by J N Wood
Our bedroom looked like a room in a hostel. Ten bunkbeds had been crammed into the space, with just a two foot wide gap separating the beds. It was going to be very cosy.
‘What the actual fuck?’ I muttered.
‘You two look like I look, when I see room,’ Gee said, the big smile returning.
‘Are you in here as well?’ I asked him.
He nodded.
‘Fucking hell,’ I whispered.
Gee spun around and walked further down the corridor. ‘Come with me, others in the yard.’
He pointed to the door of the only bathroom as we passed it. Maximum visiting time – FIVE MINUTES, had been written on a sheet of paper and taped to the door. We walked past the kitchen, before following him out through another door, and into the back garden. Our group sat on the grass, quietly chatting to each other, the kids ran around the garden playing some kind of chasing game.
‘Hey guys,’ Shannon said.
Everyone else welcomed us with a smile or a glance in our direction. Sandra quickly stood and stepped towards us. I shook my head and apologised.
Her face dropped, and she glanced at the kids still running around, oblivious to our arrival. She looked to me, and then Jack. ‘Don’t say anything,’ she whispered. Ali stepped behind her and placed her hands on Sandra’s shoulders, while Jack and I both nodded in agreement. Ali guided her sister back over to the kids.
‘Beth?’ Michael asked.
Jack screwed up his face, saying, ‘I think so.’
Michael and Shannon shot each other confused glances, before looking back to Jack. ‘What do you mean?’ Shannon asked.
Jack and I both sat down on the grass, and Jack told everyone what we had found in the list of refugees.
After a few moments of silence, Michael spoke up. ‘Maybe they pretended to be married, in order to get into the camp.’
‘Why?’ Jack said. ‘Nothing like that happened with us. The sheriff doesn’t give a shit about that.’
Shannon placed a hand on Jack’s arm. ‘Calm down Jack. If this is your Beth, I’m sure there will be a perfectly reasonable explanation.’
‘Maybe they just fucking,’ Gee said.
Jack shot him a look of utter disdain.
‘What the fuck Gee?’ I said, trying to hold back a laugh.
‘Gee,’ Shannon said. ‘That isn’t helping anybody.’
‘And it doesn’t make any sense,’ I said. ‘Why would she take Roy’s name just so she could shag him?’
‘Shag him,’ Gee laughed. ‘Yes, they just shagging.’
‘Has he taken something?’ I asked everyone, gesturing towards Gee.
‘He found some other Lithuanians in the camp,’ Michael replied. ‘I think they shared a few bottles of vodka.’
‘Probably not just the vodka,’ Shannon said under her breath.
‘What time is it?’ I asked.
Michael glanced down at his watch. ‘Nearly two.’
‘A few bottles,’ I said. ‘That’s impressive.’
‘We need to speak to the bosses,’ Jack said. ‘Then I’m going to look for Beth.’ He shot an angry glance at Gee, who just beamed back at him.
Michael scrambled to get to his feet. ‘I’ll take you to see them,’ he quickly said. ‘I expect you’ll be with us on Zee Pee, that’s the Zombie Patrol. Amber, she’s the boss, told us we’d probably have the night off. They usually have two or three nights off in a row.’
‘Sounds good,’ I said.
‘Not when you have to live here,’ Shannon interjected. ‘The house is nearly full, almost every bed is taken.’
‘Shite. How many people?’ I asked.
‘Thirty eight, thirty nine, forty, maybe,’ Michael said. ‘Come on, let’s go.’
‘Enjoy yourself Michael. Don’t stay too long,’ Shannon said, waving him off.
Michael smiled at his wife, and then led us around the house and back onto the street.
‘Thirty eight people in that little house?’ I muttered. ‘How is that going to work exactly?’
‘Not sure to be honest with you Chris,’ Michael replied. ‘I’m guessing it’s going to be done with a lot of discomfort. Shannon and I are only sharing a room with Alison and her family, so we’ve got a slightly better deal than the two of you and Gee.’
‘Twenty of us in one room,’ I said. ‘I might find a tent.’
Jack was very quiet for the walk, probably desperate to get his search for Beth underway.
Michael explained that our breakfasts and evening meals were served in a large tent or marquee, set up on D Street. It was one of many situated around the camp.
