Tabitha

by Hall, Andrew

  ‘So how’s the, er, project going?’ Will said quietly, turning to Jim as he studied the alien’s stab wounds.

  ‘Hm, about halfway there,’ Jim replied, tapping his nose.

  ‘What project?’ said Liv, overhearing them. She studied Jim’s face as his sneaky creased-up smile faded away.

  ‘It’s amazing, really,’ Will cut in, studying the alien to change the subject. He crouched down to peer at it over the edge of the table, staring in wonder like a six-foot boy. Liv looked at him suspiciously, trying to think what he could mean by project. Tabitha sat down by the empty fireplace with Laika, stroking her side and checking her dog’s healed-up wounds. Laika had whined like a puppy when Tabitha appeared at the castle gate.

  ‘Well, there’s definitely some armour there,’ said Liv, pushing a bullet against the spider’s silver skin. ‘But Tabitha did get a knife through it.’

  ‘We should try the rifles out,’ said Chris, eyes lighting up.

  ‘Hell yeah,’ said Will, standing up. He lifted the spider off the table with a clatter, every bit as heavy as it looked.

  ‘Don’t,’ Tabitha warned him, reaching out to take it off him. ‘If a claw catches you –

  ‘It’s fine,’ Will replied. ‘Look, not poisoned,’ he said, shrugging with a grin. ‘But thanks for your concern.’ Tabitha smiled and left him to it. Liv watched the look between them.

  ‘Is it heavy?’ said Jim.

  ‘It is,’ Will replied, wrestling it carefully for a better hold. ‘Maybe the armour’s not much good against bullets though, if we hit the right spot. There’s only one way to find out.’ He carted the dead spider across the room, and stepped carefully through the door onto the courtyard. ‘So, in the name of science, I demand that we mess around with guns!’

  ‘Go closer,’ said Jim, peering over Chris’s shoulder in the garden.

  ‘Shut up, I’m trying to aim,’ said Chris.

  ‘You’ll miss it. We can’t be wasting bullets,’ Jim replied, between coughs.

  ‘Shut up!’ Chris snapped, aiming down the rifle sight.

  ‘How come you’re the one shooting the rifle?’ said Jim. ‘You didn’t even come out to find the bloody things!’

  ‘Gents,’ Will said calmly, motioning for Jim to step away. Birds sang loud and high in the afternoon air. Chris took aim at the dead spider on the lawn. The group stood around behind him, fingers in ears, ready for the shot. Laika scratched on the door inside the keep, whining to come out.

  ‘Shh.’ Tabitha said softly, standing close by the door outside. Her metal fingers felt freezing in her ears. Better than going deaf, though. Chris took aim, held his breath, and closed his finger round the trigger. The rifle cracked, echoing from the castle through the silent town. Panicked birds fluttered up out of the trees.

  ‘Missed it,’ said Jim, over Chris’s shoulder.

  ‘I hit it!’ Chris replied.

  ‘You didn’t!’ said Jim, squinting at it.

  ‘I hit it! Look, you blind old git!’ Chris growled. Jim pushed Chris to the grass, ready to hit him.

  ‘Who’s got the gun?’ Chris threatened.

  ‘Just try it, you little shit,’ said Jim, looking ready for a fight.

  ‘Gents!’ Will cut in.

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ Liv muttered at them, walking over to the spider to see what the bullet had done. Tabitha stroked the bottom of the keep door where Laika was still scratching inside, trying to shush her.

  ‘Went through,’ said Liv, studying the bullet hole in the spider’s skin.

  ‘I told you,’ said Chris. Jim made a point of not looking at him, in case he was wearing that gloating smile. ‘Can I shoot it again?’ he said, sighting down the rifle.

  ‘What the bloody hell for?’ said Jim. He was fretting about their pile of ammunition, which was already one bullet lighter.

  ‘It’s fun,’ said Chris. ‘And it’s good practise.’

  ‘Yeah, and if you keep practising there won’t be any bullets left when we need them!’ said Jim.

  ‘It’s two bullets,’ Chris replied. ‘What’s your problem?’

  ‘You’re my problem!’ said Jim. ‘Give me the gun.’

  ‘Come on Chris, that’s enough for n-now,’ Liv added. Chris ignored her and took aim at the spider. ‘Will, Chris wants to sh-shoot it again,’ said Liv. Jim tried to take the rifle off him; Chris was ready to hit him with it.

