Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human

by Petrova, Katerina

  We closed the door to the side room and and took on the half a dozen corpses that we faced, Finn and Tamara took on three together while Izzy and I took on the other three. I raced forward, knife in hand silently praying that they weren't the overly strong ones we'd faced at the diner. I quickly stabbed the one nearest to me, being careful not to get too close to the giant hole in the floor. I jumped out of the way as it fell into the hole with a thud, Izzy was circling the corpse nearest to her waiting for the opportunity to get at it. While Finn and Tamara were successfully taking care of the ones near them, I lunged at the other one that was going after Izzy before it could get too close to her. I grabbed it by the collar of the blue shirt that it was wearing, pulled it towards me and swiftly stabbed it. I threw it down the hole and stood for a moment and just watched as the others dealt with the remaining few, I was about to sit down when I heard Frankie shouting from the side room.

  I raced over and picked her up, supporting her as she tried to stand.

  'Are you alright?' I asked worryingly.

  'Yeah, I just woke up and when I didn't see anyone I was worried,' she said concernedly.

  'Just a few corpses, but nothing we couldn't handle. Now let's get you back to bed,' I told her sternly. Tamara came and helped me get Frankie back to the makeshift bed we'd made for her and Jensen. It wasn't much, the others had gone into a house a few doors down and got a mattress, some cushions and a quilt for them. Tamara and I put her back into bed while I checked on Jensen, he showed no signs of waking up.

  'How is he?' Frankie asked looking tearful.

  'It's too soon to tell, we need to give him time,' I told her sadly.

  'I told him not to sit on edge, he can be so stupid at times,' she said almost crying. 'How's your leg?'

  'It hurts like hell.'

  'I'm going to give you something for the pain, it'll knock you out but it will help,' I told her.

  'Alright, but if he wakes up or gets worse please tell me,' she replied weakly.

  'Don't worry I will do.' I gave her a shot of morphine, she lay down and within moments she was out like a light. I sat watching them both for a while, I feared what would happen to the group if Jensen didn't pull through. With everything they'd been through together, they were so close, just like family.

  That was three days ago, Jensen still hadn't woken up and Frankie couldn't walk properly yet. I was thankful that she'd only very badly sprained it and not fractured or broken her ankle, she constantly sat by Jensen's side holding his hand and willing him to wake up. I still wasn't sure of his chances but I was doing all I could to save his life, even if he did wake up it would be weeks before we could move. I had Tamara and Finn scouting the area to not only look for things to fortify the church with but also to search for a car, I couldn't imagine getting to Scotland on foot.

  Izzy was keeping watch outside for biters, we didn't want to be surprised again. Fortunately she hadn't seen any, on the eve of our forth night I heard a car pull up outside and ran to investigate. Tamara and Finn jumped out with smiles on their faces, even I could not help but laugh. Of all the cars she could have found, it was bright pink seven seater. They asked Izzy to come and help them unload the boot, I kept watch while they took out some barbed wire and a load of wooden fencing. It would be enough to fortify the church for now, I would sleep a little easier at night.

  Tamara, Finn and Izzy got to work reinforcing the place while I went to check on Frankie and Jensen, Frankie was sat up holding his hand again. I could see the tears in her eyes as she kissed his forehead.

  'How are you feeling?' I asked not really wanting to disturb her.

  'I'm still sore but I'm more worried about Jensen,' she said tearfully.

  'Let me take a look at him,' I spoke softly. I did all the tests and checks that I could given the lack of equipment I had, I knew it wasn't good but didn't know what to tell Frankie. Her and Jensen were very close, and I suspected that they might have been in a romantic relationship.

  'What is it?' She asked fearfully as she saw the look of worry on my face.

  'The problem is that he's scored an 8 on the GCS,' I told her sadly.

  'I don't speak doctor, tell me in English,' she replied confused. 'Its a scale that we use to determine the level of severity on coma patients, the score means that he is in a mild coma. He might come out on his own but the longer he stays asleep the harder it will be for him to survive,' I said, my voice beginning to shake.

