The Zombie Room

by R. D. Ronald

  His office was an efficiently sized cube up a flight of steps from reception, with one small window obscured by permanently closed blinds. Mangle climbed the last two thinly carpeted stairs and knocked on the maple veneered door.

  After the customary three-second pause he was instructed to enter. Alan sat with both elbows resting on his matching maple veneered desk, his fingers steepled against his lips.

  ‘Nicholas Garret,’ Alan said, before Mangle had a chance to compose himself and speak first. ‘So you’re out then.’

  ‘Yes sir, I’ve paid my debt to society and I’m back.’

  ‘Well, that’s a matter of opinion,’ he muttered, briefly looking away before turning back to focus directly on Mangle. ‘So what can I do for you?’

  ‘Well, considering the length of my employment here and previous good record, I had hoped to have my old job back.’

  ‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible. We’re a traditional company here and once news of your arrest and the specifics regarding it got around we had a real battle not to lose a great deal of custom.’ Alan was being reserved, possibly even diplomatic, in what he said but the delight that danced in his eyes revealed his true feelings.

  ‘I can only apologise for that, sir, but given an opportunity I’d like to put everything I have back into my job and make up for any problems my indiscretion has caused.’

  ‘The position has been filled anyway,’ Alan said, shaking his head. His eyes slid over a framed wedding photo on his desk. ‘Arthur, my son-in-law has stepped up to your old position, and has proved to be a valuable asset to the company. He’s respectful, punctual and he’s learning fast. We have nothing for you today I’m afraid, Nick. And to be honest I’d rather you didn’t come back again. Do we understand each other?’

  ‘Perfectly,’ Mangle nodded, and closed the door on his way out.

  Although he’d made it quite clear that immediate family were all he wanted to see, for just a few drinks at his mother’s house, and that they definitely weren’t to make a fuss, Decker’s mother and sister hired the community hall and invited pretty much the entire neighbourhood.

  Driving up in the taxi and seeing all the streamers and ‘Welcome Home’ banners fluttering outside was almost enough to make Decker instruct the driver to keep going. He hadn’t anticipated anything like this. All the handshaking and backslapping that he’d had in the two days following his release had proved more unnerving than the barrage of animosity he had envisioned.

  Decker’s Uncle Sam waved his arms when he recognised his nephew in the cab.

  ‘Just here will be fine,’ Decker said, reaching for his wallet.

  ‘You sure?’ the driver asked comically, seeing the look of distress on Decker’s face.

  The door was pulled open by his enthusiastic uncle, who leant in and thrust some money at the driver.

  ‘Take it easy, Uncle Sam.’

  ‘No need for all that uncle stuff, you’re a grown man now. Call me Sam. Now come on, everyone is waiting.’

  Sam ushered him up the three concrete steps and through the graffiti-covered front doors.

  Decker squinted and raised a hand against the bright lights that temporarily blinded him as they entered. A crackle from around the hall as the PA system came to life, and the gathered masses began a tuneless chorus of ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow’.

  ‘What the fuck is going on?’ Decker asked, but his uncle detached himself, singing along, and slipped into the crowd.

  Decker was edgy. He nervously waited for the song to end. As the final line was bellowed out his mother stepped forward and clutched the hand that he was using to shield his eyes. The spotlights were lowered and he was dragged off and introduced to everyone, a continuous stream of names and faces he barely remembered from childhood. Declarations of how brave he’d been protecting his sister, and how glad everyone was that he was home, rang in his ears. For his mother’s sake, Decker put up with the fawning adulation of her friends, but as soon as a lull presented itself he stole away to get a drink and retreat to a quiet spot.

  ‘What’s wrong with your face? After all that time in prison I’d have thought you’d appreciate all the trouble people went to here for you to welcome you back home,’ Sam said, spotting Decker hunkered down in a chair behind the buffet tables.

  ‘It’s not that I don’t appreciate what everyone has done. I just wanted to get out and settle into a quiet life. All the fuss, people telling me I did the right thing, all of this,’ he said, gesturing around the room, ‘it just isn’t right.’

