After The Turn: Redemption

by Daniels, Melvin

  "Yeah your right. So, stay vigilant. Keep your eyes open. Watch out for one another" Drew said.

  He folded the map away and tucked it into his pocket. He noticed that his shoelace was undone, so he bent down to tie it up.

  Frances knelt, beside him pretending to tie her shoe also, she spoke quietly to him.

  "I've noticed it too"

  Drew looked at her

  "He has been off with you; he has taken every opportunity to shoot you down or make you look dumb"

  They both watched as Marcus walked around the back of the truck and opened the fuel cap. Drew nodded to her, he was glad someone else had picked up on it.

  "I get it" she said "You need to do this" she put her hand onto his and gave it a squeeze, "I'm with you, every step of the way"

  Her hand seemed to linger on Drew's, squeezing hers back he said

  "Thank you"

  They stood up, Marcus walked over with his hunting rifle strung over his shoulder, and handed the Kimber to Frances looking directly at Drew

  "Your probably better off with this" he said before he returned to Hannah.

  Drew took a deep breath and shrugged it off, Seamus took a sip of water from a bottle in his bag. The air was quite humid and sticky, and there was a fair bit of walking ahead of them.

  Marcus took the lead, hoping over the gate and into the woods. Hannah strolling alongside him, her arm linking around his, pointing out and admiring the wildlife. Like two lovers on a leisurely stroll around the countryside.

  Drew could see by the look on his face that it was killing Seamus. He had been displaced and disowned by Hannah, someone who he thought he had a deep connection with. Drew felt sorry for him, he stopped to let him past patting him on the back as he did so.

  "You ok?" Drew asked knowing full well of the answer.

  The once confident, arrogant, alpha male Irishman cut a forlorn figure, his reputation in shatters, he had sunk within himself.

  "Yeah I’m fine" he declared defiantly has he trundled off behind the leaders.

  Drew stayed where he was allowing Connor by, holding onto the straps of his rucksack with both hands, like a tourist, or more accurately given his age, a school kid on a field trip just pleased to be out of the classroom for the day.

  Drew waited until Frances had caught up, she was watching the rear of the group for any unexpected movement, the Kimber drawn and ready. He walked along next to her, silently. The only noise coming from the twigs and debris they were trampling on, until Frances whilst still scanning the area behind them said.

  "It's not your fault, you know"

  "What's that then?"

  "It's not your fault that Marcus has found someone other than you, it's not your fault they stepped on Seamus' toes" she looked directly at Drew "And it's not your fault that Sarah was taken"

  Drew said nothing

  "You and Sam are so alike; you cannot please everyone" Frances said "So stop trying"

  "Do you think I should stop looking for her?" Drew asked

  "No, what you are doing is noble. It keeps you going, gives you a sense of purpose" She answered "And you need an answer one way or another"

  They carried on walking not looking where they were going, Drew tripped over a root of a tree and landed face first on the track. They both started laughing, Drew could not remember the last time he had done that.

  "Get up will you" Frances said "We need to catch up with the others" by this time they had lost sight of Connor at the back of the line.

  "Help me up then" Drew said reaching a hand up to her.

  Frances pocketed the gun and grabbed his hand, but Drew pulled her down to the floor. She fell on top of him, laughing once more, Drew looked at her face, and smiled at her. He brushed his hand through her hair, bringing it to rest on her cheek, he smiled again, she smiled back. He had a strange feeling inside him, something that had been missing for a while. Then suddenly he thought of Sarah, he pulled his hand back from Frances' soft skin.

  "I'm so sorry" Drew said "I don't know what came over me"

  "It's ok" She replied comfortingly, she kissed his forehead and said "I understand"

  They got to their feet, Drew shook the loose dirt from his clothes, he was embarrassed and confused, what had come over him? he forced an awkward smile, and they continued their silent walk in the pursuit of the others.

