Billy turned the dials, mostly finding crackles and white noise. Tuning into the government station, he came across the message he had heard earlier regarding the refugee centres. “This is it,” he commented.
“Do you think they are still sending out trucks or coaches, and the like, to pick up people?” asked Ellen.
Marla shrugged. “Who knows? I haven’t seen one in a long time, sweetie, but we can hope.”
Ellen smiled slightly and turned to peer out of the window. Where did all the people go? She hoped they were among the many taken out of the cities and off the main routes. The glass could have been smashed after they had gone. Odd belongings littered the road; cast-off memories of those who once sat there. As they passed, a small hand flickered. “Stop!” she shouted, causing Bob to bark loudly.
Marla almost slammed on the brakes in surprise and everyone else turned to stare at Ellen. “There’s someone in the car!” she explained.
Tommy glanced out the rear window. “Where?”
“I saw a hand wave at us from one of them.”
“The pack is way back there. We could stop for a moment, if you’re sure.”
“Are you sure?” asked Marla.
“Yes.”
“Maybe you imagined it, little sis. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Honestly, I saw someone,” Ellen insisted, leaning forwards. “I’ll be okay, really, but if there’s a chance there is someone there… please, Marla.”
“I’ll go,” offered Tommy.
“And me,” added Billy, glancing out the back.
Ellen grinned.
“Okay, okay,” grumbled Marla. “Hold on, I’m going to slow down and reverse back up, but take a look around, will you? If those things turn and come back towards us, which I just know they’re gonna do, we’re going. No questions asked. Okay?”
Ellen nodded. “Thanks, Marl.”
She tutted. “Yeah, but we’re gonna need to find petrol after this.”
Tommy ruffled through his backpack, removed his handgun and checked his pump-action shotgun before shoving some ammo into the pockets of his jean jacket. In the passenger seat, Billy checked his rifle. The two men looked at one another and nodded.
Marla turned off the engine and put the keys in her pocket. “How are we going to do this?” she asked, glancing back down the motorway. The pack of figures in the distance had not noticed them stop as yet.
“We’ll go,” Tommy suggested, “and you stay in the car.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope. Get that key back in the ignition and be ready to drive off if there’s trouble. We all know those things are gonna turn at some point. We’re never that lucky.”
Marla breathed out heavily. “Okay, but be careful. Ellen, I’d rather you stayed here. We haven’t talked about…”
“If it’s a girl in the car, she’s not going to get out if there are two guys,” remarked Billy.
“I think it’s a child, because it was a tiny hand,” Ellen added. “And you know I’m better with kids.”
“Fine!” sighed Marla, throwing her hands in the air. “Just be careful, please. There are a lot of cars. Something might be hiding.”
“Thanks, sis,” said Ellen, getting out and pushing Bob back in.
Tommy and Billy did the same. The Labrador put his paws up against the glass window, whined once and looked at Marla.
“Don’t give me that face, Bob, it wasn’t my idea,” she told him. Folding her hands over the top of her head, she watched her sister walk away with a sense of dread.
The group headed towards the rows of cars in the other lane, all facing in the opposite direction. Ahead of them the blurred, shadowy figures were still creeping forward, slowly and irrevocably as a low, eerie tone drifted on the breeze. Tommy nodded to Ellen, who led the way towards the place where she thought she had seen someone. No one said a word. Billy kept his eyes fixed on the monsters in the distance while Tommy’s darted around the parked metal. Empty windows, empty windows...
Ellen pointed to a red car, surrounded by vehicles on three sides. She walked slowly towards the back door and glanced in from a safe distance. Huddled on the floor were two small children. One was a boy of about ten and the other was a much younger girl of perhaps five. In the driver’s seat was a woman who was maybe in her thirties, but she was not moving. Ellen pointed and Tommy walked slowly around the bonnet to the windscreen. Billy waited behind her, surveying the site, waiting for the monsters in the distance to turn.
