“Are there any?” she said.
Russell thought about it and, after a moment, shook his head. “None that I’ve seen. You want to know the truth?”
Beth nodded.
“Zombies got them all, every town and city in the country. They’re not safe.”
“Where do you get food?” she said.
“We eat what we find,” he said. “There’s plenty of shops and some of the farms still have crops. We can carry enough to keep us going for a few weeks at a time.”
It was a relief to hear a plan. She had been out of Harmony for weeks and had no better idea of what to do than she’d had that first night. If it was left to her, then the whole group would likely be dead by winter.
Russell stood up. “Think it over,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere tonight so there’s no rush.”
He walked to the door, and his meaning was clear. Beth stood and followed him.
“Maybe you’ll bring your people to meet mine. We can break bread together and see how we all get along?”
Beth nodded and tried not to reveal how exciting the idea of actually eating a decent meal was to her and, she was sure, to everyone else in the camp.
CHAPTER EIGHT
They sat at a round picnic table with a wobbly leg. Dawn was opposite her and Noel next to her. As far as Beth could see there was no formal hierarchy at the other tables: Russell sat off to one side with what she assumed was his wife, two adult daughters, and son (the man she had seen ride off on the motorbike). No one paid them any particular attention while they ate.
The food was out of tins and dry packets, but it tasted as good as the instant coffee had earlier that day. It had been placed on a long table by the caravan, where she and Russell had spoken, and people had been invited to help themselves. She had tried not to make a pig of herself and take more than her fair share, but other people from the camp had been less cautious.
There was a clear divide between the people from the convoy and those from the campsite. None of them shared tables and from a glance, you could tell them apart based on who was clean and who wasn’t.
It was still an hour or so before sunset, but there were lights on all of the tables ready to be switched on when they were needed. To Beth, this seemed careless and frivolous, but she couldn’t help admire the confidence with which the convoy conducted itself. The lights seemed to say that they weren’t going to cower to any zombie, that they were going to live their lives the way they wanted.
She had warned Dawn not to eat too quickly. Their stomachs would all have shrunk over the last couple of weeks, and she couldn’t imagine that a mass vomiting would endear them to the convoy. Unfortunately, she seemed unable to take her own advice. She ate with the devoted passion of someone who was half starved to death.
* * * * *
Beth glanced up from her plate when she heard Noel putting his knife and fork down. The cutlery was metal and the crockery white china. It felt like a luxury not to be eating with her fingers and only added to the strangeness of the situation.
“What is it?” she said. “Did you see something?”
Noel shook his head and swallowed the food he had been chewing. “It’s nothing, finish your food.”
She looked around, not quite convinced that it had been ‘nothing’ and expected to see a zombie emerge from somewhere. Surely it wasn’t possible to eat so openly like this without one of the undead coming to investigate. After seeing what they had done in the camp, she was sure that Russell and his people could deal with it, but she didn’t want one of the things to sneak up on her.
She picked at the food on her plate but she no longer felt hungry. She put her knife and fork together and looked at Noel again.
He didn’t say anything.
“Russell asked us to go with him,” Beth said. Although he hadn’t asked her to keep it a secret, she hadn’t told anyone. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it herself yet and had wanted to decide one way or another before offering it to the others. But she couldn’t make up her mind.
Noel nodded as if it wasn’t a surprise to him. “What did you say?”
She shrugged. At the other tables, people had also finished eating, and they were starting to get up and help themselves to seconds. She was already feeling bloated, however, and the thought of eating more just made it worse. “I said I needed some time to think about it.”
“I see,” Noel said. He pressed his fingers together beneath his chin. “And have you thought about it?”
“Yes,” she said.
“And?”
“And I still don’t know. What do you think?”
Noel’s eyes widened. “Well, I don’t know. I suppose it depends on whether you think we can trust him.”
Beth thought the same thing.
“Do you?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Do you?”
“He rescued us from the cave and provided us with food, so they’re all ticks in the trust column,” Noel said. He wasn’t really looking at her, and she thought he was probably talking to himself. “But I don’t know him. I haven’t spoken to him. It seems to me like you’re the one who needs to make the decision Beth.”
She sighed. That was exactly what she had expected him to say. No one else had been at the meeting, no one else knew the story that he had told her. She was the only one in a position to make the decision, and that was exactly what she didn’t want.
“If I decide to go will you come?” she said.
Noel nodded. “Of course. Wherever you go, I’ll be right behind you.”
She smiled and felt a little bit better about it. She turned to look at Dawn, who was now listening to their conversation.
“What do you think Dawn?” she said.
“Me?” Dawn said.
“Yeah, what do you think? Should we go with them or not?”
Dawn looked at the people sitting around, talking, laughing and, most importantly, eating. They gave the impression of being safe and well looked after. It wasn’t Harmony, but it was a lot better than being trapped in a cave, dying of starvation.
