After The Turn: Redemption

by Daniels, Melvin

  “Do you think they are going to kill us?” Marcus asked worried “We know where they live now, I didn’t see this from the road, and look!”

  Marcus pointed at a roaring fire in the camp, he could imagine people sitting around it, possibly a tight knit community, a tight knit community who would not be very welcoming to outsiders, especially outsiders who know their location.

  Outside the truck, the conversation between Omar, Tommy and the guy in the cap was getting a little heated, there were a lot of fingers being pointed and flailing arms, Omar gestured for calm. The guy in the cap barged past Omar and Tommy and knocked on the driver’s side window.

  “I’ll give you one minute to turn your truck around and forget you were here”

  Marcus buzzed the window down

  “Or what?” Marcus asked

  The guy in the cap fidgeted on the spot, pulling on tufts of his unkempt beard. tried to talk ended up stuttering, not having an answer.

  “Give them a break Seamus” Tommy said “They saved our lives”

  Seamus huffed a bit, removed his cap and frantically rubbed the pack of his head in a subconscious effort to relieve his tension.

  “You remember what happened last time? Last time we let people in?” Seamus exclaimed “What if they are…” diverting his attention to Drew and Marcus “Are you Knights?”

  “Seamus, Buddy calm down, these guys killed a Knight for us, they saved us, I’ll vouch for them” Omar informed him.

  Seamus pondered for a moment.

  “Fine” he said reluctantly “But they sleep in the truck”

  No one disagreed as it made sense all round, nobody knew them for sure, and there could be vulnerable people in the camp women and children maybe, they needed to be safe.

  Seamus watched as Frances jumped down

  “Wait a minute” Seamus asked, “Where’s Steve?”

  “He didn’t make it” Frances answered swinging both of the SA80’s over her shoulder.

  “Damn it” Seamus said as he marched off, shaking his head furiously.

  Drew and Marcus got out of the truck Tommy patted them down and removed all the sharp items and weapons. He took Marcus’s billhook from him and tossed it into the load bay, it made a metallic clanging sound as it landed, inches away from the corpse that currently resided on the bed of the truck.

  “Don’t worry about him, come on in, I can introduce you guys to everyone” Omar said “And I could do with some help explaining to the group what happened to Steve”

  Omar and Tommy grabbed the rucksacks and the supplies they had gathered from their travels. Connor was still sat in the load bay, in silence, his legs pulled into his chest rocking back and forth, staring at the dead body, the body of someone he felt somewhat responsible for the death of. Omar planted one of his huge hands onto Connors shoulder, startling him.

  “Come on kid” Connor turned to face him “You hungry boy?”

  Tommy led the way across the little bridge, a few of the slats had broken over time and were missing, looking down Drew could see the stream running gently underneath, it was calming, the sound of the water trickling over the riverbed was relaxing, he wished he could lay down and close his eyes, with the soothing noises of nature around him, the stream, the insects it might just be enough to make him feel that the apocalypse wasn’t upon them, even just for a second.

  As they entered the camp, a couple of men instinctively stood up from their seats around the fire they stood defensively wary of these new faces. Seamus told them to sit down, slowly they did so and returned to their patio and garden chairs that had no doubt been scavenged during previous forays into the wilderness.

  Seamus stopped them going straight over to his people instead he said

  “I’ll warm them up to the idea of new people” he shot a look to Omar “I will tell them Steve is dead, Omar will show you around”

  Omar took Drew, Marcus and Connor to one side, whilst Frances followed Seamus, Tommy headed off to one of the large tents in a hurry.

  The actual area of the camp was deceivingly small, all they had seen was the larger tents, which were more like gazebos, clearly, they were used as communal tents. But dotted around these gazebos were lots of smaller tents, probably 3 man tents all the same size, colour and make as if someone had raided Eurohike’s storeroom. Drew figured there was enough tents for one person each if they desired. Omar led them through the tents.