  They had not gotten fair when up ahead they heard a commotion, they picked up their pace to run. What greeted them was neither surprising nor unsurprising. There was a scuffle between Marcus and Seamus. Connor was trying to separate the two of them, pulling on Seamus' shoulder trying to get him away. Hannah was cowering behind Marcus. Seamus shrugged Connor off, accidently catching him with a backhand across the face. Connor fell to the floor.

  Drew and Frances came tearing into the confrontation. both pushing the two brawlers apart. A look of rage in Seamus' eyes but a smirk on the face of the Marcus.

  "What the hell is going on here!" Drew demanded.

  "Your boy here is a racist, that’s what" Seamus seethed.

  Marcus sniggered. Drew shot him a look of disapproval.

  "He said to me and I quote, the kid will back me up" Seamus said indicating to Connor who was still sat on the floor. "Grow some potatoes you Mick bastard!"

  Marcus sniggered childishly once more. Drew was not finding it at all funny, he was hoping they were out of earshot of anyone who could be watching them. He and Frances managed to separate them; Drew took Marcus to one side.

  "What are you playing at? you do not need to talk to him like that, or anyone in that manner" Drew said Sternly "You have what you want, now leave it be"

  "I will when he stops trying to be the big man. She picked me end of story" Marcus exclaimed loud enough for Seamus to hear. "She wants a real man"

  Drew grabbed Marcus' shirt, in a clenched fist full of anger. He had never got this way with Marcus before, but he had had enough.

  "Go on then, hit me!" Marcus shouted "Go on, you haven’t got the balls"

  That was it, Drew let fly with a left hook into Marcus' temple. He took the blow and stayed standing. Then without thinking, he pushed Drew to the ground, and leaned over him pulling out his hunting knife.

  "I've been following you around long enough, after your Sarah, I’ve told you before she is dead, and you will be too if you keep on" he said "I'm only here because Hannah wanted to" He pointed the knife towards Seamus "This prick would never let her leave"

  "I was protecting her" Seamus pleaded

  "Bullshit you were keeping her against her will"

  "I was keeping her safe"

  "Bullshit" Marcus said again. As he approached Seamus once more, but this time he pulled the hunting rifle of his shoulder and aimed it at Seamus.

  "He was protecting me!" Hannah yelled "He was"

  "No, he was not. your free now" Marcus said back to her.

  "He was, it was too risky for me." she stopped "I'm a hemophiliac, the slightest cut or knock could cause me serious problems” she sighed “That’s why I sat out when we found home, that’s why I was reluctant to help Shy”

  Marcus lowered the gun and turned to face Hannah. Frances was stood between them with the Kimber facing Marcus. He was taken aback and stumbled over, but managed to keep his footing, with the gun still raised she stepped towards Marcus and took the rifle from him. Whispering in his ear as she did so.

  "You threaten him again, I will kill you"

  Marcus ignored Frances and made directly to Hannah and throwing his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest.

  Drew had no idea how to fix this problem. He tried to rally everyone around to push forward, but Seamus had decided he had seen enough, he turned around to head back the way they had come and off on his own, Drew pleaded with him to stay.

  "I got to leave, I need to go my own way, I have nothing left here" Seamus said to Drew as he walked. "Take care of everyone, and good luck finding your wife"

  Drew could not make him stay
, but he wanted to try. Not only because of Marcus, but Sam coming back and naturally taking over as de facto leader of the group, he no longer had any allies in their rag tag community but also no longer has any sway in decisions, Drew realized how complex a lot of these people still were deep down.

  "I can't go back to the new settlement, which you found, not me" Seamus sighed "I have no purpose, Sam wants me dead"

  "Sam walked out on these people, don't forget that" Drew pleaded. Marcus kept walking "I will help you find your sisters!" Seamus stood still, his back to Drew, his head hung low.

  Suddenly there was the sound of gunfire. They all simultaneously made for cover, behind trees and bushes or just lay prone amongst the leaves, it was not near them. Someone was shooting at something up ahead.

