by Tyne,David
“I would've talked to them, but those damn cops sent me out with two other punks to get some supplies. Damn near left me for dead too, the bastards. I knew I had to find you though, I couldn't... I couldn't leave things the way we—”
“Yeah, great. Thanks for telling me. We still need to head for Daniel's house, then we’ll go to the centre.” Out of the corner of my rear-view mirror, I could've sworn that I saw Ian's face turn bright-red.
Harry's eyes flitted towards me in a rather piercing manner, almost making me lose control of the steering wheel. “Daniel... Wait, Daniel... Is your last name Walker?”
I nodded, surprised that the strange man who turned up on someone else's doorstep at midnight knew my full name. Word must get around.
As the Lost started increasing in number in front of our car, I instinctively swerved out of the way to avoid running them over. I tried not to think of them as things that needed saving, but I guess I still had reservations about killing people-shaped monsters.
“Daniel Walker... Your mum's Joanna Walker? Yeah, she's at the centre too! She's got your name and photo up on the 'missing persons' wall... I thought I recognised you!” I almost crashed the car, glancing back with a double-take to see if he was serious.
Mum... I had been so absorbed in Beth's and Ian's family situations, that I had barely considered my own. Perhaps deep down, I didn’t want to think about any alternatives.
The morning before I left for my interview, she held me close and wished me good luck for my future... That last memory was what kept me going, what I remembered when I needed strength.
I was glad to hear that she was alive and well, although it sounded like she was worried about me, putting up posters of my face. I hope it’s a good picture, yeesh. Thanks, Mum.
“Is she with a guy called Carlos? Her husband?” I asked, my attention turning to her partner since last year. I never had much time to connect with my step-dad, but he was important in her life. If anything had happened to him, I doubted that she would be able to handle it well.
“...No, don’t remember any Carlos. Everyone in there's closely knit, so we'd definitely have seen him around. Nurse Joanna just came by and started fixing up the people who were injured. Set up her own medical corner in the main hall, too. She's a real champ.”
If I knew my mum, she was grieving about losing Carlos and myself, drowning herself in her work. I pressed harder on the gas pedal, hoping that I remembered the right way to the community centre.
After driving around in circles for a couple of blocks, we finally happened across a large, fenced-off building with the illuminated sign ‘Danderhall Community Centre’. They must have had generators somewhere on the lot; an absolute necessity, if we were going to wait this chaos out.
“Look, Ian! Lights!” Beth yelled restlessly, with a unique dazzle reflected in her eyes. Where that kid got all of her energy from, I had no clue.
“What happened to 'Mister', huh?” Ian sank into his seat, fighting the urge to fall asleep right there.
A lone man in a police uniform was alarmed by our presence, until Harry stuck his spiky head out of the window. “We're back! Brought some supplies... Harry Burnside? You better let us in, pigs!” The tension rose as the scattered Lost began to emerge from the darkness behind us. We were pretty much out of fuel, too. If we couldn't get in here…
Luckily that thought didn't have to go any further, as the policeman briskly opened the gates for us to drive through, and quickly slammed them shut again. While he locked up, we stepped out of the car with ourselves and our loot intact. The three of us did a corny celebratory jump together, while Harry shook his head awkwardly and the confused guard waddled back to his post.
We rushed in through the heavy double-doors of the building, eager to see what the fabled safe haven was like. Passing the sickly-yellow fluorescent lights of the community centre’s lobby, if began to feel more like a hospital than anywhere else.
As we burst into the main hall, we saw that makeshift beds and living areas for families were laid out all over the floor, possibly for around thirty or forty people. Everyone sat in their own clusters of anxiety, cramped together in the enormous gymnasium.
“There's so many people! That’s nice,” Beth breathed happily. I checked the corners of the room to validate what Harry had told me, and sure enough, there was a big red cross hanging over at the far side of the hall.
Most of the evacuees were already asleep, meaning that we couldn’t make much noise. The others followed in my quiet footsteps, careful as we tip-toed over their sleeping bags. Unfortunately, our plan didn’t include the approach of someone who didn't have the same polite manners as us.
Before I could turn around to see, a rock-hard fisted slap greeted my upper jaw, and I wobbled to my knees in seething agony. Peering up at my assaulter, I could tell that Ian, Beth and Harry were even more startled than I was — but believe me, the slap was justified.
“Long time, no see. Fucking idiot.”
The flowing brown hair of my childhood friend Millie span around and struck my face once more with its strands, frigid as she promptly exited the main hall.
I turned to meet the widened eyes of my three friends, exploding with questions already. Instead of explaining anything, I just ended up laughing at myself, which only made me look even crazier as I lay defeated on the gym floor.
“Yup... That's about right, I guess.”
16 | You Owe Me
As the school-bell rang to signal that the last day of term was over, I stepped out into the summer heat with my head full of possibilities; I could only imagine what my university life away from this dump would have in store for me. The dark-brown shadow of Millie's beautiful, silky hair caught my eye as she waited for me at the gates of our high school.
"So..." I amped listlessly, swaying on my tip-toes and heels.
