by Wood, J N
A new person walked by me, a woman in her twenties maybe. We both said hello, before she carried on towards the kitchen. I thought she might have been English from the way she spoke. I couldn’t stop myself from glancing down at her bum as she walked away from me.
I didn’t really try too hard to stop myself though.
Fucking hell I miss Joanne. Would she forgive me if I had to give up my ring? Not for clothes I suppose, but I’m sure she’d understand if it was for something to help me stay alive.
Who am I fucking kidding anyway? How would she even find out if I traded it? It’s not like I’m going to get back to England anytime soon. Not now that I have to wait eighteen months before getting out of here. I really can’t stay in this shithole for eighteen months.
Eighteen fucking months! I’d almost forgotten about that. This camp isn’t gonna last that long anyway. Not a chance. I need to convince Jack that we have to leave here.
The bathroom door opened, and the still clean shaven Michael exited. ‘You’re next Chris.’
‘Are you somehow shaving everyday Mikey Boy?’ I asked, running my hand through my three week old beard.
‘I only get a few hairs coming through on my chin and upper lip, so yes, I just shave it every day. That way it doesn’t hurt too much.’
‘Lucky you,’ I said.
‘I used to wish I could grow a beard,’ he said. ‘Not anymore.’
After an incredibly cold shower, I got dressed in my dirty clothes and headed back outside to the garden. Sandra, Pete and Theo were sat with the kids while Shannon, Michael, Jack, Gee and Ali were stood on the other side of the garden. I noticed a few more people were now out there, although separated from our group. The woman with the nice bum wasn’t amongst them. I nodded in their direction as I passed. They were sat in two groups of three. They responded with nods of their own, a couple of people saying, ‘Hi.’
Jack looked at me as I approached. ‘Chris. You, Gee and Ali are going to walk counter clockwise around the camp, working your way inwards.’ He gestured to Shannon and Michael. ‘We’re going to go clockwise. We’ve kind of figured out where the food tents are by comparing everyone’s maps, but it’s anyone’s guess really, they’re all as bad as each other. We hit the food tents when we see them. Try and spend twenty minutes in each one you find. Dinner starts at six.’ He looked to Michael, who nodded in agreement, looking a lot more sober after a shower.
‘Have you got a photo of Beth?’ I asked Jack.
‘Yeah on my phone.’
‘Has your phone got any battery left?’ I asked.
‘No.’
I laughed. ‘So you don’t have a photo then.’
‘No I don’t, come on let’s go.’
Shannon handed out bottles of water, informing us she’d filled them up from the tap in the kitchen.
I hesitated before taking one. ‘Is it okay to drink?’
‘Spoke to the other residents.’ She nodded to the other people sat on the grass. ‘They said they haven’t got dysentery yet.’
I took the plastic bottle. ‘Okay, suppose we don’t have much choice anyway.’
The six of us made our way back to the road that ran around the edge of the camp, just inside the inner fence. Gee, Ali and I turned left, the other three turned right.
‘Good luck Jack,’ Ali said as we parted.
‘Thanks,’ Jack replied. ‘If we don’t see you at our food tent, meet back at the house at midnight.’
We got our first look at the border wall as we headed towards the north fence along 12th Street. It wasn’t as big as I was expecting. It looked like it was made up of large concrete sections.
‘How tall do you think it is?’ I asked.
‘Don’t know,’ Ali replied. ‘Hard to tell from here. Must be about two hundred feet away. It looks smaller than I thought.’
‘Wall is about six or seven metres high,’ Gee said. ‘Can tell by people on top.’ He pointed to a few different spots along the wall.
‘Not that small then,’ I noted.
Human shapes could just be seen walking along the top, their heads and shoulders visible. Large unlit floodlights were spread out along the wall.
Unlike the south inner fence, which ran in a straight line, following H Street all the way to the Harbour and the water, the north fence didn’t have a straight road to follow. Rather than cut through gardens and woodland, the fence followed the easiest path. It ran alongside the route the roads took. Vast amounts of the woodland had recently been felled in a large section of no man’s land, presumably to allow the Canadians to spot any illegal border crossing attempts.
