by Thomas Hall
Michael filled the door frame of the small cottage. He wore dark glasses and an open collared shirt. He was ten years older than Dale. Rosa was a small South American woman with long dark hair who stood behind in her husband’s shadow. They both looked at Dale suspiciously.
‘Well you’d better come in,’ Michael said. He stepped aside but Dale still had to squeeze past him.
The small cottage was practically empty. Every surface had been cleaned to a polished shine.
‘Take a seat,’ Michael said as he lowered himself into a large overstuffed armchair. ‘Rosa, bring us through something to drink.’
His wife almost bowed and Dale felt himself on edge. He didn’t want to judge Michael and Rosa unfairly but so far the husband appeared to be a bit of an arsehole and the wife a bit of a walk over.
Dale sat next to Beth on the sofa.
‘So you’re the new arrival,’ Michael said. His voice was deep and rumbling. Dale found himself wondering how the man had ever gotten into a jet.
‘Dale Pope,’ he said.
Michael nodded. ‘Wesley told me you were here. Said you were in the army.’
‘That’s right,’ Dale said.
‘One of the grunts I expect,’ Michael said.
‘Heavy infantry,’ Dale said. ‘Tank division.’
Michael nodded. Dale could see him trying not to look impressed.
‘I flew Eurofighter Typhoon’s in Afghan,’ Michael said.
‘Were you there when the zombies came?’ Dale said.
Michael nodded. Rosa returned with a tray of drinks. She set them down on the table and handed Dale a glass of something fizzy and yellow. Michael leaned forward and took a glass for himself without acknowledging his wife.
‘There wasn’t a lot of commercial air travel,’ Michael said. ‘It took a while for the virus to reach us. Came through Turkey in the end. They brought us home but there’s not a lot a jet fighter can do against zombies.’
Dale nodded. ‘Must have been frustrating.’
‘They sent us out with guns to give your guys some backup. Might have run into each other in the field.’
Dale didn’t tell him that his part in the war had ended as the war began. Oxford Circus had been the point where the shit hit the fan and he’d been out of action ever since. ‘Might have,’ he said. ‘So how did you end up here?’
‘Me and Wesley go way back,’ Michael said. ‘Sit down Rosa.’
Dale turned towards Rosa. She had been standing by the door but now that she had been given permission she perched on the edge of the sofa to his left. Dale turned back to Michael.
Michael continued as if there had been no interruption. ‘When he told me he had a safe place I went to visit him. I suppose you think I was deserting?’
‘We all do what we have to do to survive,’ Dale said.
Suddenly Michael’s expression changed. The hard ass that had met them at the door seemed to disappear and a large but friendly man emerged.
‘It wasn’t an easy decision to make,’ Michael said. ‘But I had to think about the children.’
‘I’m sure you did what you had to do.’
Michael smiled. ‘Do you drink Scotch Dale?’
Dale shrugged. ‘Sure.’
Michael put down his untouched glass of yellow liquid and stood up. He crossed the room and opened a cabinet in the alcove next to the fireplace. Dale saw inside long enough to see that it was full of whiskey bottles.
‘Would you mind getting us some glasses please Rosa?’ he said.
Rosa stood up and went out of the room. She came back quickly with four small tumblers.
‘There’s not much of this left to go around,’ Michael said. He sat back down and poured four generous measures into the glasses in front of him. He passed them out.
Dale brought the glass to his nose. He had missed the taste of good whiskey almost as much as he had missed coffee.
‘To Harmony,’ Michael said.
They all raised their glasses and drank.
By the time they left, Michael and Rosa’s house the sky was tinged with darkness. Dale felt wobbly from the drink and sore from laughing so much. He turned and smiled at Beth. Her eyes were glazed. She had matched him drink for drink and, although it was the first time he’d had alcohol in almost a year, she looked the worst for it.
‘They were nice,’ Dale said. He took her hand as she wobbled along the street. It was to keep her on her feet rather than for any romantic purpose.