  'What else can you do for him?' Her voice broke and tears streamed down her pale face, she clutched his hand the whole time we spoke. It was then that I knew how she felt about him, they were more than friends; she loved him and I could see that the thought of being without him was too much for her to bear. I wanted nothing more than to tell her that Jensen would be alright, but I couldn't give her false hope.

  'Nothing, lucky for him I already had the medication I needed to treat him, the fact that I was able to medicate him straight away has increased his chances drastically,' I told her kindly.

  'W-what are his chances?'

  'At the moment I'd give him a sixty percent chance of a full recovery, but the longer he stays asleep, the more that decreases,' I replied grimly. Frankie said nothing she just turned her attention back to Jensen and continued to stroke his hair and hold his hand. I had not seen such devotion in a long time, I smiled thinking back to a time when life was much simpler and far less dangerous.

  Born in Jamaica in 1965, I moved to the village of Holmfirth in 1970. I didn't remember much of my homeland. My parents had come here seeking a better life for me and my siblings, I was the youngest of three. My older brother was seven when we moved and my sister had been ten, they found it much harder to adjust than I did.

  I loved our life here, the hardest thing about moving was the shock of the weather. Jamaica was usually hot and balmy, whereas England was quite the opposite. The summers were glorious here though, but still it was rare that it was ever as hot as my homeland. I learned to speak English rather quickly and found school to an enjoyable place, our home in Holmfirth was much nicer than one in Jamaica. My sister and I shared a bedroom while my brother and parents had their own rooms, our garden was wonderfully large and once our parents saved up it was full of swings, slides and plenty of toys for us to play with.

  It was in my third year of secondary school that I met Gail, even back then she was a kind soul. Within a year we were inseparable, she lived with her aunt as both her parents died when she was a child and she no siblings. In the dark times to come, she was my rock and I would not have fulfilled my dreams without her encouragement.

  Our life was wonderful, until the winter of 1980 when my mother died. It was the hardest year of my life, I was in my last year of school and her death made it so I had to retake my last year. My poor father couldn't cope with her loss and turned to drink to dull the pain, it fell to my older siblings to work and pay the bills. When I left school I offered to do the same, but they knew how much I wanted to become a nurse so they refused my offer. I often felt guilty that they couldn't follow their dreams like me, but in the end I had been incredibly grateful to them. I went to college and did my A-levels before doing my training in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, it was there that I met my husband. My father died shortly after that, as sad as we all were I could see the relief on my siblings faces. At last they were free to live theirs lives, my brother decided to go home and rejoin the rest of our family. My sister stayed with me and my husband in our childhood home until a few years later when she met her partner.

  I had Camille when I turned twenty-five, I decided straight away that I only wanted one child so I got sterilized when she was small. It seemed to be a family curse that when a child in our family turned fifteen they would lose a parent, my husband died in a car accident just days after Camille turned fifteen. The grief was far worse because my sister and her fiancée had also been in the car, both my sister and husband died in hospital with her partner dying on impact.

&nb
sp; For the next five years it was just Camille and I, life was normal and happy. Until outbreak, then our lives went to shit just like everyone else's.

  I pulled myself out of my memories so that I could radio into the others and check on them, I missed my daughter dearly but I knew she could take care of herself.

  'Jillian here, how are things?'

  'Everything's fine mum, we're just in a library for the night. How's Jensen doing?' She asked kindly. I told her what I'd told Frankie; Camille, Gail and Faye all told me to let me know if things changed. I could tell they were worried about him as well, we had him and the others to thank for getting away from Dave and his men and I vowed to do everything in my power to save him. I said goodnight and went to sleep, praying for a miracle to save Jensen.

  Four weeks later, Jensen was awake and ready for travel. It had been a hard road to recovery, he still had dizzy spells and couldn't do too much work but he was well enough to travel. He and Frankie had become somewhat closer since his awakening, the others and I decided to give them the side room to themselves while we slept on the floor near the pews.

