I stripped off my gloves and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. I guess you did need someone around to mop your brow every now and then. I leaned my rear against the worktable, hands gripping the surface, and started out the window.
‘This whole shitshow changes nothing right now,’ I said, ‘We’re still just as fucked as we were an hour ago. Only now we know a bit more of how exactly we’re fucked.’
‘We’re going to get through this.’ Claire said, stripping out of her gloves as well. She came to lean next to me, and placed one of her hands atop mine.
‘Hey.’ I said, frowning.
‘Sorry,’ she apologised, removing it.
‘No, not that. Can you hear cars?’
Twenty Nine
Claire and I quickly removed our aprons and rushed out into the courtyard, still pulling our coats back on. Damn cold out.
Rob’s fearsome grey four-by-four was already through the front gates, and was followed by the dark green pickup and the family sedan – no longer pristine, but not as battle-scarred as the four-by-four, whose cattle bumper was covered in streaks of gore.
Behind the original three vehicles came four minibuses, one a much merrier shade of red, and the others in black, blue and green. Reading the white lettering down the sides, they were former properties of several Temple Community Groups, and though they were slightly different makes and models, each looked easily big enough to seat over a dozen.
Captain Hale was driving at the head of the convoy, and pulled up as close to the house as he could, giving everyone plenty of room to get in behind, filling the sides of the courtyard as the gates closed behind them. Tony and others in the lodge had been looking out from the windows, but I lost sight of them behind one of the busses.
There weren’t that many other people around the farmhouse a moment ago, mainly medics and the members of the militia guarding the lodge. At the sound of the cars, and having seen them drive past, people were coming in from the other courtyard, where they’d been working on the defences.
They began a faltering round of applause that soon grew into a full-on cheer as the drivers and their passengers exited the vehicles. Nobody was missing. There was not a single casualty.
I felt a sudden surge of relief, the easing of tension I hardly realised I was carrying. I joined in, giving a big whoop, smiling and waving at Emile as he disembarked from one of the minibuses, sporting his shotgun and an uncharacteristically shy smile. He can’t have been used to this. When the general public are massed and shouting, it’s generally not in support of the police.
I couldn’t see what was in the other vehicles, but the back of the pickup truck was full of cardboard boxes and plastic crates, loaded with tinned and packaged food. I hope they remembered to bring water too. Or soda. If I had to go without regular coffee, I was not going without sugary pop as well. If there was vodka to go in it, all the better.
The scouts accepted their accolades graciously, and after a moderate amount of back-patting and manly hugs, faces began to fall. Expressions turned to surprise and sadness, as they learned what had happened last night.
Captain Hale began to look around, probably searching for Sergeant Bailey, but set a course for Claire and myself when he couldn’t spot her. Emile slipped through the crowd in his wake.
‘I’m glad you’re okay,’ Captain Hale said to us first.
‘You too.’ I replied.
‘Did you hear about the attack?’ Claire asked.
Emile nodded, brow furrowed as he checked me over for damage, ‘Is it true they pretended to be living?’
I nodded. ‘We won’t fall for that again.’
‘Muerto Compaña…’ he said. ‘We had a run-in with them too.’
‘Sorry to cut short the debrief,’ Captain Hale said, ‘but I need you to get everyone together. Call a meeting. It’ll be quicker to tell everyone at the same time.’ He added, looking to Emile.
‘I’ll find Rob,’ Claire said.
‘And I’ll get Bailey.’ I offered.
‘No, not just leadership.’ Hale said, ‘I need you to get everyone to stop what they’re doing for a few minutes, and meet outside the barns. Everyone.’
‘What…what happened in Overbridge?’ Claire asked.
Hale took a deep breath. ‘Suffice to say, people have got some choices to make, and this time, I’m not going to make it for them.’
It didn’t take us that long to round everyone up. Operation Turtle Mode had teams all over Grant Farm’s acreage, trying to patch holes in hedges and fences, or gathering materials and improvised weapons, but we had plenty of people to go shouting for them. Telling them the scouts were back was enough to get them moving, everyone wanted to know how things had gone.