Moving closer to the window, Ellen waved at the children, being careful not to touch the glass. It was a few moments before the boy peered upwards. A look of recognition swept across his face and he stood up. Ellen could tell he was unsure whether to smile or shout out for help. She smiled at him, put her fingers to her lips and pointed down the motorway in the direction of the dead creatures walking.
The boy nodded and woke his sister. The little girl squinted with her thumb in her mouth, gripping a doll with her other hand. Her hair was white blonde and she had the face of an angel. Ellen grinned and waved again. The little girl instinctively echoed the movement. She opened her mouth, but her brother covered it with his hand. Although she screwed up her face, thankfully she did not cry out.
“She’s dead,” whispered Tommy, nodding towards the woman in the driver’s seat.
“Must be their mother,” Ellen replied. “How awful.”
He nodded. “How do we get them to leave?”
Ellen moved back to the window and made a motion for someone to open it. The little boy hesitated and then the glass slowly moved. First halfway, followed by a pause, and then all the way down. She nodded to him and whispered, “Hello, my name is Ellen. I’m here to help you.”
“Do you know my mum?” asked the boy.
Ellen shook her head. “No, but I’m a teacher. I teach children.”
The boy stared blankly.
“How long have you been here?”
He shrugged heavily and glanced at his mother. “Days.”
Tommy took a breath and peered down the motorway. This was going to take time. At least the coast was clear for now.
“How come you’ve been here so long?” asked Ellen.
“There were lots of people… in all the cars. Soldiers came in jeeps and some people went from the front of the line. We waited. People shared food and drink, and we could walk around, and at night we slept here. Then the soldiers didn’t come back. Mum said we should wait as she couldn’t get the car out.”
Ellen nodded and waited. The boy looked down and wiped his eyes. The little girl continued to suck her thumb, staring silently with her big blue eyes.
“Then they came.”
Ellen nodded. “Who?”
The boy grimaced and looked down at his sister. He moved a protective arm around her and then peered all around, as though expecting to see something move. Raising one hand, he pointed a finger towards the windscreen in the direction of the creatures on the road.
“Sorry,” said Ellen, trying not to look towards his mother, who was slumped to the side.
“Not your fault,” answered the boy with a small smile. “My name is Barney.”
“Nice to meet you, Barney.”
“This is my little sister, Ruth.”
“Jemima,” said the little girl in a high-pitched voice as she held up her doll.
Tommy glanced in fear at the crowd in the distance, but the sound had not carried. He looked at Billy who raised an eyebrow. Behind them, Marla was watching in her rear-view mirror. Tommy nudged Ellen in warning and she nodded. “Barney, would you like to come with us?” she asked. “My sister is in the car over there. We can keep you safe.”
“What about Mum?” he asked with fear in his eyes.
“What happened to her?” Ellen enquired.
“Sleep,” said Ruth, grinning.
Ellen glanced at Tommy, but he could only scratch his head and glance at the sky.
“How long has she been sleeping?” she aske
d.
Barney screwed up his face as he thought. “The skeleton people came and people ran – that way and that way, towards the woods,” he remembered, pointing. “Mum wanted to go and she got out, but...” Tears began to flow down the boy’s cheeks and he wiped them away.
The little girl kissed him on the cheek. “Jemima help,” she said, wiping her brother’s face with the doll’s hair. “See?”
Ellen smiled. “Ruth, do you want to come with me?”
The girl nodded her head up and down slowly, and then rested her chin on her chest, although she continued to make eye contact.
“I won’t leave my mum,” insisted Barney. “She only got bitten once.”
Ellen took a quick intake of breath. “Once?”
“Yes, on the arm.”
Tommy frowned and walked around the bonnet to the other side of the vehicle.
“She pushed him away, the skeleton man, and got back in the car and locked the doors, and told us to get down on the floor and hide. So we did, and she said she was going to pretend to be dead. The other skeletons didn’t stop. Some ran after people and...” His voice trailed off and he stared out the back window.
