‘What if those things find us here?’ Laura said. ‘We don’t have any more soldiers to look after us.’
Florence was kind. Her words were nice.
‘We’ll look after each other. The front gate is locked. If we’re quiet, we should be alright.’
Cecily held Laura’s hand.
‘I think we might be alright for a while.’
Laura didn’t speak. She shut her eyes.
Vinnie came back upstairs. He had been looking around the garage. He was holding three axes under his arm. He gave one to me and one to Abe.
‘These might be useful.’
The axe was heavy. It would definitely hurt a viro.
‘What else is down there?’ said David.
‘Not much really,’ Vinnie said. ‘Some old bits of uniform, a couple of big boots and some broken hoses but nothing of any real use.’
Vinnie smiled.
‘I’m guessing someone looted downstairs but got spooked and didn’t come up here. I’ve locked the door from the inside so we should be secure for now.’
‘Very good,’ said David. ‘We need volunteers to take turns watching the gate. It’s the only way in or out of here but we need to know what’s happening outside at all times.’
‘I’ll take first watch,’ said Ellis. ‘Save me some food.’
Ellis pulled a chair over to the uncovered windows. She sat at an angle. She could see the gate. No-one could see her.
We had cold beans and ravioli for supper. It was not the best but better than nothing. No one complained. We all sat round the table. There was not much to say. The kids ate quickly. I watched Emily and Richard. They looked worried. They thought someone would take their food away.
‘The food is yours,’ I said. ‘You can eat it.’
‘It’s nice,’ said Emily. ‘We sometimes got food when we were locked in that freezer but if we were too scared or too sick to eat that lady took it away again.’
‘She was evil,’ said Richard. ‘She laughed when we cried. I wet myself and she said I was a dirty kid.’
‘Me too,’ said Damian. ‘She slapped me in the face.’
I thought the kids would start crying again. Amber spoke kind to them.
‘That lady is gone now. She is never coming back.’
‘Are you sure?’ said Richard. ‘Only, she used food to trick us into going to the freezer with her. She said she had ice cream in there.’
‘She said sweets to me,’ said Laura. ‘Loads of lovely sweets. I was so excited.’
‘No one is tricking you now,’ said Amber. ‘We are all on the same team.’
Moon
Later it was my turn to keep watch. It was night time. The moon was big. Everything looked like milk. I could see the gate. I sat in the chair. I saw the road behind the gate. There were trees behind that.
It was weird to do this. I hoped that I didn’t see anything. That would be good. Everywhere we went I saw trouble. I wanted to see something else.
I wanted to see Mum at the gate. I wanted her to wave at me. I wanted her smiling.
‘Come out, Jake, you’re safe now,’ I wanted her to say. ‘All the viros are dead forever. It will be you and me again. Like it used to be. We’ll never have to be scared ever again.’
I wanted to see more soldiers. I wanted to see tanks and guns. I wanted the soldiers to keep us safe forever. I wanted the soldiers to kill every viro in the world. That was what I wanted. I never wanted to see another viro ever again.
My eyes got heavy. It was hard to stare for so long. My eyes closed. I blinked. I opened my eyes again. I saw something. I shut my eyes. I blinked again. I thought it was just a shadow. I stared hard. I waited. The shadow moved.
There. Was. A. Viro. Standing. At. The. Gate.
I looked back in the room. Everyone was sleeping. David was sitting in a chair. His eyes were closed. I looked back at the gate. The viro was standing still. It knew we were here. I was sure. I stared harder. Then I realised. The viro was Ciaran. That was why it knew where we were.
Ciaran must have got bitten. I was worried. If Ciaran knew we were here he could bring more viros? We could tell the others about us. About the kids. I had to do something.
I tiptoed over to Vinnie. I woke him up. I put my finger on my lips. He nodded. We woke David. He understood. We all went to the window. David moved carefully. They saw the viro. I wrote ‘Ciaran’ in the dust on the window. Vinnie and David nodded. I looked back at everyone sleeping. I put my fingers to my lips again.
Prize
Me, David and Vinnie went downstairs. We checked the locked door. David sat on a chair.
‘I’ve often wondered whether these creatures ‘know’ things?’ said David. ‘Now, I think we know the answer.’
‘Like some kind of memory?’ said Vinnie. ‘I suppose it makes sense.’
If the viros remembered us then they’d know our faces. What we had done. And where we might be. They could find us.
‘Can Ciaran tell other viros about us?’ I said.
David shrugged.
‘I really don’t know. I guess that they might be able to.’
Me and Vinnie listened.
‘I suppose it stands to reason that these things work on some kind of herd mentality. That is obvious enough from the way they hunt in giant packs. They all have to be guided by some form of group instinct. Where one goes, they all go.’
David shrugged.
