'Well don't you worry, I'll get you home safe and sound,' I smiled. We spent the next few days searching Hyde, we looked in the old shopping centre, we ventured to the large green supermarket near the town hall, we even took a trip just outside of the town centre and looked in a dozen or so houses; but we found nothing. Surprisingly there wasn't that many walkers around, I knew better than to relax, no doubt at some point a group of people had herded them into a large building. I myself had done that a few times in the past.
'We've still not found what we need,' I told him after the fourth day of searching.
'I know, but there must be somewhere nearby that has what it' he replied determinedly.
'There's only one other place close by I can think of, but given that we've hardly seen any corpses I'm not keen on going there.'
'Where is it?'
'The old yellow supermarket just on the outskirts of the town centre,' I told him worryingly.
'It's the only place round here we haven't looked, we've got to try.'
'Alright then, let's go,' I replied fearfully.
As we headed towards the supermarket I told him about my concerns, he brushed them aside telling me that it would all be okay. I wanted to believe him, but my gut told me otherwise.
It was eerily quiet as we entered the car park, I looked to see that the main door had been left slightly ajar, this only made me feel more uneasy.
'Don't you think we should knock on the windows first?' I asked.
'No, if there are any in there we should take them by surprise,' he answered quietly. I knew it was a mistake and yet I went along with him, as we walked inside the old run down supermarket I saw nothing at first but toppled over shelves and spoiled, rotten food. He raced over to the medicine aisle and grabbed everything he could, I kept an eye on him as I went to the tin aisle and filled my bag until it was heavy.
'Did you get everything?' I asked him in a whispered tone.
'Yeah, it should do for a while,' he replied. It was only as we checked the other side of the store for water and pop that we heard the moans, they came thick and fast, scores of the hungry, rotting , bloody corpses. I pulled Cameron out of the store as fast as I could, but the dead raced after us.
'I knew it was a bad idea,' I scolded him. 'We'll be fine,' he said as we neared the exit. I dared to look behind us, there must have been fifty dead heads chasing us; I knew we could not take them on, our only hope was to run. We stopped near the edge of the car park, I had no idea where we could go that would be safe and secure.
'Why are you stopping?' He asked fretfully.
'We need somewhere that's safe to hole up in, where can we go?'
He stood for a minute watching as the dead struggled to get through the door all at once, then his face lit up.
'The town hall, it's large but not too large and it has those reinforced doors and windows,' he replied sounding confident.
I nodded as we began to run, the dead on our heels as we raced through the desolate town.
We made it to the town hall, just barely though. We hardly had time to bolt and barricade the door before the dead were clawing to get in.
'Fucking hell, that was close,' I said wiping the sweat from my face.
'I'll remember to listen to you in the future,' he replied apologetically. I looked out of one of the side windows, the dead had gathered round the front and the only back exit led into an alley way. No way we were going out that way, it would be too easy for us to get trapped. So we resigned to the fact that for the time being we were trapped in here.
As the days turned into weeks, my optimism waned. Our food supply ran short, too short for my liking and the cold nights were spent listening in fear as the dead shuffled around outside. I longed to see the outside, to feel the sun on my skin or wind in my hair, these pasty pale walls were beginning to drive me nuts. Cameron never lost hope though, he held me close during those long nights and made laugh when I wanted to cry. If not for him, I wouldn't have made it.
I felt the weight drop off me as we had to ration our food to just one tin a day, all hope of seeing the outside world was lost on me. I felt certain I would die in this dirty, run down building, but Cameron wouldn't let that happen.
After being trapped for just over four weeks, Cameron finally stood up, 'I'll not let us die in this rotten place,' he smiled determinedly.
'Just how do you propose we get out of here?' I asked sadly.
'We're going to open the door and run, it's that simple,' he told me. 'Do you realise just how many things could go wrong with that plan, there's too many of them out there, we're weak from the lack of food and water. They could easily catch us, it's freezing out there and there's no other safe places nearby,' I scolded him.
'It doesn't matter, we have to get of here and I need to get back to my family.' I sighed, I knew nothing would change his mind and truthfully I didn't want to stay here any longer. I studied his face for a moment, his expression changed from happy to fearful. He took off his silver wedding band and handed it to me.
'If I don't make it, I want you to give this to my wife and tell her, that death is not the end.'
'Don't be stupid, your going to make it back to them,' I shook my head refusing to take the ring.
'Please Frankie, I need to know that if die, you'll find my family for me,' he pleaded.
I took a deep breath, I didn't want to lose him, I couldn't. I'd lost too many good friends in this world, I couldn't bear to lose him as well.
'Alright, I promise I'll find them.'
He told me how to find their house, where it was and how best to approach them if I was alone. I made sure to remember every detail, but I swore I would protect him no matter what.
'Are you ready?' He asked as we dismantled the barricade.
