‘Folkestone.’
‘Me too,’ said Kate.
‘Me too,’ added Phil. ‘But…’
‘And me,’ said Edith.
‘We should go home,’ said Kate. Despite everything, she felt a responsibility to Andrew.
‘You’re not really thinking of going back are you?’ said Phil. ‘It’ll be suicide to go out there. You all know that, don’t you?’ Phil looked around the table at the others.
‘Haven’t you got anyone back there?’ said Kate, nodding at his hand and the wedding ring on his finger.
He glanced down at the ring but remained silent for a few seconds before answering. ‘My wife.’
‘Don’t you want to get back for her?’
‘Not really,’ Phil replied in all seriousness. ‘Don’t judge me, okay?’ he added, defending himself against the four sets of eyes that stared at him.
‘I just want to go home,’ sobbed Lucy.
Kate glanced at the young girl, her shoulders rising and falling with each sob, then back at Phil.
‘Shit. You really want to do this?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ said Kate, looking around the table at the others. ‘And besides, what’s the alternative – die in here?’
‘But there aren’t any of those things in here,’ said Louie.
‘They’ll get in sooner or later,’ said Kate. ‘And even if they don’t – how much food do you have, Louie? Enough to keep five people fed for the next fuck-knows-how-long, while we wait it out?’
‘I… I haven’t… I usually go out and buy my lunch… I…’
‘How will we survive in here with no supplies?’ said Kate. ‘One way or another we’ll have to go out there.’
‘True,’ said Phil. ‘But…’ He paused for a second. ‘Wouldn’t we be better off finding somewhere secure around here? My office – I have a security card; the place is like Fort Knox. We could get supplies–’
‘I need to find my family,’ said Lucy. ‘Even if we… even if… I just need to find them, even if I die trying.’
Kate placed a hand on Lucy’s forearm that she rested on the table and gave it a squeeze. She glanced at Edith. ‘What about you, Edith… Are you in?’
‘It’s just Captain Waddles waiting at home for me, dears. But I’d like to get back, all the same. There’s no place like home. And Captain will need feeding.’
Kate turned her attention back to Phil.
He gave her a nod. ‘Okay,’ he began. ‘If you’re all going, I’ll go. And I’ll do my best to help keep us all safe. Even though you’re all mental.’
Kate nodded at him.
‘What about me?’ asked Louie.
‘What about you?’ asked Kate. ‘You can come with us – strength in numbers – or you can stay here. Up to you.’
‘I want to find my mum and my sister.’
‘Where are they?’ asked Phil.
‘At home – not far from here. About a twenty minute walk. Please,’ Louie turned to Kate, ‘will you help me get home to my family before you head off? Please. I can’t go out there by myself. I can’t do this on my own. Please?’
Kate looked into his big brown eyes. She knew it would delay them from heading back to Folkestone and she barely knew him – why should she put herself in danger for him? But she knew she couldn’t just abandon him. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Okay.’ She thought for a moment, tapping her lips with her forefinger. ‘Right,’ she began. ‘The plan is this… We wait up here until those things out there calm down a bit. They obviously react and get over-excited at the sight of us, but I’m hoping that they’ll forget us and start of wander off if we stay out of sight. Then me and Louie will head out the back and across to the bike shop opposite, grab a couple of bikes and I’ll see him home–’
‘I’ll come with you, said Phil.
‘No. You have to stay here,’ said Kate. ‘While I get Louie home, I need you to take Edith and Lucy across the road to Wilkos. The three of you need to get into the store and stock up with whatever supplies you think we’ll need. Look for tools we can use as weapons – anything will be better than what we have now.’ Kate glanced at the collection of poles they’d pulled from the wall and the bent umbrella. ‘We’ll need food, blankets – whatever you can get your hands on,’ she continued. ‘And be ready for when I get back. Then we’ll head off and find a car to get us back to Folkestone. Okay? Easy, right?’
‘We’ll need to head somewhere outside of the gridlocked zone to pick up a car,’ said Phil.
‘Yeah, it might be a bit of a trek, but we can do it,’ said Kate.
