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

by Suchitra Chatterjee

  “With all due respect Sir,” Elise began and at that moment Wolf’s head literally spun from looking straight ahead to slap down his belligerent subordinate. His facial expression made even me flinch, it certainly made Elise shrink back in her seat.

  “If you ever question an order again Captain,” Wolf hissed, “You will be joining young Salter on his circuit routes every day for the next two months and your curfew will be the same as his, understand?”

  “Sir!” Elise got the message loud and clear. She swallowed hard, still angry but she knew the lay of the land now. I felt bad for her. Actually I felt more bad for me.

  I turned to gaze out of the window, my reflection was as clear as day and so was Elise’s, bouncing back at me, she sat stiffly in her seat.

  She brushed the side of her face, as if to flick away a hair that was bothering. I was a loss as to what to do next. Best leave it for the moment.

  Wolf squeezed my hand and I felt a bit better. I closed my eyes and tried to get a bit of shut-eye.

  We drove for another hour until we got to the petrol station which was the one we had found Karma in. We were almost home. Thorncroft. Twice Dead and New World Succession free, long may it continue.

  For the third time that day we went through the safety routine, with Wolf saying this was only a twenty-minute stop so people could get out and stretch their legs, use the toilet if needed and to stay near the coach.

  Seb was happy to get out of the coach, he didn’t need the loo he said, but he wanted to breathe some sweet smelling air and that, he pointed out dryly was not going to happen until we all had showered at least twenty times.

  Phoenix wasn’t going to get off the coach but Mitch nixed that and told him he was to get out and walk around the coach a few times.

  He objected of course until Gabe who was about to leave the coach said, “Would you like to walk one of the dogs?”

  Phoenix’s eyes went to the two eager dogs, straining to get off the coach, and he said, “Can I hold the leash?”

  “Sure,” Gabe said with a smile, “and with his computer tucked firmly under his arm Phoenix got off the bus and trotted alongside Gabe.

  Karma in turn dragged Private Bryson into the shop itself, probably in the hope of finding his old Master.

  I wanted to use the loo and wash my face and hands if I could. Elise kept well out of my way, and I felt sad. I hadn’t managed to sort out our differences as I had with all the others.

  I went into the shop as I knew there was a staff toilet set in a recess behind the counter. The petrol station’s two public toilets had a queue of men, women and children waiting to use them.

  Private Bryson nodded at me as he took Karma back outside and I went into the toilet, used it and my bladder thanked me for a much needed kindness.

  When I stood up and started to drag up my trousers I felt something hard pressing against my thigh in the right pocket. I pulled my trousers up fastened them and then pressed the pocket with the palm of my hand.

  “What?” I muttered and I felt the shape of it through the thick cloth before pushing my fingers into the recess and touched something cold and metal.

  I had to scrabble around as it had wedged itself into the still wet lining but finally I managed to get my fingers into a loop and I pulled, carefully and slowly.

  Released from its cloth prison it unfurled I let out a little cry as the silver chain and its pendant spun in front of my face. Silver moulded over polished amber, attached to a heavy chain with a faulty clasp, and I knew what it was at once and the pain of her loss rushed through me.

  Adag’s chain and pendant! My head began to spin and I had to sit down on the toilet again.

  “Adag!” I heard myself say out loud. I gripped the chain so tightly it bit into my flesh.

  How had it ended up in my trouser pocket? Had I picked it up whilst at the home and forgotten about it? No, she had it on her the last time I saw her. I was confused.

  I got up and left the washroom. Outside Mitch was filling the coach with diesel, he was talking to Jasper and Rodriquez. People were still waiting to use the toilets, the children were running about, but were not far from Jasmine and Peters.

  Kai was with Cassidy and Stevie; Cassidy was showing Kai the games he had picked up from the supermarket.