'As I'll ever be,' was all I could say. He flung open the door, knife in hand. The corpses turned to us as we ran outside, their cold, black eyes hungry for the taste of our flesh. I grabbed Cameron by the hand and pulled him along with me, I refused to let him go. The whole horde followed us, their growling ringing through my ears as we went. It was only as we fled down the road that we saw another, slightly smaller herd filtering out of a nearby alley way. I tried to dodge them but they were too close, before I could react Cameron shoved me out the way as they descended upon him.
'Find them, please,' were his last words. I watched in horror as they tore at his skin, shredding it to pieces. His screams echoed through the corpse filled town, there was nothing I could do, except make sure that his death wasn't in vain. I fled to an old pet shop just down the road, it was just far enough away that the dead wouldn't find me.
After checking that it was safe, I slumped down in the back room and cried. I had not shed tears for so long, that it felt almost unnatural to do so, but I couldn't help it. Even though I had only know him just over five weeks, it felt like forever in this world. We'd spent every moment together, we'd laughed and shared stories, he'd kept me safe and in the end he had sacrificed himself for me; and now I would have to find his family and tell them he was dead. His last words for his wife rang in my ears, 'death is not the end.'
Being a Pagan I did believe in reincarnation, which did ease my pain a little, not a lot though. I saw him a few days later, shuffling along with all the corpses and couldn't help but think about what he'd said. If this was an afterlife, it was one I didn't want to be in. I swiftly took him out, feeling the tears well up inside me.
'Goodbye my friend,' I whispered tearfully as my knife penetrated his skull.
I fled Hyde, vowing never to return again. As I looked through the jagged holes in the rotting wooden planks I had nailed on to the windows, I saw that the snow had started to melt. The air would still be ice cold though and the cold Winter wind would send a chill right through me.
I kept a mental note of the months as they flew by, though the weather we had often didn't resemble the month I still felt the need to keep track. It seemed to me that once everything shut down and the earth had stopped b
eing polluted by mankind's cars and power plants the weather seemed to take on a life of its own. It could sometimes hail in the summer and be hot as hell in the winter months, I glad to see that this Winter it was not the case.
There was an old home made calender in the kitchen of the farm house, I knew it was January as the people that had been here before hadn't been gone long. They had been here since the start and had probably only left due to running out of food. They had marked the days on their calender, the last day they had marked was 28th December 2014. I had been here about three weeks so that would make the date 18th January 2015, I laughed to myself as I remembered that today was my 22nd birthday. Happy birthday to me, I thought bitterly.
I checked the grounds everyday to look for biters, but I never found any. In fact since the snow came I hadn't seen any, it was like that every time it snowed. Each year I would hope for snow as it slowed them down but this was only the second year it had properly snowed. The snow seemed to slow them down to the point where they almost froze right on the spot, most of them seemed to hibernate. I know it sounds mad but as soon as the snow hit, they all seemed to disappear. Of course as soon as the weather warmed up again they would come back.
I breathed in the cold air, enjoying for a moment the feel of snow on my skin. It was refreshing, it made me think of Christmas and I was often glad of reminders of the old days. It was the memories that kept me going. Though as I had learned sometimes remembering the past too much was a bad thing.
I had nothing to worry about for now, I went back inside and locked all the doors. I was thankful that the people who lived here before had left the beds intact, it was a rarity to find a bed that was intact let alone one with comfy covers. I lay down on soft yet slightly lumpy mattress and pulled the silky red quilt covers over me, it did not take me long to fall asleep that night.
As I sat looking out the window the following morning I couldn't help but think of my parents, my dad was a large round man with a bald head. He was a jolly man who always seemed to be laughing, he had arthritis in his knees so it meant that he couldn't walk far. My mum worked and took care of him, she was a small dumpy woman with short blonde hair. I definitely got my height from him, I had never in my life seen two people so in love. I loved watching them together, there was never a sad moment in my house.
The first two years after the outbreak I had hoped and prayed that the army or the government would come and save us all somehow. Thinking of the government made me laugh, my dad always slagged them off 'bloody bastards sitting in their big houses while the rest of us struggle' he would often say. He hated the government and when things had gone to hell he blamed them, there was a part of me that thought he was right. With all the technology and resources the country had it seemed unbelievable that they couldn't prevent this.
While my dad was the jolly, joyful parent my mum was serious and stern. She was the one that scolded me when I misbehaved and argued with me when I talked back. I was not ashamed to say that I was a daddy's girl. He had always encouraged me to follow my dreams, when he was younger he had lived in South Africa. I loved hearing his stories from before, and couldn't wait to have adventures like that of my own. He was always able to calm my mum down when she went off on one or worried too much about me, I remember sitting by his side laughing at her sometimes as she worried about stupid things. The world had reverted to a primitive state and while we had essentially gone back to the way it used to be, people had gotten so comfortable with having luxuries that many found it hard to cope in this world.
