by Davis, SJ
“Wow, just wow.”
“And you get your own caravan, it’s only little, big enough for one. Come on I’ll show you.”
The caravans and motorhomes were set out in rows so they looked like little streets. Everyone was friendly and anyone we passed greeted us as they started a new day.
We walked up the driveway of the property and Danielle began to explain things.
“There’s different caravans set up to supply food and other stuff to you. You get a weekly ration to live off and that includes soap and toiletries as well as food. I’ll get some clothes sent up to and I’ll try to get you some decent fitting ones. Some idiot vampire went and brought back a heap of crap from some cheap discount store. It’s dire in the store room. Polyester overload” She shuddered.
We walked for ages and ages.
“Sewage trucks come three times a week for the sewage removal, that’s unpleasant, but necessary. If you look on the edge of the first caravan on each row you’ll see a number then in the window there’s a letter that’s how we know where everything is. I have this…” She reached in her pocket and drew out a small black book. There was a white label on the front with my name Nila Peters and then underneath 167 J. She handed it to me.
“That’s your ration book. They’ll stamp it when you go for food and toiletries and each shop has a board up telling you what you get. There are some cafes and other private shops where you can trade stuff you can use in your provision you don’t like. At the coffee shops you get one proper cup of coffee a day and you need to take your book along to get claim it. If you want any more they’ll let you trade other stuff. Personally it’s worth it for proper cappuccino. You can get that instant crap in your provisions but it’s not the same.”
“I worked in a coffee shop a few months ago.” I said sadly remembering the copious amount of free coffee I drank.
“There’s plans for farming and everything in the future. I’m glad you’re gonna be part of all this you seem really nice.” She smiled genuinely.
“Thank you.”
“Ok this is your row. I put some bottled water in there already and there’s a spare change of clothes, just sweats to do till we get you some more gear. There’s a kettle for hot water to have a wash.”
“That sounds like heaven.” I sighed.
“Okay this is you, it’s only just gone ten in the morning so check out your new digs and then go exploring. I’m gonna dash off meet Robin off the helipad and get my shoes!”
“I preferred handbags, I shudder to think of my Alexander Macqueen baby I left behind for zombies to slobber on.”
“Well I can’t promise anything but I have a word with Robin.” She gave me a wink. “A woman with taste deserves a treat.”
She gave me a small hug and a kiss on the cheek then bounced away. I couldn’t help but be in a good mood. She radiated positive energy.
Chapter 6
I looked up at the first Motorhome on my new street. And then started down. There were twenty on each row and a row on either side of the drive. I found mine and was pleasantly surprised. It was a motorhome. I was in between two larger family caravans. I opened the door.
It was definitely new. It had a lovely new smell and everything was pristine clean. It had a living area at the front and a tiny kitchen opposite it. There was a tiny bedroom, just big enough for a double bed and the bathroom was just big enough to house one person. On the table round the seating area were two bin bags and an A4 booklet entitled Welcome to Magnius Sanctuary. One bin bag held two towels, a duvet, pillow, duvet cover and the other had a tracksuit, ladies t-shirt, underwear and white, new trainers. Everything was surreal. The keys to my new home were on the draining board of the little sink. I tested the water on the tap, but got nothing however the electricity was all hooked up. Dammit I’d left my Kobo and laptop behind!
I found a small bottle of water Danielle had talked about and a small bar of soap. I refreshed my face and hands and dressed in the grey sweat pants and t-shirt left on the side. I was feeling heaps better already.
I had a browse through the cupboards, which were nearly all empty. I made my bed, popped my towels on the rail on the back of my bathroom door. And then decided to check out the manual to see where the nearest shop was.
According to the map I had a coffee shop three rows away and a main shop five rows forward. The manual was extremely clever. There wasn’t water pumped to the caravans so there was advice on how to get around all these things. There was also a list of the weekly rations we were allowed which included 2 eggs. I decided to do a more thorough read after exploring.
I first found the provision shop, which was a massive porta cabin. Inside there was a queue at a desk and I waited in line. There were three people working the desk and I could see at least ten people in the back sorting food and such.
When it was my turn it was an older woman in her fifties that served me.
“Hi there, I’m new.” I said meekly.
“Great.” She smiled, “Welcome to Magnius. Are you veggie or carnivore?”
“Carnivore.”
She stepped to the doorway to the main body of the cabin.
“I need a carny bag, a wash bag and a clothes bag.” Then she turned to me. “Did you bring your book?”
I smiled and handed it over. She wrote the same thing down on the first page of my book and then had a ‘received stamp which she pounded down three times next to each item. A few minutes later a young man came through with three carrier bags and a large bottle of water with a carry handle which were handed to me.
“Can you bring the empty bags and boxes and bottle back with you next week please.” He said.
I nodded and took everything.
“There’s a library being opened next week on the row behind yours.”
Now that made me smile, especially when I thought about the lovely bookshelf full of my favourites at home.
“Thank you.” I replied.