“Yes,” Dawn said, turning back to look at Beth. “I think we should go with them.”
Beth smiled at her sister and wished that she could come to a decision so easily. But Dawn was making a decision for herself, not having to think about what was best for everyone in the group. Before she could decide on anything, she wanted to get the opinion of everyone else from the camp.
* * * * *
Once they had finished eating the tables were put away, and the dishes were taken into the rear caravan. The leftover food was packed into plastic containers.
Beth stood beside one of the caravans and watched people milling around. There was still a clear line between the people from the camp and the people from the convoy, but there were a brave few people from each side who attempted to cross the divide. She saw David talking to a middle aged woman, but she couldn’t hear what either of them were saying. She even saw Dawn talking to a young boy beneath one of the table lights.
It looked as if they could become a single group if she decided it was the right thing to do. Given enough time, the people from Harmony would be as useful to Russell as the others that he had picked up along the way.
Rachel walked towards her, glancing at David and the woman from the convoy. The sun had set, but there were still long shadows on the ground cast by the lights on the tables and from the vehicles. Rachel hadn’t seen her and jumped when Beth stepped into her path.
“You gave me a shock!” Rachel said.
“Sorry,” Beth said.
“It’s fine, I’m sorry, just a bit jumpy at the moment.”
“Understandable.”
Rachel nodded. “I’m looking for Ross, have you seen him?”
Ross was one of the children who she looked after. His parents hadn’t even made it to Harmony, and he’d been looked after by an old woman who hadn’t survived the final zombie attack.
Beth shook
her head. “Sorry.”
“I’m sure he’ll turn up, he can’t have gone far.”
Rachel started to go up the hill towards the other children. The youngest person in the convoy was the teenage boy who she had seen talking to Dawn, she wondered if that was a conscious decision, and if the appearance of the children would change Russell’s mind about making room for them in his group. In a way, she thought, she would have been glad if he did; it would mean the decision wasn’t hers, if he told them they were no longer welcome.
“Hang on a second,” Beth said.
Rachel turned back. She was smiling, but her eyes were dull and lifeless. It had been a difficult time for her, Beth knew, and there was little hope of it getting better. She thought that if another one of the children were to get hurt, then it would be the end of her.
“I’ll help you look,” Beth said.
“Really?” Rachel said.
“Sure. You’re right, he can’t have gone far. There’s something I want to talk to you about anyway.”
“Sounds ominous.”
Beth tried to laugh, but she didn’t think she did a very convincing job.
They walked up the hill together, thinking that it was most likely that little Ross had gone back to the camp. It was late, and the children were all tired, they would probably find him back in the cave.
“So what do you want to talk to me about?” Rachel said.
“Russell asked us to join him,” Beth said.
“Okay,” Rachel said. “So are we going to?”
“I don’t know,” Beth said.
They reached the forest. It was dark, and neither of them had a torch. They were so unprepared for survival that it was almost comical, a cosmic joke that they had managed to stay alive for as long as they had. Beth held back a branch and Rachel went ahead of her. After just a couple of steps, Beth could no longer see the other woman’s back. They made their way along the path with their arms out to avoid walking into any trees.
“What do you think?” Beth said.
“Me?” Rachel said.
Everyone seemed so surprised that she was asking their opinion. She wondered why they thought she would make such a good leader.
“I don’t know,” Rachel said. “I mean, what’s the alternative?”
What was the alternative? They could stay where they were and head out on their own. There were probably villages and towns within a few days walk. Although Russell had said that most of them were hives of zombie activity, and she didn’t rate their chances of surviving for long if they encountered another pack.
“Do you trust him?” Rachel said.
“I think so,” Beth said.
“But you’re not sure?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should talk to some of his people,” Rachel suggested.
They walked past the final clearing and into the campsite. When she had returned from her meeting with Russell the zombies had been cleared away, piled into the pit, by some of his people. She did her best not to glance in that direction and invite the inevitable question of whether or not they had moved, whether there were as many of them as there had been before.
“If you find out what they think about him that might help you decide.”
“Would you be happy to go?” Beth said.
“I guess,” Rachel said. They had reached the cave, and Beth knew that she wanted to go inside and check for Ross, but she leaned against it as if they had all the time in the world. “If you think it’s the right thing to do.”
Beth smiled and after a moment, Rachel ducked her head down and went into the cave. She waited outside and listened until Rachel came back.
“He’s asleep,” she said. “I should stay here with him.”
“I’ll make sure the others get back,” Beth said.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
Rachel smiled at her and then Beth turned away. She didn’t feel any more confident about the decision that she had to make, but at least she knew she wouldn’t be leaving Rachel and the children behind.