‘Of course we can!’ said Edith. ‘You’re a good girl, Kate – the way you’re taking care of us all.’
Kate smiled at the old lady, then turned to Phil. ‘What’s up?’ she asked him, noting his pained expression.
‘I can’t let you head off on your own with him,’ said Phil. ‘What if Edith and Lucy stay here while we–’
‘No, Phil. We’ll already be losing enough daylight hours as it is while we wait for the feeding frenzy to be over, so we need to use the time we have left as best we can. Either that or wait until tomorrow.’
‘I don’t want to stay here tonight,’ said Lucy. ‘I want to go home today.’
‘We will,’ Kate said to her. ‘Louie says it’s only a twenty minute walk back to his – on bikes we should do that in ten minutes at the most – another ten for me to get back to you,’ she said to the others. ‘I need you guys ready when I get back so we can head off before it starts to get dark. We don’t want to be travelling through countryside after dark, not when we don’t know what might be on the roads… It makes sense to do it this way. And I’ll be fine.’ Kate looked at the others in turn. ‘This way we stand a chance. Agreed?’
‘Agreed.’
‘Okay, agreed.’
‘Yes, dear. Agreed.’
‘Great. We’re going home!’
Leaving the others resting in the staffroom, Kate headed back out onto the shop floor. She grabbed a pair of black leather boots from the shoe department, before heading down to the women’s department on the ground floor. The barricades at the front and back helped to block the Dead’s view into the store, but Kate made sure she kept low and out of sight. The banging wasn’t as frenzied as it had been earlier and Kate guessed that they were starting to forget that they were in there; she didn’t want to go and remind them.
She grabbed a pair of jeans from a clothes rail, then selected a checked shirt and headed to the changing rooms. Inside a cubicle, she slipped off her suit jacket before unzipping her pencil skirt. She shimmied out of it, glad to be free at last of the restricting clothing. She peeled down her purple tights – now full of ladders – and pulled on the jeans, tucking in her t-shirt. She tied the shirt around her waist for now – it was hot inside the store, but she figured she might need something if it got cooler later while they travelled home.
Kate sat down on the little stool in the corner of the cubicle to put the boots on. She had one on when she stopped and closed her eyes. She screwed up her face as the tears came. She let them fall. She’d had to be so in control since all of this had started and now she wanted to lose control, just for a moment. She had no idea what she was doing. She gasped when heard a voice outside the changing rooms and she batted her tears away with a hand.
‘You decent?’
‘Just a second.’ Kate used the sleeve of the shirt around her waist to wipe her face.
‘You okay?’
‘Yes-yes, Phil. Come in.’
The curtain of her cubicle whooshed open and Phil stood before her, clutching the pole that had become his new weapon. She stared up at him and frowned.
‘Are you okay, Phil? I mean, I know you’re not okay because we’ve just been plunged into all hell breaking loose, but… You don’t look too good. You look pale. Paler than earlier.’
‘I’m okay,’ he replied. ‘Honest,’ he added when Kate looked at him disbeliev
ingly. ‘Shock. Blood loss,’ he raised the elbow of his bandaged arm. ‘More importantly, are you okay?’ he asked after a moment.
Phil took a step into the small confines of the cubicle and knelt down in front of Kate.
‘I’m okay.’
‘Liar.’
‘Really, I’m fine.’
Phil raised an eyebrow.
Kate let out a heavy sigh before biting down on her lower lip to stop the tears from coming again. When the feeling passed she said, ‘I’m just so fucking scared, Phil.’
‘I know. We all are.’
‘Not just about what’s happening out there. I mean, that’s most of it but… I don’t know what I’m doing. I hope I’m doing the right thing by taking us home.’
‘You are,’ he said with a little nod.
‘You weren’t so sure earlier.’
‘I know,’ said Phil. ‘I was being a coward – like usual. You’re doing just great.’
‘Am I?’
‘Yeah. You know, if you weren’t here I’d be content to just sit in this shop until I died of starvation. That’s if me and the others had even made it off the bus in the first place. You got everyone here and you’re going to get us home.’ Phil reached up a hand and placed his palm against Kate’s cheek. ‘You’re our saviour.’