‘Before you turned back up, we were talking to one of your new roommates. She said that the food was very basic, porridge and water in the morning, mostly rice and potatoes in the evening. Two or three nights a week there might be fish on the menu. She reckons this place doesn’t have long left. A lot of the fishing boats they started with have vanished, and–.’
‘What do you mean? Vanished?’ I asked.
‘Sailed away and never came back, probably trying to get north like everyone else. So they don’t have many boats left, or fishermen that know what they’re doing. And the scavengers are coming back with less and less each time apparently, if they come back at all. She said she can’t imagine it’ll be long before people start revolting.’
‘So everyone goes to one of these food tents twice a day?’ Jack asked. ‘What time do they serve? How many are there?’
‘Not sure how many, but breakfast is from seven until ten in the morning,’ Michael replied. ‘Dinner is six until nine in the evening.’
‘What about running water?’ I asked. ‘Do the toilets flush?’
‘Looks like they have water, cold obviously, but it’s running,’ Michael replied. ‘The toilets flush, but there is a sign up in the bathroom saying to use it sparingly. I’m guessing you know what that means?’
‘The bathroom is gonna stink of piss?’ I guessed.
‘Yes, but better than a hole in the ground,’ Michael replied.
He stopped at the corner of 12th and H Street, just near the gate we had used to first enter the camp.
‘This is it,’ he said, pointing to the house on the corner. ‘I’ll show you where to go.’
We followed him up to the front door. After two knocks, Michael opened the door and a cloud of smoke drifted out towards us. The smell of marijuana hit me immediately. Without hesitation, Michael stepped through the smoke and into the house. Jack and I looked at each other, smiled and then both shrugged. Jack followed him in first.
‘Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be…’ I paused for dramatic effect. ‘Off my fucking face,’ I said, stepping through the doorway and into the corridor. The thick smoke enveloped me, drawing me into the house.
‘What was that?’ Michael asked me. ‘Who is Matthew?’
‘Ah it’s nothing. Just a TV programme in England.’
‘Fucking hell,’ Jack coughed. ‘No wonder you wanted to come with us Michael, you fucking stoner.’
Michael turned to him and nodded, a huge smile filling his face.
Jack looked back at me. ‘It’s always the so called respectable ones, like the teachers.’
We followed Michael into the living room. It reminded me of a student house, the curtains were drawn and it was very sparsely decorated. People seemed to be everywhere, sprawled across the few pieces of furniture, just an armchair, a sofa and a couple of bean bags. Over in the far corner, five people were lying together on the carpeted floor. A notice board was on the wall opposite us, different coloured squares adorned the top of the board, with hundreds of names listed under each colour. Candles flickered away, some dangerously close to the curtains, and people. The scene before us felt weird with no music playing. All I could hear were the grunts of acknowledgements as joints were passed around.
The three of us stood in the open doorway, waiting for one of the obviously stoned people to speak. They were either unconscious
or stared back at us with untrusting eyes, like we’d just invaded their private drug den, which I suppose we had.
Michael leaned in closer to the guy nearest us. He was wearing incredibly short denim shorts and a t-shirt. He’d positioned himself sideways on the large comfy looking armchair, his head hanging upside down off the edge of it, and his legs dangling off the other side.
‘Hey, have you seen Amber?’ Michael asked.
The guy slowly opened his eyes, and after a few seconds of trying to focus, centred in on Michael’s face. ‘She ain’t here. Whaddya need?’ he eventually said, drawing out every word.
Michael gestured to Jack and I. ‘These two are new. They need to be assigned to a team.’
The stoned guy attempted to look at us, but after a few attempts, just closed his eyes again. ‘Blue Team,’ he mumbled.
‘We came here earlier and were placed in Green Team,’ Michael said.
‘There is no Green Bream fucker. Blue Team, fucking Blue Team.’ He lifted his right hand off the floor and took a long drag from the joint he was holding between two fingers. ‘Blue lost some peeps, need new pee-opps,’ he croaked, before blowing a long smoke trail out of his mouth. ‘Tell them to come here and speak to Crab tomorrow evening at six. No worky work tonighty night.’
