After The Zombies | Prequel | After The Zombies

by Steel, Amanda

  'Let's just go home,' Mark suggested.

  'I give up our house, when I went to Liverpool,' Grace told him.

  'You went to Liverpool?'

  'Long story.'

  'There's room at my place,' Luke offered.

  Chapter eleven

  It was late when the three of them arrived at Luke’s house. Luke could only watch as Mark and Grace went upstairs together. He had been so close to getting Grace to feeling anything for him, then Mark returned and it was gone again. He felt bad about his jealousy of Mark. The three of them shared something that nobody else did, after all they had been through together, but Luke still couldn’t help feeling envious, knowing Mark would be sharing a bed with Grace that night.

  Grace could only watch as Mark undressed, then put on a pair of Luke’s old Pyjamas that he let him have, as he didn’t have any of his own with him. Mark climbed into bed, closed his eyes, but opened them again just moments later.

  ‘Aren’t you joining me?’

  'I...don't know,’ Grace replied, feeling awkward.

  Mark sat up and beckoned for Grace to sit down on the space next to him. She did, but not as close as Mark would have liked.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Mark asked.

  ‘What’s wrong? You left me. That's what’s wrong?’ Grace snapped. ‘Sorry. I don’t mean to yell, but it really hurt and…’

  ‘I know, Gracie and I’m sorry. I thought you would be better without me and maybe you would have been.’

  What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘Don’t think I didn’t notice Luke’s expression earlier, he was disappointed and I guess I always knew how he felt about you, but it seems like more now. I know you two, maybe better than I know myself. Is there something you’re not telling me?’

  ‘We kissed,’ Grace found herself admitting, ‘in the cell, he was beaten and hurt and I felt…I don’t know what I felt, but I kissed him, then we were released and you were waiting there for us and I don’t know what to think anymore.’

  ‘Grace, it's okay,’ Mark said seriously. ‘This isn’t exactly a normal situation. We've survived things most people would never believe happened, let alone understand. Most men would want to punch the guy their wife just kissed, but Luke is like family to me. I don’t care about one stupid kiss. If that’s all it was?’

  Grace stood up and took a step away from the bed. ‘You know we are being watched, listened to, wherever we go now. That’s all weird enough, but I can’t sort out our dirty laundry for them to get their kicks. I just can’t.’ She left the room.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ Luke asked, as Grace entered the kitchen. ‘I thought you and Mark would be making up for lost time.’

  ‘I just wanted to make some hot chocolate, if that’s okay?’

  ‘Of course, my home is your home…and Mark's, obviously.'

  ‘Is this going to get weird?’

  ‘Get?’ Luke tried to joke. 'Grace, none of this is normal. why should our relationship be any different?’

  ‘We have a relationship?’

  ‘No, I mean, I thought we had something, but Mark’s back now and…’

  ‘I’ll tell you what I told him, I can’t sort this out right now, not while we’re probably under surveillance, it’s just another thing for them to get off on.’

  ‘Sorry. I never really thought of that, I guess I’m not used to my every move being watched and my every word being listened to.’

  ‘It’s only another thing we need to get used to,’ Grace replied.

  ‘I don’t know how you do it,’ Luke said. ‘I know we all had to adapt to what was happening, but you seemed to adapt quicker.’

  ‘I was homeless before all this and I had to adapt to survive. Everything that happened after that was just another thing I had to survive through.

  Luke walked over to Grace and hugged her. ‘I love you, just know that. It doesn’t have to mean anything right now, but I need you to know,’ he whispered.

  ‘I love Mark,’ Grace whispered back, ‘but I also love you.'

  ‘I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight. You can take my room,’ Luke offered as Grace turned around to pour the boiling water into her mug.

  ‘Thanks, but it’s fine. I can take the sofa. Believe me, I’ve slept in worse places.’ She smiled at Luke and he found himself smiling back as he wished her goodnight, then he went upstairs — leaving Grace to take her hot chocolate into the front room and settle down for the rest of the night.

