Harper laughed, feeling just the slightest bit lighter. “Come on, boy,” she said, as they began to weave their way down the road once more. But the dog stayed by the van, a dark silhouette on the lonely road.
“Come on,” called Harper once more.
The dog didn’t move.
“What are we going to do?” asked Sara. She glanced at the beacons of lights ahead. “We really need to keep moving.”
Harper and Joe locked eyes. He didn’t want to leave the dog either. “One minute,” Harper said. She hurried back to the dog and stroked his head affectionately. “Come on, boy,” she said, patting her thigh with her hand. “Come on.” She walked back to the others, but the dog remained where he was.
“We might need to just leave him,” said Sara.
“We can’t just leave him. He’ll die,” replied Harper. “I’ll try one more time.”
She crossed back to the dog and bent down low, so her face was nearly touching the dog’s face. In the pale light of the moon she could make out a tattered leather collar and a small silver disk suspended by a ring. She reached under the dog’s head and twisted the collar toward herself. In the low light, she could just make out the engraving on the disk: Erik.
“Come on, Erik,” she said softly. “You’ll die if you stay here. There’s no one left to look after you. I know the people you love are probably in there and you don’t want to leave them. You’re a good, loyal dog. But please come with us. Come on, boy.”
Harper took a step away from the dog and patted her leg again. “Good boy.”
The dog came toward her and put his nose into her hand, before turning back to the car. “I can’t save them,” said Harper, her throat once more filled with razor wire.
“Come now, Harper,” said Joe. “We’ve done what we can.”
Harper shrugged, feeling a tightness in her chest, and turned and started toward the others. The dog’s bark was loud and deep and startled Harper. Her nerves were frayed and when the dog continued to bark, breaking open the silence that had settled over the city, she felt an overwhelming urge to quieten him. Someone will hear him. Someone bad.
“Harper,” said Joe, but she was already walking back to the dog. When she got to the van, the dog leaped up and put his paws on the boot, barking like mad. Harper put her hand on the dog’s head and he stopped barking. She noticed his tail wagging and his nose pointing deep into the van.
Harper ducked her head under the rear door and peered into the van, trying to make sense of the objects inside. She pulled out her phone and tapped the screen. The light turned on, illuminating the small space. The first thing she noticed was a bag of children’s sports equipment. There was a soccer ball and a small hockey stick. She moved the light around the space and a lumpy red and white striped blanket caught her eye. As she looked at it, it shifted almost imperceptibly.
Harper dropped the phone and let out a shriek. It landed screen-side down and the white light lit up the small space. She could hear the others running toward her. The blanket shifted again, and whatever was inside pulled the blanket tightly around itself.
Joe was next to her, his expression determined, the baseball bat held out ready to strike. But Harper raised her hand and placed it on the smooth, worn wood, lowering the bat. “I think it’s a kid,” she whispered. “Look how small they are.”
Harper dropped her backpack and leaned deeper into the van. She brushed the blanket gently with her hand and the child stiffened. “Hey there, you’re okay,” she said softly. She lifted the blanket and saw a shock of dark hair.
Erik let out a soft bark, and Harper heard quiet sobbing coming from inside the blanket. She reached in and wrapped her arms around the child, blanket and all. Then she lifted them gently from the van and carried them out on to the road, where she placed them on the ground. She crouched down next to the red and white striped pile.
Erik came bounding over and shoved his nose into the blanket. The child continued to sob and Harper felt fresh tears falling from her eyes, a desolate, aching feeling in her chest. The grief at their situations came in waves, the intensity of it all completely consuming. She wiped her face and realized Sara and Joe had also dropped to the ground.
Harper peeled back the blanket, murmuring gentle words. A small face with wide, brown eyes looked back at her. Erik jumped on the boy and he wrapped his arms around the dog, burying his face on the dog’s tan back.
“Do you speak English?” asked Harper. She could feel Joe’s hand on her back and it steadied her. The child nodded and ducked his head.