  ‘In a minute,’ Will replied absently, his back turned. He was studying a bullet he’d popped out from one of the rifle magazines. ‘Actually… I say we let Tabitha show us how she kills them. For when we run out of bullets anyway.’ Tabitha looked up from the door, still stroking the wood where Laika scratched unhappily.

  ‘Can I let Laika out now, or are you still shooting?’ she said, looking up at the faces that had turned to her expectantly.

  ‘No of course, let her out,’ Will said with a smile. Chris cursed, and handed the rifle to Jim. After Laika’s happy reunion, and a good bit of canine attention, Tabitha went over to the alien corpse and turned it on its back. They gathered around her in the garden, watching Tabitha wrestle the spider’s dead curled legs away from its chest.

  ‘All this armour underneath is twice as thick as the topside,’ Tabitha told the group, pointing a grey finger at the skin on the spider’s flat belly. It was a star-shaped bunch of sockets where the legs joined the body. ‘It’s better to go for the top side, especially the head,’ she said. ‘I can punch a dent in the skin or get a knife through it, but only because of my hands. You guys might need something heavier, like an axe or something.’ Chris opened his mouth to say something.

  ‘Shut up Chris,’ Liv said pre-emptively, before he could say something sarcastic. He didn’t look happy about Tabitha’s lecture.

  ‘The brain’s your best bet,’ Tabitha continued, flipping the spider back over on the grass. Its legs clattered to rest like the limbs on a dead crab. ‘The brain’s around here, above and behind the mouth. It’s probably easier to show you, actually.’ Tabitha wiggled her fingers down into the stab wound in its skin, and with an effort she peeled back its hide and tore it off. Silver blood welled inside its body, and trickled down on the grass in shining streams.

  ‘Jesus,’ Liv mumbled, staring in horror at the stringy white muscles inside.

  ‘So that’s the brain,’ said Tabitha. She was poking at a slick grey swelling, no bigger than a golf ball.

  ‘What’s that, the heart?’ said Will, stepping around the spider. He examined a black sphere, nestled away behind the sinewy sac that housed the creature’s tongue.

  ‘Yep,’ Tabitha replied, tucking her hair back behind her ear. Liv looked between them for a moment, and noted the body language. Will motioned to the others to come closer. ‘Don’t touch its claws, anyone. Or its mouth,’ said Tabitha. ‘It’s got venom that’ll liquidise you.’

  ‘Yeah, we know,’ Chris said sarcastically, looking round at the others. ‘Thanks for the lecture though.’ Tabitha looked up at him, said nothing.

  ‘Chris, will you please stop being such an obnoxious arse?’ Liv asked him sincerely.

  ‘I’ve seen them jump a good seven or eight feet,’ Tabitha continued, waggling one of the spider’s rattling legs. ‘But what you really have to look out for,’ she said, reaching down in between the spider’s mouth parts, ‘is this.’ She took firm hold of the bony spike inside, and stretched the tongue out like a five-foot spring.

  ‘That’s what they drink your insides out with?’ said Jim, horrified at the pale gristly trunk.

  ‘That’s right,’ Tabitha replied, letting go of the tongue and watching it shrink back down inside the thing’s mouth. ‘What it drinks goes back here,’ she said, walking around the back of the body. She tore away a fleshy membrane under the armour, revealing a translucent pouch.

  ‘That’s the stomach,’ said Liv, poking it.

  ‘Yep,’ Tabitha replied, stretching the sac out a little. ‘You can tell which ones won’t go for you, because they�
�re already fat and sluggish when this is full.’

  ‘When they’ve already eaten, yeah,’ Jim said gravely. He thought about the one that took Mary from him. He offered Liv and Tabitha a rough old hand each, helping them up from the grass. ‘Well, I’ve seen enough of that fella,’ he said, looking away. He turned his back on the spider and the group, and looked up at the clouds. He ran his hand over the white stubble on his chin, and thought about Mary. He felt his eyes watering a little, and wiped away the tears quickly before anyone could see. ‘Let’s get back inside,’ he said, studying the sky. ‘There’s rain coming. And I’ve not had my cup of tea.’

  ‘Are the two things connected?’ Chris chipped in sarcastically. Liv glared at him and shook her head.

  ‘Shut up, Chris.’

  ‘So we’re armed and dangerous now,’ Will said happily. ‘The Ghosts are in business!’ there was a small round of applause around the table in the keep. Will even passed a handful of biscuits out to celebrate, crumbly and packet-fresh.

  ‘So what’s next for the m-mighty Ghosts?’ said Liv, dipping her biscuit into her tea. Jim watched her, and wished he’d done the same with his biscuit before he’d eaten it. Tabitha watched them all munching and felt her stomach rumble.