My friend Amy had not coped without technology, she could not sleep without the noise from her t.v. I missed reading more than anything, though there were times when I wished I could go on my computer. It had been hard at first but now I was used to it, it would be hard to go back to how things used to be. I had hoped that those remaining would make the world better in the end, though given that there appeared to be more arseholes than nice people I doubted that any world created by them would be one I'd want to live in. I felt so alone, the loss of those that had died always stayed with me, I thought sadly. Nothing could ever prepare me for losing people though there was a part of me that had gotten used to it. Neither I nor the people I had come across could mourn the way we used to, this world would not allow it. After my last loss I doubted that I could ever care for anyone else, it had been too damn hard losing him. I had long since lost everyone I'd known before the outbreak, my life was lonely and far from safe but at least I was surviving. While I had not let this world turn me cold or heartless I recognised that I was far from the same person I was before, though in truth there had been more than a few things I'd done that were morally grey at best. That's why being alone was sometimes better, at least if I was by myself then I wouldn't have to deal with losing anyone.
Chapter 2
Jade
It was my job to keep them safe, I had to be strong. My hope was waning though, as the longer my husband was gone the more my faith was fading. He'd been gone for two and a half months, I'd told him not to go alone the others had even offered to go with him but he refused. Cameron had gone to Hyde to find some more medical supplies, as we'd long since picked clean all the places round here. My Cameron could be so stubborn at times, he wanted to take care of us all but what he never seemed to understand was that we were a family, we looked out for each other.
I knew deep down Cameron was gone but I couldn't bear to truly believe it, I didn't let on to the others that I felt so full of despair. They could sense it though as they all kept looking at me with sympathetic eyes, I wanted to tell them they were being stupid and that Cameron would come back.
Out of three children I'd given birth to, I had none left. My son Daniel had left for university before the outbreak, my daughter Rowena had gone to visit him but we'd heard nothing from her to tell us if she even made it. My other daughter Amber had gone missing months ago, like her father she wanted to protect us. At the time most of us had come down with the flu, we'd told her to wait until we were well enough but she refused. We'd gone looking for her but found no trace, it was Cameron who'd wailed and cried whereas I had remained strong. I held my emotions in a lot of the time, as I had to be strong for the others. It was somewhat amazing how five years after the world had gone to hell I still lived in my own house, almost all of my neighbours were dead but I still had two people from before that were with me.
One was my old friend Tom, he was a rough old git but had a heart of gold. He was often wary of new people but once you got to know him, he was kind. Not that he really let on how kind he was, especially to the younger ones. He was like the old strict dad to them, but they all knew deep down he was a softy.
Nora was my adopted mother, she was in her seventies and was getting quite frail in her old age. She was the opposite of Tom, Nora often comforted us and listened when we needed to talk and held us when we cried. It was strange that at forty-eight I still sometimes needed a mother to cry to, even though I had lost my blood children I had come to adopt two girls and a boy.
Tamara was a young Irish woman, she had come to us six months after the outbreak. She was a tough broad who didn't let people in, I could sense that she'd had a rough life but she didn't really talk about her past. She was almost twenty-four but was one of the most mature people I had ever met, she could out fight even Tom who was as tough as nails. Tamara had saved our butts many times, I owed her my life for everything she'd done.
The twins Jensen and Maggie were our youngest members, though they weren't actually twins they looked like it. Both skinny, ginger, pale and green eyed there was barely any differences between them. Jensen was almost nineteen, but in many ways he was still just a baby. He could fight and defend himself but he couldn't hold his own like Tamara or Tom, he didn't really speak much to us and he spent most of his time either looking out the window in my cellar or whispering to his sister. He had a good heart though, I could remember at the end of last Autumn he found an injured bird. He brought it
back it and even argued with Tom when he told Jensen to take the bird away, he nursed that thing for weeks until it was better. I watched as Jensen smiled when he let the bird go, I had not seen him really smile until that moment. I just hoped that his naivety and kind heart wouldn't get him killed in this world.
While his sister Maggie was barely sixteen she was wiser to this world than Jensen, she was not very adept at killing the dead but often spoke out when she thought our plans weren't fool proof enough. Her long pigtailed ginger hair made her look much younger than she was, but she was far from a little girl. In many way she was more capable at surviving this world than her brother, she often told him off for being a baby. Despite their many personality differences they were as close as could be, they looked out for each other and protected each other in a way that I had not seen in a long time. If one of them went out on a run, the other would always follow.
Given that they had lost their parents some years ago, it made sense that they were so protective of each other. I dreaded to think what would become of the other if something awful were to happen to either one of them, in this life we got used to losing people but I knew that with Maggie and Jensen they were only as strong as they were because of each other.
Today we were rehashing an old argument that we'd been having few quite some time, I still stood by my initial view point but a few of the others wanted to go over it again in a hope of changing my mind.
'We need to go somewhere safer, how long will it be before we all die here?' Tamara asked calmly.
'We can't go, Nora isn't fit for travel,' I argued.
'Don't be bringing me into this argument, you need to do what's best for the group,' Nora told me sternly.
'Nora's right Jade, we need to think clearly on this,' Tom chimed in.
'Cameron might still come back, if we aren't here how do think he's going to feel?' I shot back.
'Jade I hate to say it, but I don't think he's coming back,' Tamara said quietly.
Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human Page 2