‘Okay,’ Michael said, turning to us and shrugging his shoulders. ‘Crab it is then.’
‘Hey man,’ Stoned Guy said. ‘Not Crabab, I never said Cra…’ He trailed off and seemed to pass out, before coming back with a jolt. ‘It’s Caleb, fucking Ca…leb,’ he said. ‘You fucking deaf or what? It’s Caleb.’ The hand holding the joint shot out above him, and he drew the letters with his finger, while spelling it out, ‘C. A. L. E. B.’
‘I think you’ll find you actually said Crab, and then you said Crabab,’ Michael insisted.
‘Caleb man,’ Stoned Guy slowly replied, drawing the two words out. His head lolled back even further, a big grin slowly appearing on his face.
‘What?’ a voice called out from the other side of the room.
Peering through the haze I could see a man now sitting upright on the sofa opposite us. The people on either side of him moaned and shifted slightly, complaining about him moving.
‘What Rory?’ the man on the sofa said. ‘What do you want?’
Stoned Guy, or Rory, lifted his head slightly. ‘Hey Caleb, you’re here man, what’s up?’
‘Nothing, what’s up with you?’ Caleb replied, his eyes barely open and squinting in our direction.
Rory dropped his head back so it was upside down again. ‘Just chilling,’ he slowly said.
'Sweet,' Caleb answered, slumping back into his seat.
We watched the surreal exchange like a tennis rally, our heads going back and forth.
What the fuck? These guys are high as fucking kites.
‘Do you need their names?’ Michael asked.
Rory’s head moved slightly so we waited for a response, seconds passed and nothing came.
‘Caleb,’ Michael said to the sofa.
Caleb was now indistinguishable in the four or five people crammed onto the sofa.
‘You want their names Caleb?’ Michael asked him.
Caleb’s right arm shot up, making him visible, his fist clenched. ‘Yo,’ he croaked, puffing out smoke.
‘Names? Do you want their names?’ Michael repeated.
‘Sweet,’ Caleb said, his clenched fist still held high above his head.
Fuck’s sake, this is a waste of time.
Michael turned to us, his eyelids also starting to droop. ‘Does that mean he wants your names, or what?’
‘Okay, thank you fucked people,’ Jack said to the room, grabbing Michael’s arm and pulling him backwards. ‘Let’s get out of here. We’re going to be the same as this lot if we stay here any longer.’
‘Yeah probably a good idea,’ Michael said, allowing Jack to pull him into the corridor. ‘I don’t think they wrote our names down this morning anyway. Don’t forget to pick up a card on the way out.’ Michael was pointing to a tray on a small table, just inside the front door.
Inside was what looked like hundreds of playing cards. As far as I could tell, they were all the four of clubs. I picked up two, both had a five pointed star scribbled onto the bottom corner in biro. I handed one to Jack.
‘Is that it?’ Jack asked. ‘Just pick up a card and get fed?’
‘I think we have to turn up for work,’ Michael said, a spaced out expression on his face. ‘Otherwise they take the card off us, somehow, maybe. I don’t know. I’m very confused.’
I grabbed Michael by the elbow, guiding him towards the clean and fresh air outside. ‘Come on Mikey Boy. I think you’re just topping up from the last time you were here.’
We left the house, pulling out a large cloud of smoke into the front garden with us.
‘What the fuck was that? Was that just weed? Or something else?’ I asked Michael.
‘Probably whatever they can get their hands on,’ he replied, his eyes looking more and more glazed over by the second, but sounding relatively coherent. ‘And, that’s the base for the Fencers and Zombie Patrol. I think they were all the bosses.’ Michael still had enough of his senses to notice the look of disbelief on mine and Jack’s faces. ‘It’s their night off,’ he casually explained.
‘The scavengers aren’t struggling to find drugs then?’ I asked.
‘Not yet anyway,’ Michael replied.
‘So are we in the Zombie Patrol or the Fencers?’ Jack asked him.
‘Colours are Zee Pee, so I think that means you are Zee pee. Zee pee. Zee Pee? Yeah, Zee Pee.’ Michael started giggling to himself.
