'I know, I was just afraid. You both could have been killed, I was out of my mind with worry,' he replied in his hoarse voice which was filled with anguish.
'I was worried about him too, I don't think he'll do anything like that again. He's learned his lesson,' my voice was wavering I felt like I was going to cry, it was unlike Tom to openly admit his feelings. I shook the tears away as I went back upstairs, we were all emotionally battered from the events of the last twenty-four hours. I gave Jensen his dinner before going into the spare room to get some sleep, the spare room overlooked the front of the house. I could see the canal running in-between our row of houses and the other row. I could feel the wind even through the windows, it was a somewhat chilly night. I got one of Jade's thick purple woolly jumpers out of her wardrobe and put it on over my white t-shirt.
I looked down at Tamara and couldn't help but wonder if she would be alright, Tom had said that she hadn't woken up at all. Though I wanted to remain optimistic I feared that if she did not wake soon we would have to look at other options. I moved a few stray strands of hair out of her face and pulled the covers up so they covered her chest, I kissed her gently on the head before going in to the spare room.
I lay in the spare bed thinking about Jade and Maggie, I could only imagine the horror that they were living in. I refused to let myself cry any more, we would get them back. I closed my eyes feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over me, it did not take long for me to fall asleep.
Chapter 13
Tom
I felt bad for giving Jensen such a hard time, but he had to learn that his actions could have put us all in grave danger. He was a good lad, with a heart of gold. I understood why he went off and to be honest I felt tempted to do the same, Jade had been my friend for so many years, she was there when my wife died. Jade always had time for me, and while our friendship would never be anything more, I admired her. As for Maggie, she was a sweet girl who would die to protect any of us. Though you would not think to look at her, but she had more strength than most girls her age. We would find a way to get them back, though I had no idea how we would manage such a thing.
I smiled thinking of my wife, she was the apple of my eye. I let the images of her come to me, unlike my life before I met her it did not fill me with sadness or regret. I was barely nineteen when I met her, she was a farmer's daughter. She was as kind and innocent as you could imagine, I met her one morning when I found myself waking up in her father's barn after a night of drunkenness. She did not flee from me or feel afraid, she simply offered me a cup of coffee. She sat and listened as I told her my story, as it turns out she knew who I was. She worked at the church my grandmother had gone to, she knew of my past and was one of the few people who didn't blame me. As it turned out my grandmother had been my advocate, she swore to the people that I was innocent of murder.
'I know your story well, while God does not tolerate murder; your actions did not come from malice, they came from a desire to protect your mother,' she told me kindly.
'I wish other people thought the same, most people look at me as if I'm a psychopath,' I told her sadly.
'Well you'll find no judgement here,' she said smiling. As the months flew by and my drunken rages became less frequent, I found myself being drawn to Carol. With long, pale red hair and beautiful brown eyes, she was an angel to look at. She was a small woman with milky skin and a smile that could light up a room. I felt so sad that my grandmother died before she could see the man I would become, my Carol sorted me out good and proper. I stayed with her and her parents, I helped to take care of her father as he had been sick with one thing or another for years. He finally died in 1995, Carol's mother felt somewhat glad that God had taken him to heaven. It was not long after that, that we moved to the small village of Greenfield. We lived just across the river from Jade, I met Jade about a year later when I happened to be walking my dog near her house.
In 1999 my wife developed cancer, though I didn't want to admit it I was glad that my Carol had to have a hysterectomy. She had always wanted children and I couldn't bear to break her heart, truth be told my father's words never left my mind. Up until I had met Carol I had indeed destroyed everything I touched, I felt afraid that I would follow in my father's footsteps and harm a child of my own. So when Carol got cervical cancer I felt petrified that she would die, but glad that afterwards she couldn't have children. I had never really believed in God but after feeling glad about my wife's surgery I wondered if it was God trying to send me a sign.
When my wife developed cancer again in 2009, I felt as though it were my punishment for feel happy that she couldn't have children. I had tried to lead a good life, I went to church with my wife, I donated to charity and even became a support worker to recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. Yet when she took ill I felt as though God had done it on purpose, I was finally being punished for killing my father and in turn my mother, and for letting my grandmother down. After she died I turned to Jade, I felt so overwhelmingly guilty for her death like I had somehow caused it. If not for Jade I would have returned to my life of drugs and alcohol, I laughed as I remembered that part of Jade's helping was to give me weed. It was strange that I was able smoke it responsibly and not become addicted, maybe it was because of Jade or it could have been because I was older and wiser, then again it might have been both.
If it hadn't been for Jade, I never would have made it this far. She had always been the strong one, but now that she was in trouble it was time for me to be the strong one. I got up off the floor and went upstairs, I had to apologise to Jensen for how I'd treated him. I opened the door to the living room and found him sat up on the sofa looking both furious and upset. He looked at me like a wounded dog, I guess he thought I was going to give a hard time.
