Nick pulled a face. “No thank you. I like a big hunk of meat. Nice fat steak or a pork chop. Caveman-style.”
He suddenly thought about the steak he was supposed to have eaten the night before and felt his stomach roil. The sight of that bloody hunk of meat between his son’s teeth…
Stay focused, Nick. No time to-
Something caught his eye. “Hey, what’s that over there?” He pointed to a pile of debris up ahead. It seemed like it might have what they needed. He and Pauline hurried over and began sifting through the mess.
“They do a really bad job of looking after this place,” Pauline commented as she kicked aside some rotten cardboard.
“I’d guess this place is making a loss. Most places are nowadays.” Nick bent over and moved aside an old wooden pallet, rotten to its core. Spiders and woodlice scurried out from underneath it.
Gross!
But amongst all the insects was exactly what they needed.
Nick picked up the grubby rock and examined it. It was heavy in his hand, but light enough to throw with a decent amount of force. “Perfect,” he said, holding it out so that Pauline could see it.
She nodded and agreed that it was perfect, so they headed back round to the car park. They caught up with Jan and the other two prisoners outside the café’s front entrance. Nick held the rock out to them and smiled.
“Perfect,” said Jan. “Give it here and I’ll get us in.”
Nick handed over the rock and they all stepped away from the windows. Jan wound up like a pitcher and let the rock fly like a baseball.
One of the window panes shattered instantly, showering the ground with shards of glass.
They all cringed as the alarm went off.
It was loud.
Really loud.
Dave and the others came sprinting from around the side of the building. “You stupid shits!” he shouted. “Who told you to do that? You should have waited until I gave the okay.”
Nick bristled and clenched his jaw. “Piss off, Dave.”
Dave fronted up to him. “Piss off? Who the hell do you think you are? You’d still be on the side of the road if it weren’t for me.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Pauline shouted. “We have to get that alarm off before any infected people hear us.”
“She’s right,” said Jan. “Back in one of the towns we passed through, I saw a whole bunch of infected people head right for a church when its bell started ringing. Attracted every one of them in the area. We need to cut the noise, right now, or they’ll be here.”
“Don’t worry. I got this,” said Dash, leaping up onto the ledge of the broken window and disappearing into the shadows inside. Everyone else stood around anxiously, eyeing the treeline. They were all dreading the sudden rush of infected people hammering over the concrete towards them.
The alarm was loud enough to travel for miles.
“This is not good,” said Cassie.
Carl put an arm around her. “It will be okay.”
Dave stomped back and forth furiously, clenching his fists and heaving his gut in and out. Jan and Renee were the calmest, standing beside the broken window and staring patiently inside.
Margaret, Eve, and Pauline stood beside Nick, huddled together, as if merely doing so was enough to keep them safe. He patted Margaret on her back and gave her a reassuring smile.
“What a racket,” she muttered.
The shrill call of the alarm set all of their nerves on edge – everyone was visibly close to panic. If what Jan had said was right, it could spell big trouble for them all.
We’re sitting ducks…
The alarm stopped suddenly.
There was total silence.
A moment later, Dash appeared at the broken window. He held what looked like a frying pan in his hand. He used the hard metal edge to knock loose the remaining shards of glass from the frame, making it safe to climb through. “Come on in, gangsters,” he said.
“Something tells me you’ve done this before,” Nick commented.
“I don’t know what you mean, blud. I’m just a man that knows a few things.”
“Well, you did good,” said Dave. “Is there any way you can get the doors open as well?”
Dash shook his head. “No can do. Any keys would be in the safe and my skills don’t go that far.”
“Okay,” said Dave. “Then pass us out one of those plastic chairs to help us climb over.
Dash disappeared back inside and then reappeared at the window with a chair. He passed it out to Dave who set it down on the pavement.
“Okay,” Dave said. “Ladies first.”
They sent in Margaret to start; Nick helping her up and then Dash helping her down onto his shoulder from the other side. Eve was next and hopped through relatively easily, followed by Pauline who stumbled and half-fell inside. Cassie went next and then the men followed. Nick went in after Carl, who went in after Renee. Dave and Jan came in last. Jan was so tall he could have stepped over without the chair.
Inside, the room was shadowy, but not completely dark. The chairs and tables were neatly stacked and the floors were mostly clear. The café was still operational by the looks of things.
“Wonder why there’s no one here,” said Pauline.
“Makes sense,” said Nick, “when you think about the time this all started. My wife and son were sick before dawn. I’d imagine some people probably took longer, but it’s safe to assume that the situation was pretty bad everywhere by 8AM. This café probably doesn’t open until nine or ten, so the staff wouldn’t have even started their commute by the time the shit hit the fan. I think most people were either getting up for work or already on their way when they got attacked. We all saw the roads this morning. It happened all at once. It caught everybody by surprise.”
“I think we can all count ourselves pretty lucky,” said Dave. “All of us managed to escape the situation before it got real bad.”
“We owe you big time,” Carl said to Dave. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t picked me up.”
Dave puffed up his chest proudly. “Don’t mention it.”
