After The Turn: Redemption

by Daniels, Melvin

  “What now boss?” Marcus asked Drew

  “I don’t know brother” was the reply. “I didn’t even get to ask them about Sarah”

  “I know this sounds bonkers” Marcus said surreptitiously keeping his voice low, why don’t the three of us, pack up and leave, head to Southampton like before?”

  Hannah was still holding onto Marcus’ arm and was part of the conversation

  “What about Connor?” she asked

  “Yeah, we can bring the kid along I guess” Marcus added

  “What about the others?” Drew demanded

  “We didn’t know them a week or so ago, we could forget them easily enough” Marcus answered

  “I can’t do that, what about Sarah?” Drew questioned “I’m finding her!”

  “Brother, she is probably dead, but if she is not, I will not risk Hannah for her, I’m sorry”

  Drew was torn again, the more people they have met has made the situation more and more complex for him, he had too many morals, he could not abandon the others, he cannot give up on Sarah. But he also could not blame Marcus, he may have found someone, he had searched his entire life for, he could not begrudge him that.

  “If we don’t find somewhere tonight, brother I’m leaving, it’s up to you if you join us”

  Drew put his head in his hands, this was getting so hard for him, every-one was free to go, however much it hurt to let them. He hoped Marcus would reconsider.

  Skutterz returned, bow over the shoulder, and with him was another archer. It was a young woman, another one from the photo in Kevin’s office.

  “You can’t stay here” he said “But Shy and I will help you, we know somewhere, it has fences and buildings, big enough for the twenty-two of you”

  The woman was wearing a peak cap pulled over her face, her long blonde hair hanging down from the back, with a thick pink streak running through it.

  “Emma” she said “Or Shy”

  It was Kevin’s daughter, the one from the playgroup, Skutterz’s partner,

  “Why Shy?” Marcus asked her “You really nervous around people?”

  Skutterz answered “Fluttershy95, Shy is just a little easier”

  “Gamertag?” Marcus assumed

  “How else would I have met her?” Skutterz laughed and handed back all the weapons that were surrendered at the entrance. Before booming “Bear! Open the doors!”

  30

  Sam sprung awake, shot up like a bolt to the blue, like he did that day, the day he had lost Amber, he rubbed his neck, stiff from sleeping in the car, he had been sweating, he did not sleep well anymore as it is, he was surprised he was not already up the exhaustion from the previous day, and the days before that must have caught up with him.

  “Something is going on” a voice said to him.

  He turned his head to see a figure had appeared in the front seat of the station wagon, a figure he knew not to be real, he debated in his own mind if he was asleep or not, was it a dream, a figment of his imagination or a hallucination? Ambers voice was soothing to him. He reached out to touch her face, although she did not exist, his brain developed the missing sensation, he could feel her skin on his hand, her soft hair in between his fingers.

  “What do you mean?” Sam asked.

  There was a tap at the window, Amber disappeared, Sam opened his eyes, Burke was outside, Sam opened the door and slid out.

  “What time is it?” Sam asked quizzically. “What’s going on?”

  “The old lady, she has gone missing!” Mitch informed him “It’s just gone twelve, we been looking all morning, we did not want to disturb you, I know you haven’t been sleeping well”

  Sam and Mitch hurried off to join the search, he had found that they had all split up and were searching the vast woodland around them Sam was swamped with thoughts, how far could she have got to? The hills stretched for miles, and she was a confused old woman, she must be terrified, Tommy and Matty must be in bits.

  “Who was watching her?” Sam asked Mitch as the two of them walked back up the gravel path towards the gibbet.

  “Hannah was sir” Mitch explained “Doc James went to check up on Eileen for his early morning rounds, but found no one there” Sam shook his head as he listened

  “Rumour has it she took off with Drew’s crew looking for this settlement, they left early around five” Burke paused “So she been missing for up to seven hours she relieved Matty about midnight”

  “I never authorised her to go” Sam said as they looked out at the horizon, “We got to go help find her my friend”

  Sam and Burke decided to look in the woods just further on from the gibbet, the gravel path took them that way, they figured to start with, at least, she would have tried to stick to the path, they walked along, looking from side to side, for any indication that she had come this way. In silence, they crunched across the gravel. They walked for some time, with no clues.

  “Should we turn back? Go meet up with the others?” Burke suggested.

  “Yeah maybe we….” Sam responded “Hang on, look at that”

  Sam pointed to a bush that had clearly been trampled on, and caught up in some brambles, were small pieces of clothes, torn from its source, Burke nodded confirming he had seen it too, they trampled over the bush, shielding their faces form the brambles and branches, all of a sudden, the ground seemed to fall away from them, the gradient of the slope was more than they had anticipated, Sam went over on his ankle and slipped down the hill, bouncing over stones, he came to rest at the bottom. Thankfully, he had not seriously hurt himself, only his pride. Burke came down after him, gaining momentum has he walked down, his feet sideways giving himself the best chance to distribute his weight over the soft ground.

  “Cap’n you ok?” Burke asked as he got near the end of his descent.

