by Cenz Barone
Kenny eased off the hunting rifle as he sighed in relief, after the last of the people in the second group went on by. He finally allowed himself to kneel down in the back of the van and wiped his brow, he brought his hand in front of his face. His hand was clammy and wet, indicating he was sweating heavily. He wiped his hand on his trousers and then took a deep breath as the groaning of the second group was heard by him drifting further away. At this moment he felt someone looking at him and sure enough when he turned to the side, he saw the young woman staring back at him. She was one of the sleeping women in the van, but this one was opposite him.
Chapter 4 - Getting Off The Streets
Her eyes fixed on him and they were close enough to make out shades of the others face, she stared emotionless at him. “Thank God they have gone” she said with equal relief in her voice, to match his sigh of relief upon those peoples departure from sight. She then quietly yawned before adding “I thought we were done for. I thought we had it” her tone a whisper as she looked at her watch, she then pressed the button near the side of the watch so a green light appeared, allowing her to read the digitalised time. The girl remarked “It is not even midnight. Sorry, I forgot, what’s your name again?” Her gaze fell on Kenny whom she addressed. The woman's tone was curious, Kenny replied slowly and with an equal whispering tone to her “My name is Kenny”. The young woman sat up properly, so she was not slumped on the side, and it was still so hard for them to see the others faces fully, due to the absolute darkness of the van but enough shade was there to see the other.
The young woman replied “My name is Cherie” she had tears in her eyes at this point as she spoke but she did not break down and cry, Kenny already knew her name, he recalled opening the door when she first came in, she was quiet but did mention her name when brought inside. She asked him “Are you okay Kenny?" he nodded unconvincingly in reply to her question and she could make out his head nod. Cherie graciously said “Thank you guys for picking me up. I meant to thank you earlier on”.
Kenny sat back opposite the girl, with the hunting rifle held between his legs. He calmly told her, still whispering “You did Cherie, you already thanked them”. Cherie held her head and rubbed it, she then replied as if trying to remember “I did thank them. Who are they again?” Kenny motioned his head to the front seat of the van and added "The guy and woman who picked me up, also picked you up soon after". Cherie stared up at the front seats, to see the back of Grants head. Cherie hazily recollected "I remember bits now, sorry I am not making sense, I am always slow waking up. I should not have fallen asleep. I should have stayed awake". Cherie sounding upset. Kenny had no words to say to her, he just observed her holding her head in pain, nursing the slight headache she had acquired.
Her voice was uncertain and she dubiously said “Yes, I must have thanked them but I think I forgot". Kenny could hear how delirious she sounded. She had been withdrawn earlier on before sleeping and was extremely quiet. He wondered had she taken something to help her sleep, because he found it odd that she and the two other women had slept so peacefully for the last few hours. Cherie then asked him "Is there any food here Kenny? I am starving”. Cherie was going through her pockets and realising she had none hoped he would.
Kenny looked around the various items in the van and went towards a back bag. He opened it up by unclipping the holders and pulled out an item which he handed to her, his tone now one of politeness. Kenny said “It’s not much but there are more sandwiches in the bag, one of those meal deals you know. Just try not to take it all. We will have to ration until we find a secure place where there is more food”. Cherie sounding troubled answered “Ration food. God is it coming to rationing already. Do not worry though I do not want much. I just need some substance” she took the item which was an open triangular sandwich packet that had one sandwich within and she began to eat it, her rate of eating was incredibly slow. Kenny just sat back observing her, trying not to stare but this was a welcome distraction from him interacting with Grant for these last few hours.
Cherie sat up slightly, chewing on the sandwich and quickly looked up at the top of the alleyway on the other side of Grants head. Cherie asked Kenny “How long have we been parked here for?” Kenny replied honestly “Not that long, maybe 10-15 minutes”. Cherie added “Do any of you people know where to go from here. Weren't we heading to some rescue station or a police station”. Kenny shook his head and told her frankly "We do not know where to go. All the places we have headed to were overrun. We are lost right now Cherie. But we are going to look for a secure place soon, to find some place to hold up and try contact the authorities. It makes little sense driving around” he was tempted to tell her about the low petrol but thought against it.
“That sounds like a good idea” Cherie stated hopefully. Kenny could not see her hands shaking but he knew they were because the carton of the sandwich was rustling. Kenny told her “That is the only idea we have. I am amazed we have not gotten out of Oxford yet or found anywhere. Luck is not on our side”.
Cherie meekly asked him “Why is that. Why has there been no luck?” Kenny had not had much opportunity to learn of her experiences, so he answered calmly. Thinking she was out of her wits “Like I said most of the places are overrun, abandoned or shut down. It is amazing considering this has been going on for only 2 to 3 days now maybe, well I suppose it depends on who you ask, but it is not that long. Who knows though, it was just seems like yesterday to me but the radio has been saying it happened over 2 days ago. It is so confusing out there. Not only does anyone know what is going on, they do not know when it began or why. Fuck sake!” his tone one of anger. Cherie was silent watching him, he then controlled his nerves and added softly “The longer we stay out here though, then the more chance we have of...”