  “This one here” pointing to one of the large gazebos “Is the kitchen come dining room come food store” Omar explained.

  They peered their heads inside the canvas door, that was gently blowing in the wind. A kerosene lantern illuminated the kitchen. To call it a kitchen was generous, there were about four gas camping stoves. Again, all the same. All neatly aligned on pop up picnic tables. And at one end of the gazebo there were stacks of tins of canned food, beans, spaghetti and ravioli, things like that. Also, there were boxes full of dry foods and cereals, stuff that lasts. Smart thinking Drew thought.

  “We try not to use the gas too much, although we have plenty of bottles, we try to cook on the fire instead” Omar said “We don’t go hungry, but man I do wish for a Big Mac some days, you get me!” Omar said with a laugh “Right now off to my gaff”

  They moved out from the Kitchen and followed Omar, they trod carefully trying not to trip on the numerous guy ropes that were pegged into the ground. Drew thought to himself, although they have quite a good setup here, it would be practically impossible for these people to get out of in a hurry. He had not seen any vehicles in the car park or anywhere near the camp for that matter. How do they transport anything?

  They came to a couple of tents. Placed back to back to each other at the far western side of the camp. The first tent was empty, Omar seemed to know it would be as he completely bypassed it, the second was facing away from the camp. Into a clump of trees and bushes, the door wide open empty, Omar did not seem fazed.

  “Wait here please” he ordered

  Omar walked closer to the bush

  “It’s safe” he spoke clearly, in a tone that would reassure anyone.

  Drew peered around the corner of the tent, and to his astonishment from out of the bushes crawled a young boy. Followed by another. Omar then got his big frame led down prone onto the floor and started crawling into the bush, he got his whole top half in, right up to his waist, before retreating out, shuffling backwards, carrying a small girl. He stood back up and handed the girl to one of the boys. Crouching back down he offered his hand and helped a woman out of the bush, he pulled her to her feet. They embraced each other, like they had not seen one another in an awfully long time holding each other close. Omar gently kissed her on the lips before pulling back still with her in his arms.

  “I want you to meet some people” Omar said as he signaled for Drew and the others to come over.

  “This is Drew Barnes, Marcus North and Connor Wilson” Omar said “They saved my life today”

  Drew and Marcus acknowledged their names as they were called. Connor stood silently, vacant once more.

  “And this is my beautiful wife Rachel” Omar beamed with admiration for his wife. “Our sons Jeremiah and William” both boys raised their hands as if they were in class having their names called for the register. “And finally, that gorgeous little girl that Jeremiah is holding, is our daughter, Cayla”

  Drew was amazed that not only had this man kept his family safe, that he had managed to keep them all together, three children and all. It was remarkable. And also he admired the man’s resilience, Omar had lost a friend of his only a few hours ago, and here he was appearing so strong to his family, able to put the emotion of loss to one side, he was nearly a broken man as he cradled Steve in his arms, as he slipped from this world, and now he was a complete man once again with his wife in his arms. Just the sight of his family had galvanized him. You could see what drives him, his motivation, his reason to get through this. You could feel his warmth and love for them. Drew knew in
this moment that they had come across a good man, and for the first time in a long time. Drew felt there may be more to life and that they could make something from this hellish world the resided in. It had given him more determination to find Sarah.

  They were right there! Right in front of where he was laying. He was in the bush, and they were right there! The mother and the three children within touching distance. Just a few thickets over. He could smell their fear. Can they see me? Do they know I’m here? He thought to himself, staying as still as he could, silent, any rustling of leaves, a snap of a twig would heighten their already high nervous tension. He stared at them through gaps in the brambles. The night sky masking his body from them. The mother tried to keep the little girl silent, she had her hand over her mouth. The boys were already well drilled. They knew, keep down, keep still, keep quiet. He wanted to grab them, not yet, he told himself, pulling his arm back towards him, cutting it on a thorn, the pain was joyful for him, he sucked the blood that was coming from the cut. As someone approached. He could not see who. All he could see from the outside was a pair of boots. Then he spoke. It was him, the father. He could breathe easy; the father was not looking for him. The mother and the children squeezed out of the bush. He moved forward a little to get a better view. He could see them embrace. But he had brought new people with him, people he had never seen before.