  The night before we were due to leave, Tamara and Finn had gone to search the area for some petrol for the car; though they'd come back with so much more.

  'Look what I brought back,' Tamara said gleefully.

  I inspected the plastic bag as she placed them on the floor, oh good lord; she'd brought us all a fair amount of alcohol.

  'What have you done,' I said jokingly.

  'I thought we could all do with a laugh, not only that we haven't celebrated Jensen's recovery,' she replied smiling.

  'Well as your nurse I don't recommend it, but as your friend I say let's open them up,' I laughed.

  'Frankie, Jensen get out here,' Tamara called.

  'Coming,' Frankie called. We all sat around near our beds and began to open the bottles of the various alcohol she'd got, there was Whisky, Vodka and a few bottles of Alcopops. I smiled remembering the last time I'd had a good drink, it was a year before the outbreak when I was celebrating Camille's acceptance into university with her and Gail. I hoped my tolerance wasn't too low.

  We shared out the alcohol, I took a bottle of blue Alcopops, Tamara took the Whiskey, Finn chose Vodka. I had wanted to tell him to start with something a little less harsh but I chose to keep quiet. Izzy, Frankie and Jensen took the rest of the Alcopops. We all sat there, drinking and laughing- well everyone except Izzy, she simply stared into space looking a little annoyed. I had become quite worried about her over the last few weeks, she was too quiet and when she dealt with walkers she was far too aggressive.

  My alcohol tolerance was really bad and it didn't take much for me to feel tipsy. I was glad to see everyone so playful, apparently alcohol made Jensen the jolly teen he should have always been.

  He started singing, not too loudly thankfully. Even tipsy he had the voice of an angel, his rendition of Bon Jovi's Living on a prayer was amazing. We all gave him a round of applause and he took a bow, smiling as he did. I loved these moments when we weren't worried or fighting for our lives, Frankie gave him a long kiss and we all just sort of stared. I was happy that in this awful world, they had found happiness within each other.

  'So I have a few gifts for the new couple,' Tamara smiled playfully and I wondered what on earth she had in store for them.

  She reached into her backpack and pulled out a very large carrier bag of condoms. 'I think you'll be needing these now lad,' she threw them at Jensen laughing at his flustered face. We all howled with laughter even Izzy who was normally so stern couldn't hide her amusement. I should have felt embarrassed for Jensen but I laughed along with them, one of the many things I loved about Tamara was her ability to make us laugh.

  'And now for the lovely lady, just in case you get bored,' she threw Frankie a small silver sealed package.

  'What is this?' Frankie asked sounding very drunk after her last swig of Alcopops.

  'Open it and you'll see,' Tamara replied rolling on the floor with laughter.

  Frankie tore open the packet to find what appeared to be a small vibrator, she stared at it not knowing how to respond to this inappropriate yet highly hilarious gift.

  'Cheers mate,' Frankie said laughing.

  I couldn't stop laughing, poor Jensen just sat there red as a beetroot.

  'Why didn't the coast guard save the hippy?'

  Oh hear we go again, another one of Tamara's stupidly funny jokes.

  'I have no idea,' we all said in unison.

  'He was too far out man,' she replied waiting for us to get it. The joke wasn't even funny but we all howled, tears were coming out my eyes and I couldn't stop. When Frankie plucked up the courage to ask Tamara where she got their gifts from, turns out there was a health clinic in Holmfirth, the flat next door had been a sex shop and Tamara said that she just couldn't resist bringing a toy back.

  I was glad to have a joker among us, we needed to laugh every once in a while. Frankie and Jensen went to bed first, after another hour or so of Tamara entertaining us, the rest of us decided to head to bed. Everyone else was well and truly hammered and we had a long day tomorrow, I smiled as I laid down thinking how good it felt to just forget our troubles for one night. In my drunken stupor it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

  Chapter 27

  Jensen

  We all looked awful the next morning, clearly we'd had too much to drink last night. It had been worth it though, to see everyone laugh and smile like normal people instead of fighting the undead and worrying about surviving, after Frankie and I had gone to bed the rest of them stayed up. We packed our bags and flung our stuff in the large boot, I still thought it was funny that we were driving to Scotland in a bright pink car.