“Do you think the power is still on?” Cassie asked.
Nick shrugged his shoulders. “No reason it shouldn’t be.” He headed over to the wall and followed it along until he reached a door reading: STAFF ONLY. Beside it was a little incision in the wall. He sighed. “The lights are operated by one of those little fish key thingies.”
“Anybody got a hair clip?” Jan asked.
Pauline pulled one from her hair and handed it over. Jan took it to where Nick was standing and jammed it into the small hole. He fiddled the piece of plastic-coated steel for a few seconds and then…
An audible click!
The lights came on and everybody cheered.
“Excellent,” said Dave. “Now, let’s hunt down a phone.”
“There’s one through that door,” said Dash. “It leads to an office and a staffroom. I saw it when I broke in.”
“Excellent,” Dave said again. “I’ll go see if I can reach somebody.”
Nick plonked himself down at one of the small restaurant tables and slouched forward on his elbows. His left arm cried out in pain from his wounds, but it still felt good to be sitting indoors again. He had been beginning to feel like a nomad, trekking through the woods without direction. It was good to finally stop for a while and take stock of things.
Pauline took a seat next to him. “Hope that alarm didn’t bring any attention to us. I don’t think I can face being attacked again.”
Nick looked out across the empty car park. “It doesn’t seem to have brought anything. We should be okay. We might even be able to stay here until the authorities get a handle of things.”
“You think they will?”
Nick wanted to be optimistic, but couldn’t find the energy to kid himself. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know what there is for them to get a handle on. If those sick people can’t be
helped…well, let’s just say that would be a lot of funerals to arrange. I have some of my own to attend to as soon as this is over.”
Pauline had an expression that suggested she was trying to hold back tears. “How could something like this happen, Nick?”
“Aliens,” said Carl from nearby.
Nick frowned. “Huh?”
“Maybe it was aliens,” Carl repeated. “As good a theory as any. I read once on the Internet that they have this big hole in the desert in America that’s filled with all sorts of things we don’t know about. I bet it was aliens.”
Nick raised an eyebrow. “Think I’d prefer to hear something else as a reason.”
Carl shrugged. “Terrorists, laboratory accident, evil corporations, Mother Nature fighting back. Meteor. God punishing us.”
“Are those all film plots or something?” asked Pauline.
“Maybe,” said Carl. “My point is that something this big doesn’t just happen. It’s an insane scenario, which means it make senses that there’s an insane cause for it all.”
“I guess you’re right,” said Nick. “But I’d rather keep my feet on the ground and my mind focused for now.”
“I know what you mean,” Carl nodded sagely. Then he looked at Pauline. “You fancy helping me get the grills on, darlin’? I think everyone could do with some grub. The power’s on so there should be no reason we can’t get some chow on the go.”
Pauline shot up from her seat. “Sounds good to me. I’m bleedin’ starving.”
Nick laughed and watched them wander off to the kitchens. Then his smile faded as he remembered all of the reasons not to be happy.
How can I even manage to smile with what’s happened? I should be ashamed of myself. My son died only hours ago.
The staff door flew open with what sounded like a kick and Dave re-entered the restaurant. He was shaking his head and seemed pretty pissed off.
“What is it?” Nick asked him.
“The phones are completely dead. There’s not even a dial tone.”
Nick sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “I’m beginning to think no help’s coming.”
“Nonsense! The police must be dealing with this. Probably the army, too. They’ll come eventually.”
Nick considered it. It was a possibility, but really they had no way of knowing. “Maybe they will come, but what do you plan on doing in the meantime?”
“We can stay here, keep trying the phones.”
“Alright. Then we should get that broken window covered up or we’re all going to freeze tonight.”
Dave nodded. His jowls wobbled as he did so. “Good idea. Please get right on that.” Then he turned around on his heel and marched away.
Nick snapped off a petulant salute. “Right, away, sir.” Then he got up and headed through the ‘STAFF ONLY’ door to begin his search for materials.
The tiled hallway inside smelt faintly of lemony bleach. The chemical odour tickled his sinuses. On his right was an open door leading to a small staffroom and sofa. Straight ahead was a door marked ‘MANAGER’S OFFICE’. Nick entered the room and looked around the interior. An old computer perched on a desk and a heavy safe lay underneath it on the worn blue carpet. Beside the computer’s monitor was a telephone. Nick picked it up and held it to his ear. Like Dave had said, the line was completely dead. He didn’t know why he had even felt the need to double-check, but it was nice to know that the man hadn’t been lying about it.
I don’t trust that guy. He’s got an ego the size of the bus he was driving.
Nick looked around himself for something useful to block up the restaurant’s window with and was glad when he was able to find something right away.
On the wall was a large corkboard, more than big enough to cover the broken window. He pulled at it and it came away from the plasterboard easily; it was only held in place by a couple of loose nails.
He walked sideways with the corkboard, down the corridor, and took it back out onto the restaurant floor. Two minutes later, with the help of Jan and Renee, Nick had gotten it positioned over the broken window and held in place by a couple of stacked tables shoved up against it.