  He made a note of in a notebook, under the title day 27

  Then he just watched

  9

  “And this is the medical tent” Omar said as he continued his guided tour of the camp.

  They entered the tent, inside there were boxes of basic medical supplies, bandages, gauze and things like that, and a metal tin, like a mini safe with a padlock on. On it was a sign reading. Emergency medication Keep out. It was unknown what was in there and what for, nothing marked down, instead there was an inventory next to the safe cataloguing what was and what was not in stock. The items that they had claimed that day no doubt had already been added.

  There were two people wearing white lab coats in there, reading through notes, and discussing possible treatments required.

  “This is James, he is a doctor, he was a surgeon back in the good old days” Omar introduced a tall fair-haired man with a stethoscope around his neck. “And this” pointing to his left to a very slim woman who had fiery red hair, plaited down her back, “This is Hannah, James is teaching her what he knows, or what could be useful these days” they all greeted each other with a friendly handshake.

  Marcus hung on for a little longer whilst shaking Hannah’s he got lost for a moment in her striking green eyes, he could have stared into them forever. Bringing himself back to reality he let go with a wry smile.

  “Hi” he said

  “Hello” she replied shyly

  Set out in the tent were more of the pop-up picnic tables that they had seen in the kitchen tent. But this time they were set up as medical beds with sleeping bags and pillows as makeshift beds. Not extremely comfortable, but more practical for the doctor than the alternative that was the floor. There were two rows of three, all of which were unoccupied. Except one.

  On the bed was a frail looking lady, incredibly old clearly coming to the end of her life, fortunately a natural end, not one of being torn apart by the carnivorous reanimated dead, that roamed the land. Flanked either side of her was a man, one was a young man, maybe early twenties he was sat with his elbows on the bed leaning over, his head lowered, hands clasped, Drew was unsure whether he was in prayer? Or despair? Or both? And on the other side holding onto this old lady’s hand was Tommy.

  The old lady spoke, in a slow laboured manor.

  “You can come say hello, young man”

  Drew looked to Tommy, He nodded to him to say its ok, so he approached nervously.

  “I won’t bite”

  Meanwhile Omar had spoken to James to ask if he could give Connor a look over, as the kid was still shaken up, he had not said a word whilst he had been there. So, he got up on to a table and he and Hannah checked his vitals.

  Tommy pulled up a chair for Drew to sit with him. Drew asked Tommy out of earshot of the old lady

  “What’s her name?” he did not want to seem rude.

  “Eileen, she’s my Nan, she’s eighty-six years old” Tommy answered “And that’s my kid brother Matty” he gestured towards the other man.

  “Thank you” Drew said

  Marcus had started talking with Hannah, distracting her from her work. He was drawn to her for some reason that he did not really understand, he has never been a guy for a social chat. But maybe the lack of human interaction he had had since the change of the world happened, not being able to have the option of communication whenever you wanted, maybe it made him more appreciative of it. In the right situation.

  “Are you a friend of Thomas?” Eileen asked Drew. “He’s a good boy”

  Drew and Tommy looked at each other and sniggered.

  “Yeah, yeah I am Eileen” Drew replied smiling “And yeah, he is a good man, You see that boy on that table over there?” Eileen sat up gingerly so she could see Connor on the table opposite her. “Thomas saved his life today”

  Eileen grinned with such pride for her grandson.

  “He’s always been a good boy, especially to me”

  With this Tommy’s brother stood up suddenly and snapped at his Nan.