“What’s your name?” asked Joe, his voice low and soothing.
“Tomas,” said the boy. His eyes filled with tears and he began to sob once more. “My parents are dead,” he said in heavily accented English. “Everyone is dead.”
“You’ll be okay, we’re with you now. I promise we’ll look after you,” said Harper, her voice heavy with emotion for everything the small boy had lost. She wanted to wrap her arms around him. She knew trauma, she knew what it was like to be trapped alone in a small, dark space. Slowly, she inched toward him until she could reach her arm around his shoulder, which she did. Erik was squeezed happily between them, his floppy ears flicking and tickling her cheek.
“We’re going to take you with us, Tomas,” said Harper. “We’re going to take you and Erik somewhere safe.”
“Someone might come for me,” he said in a voice scarcely above a whisper. “They might try to find me, but I will be gone.”
Harper exchanged a hopeless look with Sara. She didn’t want to have to tell the boy that there was no one left to come for him. “Come with us for now,” said Joe. “Your dog will be with you. We’ll look after you. Here, let me help you up.” Joe held out his hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, the boy put his small hand in Joe’s and stood up.
The boy was no older than six and wearing a baggy t-shirt and shorts. His thin arms and legs reminded Harper of a deer. He had the same scared look in his eyes too, as though he might bolt at any moment.
“We’ll look after you, Tomas,” said Harper. “I promise. We’ll get you out of here and somewhere safe.”
They picked up their backpacks, Harper retrieved her phone, and they began to walk—more slowly this time—with the boy and dog by their side. On their left was a concrete retaining wall topped by a high fence; trees whispered over the top, struggling through the gaps. On their right were dark apartment blocks set back from the road. Joe kept hold of the boy’s hand and chatted to him softly about football, trying to distract him from the bodies strewn in cars and across the road, and the hazy smoke that wafted from behind them.
Despite Joe’s best efforts, Harper could see the boy’s eyes flicking from car to car, taking in the people with frozen, pained expressions on their faces. “What happened to everyone?” he asked as they neared the section of the city that still had power.
“It looks like some kind of sickness,” said Sara. “We don’t know what’s going on. But there are people outside of Bratislava who are fine. We are going to walk past these busy streets and then take a car to the Czech border where there are people who can help us; people who aren’t sick.”
The boy walked in silence for a few moments, digesting Sara’s words. Erik padded along happily beside him. The boy inhaled sharply and then his words tumbled out, one over the other. “My brothers died first. Then my mother died. My father was the last to die and he held my hand and told me it would be okay. But then he was gone and it was just me and Erik, so we hid under the blanket. Then you found me.” His voice cracked and he sounded as though he was struggling to take a breath.
Harper stopped—they were almost to the working street lamps now, only a few feet from the first orange circle cast on the ground—and bent down to look at the boy’s face. “I’m so sorry, Tomas,” she whispered. The weight of Wolf’s loss came crashing down on her. “Let’s be brave together, okay?” She could barely get the words out. Tomas’ round, brown eyes were sorrowfu
l, but he nodded.
When they started to walk again, Tomas held Harper’s hand on one side and Joe’s on the other. The little hand in her own felt precious beyond measure, and Harper held it with care. Erik trotted ahead, turning his head every so often to check on his small owner.
“There’s a footbridge up ahead,” said Sara, “And then more low-rise apartment blocks. Harper, can you check our location again?”
Harper pulled her phone from her pocket. Her back was aching and she lifted her shoulders and rolled them. The strap of her heavy rucksack was uncomfortable and beginning to dig into her. She reluctantly let go of the boy’s hand—pausing to smile at him before she did so—then tapped her screen. It was unresponsive.
“It’s dead,” she told the others with a growing sense of unease, showing them the screen.
Sara grimaced. “We don’t want to get lost right now.
“I’m sure this is the right way,” replied Harper.
Joe rested the end of his baseball bat on the ground. “We can’t afford to take a wrong turn. Do either of you have a map?”