  Drew stayed as close to the ground as he could whilst he ran over to Marcus, who was behind a fallen tree, with Hannah close by.

  "Do you reckon we could get to the brow and have a look see if you can see anything?" Drew asked.

  "Yeah chief, no problem" was the reply the other three joined them at the fallen tree.

  "Marcus is going to take a look" Looking around at the others Drew instructed them "Connor you go with him" Frances handed him back his rifle.

  Marcus and Connor took off, keeping low and moving fast, up the slight incline. The other side of the brow was a big dip, like a valley, it was high the other side, a dirt track ran between the two sides. Fallen trees littered the area. but in the dip, a small collection of the undead were stirring, standing up like a drunk getting up off the floor after a heavy session, stumbling and shuffling along.

  "We need to take them out" Connor said to Marcus tugging on the sleeve of his jacket.

  "Not yet they are whoever is making the noises problem, not ours" Marcus replied eyeing the scope.

  Drew saw Marcus make a signal for him to move up to them. Forcing himself to move he scampered up, and lay down next to Connor and Marcus, overlooking the wanderers in the dip.

  "We need to take them out" Drew unknowingly repeated what Connor had said. Connor shook his head.

  "Not our problem yet" he said.

  Marcus watched on through the scope as the others joined them. The gunfire sounded again, and it was getting closer, the dead were trying to make their way up the other side of the dip, towards where the sound had originated from. Then suddenly from out of the trees on the other side of the slope, a woman burst through, she was being pursued by three men, with automatic weapons, exactly the same as the SA80's they had back at base.

  "Knights" Marcus said "They are chasing someone"

  Marcus continued to watch as the woman was running as fast as she could, glancing looks behind her at how close her pursuers were, she skidded to a halt, in front of her were the undead, clawing their way to the top. she lost her footing and fell backwards. One of them grabbed her leg and started pulling her down. Marcus squeezed the trigger, the skull of the undead shattered from the impact, the woman looked around to see where the shot had come from, her dirtied face checking the horizon. She did not see anyone, she got herself back up and ran along the top of the ridge. Frances sprinted around after her to cut her off.

  The three chasers, came to the dip, the remaining dead were all up now. They briefly gave up on the pursuit to fire a vicious volley of rounds into the unknowing cadavers.

  Marcus squeezed the trigger, the bullet spiraled through the air at great velocity, hitting one of the men in the throat, he immediately dropped his weapon, instinctively he put his hands to his throat to stop the bleeding, he fell to the floor, to bleed out whilst his two colleagues were staring on stunned about what had just happened before their eyes. Then another shot came, hit the second one in the temple, he was dead before he hit the floor. The third turned to run, back the way he had come, Marcus fired, the bullet clipped a tree, sending shards of bark into the air, he was going to get out of sight, Marcus stood up, ran down the hill, up the other side, past the dead, the first guy still gargling on his blood, coughing up lumps, waiting to die. Marcus got to the edge of the woods, he could see the man running down a lane, and into the grounds a ginormous house made primarily of glass.

  Marcus continued to give chase, onto the grounds of the glass house. There were fancy cars in the driveway, an Aston Martin and a Bentley. Marcus briefly lost the man, but saw a figure dart across, firing a round or two in his direction, they missed instead leaving bullet holes across the front window of the Bentley.

  Marcus dropped to a knee, took aim, held his breath and fired. The man fell, into a swimming pool, turning the water, green with algae, a dark shade of red.

  34

  After fishing the dead man from the pool and taking the SA80 from him. Marcus returned to find the others in the woods. Right where he had left them. He was rather relieved that the gunfire had not seemed to attract anymore of the dead and eager to tell them about the big glass house. He jogged along, to join them, Connor and Drew had already picked the guns of the dead knights.

  "Where's Frances?" Marcus puffed a little out of breath.

  Drew told him that she was not back yet from catching up with the woman who was running through the woods.