  “Yeah Mitch I’m ok” Sam replied as he dusted himself off.

  This was true except for the pain in his ankle, he had twisted or sprained it. He looked back up the hill as his loyal friend stopped himself toppling over, it was quite a way back up to the path, it was unlikely for anyone to have noticed them from above.

  They pressed on. Through the bushes once more, following the trodden down trail, it was damp, underneath, from the rainfall the day before and the early morning dew. The sun would not reach these parts to dry it out anytime soon, the humidity was not high enough either, they stopped, the trail seemed to take two directions, so they decided to split up, Mitch followed the original trail, and Sam followed the new one, deeper in.

  Sam waited until Mitch was out of sight before he moved, grimacing from the shooting pains in his ankle. He was unsure where the path was leading him too, would they find Eileen? He did not know, but he had to try, she would be confused. He owed it to her and to her family, to find her, one way or another.

  He followed the trail, a blackberry bush was protruding his path, he put his arm up in front of him to shield his eyes from the brambles that were scraping and stabbing his body from getting in his eyes. He forced himself through, with multiple cuts to his arm. Finally, he had enough room to move away from the bush, as it went round a corner.

  Using his mouth he removed some thorns from his arm, as he looked up there was a fallen tree, across the ground, propped up against its neighbour in the forest, someone was sat on the tree, facing away from him. It was a man, an older man, not a pensioner not yet retired, he had silvery grey hair. Sam approached with caution, instinctively he reached for the knife in his pocket.

  “Hello?” he said to the man on the tree, there was no reply “Hello!” he yelled this time.

  Nothing happened, no twitch from the man on the tree, it was as if Sam was not there. He had the knife down by his side in his left hand, his arm coiling back, not to attack, but in case he needed to defend himself. He got closer, he reached out his bandaged right arm, which had been bleeding once more, from another day of picking the scab, trying to make a scar form.

  He was about to put his hand on the m
an’s shoulder, but he turned around before he could do so, Sam dropped the knife, and fell to his knees. A cold shiver ran up his spine.

  “Hello Son” the man said in an accent with a slight Portuguese tone.

  His father sat before him, the son of a Portuguese immigrant. Sam could not believe his eyes. “I wondered when you would show up”

  Sam was silent. This time he knew he was not sleeping, this was happening, in his head. He could feel the grass, beneath him, he could smell the air. He could hear the trees moving, he could feel the breeze against his skin. He was awake.

  “Don’t be scared Samuel” his father said softly

  “You can’t be here! You died over fifteen years ago” Sam exclaimed.

  His father smiled and nodded and beckoned him over to sit with him on the fallen tree. Sam stood up from the ground he was knelt on, and sat next to his father,

  “What’s happening? Why are you here?”

  His father sniggered,

  “You’re going through trauma, in your head son” he began, Sam looked at him inquisitively “Your brain has created me, to help you through, to help you understand. You feel you have failed people?”

  “I have pops, I failed you, when you needed me, I was not there” Sam cried

  “I hit you, I swore at you, you cannot blame yourself” his father reassured him.

  “You had dementia! you were not in your right mind!” Sam pleaded, he stood up and paced back and forth. Head in his hands, “There was no one else, I never knew my mum, we had no other family, just the Portuguese community. I left you to die in that care home! Alone!”

  Sam’s father shook his head.

  “And that’s why you feel you need to be there for this lady your looking for?”

  Sam nodded

  “You can’t be there for everyone” his father said “God was there for me, the community came around to help, they all understood it was hard for you, you were there when I first got ill, you were there when I received my diagnosis, you just couldn’t be there at the end, you were hurting Samuel, you were a young boy”

  “I should have been there pop, I failed you, you were my role model, my idol, I wanted to be a good man like you, a good father like you”

  “And you will be, my son” his father said, Sam was about to say something, but his father spoke for him, “Amber is here, with me, with God, your unborn child also”

  Sam cried, full on tears, he was howling with pain, deep inside him, he felt weak, he fell to the floor once more. His father stood up and glided over the ground, not disturbing anything underfoot. He stood above Sam.

  “You’re a good man Samuel, you will be a good father, one day”

  “No that cannot happen”

  Sam showed his arm to his father, pulled off the bandage to reveal to him Ambers name. His father put his hands over it and spoke softly.

  “You need to find forgiveness my Son”

  Sam shook his head, he could not ever imagine moving on form Amber it would never happen, he could not imagine fathering a child, not anymore, that was one dream he would never get back.

  “It was not your fault, what happened you could not have foreseen it, you look for the good in everyone, you cannot let that trait go, she loved you for it, I loved you for it”

  Sam looked into his father’s eyes. But at the same time was searching into his own soul.

  “You need to find forgiveness my Son” his father said again “You need to find your faith once more”

  Sam rubbed his eyes, as he looked up, his father had gone, what was going on with him? was he going insane? It had seemed so real to him, his father, Amber.