“Not of Bratislava,” said Harper. “We never planned to spend much time here.”
“I don’t have one, either,” replied Sara. Her frown deepened.
“We could search the cars, see if anyone has a street map,” suggested Joe.
Harper caught Joe’s eye and looked meaningfully at Tomas. “How about Tomas and I sit on the grass in the middle of the road and have a small snack, while you both take a look.” She didn’t want the boy getting any closer to the bodies than he had to. Joe nodded.
Harper sat down on the grassy verge and patted the ground next to her. Erik came bounding over and jumped into her lap, licking her face. She pushed him away gently, the beginnings of a smile on her lips. Tomas came and sat down next to her. Following his master’s lead, Erik flopped to the ground and placed his head on the boy’s lap, his big eyes shiny under the glow of the streetlamps.
“How old are you, Tomas?” asked Harper, handing him a chocolate bar.
“Five,” he replied. He bit into the chocolate and then quickly finished it. Harper offered him another, as well as a bottle of water. Erik followed the movement of the food closely, and Harper dug in her backpack for a packet of crisps which she opened and poured on the ground. The dog inhaled the food and went back to watching Tomas eat.
“Hold your hands out like a cup,” said Harper to Tomas. She demonstrated how to cup her hands together, and he complied. She pushed his hands lower toward the dog before pouring a little water in. Erik lapped the water from Tomas’ hands, and the boy giggled.
From somewhere close by, an alarm fractured the silence. The smell of smoke was stronger now. It set Harper’s nerves on edge. But she ignored the sound and smell and focused on the boy. She could remember being young and alone and scared. She wanted to take his mind off the horrors all around them. “Have you always lived in Bratislava?”
“Yes, I have,” he said. He was staring across the road toward a green space opposite.
“Is your home close to here?”
“It is close. It is near the zoo.”
“That’s lucky,” replied Harper. “I bet you go to the zoo all the time. What’s your favorite animal?” The boy still wasn’t looking at her, his eyes on the green space. Harper glanced at the space but didn’t see anything.
“Do you think Erik wants to walk there?” she asked him.
“No. But there is a man and he is looking at us.”
Chapter Ten
Harper jumped to her feet, her heart hammering in her chest. “Where, Tomas?”
The little boy stood and pointed at a tree by the edge of the green space. “There he is.” Tomas raised one arm and waved. The man stepped out of the deep shadow cast by an oak tree and began to walk toward them slowly.
“Joe, Sara,” said Harper loudly. “Get over here, please.”
The man raised one hand in greeting as he moved into the circle of orange light cast by the closest street lamp. He was fair, attractive and looked about thirty. His hair was short on the sides of his head, longer on top and he had a sculpted beard. Harper sensed the others moving next to her and Joe raised the baseball bat.
“Dobrý deň,” called the man, both hands now raised, palms forward, by the sides of his face. His message was clear: I mean no harm. He walked around a body on the road and rounded an old blue sedan.
Erik barked as the man drew closer and Harper pulled Tomas behind her. She looked down and could see the boy’s face peering out from behind her back.
“Dobrý deň,” replied Joe, still holding the baseball bat. “Do you speak English?”
“Hello. Yes, I do,” said the man. “I am so glad to see you. I have been walking for an hour through the city, looking for a clear road to get out of here. I thought I was the only one left alive.”
Harper noticed Joe lower the baseball bat. He introduced everyone and the man nodded and smiled. When he looked at Harper, his eyes were clear and intelligent. She warmed to him immediately.
“I’m Lukas,” the man said, his accent instantly identifying him as a Slovak. He smiled at Tomas who was still hiding behind Harper. “Hi, little man. Is this your dog?” At Lukas’ words, Erik growled and flattened himself to the ground.
Lukas shrugged and turned back to the others. “So where are you heading? The plague has hit the city. I can’t even believe it. What the hell is going on?”
“We’ve spoken to people outside the quarantine zone, and they’ve told us we need to head up the highway to the Czech border near Kúty. There’s a quarantine-processing center there that we may be able to leave through.”