  "Are we going to go see where she has got to?" Marcus asked

  "She can handle herself well enough" Drew answered with a grin.

  He accepted that answer for the time being, but would willingly go look for her if required, Marcus started telling them about the glass house and the fancy cars but Drew was getting restless, he was wanting to press on towards the Knights base camp. He started pacing up and down. Hand rubbing his chin in deep thought. He was not going to leave Frances behind. He sat on the floor leaning against a tall oak tree.

  Marcus put an arm around Hannah giving her a kiss on the lips. She squeezed tightly into his chest, Marcus tossed the SA80 to Seamus, who had appeared to change his mind about leaving or he just got caught up in all the excitement. Deep down he was still seething about the whole exchange they had.

  "Just don't shoot me with it" Marcus joked

  "Don't tempt me" Seamus said under his breath.

  A little while later Frances finally returned, and with her was the woman who was running away from the Knights. Drew sprung to his feet pleased that Frances had returned, and as they approached, he could not believe his eyes. He recognised the other woman. She recognised him too, they ran towards each other, and embraced. Marcus stood up also.

  "Oh my god Chloe!" Drew exclaimed "I never..." he stuttered "I never thought I would see you again"

  Drew was ecstatic, now he felt justified, he was right to keep looking, if Chloe was here then surely Sarah would be near?

  Chloe sobbed so hard, she was in disbelief that she had found people she knew and cared for.

  "Me neither" Chloe replied "Someone must be looking down on us" she cried some more as she waved Marcus over to join their hug.

  "Of all the woods in the world, we have to stumble across you!" Marcus jested.

  He pretended to look stern, but he could not hold it for long, a beaming smile come over him, and he gleefully joined the little reunion.

  Hannah watched on, a little concerned that this woman might have a connection to her man. Seamus watched her watching the long-lost companions still holding each other, he knew what she was thinking, he had thought the same things when Marcus had showed up and he had been proved right. Maybe he could push on her insecurities?

  "How rude of me" Drew said as he released from the bond "This is Frances" he pointed at Frances who was stood behind them "And the Irish man is Seamus, the young lady is Hannah and the kid sat under the tree is Connor"

  They all raised their hands in turn to greet Chloe.

  "There are more of us, we have shelter and food and drink, please come back with us?" Drew asked invitingly.

  Chloe nodded, her face screwing up trying to fight more tears.

  "Where have you been?" Drew asked, "The Knights outpost?"

  Chloe nodded.
>
  "Is Sarah there?"

  Chloe shrugged.

  "Can you show me the way?"

  Chloe nodded again.

  Immediately Drew picked up his stuff and instructed her to lead on. Grudgingly she started to walk back the way she just came.

  Marcus interrupted.

  "Dude let’s get her back home first and get her fed and watered"

  Drew stared at him for a second, then agreed they should be taking her back right now, she has likely had a traumatic experience. He pulled the map from his pocket

  "Ok, show me" He said passing Chloe the map.

  She looked at it for a minute trying to get her bearings as to where they were and where she had come from. Marcus took the map from her.

  "You don't want to find her, do you?" Drew questioned "Your happy in your little bubble! look we found Chloe; we will find Sarah!" He tried keeping his cool.

  "Seriously, we need to take Clo back, right now" Marcus stepped up taking control of the situation "We can't go in all guns blazing, she may have valuable intel"

  Drew just stared at him

  "We take this intel to Sam, before we make our next move, he has a score to settle, shit even Seamus has a score to settle!" Marcus flayed his arm in Seamus' direction. "Don't make this about you, and don't deny these people the opportunity, they may want in" Marcus lectured "They need redemption"

  "And what if they don't?" Drew asked

  "Then I promise you brother, I will go with you"

  "Me too" Frances added

  Drew thought for a moment, then reluctantly agreed.

  "We hatch a plan, one way or another" he said

  "Of course," replied Marcus