George (Book 1): The Long Road Home

by Scarlet Le Clair

  As we left Aldham, where the fire station was, to the town of Pontybrith where the warehouse was situated, we had to cross a bridge. Half way across the bridge Will stopped the car. “Oh my God,” he barely whispered.

  He was looking at something that only he could see from the driver’s seat. That something seemed to be under the bridge. From where I sat in the passenger seat I could only see the edge of the bridge.

  “What is it Will?” I asked. I felt worried at this point, as I had learned that not much fazed Will, but his face had lost all color and there was a slight tremor to his hand.

  “Zombies, and lots of them,” he answered, unbuckling his seat belt and slowly getting out of the car, being as quiet as possible. He moved closer to the edge being careful not to be seen.

  I got out of the car and followed him to where he stood. The view sent chills up and down my spine. “Wow,” was all I could think of to say. There were hundreds of zombies all slowly dragging their feet along, sometimes bumping into each other without noticing but all heading in the same direction, along the train tracks - towards the warehouse.

  “We need to get back to the warehouse,” Will said already turning to get back into the car. “George! Get back into the car. Now,” he whisper shouted at me. I turned and hurried back to the car, Will was already moving forward before I could shut the door.

  “We need to warn Deacon about this to up the defenses, I can't imagine him moving although I will recommend that he does. Just to get our stories straight, Tony went outside whilst we were still in pharmacy to check the perimeter and got swamped, Adam went to help him, but then we got attacked by the living as well as some undead and had to leave. Not sure if Adam is alive. That way if anyone does come across Adam our stories will still be ok,” Will said doing up his coat to hide the bruises on his neck.

  “Yeah ok. But I think we need to up our game and leave tomorrow. You get into the storage area. I'll help Nia to rally the people who want to leave,” I said, more than ready to get back to Kelly and the kids.

  “Ok, we can talk more later,” Will agreed.

  As he pulled up to the gates we could see a few of Deacon's guys moving zombie bodies into a huge pit.

  Will pulled up the car alongside them. “What's happening guys?”

  “Hey Will,” one guy said dropping the body he was dragging and coming over to the car. He was dressed all in black and wore cowboy boots. “We have had loads of those zombie things coming here in the last two hours, at least three dozen or so. We been killing them and throwing them in that pit we dug last week. Good target practice but a bit worrying.”

  “Yes it is,” Will agreed. “Jim, where's Deacon?”

  “In his office as usual,” the guy smiled.

  “Meet us in George's room about 9 tonight if you can get away,” Will said very quietly. Jim nodded to say he had heard.

  “See you later guys,” Will called and a few of the men waved. Will drove on through the open gate and round to the back of the warehouse.

  CHAPTER 8

  We hopped out as Deacon was walking out of the loading bay door. Lewis was there as usual checking out a big truck that had been brought in.

  “Gentlemen, where are the rest of you?” Deacon asked, with that smarmy smile on his face.

  Will went to the back of the car and started to unload the bags full of goodies that we got from the chemist. “Tony’s gone and Adam we don't know. He went after Tony but then we got surrounded and had to leave. George can you take these to storage so I can go fill Deacon in on the trip?” Will asked handing me the bags.

  Deacon had already started walking away. “Meet me at my office Will,” he called.

  “On my way,” Will called back.

  “Oh and George? I borrowed Nia for a while today. She is back in your room now resting!” He chuckled to himself and left the room.

  I looked at Will, panic was all over his face, it must have mirrored mine, my heart was pounding and I was desperate to see how she was. But maybe this was a test from Deacon to see just how I fit into his crew.

  “Take only my bag to the storage unit, try to keep yours and the goods in it. Then go check on Nia please,” Will whispered. Then in a normal voice, “Right George take those up to storage and see Nia for some food for yourself ok?”

  “Yep got it, see you later,” I answered.

