'I think we need to head to the chippy and stay there until tomorrow,' Tamara said interrupting my thoughts.
We all just nodded, not saying anything.
We reached the chippy a short while later, luckily we ran into no trouble on the way. We knocked on the door and waited for the usual noises of biters but after moments of waiting we heard nothing. That didn't mean there weren't any trapped inside, we opened the door and readied our daggers. The once shining silver food warmers were now filthy with years old dirt and dust firmly stuck to the surface.
We looked everywhere and could find no trace of the walking dead anywhere, we closed the door and put a couple of old chairs up against the entrances so nothing could get in. We sat down in the restaurant part and took off our jackets, we took out some food and sat eating tins of corned beef.
I wandered into the kitchen and stood for a while looking out the window, my thoughts were scattered. Tamara came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder, I jumped out of my skin as I turned round.
'Sorry lass, didn't mean to give you a fright,' she said apologetically.
'It's alright, I was just lost in thought,' I told her quietly.
'What's wrong?' She asked quietly.
'It's nothing, we've got more important things to focus on than the crap going round in my head,' I informed her. I looked round the corner from where I was stood and saw Jensen and Finn talking quietly, my heart beat faster as I watched him laugh at something Finn said. Tamara obviously sensed what I was feeling because the next thing she said cleared things up a little.
'He loves you, you know,' she told me smiling.
I didn't know what to say, I had never been loved like that by anyone other than Nikkita and I didn't know what to do with that information.
'The world is uncertain, we could die at any moment,' I said in a hushed voice.
'That should be more of a reason to embrace what you're feeling, would it not be better to be with him than to always wonder?' She asked gently.
'I honestly don't know, I'm afraid. It's uncharted territory for me, I've never felt this way about a man before,' I confessed.
She laughed, she had a sparkle in her eyes that I'd not seen any of us have in long time.
'He might be a twat at times, but that lad has a heart of gold. If I swung that way, he'd be first on my list,' she teased. I wasn't sure if she really meant it but, I didn't want anyone else to swoop in and take him. Not that there was anyone else in the running, that I knew of. I sighed knowing that she was right, I needed to tell him before it was too late.
She returned to the other room without saying a word, I followed her in a while later. I hadn't noticed that it was dark despite me looking out the window, it was time to settle down for the night. I had packed a thin blanket in my backpack Jensen hadn't thought to bring one so we had to share, fortunately it was big enough for both of us. We couldn't use my bag as a pillow as it was still wet, Tamara shivered clearly she was still cold. I had noticed that she got cold rather easily, though she didn't complain.
'You're cold, take my jumper,' Jensen said to Tamara in a concerned voice.
Before she could complain he took off his thin, black, wet coat and his jumper revealing his pale ginger chest hair than ran in a V shape into his boxers. I looked away not wanting to stare. Tamara graciously took his jumper, I could smell it from here. It smelled of wet grass though it was still drier than my bag.
'What will you do, won't you get cold?' Tamara asked enjoying the comfort and warmth his jumper provided.
He went into his bag and pulled out a t-shirt.
'I'll use this,' he replied.
'So you remembered to bring a spare t-shirt but not a blanket?' I said laughing at him.
He turned around to put on his t-shirt, and both Tamara and Finn wiggled their eyebrows at me, I tried not laugh as I laid down.
We all slept next to each other with me and Tamara in the middle. It felt strange being in the middle of them, the image of Jensen's body flashed in my mind, I had never seen a man's body before. The floor wasn't that uncomfortable, though I did miss my bed. As I lay there listening to them breathe, it was hard to think that Jensen was four years younger than me he was so mature for his age; then again in a world like this you had to grow up fast or you got killed. Tamara was just like me, I could tell that she had lost a lot. She was strong, wise, and fiercely protective of us all.
As I started to fall asleep they both put their arm round me, in a bid to keep warm no doubt. It felt strange but oddly comforting, I wished I could make these feelings disappear loving someone just complicated things. Having these people in my life was like adding colour to an ever greying world.