  ‘Well, I’ve got a couple of things in mind,’ Will replied. ‘But leave it with me for now. In the meantime, we’ve still got a castle to run.’ Liv and Jim nodded. ‘And I’m proud of us, you know?’ Will added. ‘We went right out there and did the job. And now we’re in a better position to help other survivors if they turn up. So, cheers,’ he said, raising his cup of tea. Tabitha raised her mug of water to clink against the other cups, though Chris didn’t join in. She glanced at him and saw only a dark look in his eyes; nothing short of hate. He looked away.

  The skies brightened up in the afternoon. Jim, Liv and Chris were working in the garden. In the keep Will was busy with their new equipment, counting out rounds and grenades on the kitchen table.

  ‘Let me help,’ said Tabitha, sitting on a pile of cushions with Laika. She opened up a tin of steak stew, a treat from Jim, and let it slop down into Laika’s bowl.

  ‘I already told you, you need to rest today,’ Will replied, sharing out the ammunition with his back to her. ‘You’re not well enough to work.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she protested. Laika dug into her food bowl hungrily with quiet lapping bites.

  ‘You collapsed out on the moors this morning,’ Will said over his shoulder, counting the remaining bullets. ‘What if it had just been you out there, on your own?’

  ‘I know,’ she conceded. ‘But I want to work, though.’ There was a hanging silence while Will counted out the last bullets, and busied himself with organising the army helmets and bulletproof vests in order of damage.

  ‘You don’t want everyone to think you’re lazy, is that it?’ he said.

  ‘Well, yeah,’ Tabitha replied hesitantly, ‘but mostly because I’m really bored.’ Will snorted a laugh. ‘There must be something I can do to help, while I’m just sat here,’ she said. Another hanging silence. Will banged his hand down on the table. At first she thought he was angry, but he turned around with a grin. That was the bang he made when inspiration struck.

  ‘I’ve got an idea, while everyone’s out,’ he said, smiling. ‘If you’re up for it?’

  ‘What is it?’ said Tabitha, sitting up on the pillows.

  ‘Come upstairs,’ he said. ‘We’ll need a bed sheet.’

  The rain that Jim predicted never came. It turned out to be a good afternoon for them to get the allotment weeded, which ran semi-circular around the foot of the keep. Liv and Jim were down on their hands and knees, pulling weeds from the soil in silent companionship; Chris was putting in a half-effort over to one side. Jim had never seen the need to talk while he was working. Liv had always felt a little anxious about holding conversations anyway, so it was nice when she didn’t have to. Chris, on the other hand, had been muttering every complaint that crossed his mind. That there must be easier ways to grow food than this. That they could shoot birds and eat those instead. That they could even set up a fish pond in the garden, maybe. And that planting carrots and potatoes and cabbages was a lot of hard work for very few calories in return. Eventually Jim had heard enough, and threw down his weeding knife with a loud sigh.

  ‘Look lad, do you want to eat or not?’ he growled. Chris said nothing; just stared. ‘Then shut up moaning and get your head down. Like her.’ Liv looked at Jim and smiled. She wished her dad had been more like him. But she didn’t like to think about her dad. His drinking, and his shouting. And how much she missed him.

  ‘Let’s have a b-break,’ she suggested, sticking her own knife into the soil. She sat back on the grass and smiled at the blue sky, brushing the crumbly soil off her hands. A butterfly danced past on the warm breeze.

  ‘Timing,’ said Will, coming out of the castle keep. He was walking over carefully with a tray of drinks.

  ‘What is it lad?’ said Jim, picking up a glass off the tray with a grateful nod.

  ‘Very strong,’ Will replied, taking a glass himself. He handed one to Tabitha as she came outside. Liv couldn’t help but notice how happy Tabitha seemed, coming out of the keep with Will. Certainly a far cry from how pale she’d looked this morning. They’d been alone in there for a good while, and she was pretty sure that Will liked Tabitha. He was a good-looking guy; she’d be surprised if there wasn’t something going on between them.

  ‘To civilisation?’ Jim suggested, eyeing up the glass of liquor.

  ‘And The Ghosts,’ said Tabitha, smiling.

  ‘Hear hear,’ Will concurred, raising his glass. They all necked the stuff together, and coughed and grimaced as it went down. One by one they swore off the stuff, and still went back for more from the bottle. Will and Tabitha glanced around at the others, and kept an eye on their expressions. Waiting for them to see it.

