by Wood, J N
Jack and I both laid as flat as we could manage.
With a loud bang, smoke and bits of earth suddenly exploded into the air, falling to the ground near to the fence. One of the soldiers closest to the explosion was holding his mask, and staggering around in circles. The soldiers on either side of their injured comrade continued firing into the trees to our left.
‘What the fuck is happening?’ Jack asked.
Two of those silent jeeps suddenly appeared, and stopped near to where the injured soldier was now on his knees. The rear guns were quickly aimed into the trees and started firing. More and more soldiers started appearing from right and left.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see more smoke, further to the right of us. I assumed it was from another explosion, but I didn’t think I’d heard anything. The space between the edge of the trees and the fence was slowly filling with black smoke.
I quickly glanced around, trying to find who was doing all this. ‘Can you see anyone Jack? I can’t see a fucking thing.’
‘There,’ Jack said, pointing to people emerging from the trees.
They were running directly into the smoke. One, then two, three, four, and five people disappeared into the blackness.
I looked back to the soldiers. They were still concentrating on firing at whoever was to our left.
‘It’s a distraction,’ Jack said. ‘They’re going over through the smoke.’
‘Mother fuckers,’ I muttered. ‘This is our fucking spot.’
‘Go with them,’ Jack said.
‘You what?’
‘This is your best chance. You need to go now.’ He placed his hand on my shoulder and pushed me away. ‘Seriously, go.’
‘No, I can’t leave you here.’
‘None of us are trying to get back to England. We’re all going to stay in Canada, which isn’t going anywhere. You need to get home.’
‘Are you not gonna go home?’ I asked him.
‘That’s not fucking important right now. You need to fucking go. This could be your only chance.’
I looked towards the smoke.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
I climbed up onto my hands and knees, went to stand up, and then hesitated. I looked back at Jack. He vigorously nodded towards the smoke. I tried to stare into the smoke, to see if those people were succeeding in their mission.
Fuck. I can’t leave Jack and Beth here. I can’t leave any of them here, not knowing their fates.
I sighed, and keeping low behind the bushes, got up onto my feet. ‘Come on Jack, we need to get back. We can’t stay in this spot any longer.’ I picked up my bag, turned and headed back into the woods.
Jack quickly caught me up. ‘Chris, you are a fucking idiot.’
‘Yeah I know.’
Looks like I’m trying to get back to England on my own then.
Once we were well within the safety of the woodland, with our heads still down, I said, ‘So…Jack?’
‘Yes, we’re going to stay in Canada,’ he instantly replied. ‘Sorry, but it’s the safest option for us. You know that.’
‘Yeah I kind of guessed you’d stay. You haven’t really been up for it whenever I’ve mentioned getting back to England somehow.’
‘I’ve got to think about Beth and the baby.’
‘Yeah I know that as well.’
‘We’ll help you get back though. If there’s anything we can do, we’ll do it.’
Chapter 27: Sacrilege
‘There’s no way we’re killing innocent Canadian soldiers,’ Sandra said.
‘No of course we’re not,’ I said. ‘We were just saying we need to do something similar, like create some sort of distraction.’
Roy and Pete shared a glance. Roy very briskly shook his head.
No idea what that was about.
The three kids were playing with something in the kitchen. All of the adults sat on the sofas, or on the floor in the living room. Roy had found a camping stove in the house, and had made us all coffee.
Whatever the kids were playing with, it was noisy. It sounded like they were destroying the place. Sandra didn’t seem to pay it any attention, so I tried not to.
Does she know there are still zombies around here?
Sandra startled me by suddenly shouting, ‘Boys! Quiet.’
We all sat there and listened, as silence descended.
Theo broke the silence, by saying, ‘I’m surprised you didn’t try and go with them.’
Beth very loudly cleared her throat.
‘I didn’t mean Jack,’ Theo said to her. ‘I was only talking to Chris really.’
Jack looked to me, his eyebrows raised.
I returned Jack’s look with a sardonic smile, before turning back to Theo. ‘I didn’t go because I’m a fucking idiot.’
