by Toni Cox
My mind starts working again, overcoming the shock of the missing banner, and I begin planning our move to approach the others as Bronwyn, and I make dinner.
I amble through the aisles of the Spar supermarket, taking note of the empty shelves. They’ve cleaned the place out, and I know they’re not here anymore. I see they broke into the liquor store next door, too, and raided several shelves.
There is nothing for me here, and I return to the other side of the building to where Bronwyn waits with Morgan.
“They’ve cleaned the place out and moved on.”
“Where do you think they went?”
“I would probably go to East Gate and Park Meadows. Those malls have pretty much everything. Are you up for it?”
“Let’s do it.”
“I don’t know what kind of reception we’ll get. If they are there, they’ll be protecting the place. Let’s take the long way around and go through Kensington. We’ll park behind the car dealership and walk the rest of the way. That way, they might not see us coming straight away.”
“Good plan,” she says, grinning, eager to get going.
Bronwyn is stronger now. She has put back some of the weight she lost and working in the garden with me every day has toned her muscles. I have also shown her how to handle my mother’s Remington rifle and outfitted her with some of the gear from the tactical shop.
Driving down Queen Street, I notice changes. There is a white van parked across the street, blocking off the way to the bottom of the road. We’re not going that way, turning right, but I wonder who moved the van, and why.
At the next intersection, the scenario is the same — a vehicle parked across the road from the right. As I am turning left, it doesn’t bother me, but I suddenly have the feeling someone else is making my decisions for me.
I’m wary, driving by the spot where I initially intended to park. Going around the block and then parking in an underground parking lot, we approach the mall with caution.
It’s an overcast day, and a light rain falls as we cross the street towards the mall. We keep close to the edge of the buildings, weapons ready, Morgan in the lead.
All I want is to talk to Aurora and her friends, but here I find myself stalking along the edges of a mall like an FBI agent. I can’t shake the feeling that we’re heading into danger, but I press on.
We get to the midpoint of the Park Meadows mall - it’s an open section without a roof - and we’re about to step through the doors when I see a movement to my right.
Morgan does, too, and darts off into the shadows. A minute later, I am looking down at a guy, my 9mm pointed at his chest and Morgan growling at him.
“Please,” he says, “be quiet. If they find you here, they’ll take you, too.”
“Who? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Shh shh,” and he puts his shaking finger to his mouth.
“Okay,” I say quietly, kneeling next to him. “Tell me what is going on. What’s your name?”
“Andrew. Andrew Christophers. I was with Tyron and some others, but when the men came, I managed to escape.”
“What men?”
“The men in the masks.”
I hold my hand out to him and help him up. He is frightened and hardly a threat. Morgan backs down at the change in my demeanour.
“Where are these men now?” I ask.
“On the other end of the mall. Down there by the Pick ‘n Pay side,” Andrew says.
“And why did they take your friends?”
“I don’t know. When they resisted, they beat them, and tied them up.”
“Do they have weapons?”
Andrew nods; he’s clearly afraid. He looks young, but I guess him to be about my age, around twenty-five or so. His clothes are dishevelled, but he doesn’t look starved.
“Were you with a girl called Aurora?”
He nods again. “Yeah, her and Tyron took us in. Kept us safe.”
“How many of you are there?’
“Five.”
I look at Bronwyn, and she shrugs. I have no clue what to do now. We don’t know who these masked men are or why they have taken Andrew’s friends. What is clear is they are not the friendly type.
“Bronwyn, get Andrew back to the Rover. Take Morgan with you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take a look at what is going on over there.”
She stares at me, blankly, but I hold her gaze. I need to know what is happening to make new plans. Andrew may have misjudged the situation, and those men may be here to help us. Maybe they are from the government. I need to find out.
“Alright,” she finally says. “You be careful.”
“You, too. If I am not back in an hour, take the Rover home, okay?”
“Erika …”
“Just do it.”
She nods. “Come,” she says to Andrew and pats her right leg for Morgan to heel.
I watch them walk off and only once they have turned the corner at the far end of the mall do I make my move. My bravado fades quickly as I skirt around the outside, hiding behind the few cars parked in the lot.
There are three vans at the Pick ‘n Pay entrance of the mall, but I can’t see movement. I approach with caution.
With my back pressed to the wall near the entrance, I peer around the corner. A makeshift tent is set up in the centre court; one armed man guards it. He’s wearing a HazMat suit.
I jump as a voice comes through a two-way radio behind me. Panicked, I turn, but the sound comes from within one of the vehicles. The radio goes quiet, and a man replies.
“Sector one, all clear.”
Darting to the side, I press myself against the vehicle. Had he looked out, I would have been in full view.
Sector two, all clear, I hear someone say through the radio. It gets repeated twice more. Four stations. I look around, but can’t see them. They must be on the other side of the mall.
“Is something happening in there?” the man in the van asks.
The man is stable now. He should be fit for transport soon.
Van man laughs. “You shouldn’t have hit him so hard.”
Just keep watch, Scott.
