kane and walked towards the road. “I’ll—I’ll do it.”
Kane wasn’t totally sure how to take Spud’s news. He watched as he descended down to the side of the road.
He felt the tingling sensation growing as he watched Spud approach the men, as he watched him turn the knife around behind his back.
This was happening.
He waited for Spud to say something. Waited for events to play out just like he’d imagined and fantasised about so much since meeting Spud. But the more time dragged on, the more doubtful he grew.
Spud wasn’t saying anything.
Spud was walking away.
He pointed his gun. Aimed at Spud’s back.
Then Spud cried out.
“Help!”
The men up ahead turned around right away. Pointed their crossbows at Spud.
Kane watched Spud tuck the knife into his back pocket as he walked towards the men, arms raised. He heard the men shout out something at Spud, but then their voices—all of them—became muffled the further away they got.
Kane steadied his aim. He had to be ready for when Spud made his move. One kill was enough for day one.
Spud stopped in front of the men. They kept their crossbows pointed at him and asked him stuff that Kane couldn’t hear. But he didn’t need to hear. He could imagine their questions already, radiating around his mind. He could hear every word as if they were being spoken right beside him.
“I need help.”
“We can help you, kid. You can come with us.”
He saw the crossbows lower and he knew Spud had them then. Good old Spud. He’d pulled through. He’d repaid Kane’s faith, just like he’d wanted all along. He should never have doubted him. Never have lost faith.
He saw Spud step up to the man on the left. One with dark, curly hair. Shorter. Good choice. Now Kane could focus on the other one, the taller one.
Besides, the man on the left had a thicker gut. Spud would enjoy ramming his blade right into his stomach.
Kane felt himself chuckling as he imagined the squelch of blood, the feel of muscle slicing under the knife.
His hands shook as Spud reached behind his back. As he grabbed the knife. And he knew this was it. This was the moment it happened. When everything changed.
He wasn’t alone anymore.
Spud was going to be his little protégé.
And they were going to take this world, together—
He saw Spud turn around.
Saw him point right in his direction.
And before Kane had a chance to realise what was going on, the two men fired their crossbows into the woods.
Kane fired back. But an arrow slammed into his left hand and the gun went flying down the side of the hill, onto the road.
He felt the blood pouring out of his palm. Felt the anger of a failed release.
Spud had betrayed him. The little fuck cunt fuck had betrayed him, and he’d make him pay. He’d make all of them pay. He’d make them…
When he looked down the road, excruciating pain ripping through his hand, he saw the most awful sight imaginable.
The men were gone.
Spud was gone.
Kane was alone, all over again.
CHAPTER TEN
Cody stuck his tongue in the hole where his tooth should be and winced.
But hey. At least he was still alive.
A few hours had passed since Gav beat the shit out of him. Cody sat on a rickety wooden chair inside Maryam’s fort. Beside him, Gav. Opposite, Maryam.
And in the middle of them, on his knees, Steve.
Right to this moment, Cody still wanted to trust Steve. Even though fighting his corner had left him a tooth down, swelling all across his face and a constant tang of blood at the back of hi
s throat, he truly believed in what Steve promised. There was an extraction point, somewhere. A way out of Britain and into the world that Maryam herself had talked of.
But why was she so reluctant to believe? After everything she knew, everything she’d seen, how could she just give up?
Cody glanced to his left at Gav. Gav was breathing shakily. He’d definitely got the better end of the deal—Cody hadn’t fought him off, through principle more than anything. He didn’t like Gav. Thought he was a bit of a thug. But he’d never beat the shit out of him. He’d never put him through that because as much as he didn’t like him, he believed in the goodness of this world, of the people in it.
But he wasn’t going to give up fighting for what Steve promised.
“You two,” Maryam said, breaking the silence. She was looking right at Cody and Gav. “You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.”
“He let Steve go,” Gav spat.
“And I don’t care what he did. We don’t fight like that. We’re not monsters. The monsters are the ones outside the walls. The monsters are the ones we’re supposed to be protecting this place from. Don’t you see the sheer disruption the pair of you have caused just through that one fight?”
“I only fought because I worried what that fucker might do if he got away—”
“Shut up,” Maryam said. “I’ve had enough of you. Of both of you. You’re very close to being banished right now. I’m seriously considering your positions in this group. So think very carefully about every word you say from here on.”
Cody kept his mouth shut, which helped because it wracked with pain. Maryam seemed to be more annoyed at Gav, which was something. It was a start.
She turned her attention towards Steve. Stood up. Walked around him, examining him like he was some kind of animal in a zoo.
“My friends here asked you a question, though. A very serious question. I suggest you, too, consider your next words very carefully. You know how lucky you are to be alive right now?”
“If you’re going to ask where the extraction point is,” Steve said, exhaustion in his voice, “then you already know my answer.”