Ousted: A thrilling debut novel of survival and humanity

by James M Hopkins

  “I’ve still got it,” he said to himself with a smile. He turned on his heels and saw that Shannon had stopped to watch him. A smile crossed her face and she put her hand into his as they walked on.

  Chapter 42

  Grace and Tariq sat at the kitchen table across from each other with a bottle half-full of clear stream water and a glass each. Grace sat with her back against the wall so she could see the door just behind Tariq’s shoulder. Her hand shook visibly as she lifted the glass for each sip of water and Tariq wore empathy on his face. He didn’t know what to say or do to help her feel comfortable. At the moment, she needed silence and so he let it ring out.

  She eventually broke the peace. “I need to know I can trust you. How did you get here and what do you know?”

  Tariq started near the beginning of his cycle ride out of the city, the information he had that led to his decision and seeing the bomb. He went on to talk about the witch hunt he had been victim of at Anton’s house and his short time at the garage and then spoke in far too much depth of the various ailments he had suffered from over the last ten days. He demonstrated, by removing a handful of hair and proffering it across the table. He described the town with the red pyramid and carefully avoided going into too much detail about the dead bodies that he had seen. While he talked, he regularly coughed away a dry throat and took sips of water, filling his glass three times in all.

  Meanwhile, Grace stared across the table at him, intent on every word he spoke. Tariq had encompassing and expressive eyes that she found hard to not get lost in. He seemed genuine and open and she decided that she had no option right now than to let him into her life.

  “Well, if it is any consolation, I think you have the bone structure to pull off being bald,” she said to break her hour-long silence.

  Tariq laughed. “Well I haven’t looked in a mirror since my hair started to come out so I am just imagining it is currently as patchy as anything. I have a question for you.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Do you have the facilities to have a wash and a shave? I can tell by the wrinkling of your nose that I must stink like someone who hasn’t showered in a week and slept outside almost that entire time.”

  “We don’t have running water, but we certainly have soap, shampoo and razor blades that you are more than welcome to take down to the stream just outside.”

  “Thank you, Grace. I must say I very much appreciate your hospitality. Is there anything I can do for you first?” You can tell me how you came here once I am smelling bearable again. Is that okay?”

  “You go ahead. While you are there, take these two bottles and fill them up before you wash. Oh, and you can find what you need in the bathroom. It’s upstairs and to the left.”

  Tariq thanked her sincerely and went upstairs to return with a towel and lavender shower gel. As he walked past, Grace stopped him. “I want to thank you for finding me, Tariq. When you get back I will tell you my story and we will make a plan.”

  “That’s good. I like a plan. Also, I am glad I found you. No offence, but it looks like you could do with a bit of assistance.” He glanced at her leg

  Tariq returned with the large towel wrapped around his waist. He had only been planning on a day or two away from home and a change of clothes was not on his priority list. “Hi, Grace,” he said. “Sorry about…” he pointed himself up and down. “I have laid my clothes out on one of the chairs out on the porch to dry. Is that okay?”

  “Yea, that’s fine. Come and take a seat and I will fill you in.”

  Tariq pulled up a chair and sat cross-legged under the towel while grace started talking. She took a little while to get her story started and Tariq had to ask probing questions to get a good account of everything. She went through the events of being trapped in the house and finally getting rescued by Mina.

  “So, you and Mina are quite close, then?” Tariq asked.

  “Yea, we are really close. She is like a sister to me. -Or something like that anyway,” she answered.

  “We need to go get her back then, right?”

  “I don’t know, she told me before she left that she was going to escape, because they were stupid as shit.”

  Tariq pondered for a minute. “We don’t know really where she is though, do we? Except for that they must be somewhere north or so from here. It isn’t exactly going to be easy. Did they let on anything, or would Mina have left a note about something they could have discussed while here?”

  “I don’t think so. The only clue I have seen is the handcuff hanging from the oven door. I guess if they undid the cuffs that way around, she is probably right about their intelligence.”

  “Let’s see,” Tariq said.

  “See for yourself. You aren’t going to get a guided tour from a cripple,” she said with a laugh.

  Tariq sniggered compassionately and got up to look. He pulled on the handcuff and the oven opened, revealing an out of date flyer for an amateur dramatics production and a pen. “It looks as though your girl is a smart one.” He picked up the flyer. “Do you know where ‘Draycot, west’ is?”

  “There is Draycot Foliat a little to the west of here. Let’s take look,” Grace said reaching her arm out towards Tariq who placed the note into her hand, while with his other he kept his towel up. “She means west of that Draycot. That’s my clever little bestie.”

  “How far exactly?”

  “I would say about five miles. I have only ever driven. Maybe… Definitely no more than ten.”

  “That’s manageable.” He eyed Grace’s leg. “-For me certainly. How does that thing feel?”

  “It’s manageable. I haven’t left this house since we put the cast on, but I can’t put weight on it yet, I am not sure I trust the cast to handle it. We made it ourselves.”

  Tariq was shocked. “Really!? That’s ace. Can I have a look at it?”