  Private Bryson was with Phoenix, Gabe and the dogs, I saw Wolf walking to the van where Nat was waiting for him, Eden was preparing an injection, it was obvious Nat had instructed her what to do. She was concentrating hard,

  The back doors of the van parked behind the coach was open and Zimmerman was sitting upright on the back of it, his ankle was heavily bandaged but I could see spots of blood leaking through. That was not good. He was ashen faced, and the atmosphere around him, well let’s say the cliché “you could cut it with a knife” was not far wrong.

  Rachel was talking to Wolf and Nat, she seemed to be pleading, Wolf was shaking his head, his expression grim.

  Private Chang was standing guard by the van with Private Reece because to my surprise Duke was sitting up, next to Zimmerman. He looked like shit, worse than Zimmerman. His head was partly bandaged, his left eye covered with thick white gauze.

  His mouth was swollen and mangled, his cheek still had a partial imprint of Bryson’s boot on it. His wrists and ankles were tightly plastic cuffed.

  Gripping Adag’s chain in my hand I made a point of staying on his blind side. I wasn’t afraid of him; I just didn’t ever want to speak to him again.

  Bubba was standing on a grass verge. He had his head turned up toward the sun, his arms by his side, feeling the soft warm rays on his face, appreciating what time he had left on earth as a human.

  The urge to run was welling up inside of me again, the urge to be alone to cry on my own, I needed space, I needed a place to breathe.

  I pressed my face on the side of the coach furthest away from the petrol tank, I wanted to be sick, I wanted to scream, I wanted to curl myself up in a ball once more and loose myself in my grief.

  For the moment no eyes were on me, and I found myself heading for the back of the Service Station, well away from the toilets to an area that had a large automatic car cleaning machine with another machine nearby to check vehicle tire pressure and also get water.

  Seb was there, using the hose to clean his mud caked tires. It was a jet spray and he was doing a good job. He looked up and saw me. He was a resilient young man, I hoped I could learn to be as resilient.

  “Hey Lady of Shadows,” he said when he saw me and he smiled, I tried to smile back but I couldn’t.

  “What’s up?” he said sharply for he saw the expression on my face and I swallowed hard. I stood in front of him and held out the chain to him.

  “What’s this?” he said and he took it out of my hand and spread it over his palm.

  “Adag,” I whispered, I was frantically swallowing the three thousand golf balls jammed inside of my throat, “She must have put it in my pocket when she hugged me before we headed for Ashby Ridge...” It came to me how the chain had got into my pocket. It was her way of connecting me to my real father’s past, to her past and the heritage of our shared ancestry.

  Seb went still, he stared at it, I desperately waited for him to tell me I was being stupid and to pull myself together but he didn’t.

  “Oh Jesus Christ,” he said and his next action broke me. He reached out, physically, for the first time, and he pulled me into his arms and onto his lap and wheelchair where he held me tightly, his face close to mine, his breath comforting against my skin.

  He held me so tightly, saying nothing, just holding me, his arms wrapped around me as tears flowed, once more like the river we had been swept down not so long ago. I cried and cried, unable to stop and he just held me, saying nothing, waiting for me to calm down.

  “I don’t want to be here right now Seb,” I cried into his neck finally, “My old life was shit, but this one, this new one, oh God, it scares me, does it scare you?”

  “Yeah, it
does,” he said and he wiped my face with his hands and when I looked up at him, I saw his face was wet with tears too.

  “I never hated her you know, Adag, but I couldn’t tell her that, I wish I could have told her, shit, I wish I could have told her…”

  “So many things we should say to people we love,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Seb smiled down at me and I reached up and wiped his face.

  “I’m so sorry about Elise,” I said when the hurt inside me began to ease. I wiggled myself so that I was sitting in the chair with him rather than on his lap, it had a big seat and Seb obligingly moved his body to allow me curl up under his arm and I put the chain and pendant into my borrowed jacket pocket.

  He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t blame her, I mean it just happened, we were elated, we had survived being eaten alive by a horde of Twice Dead, things got out of hand, we shouldn’t have…” his voice trailed off, “I really liked her, I didn’t tell her, I couldn’t, I mean why the hell should she want to give me the time of day? Shagging me, well, it happens all the time, doesn’t it? It doesn’t have to mean anything, but I felt for a moment…you know like it meant something.” He swallowed hard and I rested my head on his shoulder.