  When I got to the storage room I was lucky there was only one guard, he let me in through the door and then he closed it behind me. I couldn't believe my luck. I emptied out Will’s backpack onto the floor and started to stack the items onto the empty shelves as quickly as I could. I then emptied my backpack and stored that stuff in the empty shelves below the medicines from Will’s pack. Adam kept his pack with him.

  Once this was done I started to refill my backpack. In it I put a jar of peanut butter and a tin of pineapple chunks, two tins of beans and a tin of tuna. I grabbed four small bottles of water and a powdered milk and moved onto the medicines. I put in two cold packs for bruises, children's and adult paracetamols, plasters, a small travel first aid kit, co-codemol, anti-histamines and penicillin. Then shampoo, toothpaste, two packs of tampons and some birth control tablets. I still had more room so I also stuffed in some energy bars. I quickly grabbed Will’s pack and added in more of the same and stored it in the corner of the room, out of sight. The gun room was locked so Will would have to take care of that. I slung my bag over my shoulder and took a deep breath. I had to seem confident now as I left with my backpack full of stuff.

  I opened the door. “Thanks for that,” I said to the guard who didn't even notice me, he was too busy talking to a very attractive woman with long red hair. I recognized her as Kandace, she worked in the kitchen with Nia and was one of the good ones. She smiled knowingly at me and I had a feeling that Will had sent her up to distract the guard.

  I walked quickly to my room, none of the people I saw on the way paid me any attention, I was invisible and I liked it that way. I opened the door, stepped inside closed it and locked it behind me. The sight of Nia lying on the mattress on the floor broke my heart. Her face was black and blue where the bruising was coming through, her arms had finger marks on them where she had been held so tight. Her arm was still in the sling from the first time she had tangled with Deacon. She had shorts on and I could see small bruises on her thighs.

  “Nia?” I asked softly afraid of waking her.

  She opened her eyes and immediately they filled with tears.

  I dropped to my knees in front of her. “I'm so sorry, I will not leave you again.” I had only known this girl for a short time but I felt responsible for her.

  “I'm ok, just a bit sore. Good news is I get the rest of today and tomorrow off.” She tried to joke but winced when her smile caused her pain.

  I quickly grabbed my back pack and got out the painkillers. I got a glass and the large bottle of water from our room and gave her two tablets along with a drink of water. I then gave her the bump packs which she put on each eye and lay back on the pillow. I held her hand until she fell asleep then tore open an energy bar ate it and washed it down with water. I hated Deacon and he would pay for what he had done to her.

  I was far away in daydream land when the knock came at the door, I jumped, startled and so did Nia. She quickly put the bump packs under the mattress as nobody was allowed to have medicines in their room. Every single tablet or medical aid had to be signed out by Deacon or there would be trouble.

  I got up to open the door and was relieved to find Billy there. He smiled at me and I returned the smile.

  “Can I come in George? Will asked me to bring up some food for you seems as you had such a hard day.”

  Food was rabbit stew today and smelled delicious.

  “Uh yeah ok,” I replied moving backwards for him to enter the small room, the door swung closed behind him. I was looking forward to food. I took the tray off him and placed it on the desk. I took a few spoonful’s of the stew and it was as delicious as I had
hoped. I held out the spoon offering some to Nia but she shook her head no.

  “Will said he is still in a meeting with Deacon and he will see you tonight at the time you agreed.” He looked at Nia and seeing the bruises covering her body he looked angrily at me and started to clench his fists.

  “Before you say it Billy, it was Deacon, not me,” I said knowing what would come next. He looked at Nia wanting her to confirm what I had said as the truth and she just nodded at him, too sore and tired to do much else.

  “I knew it wasn't you George. God, wish I could kill him!” Billy said through clenched teeth.

  “You may just get your chance Billy. Did Will tell you the plan?” I asked.

  “No he didn't have time. Just asked that I brought you a snack, ask if you wanted any proper food and give you that message. But I thought after a long day I would bring you some stew,” Billy replied.

  “Thanks Billy. Can I request that you bring me up a coffee and some tomato soup about nine tonight?” I asked, looking at Nia for confirmation that she liked tomato soup. She nodded.

