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

by Suchitra Chatterjee

  The hay erupted into flames, and the camera recorded it briefly, rolling down the slope before Elise and Seb were heading for the next bale of hay, and the next and then the final one.

  The hay bale was tightly packed, and because of this it made them roll faster, the flames increased in size with the spinning of the bale and the first one hit its intended target, followed swiftly by the others.

  Well, we already know that wild garlic and the Twice Dead are not compatible so you can imagine what the fiery bales of hay did to the ones they hit head on. Lots of combusting skulls followed by blackened brains soaring in the air. Not pretty, but effective.

  The GoPro caught Elise jumping up and down and screaming, her hands waving in the air, she was I suspected shrieking with joy.

  They had the sense not to stay around whilst the burning hay temporarily stopped the onslaught of Twice Dead. Elise leapt onto the back of Lewis and they took off, heading once more in the direction of the wood where the growing wild garlic would protect them.

  The camera recorded everything until its memory card was completely full. With the end of the footage I stood still for a moment as the screen went blank.

  I turned to look at the van, because the last bit of footage had been Elise helping Seb out of Lewis and into the back of the van. They were safe.

  I didn’t bang on the van doors right then, mainly because what I had just seen had left me stunned.

  I just stood staring at the van dumbly, trying to take in everything that I had just seen, but not quite being able to. Finally, I started to move toward the van, intending to bang on the doors when the van itself began to move, rocking gently at first, and I thought that the doors would swing open and whoever was in the back of the van would step out, but that didn’t happen.

  The rocking was slow at first and then it began to pick up and become more rhythmic and then I heard moaning. Yes, you heard me. Moaning. A man’s moan, then a woman’s I could tell the difference.

  I stood where I was, trying to work out what the hell was going on. Yes, I know, I’m pretty slow on the up take. It took Eden to tell me that Jasmine was doing it with Corporal Peters. I hadn’t noticed a bloody thing, but Adag had.

  Colour flooded my face. Oh my God, they were shagging! Seb and Captain Elise Lacks-Renton and they were…I turned around, not sure what to do next so I waited for the inevitable as I stared at the bluebells and wild garlic before me.

  It took a bit of time, the van sure as hell rocked on its hinges and finally it culminated in two gut wrenching bellows, muffled a tad by the van doors being shut, then groaning and sighing, kissing and then there was silence and the rocking subsided.

  I stood for a moment or two more then went over to the back of the van doors and knocked on them. Hard. I had the sense to step back. I heard a cry from inside, the sound of movement, cursing, yelling, most of it I won’t repeat, but it was ripe that was for sure.

  All of this went on for what seemed an age. I waited patiently and then the van doors swung open and Captain Lacks-Renton all but fell out of the back of the van clutching her Glock. She was disheveled, her combat shirt was on inside out, her pants weren’t fastened properly, and her face was flushed and her eyes bright. She was also bare footed and ready to fight and then she saw me. Her mouth dropped open.

  I crossed my arms across my chest and waited.

  “Lucy,” she said in a stunned voice, when she finally could speak, “Seb its Lucy!”

  “Lucy?” Seb’s voice from the interior of the van was as incredulous as hers, “Holy shit!”

  “I waited until you had both finished,” I had the satisfaction of seeing a look of complete and utter embarrassment fill every part of her face and work its way swiftly downwards until I think it got to the tips of her toes.

  “Oh fuck!” I heard Seb say with a groan from inside the van.

  “Yes,” I said pointedly, “I think you both just did.”

  Elise pointed the Glock at me, “I could shoot you right now,” she said between clenched teeth.

  “I’d leave that particular pleasure to Colonel Wolf,” I replied in a flat voice.

  The shock on her face took me by surprise, I assumed she’d realise he had survived, dumb now that I thought about it, “He’s alive?” her eyes welled up though she didn’t let the tears fall.

  “He was when I last saw him,” I said and I peered into the dimness of Mitch’s van, “If you are dressed Seb, you can join us out here.”

  “You are such a bitch Lady of Shadows,” I suspected Seb’s face was flame red, well I had caught him with his pants down, literally.

