The crowd ceased their heckling.
“This is a lot for all of us to take in… Alek here is just doing what he can.” Tina explained. “He’s just as scared as all of you, as am I… But what we want from you all, is some volunteers--”
“To do what? To be escorted like lambs to the slaughter?” The can-thrower heckled once again.
“Right, who said that?” Tina called down to the right-hand side of the crowd, trying to locate the thrower.
As expected, they all fell silent.
“I will not ask you again: Who said it? Step forward!” She insisted.
Then, a lone man stepped forward. “I’m only saying what we’re all thinking!” He defended himself, albeit with a tone of frustration.
“Naiser?” Tina identified him. “What’s your problem? Of all the people here, you I would have least expected to be probing us like this!”
Naiser curled his fists up, “What do you think my problem is? Andre was my friend! Alek, you claimed to be his friend too! So, tell me, how come he’s dead and you aren’t? Did you throw him in the firing line?”
Alek spat down at Naiser, “How dare you!”
Tina pushed him back from the edge of the hill, “Alright, Alek.” She mumbled to him. “I can handle this.” She looked into his eyes, “Trust me. Go.”
Alek conceded, and shot one last look of disgust down to Naiser, before heading back towards his house.
Tina turned back towards the crowd. “Like I said, we are all struggling here… But that’s no excuse for us to start tearing ourselves apart. Why do we want volunteers, you ask? Because we want to bring Klara and Andre’s bodies back home; where they belong.” This revelation silenced the crowd once again. “Is there anything wrong with that, Naiser?”
He retreated into the crowd without answering.
“Good.” Tina smiled. “Can I help anyone else?”
And then, the crowd barked a barrage of questions:
“Who even are these people?”
“Are we really safe here, anymore?”
“What’s wrong with Annabelle?”
“Is Mattias dead too?”
Tina sighed upon realising there was no way to keep everybody happy on this day. “Thanks for your time.” She apathetically informed them before retiring.
“Hey.” Petra reached out to her. “You did good.” She smiled.
Tina nodded gratefully, but then lowered her head for the walk back.
The smell of freshly ground coffee filled the air.
“Here you go.” Dawn handed a mug to Erica; they had ventured up to the top of the hill and had seen the entire ordeal with Tina, Alek and the crowd from a distance.
“Thanks.” Erica accepted the brew and instantly took a sip of it, not bothered with how it scalded her tongue and the roof of her mouth.
Dawn could see on Erica’s face that something was bugging her. “You know,” she began, “There’s a lot of paranoia going on here, lately. Sure, it’s understandable, given the whole J.V. thing, but then there’s those of us who aren’t really that bothered by it at all.” She was only saying this to try and make Erica feel better. “You and I fall in line with that category, don’t we?”
Erica tittered and nodded. “I stopped worrying about assholes a long time ago.”
“True.” Dawn agreed. “To be honest, I think the crucial moment was the same for both of us.”
Erica turned to face her, “How do you mean?”
“Well,” Dawn hesitated, but eventually proceeded anyway, “That fateful morning at the refugee camp… We both lost a piece of ourselves. Losing Eric, seeing him on the crucifix like that, it was tough. But eventually I learned to live with it, because without him, I have nothing to worry about. I have no one left to lose. I’m not worried about what J.V.’s group will do. If they massacre us in the night, so be it! I’m just glad my son didn’t live long enough to suffer a death like that.” She said proudly.
Erica remained silent, allowing Dawn a moment to inevitably reminisce over her son again.
“For you, it was Zach.”
Erica shivered. “I don’t like to talk about him.” She warned Dawn off the subject.
“Oh Erica--”
“No, I said no!” She snapped. “Just because you saw his body and I didn’t, that doesn’t make us friends!”
“But I am your friend, Erica.” Dawn continued to comfort her. “You know I wouldn’t say any of this to hurt you.”