I made my way back to my little home to see what kind of provisions I was allocated. I sat at my little table and began to unpack. I had rice, noodles, dried beef, packet mash, some tins of food, dried milk a few other bits and a small carton of real milk a small bag of tea bags and another of coffee. I smiled at the two bars of chocolate and small bag of chewy sweets. There were also two fresh bread rolls. Wow they were thinking of everything. I was more than happy with my weekly ration. In the smaller wash bag (which was to last two weeks) there was a shampoo, conditioner, bar of soap, face cloth and toilet roll. One toilet roll for two weeks… uh oh.
I put everything away in the cupboards in the kitchen, sticking my chocolate bars and sweets in my pocket to nibble at will. Danielle had been right about my clothing bag. It was sweats and bad polyester trousers. Youch!
On a whim I decided to check the library. Maybe they wanted help setting it up. Truth be told, I didn’t want to be idle. Every time my mind had a free moment it drifted to thoughts of Horaldo. Thoughts of the kiss we shared in the helicopter and then in the medical bay. Why couldn’t I stop thinking about him? It was bordering on absurd. No wonder they didn’t let the vamps feed directly from you if this was a symptom. I blushed at the naughty thoughts running through my head. I’d only ever been with a handful… small handful… ok three guys and I didn’t usually go around kissing strange men. It was out of character, totally for me.
I locked up and wandered in the direction I had been told nibbling on a chocolate bar as I went. I found it quite easily, it was another porta cabin. I knocked lightly and a man answered. He looked like he belonged in a library. He was an older chap with a dark beard and he wore a shirt and green cashmere type jumper.
“Sorry lass,” He had a thick Scottish accent, “we’re not open till next week.”
“That’s ok I just wondered if you needed any help?”
“Are you serious?” He looked relieved
“Yuh huh.”
“In that case come in, tea, coffee?”
“Te
a please, I have sweets.” I said pulling them out.
“You save them. There’s many a thing you can trade for them.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes, coffee, milk, eggs sweets it’s all the new currency now.”
I walked into the main room of the cabin and I was in love. There were stacks and stacks of books. And in one corner about a dozen flat packed shelves waiting to be built.
“Tea first, then shelves. I’m Malcolm.”
“Nila.”
“Well Nila I am very grateful of the help, seems I am the only one in the camp passionate about books.”
“Nope I like them too although I did cave and buy a Kobo this year.”
“Ugh, they take the fun out of reading.” He winked at me.
“True, although it helped when I was stuck in my attic for 3 weeks.”
He laughed and went to the second room in the cabin were there were a couple of kitchen units. He pulled out two mugs and began making us tea.
“How do you take it?”
“Milk and one sugar. Dried milk is cool.”
“I have some fresh I don’t mind sharing.”
“So where did all these books come from?”
“Retrieval vampires. They have the road cleared now between here and Aberdeen, which is the nearest city. So they have trucks that go every day and they load up with everything we might need. The vamps want to keep us humans happy. We are food after all.”
He said this with a hint of bitterness.
“You don’t sound happy about that.”
“None of us has much of a choice do us? If we go it alone we don’t stand a chance against those… things. Are we really any better off being kept here like well fed cattle?”
“At this point in time I’d have to say we are better here. I mean I hid with my boyfriend for three weeks and the day we ventured out for water he was bitten and I… well let’s just say that I’m pretty sure I’ll have nightmares about it as long as I live.”
“Aye, I know you’re right lass. I’m just mouthing off, just seems un-natural to me. Well anyway one of the vampires suggested that we might want to set up a library. We don’t have TV and most of us don’t venture out at night so I volunteered. I ran the library back home in my village.”
“I used to spend hours in our library when I was a kid. I’ve always loved books. I had quite a few rare books at home. It was sad to see them destroyed, trampled on.”
Malcolm rose, drained his cup and then went over to the shelves.
“I can help with those.” I offered.
“I’m fine with these. What would be great is if you could begin cataloguing the books. There’s a box just to your right which is full of writing pads, pens, paper and labels. Could you label the writing pads through A to Z and then begin noting the books by author. I have been promised a laptop or a netbook so we can cataloguing everything properly but at least if this is done we can open and start lending.”
I began. Malcolm and I worked in silence and it was a comfortable silence. He put up the dark wood shelves and as he did I filled them with the books I’d catalogued. When there were three shelves up I separated fiction and nonfiction.
The day passed quickly and Malcolm made us packet noodles for tea and I insisted we share my last chocolate bar for afters. Malcolm allowed me to borrow a handful of books to read. When I left the library the sky was just beginning to darken.
“Shall I come back tomorrow?” I asked as he locked up.
“You are a Godsend lass. That would be great.”
I hurried back to my caravan, my stomach grumbling with hunger. I unlocked the door and stepped inside. The January air was chilly so I popped on a single ring on the two-burner stove to take the cold off. I rooted in the cupboard under the sink and found a kettle, small toaster and two pans. I decided noodles were off the menu and decided to boil some water and have rice.