‘Whatever we do,’ Ali said. ‘We can’t do it in that same place. They’ll be ultra vigilant now.’
‘I don’t know,’ Jack said. ‘I’ve been thinking about that. Surely the Canadians will be thinking that lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice?’
‘There will probably be some zombies around there now,’ Ali said. ‘After all the noise.’
‘That’s true,’ Jack agreed.
‘Any ideas for the distraction then?’ Sandra asked him. ‘That doesn’t include killing soldiers.’
Jack sat back in his seat. ‘Not yet, no.’
Theo leant forward. ‘What if we make lots of fires along the border? With lots of smoke, and then choose one to use as our cover? Snip snip at the fence. We all sneak through.’
‘What’s to stop them checking every part of the fence where there’s a fire?’ Pete asked him.
‘That’s why we create lots of fires,’ Theo replied. ‘So they don’t have time to check every one.’
‘What’s to stop them only checking the fire we’re going use as cover?’ Pete asked. ‘There’s a lot of luck required.’
‘We wait to see which fires they aren’t checking,’ Theo suggested.
‘That’s a bad idea,’ Pete said.
Theo slumped back in his chair. ‘Better than your idea. Oh yeah, you haven’t had one.’
‘Can we get one of the cars up there?’ Beth asked. ‘Set fire to it maybe, and roll it towards the fence? That would definitely divert their attention.’
‘We can’t really sneak a car up to the parts where there isn’t a proper wall,’ Ali said to her. ‘Not anywhere around here anyway.’
‘What if we make a huge fire?’ Roy suggested. ‘Burn down half the woodland if we have to. We’d have to get masks obviously, the soldiers already have them. And visibility would be terrible, so it’d be a struggle to see where to go, but it would be difficult for everyone, the soldiers included.’
‘If we find some guns,’ Pete quietly said. ‘I don’t mind being the diversion, so you can all get across. I was already thinking about it before Jack and Chris saw those people do it. It worked for them.’
Roy very dramatically looked to the ceiling.
Theo stared at his brother with wide eyes.
‘You can forget that idea straight away,’ Sandra said.
‘Why?’ Pete asked. ‘Afterwards, I’ll go back to that camp we drove by. The one at Sumas. I’ll wait my turn and meet you all in Canada.’
‘No, not happening,’ Sandra told him.
‘That’s a very brave and selfless thing you’re offering to do for us,’ Ali said. ‘But we’re all going across. We’re not leaving anyone behind.’
‘Why don’t we draw the zombies away from the fence,’ I suggested. ‘Near to where they’re still constructing the wall. Like they did with the helicopters.’
‘We don’t have any helicopters,’ Jack said.
‘No,’ Beth said. ‘But we have two cars, with stereos.’
‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘Then we do Roy’s idea, and set fire to everything. That tall grass should burn easily enough. We’d just have to crawl through beforehand and cover the ground with petrol
, or something else flammable.’
‘There must have been some soldiers around the construction sites,’ Ali pondered. ‘But I can’t actually remember seeing any.’
‘I don’t think I saw any,’ Jack agreed.
‘Nope,’ I said. ‘I didn’t see any obvious ones with the binoculars.’
Roy sat forward in his seat. ‘There must be some there, somewhere.’
‘Maybe,’ Ali said. ‘But hopefully far enough away to give us some extra time.’
‘That big industrial farm as well,’ I said. ‘If we could blow that up, or just set fire to it, that would definitely make a good diversion.’
‘So we use music in the cars to draw the zombies away from the fences?’ Sandra asked. ‘After that we set fire to literally everything by the sounds of it. Then we just walk up to the fence, and a simple snip snip later, we waltz into Canada? With three small children by the way.’
‘It’s a plan,’ I declared. ‘We just need to iron out the details.’
Sandra rolled her eyes and slapped her hands down on the arms of the chair.
‘When we set fire to everything,’ Jack said. ‘And especially if we blow up that farm, the zombies are going to come back pretty quickly.’
‘So we’re entertaining the destroy everything and burn ourselves to death plan?’ Sandra asked.
