Lanherne Chronicles (Book 2): Five More Days With The Dead

by Stephen Charlick

  ‘No, please. You’ve got to believe me,’ Dr Avery added. ‘I can help you. I can buy us some time.’

  ‘How?’ asked Alice, discarding the hospital gown and pulling on her own clothes.

  ‘When the convoy stops, Sergeant Blackmore will expect a report from Dr Morris,’ he replied. ‘I’ll go to him saying that Alice has begun labour and he doesn’t want to leave her. He knows how important the Foetus… the baby is… so it could buy us a few hours.’

  Matt looked at Dr Avery, trying to gauge the sincerity of the man. In just a few exchanged words, Matt was being forced to pass judgement on him in order to measure his worth and reliability, and ultimately, whether he could place Alice’s and his own life in his hands. Seconds after Dr Avery had confirmed that the horrific rumours that, they had all heard whispering through the corridors of the base were true a terrible realisation hit him. His sister, Karen was still there and no matter what happened here, he would have to find a way back to her. In that moment, Matt realised he would need the doctor’s help if he wanted to get Alice and her baby away from these monsters and he simply had no option but to trust the man and hope his contrition was genuine.

  ‘Okay,’ Matt said, with a nod, sealing his fate one way or another.

  ‘But what about her… and him?’ Alice asked, gesturing to Dr Chambers and the other still unconscious solider. ‘What’s to stop her from calling out for help as soon as we stop?’

  ‘Well, he’s not a problem,’ Dr Avery began, nodding toward the solider. ‘He was hit pretty hard. We think he may have already had a minor underlying physical defect. The knock has caused some bleeding on the brain, so I doubt he’ll come round for a long time… if at all. As for her, well, I think we’ll just have to sedate her.’

  ‘What!’ Dr Chambers snapped.

  ‘Come on, Helen, I’ll only give you enough to keep you under for a few hours,’ said Dr Avery looking from Matt to his irate colleague. ‘You’ll be perfectly safe.’

  ‘Screw this!’ she replied, jumping from her seat.

  ‘I wouldn’t if I were you,’ Matt said, swiftly grabbing her arm to pushing her back down and pointing his gun at her. ‘Up to you which type of shot you’d prefer, lady.’

  Looking from Dr Avery to the soldier, Dr Helen Chambers knew she was beaten.

  ‘If you think Blackmore is just going to let you waltz out of here with her, you’re crazy,’ she said, already rolling up her sleeve. ‘He’s going to feed you to those walking corpses out there when he catches up with you.’

  Dr Avery went to a drawer and pulled out a bottle of clear liquid and a vacuum-sealed new hypodermic.

  ‘If you think you’ll get any better treatment, you’re as deluded as they are,’ she continued, turning to Alice while Dr Avery wiped her forearm with an antiseptic swab. ‘Blackmore will catch you and you’ll be back on that bunk soon enough. I’ll get to rip that thing out of you yet, so you’re just delaying the inevitable.’

  ‘Excuse me, Doc,’ Alice said, stepping around Dr Avery to land a hefty punch on the woman’s jaw, knocking her out cold. ‘Some people just don’t know when to shut up.’

  Dr Avery looked from the unconscious Helen Chambers to Alice and back again.

  ‘Remind me not to piss you off,’ he said to himself, as he inserted the needle into Dr Chambers’ arm and depressed the plunger.

  ‘I don’t suppose that can be taken orally?’ Matt asked, after he had helped Dr Avery move the prone form of Dr Chambers over to one of the beds.

  ‘The Propofol? No, why?’ Dr Avery replied.

  ‘Well, I thought if I could get enough into the water tank, we could knock out most the squadron when we park up for the night. They’re bound to want coffee or at the very least they’ll need water to rehydrate the MRE packs.’

  Dr Avery thought for a minute before walking over to a cabinet and pulling about a box.

  ‘Thiopentol,’ he said with a smile, ‘is a handy little barbiturate that, although will take longer to take effect than if it was intravenous, it can be given orally. Not too great if someone has liver problems, but it’s all I can think of that we’ve got enough of.’

  ‘Right, so that’s the plan then,’ said Matt. ‘When we stop for the night, you’ll go fob off Blackmore while I dope the water’

  ‘And then what?’ Alice asked, easing herself awkwardly down into a chair.