When I woke in the morning Jensen was already up and ready to go, I got up and sleepily rubbed my eyes. I yawned and stretched after I got to my feet. Even in the morning without brushing his hair and looking sleepy he looked stunning.
'Any chance of my jumper back?' He asked politely.
'Sure,' Tamara replied as she took it off. Somehow as she took it off she managed to get herself stuck, she muffled for Jensen to help her out of it. I could see her bra and cleavage, she had more than a handful. I turned my head away to stop myself staring, though I had to admit she was beautiful. I saw Finn's face, he blushed trying not to look at her large, pale breasts. Jensen laughed as he helped her, he pulled it off Tamara and she blushed slightly. Tamara did not like making mistakes or looking like an idiot but she laughed it off.
We got ready and cleared the chairs away so we could get out, we looked both ways before we walked anywhere. There was not a walker in sight, we had our weapons out just in case we saw any. The road ahead looked clear, looking down the hill we could see that all the shops and houses were intact. Nothing had been burned or damaged beyond the normal state of disrepair, it seemed like such a peaceful village even now I could see the beauty this place once held.
We walked down the road and could see the shops on either side, we did not look in them as we had a mission and had to stick to it. The sun was shining brightly there was not a cloud in sight, I could not help but enjoy it as I felt the warmth on my skin. It was just the right temperature for me, I smiled as I looked up at the bright blue sky.
'Its nice to see some one smile for a change,' Tamara said smiling back at me.
'I can't help but enjoy this weather, its just so soothing outside. Its been a while since I had a chance to relish in something,' I replied happily walking down the road.
'I think we should split up,' I told them.
'I hate it when you say that,' Finn laughed.
'I'll take wonder boy here with me, you two take the shops at the bottom of the hill, we'll take the top. Meet back here in say, an hour?' Tamara said as she laughed.
I gently shook my head at her, I knew what she was doing and while apart of me found it sweet, I also found it a little irritating.
'Sounds like a plan, you boys alright with that?' I asked happily.
'No problem,' Jensen replied.
'Sure thing boss,' Finn mocked playfully. Jensen and I walked around the shops, they were mostly charity shops but thankfully they had what we needed. While food wasn't a priority if we came across any we'd take it, we steered clear of the small shopping centre they had. It seemed strange that we hadn't seen a single corpse in since we'd been out, I kept on alert though. I hoped the others were alright, as we passed the medical centre I had an idea. While we had most generic kinds of medication, if any of us had a serious injury we'd be pretty screwed.
'What do you think about getting the others and raiding that medical centre?' I asked, breaking the silence.
'Hmm, seems a bit dangerous but I know what you're thinking. We should go and find the others and check with them first,' he replied.
We still had some time before we were due to meet up with them, we checked a few more shops before going back to meet them. Still we saw no dead ones, I was getting a little concerned. Never was there a town or city t
hat was clear of the dead, if you were in a place in the middle of nowhere then maybe but here there should have been some. We went back to the meeting point to wait for Tamara and Finn, they should be here any minute. Sure enough a few minutes later they came walking down the road, judging by the smiles on there faces they too hadn't seen any biters. As we walked back to the chippy we found a trolley, we put all our stuff in and Finn pushed it back. I told them of my idea, but they weren't too keen on it.
'I just think that if any of us have a serious accident, we're going to be in trouble. Jillian used up all the I.V bags in keeping me alive, what would we do if something like that happened again?' I argued.
'You've got a point I know, but how can the four of us hope to get in and out without getting hurt?' Tamara asked concernedly.
'At least we'll have the medicine to cure you,' Finn joked.
'While Finn has a point, I'm just not sure we should risk it,' Jensen said.
'Why don't we ask the others, see what they think?' I told them.
'Alright, let's get back to the chippy and see what we've got then we'll contact the others,' Tamara replied.