‘I’m only guessing this is what happens. We may never know for sure.’
This was like always. No one I ever heard speaking knew the truth. Everybody just kept guessing all the time. It wasn’t fair for the world. Until we knew the truth it was impossible to make real decisions for the humans. Decisions like how to stop running. How to fight. How to stop the viros spreading. Things too big for my small head.
‘What will we do?’ said Vinnie. He sounded like I felt. ‘We’re too big a group to get to the asylum on foot. We don’t even know where it is from here. And, in any case, the young kids are too much of a liability.’
Vinnie was right. We would never get anywhere like this. We needed transport. David felt the same.
‘For the minute I guess we sit tight. We don’t have much choice.’
David looked at his leg. He laughed.
‘I’m not much good on this thing at the moment.’
David pointed at the outside.
‘It might be that Ciaran gets distracted by something else and gives up his lonely vigil.’
I didn’t know. All this was bad once more. Like being back at the school. I wanted to say my worry.
‘What if he doesn’t go away?’
‘Then we think of something else,’ said David. ‘The longer we can wait the better my leg is going to be. We should have enough food to last a couple more days.’
David looked at both of us.
‘None of this is ideal but I don’t really think we have any other choice.’
‘We don’t,’ said Vinnie. ‘At least, not yet.’
‘Okay,’ said David. ‘Now, we need some kind of protocol. We should tell everyone who is taking turns watching about Ciaran but we shouldn’t tell the kids.’
‘Agreed,’ said Vinnie.
‘Me too,’ I said.
‘We need to stay away from the windows and not make any noise,’ said David.
He looked worried.
‘It could well be that these things have heightened senses. We will need absolute silence at all times. The slightest noise could be enough to not only keep Ciaran interested but also give his friends something to think about as well.’
‘Silence will be hard,’ I said. ‘All the kids will want to say things.’
David and Vinnie agreed.
‘We’ll tell them that we’re playing a game,’ said David, ‘and the winner is the one who goes the longest without speaking.’
‘There will have to have a prize?’ said Vinnie. ‘We’ll have to have something to make it worthwhile for the ki
ds to play along.’
‘How about staying alive?’ said David. ‘That’s the best prize I can think of.’
Problem
It was later on. David told the kids about the game. They were excited. Everyone nodded. They all put their fingers on their lips. Vinnie told the others about Ciaran. We were all downstairs, apart from Florence. She was watching the gate. Ellis was worried.
‘So, I guess we’re kind of trapped here?’ she said. ‘At least until Ciaran gets bored and goes away.’
‘Can viros get bored?’ said Amber. ‘Is that even a thing?’
‘We’re hoping that whatever it is that is making Ciaran hunt people will eventually get him to start looking elsewhere for food,’ said Vinnie. ‘It’s all we can do.’
Vinnie looked up at the ceiling. He looked at us.
‘We could probably get out of here,’ he said. ‘We could probably even take Ciaran on and beat him.’
Vinnie looked at me.
‘Especially you, Jake.’
Vinnie looked at everyone else.
‘You should have seen how he took McKenzie down.’
I blushed a bit.
‘I got lucky,’ I said. ‘That thing wanted to eat kids and that is not right. I had to fight to stop that happening.’
Ellis held my hand.
‘You were so brave, Jake. You helped save all those kids.’
I looked at Abe. I thought he might be nasty. Abe nodded.
‘What she said,’ he said.
‘The problem is,’ Vinnie said, ‘that we’re now responsible for the kids, at least until we find another army base or can get them all evacuated somewhere safe.’
Vinnie looked at me again.
‘There’s no way we can get everyone to safety on foot, even with Jake the Giant Killer here.’
Everyone smiled. I liked Vinnie’s words. They made me feel good. But they made me feel red.
‘It’s a good problem,’ I said. ‘Those kids need us. We are all they have now.’
Vinnie nodded.
‘It is a good problem, Jake. A bad situation but a good problem.’
Milk
Later it was my turn to watch again. I sat by the window. It was dark outside. There was the moon. It was bright and big. Everything looked dipped in milk. Ciaran had not moved. He was still waiting. It. I didn’t know how to call Ciaran. He was dead now. But that didn’t stop him. Or the other viros. They were all dead. Millions of dead people all over the world but none of them were buried. Even after all this time it was still weird.
Was Mum dead? She probably was by now. Not because I wanted her that way. I wanted her the other way. It was just that I could see how easy it was to become one of those things. It was so hard not to get bitten. Even the Tall Man got bitten. He was a giant bully. If he got bit then anyone could. There was no way to stop it.
I was lucky I got this far. But did it help? All I did was run away. Or hide. It was not a real life. Not for me. Not for anyone. One day there would be nowhere left to hide. Then what happened? Where would I run to? The world was just like a bad pot of boiling water. It just bubbled and bubbled. Forever. Everyone got scalded in the end. It would never run out. It just fell all over us like burning rain.
