“You alright?” Callum asked giving me a hand up.
“Yeah, thanks for that”.
“For what?”
“Er saving my life”.
“You can’t die remember”, he smiled.
“Maybe not but I’m pretty sure if he had torn me limb from limb and burnt the pieces then there might be no coming back for me. So thank you for saving my life”.
He smiled a warm and soft smile, he was in pain from losing Monique but the look of relief in his eyes said millions, he was relieved his people and his home were safe, he was relieved me, Ollie, Kaley and all the others made it, “Well it was my pleas…” the last part never came out, blood sprang from his lips, down his chin and onto the floor by his feet.
I just stood there lost and confused, what the hell was happening? Christian was dead and all his men, why? What? How?
Callum dropped to his knees and I saw why, what and how all at once.
Why because he had been stabbed in the back and most probably through a lung, what was happening was that he was being taken away from us and how was because I had forgotten one very important person, one person who I had presumed Albi had taken care of, the one person who was fucking everything up.
Lucas.
“Noooo”, Ollie shouted from outside a house just a few meters away.
Everyone turned to look at why Ollie was freaking out, the war had been won, the half breed creatures were all dead.
Lucas, the one scavenger I hadn’t been able to kill and had forgotten about was standing behind Callum with a blade in his hand, the handle was gripped tightly and the blade embedded deeply into Callum’s back. He let the blade go and let Callum drop to his knees, Ollie ran forward and caught him before he hit the ground.
“Give me the girl”, Lucas demanded, “Or I kill others”.
“Are you insane?” I spat, “You are seriously outnumbered here, you really think I’m just gonna hand her over, no way I’m going to kill you”.
“Give me the girl”, he repeated then he looked at her, “Do you really want any more friends to die?”
“No but I want you to do one”, she hissed.
“My how your temper and your gift have grown. The gods must have been pleased with all we done for you”, he smiled madness seeping into his eyes.
“The gods, pleased with you? No way mate, they are seriously pissed at you”, she cried out and flung her arm out.
Lucas suddenly froze on the spot struggling to breathe, slowly she lifted him into the air with her gift, his feet kicking out trying to find solid ground. She tightened her grip around his neck with her invisible hand, tightening so hard you could see where the skin around his neck moved and grinded with the unseen fingers. “The gods will punish you…for this”, he managed to breathe out through gasps of oxygen.
“See that’s where you are wrong, the gods are punishing you and they told me to do it”, Kaley said and with a final flex of the unseen hand she pulled and broke his neck, she immediately dropped him to the stone cold floor.
“Argh…” Callum gasped from Ollie’s arms.
We all rushed to his side, I took a blade someone was holding and took it to my arm and tried to get it to his mouth.
“What…are you d…doing?” he asked me.
“Christian seemed to think that my blood would give him the strain of infection I have and that it would heal his wife’s wounds during labour and his wounds when Lara just stabbed him. So maybe, just maybe it might heal you”.
“Stop”, he pushed my arm away from his face, “Stop, I don’t want it”.
“What? Why?”
“Because I did wrong by Monique and I never got to apologise to her for it… she… needs to know that I am sorry and that I do truly love her”, his Irish accent sounded washed out and fading away.
“No you can fight this you don’t have to go now”, I told him, “You can apologise to her when it is your true time to go but we can stop this or at least try to”.
“It is my time to go, I can feel it in my bones”.
“That’s a lie, you don’t feel it you just want to give up”, Ollie sobbed, “We already lost Monique the camp can’t cope with losing you to”.
“But you have all gained Stacie she will help protect everyone, you have Kaley who, wow is amazing, she should well and truly be able to keep you all safe and Lara. Everyone will grow and survive because it’s what you all do, it’s what happens”.
“I don’t want you to go”, I said to him out loud, I had meant to just be thinking it but it just came out.
“I must…I’m sorry Stacie if I confused you but I belong with her”.
“I’m not confused but we’ve all lost so many people I don’t want to lose anymore”, I told him.
He took my hand and held it close, “Keep them safe, all of them”.
I nodded, “I will”.
He coughed hard and blood splattered over his lips, I knew he was nearly gone, I could feel it. We all crowded round him, trying to make sure he knew he had people with him, he wasn’t doing this alone, which made me angry in a way because I wished Monique hadn’t gone through it alone but I couldn’t change that but this time, I could be there for him, for someone.
He took his last breath and his chest stopped moving, the whole atmosphere around us changed and went deathly quiet. I looked around the camp at all the people who had survived, we had lost a lot of people, their broken and bloodied bodies all lying around the street, their souls already moving on to a better place. Luckily the doctor and his wife survived, they had been in the back ground under the ruse that they would try and help any of the wounded but they had weapons too to defend themselves. They were both now working hard on the wounded to fix them or some of the really bad ones, put them out of their misery in the best possible way.
Dwayne came up to me just as I began to walk over to Christian’s decapitated body, “What do we do now boss?”
“Boss?”