  ‘Then we wait,’ Matt replied, ‘and just hope enough get knocked out for us to get away.’

  ***

  Now that the rope had been removed from his cracked ribs, Steve was finding it easier to breathe and as he looked at the expectant faces of his rescuers, he knew that they wanted answers.

  ‘What can I say?’ he began, taking a gulp of cold water from the bottle passed to him by the pregnant woman who had shadowed the convoy since leaving Lanherne. ‘It was meeting Penny and Mr Sorenson… sorry, I mean Lars, again after all these years that made my mind up for me. Coming face to face with someone from the past reminded me that life didn’t used to be like this… that it wasn’t meant to be like this. They were meant to be doing something good with the base. That was the whole point, but after a while it changed… we changed. Living all those years, not knowing who you could trust or who was going to disappear next was unbearable. We were constantly living on a knife’s edge and in the end, you just do what you needed to not be noticed, and not rock the boat… but… but I couldn’t do that anymore, not when I found Penny and Lars again.’

  ‘People have died while you didn’t rock that boat,’ Leon said sternly, thinking of Sally and Jen’s brother, knowing there must have been other nameless men and women who had fallen afoul of the soldiers. ‘It’s not going to be so easy to wipe the slate clean with a few words.’

  ‘Don’t know but you might’ve missed the part where my own father strung me up as a meal for some corpse to chow down on. I almost paid with my life to put things right, so don’t fucking give me this ‘just words’ crap, okay!’ Steve said angrily, wincing as he pushed himself up from the cramped floor of the cart.

  There was silence in the cart as Steve’s words were taken on board, but finally Phil spoke.

  ‘Well, I guess we do owe you the benefit of the doubt,’ he began. ‘From what Liz told me, you’ve known she was following from the moment the convoy left the Convent… and you did try to get as many away as you could.’

  ‘Yeah, you do, and I did,’ said Steve.

  ‘Even if you did botch it,’ Phil continued, shaking his head.

  Steve was about to point out he got a good kicking when he was caught when he noticed Phil was chuckling.

  ‘Oh, I see you’re the funny man of the group,’ said Steve.

  ‘I try,’ Phil replied, smiling. ‘Now, how are we going to get everybody else back, any ideas?’

  With one more body now in the cart, space was non-existent and if they were to collect any more escapees, they would definitely need some other method of transport. They soon decided they would have to try to liberate not only their stolen friends, but also the truck that they were being held captive in. However, getting in and out of the camp without being noticed was not going to be easy and all of them were under no illusion. This was not a simple rescue exercise; this was war. Their weapons, which until that point had only been used on the Dead, could soon be used to take the lives of their foe. They could be responsible for ending the existence of other living beings, beings that were in very short supply these days.

  ‘Until they make camp for the night, we can’t make any concrete plans,’ said Patrick quietly, ‘but I agree with Steve. We’ll have to deal with the armoured vehicles first if we want to have a chance of getting away with the holding truck.’

  ‘Last thing we want is one of them firing on us,’ Steve added, his volume mirroring Patrick.

  He hadn’t spent a lot of time on the mainland among the Dead and certainly no time at all traveling the countryside with only the wooden walls of a cart for protection. The whole si
tuation seemed insane to him. Every so often, they would hear the distant moans of the Dead and each time, Steve’s hand would subconsciously move to grab a rifle that was no longer there.

  ‘How on earth do you get used to this?’ he whispered to Liz, who had the two dozing children wedged on either side of her.

  ‘It’s all we’ve ever known,’ she replied, trying to shrug her shoulders but not finding the room to move. ‘I was just a child not much older than Anne when they came, so we had to adapt to a new way of life pretty quickly. Luckily, I had someone to look after me who knew how to fight and survive, but most weren’t so lucky. Look, it’s just a culture shock for you now, that’s all. You’ll get used to it, you’ll see.’

  ‘And what about the Dead?’ Steve asked, ‘Do you get used to them too?’

  ‘Well, don’t get me wrong,’ she replied, trying to manoeuvre her bump into a more comfortable position, ‘but for the most part they’re sort of more of an annoyance really, a deadly annoyance admittedly if things go wrong, but an annoyance none the less. You just have to know what you’re dealing with… you know, play by their rules… and once you understand them, they’re just like any other problem nowadays. You just deal with it and hope tomorrow’s going to be easier.’