We all agreed and headed back in silence, once we sat down in the chippy I radioed the others to see what they thought about my idea. 'It's funny, I was just about to ask and see if you could get any more medicine. We're low on anything good, and we do need more I.V bags and if you can some, we need some morphine,' Jillian said.
'Do you need backup?' Asked Faye over the radio.
'No, we're alright, we'll let you know if it changes,' I replied kindly. 'Okay, looks like we're going,' Tamara said almost sadly. We sat and went over the plan half a dozen times before we finally left out, I was glad we'd originally left early in the morning otherwise it would be getting too late for us to go.
The giant courtyard of the medical centre was eerie and a feeling of foreboding came over me, as we neared the entrance I could see that many of the windows had been smashed. Despite the fact that it was early afternoon and the sun blazed down on us on a bright seemingly pleasant day, the closer I got to the door the more intense the feelings of unease and nervousness became. The halls were empty of life as if every good thing this building once stood for had been drained by the current state of decay the world was in. It felt much colder in here, I shivered feeling an icy chill go through me. I dared not make a sound for fear of something jumping out at me, all my previous feelings of dismay and fear were nothing compared to what I felt now. I saw the crumbling sign on the wall which told me that the pharmacy would be nearby.
'I think the medicine store is over this way,' I whispered pointing down the left hall.
The others nodded and followed my lead. We followed the long corridor to the end silently thanking the universe that this hospital was not that big. I really hoped that there was some supplies left, from what Gail had told me Holmfirth fell quite quickly with most of the residents fleeing to the refugee camps.
We walked up the stairs, moving the metal beds out of the way being careful not to make too much noise. I was glad to see that there were no dead bodies here, I had heard horror stories of people getting trapped inside hospitals and the place being covered in dead people. I could hear low moaning coming from upstairs, as we approached the first floor I peeked around the corner; I couldn't see anything but that didn't mean that there wasn't anything here. Though there were no dead bodies here I could see the bloodstains on the floor and smeared blood along the walls, before this began I would have screamed at the sight of so much blood; now I had become numb to it.
We crept round the corner keeping a look out for any walkers, we opened each and every door along the way not finding a single biter; and yet I kept hearing the moans. I continued to follow the signs hoping that I wasn't leading us into danger.
We reached the last room on the second floor, where the medicines were kept. I searched the cupboards while the others searched the draws and the shelves, we searched for a while and luckily we found what we were looking for. Unlike most of the larger hospitals this one hadn't been ransacked, there was still plenty of supplies left. We got Mannitol, Oxycodeine, Kadian plus some strong antibiotics and the rest of stuff that we needed.
We walked back down the hallway when the roof began to cave in on us, we all seemed to panic as we ran in different directions. As it turned out, the walkers we'd heard had been on the roof. I could not keep track of the others as I fled the scene not paying attention to where I was going, through all the dust and debris I didn't even know if the others were alive.
Chapter 23
Tamara
A falling walker landed on Finn while a small part of the roof fell on me. I tried get get up but the debris was really heavy, I saw that Finn was struggling to get the walker off him. I couldn't see or hear Frankie or Jensen, I had no idea where they went. A few more dead ones fell through the ceiling, smashing their heads as they landed on cold hard floor. I didn't have time to wonder how they had gotten on the roof. I managed to push the the chunk of concrete off me, I got to my feet and staggered over to Finn. Just as I pulled the walker off him, another one grabbed me from behind.
I kicked it off me with all my strength, it fell backwards and I felt thankful that it wasn't one of the super strong biters. I couldn't get to my knife so I grabbed a metal pole and whacked it repeatedly until it fell to the floor and stopped moving.
I still found it difficult to walk but I managed to get the walker off Finn, he had some how lost his weapon so we both had to use metal poles to finish it off. More walkers fell through the collapsed ceiling, some of them died on impact but not all.