* * * * *
When she got back to the convoy, she found that the two groups were more evenly mixed. She wondered if Russell had told his people to make an effort or whether it was the effect of the drinks that people were now holding.
She stood at the top of the hill and looked down. Even with the two groups together there weren’t many of them.
Logistically it wouldn’t be a problem. They could all travel together and maybe somewhere along the way they would find an extra vehicle, or maybe even a town to settle in. Technically they could do it, but the question remained: did she trust Russell?
She walked down the hill slowly, looking around for a member of the convoy who she could talk to and subtly probe about life on the road. She didn’t think for a moment that Russell had told her the whole story but had he lied to trick her or just because there was too much to tell?
There was a table set up with drinks on it. Someone had made a jug of something that smelled a lot like a Mojito, and there were cans of beer and cider. Beth helped herself to water and wished that there was coffee. When she turned around, there was a young woman standing there.
“Hi,” the woman said. She had dark brown hair and big eyes. She was wearing a yellow top. “I’m Colette.”
“Beth,” she said.
The woman, Colette’s, smile widened further. She was pretty in an unconventional way. She was wearing makeup which was something that Beth hadn’t even thought about since Harmony.
“I know who you are,” Colette said. “You’re in charge of this lot aren’t you?”
Beth shrugged. She didn’t want to think of herself as a leader, but the actual details of what had happened were too much to go into now. This, she thought, was her opportunity to talk to someone from the convoy and get a proper idea of what life on the road was like.
“How long have you been with the convoy?” Beth said.
Colette shrugged. “Since the start. Russell’s my dad.”
“Oh,” Beth said. She was disappointed.
“Don’t say it like that,” Colette said. “I’m not trying to trick you or anything.”
“Did he send you to talk to me?”
“Of course not. Dad doesn’t think like that.”
Beth nodded and tried to relax. She was disappointed that she wasn’t going to get an unbiased opinion but, she supposed, it was a good place to start. “So what’s it like?”
Colette shrugged. “We’ve been moving for a few years now, you get used to it.”
“It’s a lot of work, though, right?”
“Sometimes but so is pretty much everything now. At least we’ve got a roof over our heads, food, and water. And we’ve got each other. We’re like one big family really, so if you’re hoping to get the opinion of someone who hates being here then you’re out of luck. I’m not saying there hasn’t ever been anyone like that, but they don’t tend to stick around.”
“What happens to them?” Beth said.
“They leave. No one’s forcing anyone to stay. If you don’t like it, you can get off whenever you like. Dad’s such a softy that he usually gives them food and water to take with them.”
“Usually?”
“Some people just take it.”
Beth nodded and sipped her water. Colette watched her, and the smile on her face became less severe but didn’t go away completely.
“I think you should come with us,” Colette said.
“You do, do you?” Beth said. She didn’t mean to be sour, but she felt like she’d been ambushed by the woman.
“Sure,” Colette said. “If you don’t like it then you can leave.”
“What about the children?” Beth said.
“What about them?”
“I don’t think your dad knew about them when he invited us along.”
“Why would that make any difference?” Colette said.
Beth shrugged. “They can’t really
work, and they still need to be fed.”
Colette nodded and seemed to think about it for a moment. Beth watched her and wondered if she was telling the truth or if she had been brainwashed by her father. Was the convoy really as good as it seemed?
“Look over there,” Colette said. She pointed into the darkness and Beth turned to look. “See that old lady?”
Beth nodded.
“Her name’s Kathy Shepherd, she’s 67 years old,” Colette said.
Beth nodded again.
“How many zombies do you think she’s killed? How much time do you think she spends working?”
Beth shook her head.
“This isn’t a job,” Colette said. “Dad’s not building an army or anything like that. This is about survival.”
It sounded like a well-rehearsed speech to Beth, but she nodded and let Colette continue.
“Kathy can’t do anything except talk to people, and that’s never going to change. She slows us down, and she can’t fight. But I’ve never heard Dad talk about leaving her behind.”
Colette turned away from Kathy and looked at Beth. The smile was entirely gone now, but there was a glow in her eyes, just reflected light but still impressive.
“One day those children will be grownups, and they’ll be able to fight and work if they want to. They’ll be able to have babies and rebuild the world.”
She could see how that made sense and maybe it was a way of looking at the world that she would be wise to consider. So far she had only been looking out for herself and for Dawn and to hell with anyone else. But what about everyone else?
Beth had no idea how many people were left. Communication with the outside world had been one of the first things to go after the zombies appeared. The government had pulled the plug on the Internet and the only news allowed on television was propaganda telling people that everything was under control and that they shouldn’t panic. Judging by the number of zombies she could guess that there weren’t many people left. So perhaps it was time she started thinking about the future and everything that meant.
Zero Hour (Zombie Apocalypse Book 2) Page 10