by Riva, Aline
“Maybe we just found a way to save the world?” she said, casting him another glance.
“No,” he replied, “It's going to take much more than that – those things are a worldwide infestation.”
Then as he stared at the strange sight up ahead as fog rolled out of nowhere and began to swamp the car in front, he slowed down, sounding the horn as he glanced back to see the other cars also slowing.
“Where did that come from?” Tara said, “Fog doesn't just come up like that...out of nowhere?”
“Out of somewhere,” David replied as he looked nervously to the fog, then turned off the engine as he saw the car in front do the same. There was a light somewhere behind the mist, and in it, figures were moving. Figures with torches, battery operated torches. Thankfully they could tell at a glance they were not undead – these people were very much alive and waving, to urge the cars to stay put.
“It's okay,” a voice called out through the mist, “This is a checkpoint – leave your weapons behind and step out of the vehicles if you seek a place of safety.”
In the leading vehicle, Rick looked at Lois in dismay.
“Leave our weapons behind?” he exclaimed.
“I think you told me something about making David's people having to do that back at the mall?” she reminded him, “Something to do with your security measures?”
“Oh yes, so I did,” he said quietly, then he opened up the door and got out of the car, and Lois did the same. As they got out, the others did too, all looking to the figures in the fog and the man who led them, who remained as a shadow as the torch light was shone at their faces.
“Don't be alarmed,” the man said as he focussed the torchlight on Lois and Rick, “My name is Jason, these people you can just about see behind me are Carrie, Ben and Kit...We happened to drift together at the time of the virus outbreak. I knew of this place and we came here and claimed it, left a few messages along the way hoping others would understand and join us – no one has so far made it here...Until you lot showed up. I'm glad you're here, there's more than enough room, too. Please, follow me and I'll lead the way... Don't worry about your cars, we have a locked compound but saw you coming on the CCTV and opened the gates. We're all safe now.”
And then he turned away, shining the torch through the mist as the others followed and his people stood either side, guiding them safely through.
As they made their way through the mist and out the other side where before them stood a boarded up bingo hall beside an old parade of shops that were also boarded, David spoke up first, looking to the leader of the group.
“I take it the underground shelter and the adjoining tunnels are all secure?”
“Of course,” Jason replied, “Trust me, we can get in but the undead can't. We only venture out at night and then we use the fog machine – it confuses the shit out of them...Is he okay?”
That question had been a reference to Maxie, who was supported by Toby and Lauren as he weakly clung to them, barely able to stand even with support as sweat ran down his face and pain reflected in his eyes.
“He can speak,” Maxie replied, “No, I'm not okay...broke my back fighting off a stinker...but don't worry, I'm not infected...just crippled, apparently.”
Now the mist had cleared, they could all see Jason and his companions clearly, Kit was tall and heavy set with short fair hair peppered with grey and looked to be around fifty. Ben was around ten years younger, the same height as Kit but muscular and had a look about him that said perhaps he was ex army. The only female in the group was slender and pale with short dark hair and bright green eyes. All of them were dressed in black, blending in with the night to mix in with the artificial fog and keep the dead at bay. But their leader was the one the others were staring at, Jason stood out very much from the rest, the right side of his face was covered by a clear plastic mask that protected healing burns. His features were still visible and it was obvious before the burns he had been – and still was – a rather attractive man. His eyes were a brilliant shade of blue and his hair was light brown, he was a striking man even with the mask that covered part of his face.
And the more she looked at him, Lois got the oddest feeling...
“Have we met before, Jason?” she asked vaguely.
He looked at her, then looked to the others, avoiding her question.
“We go in around the back of the building, down through the cellar and into the tunnels. There's a solid metal door, I'll close that behind us. We have water, electricity, food and there's more than enough to share. Who is in charge among you?”
Rick exchanged a glance with David.
“Hard to explain,” David replied, introducing his people, “I'm David, this is Tara, the young lady is Lauren and her injured partner is Maxie. We were in the Arctic on a field trip when the outbreak happened, photography studies...most of the party didn't make it. We've been back a few months now.”
“I'm Rick Lester, “ the former mall king added, “I used to run a community for survivors at the Fountain Plaza shopping centre but the horde came and everyone died...apart from the people I have with me...Toby, Nick, Sandra, and this lady beside me is Lois.”
Jason stepped closer, his eyes sparkling as he smiled warmly.
“Hello, Lois,” he said, giving her a nod as again, he felt strangely familiar. But then Jason turned away, shone the bright beam of the torch around the back of the building, and led the way to the locked door.
As they went inside and were led down to a cellar and then through a solid door that was locked behind them, one glance around told the group this place was definitely secure – the walls were solid concrete, the lighting system was old but working, the corridor led down to a second where doors branched off into various rooms. At the end of this corridor, was an open door that led to the former shelter area – this was also solid and brightly lit, and by the smell of food coming from it, was being used as a canteen. They were led through to this area and then Jason stopped by a nearby table laden with food.