  ‘It’ll all calm down soon enough. This is more for your mother’s benefit, she just wants you to see she’s proud of you, despite everything.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. I just wish she’d have told me instead of putting on an exhibition.’

  ‘Here’s another blast from the past decided to make an appearance,’ Sam said sternly, looking towards the door. He stood up straight and pushed his shoulders back.

  Brian led the way, squinting around the now gloomy hall. John and Tony followed, looking unsure of themselves. Decker stood up and waved, catching Tony’s eye. The three made their way over.

  ‘I’ll catch up with you later, Decker,’ Sam said and walked towards his mother, who looked on anxiously.

  ‘Decker, you’re looking well,’ Brian said.

  Tony and John nodded and murmured agreement.

  ‘Thanks, guys. I’ve had plenty time to spend in the gym over the years – tried to keep myself in shape.’

  ‘Glad you didn’t suffer too much.’

  ‘There was plenty of time for that as well,’ Decker said, his mouth stretching into a straight line.

  ‘Anyway,’ John said, ‘just wanted to say we’re glad you’re out, and as soon as you’re ready to get back to work we’ll make sure you’re sorted. You’ve been away a long time but we intend to make things right.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Tony agreed. ‘Don’t want you to think we don’t appreciate the way you kept our names out of everything. You took the heat and did your time like a man.’

  ‘Thanks for thinking of me, boys, but from here on I’ll be staying out of trouble.’

  ‘It’s early days,’ Brian said dismissively. ‘Get settled and then we’ll talk again.’

  Decker nodded and watched as the three made their way back around the crowd. Tony stopped to heap some food from the buffet table onto a paper plate, then caught up with the other two by the door.

  ‘You mean that about going straight?’ Sam asked, returning to Decker’s side.

  ‘Yeah. I’ve done more than enough jail for this lifetime. I just want to get a regular job and forget about that chapter of my life.’

  ‘Good for you, Derek. I don’t think your mother would be able to handle you going away again.’

  ‘I don’t think I could either.’

  Tazeem entered Central Café, sat at a table, and after a quick glance at the menu gave the waiter his order of a cassantina salad and green mint tea with roasted nuts. The clock on the wall opposite showed that Latif was a few minutes late, but as Tazeem looked back towards the door he saw his friend coming in.

  ‘Tazeem, my friend, good to see you looking well after your ordeal,’ Latif said as he sat down on the chair opposite.

  ‘Thanks. How have things been out here while I was away?’

  ‘There have been changes which I’m sure you’ve heard of. Sadiq has become integral in a lot of businesses and he’s less than forthcoming about his activities.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The initial impressions after he took over so many of the housing projects were good. Rental income was up and problems with tenants vanished almost completely. He would always deliver his positive reports right after Friday prayer, so many of the elders would overhear. He would make a point of letting it be known that he was interested in expanding and taking on other ventures. Offers quickly came in, which he snapped up.’

  ‘It sounds like he’s doing very well.’ />
  ‘Yes. He’s working with a lot of the younger members of the community as well as bringing help in from abroad – seems like more every day. One of the workers from my shop has begun to get involved with his dealings. Also, there have been things I’ve heard …’

  ‘Things like what?’

  ‘Some of the company he has been keeping, affiliations with suspicious men at some new strip club he’s tied up with.’

  ‘And Ermina?’

  Latif nodded. ‘He spends more and more time with your cousin, throwing money around wherever they go. They seem inseparable these days. And with her looking after your house while you were away ...’ he said, and gave a what-did-you-expect shrug.

  Tazeem drank the last of his tea and replaced the glass with a clink. ‘Do you have plans of your own for returning to work, Tazeem?’ Latif asked gently, to get their conversation back on track.

  ‘I have something I’ve been working on,’ he nodded. ‘I need a couple of people to help get it off the ground, but I think I may have the right ones in mind.’