  “Can’t you let it go Nan? The world’s coming to an end and you still can’t let it go”

  Kicking the chair, he was sat on across the tent, he stormed out, clearly some family disagreement that hasn’t been able to get put to bed, or Matty had just read too much into innocent conversation.

  “Don’t worry about it, long story” Tommy reassured Drew

  “Where’s Matthew going?” Eileen asked Tommy.

  “He just going for a sleep Nan, it’s getting a bit late now” Tommy spoke softly to his confused Nan.

  James had finished up assessing Connor, he was unsure whether he had a slight case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and decided that Hannah should monitor him over the coming days, with this Omar suggested that they move on.

  “Make sure you get some food before you go James” Omar called over his shoulder.

  “Already have” James replied “Could you tell Fletch I’m ready to go”

  They exited the Tent back into the night, Drew was slightly quizzical on the doctor arrangement.

  “James don’t stay here with you?” he asked

  “No, not since the split” Omar replied knowing full well more questions were coming his way.

  “Split?”

  “Yeah, we were a bigger group” he started “There was an incident, but that’s a story for another day”

  They walked towards the fire, lots of people appeared to be sat around, eating something that had been freshly cooked from the fire and chatting merrily amongst themselves. Omar’s family had joined. The moment the newcomers came into view, the mood changed, suddenly everyone fell into silence. Drew felt awkward, scanning the campers faces, trying to get a read on what they were thinking how they were feeling. It was not easy, the light from the flames flickering shadows on to people’s faces.

  Seamus took centre stage.

  “These people are joining us for supper tonight. They brought back Omar, Frances and Tommy, reportedly saved their lives from an attack not only from the undead, but also from the Knights” people’s eyes were jumping from Seamus to the newcomers and back again, like this was a theatre presentation, Seamus was in his element, he was soaking up the acclaim.

  “Unfortunately though” he paused “It wasn’t enough to save Steve, he was mauled by the dead, but his soul will live on, they returned his body to us, so we will all say goodbye properly tomorrow”

  Seamus stopped for a moment to view his audience gripped by this ill prepared speech.

  “They have surrendered their weapons, but my friends be wary, be vigilant because we ALL know what can happen, we welcome them into
our midst, for tonight, and we see what tomorrow brings” he turned to face the newcomers “Welcome friends”

  Drew was a little uneasy after Seamus’ theatrics, the guy was clearly being sarcastic, kind of making him feel that all though they were being welcomed, on the face of it they really were unwelcome. Omar left them for a moment whilst he went to speak to someone else, who was stood around the fire, eating whatever it was that was on offer, Drew decided to go sit with Frances who was sat on a fold out fishing chair on her own.

  “Feel welcome enough?” Frances asked chuckling to herself “Seamus can be an ass, he kinda thinks he is in charge”

  Drew sniggered “How many people you got here?” he asked.

  “Twelve adults, three kids plus one I really don’t know what category he falls into”

  They both laughed.

  “Omar said something about a split?” Drew pressed for information.

  “Yeah, there is another group about an hour’s walk away, who was once part of us but, shit went down” Frances said

  “And?”

  “And that’s all I’m telling you for now” Frances ended the conversation abruptly.

  Marcus spoke up for the first time in a while.

  “What’s the story with Hannah?” he spoke with a smile

  “I wouldn’t go there sunshine” Frances answered “She was sleeping with the big dog a while back”

  Drew sat watching the flames deep in thought, what shall they do? He cannot stay here forever he doesn’t want to upset the apple cart, and he needs to find Sarah. He cannot expect these people to help him.

  “I think we head back to the farm tomorrow brother” Drew said to Marcus “After we put Steve in the ground”

  Marcus was listening

  “Head back to the farm, take what we can, and I say we get Connor to show us the way to this outpost”

  Marcus agreed with him. As nice as this was having social interaction with other people, he knew how much finding Sarah meant to Drew and he was not going to let him get distracted from that. Not if he could help it.