  An hour later we all climbed inside, Finn looked sad and I was sure he was nervous about being so far away from his sister. Tamara took the first shift for driving as she seemed to be the only one without a hangover. Frankie was leaning on me, we sat in the back, Jillian was in the front directing Tamara; Finn and Izzy sat in the middle row looking out the windows. The sun shone brightly which for some reason seemed to add to my nausea, we all sat in silence as we drove no doubt we were all lost in thought.

  We had all become a family in these last few months, I felt so thankful to have these people by my side. We all looked like crap this morning though, I felt sweaty and had a headache. Glancing in the rear view mirror I saw that both Frankie and I looked tired and pale, I could see that Finn's face was pale and sweaty I wondered if he felt sick. Jillian seemed alright though her throat sounded dry, I offered her some water which she took graciously. Tamara was the only one of us that seemed normal, of course it would be Tamara that was not affected by alcohol I thought, laughing to myself.

  We drove for a few hours before we stopped, we needed to refill the petrol. We had stopped somewhere in the Lake District, we all took a moment to stretch our legs. I looked around at the gorgeous scenery it was so untouched by the worlds decimation, there was not a soul in sight. The air here was cleaner than I had felt in years, the others were talking amongst themselves so I took this opportunity to enjoy the true country air.

  'Man I'm glad we've stopped I need a minute, I feel sick,' Finn cried as he jumped out the car and sat on the grass.

  'Serves you right, you shouldn't have drank so much,' laughed Tamara mockingly.

  'Guess the little boy can't handle the booze,' Frankie said taking the mickey out of him. I let them laugh as I walked a little way into the woods but didn't venture too far away, I looked down to see the flowers in full bloom. I knelt down to smell a bluebell, it was glorious. It was strange that here I could see the wildlife whereas everywhere else it was almost none existent.

  As I knelt by the flowers I could see a squirrel scurrying across the grass, I revelled in the sight for it had been too long since I'd seen any animals. I heard the birds tweeting in the nearby trees and I felt like for a moment that the world was as it used to be.

  I cou
ld hear everyone talking, Frankie was wondering where I was. I guess I went further away than I thought. I walked back towards the car enjoying the quiet walk.

  'Where did you get off to?' Frankie asked curiously.

  'Sorry, just wanted to enjoy the countryside for a minute,' I replied happily.

  'Come on lets go,' said Tamara moments later. We hopped in and carried on driving, it was strange that we hadn't seen many walkers on the way. There was an odd one or two but no herds or small groups off them. I sat by the window this time so I could enjoy the beautiful scenery, the others talked about what we were going to do when the car ran out of fuel. This was the first working car we had seen in years and as we were heading near to towns and cities it wasn't likely that we would find more petrol.

  There were a few abandoned cars along the way, we did stop to see if they had any petrol but sadly they didn't. I knew that most of the cars would be on the motorway and as we'd chosen to take the back roads we wouldn't find many.

  We knew roughly where Nathaniel's base was, we had decided to scout around for a bit before going ahead to rescue our friends and my sister. While I was still laughing and joking with the others, I could feel my heart beating faster as we neared Scotland. I had never been one to pray but in the time I had known both Jade and Frankie, they helped me to believe in a higher power. As Pagan's they believed in the Goddess, as the sky darkened I said a silent prayer and begged for my sister to be alright.

  'Where are we stashing the car?' Tamara asked.

  'In a small village called Doll, it's a half hour walk to where the base is give or take ten minutes or so,' Jillian replied plainly.

  'Just remember love, it's a reconnaissance mission only,' Frankie told me gently.

  I sighed, 'I know, it's just hard. It's been so long, I just want her back,' I said quietly.