  I didn’t bother to offer to help him, he had taken his clothes off so he could put them back on. Elise glowered at me but she had the sense not to say anything. I went and sat in the front of the van. It took quite a few minutes for Seb to get himself presentable and transfer himself into Lewis.

  I wondered how long it would take Wolf and the coach to get here. It was logical for them to make their way to this place. It would take a bit of time as they couldn’t come the way I had come due to the landslide, but I was sure Phoenix would help plot a pathway for them.

  When Seb was safely in Lewis and Elise was leaning against the doors of the van, arms across her chest, I updated them as to what had happened since we had all last seen each other.

  I was looking at a copse of trees as I spoke. I tried not to flinch when I spoke about Adag and Paul, about their sacrifice that had allowed us all to survive.

  “How many grenades?” Elise said when I told her how they had decimated the Twice Dead hoards, heading toward us, “Where the hell did they get those from?”

  “Wolf gave them to us,” I said, “He was under the impression at the time we would need them.”

  “We did,” Seb said.

  “Not for that, never for that!” Out of the corner of my eye I imagined I saw Adag and Paul, under the shaded tree like the one Jack and I used to sit under when we had a picnic in the garden. Jack had loved picnics. So had I. I exhaled.

  Elise knew about Duke, Seb had told her, but she still sucked in her breath when I told her how he had tried to kill me and yes the bastard was still alive though in rather a bad way due to the kicking to the head he had taken.

  “The mother fucker,” she exploded, “Shame Bryson didn’t finish him off.”

  “There’s been enough death,” Seb surprised me with his words of moderation, he ran his hands through his hair, “Is Mitch ok?”

  “He’s fine, smoking like a chimney probably, knowing him,” I replied and I gave them a rundown of all the survivors, I also told them about Bubba being bitten.

  “Oh no!” Elise shook her head, “He was a good soldier.”

  “He’s still alive,” I said sharply.

  “Not for long,” Seb said, “You know how it will go Lucy.”

  “My name is Lucia,” I said automatically, “Not, Lucy.”

  “What’s the difference?” Seb became his usual obnoxious self and I wasn’t in the mood to ignore it.

  “A whole damn continent,” I snapped, and he looked puzzled. I rolled my eyes.

  “My father was Indian,” I said, “It’s Lucia, not Lucy.”

  “Oh,” Seb said and then he surprised me by saying, “Sorry, I didn’t know, you should have said.”

  “You’re not White?” Elise looked at me closely, squinted, and then, “You could have fooled me.”

  “No,” I said firmly, “I’m not White.”

  “Figures,” Elise said, “Now I know where your shit attitude comes from.”

  “I could have got it from my mother,” I responded.

  “Nope,” Elise said and she crossed her arms over her chest, “That kind of attitude comes from colour.”

  She had a point. I pushed my hand through my hair, “How’d you two get here?” I didn’t mention that I had seen the GoPro footage and it appeared that Seb had forgotten all about it. He and Elise exchanged glances.

  “We had a spot of
trouble with the Twice Dead ourselves,” he admitted.

  “Yeah,” Elise nodded her head, “It got a bit hairy at one point.”

  “I can relate to that,” I said grimly.

  “Why are you on your own?” Elise asked suddenly, “Where are they?” it had suddenly registered with her that something wasn’t quite right.

  “I’m my own person,” I said flatly, “I went for a walk…last night.”

  “Oh shit,” Elise said as she realised what I was saying, “Lucy…Lucia, he’s going to fucking kill you.”

  My eyes narrowed, “I don’t answer to your Colonel.”

  “Keep telling yourself that girl,” Elise gave a sharp and humourless laugh, “What the hell were you thinking of? You could have been attacked…you slept outside? Holy fuck!” she shook her head, “They will be worried sick…Shit!”

  I knew that but I refused at that moment to think about that, “They will probably come here,” I said. Seb was staring at me in an odd way, and he said softly, “It wasn’t your fault Lucia, none of it was your fault…” How did he know? I had hidden it well or so I thought I had.