Kenny did not want to say what might happen to them if those people outside got hold of them and he was spared finishing his sentence when Grant suddenly awoke. Grant appeared full of pep and turned behind him facing Cherie and Kenny. Both Cherie and Kenny looked at him, his sudden movement startling them both. Grant noticed the outline of Cherie near Kenny "You are awake. Good" Grant said sounding refreshed from his brief power nap. "You missed a few of those things pass earlier on when you napped Grant" Kenny nervously shared.
Grant glared back to the front of the van and then back on Kenny, as he answered "Well it is time to go. Are you ready?" Kenny just nodded and Cherie did not say anything, she merely sat back up against her side of the van, making herself comfortable once more. She like Kenny was strictly passive in this situation. Grant narrated "We will find a place to hold up. I was thinking, do you remember the terrace houses we passed a couple of miles back, in that urban street near where they were doing road works. It was very quiet there, more quiet than this place and I hardly saw any of those things. I remember there were lanes behind those houses to, it seems pretty compact, the back of the lane is spacious and wide enough for the van but it will give us leverage in the rear. We could park the van out back one of those lanes and try get into a house from the rear, none of those houses in the front looked like they had been smashed in, not like the houses here. So it is worth a shot. Hopefully the phones inside will work, we could sneak in maybe someone in there will help us”.
Cherie asked "Why not around here though, there are houses here right". Kenny shook his head and replied "Grant is right, there are too many of those things in this part. You should see the roads, those things are quite animated here, we need somewhere quiet, or at least so we can get inside. I do not fancy staying around here. You’ve not seen the state of the front of the houses here, they are too low down as well, the windows. I think I know the street you mean Grant". Kenny then went into the bag with the food and handed Grant some chocolate, it was a half eaten bar, Kenny let Grant take it from his hand and said to him with a whisper “Okay Grant, I think you should try it. Do you want to wake up the others?”
Kenny referring to the woman in the passenger side and the girl w
ho was lying at the foot of the rear of the van, Grant shook his head and answered "No let them sleep, let us just get there first”. Grant was about to start the engine, when he felt Kenny place his hand on his shoulder "Grant one more thing” Kenny said as he went between the seats. Cherie was still eating the sandwich in as little bites as possible to make it last. Her eyes flicked up to watch what Kenny would say to Grant.
He then informed Grant did Kenny “Keep the lights off when you drive though. There are more of those things up in the street. Those things that passed were not alone. I am sure they are still around here”. Grant sighed and scratched his head and annoyed replied “I did not hear anything. You should have woken me Kenny when you saw them, especially if you think they are still around here" Grant in the front seat had a frontal view of them as he looked ahead to which Kenny told him "You had your powernap didn't you and isn't that why we stopped here".
Grant was unsure if Kenny was being sarcastic or considerate, but Grant was eager to just move out, so he said after taking a deep breath "Okay well it should not take me long to find a house, I know where this street I have in mind is. I might be lost in general but its close by us. Despite, what you think about me driving around Kenny. I am keeping my wits about me, although barely. Besides I do not like the sounds of this van, it is like it is going to pack up on us any moment". Grant was just being paranoid about the mechanics of the van but his biggest concern was the petrol. Grant finalised his words by saying "The sooner we park up and get into some secure shelter the better. Are you ready Kenny?” Kenny did not respond to Grant, he just wanted off the streets and tapped him on the shoulder to indicate he was.
Chapter 5 - Behind Terrace Houses
Grant turned the van key to start up the engine, and at a snail like pace the van re-entered the street once more. Grant came to a stop at the alleyway junction. Both he and Kenny checked out either side of the road. They saw to the left side, in the direction those possessed looking people walked earlier on that a few of them were still in the middle of the road. It appeared as if stragglers of the groups were distracted by something in the middle of the street, it was hard to tell but it looked like something was on the floor, like a body. The rest of the group were moving as a unit further to the left. Meanwhile to the right side of the road they noticed a few of those things on the pavement moving around underneath some streetlights. Houses to had the large front windows smashed in and nettings were torn and ripped, with doors kicked in, it was clear hiding in the houses on this street would be foolhardy.
Cherie moved from the shadows of the back of the van and stared out, watching what both Grant and Kenny were looking at, she gasped as she stood near Kenny. To Cherie being asleep as she had been was a welcome break from viewing those people. Kenny gulped whilst Grant felt his hands shake because the noise emitted from the van meant those people outside were observed moving their heads towards their direction.
Nervously, Kenny nudged Grants seat. Grant just nodded knowing what Kenny meant and slowly the van began to creep forward and Grant turned right. The headlights were off on the van as he headed down the road. Kenny watched the few possessed looking people look their way but they had no urgency or cares and watched as the van drifted by them. Cherie turned back from overlooking the front to sit back down in the rear of the van. Grant could not bring himself to look at the people outside anymore, instead he focused on the road ahead, as he once more had to negotiate the numerous objects and items on the road, some rubble mostly debris from other cars, the carnage all around them as he searched his memory banks for this street of houses he had in mind.