  “Yea sure,” she said, lifting the baggy pyjama bottoms so that he could see the whole thing. Tariq knelt next to her and inspected it.

  “Looks fantastic. Well done, Mina.”

  Tariq felt awash with exhaustion suddenly. “Is there anywhere I can sleep here?”

  “Yea, well,” she started. “I was thinking about this while you were outside.”

  “Uh-huh,” prompted Tariq.

  “Would you mind helping me upstairs… And I would quite like it if you were to sleep in the same room as me. Would you be comfortable with that? I mean I don’t make a habit of asking naked men to stay in the same bed with me, but I trust you and it would help me feel safe. I’ll find you some bedclothes of course. None of that thing. You know what I mean?”

  Tariq laughed and his cheeks reddened a little. “No problem. If you will feel safer, it is the least I can do for your offer of accommodation. I can sleep on the floor if you want?”

  “No, you sound like you need a proper bed after your ordeal.”

  “Then I promise to keep my hands to myself, then. None of that stuff.”

  Shannon awoke in the night to suppress her restless son. The sound of his suckling seemed to fill the tent with noise and she wondered how it was not loud enough to wake Leighton from sleeping. Below that sound, she could only make out the softened rustling noises that usually filled the woods that had offered them home for the past few weeks.

  They had discussed staying in the houses in the town, having a fresh bed and possibly some clean running water. Leighton had taken the experience hard and Shannon fought her desire for warmth and comfort to take them back out into the forest and towards their target destination.

  A rustling outside the tent seemed to become rhythmical and Shannon checked the edges to see if some creature was leaning against the sides or even trying to burrow in, but the sound seemed to be coming from multiple directions around it. She nudged Leighton to rouse him.

  Before he was even awake, two blades appeared above them and the tent was torn into two halves that pulled away like a magic trick. Leighton picked up the taken rifle beside him and
stared wide and bleary eyed into four torch lights directed down and dazzling him.

  A few seconds passed as Leighton weighed up his situation. Shannon was stunned to silence holding Zeke to her chest tightly. Her husband deliberately released his right hand from the grip and held out the gun by the barrel. It was swiftly grasped from him. Zeke started to wail and two of the voices behind the torch light spoke a few indeterminable words.

  “Get up,” said a voice that was quickly followed by an arm under Shannon's armpit lifting her. She barely needed to use her legs, such was the force that dragged her up and instead she focussed on rocking Zeke, with much more anxious vigour than would be able to calm him.

  Another voice spoke, motioning with a torch close to Leighton's face, “You too. Get up.”

  Leighton took the hint and neglecting his nudity, stood up with his hands still, palms outwards in line with his face.

  “Ah, wear some clothes,” the voice spoke again with disgust. The torch lights surrounding him moving slightly back.

  “My jeans are here, no funny business.” Leighton asked slowly pointing to the pair that lay on the ground sheet of the tent. “Just don’t hurt her or my boy. I am coming quietly.”

  “Hurry up and you won’t have a problem.”

  Deprive

  Chapter 43 - Day 10

  Grace lay awake in the early morning light. Tariq had slept restlessly all night and had managed to get himself on top of the duvet. Mina’s light pink pyjama bottoms contrasted against his tanned skin, his body was all clearly defined muscle and protruding bones. He looked fit, but certainly not healthy. She inspected his patchy hair and decided she would help shave his head when he was up. She eventually got bored and nudged him awake gently.

  Tariq roused slowly, adjusting himself before realising his company and quickly pulling the cover up to his stomach. Grace looked at the confused and disorientated expression on his face as he erratically picked his watch up off the bedside table and checked the time.

  “It’s still early,” he murmured.

  “I don’t think there is any rush. You can go back to sleep if you want,” Grace told him.

  “Nah, I need to get up to pee anyway. I think I’ve slept better outside this week than I did last night.”

  “You were restless. You woke me up a couple of times.”

  “I’m sorry. Do you want me to let you sleep?” He asked.

  “No, don’t worry. The only work we have today is to organise a rescue, so it should be light going.” Tariq looked over to determine where the sarcasm was in her comment. Grace laughed at Tariq’s further confusion. “You’re good. Go pee, then we’ll get you neatened up and shave that head of yours. We’ll have to sleep in a bed full of hair if we don’t.”

  Tariq laughed and ran a hand over his head. It felt lighter. “Alright. That’d be good.”

  He got up, carefully twisting himself to the side as he did so. After he peed in the toilet without thinking and tried the handle he heard Grace call through, “I should have reminded you that we have no running water.”

  “All right. I’ll sort it soon. You may as well go too and I’ll flush it before I go get more water.”

  “That’s a good idea. You know, I don’t want to come across too needy or anything so soon, but could you give me a bit of a lift?”

  “Yea. No problem,” Tariq called back, stepping across the landing.

  “Mina looked after me pretty well, I hadn’t even thought about what it would be like without her being around.”

  “Well while we sort everything out, if you need anything, let me know.”

  Mina sat near the locked door of a large barn. She had pulled herself as far into the corner as she possibly could with her knees tucked against her breasts and her poncho pulled down until it covered her feet. The poncho’s hood was wide and lopped over most of her face leaving her as a small grey bundle in the corner, almost unnoticeable, the way she wanted to be.