I looked behind me. All the kids were asleep. I hoped they were dreaming nice. Not thinking nasty things about their family. About the things they had seen. The sounds. The screams and cries. The ripping and shooting and shrieking. No kids were meant to hear these sounds. Kids should only hear singing and laughing. Silly happy games. And love words from their parents. I wanted them to have a happy life. A life of fun and friends. That was impossible now. There was no fun anymore for them. Only hiding and whispering. Trying not to get bit. For the rest of their lives.
I thought that I should just die. It would be easier for everyone. Why should I keep living? It meant someone had to look out for me. They had to watch me and not themselves. We had no protection from anyone. Nearly every soldier I met had been killed. Or killed themselves. There was no real law any more. Only the law of the viros. Bite and kill. Bite and kill.
I knew I had to kill myself.
It suddenly made sense.
That was I had left.
Rope
I found the rope later in a cupboard. It was long and thick. Everyone was so busy hiding. No one was watching me. I knew how to tie a noose. I had seen pictures of a rope curled round. I went downstairs. It was dark and quiet.
Round and round and through. The rope was hard to work. My fingers ached. It took me three turns. I got the noose done in the end. I tested it. The rope moved like I wanted. I put it over my head. It felt weird. I knew it was wrong. I felt confused. I had to stay alive. But I didn’t want to. I hated this. I hated sitting in the shadows. I wanted to be free. I couldn’t just go outside. That was impossible. I had to be free another way. The rope would help me. It would take everything away. I wouldn’t be scared or lonely. I wouldn’t be worried all day. I wouldn’t miss Mum any more. All these things would go away.
The rope would stop me from being a viro. I couldn’t bite my friends if I was properly dead. They wouldn’t have to hide from me. They wouldn’t have to help me if I got hurt like Ellis. No one would have to push my wheelbarrow. Or kill me if they had to. Everyone could get on with everything without worrying about me.
I looked around. There was space under the stairs. If I tied the rope in the right place I could jump down. I would be high enough. I wouldn’t hit the floor. The noose would work. My neck would break. It would be over.
I didn’t know much about Heaven. It could be outer space. I hoped that Mum might be waiting. She could be there. Somewhere. Perhaps that’s where she was looking? Maybe she had given up on Earth? She would find me somewhere else.
I had to be quiet. No one could stop me now. I went back up the stairs. There was a gap between the steps. The top of the rope slipped through. I reached down. I pulled it round. I tied the tightest knot I knew. It had to hold. The rope hurt my hands.
I looked over my shoulder. Vinnie was at the window. He was looking at Ciaran. He couldn’t see me. I thought about him and Ellis. I helped them find each other. That was good. They were family. They didn’t need me now. I was in the way. It was the same for Abe and Amber. They were brother and sister. They had no need for me either. If I was gone they could keep all their eyes on each other. They wouldn’t have to watch me.
I thought about Ellis. She was my friend. I liked her. She saved me. She helped me get safe on the roof. She said I was like her brother. I liked that. But I didn’t want that. I wanted to be more than her brother. But I was too different from everyone. Ellis was kind but she was better off with Abe. He wasn’t like me. He didn’t look like I did. Abe could say his words properly. I got overexcited. I garbled and rushed. I blushed as well. I was not confident.
I knew that everyone could always see what I looked like. They always noticed. How could they miss it? I was born different. That was fine now. It didn’t matter. The viros were different as well. That made it easier for me. I wasn’t the worst thing in the world to look at any more. They were. They were different to everyone, me as well.
I stopped thinking.
I didn’t need to worry about my face any more. Or how I speaked. Or anything else. That was gone. I had the rope now. That was everything.
I went back down the stairs. The rope was hanging in the darkness. I pulled it down. The knot was strong. It would stay tied.
I put the noose over my head. The rope was rough on my face. I climbed onto the handrail. I moved slowly up until I thought I was high enough. I looked upstairs. One of the kids sighed. It was a nice sound. It made me smile. I was glad it was the last thing I would hear. It was better than crying and screaming. I never wanted to hear that again.
I let go of the stairs above me. I wobbled on the rail. I didn’t want to slip. I couldn’t fall off. It had to be a proper jump. Otherwise this might not work. I pulled the noose down further. It w
as tighter around my throat.
I got ready. This was it. There was nothing else. My legs felt stiff. I shut my eyes. Everything was going away. There would be no anything now.
Only sleep.
Darkness.
No sounds.
No viro songs.
No screams.
No pain.
Only sleep.
Lots of forever sleep.
And maybe Mum.
Always Mum.
Only Mum.
THE END
Viro (Book 3): Viro Page 10