Ellen looked up at Tommy, but he shook his head from where he was standing on the driver’s side of the car. “Barney, please listen to me,” she said. “Your mother is not asleep. I’m sorry, but...”
“No!” shouted Barney. “No!”
Billy almost jumped and walked forwards to look down the motorway. Tommy moved towards him, holding his shotgun.
“Barney, please,” Ellen urged softly. “You can come with us and we will protect you. Your mother cannot anymore.”
“Don’t say that about my mum!”
“Shush, Barney. They will hear...”
“Don’t care,” he shouted, which made Ruth burst into a rush of tears. She hugged Jemima and wailed.
Ellen moved her hand forward instinctively to cover the child’s mouth and hug her, but it was too late. “They’ve seen us,” groaned Tommy. “A few are looking this way. We have to go.”
As he spoke, the woman in the driver’s seat began to convulse, her body pumping up and down against the constraint of her seatbelt. The side of her head banged heavily against the glass.
“Mum?” cried Barney, turning around.
“She’s not your mother anymore,” said Ellen. “Please, you have to open the door.”
“She’s awake...”
“She’s not the same. Please believe me. Your mother was sick. She went to heaven...”
“You’re lying,” Barney spat.
“They’re coming,” yelled Billy. “All of them. We don’t have time for this.”
In one swift motion, Tommy leaned into the window of the car and whisked Ruth out, still gripping her doll. She pummelled her little fists against his chest as he ran towards the jeep. Marla jumped out and held open one of the back doors while he slid the child on to the seat.
“Stay!” said Tommy, as Bob got up in excitement, wagging his tail for all it was worth. The girl touched his coat delicately and smiled awkwardly to herself.
“It’s okay,” soothed Marla, stroking the girl’s hair. Closing the door, she turned to watch the rest of the group.
“Get ready to drive!” shouted Tommy to her. “The pack is coming back.”
Marla raced around to the driver’s seat and started the ignition. “Damn,” she muttered as she glanced up to see shadows in the far distance in front of her. More?
“Come on, Barney, please,” urged Ellen. “The skeletons are coming. We have to go. They will harm us.”
The boy shook his head and covered his ears as he backed along the seat. Tommy ran back, but the child was too far to reach. He pulled at the car door, which would not budge, so he kicked it. Swinging around in frustration, he ran his hand through his hair and glanced down the motorway. There was no time for drama. The freaks were closing in and fast. “They’re coming,” he yelled out. “We can’t stay.”
“Grenade?” asked Billy.
Tommy shook his head. “Too close.”
Ellen leaned into the car, trying to reach the boy, but it was useless. She stretched her fingers for the lock, but it would not budge. It was stuck. “Barney, come on, please. This lock isn’t moving. Please get out.”
The boy shook his head and buried his head against his knees. A shot rang out as Billy fired on the front of the pack that was fast approaching, swaying in the road like rags blowing in the wind. A groan came from the car and both men spun around to the sound of a seatbelt snapping. Ellen screamed and the body in the front seat grasped the edge of the chair with one bony hand, knocking the other lifeless one against the steering wheel. Her neck made a cracking sound as she revolved, opening her mouth as the eerie wail of the dead filled the void. Bile dripped from her mouth and her eyes widened, the retinas turned upwards towards the sky and the white orbs crisscrossed with red.
“Get out!” yelled Ellen, but the boy had frozen.
Tommy sprinted over and skidded in front of the window. “Now!” he yelled.
Barney jumped and twisted his body, tapping his hands on top of the lock in fright. In front of him the thing that had once been the dearest person to him in the whole world was gazing at him from the side of the chair. Its mouth was a wide empty chasm of darkness. Tommy aimed his shotgun at her head and pushed down slightly on the trigger. Click! The lock shot upwards and Barney pushed the door open, almost falling to the ground as he swung on the metal and slammed it shut. Scrambling around the car, his hands sliding on the boot, he ran straight into Ellen’s arms and buried his head against her stomach.