‘Even if we didn’t blow up the farm,’ Roy said. ‘Burning the fields alone would hopefully create a lot of smoke.’
‘Let’s not blow up the farm though,’ Jack said. ‘Okay?’
‘If we use music to draw the zombies away,’ Beth said. ‘The Canadian workers will soon figure out someone is trying to lure them away for a reason, and call the soldiers.’
‘So we need to draw the zombies away some other way,’ Ali said. ‘With a naturally occurring sound.’
‘Ca-caw, ca-caw!’ I screamed.
Everyone flinched. There was a loud clattering from the kitchen as the three kids ran into the room.
‘Like that?’ I smiled.
Ali shook her head. ‘Pretty sure I said naturally occurring.’
‘That just sounded like an idiot screaming ca-caw,’ Jack said.
‘What was that?’ Seth asked his mother.
‘It’s just Chris messing about,’ Sandra replied. ‘Now go back and play. Quietly though. And don’t break anything,’ she quickly added.
‘Why not wait for the helicopters to do it?’ Beth asked. ‘Then there isn’t any reason for the Canadians to become suspicious.’
‘That would be easier,’ I said. ‘My throat is hurting just from those two ca-caws.’
‘We could hide in the farm,’ Pete said. ‘And wait for the zombies to get dragged away.’
‘That means you can’t blow it up Chris,’ Jack said.
I let out an exaggerated sigh. ‘I suppose I don’t have to blow the farm up.’
Roy placed his empty cup on the coffee table in the middle of the room. ‘We’ll need to be fast, and already have the petrol there, obviously.’
Sandra raised her hand into the air. ‘One question. How do we all get to the fence, while everything is on fire?’
‘The farm is quite close to the fence,’ I told her. ‘And I’m pretty sure there was a track that ran alongside the farm to the fence. We’d just have to take lots of water, maybe soak blankets and cover ourselves in them.’
Sandra frowned. ‘Okay, another question, actually two questions. Does this tall grass cover the ground all the way up to the fence?’
‘No it doesn’t,’ Jack replied. ‘It must all be trampled flat by the zombies around there.’
‘So why hasn’t all of the grass been trampled flat?’ Sandra asked.
‘There aren’t that many zombies,’ I told her. ‘It’s not a huge swarm size. Some of it will be trampled, but not all of it.’
‘Sorry, the grass question was an extra one,’ she said. ‘If the grass doesn’t go all the way to the fence, what if the wind blows the smoke away from the fence? It’ll be kind of obvious what we’re doing when we just stroll up to the fence and start snip snipping.’ She lifted her hand and imitated a pair of scissors with her fingers.
‘If the wind isn’t in our favour,’ Roy said. ‘We don’t do anything. We just wait for another opportunity in one of the other farms. There are a few around here.’
‘So you’re all on board with this then?’ Sandra asked, slowly looking around the room.
Ali nodded.
I shrugged, and said, ‘Yep, why not?’
Jack said, ‘Yeah.’
Beth raised her cup of coffee in front of her, saying, ‘Yep.’
Roy also shrugged his shoulders, saying, ‘I’m in.’
‘Sure,’ Pete said.
Theo looked to his brother, and said, ‘Yes.’
Sandra slowly shook her head.
‘I think we should go tonight,’ Ali said. ‘Oxygen masks are out of the equation. We won’t be able to find enough, if any. We empty our cars of their gas, and do the same with all the surrounding vehicles. Then we pack up and leave.’
‘We need to take as much water as we can carry,’ Roy said.
‘Swimming goggles, and snorkelling masks,’ Beth said.
‘What?’ Jack asked her.
‘To protect our eyes from the smoke,’ she replied. ‘Especially for the boys.’
Jack nodded. ‘Good idea.’
‘Fuck,’ Sandra slowly whispered.
Ali stepped in front of Sandra, and crouched down. ‘Don’t worry. The kids come first. If it’s not safe enough, we won’t do it.’
‘Safe enough,’ Sandra replied. ‘That sounds reassuring.’
‘We’re not going to drag them away from you and run away,’ Ali told her. ‘It will always be your final decision.’