  He looked all around, something caught his eye, it had stopped and looked directly at him, the other side of the fallen tree, a fox, an elegant fox. It stared at Sam for a moment then ran off, Sam did not know why, but his head told him to go in that direction, as if the fox had appeared to show him the way?

  He ran on, ignoring the pain in his ankle, somehow convinced he was going the correct way. He was unsure where he was going or indeed how far he had come. Until he heard something, carried on the breeze, a moaning noise. He slowed down, nervously looking through the trees, trying to identify the source. Then he found it.

  There was a body sprawled on the floor, on its back. Leaning over it, were four of the undead, busily tearing into the stomach of the body, ripping the intestines and other internal organs, with their bare hands, eating them, noisily chewing through the grizzly flesh and muscles. Sam pulled his knife, and strolled up to them purposefully, not worried about drawing their attention. They were still eating when the knife ploughed through the cranial bone, of the closest one, the other three stopped, their vacant eyes drawn to Sam, as he retracted the knife, impulsively he stabbed forwards, this time entering under the chin followed by a second blow into the brain. The two further away had managed to get to their feet, and began stumbling towards Sam, falling over each other and the cluster of bodies on the floor. They reached out to him trying to haul him down. Sam jabbed at one, the blade protruding the eye socket killing it. Leaving just one left, it lunged at him, flailing its arms, and snarling at him, the entrails of the body it had devoured, hanging from its, blood-soaked mouth. Thinking quickly Sam grabbed its wrist pulling it closely to him.

  He stopped for a moment and investigated its twisted, lifeless face. The teeth snapping, inches from his own, trying to see if there was anything inside, if there was anything beyond, if this person had been granted salvation by god. He thrust the knife into the side of its head, letting it fall to the floor by his feet.

  Sam ran over to the body, laying on the floor, the insides now out, blood soaked the floor. He crouched down beside the carcass. Eileen was dead, a bloody horrific death, she would have been so confused, she would not have understood what was happening to her. She did not deserve this, the others were going to be distraught, Tommy and Matty would be inconsolable. He lifted her head from the ground and kissed her forehead, before taking of his shirt and covering the gaping hole in her body.

  Sam called for Mitch and sat and waited. As he did so, he kept watch over Eileen’s remains, he noticed something clenched in her right fist. He gently and respectfully opened her grasp; she was holding a little black bible.

  31

  They stood outside the industrial estate, ahead of them were several buildings, which had been built behind a housing estate, and a cemetery. There were factories, units, and small independent craft stalls and studios further down the road. It was built on what was once an old fairground, not a traditional fairground with rides and candyfloss, but a farmers fair, where farmers could sell produce as well as cattle, and sheep, Drew could see the potential of this place, the factories had big gates at the entrance, and a fence around the perimeter, but inside the perimeter, the dead roamed the yards, penned in by concerned survivors.

  “We should clear that area first” Skutterz pointed at building that was separated into six units.

  The sign at the entrance to the units stated that before the change, five of them were in use, an auction house, a timber store, a dog sitting creche, and two of them were an automotive repair shop. The other one should be empty.

  “See there is a fence going around and the gate at the entrance, you should be secure, with plenty of room for you all, and space to grow”

  Drew nodded, it was indeed a decent spot, also he noticed on the way in a river ran nearby, could be a potential source of water.

  “What do you think?” He asked Marcus.

  Marcus thought for a moment

  “It looks secure, it’s a far cry from the camp” a smile crept to his face “Let’s go take care of the vermin”

  They approached the fence, past abandoned cars and an old burger van, they crossed the road, a factory behind them, one, which according to the sign outside, made upholstery for fancy yachts amongst other things. Skutterz brought them to a stop, about halfway between the big gate, and the end of the six dar
k blue units they were looking to break into, the dead meandered around oblivious to their presence, although that would not be the case, when they get inside.

  “We need to get inside one of the units, and open the main doors to get use of the building” Skutterz said “We should break into two groups, one to distract the dead, the other to break into the building”

  The others remained silent not offering an alternative suggestion, they decided who did what, they felt it would be sensible to have two even groups.

  “Those outside the fence would remain safe, if this all goes to hell then I would advise them to head back to Mercia” Skutterz instructed.

  “Ok” Alex said “I’ll lead the team inside, I will take…..”

  “Hang on a minute brother” Skutterz interrupted “I think I will lead; Shy will come too”

  Alex looked perplexed “Why would you come in? why would you risk your life to get us in safely?”

  Skutterz gave a deafening laugh.

  “No brother” he chuckled “I don’t care about your safety; I want to see what loot I can get my hands on before you do!”

  Drew had to admire his honesty in the circumstances, and although it seemed as if he were coming across badly, he could not blame him for looking out for himself.

  “I’ll come too” Drew added.

  Reluctantly Marcus agreed to take the others, Hannah, Paul and Omar towards the main gate, and start drawing the crowd of walking corpses away from where the other team were to make their entrance.

  He began by scraping his billhook across the metal mesh fence, Paul and Omar, were grabbing it and thrashing the fence around, whilst hollering enthusiastically, Hannah on the other hand, sat on the curb and waited.