The Abandoned Trilogy (Book 1): Twice Dead (Contagion)

by Suchitra Chatterjee

  “Leaving you all behind,” he burst out, “It’s wrong! It’s fucking wrong!”

  “That’s not for you to say, Private Salter,” Wolf’s voice made us both jump. Neither of us had heard him come into the building. The soldier snapped to attention, Wolf didn’t tell him to be at ease, instead he said quietly, “You will not question your orders Private Salter, understand?”

  “Yes Sir,” Private Salter said stiffly, not allowing himself to make eye contact with his commanding officer. He was angry at Wolf and Wolf knew it.

  “Now get back to the billet, we are leaving early, move soldier!”

  Private Salter’s shoulders sagged, he glanced at me and I nodded at him. He marched away, not looking back, watched by the stony faced Colonel.

  “Here,” I held out the small sketch book drawings to the Colonel before he could speak, “This is for you,” his hand instinctively accepted it and I walked away, and like Private Salter I didn’t look back.

  We didn’t hear Wolf and his people leave the next morning, but I knew they were gone when I got up and went into Adag’s office just after 0730 hours.

  Phoenix’s computer was on the floor along with Mitch’s radio, which was fully charged, and on standby on the office desk.

  I felt both a sense of relief and also a sense of loss, which took I wasn’t expecting. Private Salter had left his borrowed room clean and tidy. That was good of him and I felt a stab of pain in my chest. I had grown surprisingly fond of the young soldier who I had at first wanted to kick up the pants.

  I headed for the kitchen to start breakfast. We were free of the military, they would not be back any time soon, and now we had the difficult job of trying to survive on our own with the knowledge that the Central Commands were making sure that any survivors outside those the chosen elite were disposed of.

  We would have to live a life well and truly under the radar, but we would do it. Somehow, we would manage to do it.

  I made a huge batch of scrambled eggs, added wild garlic to it, put on the kettle to make tea and then went to the fridge to get out the bacon to start frying.

  I had just taken out two trays and turned around to put them by the stove when I saw them. Standing by the kitchen door. Corporal Peters and Private Jasper.

  I let out a yell, stumbled backwards; the bacon flew out of my hands and landed on the floor at the same time as I did. I slid down the fridge door and then yelled in pain as my bad leg twisted under me.

  “Shit!” Private Jasper said as he rushed over to me, lifting me up and getting me to a stool.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I managed to find my voice.

  Peter was picking up the bacon from the floor and putting them on the side, “Don’t tell me you’ve all come back! Why? What happened?”

  The two men looked at each other and it slowly dawned on me that Wolf and his unit had not returned. Rather Corporal Peters and Private Jasper had not left with them.

  “You deserted,” I said in a stunned voice.

  They still said nothing.

  “Shit,” was all I could think to say right then.

  My head was spinning. I gripped the side of my stool, “Why?”

  Corporal Peters bit his lip. He looked at the floor. Private Jasper spoke.

  “We haven’t got a home to go back to,” he said lamely, “All our families are gone.”

  “Why stay here?” I said incredulously.

  Private Jasper glanced at Corporal Peters. The young man looked up and allowed his eyes to meet mine. His face was full of hostility, directed at me, and with his fists clenched at his sides he said bitterly, “You told Captain Lacks-Renton about me and Jas!”

  I blinked. Trying to process, what he was saying and not at that moment quite succeeding.

  “Of course I did!” I finally said, “Jasmine’s not some bit of fluff to be used! She’s a real person, with real feelings, she might have a learning disability, but she isn’t something you can use and then forget about…” Then it dawned on me what he was trying to say, my eyes widened in total shock and I said softly, “Oh my, you’re actually in love with her…oh shit…”

  “What if I am?” he said defiantly.

  It would take me a while to get my head around this revelation.

  I turned to Private Jasper, “Won’t they come back for you?”

  He shook his head, “They won’t miss us for at least 12 hours, that’s how long they will drive for, when they do a roll call, then they will know we are not there,” Private Jasper said and then he added “We are split between two trucks, each thinks we are in the other, it wasn’t difficult to do.”

