by Thomas Hall
The evening felt as if it was winding down. Solomon began leading them back towards the meeting place when gunfire stopped them in their tracks.
‘Which way did it come from?’ Jessie said.
‘Left,’ Solomon said. He started to run. Jessie followed him and Dale brought up the rear.
It was impossible to see anything in the darkness. Dale followed the dark outline of Jessie’s back but he couldn’t even make out Solomon in front of her. The heavy armour slowed them all down. He didn’t know what he expected to find but he worried they would be too late to do anything about it.
There was another burst of gunfire and then a pause. It was closer so they were moving in the right direction. The silence rushed in and Dale strained to hear voices but there were none.
They stopped. Solomon looked left and right as if he might be able to see something in the darkness.
‘This way,’ he said.
They ran onwards. Dale checked again that his gun was loaded. Everything seemed to be rattling. He wondered what good body armour would do against a zombie.
Demetrius and Huey were crouched in the long grass. Solomon saw them before Dale did.
‘What’s happening?’ Jessie said.
‘Over there,’ Huey said. He wasn’t answering her. He stood up and Demetrius followed. The five of them ran towards the tiny burst of orange light that appeared before the sound of gunfire.
‘It’s us,’ Solomon said as they got closer.
Dale saw two heads turn towards them. In the pause, he heard the low moan of zombies.
‘What happened?’ Solomon said.
‘They surprised us,’ Darren said. ‘We were watching the forest.’
‘They didn’t come from the forest?’ Solomon said.
Darren shook his head. ‘From the village.’
‘How –‘
Before he could finish speaking a zombie moaned. It was close enough that, when Dale turned, he could see the mottled brown of its rotting flesh. He didn’t think. He raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The zombies head burst open like an overripe watermelon.
There were more zombies. The time for discussing the why and the how of it was over before it had begun. Dale heard other guns being cocked and aimed. More zombies came towards them and they opened fire.
It was not difficult for seven people with automatic weapons to take out a group of zombies. For several minutes, the air was filled with blood and bone and the zombies were torn apart by sustained gunfire. Dale only had to reload once before it was all over.
They stood in silence. Waiting to see if they had killed them all. Dale moved his finger back and forth on the trigger and strained to hear and see. Nothing more came.
‘Good job,’ Solomon said. He was breathless but he also sounded like he was in shock. ‘I think we got them all.’
Dale nodded but he couldn’t bring himself to speak yet. He didn’t want to hear the same shock in his own voice. He put the safety back on his gun and lowered it to his side. He heard the others doing the same thing.
They stood in silence. Collectively dealing with what they had just experienced. It was difficult but it always had been. They weren’t the first zombies that Dale had killed and it hadn’t gotten easier. They had been people once. A father, a mother, somebody’s aunt or uncle.
‘Good job Dale,’ Solomon said.
He looked up when he heard his name.
A hand clapped him on the shoulder so hard that he thought he might fall over. He turned and saw Demetrius’ big face grinning at him. ‘Nice one,’ the giant said.
Anton took his hand and shook it. Daren nodded at him and Huey grabbed his arm and shook him. When they let him go, Jess stepped forwards and put her arms around him. She said: ‘Welcome to the team.’
They still had work to do. Solomon was already grabbing the bodies of the zombies they had killed and dragging them together in a pile. The others started to help and Dale joined them. He counted nineteen zombies.
When they were done, they stood back. The bodies no longer looked like zombies. They were people again. The victims of a terrible attack.
Solomon said: ‘Does anyone want to say anything?’
Nobody moved. Then Demetrius stepped forwards. He bowed his head. Under his breath he said: ‘Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…’
Dale looked around and saw that the others had bowed their heads. He’d never believed in god but the prayer was solemn and seemed to fit the occasion. He bowed his head as well and listened to Demetrius.
Demetrius stepped away from the bodies when he had finished. Solomon stepped forwards. He took a plastic bottle from his bag. Dale could smell petrol as soon as the lid was off. He poured it over the pile of bodies and then struck a match.
The flame erupted. A brilliant yellow glow. It engulfed the bodies and burned his eyes. Dale wanted to look away but somehow it didn’t feel right. He had killed some of these people. The least he owed was to watch them burn.
They walked back through the village. The few lights that had been on before were gone. Dale couldn’t hear anyone talking. He walked beside Huey. Solomon was out by himself at the front. None of them were talking. His gun and the armour felt heavy. It was a relief when they got back to headquarters and he could take it off.
Solomon walked into the changing room while Dale was hanging up his armour. They all turned to look at him.
‘When you’re done in here we need to talk,’ Solomon said. ‘I’ll be next door.’
They nodded and murmured that they understood. Dale wondered if this was the routine after every patrol but as soon as Solomon was gone the others started talking.
‘What do you reckon that’s about?’ Huey said.
‘He looks wiped out,’ Daren said. ‘Maybe he’s retiring?’
‘He can’t,’ Jessie said. She was changing right alongside them.
‘You know he wants to,’ Anton said. ‘He’s got kids.’
‘But Wesley won’t let him, will he?’ Jess said.