“Well, you are. You’re hurting me.” Erica rebutted. “You couldn’t possibly understand it, Dawn. You lost Eric? Sure. I lost more than that. At least you got to say goodbye to your son. Mine was snatched from me and I never saw him again. Every day, every single day, I have to watch Gwen and Elliot as a happy little post-apocalyptic mother and son, whilst I am left remembering my real daughter who disappeared one night and my adopted son who disappeared one day and then died the next. The only true support I have is Tina, and she’s pissed off at me right now – But no, it’s ok, because you don’t want to hurt me! So, thanks!” She vented, without censoring any of her feelings.
Dawn was speechless. Uncertain of what to say, and with their children being the forefront of the topic, she opted to reassure Erica with, “Your daughter might still be alive somewhere out there.”
Erica’s mouth widened in sheer disbelief. She threw the coffee onto the grass and then returned the mug to Dawn.
“No! Erica, I was trying to help! I didn’t--”
“Didn’t mean to hurt me, I get it.” Erica looked disgusted. “But you did. Try thinking before you speak next time, my ‘friend’.” She journeyed back down the hill following these harsh words.
Chapter 16: Nostalgia
Following on from Harry’s burial, the rest of Naomi’s new group had opted to move on from the shopping outlet.
They had ventured up onto a dual carriageway, curious about what supplies they may be able to find in old cars.
“Oh gosh,” Worm wretched and covered his nose with his arm; the driver door was open on an old rusty sedan, from which the driver’s rapidly decaying skeleton hanged over the seat, covered in cobwebs and held in place by the equally dirty seatbelt.
There were multiple corpses on both sides of the dual carriageway, causing Naomi to feel especially sad.
“I haven’t been on a motorway in years,” Richard told Naomi. “Well, I mean, that’s obvious. But that’s not the point. What I’m trying to say is… It sounds weird but, it just feels like kind of, hmm…”
“Nostalgic?” Naomi butted in.
“Yeah. Yeah! That’s the word! Exactly that!”
Naomi smiled, “Yeah, I get what you mean.” Her smile dropped again when she noticed another skeleton lying face down on the ground ahead of her.
“Maybe we should cross over to the other side,” Richard suggested, noticing Naomi’s visible distress from the sight of a corpse.
Further along, the group eventually came across a petrol station on the side. However, it appeared to be almost renovated in a way, as though someone had done it up recently. The windows along the front were all boarded up, and the petrol hoses had been removed from the pump.
“What do you think?” Worm asked the rest of the group as they all slowly approached the station. “Could have some antibiotics maybe.” He suggested.
“I don’t like the look of it.” Kieran noted how ‘done-up’ it appeared to be. “Let’s just leave it be.” He tried to take charge of the situation.
Naomi rebutted his point. “Worm’s right. If someone’s been here recently, then maybe they’ve resupplied it as well; otherwise, what would they have repaired the place for?”
“Really, Naomi?” Kieran became agitated. “Remember what happened last time you ignored my advice? Remember how you nearly got all of us killed?”
“On the contrary, remember how I got all of us out of the situation alive?”
“You should listen to her.” Richard piped up, raising an eyebrow at Kieran.<
br />
“Oh, sorry, I forgot that I asked for your advice.” Kieran confronted him.
Richard didn’t flinch or back down from him in the slightest.
“Think you’re brave, old man?” Kieran tempted him.
“Kieran, stop!” Naomi pushed him away from the ordeal.
This only served to agitate him even more, however. “If you so much as even dare to push me again,” he raised his rifle as a threatening gesture, “Then I’ll make sure you reunite with that kid.” He told her pitilessly.
This remark almost caused Naomi to push him a second time indeed. Before she could do this however, Richard intervened. Using all his might, he snatched the rifle away from Kieran.
“You…” Kieran pointed straight into Richard’s eyes, “You will regret that.”
Whilst this confrontation had been going on however, Valorie had opted to go ahead and enter the petrol station shop.
“Hey!” Worm called out to her. “Valorie, wait!” He jogged to catch up to and follow her inside.
