The Long Walk Home

by A. M. Keen

  Around the abandoned lorry they walked, finding nothing more than empty buildings and roads that had been hidden by its cargo trailer. They wandered through the breeze in silence, checking this way and that for any infected that might appear. The road curved around to the left. A mobile burger van sat abandoned at the road side. Bucky considered jumping in for a moment and taking a can of coke from the transparent refrigerator door, but soon pushed the thought from his mind after the others ignored it.

  The rain had stopped a while ago. Puddles still dotted upon the path and road, some casting a mirror’s reflection in the emerging daylight.

  Luna Plastics Limited appeared on their left, separating from the path by a hedged row. Although the cold air had woken Bucky up more, tiredness still hung over him as they wandered onward. They had almost past the plastic’s facility when something stopped them.

  “Hey! Over here.”

  Lacey span around, lifting the rifle ready to engage. Bucky turned. Behind the hedge stood five men, all holding guns, all aiming them in the kids’ direction.

  “Drop it,” said one of them. Lacey sighed and placed the rifle on the ground. “Good girl.”

  The man moved between a gap in the hedge. He was a skinny runt with messy, black hair and a dark goatee. He was well dressed for someone in this world, sporting a suit and shoes.

  The man reached down and picked the rifle up, throwing it across his shoulders. “Move,” he ordered, gesturing with the gun toward the building.

  Bucky looked to him. “Who are…”

  “I said move, not talk!” the guy snapped, curling his lips and appearing like a rat.

  “This way,” another replied. He was an older looking man with a shaved head. They began walking in line following the bald guy.

  “Move it!” the rat squealed again, kicking Aaron up the backside.

  “Hey man, screw you!”

  Rat grabbed Aaron by the throat. “What did you say, huh? You want to make this real?”

  “Settle down, Gaz,” Baldy ordered.

  Gaz released Aaron and pushed him away.

  Bucky sighed, his heart pounding against his ribs. He knew they were in trouble. Big, big trouble.

  Nine

  They sat in the reception area of Luna Plastics. The décor was fine. White walls with a pale blue carpet. The leather sofas they sat upon appeared a darker blue, but one that didn’t clash with the colour around it. A reception desk sat across from them, manned by some guy carrying a rifle. To his left a spiral staircase made its way to an office level.

  Fear surged through every fibre of Bucky’s body. There were seven guys keeping them company, all wearing suits, all armed with guns. They were organised criminals and not just petty hoodlums or intimidators. They were the real thing. Organised to the highest level.

  Baldy emerged from an office door and beckoned to them. “Up here. Now.”

  Gaz flapped the gun in Baldy’s direction. Bucky stood first. After all, he’d pretty much been their leader to this point, why stop now?

  He walked over to the steps and began his ascension, his footfalls echoing on the steel he climbed upon. After wandering along a short corridor, he followed Baldy into an executive office, where at the far end a large oak table rested. Its surface shone within the light and had received lots of love and care from an owner who now was likely dead or salivating somewhere outside. Behind it a greying but young looking man waited, clad in a black suit and black v – neck tee shirt.

  “Come in, close the door,” the man ordered. One of the suited men already in the room closed the door. In front of the table sat four, blue cushioned chairs. “Take a seat.”

  They followed Bucky’s lead as he moved across and sat down. A moment of silence passed while the man looked them over.

  “Where the hell did a bunch of kids get a standard issue army rifle, huh?” he asked.

  “The safe zone,” Lacey replied. Her warbled voice confirmed her fear.

  “You made it all the way from there?”

  “Yes, sir,” Bucky replied.

  “How?”

  “Um, that was me. I drove here,” Johnny explained.

  The man looked at him. “What? Are you shitting me?”

  Johnny shook his head. “No, sir. It was an automatic. I’d driven one before. Not on the roads, at least. But with the world as it is, I thought, what the hell. Who’s going to arrest me for driving without a licence?”

  The man smiled. “I like you, kid. You’re alright. Know your skills, be resourceful, I like that kind of thinking. My name is Seth, and I run this little outfit you see around you. This is my turf you’ve wandered onto and I want to know exactly what it is you are doing on my turf?”

  Bucky took this as his cue. “My name is…”

  “I didn’t ask you for your name, moron. I said I wanted to know what you were doing here.”

  “We’re just passing through. We want to get back to the school, that’s all.”

  Seth leaned on to the table with both elbows. “And how much do you know about the plague that has destroyed our country?”

  Bucky shrugged. “Not much. Just that the world has gone to hell.”

  Seth smiled. “Well, let me fill you in. Our great United Kingdom is now considered an abandoned cause. That means that no other country in the world believes it can be rescued. To cut it even shorter, this is how the country is going to be from now on. However, the rest of the world is continuing as normal and if you can pass the infection screening, you can travel and set up a new life somewhere else. Ireland has remained untouched by this attack, although Wales and Scotland are both as screwed as we are. To escape this wasteland, you need two things - a way out and money. Now, I’m fortunate enough to have transportation off this rock, but I want more money. I want lots and lots of money. That way I can retire somewhere sunny and not have to work for the rest of my life. And that, kids, is where you come in.”