They changed more quickly after that. They were all curious to know what Solomon wanted to talk to them about.
Dale followed at the rear as they left the changing room. Solomon was sitting at a table, still wearing his armour, his helmet was on the table beside him. They found seats and waited for him to start.
Solomon looked up. ‘Good work tonight guys,’ he said. From the other side of the room, Dale noticed how tired he looked. There was no energy in his voice at all. ‘You really came through for me.’
Dale looked around. Jessie was staring at the floor. Demetrius looked as if it was taking all of his concentration not to fall off the chair. Anton and Daren were looking at Solomon. Huey was looking at his hands.
‘We’ve got a problem,’ Solomon said. He shook his head. ‘We might do anyway. Did any of you get a good look at the zoo’s?’
Around the room, the Patrol Men shook their heads. Dale had been too busy trying not to get killed to pay much attention to the people who had been trying to kill him.
‘Well I did,’ Solomon said. ‘Matthew Becker, do you remember him?’
‘He’s one of the Outliers,’ Jessie said.
‘Was,’ Solomon said. ‘We burned his body tonight. Along with his wife and son. Also Paul and Richard Davies.’
Anton looked up: ‘They were from the village.’
Solomon nodded slowly. ‘There might have been others but they’re the one’s I saw.’
‘What does it mean?’ Jessie said.
‘It means we might have an infection,’ Solomon said. He held up a hand to stop them asking more questions or speaking amongst themselves. ‘Or it might not mean anything at all. Matthew Becker was an Outlier. He took his chances with the rest of them. Paul and Richard weren’t exactly settled, they could have been out exploring.’
Around the room, the Patrol Men nodded.
Jessie said: ‘What do we do?’
‘I’m inclined to do nothing for the
time being. We could tell Wesley but it might be better to wait and see if it happens again. What do you think?’
They spoke amongst themselves. Dale sat by himself and wasn’t consulted. A part of the team he might be but this was political and he didn’t have a say in it yet. After a couple of minutes, they finished and fell silent.
Demetrius said: ‘If you think we should wait, Sol, then we’ll wait.’
The others murmured their agreement. Demetrius spoke for them all.
‘In that case, we’ll increase the patrols. Take tomorrow night off and then we’ll split the middle of the village in two. Okay?’
There were half-hearted protests about the additional patrols but they all agreed. Solomon stood up and left them to it. He went into the changing room to get ready.
‘Pub?’ Jess said.
Outside it felt cold without the protection of the armour. Dale looked up and down the street.
‘Dale?’ Jess said.
He turned towards her. The others were looking at him.
‘Pub?’ she said.
Dale had been planning to go and see Beth and see how impressed she would be to find out that he was a Patrol Man now. Maybe she would finally let him spend the night. ‘I’m not sure.’
‘You got something better to do?’ Jess said.
‘It’s tradition,’ Anton said. ‘We killed so we drink.’
An image of the dead zombies came into Dale’s head and he realised that he wanted to be with people who understood what that was like. He nodded. He walked the few steps to join them. Hands clapped him on the shoulders and they led him away to the pub.
The Outlook was on the other side of the town hall. It had a low ceiling and dim lighting. The air was filled with smoke but there were only a few people sitting inside nursing suspicious looking drinks.
Jess walked up to the bar and slapped her hands down.
‘What are you having?’ she said. ‘It’s on me.’
They laughed. Dale laughed as well. A man with a long, nicotine-stained, white beard turned around.
‘Hello Jess,’ he said. He nodded at the others.
‘Whiskey and six glasses please Tom,’ she said.
Tom smiled and pulled a half bottle of whiskey out from underneath the bar. He added six glasses. ‘Successful night was it?’
‘Nineteen of them,’ Jess said.
Tom nodded slowly. ‘Well go easy on that stuff. It won’t last forever.’
Jess smiled at him and picked up the bottle. Demetrius took all six glasses easily in his dinner plate sized hands. Dale followed them across the bar to a table by the fireplace. By the time he sat down Jess was already filling the glasses.
They drank the first glass in silence. Dale thought about the people he had killed, not just that evening but in his whole life. He thought about Bradley and his wife and children. He thought about Velma and Harold. He thought that he had never felt so disconnected from his life before.
Jess refilled their glasses and they nursed their second drinks. They spoke in low muttered voices so that they couldn’t be overheard.
‘What do you think it means?’ Anton said.
The others shook their heads.
‘What do you think Dale?’ Jess said.
Dale looked at her. He was surprised to be included in the conversation and disappointed that he didn’t have an answer to give. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You ever heard of anything like this?’ she continued. ‘I’m thinking maybe there’s a…’ she lowered her voice to a whisper that Dale barely heard. ‘…zombie in the village?’
‘What, like somebody’s keeping it as a pet?’ Huey said.
‘No dumbass,’ she said. ‘More like somebody’s husband or wife or child got bitten and they can’t bear to let them go.’
‘Bet you could though Jess,’ Daren said.
She turned to him, a scowl on her face. ‘Fuck you, Daren.’
The table fell silent.