  ‘My woman, the philosopher,’ Imran whispered to Steve with a wink, as he reached over Anne to stroke the back of Liz’s head lovingly.

  ‘Snowing again,’ Phil said to himself rather than to anyone in particular, ‘should make it easier to follow them.’

  ‘Great, as if it wasn’t cold enough in here as it is,’ mumbled Jen, pulling her jacket tighter about herself.

  ‘Here,’ Leon said, struggling to take off his coat without poking one of his fellow travelling companions in the eye, ‘take this. I’ve got a couple of thick jumpers underneath.’

  ‘No… I didn’t mean…’ Jen began to protest.

  ‘Honestly, it’s fine, so take it,’ Leon continued, finally pulling his arm out of the sleeve and handing it over to Jen.

  ‘Thanks,’ she replied, pulling the coat over her shoulders.

  ‘Sorry about your brother,’ Leon said softly, while Jen slowly pulled the coat’s hood up over her head. ‘Shit that it happened like that, you know?’

  ‘Yeah, real shitty,’ Jen replied quietly. ‘Thanks.’

  The young black man was a puzzle to Jen. Sure, he had that cocky, self-assuredness, big man attitude that instantly rubbed her up the wrong way, but there was also something else in there, something that broke through all the pointless bravado to show the real man within and it irritated Jen slightly to realise she was starting to like what she saw.

  ‘How far ahead do you think they are?’ Imran asked Phil.

  ‘Probably a good few miles,’ he began glancing back at Imran, ‘but we’ll catch up to them this evening when they make camp.’

  ‘Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it tonight,’ Steve added solemnly. ‘It’ll be our only chance, since tomorrow they’ll reach the rendezvous point on the coast and if that happens, we’ll lose them.’

  Imran looked back at Liz, his own worry mirrored there. They all knew some people would have to die tonight if they wanted to get back their friends. It was simply one of those ‘us or them’ situations and being totally outgunned as they were, it didn’t look like it was going to be easy for the Lanherne survivors to pull it off without losing one or more of their own in the process.

  ‘Hey, we’ve not lost yet,’ said Steve, looking from one anxious face to the next, ‘and don’t forget we’ve got three aces in the hole.’

  ‘And what are they?’ asked Patrick, pushing back one of the spy hole covers.

  ‘Well, firstly, you’ve got the element of surprise,’ Steve began, ticking off the points on his fingers, ‘and you know how to get done what needs doing while the Dead are on your heels.’

  ‘And the other?’ asked Patrick, not at all assured by these first lifelines.

  ‘Me,’ Steve replied matter-of-factly, ‘I know what and where the firepower will likely be positioned, how many will be on watch and what the rest of squad will be doing at any given time. With Intel like that on an enemy, the battles are already half won… believe me.’

  ‘Okay,’ Patrick said still not convinced.

  ‘Look, have you got anything to write on?’ Steve continued, seeing his pep talk hadn’t really done the trick. ‘I’ll draw you a probable layout of the camp. It’s pretty much the same each night and we can come up with some rough plans that can flesh out once we actually get there.’

  ‘Here,’ said Imran, pulling a scrap of paper from a pocket, ‘show us what you’ve got, and I’ll want that paper back afterwards.’

  ‘Thanks, but why?’ Steve replied, taking the paper and turning it over to see if it was something important.

  ‘Oh, you’ll find out soon enough the next time you need to take a crap,’ Phil said chuckling to himself.

  Steve looked from one face to the next, trying to work out if Phil was joking. He plainly wasn’t.

  ‘Oh, looks like I’ve got a lot to get used to,’ he eventually said, working a stubby pencil from his pocket.

  ‘Tip of the iceberg, man,’ Leon said, smiling as he shook his head. ‘Tip of the iceberg.’

  ***

  ‘It’s snowing again,’ Matt said, looking up at the high oblong window that ran the length of the Med lab.

  ‘Heavy enough for us to stop early?’ Alice asked, following Matt’s stare.