  “They might come back for you,” I repeated.

  “Not a chance.” Private Jasper shook his head, “They have to get to Oxford as soon as possible, we won’t be worth wasting their time to come back for, they have Zombies to kill.”

  “Twice Dead,” I said automatically.

  Private Jasper looked puzzled, “We call them the Twice Dead.” I said and I slid off my stool, rubbing my thigh and wincing, “Well I guess we need to let the others know you are here, I just hope you are right and they don’t come back for you.”

  I didn’t tell them why I was worried about the Colonel coming back, actually, it was not him I was worried about, it was Duke and his counterpart from Epsilon Command.

  Everyone other than most of the learning-disabled residents were shocked to see Private Jasper and Corporal Peters in the dining room when they got up later that morning.

  Adag did a double take and Mitch almost choked to death on his cigarette. Seb swore and banged into a freestanding lamp in his chair and sent it crashing to the ground. Luckily it didn’t break.

  Cassidy and Stevie were a bit bewildered

  Percy and Gabe just stared at the two men without saying anything. They looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders.

  “They decided to resign from the army, something about not being able to further their career,” I said, which made the two men laugh and even Corporal Peters and Private Jasper smile.

  When Jasmine saw Corporal Peters though, her face went pale. He stood up and gave her a wavering smile.

  “Hi Jas,” he said softly.

  “You went away,” she said uncertainly and she looked at him and then at everyone else in the room.

  “I decided to stay,” he said. Her eyes welled with tears and she turned tail and fled, back to her room. Eden of course followed her and Corporal Peters moved forward to go after her as well, but I stepped in front of him.

  “I take it you told her you had to stop seeing her?”

  He nodded his head.

  “Let me speak to her first,” I said.

  I saw the worried look in his eyes and I sighed, “I am probably going to regret this, but what the hell…” I limped after the girls and minutes later, I was in Jasmine’s room. This was going to be a very interesting conversation for all concerned.

  I explained as best I to Jasmine could as to why Corporal Peters had to say he couldn’t see her anymore. At first, Jasmine was too upset to listen, but finally after a lot of tears, paper hankies from Eden, she stopped crying and listened.

  She sniffed and wiped her eyes, “He said he didn’t love me,” she said.

  “He had to say that,” I said with a sigh, “He was in trouble because he wasn’t supposed to…” this was so damn embarrassing, “…be having sex with you,” There, I had said it.

  “It was nice,” Jasmine said dreamily and I inwardly cringed.

  “He’s not your boyfriend,” Eden’s voice was thick with jealousy and fear too; she didn’t want to lose her friend.

  “No, he wasn’t then,” I agreed with Eden, “But he wants to be now, he stayed behind because of you Jasmine, because he loves you.”

  “He does love me?” she said, and she smiled and it was then I could see why Corporal Peters had fallen in love with her, she was so beautifully innocent and sensuous, “He really loves me? He will be my boyfriend?”


  I nodded my head and then I added, “But you can’t just spend all your time with him, Eden is your friend, you don’t just drop people because you get a boyfriend, that is wrong.”

  Jasmine frowned. In her world, having a boyfriend was the be all, and end all, nothing else mattered.

  “Jasmine,” I said carefully, “You are a good person, a kind person, but things have changed, for everyone, the world isn’t the same as it was a few weeks ago.”

  Jasmine was understandably confused. Eden went still, she stared at me and I inhaled deeply.

  “You won’t be seeing your families anymore.”

  “Why not?” Jasmine asked in a puzzled voice.

  I took a long and deep breath, “Because something really bad has happened, and no one here has their families anymore.”

  “What about my family?” Eden’s voice trembled as she spoke.

  “I’m so sorry Eden,” I said softly. Her face was now a myriad of confusion and fear as she took in my words and tried to make sense of them.