  “We don’t have any money,” Lacey stated.

  Seth laughed. “I know you don’t have any money, but you can help me raise some money. Now, I’ll cut you a deal, all four of you. I’ll deliver you to your school if you agree to take part in a little game I’ve created. All I want is a yes or no. Go.” He pointed to Bucky.

  “What game is it?”

  Seth leaned back in his chair. “Do you have a disability or something, or are you just an ignorant prick? The reason I ask is because you really don’t listen very well, do you?” Seth grabbed a revolver from a draw, walked around the table and pressed it against Bucky’s skull. “You are really starting to piss me off, you know that?” he growled. “I’m not going to ask you again.” Seth removed the safety catch. “Yes or no.”

  “Yes,” Bucky gulped. Seth grinned. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it? What about the rest of you? Are you in or are you out?”

  “In.”

  “In.”

  “In.”

  “Great. A full house.” Seth removed the gun barrel from Bucky’s head. “You all look like you could do with a rest. Adrian, set them up with somewhere to sleep, they’re going to need their energy for tonight.”

  “Can you tell us what we’re doing?” Aaron asked.

  “All in good time, sir. Now go, rest up. I’ll explain what you’re doing later.”

  And with that, Baldy removed them from the office.

  “We’ve got to play one game,” Aaron said as they wandered a corridor. “One game and we’re done.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” Bucky replied. “I have a very bad feeling we won’t be playing Jenga.”

  Ten

  The room they had been placed in was a far cry from their bunk at the football stadium. Bucky imagined this room once saw life as a communal area, like a staff room or something. Three two-seated leather sofas l
ined walls with a sink, refrigerator and water urn at the far end. Opposite, the only door in or out stood locked and under armed guard. Bucky and Lacey shared one sofa with Johnny and Aaron each taking the others. Both the lads had fallen asleep, Johnny giving out a slight snore now and again. All of them were tired. Bucky sat there struggling to stay awake. He wanted to sleep but dared not rest in case something happened.

  “Why don’t you sleep?” Lacey asked, as if reading his mind.

  Bucky turned to her. “How’d you know I was tired?”

  “The fact that your head keeps bobbing up and down kind of gives it away.”

  He sighed. “I just… I don’t know what’s going to happen. These are serious assholes. Killers. They’re more organised than the clowns, that’s for sure.”

  Lacey glanced over, flashing him a brief smile. “They’re gonna try to kill us, there’s no doubt.” Her eyes became glassy but no tears fell from them.

  “The key word is ‘try,’” Bucky replied. He shifted on the sofa, turning his body toward her. “I don’t know what they’re planning, but they’re not going to do anything to us themselves.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “You heard what the guy said. We’re going to make him money, or at least that’s what he’s going to attempt to do with us. These are gangsters. I don’t know much about the criminal underworld, but what I do know is that if someone makes money for them, they don’t tend to get thrown off bridges with concrete shoes, if you know what I mean?”

  “But he said we had to play a game. It makes me wonder what is going to happen to us.”

  “Then we wait and see.” Bucky shrugged his shoulders. “Remember what Johnny said back at the stadium? Any man with two hands has a fighting chance? It’s true. How far have we travelled? We’ve survived wave after wave of encounters with infected people. We’ve survived a group of demented clowns and even a psycho killer from within our own group. We got stuck in the middle of six thousand crazies. We escaped a breach at the stadium. We’ve done more than anyone out there and we’ve survived. There’s no way we can’t get through this, not now.”

  Lacey wiped a tear from her eye with an open palm before it could fall. “If that’s true, then why the hell can’t you sleep?”

  Bucky stood, stretched and walked across to a window blind. He pulled the strings to allow the daylight in. “Over here. Look.” Lacey rose and wandered across to him. “Take a look out there.” The rain soaked windows revealed a dreary, overcast day outside. “Look across the field there. Do you see?” Lacey nodded. “That field backs onto our school football pitches. School is just there.”

  “God damn we were so close.”

  “No, Lacey, we are still so close. This has to be the last chapter in our story, and there must be a way that we can get there. We can’t go out now being so close to our destination and all. And one thing is for sure, I’m not going down without a fight.”

  Lacey lifted her eyebrows. “What happened to you? Back in the shop you wouldn’t say boo to a goose and now your waging war on a gang of criminals?”

  “I’m just fed up of this shit, Lacey. You started out strong, beating the infected with a cricket bat, then losing it over the incident with Lawro and Miss Greene. After that you grew strong again and remained that way ever since. I have confidence I can do it and I have confidence you can do it, too.”

  The door unlocked and swung open. Seth strolled in followed by Adrian the baldy.