“It’s alright,” she soothed him. “Come on.” Gripping the boy’s hand, she led him quickly towards the car. Opening the back door, she watched as he crawled inside to hug his sister. Bob barked in excitement now that there were not one, but two new playmates for him. The two children patted him with distant-looking expressions.
Marla turned to Ellen. “You okay?”
Her sister nodded and turned to stare down the motorway. The things were strides away. A shot rang out, echoing against metal, and Tommy fired into the moving wall of the dead. Billy echoed his movements and then both men sped towards the car. Tommy dived into the back while Billy skidded and jumped into the passenger side, slamming the door behind him.
“Belts!” Marla instructed as she hit the central locking and the car sped off down the road. In the rear-view mirror she could see how close they had come. Sighing, she prepared herself for what lay ahead.
“Jesus!” gasped Tommy. “I thought they were only behind us.”
“They were,” said Marla, “until recently. Hold on, kids, I’m going to have to drive fast, but don’t worry, I’m a safe driver.”
“She was in the army,” added Tommy.
Barney nodded, unable to speak as yet. He cuddled his sister, who was making Jemima talk in an indecipherable, high-pitched tongue to the Labrador, who had his head cocked to one side, one ear stuck in the air.
“Close your eyes,” Ellen told the children. “We are going to go past some skeleton people.” They nodded and did as she suggested.
“Here we go,” said Marla, swerving at the last minute to avoid the walking heap of bodies heading their way.
Tommy wondered if they were the people who had headed towards the forest, looking to escape the things on the road. Ellen glanced at him and bit her lip. Reaching down, she slipped the gun under her seat, glad to be removed of it again. Shuffling against Barney, she put her arm around both children. Tommy held on to Bob’s collar as Marla put her foot down and the jeep shot forward, speeding past the walking shadows until there was empty road once more.
“Time to find petrol and somewhere to crash,” suggested Tommy.
“Good plan,” said Marla. “Can you check the map? I’m wondering why there’s so many of them. Are we near a big town?”
“We’re real close to the airport,” he answered, not needing to elaborate as t
he meaning of his words dawned on the other adults in the car.
“But they grounded the planes,” said Billy. “Did people get stuck there? Did the virus come in?”
“I guess we can’t avoid driving past Heathrow, can we?” asked Ellen. “Will there be more…?”
Barney looked up.
“Don’t worry,” she said, casting the fear out of her voice. “We’re here now, and nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
The boy frowned. “Promise?”
“Promise,” she answered without a pause.
***
Marla parked the car and cut the engine. “Are the kids okay?” she asked, nudging Billy, who stirred in his sleep.
“They’re zonked too,” Ellen replied with a smile, but I’m glad they’re sleeping. “Same for Tommy, by the look of it.”
“And Billy here is away with the fairies,” said Marla with a chuckle.
“How long til it’s dark?”
Marla glanced up at the sky before flicking her wrist to check her watch. “Good few hours yet, maybe four, so there’s time to find somewhere. There’s too many of us to sleep in here now, unless we really have to. After what you and those kids have gone through, I don’t fancy us being stuck in this car all night and you all seeing those dead-lookers walking around. ”
“I’ll be okay,” Ellen answered. “Please don’t make any big decisions based on me.” She smiled and carefully roused the sleeping children.
“Are we there?” asked Barney automatically.
“Ten more minutes,” joked Marla. The boy returned an awkward frown.
“You okay, Ruthie?” Ellen asked the little girl, who wiped her eyes, blinked and grinned before muttering, “Stopped?”
“Yes, we’re going to find somewhere to sleep.”
“Jemima come?”
Ellen nodded. “Yes, she can come too.”
The little girl made a squeaking sound and started talking to her doll. Bob nudged her knee and she started to talk to him as well. Watching, Barney absentmindedly stroked the dog on the head, but he was not really present yet.
Tommy yawned and stretched as far as the space inside the vehicle would allow. He grabbed the map off the seat and turned it around. “We’re near a canal here, I think.”
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