‘Oh shut up,’ Kate said, feeling embarrassed. She never did know how to handle complements. Not that she got that many these days.
Phil let his hand linger but the moment he lifted it from her, Kate placed her hand on the back of his and pressed his palm against her cheek. She closed her eyes and they remained like that for a moment before Kate released him and he dropped his hand to his lap.
‘Sorry,’ said Kate. ‘I just needed…’
‘Don’t be silly. I understand.’
Neither spoke for a moment but then Kate broke the silence. ‘Why don’t you want to go home to your wife?’
Phil gave a sort of half snort, half laugh but there was no humour in it.
‘Do you mind me asking? I mean if–’
‘It’s okay. It’s just I’ve never…’
‘You don’t have to.’
‘No. No, it’s just–’
‘Really, it’s okay, Phil. Forget about it. Forget I asked. It’s none of my business anyway. I mean, we don’t even know each other. What am I thinking asking you personal questions like that?’
‘No, it’s not that. I want to talk about it. I should talk about it. It’s just…’
‘Okay. When you’re ready, right?’
‘The thing is, I’m ashamed.’
‘Hey, don’t be.’ Kate leaned forwards, placed a hand on Phil’s arm and gave it a squeeze. Their eyes met. ‘Whatever it is, you mustn’t be ashamed,’ she said, holding his gaze.
‘I’ve never spoken about it with anyone. I’ve always found it easier to live in denial. I’m pathetic.’
‘You’re not pathetic.’
Phil gave a weak smile and glanced at where Kate’s hand rested against his arm. Kate gave him another squeeze.
‘You can trust me,’ she said, pulling her hand away and sitting up a little.
‘It’s just it’s not easy to admit to. Especially when you’re a man. Men are supposed to be strong, not useless and weak, like lumps of shit that…’ Phil sat down on the floor and rested his back against the thin wall of the changing cubicle. He looked off towards something in the distance.
‘Phil, I don’t know you, but from what I’ve seen today, you are very strong and you are certainly not useless and weak or a lump of shit and anyone who says different, well, I’ll hit them with Edith’s umbrella!’
‘Thanks.’ He glanced up and caught Kate’s eye. ‘She’s very… controlling. My wife. She’s… pretty… fierce. She’s made my life a misery for fifteen years and I’ve always been too fucking chicken shit to do anything about it. I’m going to help you get back, Kate – you and the others. But I’m not going back to her.’
‘You’re just going to leave her?’
‘Yep. I should’ve done it years ago.’
‘Well,’ began Kate after a pause, ‘she deserves it for not realising what a wonderful man she had.’
Phil smiled. He reached up a hand, placed it on Kate’s arm.
‘Fuck her,’ he said.
‘Yeah, fuck her,’ said Kate. ‘Time to start over.’
‘Clean slate.’
‘Yep. Clean slate.’ Kate bit her lower lip as her thoughts drifted off. She leaned forwards and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.
‘You okay?’ said Phil. He brushed a lock of hair out of her face.
He let his hand hover close to her face for a moment and Kate found herself wanting to press her cheek into his palm again. He lowered his hand and the feeling passed.
‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.’
‘You know, I used to notice you on the bus every morning. You always looked so bright and cheerful, especially in your colourful clothes and that red lipstick you always wear, and… I used to look forward to seeing you.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah. Sorry if I’m embarrassing you. I–’
‘No, you’re not embarrassing me. It’s fine. I used to notice you too.’
‘You did?’
‘Yeah. You always looked so sad, it broke my heart,’ said Kate.
Phil glanced down at his lap. ‘You looked sad, too – last Monday morning. You didn’t have any make up on and you looked like you’d been crying or–’
‘You know, Phil, we should get back to the others. We should think about making a move soon,’ said Kate, shoving her foot into the other boot.
Chapter Five
Kate and Phil crept out from the changing rooms, around to the right and out onto the shop floor. They kept low and out of sight as they made their way towards the stationary escalator. Phil headed up first. He placed his feet carefully on each metal step, so as not to make too much noise. About halfway up, he stopped and gripped the railing. With his head hung low, Kate watched the rise and fall of his shoulders for a moment.