By the time we returned from fetching the group at the guest houses, who had been loading up breeze blocks into wheelbarrows, we saw Hale had parked the pickup truck in the courtyard. He was stood up in the bed where everyone could see and hear him, but there were stragglers to wait for.
‘So what happened?’ I asked Emile, adding our voices to the mutterings as we waited.
He gave me a look.
‘Come on, don’t keep me in suspense.’ I said, gesturing at Hale on the back of the pickup. Emile sighed, resigned.
‘We got there fine, no problems, and there was plenty to look at. Small supermarket was barely touched, farmer’s co-op seemed to have a lot left to offer.’
‘Any people around? Survivors?’ Claire asked.
Emile shook his head. ‘There may have been, but they did not come out to say hello. A lot of broken windows and makeshift barricades, some signs of fighting. Bodies, shell casings, those sorts of things.’
‘Lucky that they hid from you, maybe.’ I suggested. ‘They might not have been all that friendly, and if they were armed too…’
‘I had the same thought. But we searched a little on the captain’s orders, found nothing to indicate anyone had fortified a safe location. I think whoever it was came for the hunting stores, and moved on before we arrived.’
‘Did you manage to come back with much?’ I asked.
He shook his head.
‘No guns. Whoever took them must have had a big truck. These were not small stores. We secured some ammunition from the storerooms, but it was all civilian. Rifle or pistol calibre, shotgun shells. Nothing for SySec’s D-90s. It is against the law to stock such ammunition. Sadly, there was not much of a criminal element in Overbridge. Or it was taken before we arrived.’
‘Everything went well then. So what’s all this about?’ Claire asked him.
‘Sí, we all came back safe, but it is not the same thing as going well,’ Emile said, ‘I will let the captain tell the story. Overbridge was… not so safe when we left. Would not have got all that blood on the tyres if it were.’
We waited for the last to arrive, Lydia, Mrs Grant and the kids, coming out from the kitchen. Conversation petered out as Hale stood up straighter in the bed of the pickup truck. When he was satisfied the chatter was dying down, he called for order.
‘Everyone, your attention please,’ he began. ‘I have decided that the findings of our scouting trip to Overbridge should be public knowledge, so that you may decide for yourselves what your next course of action should be. I will not make this decision for you, and any choice you make must be an informed one.’
He paused to take a breath, then looked back to the crowd.
‘Our scouting team travelled to Overbridge on the country lanes and side-roads, avoiding the motorway in case we ran into the same trouble as yesterday. On the outskirts of Overbridge, we topped up the fuel tanks in our borrowed vehicles, and broke into the gas station itself to obtain more fuel cans for the road to Sydow. We encountered no undead on the road, nor at the gas station, and arriving in Overbridge proper, found the village to be deserted.’
Hale’s hands drifted to his belt and holster for a moment, then as if to stop them from fidgeting, he clasped them behind his back.
‘We began a thorough search of the village, proceeding carefully in the dark, using our torches as little as possible outdoors, to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. Our priority was to find vehicles that would suit our needs, and we were fortunate that a charity walking event at the Overbridge Temple had brought in other local religious groups. We found the keys in the clerics’ quarters, but there was no sign of any clergy or their congregation, dead or alive.’
I heard a muttered prayer from someone nearby, perhaps one of Rob’s guests who lived in Overbridge.
‘Each bus will seat between twelve and sixteen, which was a good start. However, as there would not be seats enough for all of us to drive to Sydow, we then split our efforts between finding other suitable vehicles, and searching for weapons, food and travelling supplies.’
He gestured towards Mrs Lowe, who was standing by the truck but hadn’t joined him on the back of it.
‘This is when Mrs Lowe and Officer Asturias relayed that the village’s two hunting stores had already been stripped clean of firearms and much of their munitions. Though we were able to find some equipment, much of it was less than ideal. While the hunting stores were all but bare, the village’s food suppliers, the supermarket and grocery, were scarcely touched.