‘Yeah,’ Beth said. She sounded as if she was half asleep already.
‘A bit weird, though.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Do you think Rosa’s a mail order bride?’
Beth laughed and snorted. She let go of his hand and covered her face. ‘I’m sorry.’
Dale smiled. ‘It’s fine. You make a cute pig.’
She frowned at him but he could see the amusement in her eyes.
‘No, I mean like Miss Piggy,’ he said.
‘You think I sound like Miss Piggy?’ Beth said.
‘Like a cute pig.’
She stuck out her tongue at him and then turned away.
‘So where now?’ Dale said.
‘Home,’ Beth said. ‘I need to sleep before Dawn finishes school.’
Dale nodded. It seemed that his tour of the village was coming to an end. They’d only visited two houses, though. He felt as if they’d barely scratched the surface.
‘I’ll make you another coffee if you like,’ Beth said.
‘Sounds good to me.’
They got back to Beth’s house and she sent Dale into the living room. He sat down on the sofa opposite her chair and a few minutes later she joined him with two cups of coffee. The smell was even better than last time.
Beth handed him a cup and put her own down on the table. Rather than sit in her armchair, as he had expected, Beth fell onto the sofa beside him.
‘I had a really nice time today,’ she said. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
‘Me too,’ Dale said.
He wondered if he should kiss her. By the time he had made up his mind to do so he heard her breathing change and he realised that she was asleep.
CHAPTER 7
DALE OPENED THE FRONT DOOR. A MAN THAT he hadn’t seen before was standing there. He had dirty tanned skin and long hair tied back behind his head. He was wearing what looked like police riot armour.
‘Are you Dale Pope?’ the man said.
He nodded.
‘Solomon Medley,’ the man said. He shook Dale’s hand.
The name was familiar but he had met a lot of new people in the last couple of weeks. Dale was sure he’d never met Solomon though.
‘Do you want to come in?’ Dale said.
Solomon nodded and walked into the house.
Dale’s house consisted of two rooms downstairs and two up. In the last couple of weeks, he’d barely spent any time in it, preferring to walk around the village and familiarise himself with the landscape. Most evenings he ate dinner with Beth and Dawn and only came home to sleep. Despite continuous hints from him, she had yet to invite him to sleep over.
‘Nice place you’ve got here,’ Solomon said.
Dale closed the door and found him in the living room. He was standing by the window. It was starting to get dark outside and he hadn’t lit a lamp yet.
‘You mind if I sit?’ Solomon said.
‘Please,’ Dale said. He sat down himself on the end of the sofa. There was only one other chair in the room and Solomon took that.
‘Wesley might have mentioned that I’d be coming?’ Solomon said.
Dale shook his head.
‘Ah well, maybe he forgot. He didn’t forget to tell me about you, though. Army right?’
Dale nodded. He wanted to avoid repeating the story of how he had ended up in the village. To his relief Solomon didn’t ask.
‘How do you like it here so far?’ Solomon said.
‘It’s nice,’ Dale said.
‘Yeah, Harmony’s alright. Pretty safe if you’re living near the centre.’
‘And if your not?’
‘That’s where I come in.’
Dale was intrigued. In idle moments, he had wondered what kept the zombies out of Harmony. It seemed a little too peaceful.
‘We’ve got a big forest protecting us but the zoo’s still come through from time to time. Most people here wouldn’t know what to do if they came face to face with one. Never had to survive like us.’
‘I haven’t seen any zombie’s,’ Dale said.
‘Of course you haven’t,’ Solomon said. ‘I and my team do a good job.’
‘What do you do?’ Dale said.
‘Mostly we patrol the perimeter of the village and see what we can see. If one of the villagers spots something they can give us a call and we deal with it.’
There was something familiar about that. Dale wondered if Wesley had mentioned something to him after all.