I feel the vehicle move, and dart around to the back as a man in a HazMat suit climbs out of it. He, too, has an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder. Pacing in front of the entrance to the mall, he alternates between scanning the parking lot and looking through the doors to see inside.
The parking lot is too open for me to make a run for it. I’m stuck here, so I wait and watch. It isn’t long before there is movement.
Two HazMats come out carrying a stretcher, a man strapped to it. They load him into one of the vehicles. Three more HazMats exit, dragging Aurora and two other men, all bound and gagged. They, too, get shoved into a vehicle.
I don’t know where to go, so I drop to the tarmac and crawl underneath the vehicle I am hiding behind. Just in time, too, as other armed HazMats emerge, bringing gear from inside the mall.
“How long will it take to test them?” one of the HazMats asks.
“Who knows? Those science guys have been making promises for weeks. I don’t care if they have to dissect this lot as well, but it better work this time.”
“Yeah, I’m tired of this damn suit.”
“Let’s roll,” another shouts.
Doors slam and the engines start. I lie completely still as the vehicle above me revs and then pulls away. As the engine noise fades, I lift my head and see them turn the corner to the main road.
My body is shaking; with rage, not fear. I get up and start running. I’ve lost track of time and hope Bronwyn is still waiting for me.
When I get to the road, I am careful, making sure the HazMats are well clear before I cross. I enter the underground parking and almost laugh out loud when I see the Rover standing where I had parked it.
Morgan barks when he sees me, and I climb in quickly to keep him quiet.
“Are you alright?�
� I ask them, looking at Andrew, who seems to have regained some composure.
“Yeah, we’re good,” Bronwyn says and starts the car.
I stop her. “No, wait. Let’s give them a chance to leave the area. I don’t know which direction they went.”
“Who are they?” Bronwyn asks.
“Trouble,” I say.
Chapter 10
Andrew fills us in on his gang as we drive home. Tyron and Aurora, who are a couple; Nathan, Garth - who is now dead - and Andrew himself.
They worked together, started a company from scratch, and when things started to get weird, they got together, hiding in their office building.
“What are they going to do to them?” he asks as we climb out of the car.
“I guess they’ll take them in, maybe take blood samples to see why they’re immune,” I lie.
“I hope they’ll be okay. I mean, they didn’t have to kill Garth.”
“It was probably an accident,” Bronwyn tells him but shoots me a look.
“Garth is still alive. They carried him out on a stretcher,” I say, touching Andrew on the arm.
He smiles. “Thanks.”
Leading the way into the house, I tell them, “There is nothing more we can do right now unless we can figure out where they went. We’ll need a plan.”
Morgan runs straight for his water bowl in the kitchen, and Bronwyn flops down on the sofa in the lounge. I head for the fridge, taking out three bottles of cold water.
Andrew just stands there, staring, his slack jaw hanging open.
“You live here?”
I pause, a frown creasing my forehead. Of course, I live here. Then it hits me. I look at Andrew’s dirty clothes, his unkempt hair, and the haunted look in his eyes, and I realise that he has probably not lived in such luxury since it happened.
“It was my parents’ house,” I tell him. “There are solar panels on the roof and batteries in the basement. I’ve spent the past few months setting it up, so I have a constant supply of water and electricity.”
I hand him a bottle of cold water and join Bronwyn on the sofa.
“There is a cottage out back where you can stay. It has a shower so that you can clean up. My dad’s clothes will be too big for you, but it’ll have to do for now until we can go shopping.”
“Shopping?”
I watch him as he sits down. If he was working with Aurora, he must be at least my age, yet he looks like a frightened teenager. I wonder under what conditions they survived and what they’ve seen.
“You’re safe now, Andrew.” I lean forward and touch his hand. “It’ll be okay.”
“We’re ready to go,” I tell Andrew the next morning. “How do you feel?”
“Better, thank you. It felt good to have a warm shower. The cottage smells like you recently painted it, though.”
“Yeah, I had to clean up in there.”
“Where are we going?”
“Shopping, of course,” I grin at him.
Immediately, that haunted look is back, and he wraps his arms around his body.
“Andrew? Are you alright?” Bronwyn asked, coming up behind us.
“I don’t want to go out there again.”
“We’re just going down to Meadowdale Mall,” I reassure him. “There is a Mr Price there. We can get you new clothes.”
“Are you mad? Do you guys even know how to use your guns? What if we run into spoke while we’re out there?”
“Ghosts?” I ask, confused. “Spoke? What do you mean there are ghosts out there?”
“You know, the ones that didn’t make it.” He starts trembling.
“Andrew, we don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No, you wouldn’t, would you?” His demeanour changes from frightened to bitter. “Living here, sheltered, with all the luxuries, while we’ve had to fight for our lives out there.” He points, spittle flying from his mouth. “And now the HazMats have taken my friends to do who knows what with and you’re pretending like everything will be just fine. Well, it’s not.”
Bronwyn and I look at each other, shocked. I don’t actually know what to say. Morgan stands protectively in front of us, his hackles raised.