  Mangle drove past the whitewashed exterior of the Bear and Crown pub, turned onto the gravel drive and pulled up in the car park behind. He walked in through the rear doors and was embraced by the smell of traditional home-cooked roast that conjured up welcome memories of Sundays at his grandmother’s house as a child.

  He ordered a pint of Satan’s Sister, which the chalkboard behind the bar recommended as: ‘One of the Most Sinister Real Ales of the Week We’ve Ever Served’, and took a seat at a corner table near a small arched window overlooking fields.

  ‘You find it alright?’ Decker asked, walking toward the table carrying a half-finished pint.

  ‘Eventually, although I’m a bit surprised you knew about the place.’

  ‘My uncle brought me here a few times as a kid. Good food and good beer, he always told me, plus I wanted to avoid anything local,’ he said, sitting down opposite Mangle.

  ‘Is there a reason for you wanting to keep a low profile?’

  ‘No, nothing like that, just that life since I moved back into my mother’s has been a bit of a goldfish bowl. I thought it was bad in jail, with everyone knowing everyone’s business. Guess I was expecting things to be different on the outside.’

  ‘Are you finding it hard to adjust?’

  ‘Maybe. It’s just not like I thought it would be. I was prepared for all this bitterness and resentment, but it’s like they regard me as some kind of hero for killing a heroin dealer, and that’s harder to deal with.’

  ‘Have you had any luck job hunting?’

  ‘Nothing, man. Even with my qualifications from inside, without references no one will give me a chance. Did you get your old job back?’

  ‘No. The boss decided I was a lost cause and told me pretty much that, when I went and asked. That wouldn’t have been too bad but he’s pissed in the water for all the other companies I might have approached as well. Guess we’re pretty much in the same boat,’ Mangle said morosely, and gulped a mouthful from his pint.

  Decker exhaled heavily through his nose and gazed out of the window.

  ‘Have you thought about getting into anything less than legal?’ Mangle asked cautiously after a few moments of silence.

  Decker’s eyes sharpened as he turned to look at Mangle. ‘I’m having to fight off the advances,’ he said, looking away again at the foam sliding slowly down the inside of his now-empty glass. ‘The three I was mixed up with before prison, I thought after an initial appearance at my welcome home party they’d leave me be, but it’s like they want to cash in on my local celebrity status and have me dealing drugs. “Don’t mess with Decker, look what happened to the last person that did,” some shit like that. I want no part of it, but they won’t leave me be.’

  ‘Have they threatened you or something?’

  ‘Not threats or anything, just phone calls, appearances at the door. If I keep getting this much open attention from known criminals then the police will get interested and it won’t take them long to pin something on me, not with a previous murder conviction hanging over my head. The guys know that, the same as I do. No doubt they figure that before long I’ll realise I’m better off with them and come trotting back into the fold.’

  Mangle didn’t say anything but went and brought them two fresh pints from the bar.

  ‘Can you see any way out, then?’ he asked, putting the glasses down onto the table top.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot. What else is there to think about?’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I thought about Tazeem. He’ll no doubt have stuff going by now. An afternoon shift in the kitchens and he’d have hatched enough plans to fill a notebook,’ Decker said with a half-smile.

  7

  Tatiana no longer noticed the acrid stench of the pooled vomit and urine on the floor of their watertight prison. The dipping and lurching as the small boat negotiated its way across the choppy sea had made several of the girls seasick, and the duration of the voyage with no access to a bathroom had seen some of them release their bladders.

  Conversation between Tatiana and Natalia was stolen in urgent moments when enough sunlight penetrated through gaps in the trapdoor above to allow Tatiana to lip-read. Natalia had communicated details of a phone conversation the white-haired man had while they were in the van. He’d argued with Jacob, the man they now knew was the captain, about treatment of girls on previous voyages. Some had died in transport, and others he’d described as being ‘spoiled’. Whether this was true, or a ploy to make the girls behave, it had proved effective, as none of them had put up any resistance. They were filed into the room, their possessions taken away, even Natalia’s inhaler, and chained by their hands and feet.