‘We’ve got a few people living on the outskirts. Like to keep themselves to themselves. Sometimes they see something.’
Dale nodded.
‘So what do you think?’ Solomon said.
‘What do you mean?’ Dale said.
‘Well, you were in the army. Wesley reckons you know how to use a gun. We could use another warm body.’
‘You’re the Patrol Men,’ Dale said. The conversation he’d had with Wesley about it came back to him. So did the look on Beth’s face when he’d said he would help out.
Solomon nodded. ‘The fourth emergency service.’
‘I’m not sure,’ Dale said. He was reluctant to do it. But the look on Beth’s face, even just the memory of it, was enough to convince him. ‘I guess I could help out.’
Solomon smiled. His teeth were perfectly aligned and blinding white against his tanned skin. He jumped to his feet. ‘Let’s go then.’
‘Now?’ Dale said. He had expected them to fix a time for some point in the future.
‘The rest of the guys are waiting for us.’ Solomon walked to the door.
Dale reluctantly stood up. ‘I don’t have a gun or anything.’
‘We’ve got plenty,’ Solomon said. He opened the front door.
Dale followed him out of his house, not at all sure that he was doing the right thing but unable to shake the feeling that this might be enough to finally get Beth to invite him to stay over.
The Patrol Men had headquarters next to the village hall, in one of the Tudor looking buildings. The ceilings were low so that Solomon had to stoop to walk. Dale felt the top of his own head brush the ceiling.
‘Guys,’ Solomon shouted.
Dale closed the door behind him. There was no furniture in the room. The walls had been stripped back to the plaster. He could hear talking in the next room.
‘Oi you lot,’ Solomon shouted. ‘Get in here now.’
The talking stopped. A procession of people ducked through a small door into the room. Each of them looked at Dale. He tried to keep his expression neutral like he was out on parade.
Four men and one woman lined up in front of him and Solomon.
‘This is Dale,’ Solomon said to them.
Dale felt the dozen eyes on him and forced himself to meet as many of them as he could. He’d never liked inspections or parades.
‘He was in the army. He’s going to be joining us on patrol tonight.’ Solomon turned to Dale. ‘Dale these are the Patrol Men.’
One by one they stepped forward and introduced themselves.
Anton had dark, slicked back hair and a big nose. Daren was skinny with a completely shaved head and star tattoos on his arms. Demetrius was so big that Dale wondered how he had ever gotten through the front door, he looked as if he was made out of rock. Huey looked like he’d only finished puberty that week. Jessie was the only woman. She had blond hair and broad shoulders. He shook each of their hands and said it was nice to meet them. Then they dropped back and stood in line waiting for Solomon to tell them what to do.
‘Are you ready to leave?’ Solomon said.
The Patrol Men shook their heads and mumbled. None of them were wearing armour like Solomon.
‘Well get on with it then. I don’t want to be here all night.’
They filed back through the door. Dale watched to see how Demetrius managed it but he missed the slight of hand trick that got him through the too small space.
After a minute, Solomon motioned for Dale to follow him through as well.
The next room contained racks of guns and more police issue body armour. He could still see the faded writing on some of it. The others were already pulling the riot gear over their heads.
‘Suit up,’ Solomon said to Dale. ‘What did you shoot in the army?’
Dale wandered towards the body armour. ‘Whatever you’ve got,’ he said.
After trying two ill-fitting suits on he found one that fitted him almost perfectly. He pulled it over his head and then walked over to Solomon. The rest of the Patrol Men were in the next room, joking together while they waited to leave.
‘Take this,’ Solomon said.
Dale took the helmet from him. It had a clear visor that would extend town to his chest. It was bulky and uncomfortable looking.
‘Here,’ Solomon said. He held out a HK416 assault rifle.
Dale examined the weapon. It looked to be in good working order. He checked that there were rounds loaded and then switched the safety off and on. He nodded to Solomon.