The rice was bland but it filled me up ok. I’d have to see if I could trade something for stock cubes. I washed in as little water as possible, changed into some of the awful clothes in the bag and settled down with a cup of tea and a Virginia Andrews Novel. I heard a faint shriek in the far distance making me jump out of my skin but the overall atmosphere was calm. Horaldo had said this place was heavily guarded, hadn’t he?
Shortly after ten o clock I was curled up on my sofa reading when there was a light rapping on my door.
“Come in.” I shouted.
The door opened. Horaldo!
I sat up and my heart let out a loud thud in my chest. I suddenly felt really frumpy in my oversized tracksuit. He looked huge in my tiny Motorhome.”
“Erm… Hi.” He said almost awkwardly.
I smiled back.
“Hey. How’s the arm?”
“Never better. Nice motorhome.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking of knocking some walls through, making it more spacious.”
He laughed. “Do you… erm want to go get coffee?”
Okay, was he asking me on a date?
“Sure I could go a coffee.”
If he bought me coffee would he want to bite me in return? Was I even bothered about that thought?
I pulled on my too big trainers and we set off. The camp was nearly empty with just one or two people moving about really quickly. A zombie shriek in the distance sounded out making me grab onto Horaldo’s expensive jacket.
“You don’t have to worry you know. We have a super Vamp, he’s older than dirt. Kilvire. Crazy as anything but he can kill any zombie that comes within twenty feet of any part of the fence with his mind.”
“Really, mind zapping. Can all you guys do that?”
“Only him that we know of. There’s a tower in the middle of the complex that he sits in every night. When he’s having a night off we have at least a hundred on patrol of the fence. You are safe here Nila.”
We reached the porta café and I pulled out my little black book. Horaldo waved it away.
“Coffee please for the lady.”
“Yes sir.”
“Any delicacies left.”
“I have some cake in the fridge.”
“Some of that too.” He pulled out a packet of coffee beans and the guy serving almost wet his pants. “Give her what you have left.”
“Absolutely!”
“Ahhhh” I said. “It really is the new currency.”
“We never intended it to be but in the couple of weeks, as everyone has settled people have begun trading their goods.”
“I guess it’s just the way we are. I suppose if the camp is here longer then you can bring real money into trade or something?”
“Vincent is working on it. Right now we are just trying to set up a system where everyone is comfortable and safe.”
“You’ve done brilliant I can’t believe it’s not even a month since… you know, and you’ve done all this.”
“We acted fast. We had to.”
We walked out of the cabin carrying three slices of cake and my coffee and we took a seat on some plastic patio furniture outside. I tried not to look him in the eye. Every time I did I got this funny feeling in my toes and my heart would literally try to leap out of my chest. Darn, these vamps had all sorts of special powers.
“So how are you settling in?” He asked.
“I’m good.” I offered him my coffee and he shook his head.
“You can’t eat, drink anything else?”
“Nope. Go on.”
“I volunteered at the library that’s opening near my home.”
“You like books?”
“I love books.” I smiled.
“Back home, in Rome I have the biggest library you have ever seen. It has bookcases so tall I had ladders installed to reach them.”
“Ooooh, you mean on sliders?”
“Yes.” He smiled at my reaction.
“I would die to see that.”
“Maybe one day when this mess is sorted.”
“The rest of world?”
/> “The virus got out of Britain through the channel tunnel. My pack is in Italy, most of it was wiped out, we managed to make radio communication with them but we haven’t heard anything for nearly a week. We don’t know how far it will have spread now. We don’t know how far these thing will have managed to get.”
“No one else can help.”
“America helped in the first three days. The troops they sent were wiped out and they weren’t keen on sending out any more. Last we heard on the emergency frequency everyone was pulled out and what was left of the government abandoned us and jump ship.”
“Really! So what, we were just holed up in the attic waiting for help that’s never going to come.”
“Well not from the government anyhow.”
I sipped my coffee, mmm, proper coffee and ate my cake. Horaldo just looked on at me in wonder.
“What?” I said laughing.
“Nothing, you look like you are enjoying that.”
I nodded, “Haven’t had a proper cup for nearly a month. Okay not to be rude because the cake and coffee are great but… I mean you can’t possibly drop in and say howdy to everyone you rescue.”
“No I don’t.” He said honestly.
I waited for an answer.
“I erm… well I kind of liked you when I met you and I just hoped to get to know you better.”
“Really.” I raised my eyebrow, just the one.
“What, I can like a girl, can’t I?”
“Erm well you’re a super-hot vampire and I’m sat here in a Pound Shrinker tracksuit.”
“Ah ha!” he said proudly, “You think I’m hot!”
I blushed.
“Of course you’re hot I meant that’s why…” I trailed off before I could say, I want to jump on your bones every time I see you.
“What?” He laughed.
“Nothing.” I muttered. “I should really head back, I’m knackered. We aren’t all creatures of the night you know.” I gave him a little smile.
“Have a said something to upset you?”
We stood and began walking back to my home.