The sound of building work could be faintly heard on the other side of the wall. Other than that, it was still eerily quiet. I’d assumed there would be more noise coming from the Canadian side. They must be under strict instructions to stay quiet also. The outer edges were still clear of people. Unlike the south and the east fence, nobody stood guard on this side of the north fence.
The amount of people dramatically changed when we reached the end of the north fence. To carry on would have meant walking into the water, so we turned left. The harbour was a hive of activity, still silent, but people were everywhere. Hundreds crossed the road in front of us, going back and forth. They seemed to be carrying crates of all sizes.
Considering fish is only on the menu two or three nights a week, I think we may have been quite fortuitous the first night we arrived, in order to get tuna steaks.
The harbour jutted out at a right angle from the mainland, going in almost a straight line into the water. At the end of the harbour I could see a small stretch of water, and then some more land with buildings on it. I really wished my phone was working so I could check Google Maps.
More people meant I was saying, 'No, it’s not her,’ a lot. Gee and Ali had a very vague description of Beth that Jack had given them. So any female they spotted with shoulder length brown hair would mean them frantically pointing at her, and asking me if it was Beth.
I had to keep reminding Gee that Beth was white, and not literally every female he saw. I was pretty sure he was still drunk.
We spotted a few of the food tents as we made our way around, marking them on the best of our maps so we could pay them a visit when it was time. To my relief, I spotted a couple of pubs. I was glad the entire population wouldn’t have to cram into Pea’s Place. I marked them all on my map also.
After doing a full circle, we started to move further in, towards the middle of the camp. This meant having to walk through more and more people. My eyes constantly scanned the crowds as we made our way through. Behind me, Ali stopped people as we passed by, asking them if they knew a Beth Tillman or Gayter. Every thirty seconds Gee would point at a woman, literally any woman, asking me if it was Beth.
We passed a lot more fights. They all seemed to finish as quickly as they’d started. More than once, it began because somebody took it upon themselves to try and shut another person up. Usually because that person suddenly cried out something religious, such as, ‘God is punishing us for our sins’ or, ‘Only Jesus can save us now.’ We made sure we stayed as far away from them as possible.
As we passed one of the food tents, placed in a former Blaine residents back garden, Ali pointed out it was six o’clock, and she was starving. So we went in and joined the queue.
‘Do you think we have to go to our designated food tents?’ Ali asked, after we’d been slowly shuffling along for a few minutes. ‘I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to depend on where we live. Our house isn’t near here.’
‘The catering staff won’t give a shit,’ I said. ‘They’ll probably be drunk or stoned, or both.’
Twenty minutes of queuing later, we were stood in the corner of the large tent, holding our bowls of rice and vegetables, watching the crowds come and go. The amount of people stuffed in here at any one time was incredible. Luckily it didn’t take long for people to spoon rice into their mouths, so it was a quick turnover.
&nb
sp; I’d flashed my four of clubs to the guy behind the counter, but he didn’t even glance in my direction. Like an automated machine, he just handed me my bowl of beige food, before scooping some more into another bowl, and handing it to Gee behind me.
‘I think we’re gonna lose a bit of weight in here,’ I said. ‘You might have to change your name to Little Gee.’
Gee grunted an acknowledgement before spooning more rice into his mouth.
Ali looked down at her bowl. ‘I might see about joining the scavengers. The only issue is going through quarantine every time you come back.’
‘So you wouldn’t be able to bring stuff back for personal use? They’d take everything off you?’ I asked her.
‘Yeah I suppose. Okay, I’m not going to see about joining them.’
‘Where do they do the quarantine? The same place as we did it?’
‘No,’ she answered me. ‘They do it on Semiahmoo, and then get a boat over to the harbour.’
‘What the fuck is Semiahmoo?’ I asked.