  The pain inside of me was now rapidly rising to the surface yet again. And this time I couldn’t contain it. It was like a tidal wave. It was engulfing me. I thought I had pushed it down deep inside of me, but I hadn’t. It was rising to the surface yet again. I felt sick.

  Seb reached out, trying to touch my hand, but I shied away from him. I shook my head.

  “Don’t,” I whispered to him and I rubbed my face, now hot and burning, “Please don’t…”

  He ignored me, he reached out and took my hand and he said the words that finally broke me, “I liked Adag, Paul too, I wish I had told them that, I wish I had said...” I pulled my hand from his, a single tear slid down my cheek.

  “No,” and I turned from him, walking away, my eyes on the woods now in front of me. Seb shouted my name, but I kept on moving, I had to get away. Far away. I had to run from these feelings that were crushing me from the inside out.

  Elise came after me, grabbing my shoulder, trying to stop me, I turned, and shoved her hard in the chest, she wasn’t expecting that. She went over, landing on her ass with a grunt of pain and surprise.

  And then I was running, yes running, through the bluebells, across wild garlic, stumbling, falling, scraping every part of my body all over again, my heart was fit to burst with the grief that now was pouring out of me.

  I ran and ran and ran. I ran until I could run no more. Until my body demanded I stop and only then did I collapse, in a copse, amid beautiful and ancient trees with roots and branches that spanned the earth and the sky. I fell on a large patch of moss and wild lavender, curled myself into a tight ball of pain and anguish and I screamed. I screamed until my throat was raw and then I cried.

  Yes, I finally cried.

  I cried until I could barely breathe and then, I lay where I was and prayed to die. To go to sleep and never wake up like I had tried to do all those years ago when I lived with Theresa and Jack. This time around I could not live with my grief and what I saw as my failure to those I should have been able to save.

  I had failed at saving everyone. Shannon was dead. The Gorilla was dead. Adag was dead. Paul was dead. Bubba had been bitten and would die eventually, put down by his own people because there was no other choice.

  I had failed Jack and Theresa. I hadn’t been able to save them. I was supposed to have died with them but I had lived. And I had lived yet again when others had died. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair!

  I lay with my face pressed into the lavender, clawing at it until my fingers were stained purple and there I lay my face pressed into Mother Earth until the exhaustion of my grief overtook me and I slept.

  I woke to the sound of barking. I lay where I was, not sure how long I had been asleep. The sun was high in the sky; it was after noon I thought. I had been asleep for quite a few hours by the look of it.

  I heard the barking again, it was getting closer. It was Karma’s bark! I opened my mouth to call out his name, but my throat was so sore I couldn’t do it.

  I eased my body up into a sitting position, rubbing my throat and wishing I had something to drink. I hurt more than I thought was possible. My bad leg felt like a piece of floppy rubber. I massaged it and exhaled as my muscles reacted to the stimulation.

  The barking got louder, and closer and closer and then Karma was hurtling toward me coming in from the north, a bundle of happy black fur who landed on me with delighted slobbery kisses and licks.

  How I hugged him, my hands running over his lean body, feeling his fur and inhaling his wonderful doggy scent. He was happy to flop down beside me, and let me stroke and fondle him. He gave happy little yips and I said in a croaky voice.

  “How did you get here?” Like he could answer that question. I took in my environment. Where the hell was I? I had run blind and I had run a long way. Karma wagged his tail and then I heard the shouting.

  Karma barked at the sound of the shouting. I tried to shush him, grabbing his velvet muzzle but he wasn’t having any of it, he wiggled free from my grip and continue to bark. Why hadn’t I left him in the bloody petrol station like Corporal Peters had wanted me too? Stupid dog!

  Of all the people to come crashing through the trees, he was the last person I wanted to even speak too much less look at. Behind him was Private Jasper and Bryson and when Bryson snapped his fingers, the German Shepherd jumped up and bounced over to him.

  “Thank God!” I heard Private Jasper say exhaling long and hard.

  I wouldn’t look at Wolf and he turned to his two men and said curtly, “Get back to the others, tell them we have found her, I’ll bring her along shortly.”

  Like hell you will I thought, but I didn’t say anything. Bryson saluted and moved off immediately, Karma at his heels. Private Jasper though hesitated.