‘We combined our efforts to load up as much mission-appropriate food as possible. Around dawn, while searching for keys to another vehicle, one of our teams spotted undead approaching from the south, the road that connects to the motorway.
‘I ordered them to continue searching until they felt it was no longer safe. The undead were far away, and all slow moving, but I had a theory. I hoped I was wrong, but that wasn’t to be. I sent a team to the north side of the village, where they discovered another group of undead moving in.’
Hale paused again, clearing his throat. ‘As there were no runners in either of these hordes, I believed them to be the same mass of undead we met at the checkpoint yesterday, split into two groups by the ghoul and led to flank us, pinning us in the village. We would have to either fortify a position and defend against them, or, as they were blocking the roads, attempt an escape on foot through woodland or countryside.’
‘Fortunately for us, we had a third option. We elected to risk driving through the horde, a charge spearheaded by the ATV. Which I will have cleaned,’ he added, giving a nod to Rob. On any other day, that might have got a nervous little laugh, but everyone was hanging on his words.
‘With our essential supplies and what seemed like vital information that danger was close, we had to take the chance and return to the farm as quickly as possible. As I had seen the ghoul was clever enough to attempt a flanking manoeuvre, I did not want to risk the possibility that it may also have been able to eavesdrop on any radio communication from a stolen checkpoint handset, so could not risk contacting Sergeant Bailey. Any strategy we may have formulated, the enemy may have overheard and prepared against.’
‘While this seemed overly paranoid to some in our convoy,’ he said, risking a glance to Mrs Lowe, ‘the events that occurred here last night confirm my suspicion that the ghoul, or rather, ghouls, are possessed of an intelligence perhaps on par with our own, and should not be underestimated.’
‘Muerto Compaña…’ Emile said beside me.
‘Were I to predict their next move, I feel they will come for us here, at the farm. They have tested our defences once, attempted to engage our scouting party in battle, and if they stick to this pattern of behaviour, we will soon be under siege. The ghoul would not command its forces this way unless it believes it has a chance of success. It is possible that if we stay, we will all die.’
Captain Hale let that sink in for a moment. You could have heard a pin drop.
‘To Rob Grant, your family and guests, I apologise. I cannot say for sure if this trouble may never have reached your doorstep, but I feel our presence has hastened its arrival. If you wish to leave the farm, you will all have a place in our convoy to Sydow. If you wish to stay, then I swear I will stay as well, to help you defend your home against this attack. I promise this as myself, not with the rest of Sydow Security, nor the medical staff, Greenfield Police, Mrs Lowe’s militia or the civilians who followed us for safety and have so far, been let down. You all have your own choices to make. Will you abandon the farm, or will you stay?’
‘How long do we have to decide?’ someone shouted up.
‘Take your time. This decision cannot be made lightly.’ Hale replied. ‘Ten minutes or so.’
There was an outburst. A mixture of questions, suggestions and not an inconsiderable amount of swearing.
‘Ten minutes. We cannot afford to wait too long,’ Hale said, ‘whatever we decide, there’s much work to be done and little time to do it.’
The volume level rose dramatically as people began discussing it with their friends, families and colleagues. Claire had my ear first.
‘I don’t know what to make of that,’ she said, ‘there were an awful lot of them on the road yesterday, and if they’re coming here…’
‘We used up most of our ammunition,’ Emile said, ‘if we have to fight those numbers again, it will come down to a melee sooner or later.’
Claire bit her bottom lip. ‘That doesn’t sound good. I can see myself pulling the trigger, but…what? Clubbing one to death? I don’t know if I could do it.’
‘Perhaps this is an opportunity to return to Greenfield after all?’ Emile suggested. ‘I’m sure we wouldn’t be the only ones thinking it, not after last night.’
‘I’m not leaving…’ I said.
