Savage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel

by Wright, Iain Rob

  There was some hustle and bustle up ahead and Hugo looked across at the ship’s big equipment hanger. There was a man coming out, stomping about angrily, while other men hurriedly moved aside. Hugo knew at once who the angry man was. The Roman.

  Hugo had heard many tales about the man named Roman. The other sailors said he had received the nickname because of the spear and sword he carried; while others said that he was an Italian known for his cruelty and arrogance. Some people even said he’d survived a zombie bite by cutting off his infected hand. One thing that Hugo knew for sure was that the man spoke directly with the captain. I could give my report to the Roman. He will see that it reaches the captain’s ears.

  So long as he doesn’t just swat me aside like a fly. I hear he is a very unfriendly man.

  Hugo swallowed and set off towards Roman. The man had headed starboard and was leant over the edge, staring out towards the distant pier.

  “Erm…excuse me, monsieur.” Damn it. Hugo’s French crept back in when he was nervous. Roman didn’t acknowledge him, just kept his gaze on the distant pier. “I-I am sorry to interrupt your thinking, but I need a man who will listen to me.”

  “That’s not me,” Roman said. He spoke in a tone that should have been enough to frighten Hugo away, but Hugo wanted to get back to his daughters, and he could not do that until someone heeded his words.

  “I must report a crime. You are the mighty Roman, yes? You are the captain’s good man, no?”

  Roman turned and snarled at Hugo. The sword on his belt suddenly looked very heavy. And sharp! “I am nobody’s man,” he growled. “I do as I wish and the captain does as he wishes. Do not combine my actions with his.”

  Hugo took a step back, but did not retreat. “My apologies, monsieur.” Damn it. “I must report a crime.”

  “Tell it to somebody else.”

  “A murder. A body dumped in the sea.”

  At last the man seemed interested. He turned around and gave his full attention. Hugo had been right to seek out him out. Roman was one of the captain’s men, and despite his rude demeanour, he was obligated to heed reports of serious crimes. “What are you talking about?” he said. “What body?”

  “Out at sea, this dawn passed. I saw a yacht returning from the pier. There were two men, but one went overboard, I believe already dead.”

  Roman shrugged as if he was unconvinced. But at least he is listening. “How do you know it was a body being dumped?”

  Hugo couldn’t help but laugh. “We live in a world seized by the dead, and you ask me how I know a body when I see one. I know death well, as do we all. The man on the yacht was sinking a body beneath the ocean, this I saw.”

  Roman glanced back out at the pier and dropped his head so that his chin hung against his chest. When he spoke again, he spoke sadly. “If you know death so well, then you should understand it has no meaning anymore. One corpse is literally a drop in the ocean. It’s not worth noticing, let alone reporting. I suggest you go back to your boat, old man, and concentrate on not joining the dead yourself. Count yourself lucky to be alive.”

  Was that a threat?

  “Monsieur, if we start ignoring murder then this was all for nothing. Even those of us lucky enough to be alive are in fact truly dead. We are human beings and we must care about each other if we have any chance of truly being alive. We must be as one.”

  Roman laughed. For a moment he almost seemed to drop his defences. A slim smile appeared on his face, but it quickly faded away, replaced by a hard, impassive stare. “Go back to your boat, and stop telling tales. It’s likely to get you killed.”

  A threat indeed.

  Hugo nodded. He had told the closest person he could find to the captain, and still his words were disregarded. I have done all I can. Now I must return to my daughters and think on this. Things are not as I believed them to be. There is no law and order here. The men and women here are empty.

  “Thank you for your time, monsieur.” Hugo left Roman at the gunwale and headed back towards the rigging, which would lead him back down to his yacht. His daughters had been alone far too long already. He felt naked without them by his side. I even miss my little Houdini. I hope he’s been looking after them and not leaving foul messes everywhere.

  “Excuse me.”

  Hugo turned around to see a tall blonde officer striding towards him. He smiled wearily at the man. “Yes, can I help you?”