  “She’s as mad as hell at me.” I said with a sigh.

  “Why?”

  I told him.

  “You outrank her? You told her…Oh Fuck…”

  “I hated doing it, now she hates me, I really like her, I’ve never had a real girl as a friend before, I mean Eden has become a friend, but Elise, she was kind of special, I thought she understood me,” I sighed, “Actually Seb, I outrank you as well,” I made a face, “I hate the idea of us having to be like bloody soldiers, I mean there is no one as un-soldier than you and me. If we weren’t living in a Twice Dead world, it would be the funniest thing since Donald Trump’s hairpiece and Nigel Farage’s claim he isn’t racist!

  “It’s the only way we will survive; Wolf’s right you know, we have to work togeth…shit you outrank me?”

  Despite my misery and sorrow, I giggled, and Seb then laughed, he wasn’t upset, thank God, “Great, not only does the woman I love hate me as much as she hates you, but you get to order me about, can it get any fucking worse?”

  I thought of Wolf who I had grown to love without realising it, he bought the best and worst out in me. I think Elise had done that with Seb, she didn’t know what she was going to miss. It was her loss.

  “Let’s go!” I said suddenly to Seb.

  Seb frowned at my words, and I added, “Let’s do it, the way you did with Elise, in this chair when you were both running from the Twice Dead.”

  His eyes widened, “How the hell do you know about that…” he began and I reached and touched the GoPro above us.

  “It recorded everything, everything.” I repeated.

  His mouth dropped open and I grinned at him, “Let’s leave, break the sound barrier!”

  Seb’s eyes lit up, he had I had begun to realise quite a similar warped sense of humour to my own, “Fuck, yes!” he said and he slammed his hand onto joystick control and I heard a loud beep but before we could move, there was a sudden blur of movement to my left, and his hand was yanked away from the control.

  “Don’t you fucking dare!”

  It was Elise. She grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the seat, I stumbled, she didn’t let me fall, I started to swear at her and then my ears were ringing as she slapped my face. Hard. Tears of shock and pain filled my eyes.

  “Elise!” Seb shouted, and he tried to grab her arm but she moved out of his reach, dragging me with her.

  “That is for pushing me over,” she said as my hand went to my cheek, I now knew how Kai felt when I slapped his face, I’d never do that again, if I had cause to slap him in the future, it would not be anywhere near his face.

  Seb swung his chair forward, he was furious, I wasn’t, in fact I was actually relieved that Elise had lost it, best to get it out of her system now, it would make it easier for us to tolerate each other once we were back at Thorncroft.

  “What’s your problem?” he shouted at Elise who let go of my arm and I staggered back and tried to orientate myself. Elise swiftly turned on Seb.

  “Are you trying to get killed? “she roared at him, “That chair needs an overhaul big time! And you want to take off like you did before, it’s not meant for two people, you risked your fucking life once before doing that, well it’s not going to happen again Mister!”

  “It’s my chair!” Seb roared back, “I’ll do what the hell I want with it!” and to prove his point, he slammed his hand over the “ON” button. The beep was loud, a bit like his defiance.

  “Really?” Elise screamed, and she was moving forward toward him at speed, “That is so not going to happen you vanilla bastard!”

  I didn’t expect Elise to haul Seb out of his chair, I don’t think he expected that either, but she did just that, she grabbed his coat lapels, and hauled him up, like me he has leg braces but he can’t walk in them because of his spinal injury but he can hold himself up if there is something to hold onto, but not for long.

  I let out a shout of fear, for Seb, but Elise knew what she was doing, she swung him around and seconds later they were both on their asses on the thick grass verge behind the water jet machine, with Elise practically straddling Seb.