  It was late morning when she finally woke. Mark and Luke brought her breakfast and seemed keen to point out which parts of the breakfast they had each made.

  ‘I’m sure it’s all great and you both worked hard to make all this. So thank you, but shouldn’t you be more concerned about getting a lawyer and finding out what we’re being charged with and what we're going to say in court, rather than who put most effort into making breakfast?’

  Day 404 of the outbreak

  'How is she?” Mark questioned as he woke to find Luke watching over Grace.

  'Getting better, she was calling out for you.'

  Mark stood and almost ran to Grace's side — kneeling before her and feeling her forehead, then gently moving the stray strands of hair from her face. 'It's all right, Gracie. I'm here.' He planted a soft kiss on her cheek. 'We found you and saved you, remember? You're okay now.'

  She murmured in response, but didn't open her eyes.

  'Luke, what are we going to do? They'll come looking, especially because, not only did we take away their main cure ingredient, but you had to take those too.' Mark pointed to two containers of needles and samples of blood.

  'It was labelled Grace,' Luke stated as though that explained his motives for taking the blood, 'and Grace isn't an ingredient, she's a person.'

  'Yes, she is to us, but to them she's an ingredient for their cure and I don't think she needs that blood back. So why did you take it?' Mark asked.

  'Better we have it, than they do. I was hoping, maybe they didn't have any more, plus it looks pure,' Luke pointed out.

  'Great,' Mark said, still not understanding.

  'That means they didn't mix it with anything. My guess is, if they're trying to make a cure, they would probably try to mix it with something else.'

  'So now they have more reasons to want Grace back, because you took her pure blood samples, which may or may not have been all they had. Good work there,' Mark retorted.

  'They would have tried to take her back anyway, but I have a suggestion.'

  'I'm listening.'

  'One of us should inject ourselves with it,' Luke said.

  'Are you kidding? It's still infected blood. She was bitten, remember? I know I'm not the doctor here, but doesn't that mean we could get infected, even if she can't?'

  'It's a valid theory, but I have my own theory. I don't know how exactly, but I think Grace's blood, just by itself could be the cure and I don't think anyone else has figured that out yet.'

  'Just say it is. How can you we be sure they haven't figured it out too?' Mark asked.

  'They would have injected this into that moneybags family, not left it in the lab at the hospital.'

  'Well I'm not injecting myself with that,' Mark objected.

  'Fine, I'll do it. Just be ready,' Luke ordered.

  'Ready for what?'

  'In case I get infected and turn into one of those things. Whatever you do, don't let me hurt Grace.'

  'You know I wouldn't, if you turn I'll kill you before you could get near her.'

  'Good,' Luke said as he injected himself.

  The two men waited for ten minutes while nothing seemed to happen, then Luke thought he heard Grace say something.

  'What?'

  'I didn't say anything,' Mark answered — throwing a cautious look at Luke and wondering if he was really going to have to kill him as promised.

  'No you didn't, but she did. “No zombies,” she keeps saying over and over,' Luke insisted.

  'No, she's really not
,' Mark looked at Luke with concern, then they both looked at Grace and understood. 'Okay, now do me.'

  Chapter twelve

  Grace sat down on the sofa, in the space between Luke and Mark. She couldn't believe it never occurred to her before. She just hoped she was right about how well the three of them knew and understood each other and that they would both get the hint. She also hoped nobody watching, somehow knew about what happened the day Mark and Luke injected her blood into themselves.

  She sighed, then tried to sound casual as she asked, 'don't you just wish we could talk to each other without them listening? I barely even remember what that feels like.'

  Mark began to agree, then Grace noticed the sudden understanding flash across his eyes, but he quickly managed to act normal and she was sure nobody watching could have noticed it. She turned to Luke as she felt him rest his hand on her shoulder and gently squeeze. Grace was sure this was his way of letting her know he understood too.

  'Well, we won't have to worry about that much longer,' Luke said, then added, 'once they've tried us in court; we'll be found guilty for sure, of whatever it is they've decided to try us for and then we'll all be discredited and have nasty accidents.'