‘It could be,’ Dale said. They all turned to look at him. He felt uncomfortable but it was better than the silence. He needed to hear people talking. ‘Maybe Paul or Richard got bitten and then they got Matthew? Zombies are drawn to other zombies so they might have gone through one of the camps to get to the herd.’
‘Herd?’ Jessie said. She was still wearing the frown that Daren had given her.
Dale nodded. ‘We thought… the army thought that the zombies were massing together. We called it the herd. If there are enough of them, they’re pretty much unstoppable.’
‘Shit,’ Jessie said. ‘So you reckon that’s where they were going?’
Dale shrugged. That was exactly what he thought.
‘They can’t be near here, though, can they?’ Anton said. ‘This herd you’re talking about?’
Dale shrugged. He felt the need to reassure them. ‘We don’t know that there really is a herd. If there is though eventually, they’ll be near everywhere. There were more than sixty million people in the UK before.’
They fell to silence. Dale felt bad for telling them but they were responsible for keeping Harmony safe so they needed to know what they might have to deal with.
They spoke about other matters. Laughing like friends and remembering happier times. Eventually, they returned what was left of the whiskey to Tom and put their glasses down on the bar. They said goodnight.
It was late but Dale thought Beth would still be awake. They hadn’t made any firm plans to see one another but she probably would have expected him to go there. He considered it but he had a nice buzz from the whiskey and he didn’t want to spoil it by having to relive the events of the evening for her. He turned down the lane that led to his house and thought that he would see her in the morning.
CHAPTER 8
HE WATCHED HER CLIMB OVER THE STONE. SHE was wearing tight fitting blue jeans and black boots. The sun was out but there was a chill in the air. Around them, there were ruined towers and stones imbedded in the ground. The edge of the forest was green and lush. They were as far from the village as he had been since his arrival.
‘Do you see anything?’ Dale said.
Beth turned around to face him. She was smiling. Her hair was tied back. ‘There’s a farm or something.’
He scrambled up the rock to stand beside her. He wobbled and she grabbed his hand to stop him falling. On the other side of the rock, the land spread out. A patchwork of fields and a small farm house. He could see the edge of the forest curve away from them.
Dale turned towards Beth. They were so close that he could feel her breathing. The moment seemed right. He leaned towards her. She leaned towards him. He had waited so long for this moment and finally it was here. He closed his eyes.
‘Stop,’ Beth said.
Dale opened his eyes and leaned away. ‘What is it?’ He thought she might have seen something, a zombie perhaps or someone who would report back to the village on what they were doing.
Beth let go of his hand and jumped off the stone. ‘I can’t, I’m sorry.’
She turned away from him. She was surrounded by the ruins. Dale jumped down and went over to her. ‘What’s wrong?’
She shook her head. He thought she might be crying. ‘I’m sorry Dale. I just can’t.’
‘Why not?’
She didn’t answer.
‘Beth? Beth look at me.’
She didn’t turn towards him so he reached out and took her arm. She shook him away.
Dale walked around so that he was facing her. ‘What’s the matter?’ he said.
She shook her head and wouldn’t look at him. He could see that she was crying.
‘Beth please, talk to me. What’s the matter?’
She took her hand away from her face and looked at him. Even with red eyes and tears on her cheeks, she was beautiful.
‘Come on Beth.’ He tried to force a smile but he didn’t feel much like smiling. ‘You can talk to me. What’s the matter?’
‘I can’t Dale.’
‘Of
course you can. You can tell me anything, you know that.’
She shook her head. ‘That’s not what I meant. I can’t kiss you.’
‘Why not? Have I got bad breath?’
She smiled at his weak attempt at humour. ‘You haven’t got bad breath.’
‘What is it then? Hairy nostrils?’
She shook her head. Smiled. ‘Yes you have but it’s not that.’
‘What then?’
The ruins were quiet enough that he could hear the wind rustling the leaves in the trees. A plastic bag skittered along the floor. The logo of the shop that it had belonged to long since faded away.
‘Come on Beth. You know I like you.’
‘I like you too.’
‘Well, what’s wrong then? There must be something.’ He wondered for a minute if it was something to do with her old life. They didn’t talk much about who they had been before the zombies came. Maybe she had been married and still loved her husband.
‘I’m scared,’ she said.
‘Scared?’ He frowned.
She nodded.
‘What are you scared of?’
‘I’m scared that I’ve fallen in love with you,’ she said. It was not what Dale had expected her to say. He had been sure that he loved Beth for weeks now.
‘If you–‘
‘Let me finish,’ she said. She took a deep breath. ‘I’m scared that I’ve fallen in love with you and you’re a Patrol Man. What if you get killed? What happens then? I’ve already lost nearly everyone I care about, what am I going to do if I lose you too?’
‘You’re not going to lose me, Beth.’
‘You don’t know that. You can’t know that. Every time you go out on patrol might be the last time I ever see you. What happens? You kiss me goodbye and then you’re gone forever? How am I supposed to deal with that?’
Dale didn’t know what to say. She was the reason he had joined the Patrol Men in the first place. He had no great desire to go out killing zombies every night. It seemed like an easy problem to solve.
‘I’ll quit,’ he said.