  Natalia’s breathing was shallow and uneven on the side of Tatiana’s neck as her friend nestled against her. Tatiana nudged her until Natalia opened her eyes.

  ‘Your breathing is getting worse. I will shout for one of the men to come.’

  ‘No,’ Natalia said. ‘You can’t make any trouble. The man said in the van that if we do, one of us could get really hurt.’

  She insisted she would be fine, and would try to stay calm and sleep through it. Reluctantly Tatiana agreed, but did her best to stay awake while Natalia slept.

  The vomit and urine pool in the concave bottom of the hold had deepened when Tatiana next awoke. It sloshed around, soaking into their clothes as the boat bobbed over the rolling waves. A sudden shaft of sunlight penetrated the gloom from above just as the girl chained directly in front of her threw up, the dry heaves lasting long after her stomach had purged itself.

  Tatiana turned to Natalia as they were again thrown into darkness. She nudged her friend and waited for her to respond. After a moment, Tatiana pushed against her more insistently, but Natalia still wasn’t roused. Barbs of anxiety tore at Tatiana’s insides as she shouted at Natalia to wake up. The ship lurched again and the pool beneath them soaked Tatiana’s thigh. A shard of light cut through for only a moment, but long enough for Tatiana to see Natalia’s vacant staring eyes, and lips that had turned a matching shade of blue.

  Decker pulled the white Volkswagen up to the kerb outside Kang’s convenience store at 10.24 on Tuesday morning, and he and Mangle climbed out. Mangle wore a freshly dry-cleaned business suit. He checked through a list of points on his clipboard and casually glanced up and down the street. Decker, in black gloves and plain blue overalls, did likewise as he retrieved a toolkit from the boot of the car. An electronic beep sounded to announce their arrival as Mangle led the way through the door into the brightly lit store. Briefly checking his clipboard again, he approached the counter.

  ‘Mr Kang?’ Mangle asked the concerned-looking oriental man who was serving, as he flipped open a wallet displaying his photo ID.

  ‘I am Kang. What is this?’ he asked, jabbing a finger towards Decker with his toolbox. Decker also flashed an ID card, and looked around the store.

  ‘No need to be alarmed, M
r Kang, we are from G&E Utilities. This is simply a courtesy call to ensure your power supply is running optimally.’

  ‘All is fine, no need. Good day,’ Kang said, making shooing gestures with his hands as if trying to scare away a flock of pigeons.

  ‘This won’t take more than a few moments and we will be on our way,’ Mangle said, and smiled reassuringly. He turned toward Decker who was walking through a doorway at the rear of the store overhung with opaque hanging plastic flaps.

  Mr Kang uttered something in Korean to a small child who scuttled off through a door behind the counter, and judging from the hollow thumping sound that followed, the child quickly ascended a flight of wooden stairs.

  Decker located the electricity meter and examined it before opening his toolbox. Mangle stood beside him, again scanning over the printed sheets on his clipboard.

  ‘There are some broken seals,’ Decker said with a disdainful shake of his head.

  ‘OK, we’ll have to remove it then,’ Mangle confirmed.

  Decker fished a large torch and cable cutters out of the toolkit, as muffled voices speaking quickly in Korean came from the floor above. Mr Kang stood behind Decker, stammering something about waiting for his brother, as Decker clicked on the torch, handed it to Mangle, and then flipped the breaker on the power supply, throwing the whole store into darkness.

  The soft hum from the rows of freezers subsided and was replaced by nervous silence downstairs and echoing footsteps from above. Ignoring the panicked Mr Kang behind him, who had reverted to speaking in Korean, Decker clipped all of the cables going into the meter, detached it from the wall and put away his cable cutters.

  The footsteps above reached the stairway and began their hurried descent, before darkness and gravity conspired to cause their owner to tumble down the remaining steps. Mr Kang fell silent behind Decker and Mangle, and then quickly took off through the store in the direction of the noise.

  ‘You got everything?’ Mangle asked.