  After been unable to find a lawyer in time, the government appointed lawyer arrived and discussed their case with them. He said they would be tried for murder and he promised — in his words — to help them prepare their defence. When he left for the day, Grace entered the kitchen and decided enough time had passed since her comment earlier that morning.

  'I was thinking,' she began, 'maybe they still have those creatures and they could set them onto us.'

  'They're listening, don't give them ideas,' Mark played along and Grace was impressed at his acting ability.

  'I just think...' she chewed on her lip and looked around uncertainly.

  'What?' Luke joined in.

  'It would be one less thing for me to worry about if you guys were injected with my blood, so I could be sure you wouldn't turn.'

  'I don't think it works like that, Gracie,' Luke said.

  'Maybe or maybe not, but we don t have a lab, just me and I know you have what we need here, to take my blood and inject it into yourself and Mark.'

  Mark and Luke kept up the pretence as Luke took blood from Grace's arm, then injected himself and Mark. They both commented on how they were being watched and that even if the government planned on trying to turn them, they would only come up with another plan instead.

  'It's one less thing for us to worry about from those bastards,' Grace pointed out again.

  The three of them settled down to watch some pointless soap opera — while they waited for Grace's blood to have the desired effect.

  'Can you hear me?' Grace asked the question in her mind.

  She felt Mark and Luke shift slightly from where they were sat beside her and took that as a yes. She would have preferred if the mind reading worked both ways, but she had to do the best with what she had. That left her to try to come up with a plan and relay it to Mark and Luke.

  'We need to escape. I think that's the only way to come out of this alive,' she began to think.

  Luke continued to look straight ahead at the television, while Mark turned to look at her questioningly.

  'I don't know how,' she thought as she rested her head on Mark's shoulder, before she looked up at him and planted a quick kiss on his lips — hoping that made the way they were both looking at each other appear less suspicious to anyone watching them.

  'Let me think for a minute,' she mused, knowing time was another thing not on their side. The court case was set for three days later. That was around the same amount of time her blood had an effect on Mark and Luke the previous time they had her blood in their system. She wished they could help her, but knew anything they said would be heard. She leant against Mark, closed her eyes and tried to think. She could feel Luke's eyes staring at her. It was distracting.

  Grace opened her eyes and Luke looked embarrassed that she had caught him looking. He quickly turned his attention back towards the television screen.

  'Sorry,' she thought, 'I'm just trying to act normal here, so they won't suspect and it's really difficult knowing that coming up with a plan is all down to me.'

  'Remember when we were hiding in that house, the one in Didsbury?' Mark asked.

  Grace nodded.

  'The night we left...' he began.

  'Left? You mean when we were chased out by the horde?' Luke corrected.

  'Yes, but we lost out weapons and we thought that was it,' Mark replied.

  'Until Grace came up with the bright idea of making our own, from the furniture and everything else around us,' Luke recalled.

  Grace remembered how she killed one of the infected with two tins of beans wrapped up inside an old tea towel. She used the home-made weapon to smash his head like it was a coconut.

  She understood what Luke and Mark were trying to say to her. She could be resourceful when she needed to be. They were both counting on her to be just as resourceful in coming up with an escape plan.

  'Yeah, the good old days, right,' Grace said out loud for the benefit of anyone who wasn't Mark or Luke.

  The three of them spent the rest of the night in silence while they pretended to be absorbed by the television, but Grace had begun to come up with a plan and she relayed each step of it to Mark and Luke with her thoughts. She knew it wasn't high tech or elaborate, but it might just work.

  By bedtime, the three of them had a fully formed plot, which they would put into action the night before the trial. Grace telepathically told Mark and Luke to act as normal until then. She knew it wouldn't be easy. She felt nervous and scared that something could go wrong, but she didn't want to die. She hoped that would be enough to help overcome her doubts and survive. They all said goodnight — Luke and Mark turning to go to their bedrooms.