  “Of course George, it's five now, so eat your stew and have a rest and I’ll see you at nine,” he said leaving the room, but not before taking another look at Nia. His eyes said it all, he loved her and was going to get payback for everything that had been done to her.

  Once the door was closed, Nia got the cool packs back out. I knew they were not brilliant as we had no way of cooling them at the moment.

  “He cares about you, you know?” I asked her, just finishing off my stew and wishing I had some fresh bread to dip in it.

  She gave a huge sigh and was quiet for a few moments. “I know, I care about him too, but this is not the time or the place to be thinking about love. We just need to survive first getting out of here first,” she said her voice was barely above a whisper. I got back down on the mattress with her.

  “I know it's going to be hard, we may even lose some people but hopefully we will all get out of here alive and move on with what's left of our lives, but this is definitely the time to think about love. Everyone needs a little hope to give them strength. Do you want some stew?” I asked again.

  She shook her head no, and closed her eyes.

  I could not wait to introduce her to Kelly and the kids. I knew Poppy would love her. I thought about what they were doing now. Did they have enough to eat? Were they still safe? Did they know I was coming back for them? I soon realized that Nia’s breath was coming in deep and slow indicating that she was sleeping. I bent down and kissed her head and whispered, “I will get you away from this place to safety, I promise.”

  I lay down next to her and after the long day we’d had, I was soon fast asleep.

  A few small knocks woke me from my sleep but Nia slept on. I tapped her gently on the arm and she shot up straight into a sitting position with a terrified look on her face. “Shh it's just me, it's George,” I assured her.

  She looked at me for a few seconds and then slowly nodded.

  “Will is at the door,” I said getting up to open it. In walked Will, Billy holding a bowl of soup and handed me my coffee, Jim, Suzie, Charlie and Kandace from the kitchen.

  I closed the door and turned to them. Billy and the three women had gone to sit by Nia and were comforting her, Billy had brought up the soup and given it to her, Jim sat on the desk chair and Will sat on the desk. The room suddenly felt much smaller, I stayed where I was and looked at each of their faces. All of them had a scared look about them but they also had a look of determination.

  “Thanks Billy,” I said holding up my cup of coffee.

  “No problem,” he grinned back his goofy grin that was totally infectious.

  “Hi all, thanks for coming. Deacon asked me to get together a group of trusted people from both the men and women to advise you of a serious situation,” Will said from the corner of the room. All eyes were now on him and the room was silent. “As you all know there has been an increase of zombie activity around the perimeter over the last few days and when myself and George were driving home from the supply run today we saw hundreds on the road under the bridge, headed this way.”

  Suzie and Charlie grabbed hands and started to whisper quickly to each other, whilst Kandace went awfully pale very quickly. Billy and Jim tried to keep a brave face on, but I could see the fear in their eyes. I knew the look well, it was the same one I saw in the mirror every day.

  Will got up and walked over to stand next to me. “I have spoken with Deacon about the situation and he seems to think the fence will hold against the horde. I don't. He has agreed that we should get a group of about ten people and start filling up backpacks with supplies, the backpacks will need to be labeled as food, drinks, medicines and toiletries, etc. Then Billy, you are to fill bags with guns, ammo and other weapons. At the moment you will be on your own doing it, Deacon won't let anyone else into the weapons part of storage. This is just in case things get bad. Also you need to get any clothes and personal items packed in your own backpack. We are trying to keep it quiet at the moment to avoid a panic so do it as inconspicuous as you can. Deacon has doubled the guard duty and the guards check in every half an hour. Is everyone clear on this? We need to be ready to leave quickly. To avoid suspicion, I'll go down with the women, then you guys go down. Deacon has authorized a ‘stock check’ to see what we have that's your cover story just in case. George and I will be outside the warehouse checking the fence for weak points, and possible escape routes.” He looked at me and I nodded. “We are missing John and Lewis tonight, the mechanics, as they have already started checking over all the vehicles to make sure they are ready to go. We start at eight in the morning. Any questions?” Will asked.