‘You okay?’ she asked.
Phil took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Yeah,’ he began, turning to glance down at Kate.
‘You sure?’
‘Yeah, I just felt a bit light-headed for a minute there. I…’
Kate put a hand up to steady Phil as his legs sagged beneath him. She prepared to catch his weight but he managed to right himself, only, not before the metal pole fell from his grasp and clattered down the steps, echoing around the empty store. Frenzied banging of dead fists against glass followed as the noise awoke the interest of the creatures outside.
‘Shit! Shit!’ said Kate.
‘Fuck! I’m sorry,’ said Phil. ‘I’m so sorry!’ He sat down on one of the steps and put his head in his hands.
‘It’s okay.’
‘It’s not though is it? Shit, I don’t know what came over me.’
Kate placed a hand on Phil’s shoulder and she sat down next to him. ‘Hey, this has all been a lot to take today. And don’t forget you’ve lost quite a bit of blood. No wonder you’re weak.’
‘I’ve stirred up a fucking hornet’s nest.’
‘It’s okay. They’ll quieten down again.’
‘Do you never get angry?’
‘Huh?’
‘You’re like the calmest, most understanding person I’ve ever met. Whatever happens, you just take it in your stride.’
‘Believe me, Phil, I might look calm but inside I’m–’ Before Kate could get any further, she and Phil heard a cracking sound from somewhere downstairs. Kate stood and darted down a few steps, her feet clanging against the metal, until she could get a good enough view of the back of the store. A crack had formed down one side of the doors as they began to give under the weight of the countless Dead outside pressing against them. ‘Fuck!’ said Kate.
She turned and sped back up to Phil. ‘Come on – we have to get the others and go now. We’re in big fucking t
rouble!’
As she reached the top of the escalators, Kate saw Lucy weaving through the rails of clothing in the men’s department as she darted towards her and Phil.
‘What’s going on? We heard a ton of noise. We thought…’ Lucy came to a stop before Kate.
‘We have to get out of here now. The back doors are giving way. Where are the other two?’
‘Just coming,’ said Lucy, her cheeks flushed as she panted from the short dash across the store.
Kate glanced over Lucy’s shoulder to see Louie supporting Edith by holding onto her elbow as they both hobbled across the shop floor.
‘Are you okay to go?’ said Kate, aware that there was no option for anyone to answer ‘no’ to that question.
‘Of course I am dear,’ said Edith as she and Louie drew closer.
‘We’re going out fighting a little harder than we planned,’ said Kate while she waited for them to catch up.
‘Well, no time for nonsense, then,’ said Edith. ‘Let get out there and brain those dead bastards!’ she said, holding a metal pole in one hand and the umbrella in the other. Edith passed the umbrella to Kate.
‘Thanks–’
At the sound of smashing glass, Kate shoved Lucy towards the escalator. ‘GO GO GO!’ she yelled. ‘You too, Phil. Go!’ She watched the injured man put all his effort into clambering down the steps to overtake Lucy. He stopped to pick up his metal pole as he neared the bottom. Kate waited for Louie and Edith to go ahead of her and, clutching the umbrella in her right hand, she took the rear.
At the bottom, Kate glanced towards the back to see the Dead swarming into the store through the busted doors. Two Dead lay on the ground, slumped in the doorway, large shards of glass from the doors had sliced through their heads and killed them outright. The Dead that poured into the store stumbled over their fallen comrade’s bodies. The clothes rails proved a further obstacle for them. The front runners writhed and crawled in an attempt to get over the barricade, until the mob caught up with them, the force of the extra bodies causing the rails to overturn. The living dead creatures tumbled over the barricade to sprawl onto the lino, with the ones further back falling forwards onto them, causing a pile up. The Dead crawled and clambered over the rails, the clothing and each other to make it onto the shop floor. They dragged themselves to their feet and started towards the fleeing survivors, trailing smears of blood on the white lino with each step.
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