  'Can I join you?' Grace asked taking hold of Mark's hand, to his surprise and to Luke's obvious annoyance as she felt him staring at her again.

  Mark nodded and Grace spoke loud enough for both of them to hear. 'I just don't want to be alone.'

  Mark and Luke both looked at each other in understanding.

  'Goodnight, Gracie,' Luke told her as though giving them his blessing.

  'Goodnight,' she replied and thought 'thank you,' to him.

  Grace snuggled closer to Mark as they lay in the single bed and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. He wanted to keep her close for as long as possible, but because of the thoughts which Grace kept accidentally leaking; he knew how she really felt. She still loved him, but loved Luke too, more than she loved him. When it was over, she would choose Luke. Grace choosing to share a bed with him was just her way of saying goodbye. It didn't mean they were getting back together. Mark watched Grace fall asleep in his arms. He started to doze off too when a noise startled him from downstairs.

  'Gracie,' he whispered, nudging her.

  'What...' she began.

  Mark gently pressed his hand against Grace's mouth, as he whispered, 'there's something downstairs.'

  'Something?' Grace understood what he meant, but didn't want to believe it.

  'Sounds like one of them, with the breathing and the clumsiness when they first turn,' Mark insisted.

  Grace's mind flooded with images of the first few times she had witnessed people turning and what seemed like disorientation in their faces and movements — grabbing at anything, trying to feed their new-found bloodlust. She hoped she hadn't given the government ideas about sending the infected after them. If the one (or ones) downstairs were newly turned, that suggested they might have been sent.

  'No time to try to figure that one out right now,' Mark said.

  'Sorry,' Grace said out loud, realising how easy it was for her thoughts to spill into his when her blood was in his system. 'We need to get to Luke and get out of here; the plan's still the same,' she thought to him.

  Chapter thirteen

  'Luke, WAKE UP!' Grace t
ried to project her thoughts as loudly as possible into Luke's mind, where he slept in the next room. She wasn't sure whether he was awake, until she heard a quiet tapping sound against the wall. 'There's at least one infected downstairs, probably more though. We need to go, NOW.'

  There was another quiet tap against the wall and Grace was already throwing on the nearest pair of jeans and a t shirt, while Mark quickly dressed in the previous day's clothes and the two of them met up with Luke outside the bedroom door. He handed them both a gun. Grace didn't question how he still had so many weapons, but felt glad he did. All that mattered was the three of them making an escape. They headed to the bathroom, opened the window and heard the familiar sound of soldiers talking on their radios, entering through the front door downstairs. Mark was the first to jump, then helped Grace and the two of them waited until Luke joined them on the grass in the back garden. They raced down the road to the nearest car. Grace couldn't help wondering if maybe they should have taken a walk around the local area earlier in the day, to get an idea of what cars might be available for them to steal. The first one they found was a rust bucket and didn't look like it would get them very far.

  'Sorry, but we need to settle for this one,' Mark told her before he hurriedly smashed the glass with a brick. He winced in pain as the broken glass scraped his hand and arm his. He hadn't meant to put so much physical force into it, he had just wanted to get away quickly. He managed to get the car started, trying to ignore the warm sticky sensation of blood trickling down his arm. Grace noticed that he was bleeding as she sat in the front passenger seat next to him as Luke leaned forward from the back seat.

  'You're bleeding,' he pointed out unnecessarily.

  'When we switch cars, I'll drive. Luke can see to that cut on your arm.' Grace thought her words, instead of speaking, knowing that they couldn't be too careful about listening devices that might be implanted on them. Mark didn't argue, but instead concentrated on getting them away as fast as possible. After fifteen miles they stopped to switch cars when the rust bucket threatened to give up on them. Luke broke into the second car —a newer model — making sure to be more careful than Mark had been. He launched a brick through the window. so that he didn't get cut up too. This time the glass shattered into much smaller pieces than the other car window had. Luke covered his hand with his sleeve, then quickly brushed it off the seats. Mark let Luke look at the cut on his arm, while Grace drove.