  Seb was swearing, he pushed against Elise’s shoulders calling her a fucking bitch and cow, he had good upper body strength and she was hard pressed to hold him down on the verge. She caught hold of his jaw with her hand, and yelled into his face, “You are one fucking stupid dick!”

  I was about to lunge forward to grab hold of Elise and pull her off Seb, but something told me not to interfere.

  “What does that make you then?” Seb wrenched his jaw from out of her hand and thrust both his free hands into the front of her open jacket to shove her off him.

  He was so angry, there was spit on his chin, his nose was bleeding slightly and he was breathing heavily, as heavily as she was, and then he went still, and a brief look of wonderment cross his face, he looked up at her, and said slowly, “Vanilla bastard?”

  For some reason I felt a giggle rise up in me. Vanilla bastard. That was a good one, I’d have to remember it.

  Elise glared down at him and I watched his hands move, as if to pull them away from her and I heard suck in her breath, hard, and Seb began to smile at that moment, he didn’t move his hands and the rage in his face died away.

  “Don’t,” she said quickly, almost pleadingly and he seemed to understand her discomfort, because he nodded his head and he moved one of his hands from inside her jacket and then put it around her back and gently drew her to him. She didn’t resist.

  “Are you both OK?” I said tentatively from where I was standing. I was now confused. I glanced behind me, no one had come running but we were well away from the Petrol Station and it was noisy on the concourse with screaming children and barking dogs.

  “Promise me you won’t leave,” Elise said to him, “Either of you.”

  Leave? What was she on about?

  It took both of us a moment or two to understand what she was saying.

  “Elise you idiot,” Seb said and he laughed in amusement, “We weren’t going to leave, how bloody far do you think we would get before Wolf hauled our asses back here?

  “Oh thank God,” the relief in her voice surprised me.

  “You hit me,” I said and winced as I touched my tender cheek.

  Elise turned to look at me, her face was a bit flushed, I thought, “We’re even now,” she said and that was fair comment.

  Seb looked at her quizzically and then he said, “You heard us talking just now, didn’t you?”

  “I better get you back in your chair,” Elise muttered but Seb wouldn’t let her move from where she was, which was partly on the grass verge and partly on him.

  “Didn’t you?” he repeated gently.

  “Yes,” she snapped and she shivered, her eyes wid
ened and she shook her head at him.

  “Where were you?” I asked curiously.

  “Behind the car wash machine,” she said reluctantly.

  “You were worried about Seb,” I said, understanding at that moment why she had been where she was, “You followed him to make sure he was OK.”

  “Don’t be stupid, of course I didn’t…yes…yes, I did, OK, I was worried about him, don’t you want to get into your chair now Seb?” she sounded desperate and then it dawned on me why.

  Seb caught my eye, he was grinning, over her shoulder at me, he knew I knew. My lips twitched but I didn’t say anything as I didn’t want to cause her any more embarrassment, instead I said, “I better get back to the coach, Bryson will have my ass otherwise.”

  I started to walk away and Elise called out, “Lucia!”

  I turned to look at her, on the verge with Seb who had his hand in the small of her back.

  “Yes?”

  “I am your friend,” she said, she licked her lips, “I never stopped liking you just because I was piss mad at you and yes, I was jealous and resentful too, I mean, he gave you a rank over me!”.

  “I know,” I said and then I added, “You better go to the bathroom, there’s one in the shop behind the counter you can use.”

  “I don’t need the bathroom,” Elise said or rather she squeaked it out, “Seb, stop it...oh God…”

  “You really do,” I replied as I walked away, “You really do.”

  Bryson had just started to look for me and I waved to him as he strode toward me, “Went to find Seb,” I said. I scratched behind Karma’s ears as the young dog bounded up to me, “He’s cleaning his wheelchair tires, something about half the mud of the Downs being stuck to them and him.”

  The twenty-minute stop took just over two hours, but Wolf was OK about this because the keys to the large eight seater people carrier parked in a bay at the side of the station had been found and Mitch was helping load things from the coach into it in order to give everyone more room.