'Look I'm sorry about last night, I was really hard on you.' I told him apologetically.
'Don't worry about it, I was stupid for rushing out like that,' he replied.
'I know how you feel and honestly I felt like rushing off too. But we need to stick together, if we have any hopes of rescuing the girls we need to be united,' I said softly.
'Your right, I know and all I can say is it won't happen again,' Jensen answered trying to smile. I nodded and went upstairs to find Frankie, I hoped that Tamara would be awake by now. The longer she stayed unconscious the more chance of there being damage to her, I found Frankie asleep next to Tamara. I noticed that Frankie had tied Tamara's hands to the bed... just in case Tamara turned during the night. Frankie was still asleep, I didn't want to disturb her as she'd been the strong one since the girls had been taken. I went back downstairs and grabbed some food, it was only tinned shite but it would have to do. I opened them with the tin opener in Jade's kitchen draws, in the five years since the apocalypse Jade's house had remained somewhat intact. I put the food on a tray and took into Jensen, I told him to pick one; he chose the tinned peas.
I sat down to eat mine before taking it up to Frankie and Tamara, me and Jensen sat in silence; mostly likely we were both in a world of our own. I had a tin of carrots, I chose to leave the sweetcorn for Frankie as I knew it was her favourite.
'Right time to check on the girls,' I said to Jensen as I got up.
'Let me know how Tamara is,' he asked me.
'Will do,' I replied.
I went up the stairs to find Frankie sat up on the bed stroking Tamara's head, it was an all too rare time when I felt like crying....but this was one of them.
'How is she?' I asked concernedly.
'She stirred for a little bit but I couldn't get her to fully wake up,' she replied sadly.
'I thought you might want something to eat,' I said kindly. She took the tin gratefully, Tamara looked peaceful as though she were simply in a deep sleep. Yet her face seemed paler and her breathing much slower. I hoped and prayed that Tamara would be alright, I couldn't bear the thought of losing someone else. These people were my family, even Frankie was. Without them I was nothing more than a grumpy old man, with a bad temper.
'Have we gone over the plan enough?' Frankie asked.
'I think one more time should do it,' Tamara said forcefully.
'First thing we need to do is locate their base, we are just going to scope it out not attack; is that clear?' She asked sternly.
'Don't worry I won't do anything stupid,' Jensen said calmly.
'We are splitting up, me and Jensen will scope the place. I want you and Tom to look for somewhere nearby that we can hole up in,' she said calmly.
'Sounds like a plan.' I replied, feeling confident. We all had our missions, despite the distance we would be walking. Mostly to ensure we wouldn't be seen, I wasn't a fan of walking and it was going to take about four hours. We gathered our food and weapons, it would be sad to leave this house but I knew one day we would all come back here. The sun shone brightly for an early morning, it had not risen very far and yet I could feel the heat emanating from it. We saw no dead ones as we walked through the village, we passed the weapons shop and got up the hill before we ran into trouble.
We could hear the moans before we saw them, we jumped behind a high wall and concealed ourselves in the trees and bushes. I looked at the others, who looked as scared as I did. I kept my breathing quiet and slow as they passed us, there must have been hundreds of them. I felt somewhat glad that we weren't at home, I dared not move an inch as they shuffled by. After what seemed like an eternity, they seemed to have all gone. We waited another ten minutes before checking to make sure that the coast was clear, I as the oldest went first. I could neither see nor hear any walkers, I felt confident enough to walk back on the road.
'It's all clear,' I told the others.
'That herd was a big one,' Tamara said worryingly.
'It sure was, I think we need to hurry up and find some cover,' I told them urgently. Just as we came to another small hill I saw three corpses rounding the corner, we all got out our knives and readied ourselves for a fight. Frankie and Tamara took out one while Jensen managed to deal with another one, I somehow ended up too close to the edge. I stabbed the corpse nearest to me in the head, but as is it fell forward I slipped and almost went over the edge. I clung to the remains of the metal railing as I screamed for help, it was lucky that Jensen and Frankie were near me otherwise I would have been done for. They pulled with all their might to get me up, I sat on the road catching my breath as I thanked them.
'Are you alright?' Frankie asked concernedly.
'Yeah, thanks for that I would have been dead for sure,' I replied graciously.
'Can you carry on?' Tamara asked kindly.
'Don't worry about me, I'll not slow you down,' I told her. We carried on walking, taking extra care not to get too close to the edge as we walked up hill. By the time we reached the top we were exhausted, but rest would have to come later as there were four dead heads coming towards us. Two were once women, who were wearing what looked like farmer gear. The men looked like teenagers with their long scruffy hair and baggy trousers. We dropped our bags and grabbed our weapons, Tamara shot one with her bow, I could not deny the pleasure I felt watching a dead head be put down. Jensen booted one of men knocking it to ground, I must admit his aim had gotten better in the time I had known him. When I first met him he couldn't even strike a bullseye on a target board, now he was just as good as the rest of us. He struck the biter right in the middle of the head, blood splattered on the road as he kicked it off his machete. Frankie and I took care of the other two, knocking them to ground and smashing their heads in with our hammers.