‘Okay, we’re in Zee Pee,’ I said. ‘Stop saying Zee Pee. Fucking hell, you’ve got me doing it now.’ I couldn’t stop a giggle escape my mouth.
‘I think the Fencers use football teams for their names,’ Michael added, still giggling slightly. ‘I’m not into sports. I’m not really a sporty guy.’
‘I think we just found out what you are into Mikey,’ I laughed.
‘I may have dibble dabbled a bit in college,’ he replied. ‘Just a little bit mind you. I wasn’t a waster.’
Jack and I smiled at each other and moved a bit closer to Michael.
We started walking back to our new house, occasionally having to redirect Michael. My legs were feeling a little lethargic, and my head was definitely lighter than usual.
‘An alcoholic sheriff,’ Jack mused. ‘Half the people in the accommodation place didn’t turn up for work, and the half that did were either asleep, or arseholes.’
‘Probably both,’ I interrupted.
‘And the Zombie Patrol and Fencer bosses are all smashed on a concoction of drugs,’ Jack continued.
‘Yep, Refugee Camp 33 looks a bit of a mess,’ I replied. ‘I agree with the woman Mikey Boy spoke to earlier, can’t see it lasting much longer. I reckon we get out of here. What do you think?’
Jack looked uncomfortable. ‘First things first Chris. Get back to the house, and then we search for Beth. I could do with some help. Is that okay?’
Michael and I both agreed. I had to nudge Michael to get him to respond, but he eventually did.
Two men appeared from around a corner, upon seeing us, they headed in our direction.
‘What do they want?’ Jack asked.
They were both incredibly thin. Their gaunt faces seemed to be all cheekbones.
‘Jesus is our saviour,’ the man on the left said as they neared us. ‘Join us at 1, 986 D Street. All that accept Jesus into their lives are welcome.’
His friend had a ragged cut running down the whole length of his face. It looked like it had only recently been given to him. The bright red and painful looking cut was suddenly split by a huge grin, making his cheekbones even more pronounced. ‘Please join us,’ he said. ‘Only Jesus can save our souls now. Every one of us can be saved, just by allowing Jesus in. Please accept him into your lives.’
I gripped Michael’s
arm tightly, and swerved around the wild eyed men. ‘Okay thank you,’ I said, with a polite smile.
‘There is always somebody there. Please stop by,’ one of them said to us as we briskly walked away.
‘I suppose the apocalypse is enough to make anyone turn to religion,’ Michael said.
‘Well, not quite anyone,’ I said.
Chapter 12: Pub
Back at the house, everyone was still in the back garden, albeit now with wet hair, and smelling a whole lot better than us.
‘You three,’ Shannon said as we walked, or in Michael’s case, staggered towards them. ‘Go take a shower. We managed to trade in some stuff for toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and towels.’
‘Who, what and when?’ I asked, surprised.
‘We took a walk over to some of the stalls in the middle of the camp,’ Shannon answered. ‘Traded my watch for our stuff.’ She handed Jack two towels, two toothbrushes and one bar of soap. ‘You and Chris are sharing this soap. Make it last.’ She nodded over to the three young boys. ‘Sandra traded a few pieces of jewellery for their things. Got some clean clothes and a few bits for the kids.’ She handed a towel and another bar of soap to Michael, looking into his face with concern. ‘How long were you guys in that house?’
‘Too long,’ I replied.
‘Not long enough,’ Michael quickly said, a smile spreading across his face.
‘I need to start looking for Beth,’ Jack said.
‘Half an hour won’t make any difference. She’ll still be here,’ Shannon said to him. ‘If you’re quick, you’ll be out there even sooner. You don’t want to find your wife when you smell like that. Do you?’
Jack shook his head in resignation. ‘Okay Mum.’
‘I am not the mother figure,’ Shannon exclaimed. ‘Now, don’t forget to wash behind your ears.’ She shoved Jack towards the house, a smile on her face.
Jack was in and out of the bathroom within the allotted time of five minutes. Michael followed him.
I stood outside waiting for my turn, thinking about what I could use to trade for some clean clothes. All I had was my wedding ring, my phone, a fitness watch, with no means to charge either, my axe and my baseball bat. I’d need the Smasher and the axe for my new job. I didn’t fancy killing zombies with my bare hands.