As Grant drove he thought about how much of his life had been centred onto a specific part of Oxford, which was the city centre and they were far from that place at the present. At the moment he was desperately trying to imagine where in Oxford he was and he was conscious that despite working in Oxford city centre and living just outside it, his knowledge of its geographical area was severely limited in terms of other parts of Oxford. He himself like many others was only acquainted with areas they frequented, and those areas for Grant were centred upon places for work or superficial shopping nearby his workplace.
Coming into the city to him was a formality done in the early morning, the rush from his house which was many miles outside Oxford and then to join on the motorway like so many other commuters. Armed was he with a hot coffee and braving the wintery cold with his heating turned right up, or enduring the summer heat in the morning with his sunglasses on, to deflect the rising sun. It was such a joke to him now, he realised just how limited his knowledge of places near where he lived was, and even the street names he had bypassed daily for years were lost to him.
The problem was this part of Oxford was a part he had never been down, or had any cause to go down. Which was why he was so lost, but any information he had about Oxford was useless now. Because he came from the surrounding county so he may as well be in another country he thought. Often when Grant went into Oxford he visited the city centre outside of work for brief excursions, and he also when a student went to a university far from Oxford, he was not originally from this area but moved here for work purposes, so he now worked in the city in an IT engineer for a government agency.
Yet now he was driving a van and felt personal responsibility for the strangers inside, all were strangers to him bar his colleague who sat in the passenger side still sleeping next to him. He glanced across at the woman who was resting up against the window, her eyes closed, she was a stranger in the respect they had a work relationship nothing more and nothing in depth.
The most he had ever had to be responsible for concerning other people was related to working as a team leader overseeing colleagues and their targets. This was simplistic in regards to meeting deadlines and making sure all in the team under him were focused, and productive. Now he was taking charge of decisions related to life or death, just by virtue of him driving the van. Grant picked up the speed of the van and Kenny was silently standing behind Grant in the back of the van. Grant felt Kenny's presence behind him, this young guy who despite his immature attitude was looking to Grant for guidance. Kenny trusted Grant to get them to where he said he would, and Grant himself was eagerly driving to reach the terrace spot he said would afford them a means to get off the streets.
The van rode across several streets, within the passengers heard the van riding over numerous objects, because some debris could not be avoided. The compact urban centre they passed told more stories of the chaos which had engulfed these streets with bodily parts lying around, and also an ambulance was seen with no paramedics outside it. Instead the wide doors at the rear of the ambulance were wide open, and the blue lights were dimly on, flashing around. There near the ambulance were two stretchers with one person strapped in who looked like they had been mauled wide open.
Grant went towards the eastern road and Kenny could see there was no longer shopping businesses that dominated the view of the streets but now the scene had receded to become houses that were doubly joined. But then after moving along several houses and driving into another couple of streets, the scene became a tad less hellish. Kenny was amazed at Grants purposeful driving, because it did appeared that Grant did have an idea where to go. Grant took a sharp upper left turn and there before him was more terrace houses. Grant immediately slowed down the van and Kenny could not tell what Grant was looking for, but Grant was checking out the scene before him trying his best to recollect about this scene, and where he was earlier on. Some of this scene did seem familiar to Kenny, but Kenny was honestly thinking of a different place he had been, so he was unsure if this was a place they been in the van, Grant was convinced it was and they were here so maybe they had been and Kenny just forgot.
It showed how oblivious Kenny was to their surroundings, because despite being in the van with Grant for all this time, he could not remember much about where they had gone to, let alone where they had just left concerning that alleyway. Kenny surveyed
the scene and noticed all the houses were joined together but a pattern was emerging, because between every 10 houses there was a small road which led down towards an alleyway which was the back lane behind the houses.
Kenny turned to the distant left and saw about 100 meters away a few of the possessed people wandering the streets but they were at a reasonable distance away, so they did not worry him or those in the van. Grant straight away headed down the road and turned down the small alleyway which led into the lane and he had to be careful due to how narrow the road they were on between the houses was. Cherie by this time had stood up, noticing the streetlights from outside the van were no longer shining inside at points. She also could tell the van had slowed down significantly. She stood near Kenny and watched the dark alleyway and lane unfold before them.
Grant travelled down the dark lane and it was devoid of any streetlights so he muttered "I cannot see shit. I need to put the lights on". Kenny shook his head, not wanting it but Grant quickly flashed the light to give him an idea of where to go, it was all straight ahead with the walls on either side acting as a barrier. Once he flashed the light Grant went on, and decided to keep the main headlights off. As he chugged the van along Grant whispered "It is up to us to pick what house". Cherie and Kenny were both looking outside. Cherie was quiet in the backdrop as Kenny stated and began to ask "Just pick any random house. What if those things are inside we have to..." Grant interrupted him by saying "It is a chance we must take, we do not have time to be picky. We cannot loiter around in this lane too long. We don’t know the state of any house we will pick. This is the quietest spot I can recall from driving around this area. None of the front windows were smashed in, at least the ones I could see. So yes we have to pick a house to seek shelter inside. Isn't that what you wanted?" Grant nervously checked the petrol gauge and shook his head in frustration as he added "Come on Kenny". Kenny felt unease, not happy at being forced to make the decision so he replied "Why must I pick?"