  “Perhaps. I am Petty Officer Dunn. I’ve noticed you came aboard some hours ago. Was there something you needed help with? I saw you talking to Roman.”

  Hugo nodded. “Yes, a most unhelpful man, I am afraid.”

  The officer laughed. “You’re not wrong. What was it you were looking for help with?”

  “I wanted to report a crime, a murder. Although Roman told me not to speak of such things any longer.”

  Dunn shook his head and pouted. “How very wrong of him. Come, would you like a cup of tea? You can give your report to me. It sounds very serious and I would most like to hear it. A murder, you say? Heaven’s above.”

  Hugo smiled and sighed a breath of relief. Finally, someone was willing to take him seriously. “I would love a cup of tea,” he said. “Please, lead the way.”

  Officer Dunn gave Hugo a warm smile and did just that. They sat and drank hot tea while the officer took careful notes of everything Hugo was saying.

  POPPY

  Poppy wished Garfield was home more than ever. She felt guilty over what had happened. It was all her fault. She shouldn’t have gone with Birch in the night. She should’ve known better. Garfield had given her magazines to teach her how to be a grown-up woman, but it was obvious now that she was still just a kid – and part of her was glad about it. She didn’t understand grown-ups yet. Their constant fighting and shouting scared her. If that was what adults did, she would stay a child for as long as possible.

  “We’re going to have dinner in an hour,” Anna called up to her. Poppy had been sitting on the roof of the Sea Grill restaurant for the last few hours, once again watching the horizon for Garfield’s return. It would probably be several more days, but Poppy intended to sit on the rooftops until she spotted him upon the edge of the village. He might not love me, but I love him. I need to tell him how sorry I am for all the trouble I caused. She was passing the time by drawing. She could often get lost amidst her pencils and crayons, stroking and shading the images in her mind until they came to life on the page.

  “Did you hear me?” Anna shouted up again. Alistair was beside her. His face was bloated and purple where bad Mr Birch had beaten him up. Both of them were wearing thick winter coats, but Poppy had not noticed how cold it had gotten.

  “I heard you,” said Poppy. “Can I stay here for a little while longer?”

  Anna sighed. “It’s getting dark and I don’t want you hanging around on your own. We need to stick together after what happened last night. First thing tomorrow morning we’re all going to make a plan, but right now we need to look after each other.”

  Poppy nodded. She didn’t want to be alone, and neither did she want to disobey Anna after what had happened. She and Alistair had fought to protect her and both were battered and bruised as a result. Poppy felt an awful feeling in her tummy when she thought about how she was responsible. “I…I just want to wait for Garfield, but…I’ll come.”

  “No,” said Alistair. “You stay there, Poppy. I’ll come and sit with you while dinner cooks.”

  Anna looked at Alistair. “You sure? How on Earth do you plan on getting up there?”

  “I’ll find a way. You go get yourself in the warm, Anna, I’ll bring the urchin along later.”

  Anna patted Alistair on the back and smiled. “Okay, I have to check on Tim first, anyway. His bandages need changing. Don’t be too long.” She looked up at Poppy on the roof. “And you behave up there, Poppy.”

  Poppy nodded.

  After Anna had left, Alistair put his hands on his hips and stared up at the roof, clucking his ton
gue. “Now, how the hell do I get my fat arse up there, huh?”

  Poppy giggled. “There’s a big metal bin around the back. I climb up on there.”

  Alistair nodded. “Right-o. I’ll be up in a jiffy.”

  Poppy sat and waited while Alistair disappeared behind the Sea Grill. A few moments passed and then she could hear his huffs and puffs as he climbed up on top of the bin.

  “Do you need help?” she called out.

  There was another huff and a puff and Alistair’s head appeared above the roof. His cheeks had gone bright red. Poppy went over and offered him her hand. Together they managed to get his bulk up onto the roof. The wooden timbers creaked, but they held.

  “Getting down is harder,” she said.

  Alistair keeled over. “Christ. I may just have to live up here, then.”