Tamara was examining the corpses there was a worried look on her face.
'These look fresh, they ain't been dead for long and the lasses look like farmers.'
There was more on her mind than she was telling.
'You're right, could be that they lived near that other group and they had no use for them,' Frankie said unhappily.
'Come on, we need to get a move on.' I did not want them to linger we had to keep to our mission.
We walked for another couple of hours before we came across a pub, we did not know if it was the right one but we had to find out.
'Tom, Jensen you two stay here me and Tamara will check the place out. Take my watch, if we aren't back in twenty minutes leave without us.' She knew what we would say but her tone was final. I sat with Jensen not knowing what to say, Jade was my sister in spirit but Maggie was Jensen's sister by blood. I could not truly understand what he had been going through these last few months, I was never very good at being comforting that was Jade's territory. I could see the fear and worry in his eyes as we watch the girls go on ahead.
'Don't worry lad, we'll get them back,' I told him.
'I hope so, I just keep thinking that if anything has happened to her, I'll never forgive myself,' he confessed.
'I know it's not quite the same, but I know how you feel,' I replied sadly.
'I hate this waiting around, I just want to go and get them,' he said almost angrily.
'And we will, but we've got to be smart. The last thing we need is to make a wrong move and get the girls captured,'
'I know, and believe me the last thing I want to do is get them hurt,' he replied quietly.
Chapter 14
Frankie
We crept around the bushes until we got close to the pub, I didn't realise until I saw the name that my parents and I used to come here for Sunday dinner. Though I wanted to concentrate on our mission I could not help but remember happier times, I could see it clear as day. My dad would sit and complain about how long it would take for them to prepare the food, my mum would laugh and joke that he was a grumpy old man. I would sit and watch them look at each other with love in their eyes, I always hoped that I would find love like theirs.
A tear fell from my eye, I shook my head and wiped it away I would not let my memories distract me.
We crept along the stone wall, looking around we could see and unused patch of ground adjacent to a large car park which led to the reception entrance. We sneaked up to the left side of the building keeping a lookout for walkers and people as we did. We looked into the downstairs windows and saw a posh dining area, there were a few walkers inside. There was no sign of human life to be seen, clearly this was not the base we were looking for.
'We better tell the others, they can help us clear this place. We can use this as our temporary base.'
Tamara looked a little hopeful, I guess she thought we could be safe here for a while. We went back to Tom and Jensen to tell them what we had found, Jensen looked almost relieved to find out that we hadn't found the group. I think Tom was just happy to have something productive to do.
We crept back to the side windows and dumped our bags, we went to the reception entrance and readied our weapons. There were no barricades to suggest that people had ever stayed here, we decided to stay together while we explored the place.
We chose to deal with the right side of the pub first as it was the biggest side, we opened the doors as walked into the reception area the long wooden desk had long since been destroyed probably used to patch something up.
To the right of the desk was a small hallway leading to the very posh dining area, we peered round the corner to see a small pile of corpses that had already bee
n taken care of. There were three of the undead still roaming around, one was a small child the others were probably the parents. I snuck up on it and stabbed it in the head with my dagger that I kept in my belt, Tamara shot one with her bow and Tom killed the last one with his crossbow. We were getting efficient at killing them quietly, I looked to check that the others were alright Tom just looked tired while Tamara and Jensen looked determined.
We walked to end of dining room and looked out of the windows, there was not a person or biter in sight, we opened the door which led to a kitchen. The familiarity of this place could not be ignored, though I wanted to feel sad I chose to think of the good memories that this place had brought me.
We entered the kitchen to find a lone female walker wandering around, I turned to look at the others and for some reason they all seemed to freeze. I did not ask why as I took care of the biter by stabbing it in the head.
I turned to look at them once more, while they all understood that I had to kill it they looked sad.
'What's wrong?' I asked quietly.
'That was Amber, one of Jade's daughter's.' Tom fell to his knees beside Amber, even when Jade and Maggie had been captured Tom had been angry instead of sad. The sight of Amber as a walker was clearly too much for him to handle, he cradled her dead body as the tears fell.
I didn't know what to say, I looked down at the corpse she had not been a biter long maybe a few weeks. She looked like Jade, she had the same hair and face shape. I felt sad, it had been a long time since I'd had to kill a walker that people knew.
'I'm sorry, when we have finished clearing out this place we will give her a proper burial,' was all I could say to comfort them. Tom did not reply as he checked her body, there were no bites or scratches on her. She had been stabbed in the femoral artery, looking around we could see a large trail of blood from the outside door to where she lay. Looking closely at her arm we could see the word 'pet' was carved into her, it was no light scratch either this cut ran deep.
Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human Page 11