  “That place,” she whispered taking me by surprise with the question she then asked, “The bad place you wanted to know about, did…did it hurt all our families?” I nodded my head, quite surprised that she was able to make the connection between the task I had set her and what we were talking about right now. Perhaps I too was guilty of underestimating my fellow residents.

  She didn’t move from where she was sitting. Tears ran down her face in a steady river of unspoken grief.

  For once Jasmine did something right. She flung her arms around Eden and hugged her tightly as she cried out, “You are my friend Eden, we will always be friends…and…and we can be sisters too if you want!” And she held onto her weeping friend, and I wondered why I felt nothing, but a cold numbness deep inside of me. It throbbed, it ached, it burned, but it did not pour out of me.

  Jasmine surprised me that day. Oh, she didn’t become a paragon of virtue and intelligence, she still was as naïve and vulnerable as the day she had arrived to live in the home, but somewhere deep inside her she understood the origin of Eden’s pain.

  She cried for her own family later on, but she was thinking about Corporal Peters and the fact he really loved her, but she included Eden in that love. She bought her friend along with her, didn’t abandon her and so Eden was not alone in her grief. And for that, I was truly grateful.

  Corporal Peters and Jasmine went for a walk together, Private Jasper offered to cook lunch and I got Stevie, and a very quiet Eden and Cassidy to help him. Whilst this was happening the rest of us, bar Paul and Phoenix met in, Adag’s flat to have a quick talk about Private Jasper and Corporal Peters.

  It was agreed that we would not tell them the truth of the situation they were now entangled in. At least not yet. Yes, they had deserted their unit, but should that unit return for them, then them knowing what we knew. Not good. We had to wait and see what happened next.

  “Well at least we are safe for the moment,” Gabe said with a sigh of relief.

  Adag and I looked at each other. We hadn’t told them about Duke and the vaccinations. They were aware that the other survivors had been put down, but this new revelation totally stunned them.

  “Dear God,” Percy spoke first, he shook his head and reached to lift Russell onto his lap. The little dog licked his chin and pushed his head into the side of his Master’s neck. Jack in turn pawed indignantly at Percy’s leg and Gabe reached down to pick the second dog up. I noticed that his hands trembled as he stroked his pet, “Why didn’t they just take us with them and get rid of us the same way as they did with all the others?”

  “No idea,” I said, “But be glad that they didn’t.”

  “I hope the Twice Dead rip the fuckers all apart,” Seb said savagely.

  “I’d wish that on Duke, and anyone else like him,” I agreed with Seb, “But not on Wolf and the others, we might not have got off to a good start with him, but he genuinely tried to help in the end.”

  “He’s still part of it though,” Seb wasn’t willing to give any leeway on his anger for the moment which was understandable.

  “I think he has his doubts,” and I told him what Wolf had said to me the day before.

  “What is done is done;” Adag said briskly, “Having those two soldiers here with us certainly will help making surviving a lot easier.”

  “What will they say when we tell them the, truth of the situation?” Mitch asked.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t tell them,” Seb said.

  “We have enough bridges to cross right now,” I shook my head, “Let’s leave that one alone for a while, OK?”

  We all ate lunch together, with the usual two exceptions. Jasmine sat next to both Corporal Peters and Eden and to my relief, I saw Corporal Peters genuinely trying to interact with Eden who was at first a bit frosty with him, but he did make her smile when he burped very loudly.

  Jasmine giggled, Cassidy and Stevie roared with laughter and I threw a napkin at Corporal Peters and said I was glad it was that end the noise had come out of, and not the other.

  Eden and Stevie got the joke, it had to be explained to Jasmine and Cassidy, but they laughed too when they understood.

  “That’s rude!” Cassidy bellowed in delight and he hugged my shoulders. I hugged him back and his face lit up.

  “No making noise from that end at the lunch table Cass,” I warned him and this even made Eden laugh though her eyes were filled with sadness at her newfound knowledge about the fate of her family.