  “Thanks for keeping me company.”

  Alistair ruffled her hair and sat down on the rooftop. “You’re very welcome. Can’t leave you to mope around up here on your own.”

  Poppy sat down beside him and began gathering up her pencils and crayons. “I’m sorry I caused trouble.”

  “Don’t you go apologising for what those men did. You did nothing wrong.”

  “Doesn’t feel that way.”

  Alistair smiled at her. “That’s because good people feel guilty about bad men’s sins. It’s good that you’re sorry about the things that happened, but don’t you go blaming yourself. We’re a family here and we look after each other. I don’t think we really realised it until last night. I guess I was so wrapped up in surviving, that I forgot to take a step back and realise how lucky we all are to have each other.”

  “You’re usually so mean to me.”

  Alistair sighed and shrugged at her. “Tell you the truth, I’m not very good with kids. I suppose I always saw them as useless. What happened last night made me realise how precious you are, though. There’s nothing wrong with being a kid. I’m sorry I didn’t realise it sooner.”

  “You and Anna stuck up for me.”

  “We stuck up for our little girl, and we’d do it again. Don’t you worry about ever being alone, because you have us and we have you.”

  “I miss Garfield.”

  Alistair nodded and stared out at the horizon. “I know you do, lass. I miss him, too.”

  Poppy was surprised. “You miss Garfield?”

  “You’re not the only one who gets on with him, you know. He’s as much a part of the group as anyone else. I play cards with Garfield most nights when he’s back, while you’re sleeping.”

  “I…I didn’t know.”

  Alistair chuckled and slapped her on the back. It hurt her a little bit. “That’s because you think Garfield belongs to you. He doesn’t. He wants you to grow up and be your own person. You’re a part of this entire group. We all love you in our own way.”

  Poppy nodded. “I don’t think I want to grow up anymore.”

  “None of us do. You have some time yet, though. What’s that you have?”

  Poppy looked down to see what he was talking about. When she saw her drawing spread out on the roof, she quickly snatched it up and blushed. “It’s not finished.”

  Alistair grinned. “Don’t be shy, lass. We all know you’re handy with a pencil. Let me see what you’ve drawn.”

  Poppy rumpled the drawing in her hands, but slowly straightened it out and showed Alistair. He smiled as he examined it. “It’s-”

  “I can see what it is,” he said. “It’s beautiful. You really do have quite the talent, young lady. One day you’ll be famous.”

  Poppy blushed and folded the picture away in the breast pocket of her cardigan. The she shuffled around to face the other way, towards the sea. It was growing dark, but the big grey boat illuminated the horizon with a hundred blinking lights. Lots of smaller ships twinkled all around it. “Do you think they’re going to come back?”

  “I’d say so. We still have their man.”

  “Why don’t we just hand Tim over to them? We only just met him and he’s making people come after us.”

  “That’s not how we do things, Poppy. Anna and Rene want to ask Tim some more questions about the man in the big ship first.”

  “He’s a bad man?”

  “Might just be the worst.”

  “Even more reason to give him what he wants.”

  “We do that, sweetheart, and we might as well walk into the sea. We can’t give in to threats and violence. Garfield has gone away to find guns so that we don’t have to. We’re not going to give Tim up, it would be wrong, but he’s decided to go on his own. It was his choice. He wants to do what’s right. We will do what is right, too, because that’s what’s…right.”

  “Garfield told me that people used to be bad a lot in the old days. I remember my old house used to have an alarm that my dad would set every night because of bad people.”

  Alistair rubbed a hand over his thigh and nodded. “There have always been bad people, Poppy. That’s why we need to look after each other, and why we won’t bend to people who threaten us. We do it once and we’ll forever be in danger. Bullies prey on the weak. We will never be weak.”

  “Those men last night scared me. I don’t want to see any more of them. I want Garfield and the others to come back.”

  Alistair wrapped his arm around her. “Garfield will come back soon. That man loves you too much to be gone for long.”

  Poppy glanced at Alistair. “He loves me?”