“Well I know Monique had probably said that I had once wanted to be in charge but…well I know how much they thought of you ya, I can command an army of thugs around but people, real people they need someone with passion, who can be dangerous, lethal but caring and well you can command an army of monsters what better way to keep everyone safe?”
I looked at Dwayne, he wasn’t actually that bad even though some of the other camp mates had told me before what an arse he could be.
“So what now boss?” he looked out over all the carnage around us, there was still a group of Crusher’s hiding amongst the shadows, they were feasting on one of Christians men. The camp had been so petrified of their appearance and by how they helped us and not the monsters that they left them alone.
“We bury our dead and burn the others, then we fix the camp and make this work”, I said.
He nodded, “I’ll get a team of men to start digging in the morning, in the meantime I’ll leave the bodies in one of the empty houses”.
“Just an idea Dwayne and I know not everyone will want it but maybe turn one of the empty houses into a small church, make that garden a graveyard and we can always bury our dead there, that way we have one designated place”, I suggested.
“I like it, never been the religious type like some of the people back in the day were but I can see your point”.
“I’m not religious, far from it now but it might be good for others”, I said.
He nodded and walked off to start telling people what needed to be done, I turned back to Ollie who was still holding Callum.
“What do we do Stacie?”
“We live on, for them”, I replied, “It’s what they would want”.
Together we lifted Callum’s body and carried it to the house Dwayne was sorting out as the new chapel, there were so many bodies they filled the entire front room of the actually quite decent sized house. One by one we sorted through and identified them all, and if they had any family or friends left Dwayne went to find them and tell them if they did
n’t already know.
A little while after the darkness started to settle in and we had barricaded the main gate with the truck and some disused furniture from some of the now unoccupied homes we retired in for the night but not after I went and found Kaley. She was sitting in the children’s playpark sitting on one of the swings and swinging herself gently, I hadn’t seen her much since she had taken care of Lucas, she had disappeared into the crowds.
She sat in the soft glow of a burning fire, a fire that was taking Christian and his men to hell.
“Kaley”, I called out opening the gate and walking over to her, she ignored me and looked away but in the firelight I could see dampness on her face where she had been crying, “Kaley, do you wanna talk?” I asked her sitting down on the swing next to her.
“This is all my fault”, she sobbed, “If you hadn’t of met me, if I hadn’t of chosen you to help me then all those innocent people wouldn’t have died, they would all still be here, living and laughing”.
“This isn’t your fault Kaley, those weirdo’s were only a few miles away they could easily have found the camp and come to try and take it over and kill everyone. If you wanna say that I could say it was my fault for hiding so close to the camp and not moving away, it could be Monique or Callum’s fault for choosing this place to stay at and not another camp…You cannot think like that, it isn’t your fault, it’s whoever started this…stupid infection and made the acid rain fall all those years ago, that is whose fault it really is”.
“I wish we could find them”, she whispered, “I would make them change it, fix it, somehow”.
“We will, wherever it is you’re meant to go we will get you there”, I replied.
“But we have no idea where it is, I know you lied to Christian about you knowing”, she said.
I shrugged, “We will find it, I just know it”.
“All I know is it’s full of snow but not here in England…”
I looked up to the moon, some clouds danced over it covering us all in a darkened flaming gloom. Just past the clouds I could make out the distant twinkling of the stars and I imagined my mum, dad, Tanya, Monique, Sian, Callum, Darren and everyone else who we had lost, they were all a star and all looking down over us. I spoke to them in my mind and asked them to help us find out where we had to go.
That night I was back in the house Monique and Callum had first let me move into, Kaley was downstairs on the sofa along with Ollie who had fallen asleep on the floor sitting up against the sofa, his arm over Kaley as if to keep her safe. Little Cain had also managed to sneak in with me for the night, he had seen the blood and some of the bodies, he was upset that both Monique and Callum were gone but I promised him to the moon and back that I wouldn’t leave him.
I drifted off to sleep sometime in the early hours, I was dreaming but it wasn’t my dream. It was as if Kaley had commanded it to come and she was searching, her eyes scanning everything around her to try and find a clue as to where it was. The ghost town was dark and cold, the snow never ending, the buildings dark and empty, showing nothing. She was giving up and I could feel her drifting away from her dream state but I held on for just a moment longer, a sign hidden deep in the snow, strange letters that I couldn’t quite place or work out. Then she cut me off as she woke up.
The next morning was the sign that winter might finally be coming to a close, the rains had turned up in the night and were hammering down over us that were working hard to try and get as many burials done in that first day. I dug away with the shovel picking up soil and throwing it to one side, we done this all morning, the small trenches slowly filling up with water. By lunch time after a quick clean and freshen up we were ready for the first few funerals, the first two being Monique and Callum who had been in charge of the camp, everyone had agreed on this.
I stood back in the crowd with Kaley and watched on as a man called Charles who had been an avid church goer read the passages from his own personal bible to send them off, the rain didn’t give and carried on falling down even as we laid them down into the trenches to finally rest in peace, some people threw in notes of thanks, others just watched but most of us cried.