I’ve hardly had it easy setting this up; I’m pretty proud of myself, though. Everything we have here took months to accumulate.
“Okay,” Bronwyn says, “let’s calm down, and Andrew can tell us about these ghosts. It’s obviously important, and we should probably know about it. Right, Andrew?”
Andrew stares at Morgan, hesitantly taking a step back. “Alright.”
I calm Morgan, and we go back inside. After making tea to settle our nerves, we take a seat on the veranda in the sun.
“There are horses in your garden,” Andrew says matter-of-factly.
“Tell us about the ghosts.”
“Are you seriously saying you’ve never seen one?” Andrew looks stunned.
I shake my head.
“They are the reason we only got food from the Spar,” he explains. “There were never any of them there.”
“That’s where I ran into Aurora. She wasn’t friendly.”
“She told us. I’m sorry, but it was our only source of food. We tried breaking into houses, but some of them had spoke in them, so we stopped that.”
“What are they?” I ask, looking for an answer.
“We don’t know,” he shrugs. “It’s like they got sick, survived, but didn’t get better.”
“Sick people?”
He shakes his head. “They’re not people anymore.” He shudders. “They’re pale, like ghosts. Their eyes are bloodshot, and they’re vicious.”
“Are you talking zombies?” Bronwyn laughs.
“You can call them what you want,” Andrew says. “They are alive, so technically they’re not zombies. We think the disease probably fried their brains or something. They killed Cindy.”
I dare not ask who Cindy was. Probably his girlfriend, by the look on his face. In all the time that I’ve been alone, I have not encountered anyone. I shudder to think what could have been out there while I was on my own.
Then I remember the noises I heard that night at Makro. Could it have been them? What about the small changes I’ve seen around the places? Them? What killed Bronwyn’s horses? I clench my jaw, a cold shiver running down my back.
“I’m sorry, Andrew, we didn’t know.” I touch his shoulder to reinforce my comment.
“It’s alright,” he mumbles.
“I’ve been down to the mall several times, by myself. It’s my go-to place. It’s safe. Almost everything you see here, I got from there.”
Andrew nods and takes a sip of his tea. “The tea is nice,” he says. “Aurora used to make us Peppermint tea at the office.” He laughs. “She insisted we take her tablets every morning. To keep us healthy.” His mind drifts for a moment. “I hope they’re okay.”
I smile at him, glad he’s relaxed a bit. “Peppermint is my favourite. When Aurora and I were at college together, she used to come for tea at our dorm. Don’t worry; I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
We’re more careful now. After Andrew’s warning about the ghosts, we don’t take chances. The trip to get him clothes went smoothly, as expected, and Andrew began to trust me.
Now, after two weeks of being with us, he’s become family. Even Morgan is starting to listen to him.
“We’re running short on a few items,” I look down at the list I’ve made, “but to get them, we might have to go to a different mall.”
“Why? We know Meadowdale is safe.” Andrew looks worried.
“I already took everything they had,” I explain. “With three of us living here now, our food consumption has gone up. We need to restock.”
“Where do you think we should go?” Bronwyn asks.
“How about East Rand Mall? They have a large supermarket, as well as other shops that could come in useful. I might want to go back to the tactical shop to kit you guys out with some gear as well.”
“Cool,” she grins “sounds good to me.”
“We’ll take the truck. Are you ready?”
Andrew clutches my father’s rifle to his chest and nods. He’s not very good with the weapon, but it makes him feel more secure.
Bronwyn peers through the gate before sliding it open to let Morgan out. We always let him out first, now, to make sure the street is clear before we go to the truck.
The drive is quiet, but I notice that nature is reclaiming some ground. Already, the edges of streets are overgrown with grass and weeds, and the gardens in the suburbs are mini jungles. Even at the mall, there is grass growing through the cracks in the pavement, and the fence line is almost completely obscured by tall weeds.
Everything appears quiet as we go through the open doors, our weapons at the ready, Morgan in the lead. The Pick ‘n Pay supermarket is straight ahead, so we split up, and each grabs a trolley to load up on the items on our lists.
Once we have everything, we meet back at the truck and load up. Food and toiletries, sorted.
“Where to, now?” Bronwyn asks.
“Dischem,” I say. “There are three of us now, so I want to get more meds.”
We head back inside, and I tell them to each take a trolley again. I want to make the most of this trip. After reading from the books in the library, I learned of essential items I should have in my makeshift hospital.
It’s a big mall, and after the pharmacy, we spend time walking around, seeing what shops are open, and getting things we don’t necessarily need but are nice to have. It’s late afternoon when we’ve eventually had enough.
By the time we get back to the truck and start loading everything inside, even Andrew is laughing and joking with us. He offers to push all three trolleys to the side for us ladies.
I close the truck’s doors and then watch Andrew amble back towards us. Morgan is at his heels, but there’s something off about the dog.
“Morgan? What’s wrong, boy?”
His hackles raise, and he growls, his eyes fixed on the far side of the parking lot. I turn around to look as Andrew lifts his head to do so as well.
“Shit,” he whispers, “be very quiet.”
“What is it?”