  “Sir,” he said tentatively, and to my surprise Wolf didn’t bite the man’s head off for not obeying him immediately.

  “I’ve got it,” he said in a surprisingly gentle voice, and Private Jasper bit his lip, looked at me, worry in his eyes and then he slowly turned and followed his companion and Karma.

  Wolf didn’t yell at me right then, which kind of surprised me. He stood for a moment looking down at me whilst I in turn stared at the ground. He walked over to my side, sat down next to me, pulling his knees into the same position as mine and said, “You are the biggest pain in my ass Lucia Valerie Lal.”

  Lucia. He hadn’t forgotten.

  “Just go away,” I said. My voice cracked slightly, from the pain of crying and screaming from before and now because I was thirsty and my throat was dry.

  He didn’t go away. Instead he unhooked a green canvas covered water bottle from his dirty uniform belt and handed it to me.

  I was too thirsty to tell him to shove it up his bum. I unscrewed the top and took a long drink. It was cold. Probably water from the river. It had a sweet taste. I wiped my mouth, put the top back on and handed it back to him.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “Is everyone OK?” I asked.

  “What do you care?” his response I have to admit took me off guard.

  “I just want to know if they are ok,” I said. I wasn’t looking at him when I spoke, if I had been I would have realised he was really mad. I just don’t mean a little bit mad, I mean furiously mad.

  “Actually,” he said his voice shaking with rage, “They aren’t OK, no one is. I left Eden and Jasmine in hysterics. Mitch is threatening to cave my head in for upsetting you. Cassidy had a meltdown, he had to be sedated. Stevie would have run off again, to look for you this time, only Rodriquez managed to stop him. Percy was beside himself because he had helped you leave the coach to go to the toilet, Gabe was trying to calm everyone down, but he was crying as much as the girls. We arrived at the van just as Seb and Captain Lacks-Renton were both about to head into the woods to look for you. When I to
ld them we had to organize ourselves, Captain Lacks-Renton told me that with all due respect, you had a head start and she was going to find you with or without my say so!” I heard the outrage in his voice at Elise’s act of defiance, “Right now she is cooling her heels in the coach along with Private Salter who decided he was going to disobey me as well, he told me to kiss his ass when I told him to stay where he was. Seb had to be hauled out of his wheelchair by Private Bryson because he took off in it, telling me I was a son-of-a-bitch, and Phoenix won’t speak to anyone, he is just sitting in one of the coach seats rocking back and forth not to mention that all of my people are blaming themselves for not looking out for you the way you looked out for them, and you just want to know if they are fucking ok?” He shouted the last three words and I winced, because everything he said made me feel physically sick.

  What could I say? I didn’t know how to tell him what was going on inside of me. How would he understand? A battle hardened soldier who didn’t let his feelings get in the way of what he had to do. That wasn’t me. Yes, I had done what needed to be done, but now in the aftermath, well now I was struggling with what I had done. I was questioning every single decision I had made in my life, from what I did when I was 15 years old, to the battle of Ashby Forest and now I had the added burden of pissing everyone off.

  “I’m sorry I upset everyone,” I said stiffly and then my teeth were clattering together because Wolf had grabbed hold of my upper arms and was shaking my whole body hard.

  “You didn’t upset everyone, it has nothing to do with upsetting them,” he yelled at me, “Do you know how much you have come mean to them? Do you? Not just to Cassidy, Stevie and the others, but my people too? To the soldiers you were willing to lay down your life for, in order to give them their chance? Private Jasper, Corporal Peters, young Salter, they would have willingly given their lives for you. Especially Salter. Do you think that Mitch and the others would have stayed and taken on the Twice Dead if you weren’t the person you are? No they fucking wouldn’t have! They would have run a mile and rightfully so, but they followed you because they believed in you! And they still believe in you! They need you and you need them…Yes, you are hurting, Jesus, you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t hurt, you watched two people you loved blow themselves up, but Lucia, for whatever reason they choose to do that, it was what they WANTED to do and nothing you could have done would have changed it, no don’t you dare try and run away again!”