‘It’s a bit of land that curves around to almost meet Blaine harbour. You probably saw it when we were walking around that side. The guy that ran one of the market stalls was telling us about it, that’s where everything comes in to the camp, not just the fishing boats.’
I managed to squeeze between people so I could place my empty bowl down on the closest table. ‘Could we have come across on a boat? Rather than through that tunnel?’
Ali shrugged. ‘Probably, I didn’t ask him. Come on, we’ve been here long enough. Time to move on.’
We started to weave our way through the mass of people and long tables, towards one of the exits.
‘Fucking Elliot and Martin,’ I said to Ali. ‘They never mentioned the boat option. Did they?’
Ali spoke over her shoulder as she walked, ‘We were surrounded by zombies. What were you going to do? Fight your way to the coast?’
‘No, but I could have waited until the zombies had fucked off back to the outer fence. Then I could have strolled over to the coast.’
‘The tunnel wasn’t that bad,’ Ali said.
‘Tunnel fine,’ Gee added.
We finally made it outside. There was marginally more space to move around, now that a lot of people were crammed into the food tents.
‘The tunnel wasn’t fine,’ I said. ‘It was incredibly shite.’
Ali walked away, her head down and looking at the map in her hands. ‘Come on guys, let’s find another food tent.’ She stopped and had a glance around her, before starting again down another road. Unfortunately, the route she’d chosen meant we had to fight through a mass of people all walking towards the food tent, and us.
This is gonna get really fucking annoying. No, it is really fucking annoying.
Beth wasn’t in the next food tent we found, or the one after that, or the one after that.
‘Does she like drink?’ Gee asked me.
‘What?’
‘Beth, does she drink beer?’ he asked.
‘Not really, she’s drunk and falling asleep after one glass of wine. Why?’
‘Just thinking,’ he said, tapping the side of his head.
Nine o’clock came and went, so we gave up on the food tents and continued with our concentric circles. The inner fence and parts of the harbour had solar lights, so it was reasonably well illuminated around those areas. Closer to the centre of the camp, where people seemed to congregate and just walk around for no reason, it was much harder to see what I was stepping on. Old steel barrels had been positioned on street corners and set alight. The market stalls had candles laid out, and some people even walked around with flaming torches. Even with all that, it was still difficult to see.
If they’re not careful this place is definitely gonna burn down.
Gee was leading as we walked around the west side of the camp, close to the harbour again. He stopped and pointed towards a building. Above the door hung a white banner. Pea’s Place had been stencilled onto it. ‘Pub?’ he asked.
‘Love to Gee, but how are we gonna pay for drinks?’ I asked.
He smiled down at me. ‘Do not worry about that.’ He turned and strode confidently across the traffic free road, towards the pub.
‘What the fuck does that mean?’ I asked him.
He just carried on walking, so Ali and I followed him.
I turned to Ali as we walked. ‘Seriously, what does that mean?’
‘I don’t care. If he can get me a drink, I’ll take it. We aren’t going to find Beth in the dark.’
We caught up with Gee just as he opened the door. Two very surly looking guys stood on the other side, both of them bigger than Gee. They stepped closer together, blocking our path.
Well, that’s the end of that idea then.
Chapter 13: Vegas
The expressions on the two huge bouncers’ faces changed. The difference was instantaneous. They were suddenly all smiles. Gee shook both their hands in turn. There was a lot of shoulder grabbing and back slapping, all the while they spoke in what I’m assuming was Lithuanian. I heard the two big guys say Gintaras a lot, and at one point Gee turned to Ali and me, still speaking in Lithuanian. Both of our names were mentioned a couple of times. Ali and I both smiled. The two bouncers held out their hands to us and we shook them.
‘This is Andrius and Matis,’ Gee said, a huge smile on his face. ‘They are from Lithuania, like me.’
‘Yeah we guessed that Gee,’ Ali said, a big smile spreading across her face as well. ‘Hi guys.’