“There's more than enough down here of everything, for all of us,” Jason explained as he switched off the torch and set it with the others, then he looked to his companions.
“Kit – help Maxie...he needs to be lying down, he shouldn't be standing at all. Take him to the medical area and help him to bed.”
“I'll come with you, Maxie,” Lauren said, and then she and Kit helped Maxie from the room.
Jason gestured to the tables set out in front of them.
“Help yourselves...make yourselves at home, too. There's some small rooms up the corridor with beds in- very basic bedrooms but they''ll do, there's enough space down here. I really hope you guys can stay around.”
As they took their seats around the table, Jason remained standing, watching them all thoughtfully. Lois looked up from the food that was laid out and gave him another questioning glance.
“Have we met before?” she asked again.
He shook his head.
“I don't know...I've met a lot of people since the survivors went to ground, everyone's trying to get under cover. By the way, I'll have one of my people take some food to Maxie, okay?”
“Thanks,” David replied as he poured some coffee from a waiting pot, “This is good of you, Mr...?”
“Just call me Jason,” he replied.
“Forgive me for asking, but what happened to your face?” David added, as Tara shot him a look that said it ought to be obvious what had happened – in these dangerous times many people were walking around with battle scars, and he really shouldn't have asked...
“Explosion,” Jason replied, “Me and a couple of others were trying to defend our home town from the horde. We set a big trap for them. We used fresh bodies - there was a big car smash on a main road as people rushed to try and get out of town – lots of fatalities. We gathered up the dead and piled them high, made it a petrol trap, basically. Unfortunately one of the petrol cans got caught in the flames – we had no idea how fast
and how violently that blaze would spread – it all went up, I got burns to the side of my face and two of my friends died in the explosion. But we got them. We torched the horde that killed our families.”
David saw a mix of pain and grief that came along with such a hollow victory and understood completely as he nodded.
“It's good to know you, Jason,” he replied.
“You too, my friend,” Jason replied, then he took a seat, extended his hand and the two men shook hands over the table.
It was well past midnight when the tired travellers who had left the mall in such haste and drove in darkness for hours finally prepared to sleep for the night. After a good meal their belongings had been brought from the cars – David had asked Toby and Nick to help Jason's people to unload, and they had brought everything inside, locked up the cars, checked the compound was secure and now they had all found their way to their rooms, basic bedrooms with basic beds and sparse furniture, but it was safe and secure, and that was what mattered most.
That night David slept warm in Tara's embrace as the others went their separate ways, finding rest alone as Lauren went to the medical centre, a place that looked very out of date - but she was pleased to see was stocked with modern supplies. She had stood there for a moment, watching Maxie sleeping deeply now he was resting properly and had been given some powerful pain relief, something she was thankful to know, because seeing him in such terrible pain had broken her heart. As she got into bed next to him he slept on, the painkilling medication making him oblivious to everything, but as she shifted closer and put her arm around him she was sure she saw a trace of a smile about his lips that appeared briefly and then vanished once more as he slept on.
“It's going to be okay,” she whispered as she watched him sleeping and then brushed a stray lock of hair from his eyes, “I don't know if you'll ever walk again but I do know its very secure here. And if you want to stay, I'm staying with you...”
“Thanks, Lauren...” he murmured as his eyes stayed closed.
She leant over him and kissed his cheek, blinking away tears as she wondered how he would cope as he recovered to find his hopes would probably come to nothing – it was extremely unlikely he would ever walk again.
“I'll be with you always,” she whispered as they lay together in the darkness, “That's a promise, Maxie.”
But this time he said nothing, sleeping on deeply as she lay beside him wide awake, wondering how the others would take the news when she told them she would be staying here with Maxie when they moved on...
Rick had managed to find a room slightly larger than the others and claimed it as his own. That had made Lois smile as for the first time since the tragedy at the mall, he seemed more like the Mall King she had first met so recently, before the plaza had been destroyed. She watched as he placed clothing in a wardrobe, then his spare hand on a small dresser, then he paused, glancing at her as he took hold of the release mechanism on the metallic hand he was wearing.
“I expect you've probably sorted out your own room,” he said to her, “I put your things in the other wardrobe, just to keep it all together and tidy...I guess we should say goodnight now.”
He had sounded so alone, so lost. His back was turned, he was still busy taking off the prosthetic hand. She watched as he placed it on the dresser, then he took off his jacket and draped it over the open wardrobe door because there was no more room to hang anything inside. It was then that Lois spoke up.
“I thought I might stay here tonight. I don't want to be alone and I think you feel the same. Tell me if I'm wrong.”
He froze for a moment, still caught between grief for the loss of the mall and its people and a surge of hope that perhaps life wasn't as hopeless as it first seemed. As he turned around he met her gaze, sorrow still reflecting in his eyes as at the same time, warmth shone though as he caught her expression.