  “Hundreds? Really? I mean hundreds?” Jim asked, there was no attitude to his voice just pure disbelief.

  “Yep there was a field full of them. It's possible that they would have been distracted by someone or something else but we can't take that chance. Last we saw them they were about 20 miles away and headed this way,” I answered before Will could.

  A roomful of head nods and solemn faces. “We will meet back here at one pm tomorrow for updates under the ruse that you’re visiting Nia. Ok that's it! Thanks all for coming. See you in the morning.” Will finished.

  Jim and Kandace left first. Billy, Suzie and Charlie made sure again that Nia was ok before leaving.

  “Ni’ are you sure you don't need anything? Something to eat or drink, some pain killers?” Billy fussed over her.

  “Billy I'm fine honestly. I have all I need for the moment. Thanks for the soup it was lovely,” Nia answered.

  “Oh ok,” he replied, disappointed he could not help her.

  Seeing this Nia grabbed his hand and said shyly, “Maybe we can have breakfast up here in the morning together before you start work?” She blushed knowing that we could all hear the conversation between them.

  Will and I looked at each other and smiled.

  Billy’s smile was huge. “I would really like that. Is seven thirty ok?”

  “Yes that's great,” Nia answered yawning. “Sorry.”

  “That's ok. Get some rest, I'll see you in the morning,” Billy said jumping up and practically bouncing out the door, closing it behind him.

  I could imagine him just outside the door doing a little victory dance. I chuckled to myself.

  “Will I'll meet you in the dining hall about seven to go over the plan for the day. Is that ok?” I asked him.

  “Yeah I'll be there. Listen this is a great opportunity to store stuff in our own backpacks ready to leave. Billy and Charlie are on board with this and will add small bits and pieces to their personal backpacks. Nia give George your backpack and he will do the same for yours,” Will said. He got on his knees and held her face gently in his hands. “I will get you out of here, baby girl, and we will make him pay for what he has done to you all.”

  “I know, Uncle Will, I love you.” She held back a sob

  “Sounds good, Will. I can't wa
it to get out of here and see my family again and I can't wait for them to meet you both. Will I have already filled your bag with supplies,” I told him. “It's in the corner of the supply room.”

  “Good, thanks, I'll pick it up now on my way to my room. See you both tomorrow,” he said and left.

  It was now ten pm so I locked the door, then got another two paracetamols out of my bag and handed them to Nia. She washed them down with some water and smiled gratefully at me.

  “Thanks for everything George. I can't wait to meet your family either.”

  We lay next to each other in comfortable silence. I got the picture that Poppy had drawn for me out of my jacket pocket and stared at it. I wondered how my beautiful wife was coping on her own. I really missed her and the kids. I wondered if they were still safe and if they had enough food and water left.

  After a few minutes Nia said, “George? You awake?”

  “Yeah, you ok?” I asked thinking she needed something and hoping it wasn't the bucket for the toilet.

  “Do you really think we are going to get out of here? I mean even if we do where will we go?” she asked, opening her eyes to look at me. She glanced at the picture but did not mention it.

  “We will get out of here, I have to, no, I need to get back to my family. You can all come back to my place and we will figure it out after that. Hopefully by tomorrow night we will be on our way out of here. Just keep your head down until then ok?”

  “Ok, goodnight George. I hope your right.” She turned onto her side away from me and within moments I could hear her light snores as she slept, whatever that creep had done to her had tired her out.

  The plan for tomorrow was easy. Get as many supplies and people out of here as possible then take Deacon down. He would pay for what he had done. I folded the letter and put it back into my jacket for tomorrow. I lay back down underneath the sleeping bag with Nia but I left it undone, I liked leaving it open in case I needed to get up fast. I quickly fell asleep and had a wonderful dream that I was back home with Kelly, Poppy and Cameron having a pool party in the back yard. It was a boiling hot day, the neighbors came around and we were having a BBQ, everything was great until the zombies came and the screaming started.