  “Knock knock assholes,” Seth began as he entered. He grabbed Johnny’s legs, span them from the sofa to the floor and slumped down into the seat. “I came to tell you what is happening later.” He looked to Bucky and Lacey. “You two, come sit down. We got a lot to discuss.” They did as they were told without uttering a word. “Okay, kids, this is what we are doing. Tonight, at eight forty-five, you’re all streaming live to the world because, funnily enough, the internet is still working. It’s just the mobile networks that went down and no one thought that this virus outbreak was a conspiracy. Anyway, we’re streaming you live to the world where we are taking bets on each of you.” He shuffled on the leather. “Downstairs we have an old factory full of old tracks, machinery, that kind of thing. It was used to make plastic bottles back in the day. You are going to be at one side of the building. At the other will be a key. It doesn’t open any door we have here, it’s more of a symbol, the symbol of freedom. It’s the symbol of your freedom, so to speak. All you have to do is make it to the key and you win. Just one of you must take it, clasp it in your hand and we honour the agreement. You take that key and we escort you off the premises with an armed guard, drive you to the gates of your school and watch you disappear into the sunset. That is my honest word.”

  “That’s it?” Bucky enquired. “That’s all we have to do? Just go in there and find a key?”

  “That is all and nothing more. Everyone watching will be placing a bet on who gets there first. My accountant takes the money, sorts out the odds and all that, and I make the money. If you can win the game, I stand to earn a fortune, and if I do indeed make a fortune, that makes you four my best friends in world. You might even find yourselves entering the school gates with a few euros in your pockets to give you a start if you manage to make it off this hell hole of an island. Just do what I ask you. Reach that key and win your freedom.”

  “And if we don’t?” Lacey asked.

  Seth smiled. His rugged good looks distorted through the malevolence strewn across his face. “If you don’t, you won’t be worrying about it, put it that way. Okay, rest up, you have all afternoon. Adrian here will come get you when we’re ready.”

  The black-suited man rose from the chair and left the room before turning back to them. “Don’t worry. You’ll all have an absolute blast,” he smirked.

  * * *

  Bucky spent the remains of the day pacing back and forth, banging the door to use the bathroom and racking his brain. He caught a few hours’ sleep at some point but felt no better for it when he’d awoken. The kids discussed everything, theorised what has going to happen and attempted to make a plan. Their ideas fell flat very quickly in the formulation, since they didn’t know what they were up against. It was eight forty-five when the door opened and a group of burley heavies escorted them through the building to the factory. Bucky’s nerves jangled, his mind ran away with the thought of a thousand ideas about what they were about to endure but somehow, he put them all aside and settled quicker than all the incidents he’d experienced beforehand. His head told him that this was it, it was the end, tonight he’d meet his maker, but his heart willed him on and told him to never back down. It was his heart that had the biggest influence over his thoughts. He needed to think on his feet. Something always presented itself in these types of situations, he’d just have to look out and pay attention.

  They made their way into the huge plastics factory. Metal runners and tracks ran throughout the building. Big, square machines existed here and there. Pallets littered the floor. Wires and tubing jutted out from walls. Boxes dotted upon the floor here and there. The musty smell of an industrial workplace filled the air.

  Seth stood ahead of them, talking to two men who filmed him on their mobile phones.

  “And here they are, let’s go and take a look at them.”

  Seth and his buddies made their way to the kids being followed by a gang of men all focusing on their own phones and iPads.

  Seth placed an arm around Bucky. “You see these?” he asked, pointing to his two friends.

  “Yes?”

  “These guys are filming you right now and streaming live across the world. We have over a hundred participants in this online gambling ring I have running and everyone can see every move you make. Throughout the factory we have more camera’s dotted around, all of them watching each and every move you make. Say hello to the people across the dark web.�
� Bucky looked at him. “I said say hello!”

  Seth slapped the back of his head before clenching a fist and hammering down it into his neck. “Are you trying to make me look stupid?” He grabbed Bucky’s cheeks and forced him toward the cameras. “Say it! Say it!”

  “Hello,” Bucky croaked.

  Seth slapped him across the head with an open palm. “This little bastard strutted in here like he was king shit earlier today. I don’t like him and you all know what happens when I don’t like a contestant running in the game. I have a special surprise in store, which means you all get a house special. This man is the group’s leader, having led them all many miles on foot through a country full of zombies, so that should be considered.” Seth threw Bucky around, pulling at the unbuttoned army jacket he’d been donated before removing it with a hard swipe downward. “You all know what happens with this, right?” Seth asked, lifting the jacket to the cameras.”In light of my dislike for this little turd, I offer odds of ten to one for him surviving until the end. That’s a big leap from the five I would have given without the use of this. That, my friends, is a great special to get the evening under way. Here, go and prep him,” Seth ordered, throwing the jacket to one of his entourage. “Now, let’s move on to our second player. This beautiful little vixen is Lacey, if I’m not mistaken?” Lacey nodded.

  “Talk, darling, don’t nod.”

  “Yes. Yes, that’s my name,” she sighed.

  “Good. Now, Lacey may look like the weak link in this rag-tag bunch of assholes and I’m a sexist bastard at times so I’m going to agree with my politically incorrect line of thinking. I don’t have much hope for her, as pretty as she is. I’ll give you twenty to one but I offer all of you a tip on your gambling. She’s a single woman in a group of men. If she gets into trouble, you know the testosterone filled cavalry will be doing their best to rescue her, they’re boys after all. She could potentially wipe the team out through her incompetence, so be wise when placing your bets.”