  Along the left side of barn lay five sleeping bodies – three men and two women – slightly tucked under long-abandoned church pews pushed up against the outer wall. The five of them had been here before her and she had yet to attempt communication with them. She wasn’t even sure if they knew she was there. On the opposite wall hung shelves and a work bench hosting some decrepit and rusted tools. Mina could tell by the empty hooks that those considered the more dangerous had been removed. The rest of the far side was bare. There was plenty of straw in the barn adding to the smell, which was stacked neatly in large cuboid bricks against the entire edge of the farthest wall, shaped as four long steps leading up to an abrupt stop.

  At some point during the night, a couple had been let in. It had been too dark at the time, but she could see where they were lay now, nestled on the lower level of the straw stack, with the morning light that streamed in from the old and cracked wooden walls. The woman was clutching a bag that they were allowed in with and the man faced outward in front of her. They were as asleep as the others.

  A rattle to the right of Mina’s head indicated that the doors were about to open and she adjusted her hood a little lower. The opening of the door let light flood in, the air moving visibly from the dust swishing around in small circles. After a few moments and a few footsteps, the door slammed shut and an addition of a tray remained. Mina freed her legs and moved quickly over to it. She pulled an end off one of the loaves of bread and filled one of the small plastic cups with water from a large jug. It was barely a blink of an eye until she had retreated to her corner, only she held a glass of water between her feet and a chunk of bread in her hands. She took a small nibble of the bread and glanced carefully under the hood. The man was sat up now, revealing his partner’s colourful head wrap behind him and their eyes met. He had noticed her.

  A slam roused Leighton and he fought his urge to roll over and shut his eyes when he noticed the unfamiliar surroundings. The first thing to catch his eye was a small grey clad figure move from the corner of the barn to a point a little way in front of the barn doors at the far end. At first, he was concerned that it was a farm animal they had been shacked up with all night without him realising, but as he strained his eyes to focus, he saw a pair of pale hands reach out from the stooped figure and take something. It moved back quickly and covered itself with its cloak, almost disappearing in the dim light and shadowed corner. He stretched his arms, staring quizzically at the figure until a pair of fierce eyes peered directly at him from under the hood. It was a woman.

  He made a useless, but concerted effort to divert his gaze which led him to look directly away into the corner behind him where the walls should have met the high-pointed roof. He looked straight through a large hole and he moved his head around to see that blue was peering through some of the light cloud that covered most of the small amount of sky he could see.

  Leighton looked down at his wife and child, who remained deep in sleep and decided to explore for himself first and introduce himself to the huddled woman. As he stood, the space she had briefly visited glinted. He walked over to it slowly, occasionally glancing over to the corner to look for an opportunity to smile or wave, but the woman was stock-still. He knelt with the tray of bread and water in between him and her and poured a glass of water. The woman still hadn’t moved, but he decided to go closer and say hello.

  A few meters away he hunkered down and took a sip of the water. “Hi – er – I wasn’t expecting room service here,” he said and chuckled to himself. The hood moved and he could see her left eye peering anxiously at him. A finger slid over her mouth, shushing him and then she pointed ahead of her. Leighton followed her finger until his eyes found five sleeping bodies, their clothes familiar. His jaw dropped. “Oh,” he said, unable to find any more syllables as his brain – still warming up – struggled to fit together all the pieces of the puzzle he had found himself in.

  The pair were silent for a few moments as Leighton took in the view of the barn from the woman’s angle. “Sorry,” he said eventually i
n a whisper. “I’m Leighton.” He reached out a hand that wasn’t taken. The woman cleared her throat before residing to further silence. “Over there are my wife, Shannon, and my son, Zeke-”

  “Son?” the woman asked. “How old?”

  “He’s nearly seven months.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” she said. Before Leighton could say any more she dropped her head at the sound of movement from one of the rurally-dressed figures. “You should take him food. There’s bread.” A finger closed her mouth once more before the hood came down fully over her face and closed the conversation.

  Chapter 44

  Grace and Tariq sat on the edge of the bed and ate dry granola bars that Tariq had sourced from one of the kitchen cupboards. The water – fresh from the stream – was refreshingly cool and they drank heartily. Tariq eyed his pillow from the night before, seeing the loose black hairs that covered it. Grace noticed his glance.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, placing a hand on Tariq’s shoulder. “We will sort that now. The scissors and razors are in the bathroom.”

  Tariq blew his cheeks out. “It’s not really the hair exactly that I’m worried about,” He sighed. “It’s what else might be wrong.”

  Grace shushed him. “You can’t think about that now. There are far more pressing things to deal with. You may not live long enough to find out what the damage is anyway, right? Silver lining.”

  “You’re dark,” he replied, his eyes widening with the thought.

  “I guess.”

  Tariq picked Grace up with ease and walked through to the bathroom. He placed her down so she could sit on the edge of the bath and reach the sink. After moving the shaving equipment next to her and filling the sink with some water from a bucket he knelt in between her legs and bowed his head.