“Can I travel with you?”
Joe looked at Harper and Sara and they both nodded. “Yes, of course. Do you have a phone? We’re trying to find a road map so we can be sure we’re going the right way.”
“I do not have a phone, I dropped it in the panic to get out of the city once people started dying. But I know the way to Kúty, I can easily get us there.”
“Well, in that case we should get moving,” said Joe, the others agreeing.
Harper noticed Lukas looking warily at Erik. “It’s okay, he’s a good dog. He won’t bite you. He’s probably just unsure of you.”
“I do not really like dogs, anyway,” said Lukas with a shrug. “I will stay away from him if he stays away from me.”
Harper nodded but found herself petting Erik’s head protectively. “I want to charge my phone before we go,” Harper said to the others. “If something happens… you never know. I want to be able to contact our parents if we need to.”
“That makes sense,” said Sara. “Okay, let’s try to get into one of these buildings and we can charge our phones. It shouldn’t take us long to get out of the city from here, right?” she directed her question to Lukas.
He shook his head, “No, I imagine in a couple of kilometers the roads will be clearer and we will be able to get a vehicle out of here.”
Harper took Tomas’ hand and the small group crossed the road. They found themselves in front of a stark concrete apartment block set back thirty feet and ringed by a waist-high green fence. The building was two stories high with a red tile roof. Small windows punctuated the exterior. Bright lights burned in several windows.
“At least they have power,” said Joe. “Now let’s do this as quickly as we can. Five or ten minutes tops.”
Harper nodded and approached the front door. She tried the handle but it wouldn’t move and the door didn’t budge when she pushed on it. “It’s locked,” said Harper. “Maybe we should go around the back?”
“Excuse me,” said Lukas. Harper stepped aside and Lukas moved quickly to the door, raising his leg and kicking it with a solid black boot. There was a loud crack as his foot smashed into the door. Harper jumped and Erik began to bark. Lukas raised his leg once more and kicked again, a determined look on his face. There was a second crack and the door swung open.
In the
silence that followed, Harper heard Tomas crying. She dropped down and put her arm around the little boy. “It’s okay, buddy,” she said. “Lukas just needed to get the door open.” Tomas nodded but his eyes were red-ringed eyes and his breath hitched. She hesitated for a moment, then dropped her backpack and pulled him tight to her chest. The two of them stayed like that for a few moments.
Harper heard the others go inside, but she waited until Tomas had calmed before taking his hand, picking up her backpack, and following the others. Erik padded along silently by their side, his nose twitching.
Beyond the door, black-and-white tiles on the floor made a checkerboard pattern up the hallway. Old-fashioned, ornate glass light fittings were affixed to the yellowing walls. Up ahead, the closest door was open and Harper could hear the others talking in low voices from within the apartment.
She reached the door and saw Joe and Lukas pushing a chair with a man’s body in it toward the back of the apartment up a narrow hallway. She paused a moment with the boy until the chair was out of sight. Then they crossed the threshold and she closed the door behind them.
“There’s a socket there,” said Sara, indicating to a spare electrical socket on the kitchen bench. Sara had already retrieved her phone charger and was on all fours in the living room beside a lamp. She pulled out the lamp cord and plugged in her own, before inserting the other end into her phone. She did the same with Joe’s phone.
Harper took off her heavy rucksack and shrugged her shoulders a few times. She unzipped the bag and noticed Tomas watching her. “Hey, want to help me find my charger?”
He nodded shyly and helped her pull things from the rucksack until she found the thin white cable.
“Will you plug it in for me?”
Tomas stood on his tip-toes and pushed the charger into the socket. Harper pulled out Wolf’s phone first—her heart skipped a beat, but she managed to hold it together—then found her own and passed it to Tomas. She ran her finger over Wolf’s smudged screen and the razor wire in her throat was back. She turned to stare at the fridge so the boy wouldn’t see her face.
Death City: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure (Dark Resistance Book 1) Page 7