“I would love your company Lois. All the time. Right now, tomorrow, the next day...”
He paused, looking at her as he hoped he had not said way too much as in that moment he had let his heart fly open and the words tumble out with no restraint. It had been a day that had wrecked him, seeing the carnage at the mall. But as he had driven away he had recalled David's words – yes, he had lost the mall and everyone he knew, but he was still alive. And looking at Lois, his heart raced in a way that reminded him for sure that he was still breathing, still had a functioning pulse.
She stepped closer to him, then as he reached for her, she welcomed him into her arms and as their lips touched and their kiss deepened, something stirred in his heart that gave him hope for tomorrow.
“I really, really like you, Lois,” he whispered as his dark gaze burned with intensity that matched her own.
“Come to bed, Rick,” she said softly, then she took hold of his undamaged hand, leading him over to the bed. Moments later he was on his back and laughing as he tried and failed to quickly unbutton his shirt with one hand so she took over, pausing to kiss him and then opening up his shirt and running her hands over his toned, slender body as she placed tender kisses on his exposed flesh.
It was a night that he had not expected to unfold as did, but on the day that had seen so much tragedy, the night had brought with it new hope in the form of the love they shared, as he took her in his arms and after more kisses and softly spoken words, Rick made love to her and for the time they were lost in those moments, nothing else mattered as the world melted away, he didn't even give a thought to the insecurity he used to feel about the loss of his hand. None of it mattered now he was with Lois.
It was the strangest of times to find love and the in strangest of places too, hiding below ground in the artificially lit shelter while above ground the undead roamed the earth, but for Rick and Lois it brought new hope – this was a new start, this was something that reminded them they were still human and still had needs, and could still find the capacity to love. They both slept deeply that night, wrapped in each others arms, beneath warm blankets in a soft bed below the surface while above, hell on earth still reigned supreme.
Chapter 10 : Explanations Due
Morning brought with it a strange sense of normality that had once seemed dashed away forever. Suddenly, waking up in a comfortable bed next to his lover seemed like the old world had, in part, slipped back into place as Rick turned on his side and put his arm around Lois. She breathed deeply, a smile on her face as she opened her eyes and met his gaze and saw love reflected there.
“This feels so right,” he said softly, “Yesterday I was in despair, now I feel like I've got a reason to carry on.”
Her hand slid down his arm, as she looked at him still half asleep and her hand closed over the end of his wrist and she caught a look of alarm briefly registering in his eyes, she was suddenly wide awake as she laughed softly.
“Its okay...I'm not likely to forget I'm in love with a man who has one hand.”
“I thought you might be expecting two as you were half asleep.”
She giggled.
“If I found I was waking up next to a guy with two hands it wouldn't be you and I'd be out of this bed like a shot!” she exclaimed, and then he laughed as he held her tighter, it had come as such a pleasant surprise that he was here, in her arms, laughing about something he never thought he could even discuss – the day he cut off his own hand after a bite from one of the infected.
“They say love cures everything,” he said as amusement danced in his eyes, “Do you think it might grow me a new hand?”
“Keep the metal one, I like it,” she replied, and then she kissed him softly.
Down the corridor in the medical centre, Lauren was up and dressed just as Maxie was waking. He stirred as vague sensations of pain flickered about his lower back, then he remembered he couldn't walk and the pain he felt for the loss of that was eased by the look he saw on her face as she smiled – Lauren did love him, she really did, and it helped a lot to know that.
“Are you sure you want to stay here
?” he asked, blinking away sleep and feeling slightly useless as he looked up at her. She nodded.
“It's safe, you need to be safe and so do I. Besides, I wouldn't want to leave you behind.”
“I never knew how much you cared,” he replied, swallowing down a lump in his throat as he stayed determined not to cry.
“You never told me – you should have done. But better late than never.”
She smiled and he smiled too, thinking on the irony of all he time he had wasted not saying a word – now he was barely able to move, the truth had come out and he wished he had spoken up sooner, but there was no time to waste on regret.
“I'll find a way for us to make the most of every moment,” he promised, “Not just because of me being like this – because none of us know how long we have left on this earth and the odds of living a long life dropped sharply for all of us the day the undead rose up and decided to take over our planet.”
“We'll be okay, Maxie,” she said, and her words were filled with reassurance that leant him much needed strength as she kissed his cheek.
“Is that all I get?” he asked as his voice became stronger and humour crept into it.
She smiled.
“With a broken back? You'll have to heal before we go any further.”
“And walk again.”
He looked away from her, wishing he didn't have so much focus on the pain and the numbness and the pins and needle sensations in both legs.
“Even if you can't,” she told him, “You won't get rid of me that easily, Maxie! I'm here to stay, get used to it.”
Now he was smiling again and as he met her gaze once more his fears melted away.