Once the ground had been filled in we moved onto the next burials, this time we decided to do five people at a time, each in their own grave, describing each one and how they would benefit heaven more than this cruel world by the evening we were all tired and cried out. But mine and Ollie’s work wasn’t done, the rain eventually let off for a few hours and we set about clearing away the ashes from the half breeds, we buried it all in a lone grave not bothering to label the grave site. None of us believed they should be given that honour. Even Lara agreed and let her sister become one of the nameless. Now it was time to try and heal.
Chapter 13 …
It had been a whole month since the fight at the camp and things were slowly getting to some sort of normality. Stacie had become the head of the camp, not entirely by choice but because Callum had entrusted it to her and the rest of the camp wanted to appease his wishes. The horrors of that night never faded and many people suffered the nightmares but with a new Crusher reinforcement outside of the perimeter patrolling the woods for any Scavengers or lone wondering half breeds the camp felt safer, if not a little weirded out that the head woman could control them but it was home.
Kaley sat in the playpark with Ollie, they had volunteered to tidy up the over growing weeds that was hindering the fun and playtime of the children, they had grown so close, become more than just friends. He had even found out it was her fifteenth birthday and looted her a present from an old jewellery store, a heart necklace which she never took off.
“So what do you think will happen to the world? Do you think we are it? Do you think we can re populate the world with normal humans?” Ollie was rabbiting away but Kaley seemed lost in her thoughts. Like she was listening out for something, “Kaley?”
“Sorry?” she said still not quite focusing on him.
“You alright?” he asked.
But she didn’t reply, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she zoned out, she was no longer in the playpark but somewhere else.
“Stacie!” Ollie called out, she was nearby by at the wood shed rebuilding it with the help of Dwayne.
Standing up she rushed over and noticed what Ollie was calling her about, she took hold of Kaley’s shoulders and shook her, “Kaley, Kaley sweetie come back to us, what’s wrong?”
Still there was no reply that escaped her lips but there was another noise, a whirring mechanical noise that sounded almost alien to them all now.
“What is that noise?” Ollie asked confused looking around them but Stacie wasn’t looking around them she was looking up, up at the sky.
“A helicopter”, she replied almost dumbfounded but as she stared she could see something wasn’t right, smoke was coming from the engine, turning back to Kaley, Stacie grabbed the girls shoulders, “Kaley what are you doing?”
Kaley’s mind was flittering with images and noises, the white snow of the strange land they needed to reach, the image of a man and woman running through a building, the building she had seen in her dreams. They were coming for her but something was wrong, the helicopter was broken and they were going to crash. Kaley tried to connect with them, to ask them who they were and why they were here but she got no reply as pure panic took over them.
“They’re going to crash”, was all she said.
Stacie, Ollie, Kaley and all the camp watched in horror as the helicopter headed towards the old mansions location, flames now bursting from the magnificent machine.
BOOM! The ground vibrated with the echo of the crash.
Kaley suddenly came back to the world, “They are still alive, we have to save them”.
“Get the truck”, Stacie commanded Ollie.
Kaley’s heart was hammering in her chest, they had to stay alive, they knew where to go, they just had to.
Ollie drove the truck as they sped up the old roads and up towards
the over grown driveway of the old mansion, as they neared it they could smell and see the chargrilled smoking building. Killing the engine they all climbed out.
“Take it easy that helicopter could blow at any minute”, Stacie said.
They made it through the fence and round the side of the mansion where the tail end of the helicopter was sticking out, slowly making their way to it they heard a cry for help.
“Help we’re in here”, it was a male voice full of fear.
Rushing in they found the metal alive with flames, the acrid smell of the mechanical smoke and oil, the heat was intense and almost forced them back.
“Please help us”.
Kaley froze as she saw all the blood on the old windscreen of the helicopter, one of them was seriously hurt. Coming up close they found the male and female passengers of the air vehicle but Kaley could see right away that the girl was now dead, she could feel it as she neared them and see a large chunk of metal sticking out from her chest.
“Who are you?” Stacie asked.
“Help me, get me out”, the man’s voice was desperate.
“Who are you?”
“Kian my name is Kian, this is…oh god…Candice…no Candice get her out, help her, get her out”.
Stacie wasted no time, she bent metal and pulled the man from his seat, a toxic flame was spreading over the cockpit, there was no time to grab the girl, not without getting them all killed.
“No help her please”.
“She’s dead”, Stacie told him and dragged him out of the flaming mansion, they just made it out when the fire finally ignited the fuel tank and the whole side of the mansion exploded into bricks, mortar, dust and rubble. The force of the explosion sent them all flying.
Kaley’s ears rang as she slowly tried to stand up, Ollie by her side in a heartbeat. Stacie stood with Kian, him leaning against her, a broken man sobbing and screaming with grief.
“Why are you here?” Stacie asked trying to snap him out of his shock but he pulled away from her staggering to the flaming mansion calling out for his friend who was now burning to ashes, she pulled on his arm, “Tell me”.
Alone (Book 2): Lone Page 29