Finn held me up as my leg wanted to give way, we ran as fast as we could down the stairs with the growling biters on our tail. The sharp pain in my leg growing with intensity with each step I took, I was thankful that Finn was a lot stronger than he looked as he had to practically carry me out.
We reached what used to be the waiting room before Finn sat me down on one of the chairs, he quickly closed the door that we had just come through so that the dead couldn't get to us. He barred the door with some metal chairs and the large wooden coffee table that had sat in the middle of the room.
'Where are Frankie and Jensen, did you see them?' I asked worryingly.
He shook his head.
'Crap, we need to find them,' I said fiercely.
'You're injured, we need to get you back to the chippy where it's safe,' Finn replied concernedly.
'No, I'm not going anywhere without them,' I told him.
He stood and sighed, I knew I could be infuriating at times but I wasn't going to leave without them. 'Fine, but first we need to get out of here. We can go round the back and see if we can find them,' he said. He held me up as I walked, my leg hurt like hell, we got out the front door to find that the sun was still shining brightly. He closed the door and locked it, I doubted it would hold but that was all that could be done for now. Finn still held me up as we walked round the back, I prayed that there wouldn't be any more corpses but I knew better than to hope.
'I think I heard voices,' I whispered. We stood for a moment listening and sure enough we heard Frankie and Jensen, we walked round the corner but couldn't see them. I looked up and noticed that their voices were a little louder, they were on the roof!
'How the hell did they get up there?' I asked quietly.
'I've no idea, but how are we going to get them down?' Finn wondered. Before I could get a good look around I saw that the corpses from the lobby had gotten out, Finn let go of me to take care of them but even I could see that there was too many for him to deal with alone. I couldn't walk very well but I wasn't going to let him die just because I was hurt, I took out my machete and sliced the head off one that was near him.
'Frankie, Jensen we need help!' I shouted up to them. I had no idea how they were going to get down, but I kept hearing them shout. There was nothing I could do to help them, I had to focus on killing these bastards in front of me. One went down, then
two, then three before my leg seriously started to fucking hurt. I focused on my anger at the corpses rather than the pain, it would help for a little while but not for long. Between the two of us, somehow we obliterated the walkers. I sliced and stabbed, feeling their blood splatter on my clothes, I took care not to get any in my mouth. Not that it did anything but still it tasted vile.
'Frankie, Jensen, can you hear me?' I called again.
'Are you alright?' I heard Frankie shout.
'We're fine, can you get down?' I asked.
'No, we're trapped. There's too many walkers blocking our path down, we need help,' she cried.
'Hold on, we'll radio in some help,' I replied. I radioed in to home and told them our dilemma, Jillian, Izzy and Cammi were on their way. We told them we'd wait in the lobby for them as neither me nor Finn wanted to be out in the open like this. We told Frankie and Jensen to stay quiet unless they desperately needed help. I hoped and prayed that Frankie and Jensen would be alright, they just needed to hold on a little longer.
I took a look in the door that the corpses had come out of, the one we'd barricaded. There didn't seem to be any more in this hallway but we knew there were more upstairs, we all had a bag each of medication so if by some unfortunate chance some of us didn't make it the mission wouldn't have been a complete waste.
We sat quietly and waited for the others, keeping a close eye on the doors to make sure any lurking corpses didn't surprise us.
'Do you think they're okay?' I asked quietly.
'If they weren't we would have heard something by now,' he replied in a hushed voice.
'That's true, I just hope we all make it out alive,' I told him worryingly.
'We will, if I've learned one thing from you people it's that you're all survivor's,' he smiled at me before turning his attention back to the front door. I smiled to myself thinking that in the time we'd known him, Finn had grown so much. He wasn't quite so feral though he did have his moments, he had become one of us and I knew that when Jade got to meet him she'd like him as well. I tried not to think about Jade and Maggie too much, I knew all too well the horror they were living with. The memories of my own past still haunted me to this day, even now I could not shake them off.
Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human Page 17