“Guess that settles it then.” Naomi told Kieran. “Come on. No more fights, ok?” She laid down the ground rules.
Kieran and Richard maintained a tense stare-off for several seconds before breaking away and backing up Naomi as they too went inside.
“Flashlight, anyone?” Valorie asked; the wooden boards on the windows blocked out the light from outside.
Richard produced a small torch from his coat. It made a sharp clicking sound as he activated it.
Worm coughed violently. “Doesn’t half stink in here, does it?”
The smell was indeed atrocious. The torch light revealed specs of dust floating in the air as well.
“This doesn’t make any sense. The outside is all fresh and done-up, but in here, it’s all decaying and abandoned again.” Naomi remarked.
“Because it’s a trap.” Kieran jeered.
The rest of the group ignored him and searched through the shelves for resources.
Towards the back of the store, Worm noticed a pair of feet sticking out from behind a shelf. “Valorie, over here please!” He requested her to shine the light in his direction.
“What is it?” She asked him as she shone the light towards the aisle in question.
Worm peeked around the corner and saw the two feet belonged to a decaying corpse on the floor who had a hosepipe around his neck.
Valorie wretched upon realising what it was and turned away from it again.
“Poor bugger must have used a petrol pipe from outside.” Worm theorised.
“Do you think that’s the guy who did the outside bit up?” Richard added to Worm’s theory.
“No, I wouldn’t think so.” Naomi replied. “I mean, think about it… Valorie, pass me the torch.” She knew Valorie wouldn’t want to look at the corpse again, so decided it would be best for her to use the torch herself. “Look,” she spun the light in a circle around the corpse’s head.
“What about it?”
“Look at how decayed it is. The flesh is all rotten, it’s almost skeletal. This person probably died long before whoever did the outside up even came here.” She assessed.
“I’ve got the answer.” Kieran called out from behind the shop counter, holding a small journal in his hands.
Day 168.
I really feel like I can make this place my home. Living in a petrol station of all places isn’t exactly ideal, but I always brought up my son to be grateful for whatever he has. Maybe one day, when everything is alright again, he can ride his bike up and down outside. It’s going to be one hell of a job, but I reckon that if I start with the outside first, it’ll attract new visitors, and with new visitors come new friends, friends to help me build this place up. A lovely little
“A lovely little what?” Worm queried.
“No, not the writing.” Kieran pointed the bottom of the page, “That.”
The bottom of the page was creased with a dried-up red liquid along it.
“He was killed whilst writing it?” Valorie panicked.
“Exactly.”
“Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Richard tried to reassure everyone. “Whoever killed this man is likely now dead themselves too. Heck, maybe he’s that corpse on the ground over there.”
“Then why is there a hosepipe around his neck?” Kieran debunked his theory. “Did he just stop mid-sentence and decided to hang himself?”
Richard didn’t have an answer.
“Whoever did this could very much still be around.” Kieran made the situation crystal clear.
Still in a panic, Valorie implored, “Let’s get out of here. Please, I don’t want to meet a similar fate.”
“Alright Val, it’s ok.” Richard comforted and ushered her outside.
Naomi turned back to Kieran, “What are you trying to do exactly, hey? That woman has just lost a dear friend, and you’re rubbing salt into the wound.”
“You’re one to talk!” He snapped at her. “You were part of the group that killed her said dear friend. This is all down to you, Naomi!”
Worm stepped in between the two of them, “Come on mate, don’t start again.”
“I had no choice… I did it to survive. But you, you didn’t have to kill that child!” Naomi wasn’t backing down.
“Naomi, don’t make it worse.” Worm pried her away from him. “Valorie’s right, we should get going…”
Eventually, the group decided to exit off the dual carriageway. Their exit took them to a small roundabout; Valorie shivered in remembrance of Harry as they passed by it.
They continued travelling down a long road filled with cars, vans and lorries alike. There was at least one corpse within a small radius of each vehicle.
