“Maybe. Maybe not,” he said. “I’m going to look on the bright side, specifically that we don’t have to fight any battles today.”
“Yes, let’s confirm if this woman Locke shot is Cavalie. That will be one less problem to worry about.” They continued walking. “We have to prepare for war, that’s what I meant. We can say we’re being cautious, we can call it self-defence. We can use whatever words we like, but we need to change the way we look at the world. From now on, when we meet new people, we can hope for the best, but we have to assume the worst. We have to assume they will try to take what’s ours. I hate that it’s true, so tell me I’m wrong.”
“I don’t think I can,” he said. “George said something similar to me. But it’s not something we have to dwell on. Not here and now.” He hefted the mace. “Nice club, this. And nice of Jay to remember it for me.”
“He wanted to wrap it,” Nilda said. “I said it was too early for him to call it a Christmas present.”
“Now there’s something for us to look forward to,” Chester said. “Not sure what we’ll have instead of turkey.”
“Shark,” Nilda said. “It’s not the same, but it’s not bad.”
“Really, you ate shark?”
“I didn’t tell you? It was only a small thing. Barely a meter long. I’d have said it was a fish, but apparently it was a shark. Pierre Dupont caught it.”
Conversation drifted to silence as they neared the end of the walkway running along the top of the seawall. The salty spray had melted most of the snow, leaving the solitary corpse exposed to the elements.
“She’s dead, all right,” Chester said, stepping closer. He rolled the body onto its back. “Ah. No. It’s not Cavalie. I don’t know who she is. Pity. Come on, no point lingering here. Let’s leave her to the birds.”
“Cavalie’s alive,” Nilda said.
“Probably,” Chester said. “And probably in charge now. It must have been her decision to turn south. That’s worrying. Then again, perhaps she’s not alive. Perhaps she was never here.”
“I don’t suppose it matters who is in charge of that group,” Nilda said. “All that matters is that they’ve gone south.”
“And I tell you what, I’m going to look on the bright side again. They won’t get far, not unless they know of somewhere they can find fuel. Even then, the zombies will follow and catch up with them tonight. No, they’re not a problem for us today, and might not be a problem for us at all. Let’s see.” He looked around. “A bit further, I think.”
“For what?”
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I mean that I’ve had a lot of time to do a lot of thinking. What I can’t decide is if I should apologise to you for leaving London.”
“That’s an odd thing to say,” she said.
“No, I mean, on the one hand, I am sorry for leaving. But on the other, we rescued Eamonn and those children, and we learned about the horde, and that it was heading to London. Ultimately, you and I are both alive and so is Jay. It all worked out, and probably worked out for the best. Maybe it’s not an apology I owe you. Maybe it’s that I won’t trek off into the wasteland again, but I can’t promise you that.”
“Nor can I,” she said. “Our responsibilities are bigger than both of us. There are big decisions ahead, if not in the next few days, then in the next few weeks, and in the months after that. Decisions that will determine the futures of so many that we can’t afford to think entirely of ourselves, no matter how much we want to.”
“That’s what I was trying to say. I knew you’d get it.”
“Because I know you,” she said. “Come on, we better get back to the boat. We need to be ready to leave as soon as Tuck, Leon, and Bran return.”
“No, wait, just stop here a moment,” he said. “This isn’t the best spot, what with the ruins and the snow, but…” He took her arms and turned her to face the sea. “There. That’s better.”
“Better for what?”
He knelt down in the snow. “I don’t have a ring,” he said. “I don’t have what anyone could call a job. My prospects aren’t great, but whose are? I don’t own anything except the clothes on my back. I want to give you the world, but all I can give is the promise that I love you, now and always.” He looked up at her, expectantly.
Nilda laughed. “I’m not the most traditional of people,” she said, “but if you’re going to ask, you do actually have to ask.”
“Will you marry me?”
To be continued.
Other Titles
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Other novels:
Surviving The Evacuation & Here We Stand
The outbreak began in New York. Within days, it spread throughout the world. Nowhere is safe from the undead. Books 1-3 are the journals of Bill Wright, a political operative trapped in London after the city is evacuated. Books 4-7 tell of Nilda, a mother searching the wasteland for her son, and Chester, a criminal in search of repentance. Books 8 onward recount the attempt by humanity’s last ten thousand survivors to build a new society out of the ashes of the old world.
Here We Stand is the story of the North American survivors, and the collapse of the United States.
1: London, 2: Wasteland, Zombies vs The Living Dead, 3: Family, 4: Unsafe Haven, 5: Reunion, 6: Harvest, 7: Home, Here We Stand 1: Infected, Here We Stand 2: Divided, Book 8: Anglesey, 9: Ireland, 10: The Last Candidate, 11: Search and Rescue, 12: Britain’s End, 13: Future’s Beginning, 14: Mort Vivant, 15: Where There’s Hope
Post-apocalyptic Detective novels:
Strike a Match
In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt.
Twenty years later, civilization is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise, aided by a shadowy conspiracy. It is down to Detectives Mitchell, Riley, and Deering of the Serious Crimes Unit to unmask the conspirators and save their fragile democracy.
1. Serious Crimes, 2. Counterfeit Conspiracy, 3. Endangered Nation
Work Rest Repeat
Sixty years after The Great War, the last survivors of humanity have taken shelter in giant towers. The colony ships that will allow them to leave the diseased Earth are nearing completion when two murders are discovered. For our species to survive, the criminals must be caught, and the launch must go ahead.
Thanks for reading.
Surviving The Evacuation (Book 15): Where There's Hope Page 31