  ‘Well look at that,’ said Jim, staring up at the keep. Will and Tabitha smiled. Liv and Chris looked up and saw a big white banner draped down over the wall of the keep. Weighted down against the wind with silvery spider legs like grizzly totems. It was a giant ghost, painted in thick black outline on the white sheet. Above it were three words: A SAFE PLACE.

  ‘That’s awesome,’ said Liv, staring up at it.

  ‘It’s just a couple of bed sheets stitched together,’ Tabitha replied. It had come out pretty well though, she thought, considering her limited artistic talents.

  ‘Right, yeah, so why don’t we just tell everyone where we are?’ Chris mumbled unhappily, studying the ghost banner. Tabitha’s smile disappeared.

  ‘Well that’s the point,’ Will told him, wondering how Chris could be so against it.

  ‘So what, you’re happy for all the rapists and cannibals she’s talked about to come knocking on the door?’ said Chris, glancing at Tabitha. He did have a point, she considered. The same cold dread ran through her again like a knife; like she was back in that creepy seaside village all over again.

  ‘No, it’s for all the sick starving people who need our help,’ Will countered.

  ‘Oh right,’ Chris replied sarcastically. ‘More new people coming to eat all our food. It’s the same thing.’ His look aimed the sentiment squarely at Tabitha.

  ‘Don’t even start,’ Will growled, stepping up close to Chris. ‘If you want to play that game, fine. I was here first. You’re here eating my food. I’ve told you before, you’re free to piss off out of this castle any time you like. But we both know you’ll stay right here where it’s safe, and do as little as possible to help.’ Chris stared at him, and looked away. Will turned his back on him, back to the group.

  ‘Anyway, long live the Ghosts!’ Will told the others cheerily. ‘The sun’s out, and we’re not dead. Two reasons for a party right there. So let’s take this up on the wall.’ He nodded behind them at the battlements, up on the curtain wall above the garden. They took some blankets and cushions from the keep and set them down by the rai
ling on the wall, and called to Laika to climb up the steps and join them in the sun.

  Tabitha felt the rough drink go down easier the more she had. The company and the hot summer sun were the perfect mixers.

  ‘Paw,’ she told Laika. Smiling her dog smile, Laika flopped her paw into Tabitha’s grey hand. ‘Good girl!’ Tabitha said tipsily.

  ‘Is this hooch?’ Chris mumbled to Will, staring at the bottle of spirit in his hand. There wasn’t a label on it.

  ‘It could be,’ Will slurred, tapping his nose.

  ‘Isn’t it just v-vodka?’ said Liv, sniffing her glass.

  ‘Could be,’ said Will, smiling.

  ‘Are you a b-bit too drunk to know either way?’ said Liv. He smiled and nodded.

  ‘Good stuff though, whatever it is,’ Jim chipped in from his deck chair.

  ‘Mm,’ Tabitha said into her glass, mid-swig. Laika lay down beside her. Tabitha stroked her side. She looked around her and saw friends, for the first time in so long. It couldn’t have been three weeks ago, when everything happened. And still, it felt like a lifetime. She’d come so far from home; she surprised herself. She’d never get her mum or Jen and Emma back; they were still a sore thought and a heartache of disbelief. But she was safe here, and she had people to call a family. Compared with what she’d seen of the new world, this was the best thing that could happen to her. The best people who could ever happen to her. Well, maybe apart from one. But it wasn’t bad going, ending up here. She was safe. The sunlight and the drink bleached everything in her vision; made the world sharp and bright. With her new family around her, and the wide green view under a late summer sun, Tabitha forgot about the world outside. Just for a little while. Looking around at their smiling faces, she was pretty sure that the others had forgotten about everything too. God, I’ve missed this, she told herself. If only she could have brought Mum and Emma and Jen here. If only she’d gotten to them sooner.

  ‘I’m feeling m-more civilised already,’ said Liv, after another glass. Chris was still in a sulk, but he tolerated their company to stay within easy reach of the spirit bottle. Will was dealing cards. Jim looked out over the wall at the park below, leaning quietly on the stonework with a glass in his hand. In a tipsy day dream, he felt like he had his girls and his sons-in-law back around him again. A subtle smile creased his flinty old face. He watched a blackbird flutter past over the trees in the park; a dark feathered spirit cutting through the balmy heat. The warm sun crawled from sparse clouds, flooding the green world with a light that felt as old as he did. Tears welled up in his eyes at the thought of his family, and he wiped them away and made sure that the others hadn’t seen.