"Sooo..." Millie repeated. We stared at each other for a second, before bursting into a merry cheer as we hugged and leapt into the air.
Spinning her around, fellow students gave us funny looks while we chuckled to ourselves and bounced restlessly. "I can't believe it!! We're free!" I finally beamed. She didn’t return my excitement this time, staring off at the nearby playground’s swings. We used to goof around there every day, which told me that she was lost in nostalgia.
We eventually wandered into the park, where our fellow students were laughed and played; enjoying those rich, dawning minutes of their everlasting summer break.
"I wanted to ask you, about... something important." Millie glanced into the dirt, kicking dry rocks into dust with her sandshoes.
She seemed really nervous, and the pause was a little too intense to match our surroundings. I nodded hesitantly, and listened for that usual sigh of hers.
"S-Since it's summer and all, I was just thinking... What if we went somewhere, for the day? Just the two of us, like... Well, not like a, umm..."
I tried a coy smile, but she kept her face firmly bent in the other direction out of embarrassment. With that kind of adverse reaction, the only word that she could’ve been desperately dodging was 'date'.
"I-I didn't want to say it like... Y'know, I just..." She kept stammering on her words, which I always found really cute. There was a pit in my stomach though, knowing full-well where this was going.
I’d guessed at how she felt about me many times, wondering whether I felt as strongly for her. Our parents often joked about the amount of time we spent together, but up until that point, we had been inseparable as best mates…
"Danny, I know what it sounds like, but it's not that... Damn, just forget it. It's stupid anyway, and you've probably got stuff for uni to sort out—"
I placed my hand on her arm, if only to stop her from rattling on to herself. With a lingering look, she seemed to recognise that I understood what she meant. After all, we'd practically grown up observing each other's behaviour and mannerisms... It'd be a crime to misinterpret one of her rash rants.
"I like
you too, Mils... It’s just not the best time, y’know? You’ll be moving out soon, and I don’t know where the hell I’m gonna end up. We'll always be best friends, right?" That was all I said, but Millie ended up pushing herself away from me, her face pulsing a vibrant-red.
"I can’t be your ‘friend’ anymore… God, I thought I was being too obvious. If I have to move anywhere, I can just go wherever you go, right?" After another painful silence, she lunged forwards and slammed her hands into my chest, knocking me back against the swings. "What’s this really about, then? You don't want me around, is that it?!"
Everyone in the playground turned towards us at that point, while I closed my eyes to try and filter out the gossiping voices. What she said wasn't true, I did like Millie. A lot, actually. It just wasn’t enough for me to demand that she warps her entire life around my half-baked career choices.
Not that it was the only reason keeping me from reciprocating her feelings; I'd known Millie since primary school, and couldn’t risk losing her as a friend. Unfortunately, nothing was ever the same after we had that fight.
Despite living right next door to each other, I avoided her like the plague for the following months... Now that the real infection had arrived, fate decided to throw me under the bus. And guess who was driving...
----
I was finally snapped back to the present by two tiny hands, shaking my air-filled head around on my shoulders. "Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel..." Beth repeated in an annoying fashion.
"S-Sorry... What were you saying?" I held onto the wall beside my mother's work station, trying to stop my brain from spinning like a top.
"Who was that pretty lady? Is she your girlfriend?"
I narrowed my eyes at Beth, almost thinking that she had glimpsed into my past episode for a second. I also had a hard time associating Millie with the word 'lady' — her thorny attitude was something to be feared in our school, even by the vilest of bullies and bitchy divas.
"...Well, um... Something like that. She's right to be mad at me, though. I wasn't very nice to her, the last time we talked."
The sleeping bag in the corner suddenly moved, reacting to my voice. Just barely awake, the shrouded figure jutted upwards with a strange urgency. "Hmm... mm? Daniel? Daniel?!"
I thought my ears were deceiving me at first, but there was no mistaking that light tone. The same one that used to ask me how my day was each time I came home, the one that called me downstairs for dinner every night. I almost welled up right there, but I decided to save the tears for when she rose out of her bed.
Feeling like I was five years old, I ran over to my shocked mum and threw my arms around her. "Mum!! I'm... I'm so glad you're okay..."
She started crying almost immediately, laughing at the same time. "Oh, thank you Jesus..." After she’d successfully squeezed all the air out of my lungs, I sat myself down as she asked what I knew she would. "Where... Where have you been?! I was worried sick! What took you so long to get here?"
Sharing with Beth a look that only young people could recognise, the two of us spent the next couple of hours recounting our harrowing tale. From the crumbling skyscrapers of the city, down to the questionable safety of the community centre.
"Goodness, my poor baby! I'm so proud of you, but I wish that you didn’t have to see those horrible things... I prayed every second, for the Lord to keep you safe." I hugged her once again, feeling incredibly lucky that we were able to meet under such grim circumstances.
"I heard about Carlos, from the boy who brought us here... I'm really sorry, Mum. How are you holding up?" I flooded her with sympathy. She said that it was actually Millie who came into our house first, telling them both to turn on the news as the dead started attacking.
It wasn’t unusual for her to come and go as she pleased, since her parents were always away on business. She saw my mum as an unofficial aunt, and probably interacted with my step-dad way more than I ever did.