Sandra nodded.
‘Okay everyone,’ Ali said, straightening up. ‘Sandra and the kids, you look for goggles and masks. Anything to protect us from the smoke really.’ She looked directly at Sandra. ‘Probably best not leaving the house though.’ She turned back to us. ‘I’m on food scavenging. Chris and Roy, you get us blankets, and things to keep us warm. After you’ve done that, search the outbuildings for tools, stuff that will cut through fencing. I don’t want to rely on the pliers I found. Jack and Beth, you fill up every possible thing you can find with water. Pete, and Theo, you know how to syphon gas. Get as much as you can carry and bring it back here, and then go and get some more. Two hours, that okay with everyone?’
Everyone agreed and rose to their feet.
Ali sidled up to me once we were in the kitchen, and away from Sandra. ‘If it comes down to it, and the opportunity opens up, we might have to grab the kids and run. Sandra will follow us if we drag them away from her and run away. We’re getting into Canada no matter what. I’m sick of this shit.’
Without another word, she marched off and climbed the stairs.
I hope it doesn’t have to come to that. It’s gonna be dramatic enough as it is.
Roy walked into the kitchen and stopped in front of me. ‘Split up and save a bit of time?’
‘Yeah can do,’ I replied. ‘Blankets or outbuildings?’
Roy pulled out a coin from his pocket. ‘Heads, you do blankets? Tails, you do the outbuildings search?’
‘Yep okay.’
He flipped the coin into the air, catching it with his right hand as it fell back down. He slapped it onto the back of his left hand, and pulled his right hand away.
‘It's tails I’m afraid Chris,’ he said. ‘You’re on outbuildings search.’
‘What a fucking surprise,’ I glumly said, walking towards the back door.
‘We can swap,’ Roy offered. ‘I don’t mind.’
I picked up my baseball bat and a torch before opening the door. ‘No it’s fine. Come and look for me if I don’t come back.’
‘I’ll come and find you once I’m done in here,’ he called out after me.
The sun was just setting as I made my way towards the fir
st of the three outbuildings. It was made of red bricks, with a corrugated iron roof. The sky was a mixture of blues and oranges.
The big sliding door was unlocked. I knocked three times with the Smasher and waited a few seconds. I didn’t hear anything, so I slid the door open a few feet and stepped in.
Small windows around the top of the walls allowed in what little outside light was left. The building was empty, just a few leaves lay on the floor.
I moved on to the next outbuilding, much smaller than the first. It looked like it was entirely made of wood, with no windows as far as I could tell. There was a padlock hooked through a rusty metal latch half way down the door. I rattled it with my hand, hoping it was unlocked, and was just there for show. It wasn’t.
I tried to hit it with the Smasher, and missed. I had a quick glance around me, to make sure nobody had seen my embarrassing attempt. I couldn’t see anyone. I did spot a large rock lying on the floor. It was about half the size of my head. I placed my torch down on the floor, and leaned the Smasher against the side of the building.
With the rock now in both hands, I raised it up above the padlock, and brought it down. It struck the padlock, tearing it away from the door, along with the metal latch. I dropped the rock to the ground and picked up my bat. All was quiet still. I pushed the door open and peered in. Boxes of screws and nails filled the many shelves. One wall was filled with various tools, all hanging from hooks. Three tools immediately caught my attention, a large bolt cutter, and two smaller wire cutters. I grabbed the two smaller tools and put them in my pocket. I hefted the bolt cutter. It was about two foot long, and fairly heavy. I swung it two handed within the tool shed.
I’ll take it. I could use it as a weapon if needs be.
I was just about to leave, when I noticed a box of builder’s dust masks. I grabbed them as well, stuffing the box inside my jacket.
The third outbuilding looked like a garage. As I neared it, I could hear noise from within. It sounded like something was trapped. Whatever it was seemed to be thrashing about in there. The side door was slightly ajar, so I crept over to it. I put the large bolt cutter and my torch down on the ground. Holding the Smasher with both hands, I tapped on the door with the very end of it, and took three steps back.