“Do you reckon all these people died on Day Zero?” Worm wondered.
“It’s best not to think about it.” Naomi advised.
Kieran, who was as the front, stopped abruptly. Instantly, he put his hand up, “Everyone, stop.” He cautioned the group
“What is it?” Naomi asked as she and Worm rushed to his side.
Kieran nodded forwards; there was a young man rummaging through a car up head. Out of safety, he aimed his rifle towards the looter.
“Don’t you dare.” Naomi gritted her teeth at him.
Kieran ignored her. “You there!” He shouted, as the man looked over in his direction. “Put your hands up right now!”
Instantly, the man complied. He dropped his water bottle and held his hands above his head.
“Are you alright?” Naomi butted in. “Do you need anything?”
“What are you playing at?” Kieran groaned at her.
But now it was her turn to ignore him. “Anything at all?” She repeated.
The man didn’t respond.
Then, a gun clicked, as two more figures emerged from a lorry adjacent to Worm.
“Listen, we don’t want any trouble.” The woman holding the pistol declared. “Just put the gun down and let us pass by without any conflict.”
“Uh…” Naomi stuttered, not expecting such a peaceful request. “Sure, alright. If that’s what you want.” She gestured for Kieran to lower the rifle.
“Lower yours first.” He didn’t back down.
“Afraid I can’t do that.” But the woman was equally as stubborn.
The young man paced over to the ordeal, causing Kieran to turn his weapon towards him. “You can stay back in all!” He warned him, and the man complied, stopping dead in his tracks.
“We didn’t want to confront you,” the woman explained, “But we were worried you’d shoot at us if you caught us trying to sneak by.”
“It’s ok, we understand.” Naomi remained passive.
“No, she understands. I speak for myself.” Kieran remained sceptical. “You could’ve just snuck past and we would’ve been none the wiser. The moment I lower this gun, you’re gonna take us down. How many more of you are hiding back there anyway?”
The woman shook her head, “None. It’s just the th
ree of us. I promise.”
Kieran looked over to Richard and Valorie. “Looks like you two aren’t the only bad liars in these parts.”
“Why don’t you three come with us?” Naomi suggested, breaking the tension. “We’d love to have new people in our group.”
“No can-do. We’re headed eastwards. I owe Aoife here a favour,” she nodded to the woman behind her, “So I’m helping her get to Ireland.”
Kieran laughed hard. “Seriously, love? You think you can just magically cross the waters in one piece?” He lowered the rifle. “You aren’t a threat to us, you’re just out of your minds!”
“Shut up, Kieran!” Naomi gritted her teeth at him. “Sorry about him,” she turned back to the woman, “Would you like our help with getting there?”
Kieran sighed and turned away, unable to believe Naomi had just made that suggestion.
“We’re not on any particular path,” Naomi continued, “So, if it’s alright with you, may we join?”
The woman glanced back at her friend. “Aoife? What do you think?”
Silently, Aoife nodded and politely smiled.
“Great! What about the rest of you?” Naomi looked to the other members of her group.
Richard and Valorie both nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” They affirmed.
“Worm?”
He shrugged, “It’s a long journey, but I don’t see why not… What about Kieran?”
Naomi glanced over at him walking off and raiding a nearby van. “I couldn’t care less about his decision…” With those harsh words, she redirected her attention to her new acquaintances. “I’m Naomi,” she held her hand out.
“Pleased to meet you.” The woman shook Naomi’s hand. “That over there is Mac,” she nodded to the young man. “And I’m Cora.”
And indeed, it was Erica’s very own daughter…
Chapter 17: The Loop
The day after Annabelle had been brought back, Elliot returned to the clearing, guided by Alek.
Grunting and groaning, Elliot practiced with his nunchucks again. There were multiple wooden poles for him to swing at now. Alek also trained with him, functioning as a mobile target.
Human Nature (Book 3): Human Nature III Page 11