With the three of them in our house, there was a strange knock on the door. Thinking that it was one of the neighbours needing help, Carlos went to check. Instead, he got bitten by one of the roaming Lost and struggled to throw them back through the door…
Since there were no emergency services available, there was unfortunately nothing that my mother could do to stop the bleeding. He died within minutes, and that was all she was willing to tell me about the subject.
After engaging in yet another group hug with Beth and my mum, our eyes seemed to drift over towards Ian and Harry. Both of them were still brooding under the bleachers, picking up their angsty debate from where they left off earlier.
"That boy, on the left... that's Ian, isn't it? The one you and little Bethany were travelling with?"
I nodded with a sad smile, still feeling pressured to care about my step-father’s passing. I couldn’t tell whether he meant that little to me, or if I was becoming numb to the whole ‘death’ thing after the tragedies I’d seen.
"Yeah, that’s Ian. We wouldn't have made it all the way here without him... I think his mum and dad should be around somewhere—" I stopped in my tracks, and began to consider what Ian was doing.
He’s finally here, in the same room as his parents — why hasn't he visited them yet? Did something go wrong?
"Mum, can you watch Beth for a second? Show her your first aid kit, it's pretty, err... interesting."
The nurse was thrilled by the suggestion, and so Beth was left in her boringly-educational hands. I stuck my tongue out at the pouting girl, mocking as I made my escape... My mum used to lecture me endlessly about shift schedules and bedpan-changing, as though it was something that everyone was passionate about.
I made my way over to Ian and Harry, both of whom seemed to be getting rather intense in their private corner. Before I could reach them, an elbow locked my neck from behind, yanking me through an open doorway and into the adjoining sports hall — my only clue was a flourish of tangled brown hair.
Millie.
"Stay here, and don't you dare make a sound."
As she pinned me against the wall, I couldn't help but snort at how unhinged her face looked, especially during her stealthy little operation. "Woah, there… Got a problem, Miss Bond?"
Okay, I deserved that slap for sure.
Rubbing my throbbing cheek, I decided that it was in both of our best interests to take her seriously. She massaged her fist, scoffing at my indiscretion. "Honestly, you'd think this was all one big joke to you... I thought you were dead, Danny."
Letting this sink in for a moment, she pulled back with a softer exhale, clearly attempting to resist her violent urges. "First of all, I don't care about how much of an asshat you’ve been, and I'm not saying that I forgive you for it. I just need someone to believe me, that’s all...”
“Believe you about what?” I asked, still slightly dazed.
“C'mon, I'll show you."
She led me by the hand through the empty sports hall, straight towards the fire exit. She only seemed to remember half-way across why we’d fallen out, shifting to grab my wrist instead with a red-fumed grunt. Once we arrived at the door, she made a point of folding her arms and turning away from me.
"Go ahead, try it out."
Puzzled, I pushed the bar for a moment before realising it wouldn't open. “So? It’s locked, big whoop.”
"...It's not just locked. Look." She pointed along the edges of the door, making me feel dumb for not noticing the metal burn marks before.
"It's... welded shut? But it only opens from this side, why would they bother? It's not keeping anything from coming in, unless..."
"It's supposed to keep us from going out, right... Something fishy is going on with the police here, Danny. One by one, the exits are being made completely inaccessible, to such a degree as well. Pretty soon, the only way that people will be able to leave here is through the front gate... With the superintendent's permission, and that's obviously never going to happen."
Millie glanced awkwardly at her
feet, clearly distressed by the situation which was starting to sound more like a police state than an evacuation shelter. "The men in charge, they constantly look down on us. Like we owe them, for their stupid protection. It’s getting real creepy in here, and not just because of what’s waiting outside.”
I had to hand it to Millie... No one else would've caught on to the strange behaviour that had been developing in the shadows. For such a hot-headed person, she always managed to see things as they stood.
"They keep calling our names for registration, taking people into the back office… A few of them still haven’t come back yet. Half of our neighbourhood has vanished, just like that.”
“What do you want me to do, write an angry letter to the council?” I mused sarcastically, but Millie sternly shook her head.
“You’re the only one I can ask, because you’ve been out there for the longest. You saw those... things. How bad was it, for real?”
Over the span of a few minutes, I told her everything I knew or at least understood about the Lost; their varying speeds, lack of proper co-ordination and seemingly-decreased activity during the daytime.
"I see... So it's settled then. Tomorrow afternoon, you're gonna help me bust out of here."
I raised my hand in protest, about to decline when her face suddenly darkened. She fumbled with her pocket, and the residual lighting glistened over a shimmering object. A very real pistol poked out from under her jacket, shaking in her grip.
My old friend threw me another icy stare, this time with such detached hostility. Given our recent history, that look was more than a little unnerving. "You're going to help me. I don't suppose your mum told you the whole story back there, did she?”
“She... What?”
“Hm, typical. I was the one who did it… I put your new daddy down for good, after he came back to life. Carlos would’ve eaten her alive, if I hadn’t stuck a bullet in his head first. Get the picture now? You owe me, Danny."