  I won’t say it was a totally relaxed lunch, I think the majority of us were feeling a bit tense and worried, but you had to work with what you had, and the two soldiers deserting their unit had completely thrown us.

  Private Jasper and Corporal Peters had not left their unit empty handed. Both had their rifles, handguns and some ammunition. I had a gun and ammunition too, under my bed, where Wolf had put them.

  Adag allocated the two men a room each from the rooms of former residents but I suspected Corporal Peters would be in Jasmine’s room more than his own. She then set Corporal Peters the task of stock taking of the food in the cellar and Private Jasper was asked to go into town with Mitch in the coach in order to get petrol. He went armed. I asked them to bring back some petrol in containers if they could.

  I could see that Adag wanted everyone to be busy and productive. Eden and Jasmine were made to go into every bedroom that was no longer in use and bring all the contents out into the dining room, it was to be sorted through, with anything of potential use being put to one side and everything else for burning. Seb was to supervise them, his idea of pure torture he told me making a face.

  Cassidy and Stevie had to strip all the beds and take the washing to the laundry room. Adag showed them both what to do, putting the meticulous Stevie in charge of the task with Cassidy as his assistant.

  I promised Cassidy a special home baked cake if he did as Stevie said and didn’t get upset.

  “I really need your help Cass,” I said seriously to him, “It’s heavy work doing the linen laundry and both you and Stevie are the strongest here.”

  “Even stronger than the soldiers?” Stevie asked me.

  I gave this question some thought and then I nodded my head, “Yes,” I said, “I think you both are,” The two young men high fived each other and puffed up with pride. I actually wasn’t lying when I said they were stronger than Private Jasper and Corporal Peters, physically they were and I was glad of their strength and their presence.

  Adag had asked Gabe and Percy if she could take the two dogs to spend some time with Paul who really liked dogs and like Phoenix had been delighted when told there were two Jack Russell’s living in the home now.

  Gabe and Percy were happy for their dogs to spend time with the dying boy. They themselves had started to take up residence in the home’s kitchen. They loved to cook and had said that if it was all right with everyone they would take over the cooking of the food, with help from everyone of course for washing
up and such like.

  They both were practical men, and realised that in order to survive, they had to do their bit. They both now knew about the seeming aversion that the Twice Dead had to wild garlic, and at first they had been disbelieving until we had shown them where all the other survivors had been found. The common denominator in every single area was the abundance of wild garlic and water.

  I sat with them in the kitchen drinking tea as we talked about this possible aversion and what form it took. I had mentioned the smell of rotting fruit that Eden had detected with regard to Gregory’s dead body.

  Percy looked at the box of dried garlic leaves and buds, plus bulbs, ready to be sliced, he ran his fingers through the shiny green leaves, and inhaled their strong and musky scent.

  “Delicious,” he said.

  “The Twice Dead don’t think so apparently,” I replied.

  “But why would they have an aversion to it?” Gabe said thoughtfully as he started to chop up some of the bulbs to add to a shit load of onions we needed to use up.

  “We’d need a scientist to answer that,” I said dryly, “One who has some understanding of the contagion itself,” As I spoke I remembered I had asked Phoenix to do some research into the name that Eden had overheard when listening to Duke and Loretta.

  I excused myself from the kitchen, got some cola for Phoenix and went to his room. Phoenix’s room smelt, of unwashed bedding, sweaty clothes, and sour milk. It was dirty too. He was in obsession mode and this meant he needed to be supervised more.

  I went and got a black bag; a long handled broom and duster and started to gather up cans, empty crisp packets and also to sweep the floor.

  “Off the bed,” I said to him. He didn’t move or even look at me.

  “Get off the bed and onto the chair,” I said, “Or I will call Cassidy to move you.”

  His head shot up and I smiled, “There’s room for you to sit at your desk, move.”

  He slid of the bed and slunk over to his computer chair. I stripped his bed, taking the linen to where the laundry was being done. I got fresh sheets and pillowcases. I also went to the home storeroom next to the Yellow Room, got some hair and shower gel and a bath scrub.