“That should keep the wind out,” said Jan.
“Hopefully,” Nick said. “Isn’t the wind that worries me, though.”
Jan patted him on the back with a meaty slap. “Long as we lay low, I can’t see any danger.”
“Long as nobody makes the mistake of sneezing or coughing, else you and Dave will probably smash their skull in.”
Jan glared at Nick. He suddenly felt threatened by the larger man.
“Listen, brother,” said Jan. “I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a killer. That lady was already dead. She’s probably wandering around those woods right now, out of her mind. There was nothing any of us could do for her. Dave was trying to do her a favour.”
“Funny, because it seemed to me like she was begging for her life.”
Jan shoved Nick aside. “You seem to be forgetting that in the end I came around to your way of thinking. Maybe next time I’ll just go with my gut, whether you like it or not.”
Jan walked away and Nick sighed. It was true Jan had not been the one who had tried to kill Kathryn, but he was the one who had suggested it. The man was a criminal when all was said and done.
None of us should forget that. We don’t know how dangerous these prisoners are. They were locked up like animals before any of this started.
One thing was for sure, Nick’s main concern was not about the wind getting in.
***
It turned out that Carl and Pauline were able to rustle up quite the feast. A large freezer in the kitchen contained burger patties, hot dogs, mini-pizzas, and bags and bags of frying chips. With a little bit of fiddling they had managed to switch on the fat fryers and griddles, and within one hour everyone was sitting in the restaurant eating more than they needed.
Nick felt bloated and overly-full already, but found that the act of eating helped take away some of his stresses; allowed him to blank his mind of its troubles while he focused on a basic human need.
Guess there’s a reason they call it comfort eating.
At his table were Eve, Margaret, and Pauline. Carl, Cassie, and Renee sat at another table, while Jan, Dash, and Dave sat at a third. The women at Nick’s table all looked very satisfied as they finished off their French fries. They also had a variety of soft drinks in front of them, which they slurped readily, except for Margaret who was drinking piping hot tea.
“Nothing seems as bad after a good brew,” said Margaret. “It can get you through anything.”
Eve wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I bet you’ve seen some stuff in your lifetime, Margaret.”
“I have at that. Not anything like this, though. This is hell on earth. A right bloody shambles.”
“You think it’s the same everywhere?” Pauline asked, rubbing at her eyes and smudging her make-up.
“I do,” said Margaret. “There seems to be something very deliberate about all this. How could things degenerate so completely without being planned? Should we believe that there weren’t any doctors who picked this up early? That the Government had no warning at all? If that’s the case then this is either the work of very powerful enemies or a very angry God. And neither of those would release something this destructive solely on a little island like Britain.”
“So you think it’s happening in other countries, too?” Nick asked. He held a cardboard beer mat in his hands and was absentmindedly peeling away the label.
Margaret nodded. “I’d say this is happening at least in the Western world. If it was terrorists, for example, they would have far more to gain by releasing this in America or mainland Europe. It would be a waste to focus it only on us. The spread of the disease would halt at our natural barriers – the coastline.
“Maybe someone just wants to set an example. Hold the world to ransom by showing what they can do. Maybe we’re being used to send a message.”
; The old lady shrugged. “Only time will tell.”
Nick nodded his head slowly as he thought about it.
I wonder how much time any of us have left.
While Nick’s mind was wandering, Dave decided to stand up and address the group. He cleared his throat and began. “Perhaps now would be a good opportunity for us to get some rest; see what tomorrow brings.” Nobody argued, so he continued. “We can turn off the lights and bed down wherever we can. Margaret, you can have the sofa in the staffroom.”
“Thank you.”
“Then we can hold a meeting in the morning to figure out what our next move will be, although I would suggest staying here until help finds us. Agreed?”
With no one taking exception, the group began shuffling around as they each tried to find somewhere soft to lie down amongst the various hard surfaces. Margaret headed off for the staffroom to claim her sofa while Dave claimed the tall-backed leather chair in the manager’s office. Nick decided to roll up his coat as a pillow and just bed down on the restaurant floor. There would be nowhere else that was comfortable, so why waste time looking? Eve and Pauline did the same, lying down a few feet from him. The three prisoners huddled up in the corner of the restaurant, making a bed from some aprons they’d found hanging up on the kitchen wall. Carl and Cassie separated off to sleep in the kitchen. Nick wondered if the two of them had formed a relationship throughout the day’s events as they had become inseparable.
Good for them. Glad something positive came out of today.
Nick laid his head back on his rolled-up coat and stared up at the suspended ceiling hanging above them all. The lights in the building had now been switched off and moonlight spilled in through the surrounding windows. If it wasn’t for all the bloodshed, one might even have described the night as beautiful.
Deana would have found this romantic, bedding down on the floor under the moonlight.
I miss you…
He closed his eyes and listened to the silence for what seemed like hours until, finally, the silence was replaced by the dozing snores of his companions. The last thing he heard before sleep claimed him, too, was a soft whimpering coming from Eve as she struggled with the unseen terrors of her dreams.
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