  “Of course he does. He’d die for you, you silly thing.”

  Poppy smiled. “He’s never told me that he loves me.”

  “People find it hard to say what they feel. Take me, for instance, I shouted and raved at Garfield when he was taking half the camp with him on his foraging expedition, but my real concern was that I just didn’t want them all to leave. They’ll be back soon. Then Garfield will give you a great big hug and give you presents.”

  Poppy grinned. “I hope so. That would be nice.” She peered out at the sea. The big boat was moving. “Hey…look.”

  Alistair placed a hand over his eyes and squinted. “What?”

  “Something’s moving. See?”

  On the side of the big grey boat, a big piece of metal started to move. It was like a big long pipe pointing at the sky. Slowly it lowered so that it was pointed directly towards the pier. What’s it doing?

  There was a sudden explosion and several little puffs of fire burst out the end of the big long pipe. Bam bam bam bam bam….

  Poppy grinned wide. It looks like fireworks.

  GARFIELD

  A gathering of crows took flight. The carcass on the road looked like it had belonged to a fox, but it was difficult to tell for sure in the glaring headlights. Animals didn’t concern the dead, and as a result there were more foxes, badgers, and rats than ever before. They made good eating if you could catch them, but they’d become increasingly brave in the new world and quite often carried disease. A light scratch from a feral cat could fester and rot. It was easier to forage than to hunt.

  Garfield studied the picture Poppy had drawn for him. It was impressively realistic; every time he looked at it he noticed additional details. In addition to the family of moorhens in the foreground, there were fireflies hovering above the pond and a stalk wading in the background. Just like Poppy had hoped, it cheered him up looking at it. She’s such a sweet thing. I really hate being away from her so long. I wonder what she’s up to.

  Garfield missed Poppy and the pier. It was the longest he’d ever been away since they’d first come upon it. The further away he got from it, the worse things seem to get.

  Things amongst the foragers were tense after two-and-a-half days on the road. They had stuck to the fields and farmland, which meant the scenery was bland and samey. The many hours of travelling had left them weary, depressed, and irritable. Danny and Squirrel dying three hours ago had just made things worse. Those careless fools.

  Danny and Squirrel had been at the pier since the beginning, ha
ving originally discovered the place with Alistair, Anna, and a few others who’d stumbled upon each other on the south coast. The two young men were well liked and brave, an important part of the group. Garfield hated to say it, but they were also stupid.

  Squirrel had been a dope smoking benefit-seeker in the old days, and his ambitions became no greater once the world had ended. Squirrel was happy to take orders when necessary, but would slack off the rest of the time. He barely even managed to wash without being told to. When Squirrel wasn’t being directed, he was a liability. Danny had been much the same, a shop worker back in his old life. Now both of them were dead.

  Kirk had been driving the minivan through another field when they’d come upon an old village pub. The Tudor-style building was on it’s own, set off from two intersecting roads. Its name was The Jubilee and it was deserted. There were no cars parked outside, as if it’d been closed when the infection hit. Nightfall was only an hour away, so Garfield had agreed the pub would make a good campsite for the evening. Kirk pulled the minivan over and set it outside the front doors. Pubs often had a cellar full of soft drinks and long-life snacks such as crisps and pork scratchings, but Garfield knew what the other men were truly excited about.

  I should have had Kirk turn around right then.

  Garfield had no problem with alcohol. It was something he avoided on the road, but it was nice to have a swig back at the pier when the opportunity presented itself. It was an undeniable luxury to get rat-arsed nowadays, one of the only things unanimously missed. But drinking in the field was dangerous. They’d lost a man named Barry because of it. He’d been legless on Brandy when he stumbled down the long escalators of an abandoned supermarket. His leg broke and he screamed like a trapped piglet. The dead had come quickly, attracted to the noise. With his broken leg, the other foragers had no choice but to leave Barry to his fate. There had been little sympathy for drunkenness in the field ever since. Still hasn’t stopped us losing people, though. Maybe I’m not cut out for this.