They both looked at me, eyebrows raised.
‘We can’t. Not if Rob and his family aren’t.’
‘How do you know they will want stay?’ Emile asked.
‘This farm might have only been in his family for a generation, but look at what he’s done to it. Expanding the business, renovating the buildings, planting his gardens…’ I trailed off.
‘You’re right. He’s not leaving,’ Claire said. ‘No way. The first thing he wanted from us was to help secure the property. That’s why he agreed to lend us those cars in the first place.’
‘We have to uphold our end of the bargain.’
‘I thought a bargain was something cheap? This may cost lives.’ Emile pointed out, though from his posture, thumbs hooked in his belt, leaning in, I could tell he was coming around.
I thought back to my parents’ kitchen, way down south in Dent. I’d been accepted, I was going to be a nurse. Mother was happy for me – she didn’t understand, but she was happy because I was happy. Father…
‘Why would you want to put yourself through that?’ he asked. ‘All those sick and dirty people, crammed together, coughing and vomiting and bleeding. Why can’t you just get a normal job? I can get you something at the firm. Why does it have to be you?’
I felt the corners of my mouth tug up into a grin.
‘Someone has to, Emile.’ I said. ‘Someone has to be there to lend a hand to the dying. Someone has to rush into burning buildings. Someone has to chase after the gunfire and the screams. We’re the emergency services, amigo. And this seems like an emergency to me.’
He folded his arms and kissed his teeth.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘when you put it that way.’
An almighty whistle caught everyone’s attention, all eyes returning to the bed of the pickup. Rob now stood alone on the back of the truck. I don’t think anyone had expected him to get up there and address the crowd.
‘I’m sorry for last night,’ he said, raising his voice to carry, ‘those deaths are on me conscience. It’s a bad host who lets people be killed under his roof, even a barn roof. I don’t want any more deaths here. But I can’t leave. This is me home, me life, and I can’t ask anyone to stay behind, I don’t want anyone to risk themselves for me.’
‘I’m staying.’ Captain Hale told him, climbing back up onto the bed of the truck, putting a hand on his shoulder as they stood side by side. ‘You can’t stop me.’
‘You’re mad though, captain. No hope for you. Anyone else mad enough to stay… I will not forget anyone who helps me family, you’ll be welcome to stay here with us as long as you like, or take whatever you want when you go.’
‘When you’ve made your choices,’ Hale said, ‘move over to the house if you’re with us, or stay here if you’re leaving. In the interests of keeping you informed however, all soldiers of SySec have already expressed a desire to stay, so anyone leaving will be outside of our protection. Carry on.’
The three of us set off walking to the house.
‘Is anyone going to leave if they’re not going with SySec? They’d be exposing themselves to the ghouls without any protection, surely nobody’s that crazy?’ Claire asked.
I glanced over my shoulder.
‘Apparently they’re not.’ I said. I couldn’t see right the way to the back of the crowd, I’m not as tall as Kelly without my tallest heels on, but I couldn’t see a whole lot of people hanging back at the pickup.
As we reached the house, Emile pulled Claire and myself a bit further off to the side, by the front of Rob’s ATV. Nobody else wanted to go near it, being covered in as much blood as it was.
‘There is something you need to know, something Hale did not tell the rest of them.’ He said, still looking about to make sure we weren’t overheard.
‘I thought we were making an informed choice?’ Claire asked, giving her best eyebrow raise.
‘Has Katy told you of my conspiracy theory?’ he asked. ‘That there is some intelligence behind the virus?’
Claire glanced to me, but my face was impassive. If Emile was pulling us aside for a private chat, he didn’t want this being overheard. That meant he was serious.
‘She might have mentioned it.’ Claire told him, looking back. ‘And your crazy granddad.’
‘In Overbridge, there were signs.’ He said. ‘Signs painted in blood. They were on the houses at the edge of town, on the store windows, and the temple doors.’
The Suburban Dead (Book 2): Emergency Page 27