‘Let’s get on with it then.’ Solomon turned away and led him out of the room to join the others.
The Patrol Men took their work seriously. For all of their joking at headquarters, they seemed to know what they were doing. They moved through the village in stealthy silence. No one was laughing anymore.
Harmony was a different place at night. There were no street lights and few of the houses were lit from inside. He could hear people talking and laughing and it was easy to believe that this was the safest place on Earth, except for the fact that he was wearing riot gear and holding a machine gun. Off to kill some zombies.
They walked for twenty minutes. Soon Dale could no longer hear people talking. The forest was impossible to see except as a dark patch on an already dark sky.
‘We split the village into quarters,’ Solomon said.
Dale turned to look at him. His long hair was hanging out the back of his helmet. The rest of the group were a few metres ahead.
‘Last night we took the east quarter, tonight we’ll do south.’
Dale nodded. ‘Do you patrol every night?’ He would hate to lose all of his evenings with Beth, especially if what he was doing would impress her.
‘Not if we can help it. Four nights a week and then if we get called out.’
‘Does that happen a lot?’
‘Not for a few weeks now. Things seem to have settled down a bit.’
They walked for a few more minutes in silence. The houses and cottages became less frequent. There were the ruined remains of several buildings that looked as if they’d been on fire. Then even they fell away behind them.
Ahead of him, the Patrol Men stopped. Dale stopped a few paces behind them, not yet ready to make himself part of the group. They gathered around Solomon.
‘Alright,’ Solomon said. ‘You know the drill. Anton, Darren, you go left, Dem and Huey, you go right. Jess, you’re with me and the new boy.’
They didn’t answer him but followed the orders he had given. Dale watched them disappear into the darkness. When they were gone, he turned back to Solomon.
‘Come on then,’ Solomon said.
Jessie followed him without a word. Dale lagged a few paces behind.
Solomon led them towards the forest. After a few minutes, Dale heard the river and he began to see pyramid shapes rising out of the ground. A few steps further and he realised that they were tents. Another few steps and he saw that there were people there as well.
‘Some people don’t want to live i
n the village,’ Jessie said.
Dale nodded. He watched a small shape moving away from the river towards one of the tents, they appeared to be carrying something.
‘No running water,’ Jessie said as if she could tell what Dale was thinking. ‘They drink from the river.’
They stopped in front of a large tent. Dale stood beside Jessie.
‘Anybody home?’ Solomon said.
There was movement inside the tent. A light appeared and then a flap opened and a man came out. He looked about forty years old.
‘What do you want?’ the man said.
‘Just checking in Alex,’ Solomon said.
The man scowled at him. ‘We don’t need your help.’
‘But you’ve got it anyway because I’m nice like that. You see any activity since last week?’
‘We haven’t seen anything.’
‘But you’d tell me if you had, right?’
‘I haven’t got time for this,’ Alex said. ‘Mary’s sick again.’
‘Anything catching?’ Solomon said.
‘What do you think?’
‘I think you’d better let me see her.’
‘Why? Are you a doctor as well now?’
Solomon didn’t answer. He pushed past Alex and went into the tent. The flap fell closed as Alex followed him.
‘What’s his problem?’ Dale said.
‘They want to be left alone,’ Jessie whispered. ‘They think Wesley interferes too much. They didn’t support him when he came.’
‘What do you think?’ Dale said.
‘I think they should be more grateful. We’ve looked after them.’
Dale nodded but had no more to say. A minute later Solomon came back out shaking his head. ‘It’s nothing to worry about,’ he said. ‘She’s got a stomach ache. They probably haven’t been cooking their meat properly, again.’
They moved on. There were other tents and other people to see. Dale watched the small community with fascination. Little kids fetched buckets of water from the river and men cooked around open fires while women stood around and gossiped. There were more people living in the outskirts of the village than he had expected. Somehow they had made a life for themselves and, if he forgot about the zombies, it looked no different from a camp site.