  ‘No, Blackmore will want us to get as far as we can while there’s still light,’ Matt replied, turning to look at Alice. ‘He’ll want to get to the coast before nightfall tomorrow for the pick up.’

  ‘Oh, so I guess we just sit tight then,’ she added, wincing slightly.

  ‘Are you alright?’ asked Dr Avery, moving from his seat to crouch down in front of her. ‘Are you having labour pains?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she replied, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. ‘He’s just in an awkward position and I’m a bit hungry.’

  ‘Of course, you weren’t given anything to eat, were you?’ Dr Avery said, jumping up to go back to his desk.

  ‘It’s not much, I’m afraid,’ he said, handing her a packet of cheese-flavoured crackers. ‘All the food is stored in compartments under the Med lab and holding truck.’

  ‘This is a feast, believe me,’ she replied, eagerly ripping open the packet to get to the crackers.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said through a mouthful of crumbs, looking from Matt to Dr Avery who was watching her eat. ‘Did you want one?’

  ‘No, you’re fine,’ Mat said smiling. ‘You obviously need them more than we do.’

  ‘Well, we might as well kill some time decanting these,’ Dr Avery said pulling over the box of Thiopental and an army issue water bottle. ‘We’ll need to pry off the sealed caps carefully. Try not to spill any, because we’ll need every drop.’

  For the few hours, Matt tried to make his large fingers do the intricate work of lifting off sections of the sealed lids of the vials.

  ‘You seem better suited to this type of work than me, Doc,’ Matt said comparing his pile of empty vials to that sitting in front of Dr Avery.

  ‘Well…’ Dr Avery began, his words stopping mid-sentence as the Med lab suddenly came to a halt.

  ‘Looks like it’s show time,’ said Alice, nervously catching Matt’s eye.

  ‘We’ll give it half an hour for camp to be set up and people to get where we expect them to be and then it’s all system go,’ Matt said looking at an anxious Dr Avery. ‘You are going to be able to do this, aren’t you, Avery?’

  ‘The die is cast, as they say,’ Dr Avery replied, his words meeting only a blank look from Matt. ‘That means I don’t have much choice… so yes, I can do this.’

  Twenty five minutes later and with the last of the Thiopental decanted into the flask wedged into one of the large pockets on Matt’s combat trousers, the two men stood by the door waiting for the last sounds o
f movement outside to die down.

  ‘Right, just go straight to the communications tent. Blackmore’s bound to be there,’ Matt said, trying to calm Dr Avery down. ‘He’ll want to radio in our location and set up the evac for tomorrow. Give him the message from Dr Morris and get out. Say you’ve got to get back to help him or something.’

  ‘Will do,’ said Avery with a nod, his hand hovering on the door handle.

  ‘Back in a minute,’ he said turning back to Alice to give her a not very convincing smile of reassurance.

  Alice’s brittle smile matched Avery’s, but before she could wish him luck, he had taken a deep breath and was already pushing open the door, with Matt fast on his heels.

  ‘Bye,’ said Alice quietly to herself, as the Med lab door closed with a bang.

  Taking a quick look about, Matt could see that the convoy had stopped in an area much like all the other places they had made camp before. From the faded sign still barely hanging on a post by the side of the road, Matt could see this had once been a miniature golf course. Fun For All the Family said on the sign, but it was in the small car park that Blackmore decided to take refuge for the night. Not that there was much to distinguish the golf course from the car park now, both were overgrown, wild and covered in a thick layer of powdery snow. Only the absence of saplings, yet to work their way through the cracked concrete, made the presence of a car park known at all. Matt could see that two of the Jackals had already taken their watch position near the car park entrance, while the third was out of sight, presumably watching the approach from the old course itself. As always in the centre of this triad of firepower, the Med lab and holding truck had been parked. The Communication and NAAFI tents were close by and were surrounded by the dozen or so small individual sleeping tents of the squadron.

  Not looking at Dr Avery, Matt casually pushed aside the flap of the NAAFI tent and went in. Inside there were two soldiers sitting at a fold away table, already tucking into their MRE packs. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Matt went over to the table piled with the MRE packs, a hot water urn and the large water container and began unscrewing the cap at the top. Standing on tiptoe, Matt could just about peer down into the water barrel, and seeing it was over half full, removed the water bottle from his hip pocket.