‘Hey, any friend of Gintaras is a friend of ours,’ Andruis said. He leaned around Gee and almost scooped Ali and me up with his right arm, guiding us into the pub. ‘Welcome to Pea’s Place. You can call me Andy. It’s easier for non-Lithuanian speakers to say.’
Andruis’s, or Andy’s English was a lot better than Gee’s. There was also a bit more American in his accent.
As Andruis opened an inner door, Matis quietly said, ‘Have a good night guys.’
The inner door opened up onto a very nice looking, but bizarrely quiet pub. Each table had three of four people sat around it, but all carrying on with the low volume rule of the camp. They all seemed to be in full conversation but speaking very softly.
I’m definitely gonna forget this rule after a few drinks.
The slate fronted, wooden topped bar stretched along the entire length of one wall. Two barmaids busied themselves serving people who were sat at the bar. Two waiters stood at the right hand side of the bar, waiting for their drinks orders. Behind the two barmaids, the wall was entirely mirrored. Bottles filled the many shelves that sat in front of the massive mirrors. All of the bar stools were occupied. I had a quick glance around and there weren’t any free seats in the house.
‘Come with me,’ Andruis said to us.
It was weird to be in a pub this full of people and be able to hear someone so easily.
We followed Andruis.
I’m sticking with his real name, it’s really not that hard to pronounce.
He took us towards the far left of the bar, where one man was sat on a bar stool. He was slightly separated from the others at the bar, resting his back against the wall behind him. He looked like he was all arms and legs.
Andruis guided us into the space between the leggy man and the next person along. ‘One minute,’ he said.
Ali and I exchanged bemused looks. I raised my right hand in front of my face, rubbing my thumb and forefinger together. I mouthed the word ‘Money,’ and shrugged my shoulders. Ali just smiled and returned my shrug.
Fuck’s sake, this is gonna be awkward after all this fuss has been made.
Gee seemed like he was in his element, just looking around at his surroundings, the smile on his face getting bigger.
Only seconds later, Andruis appeared as if from nowhere, carrying two tall bar stools. He placed them onto the wooden floor behind us. ‘Just need one more,’ he said.
‘Andruis,’ a voice said, making the Lithuanian bouncer
spin around. It was the leggy man calling him over.
I saw the man’s mouth moving, but couldn’t quite discern what he was saying. Andruis listened and nodded his head. The man picked up his wine glass, slid off his stool and walked past us to lean against the bar. I think he may have been even taller than Andruis, and he wasn’t just all arms and legs, he also carried a bit of extra weight around his middle. Andruis then moved our two stools closer to the one the leggy man had just vacated.
Andruis turned to us smiling. ‘Here you go.’
I looked to the man who had given up his stool. ‘Are you sure?’
He just smiled, giving us a quick and exaggerated wave of his hand. Up close it was hard to tell his age. He had a big face, with large full lips, and he looked very young. Below his eyebrows, there wasn’t a single hair on his face.
‘Thanks very much, that’s very kind of you,’ I said, climbing up onto the stool closest to him. The little axe tucked into my belt was digging into my hip, so I quickly slid it around so it was more comfortable.
‘I’ve been sat down long enough,’ he replied, briefly glancing down to my axe. He sounded like he was English.
Ali sat between Gee and me, so I leaned around her and whispered, ‘Gee, how are we going to pay for the drinks?’
Gee continued to smile that annoyingly smug grin. ‘Do not worry,’ he told me.
‘What the fuck?’ I whispered.
‘Excuse me,’ Andruis said to a barmaid. He was leaning across the bar between me and the leggy man. She hadn’t heard him so he clicked his fingers. She noticed and rushed over to him. He muttered something into her ear, before turning back to us. ‘Okay. Drinks are on me tonight guys. Enjoy.’
‘Eh?’ I replied, before realising what he’d just said. ‘Okay, thank you,’ I said to his back, as walked towards the exit.
‘What can I get you?’ the woman behind the bar asked.
‘Erm…any IPA’s? I asked.
She smiled back at me.
Probably forced, but nice all the same.
‘Just the one darling. It’s Goose Island.’
