'Use the guns,' I told them. 'No there's a horde not far away, we don't want to draw them to us,' Jade said worryingly. I killed another few of them, Delilah and Jensen had taken care of most of the normal walkers. I shot one of the strong ones, but my arrow bounced of it's head. Right, I thought, I need to get in close. I ran to Brooke, she needed help more than the others. I lunged for the strong one that was trying to get at her, I pinned it to the floor and shouted to Brooke to take it out. She grabbed the broom handle from the floor and rammed it into its head, luckily for me she was stronger than she looked. Tessa and Troy managed to deal with two of the strong ones, Jade had dealt with one while Jensen and Delilah had taken out the rest.
'Where the hell did they come from?' I asked tiredly.
'We were at the train station, they came from nowhere,' Jade replied wiping the blood off her face.
'Don't suppose, you got any fuel?' I wondered.
'Yeah, but not much though,' Brooke told me.
'Awesome, well we hit the mother lode on food,' I smiled.
Jensen and Delilah brought the bags to the others, the look of joy on their faces when they saw all the food we'd gotten.
'This is brilliant,' Troy said happily.
'Well done guys,' Brooke beamed.
'Come on, let's get the petrol in the cars, and get going,' Troy told us happily.
'We also got a load of camping gear too,' Jade chimed in.
'You mean like tents and stuff?' I asked.
'Yeah, tents, sleeping bags, stuff to keep us warm,' Tessa replied smiling.
'Awesome, we might actually make it back to the lab,' Delilah smiled. We separated the food and put some in each car, just in case anything went wrong. We filled up the cars as much as we could, it wouldn't get us all the way there but it would help. We piled into the cars, Jensen, Jade, Delilah and I in one car while Brooke, Tessa and Troy were in another. It was still freezing, and the snow was falling fast. I looked out the window, smiling at the beautiful scenery. As the hilltops became covered in snow, I felt my worries melt away. There was something relaxing about seeing the snow fall, before long there was no greenery to be seen. It was barely half way through January, I knew we still had another month or so of freezing weather. I just hoped that when Spring came, we had some good weather.
'I hope the snow lets up,' Delilah mumbled.
'I quite like it, it's pretty' I told her.
'You would think that,' Jensen joked.
'I can't help it if I like nature,' I replied defensively. 'It's just another thing I love about you,' he said kissing me.
'Aww, aren't you sweet,' I laughed.
Despite the dire state of things, all the losses we'd faced, we still laughed as we drove. No matter what tragedies befell us, we still had each other. As long as I had my family, I'd be alright.
'So, what are we planning to do once we get to the lab?' I asked.
'Finn said his mum had found a vaccine, but she needed to test it out on someone,' Jade replied.
'I'll do it,' Delilah offered.
'You sure? We don't know for sure if it'll work, and it could have unpredictable side effects,' I told her.
'I know, but we'll never know if its going to work otherwise,' she said.
'That's true, could you imagine if it worked. We could actually save the world,' I sat in awe.
'I know, it's incredible just to think about it,' Jade chimed in. We drove through the snow, down the hills and through the towns. I loved Scotland, the countryside was stunning, the towns more beautiful than our English ones. I stared as we passed another little town, I could see the dead shambling about, staring at the cars as we went by. I didn't know what the future held for us, if we'd even make it back, but at least for now we had a plan, a goal that kept us going.
Chapter 25
Ellen
I made sure Finn got home to his mum and sister before leaving for Leicester, now that I was that much closer, I had to try and find my daughter's. I had stayed in Sanctuary for months, but I kept thinking about my girls. I had to find my family, there were out there somewhere I just knew it. It would be a long journey, doing it by myself was mad I know but I had to try. My two daughter's had moved to Leicester years ago to go to university, as twins they could not bear to be separated. Hope had gone to study Microbiology while Faith had studied Neuroscience. They had hoped to work in the university and wanted to make a difference in the world of science.
They were two years in to their course when the world went to hell, the last I heard from them was six months after everything went bad. They were heading to the countryside with a group of people in a hope of finding a place to settle, I never got to know if they made it out of the city safely. So now I was going on a suicide mission to find out if they were still alive. After being on the road for two months I had almost reached my destination, I was fortunate that I had found a car when I got to Stoke.
I pulled the car to a stop just outside the city of Leicester, the wind was howling, the roads were icy and the sky pale and bleak. I stood at the side of the car to look upon the devastation, the once tall grey buildings of the city were gone; I could hear nothing as I listened for any signs of life. No walkers, no people not even the sound of a bird. I got back in the car to drive through the city, I kept a close eye on my surroundings as I went through. All the shops were gone, blown to smithereens. Sorrow took over my logical mind, if they hadn't got out there's no way they could have survived.
I kept on going, taking in the dire state of this once proud city. I had visited this place once before, six months before everything happened. They had been so excited to show me round, I saw the museums, the fancy restaurants even the famous clock tower. I couldn't believe that it was all gone, erased from existence in minutes. How could the army destroy everything? What hope did we have of rebuilding civilisation when all our cities were gone?
I needed to find somewhere safe to stay for the night, but there was nowhere around here. I took my time in driving round as I could see no corpses in sight, I kept listening intensely as I went hoping to hear something. The deathly silence was deafening, I saw the long since dead people laying on the floor as I drove by. The tears forming in my eyes could not be held back, I felt such sorrow at the lives that had been lost by the governments selfish choice to save themselves first. The people of this country should have come first but instead they had been left like lambs to the slaughter.
I could only pray that my daughters had escaped this city before its obliteration, I could not remember how to get out of the other side of the city centre as it had been so long since I'd been here. I took a left at what looked like an old bus station hoping I was going the right way, I looked up to see that the buildings on this side of the city had not faired any better.
I came to a roundabout and decided to take the second exit, I could just about make out the writing on the rusty half burned sign that told me I was going the right way. I looked out of the windows as I neared there the end of the city centre, a few burned out cars sat in the middle of the road with bodies hanging out the side.
As I drove past I could see the bullet holes in the people's head, no doubt the work of the army I thought sadly. I became so entranced at the horrific sight that lay before me that I did not see or hear the herd of infected coming my way, I swerved trying desperately not to crash into anything. I made a sharp left down the road in a hope of avoiding the dead, they had seen and heard me, now they were almost running after the car. I could hear the moans getting closer as I tried to move out of the way of all the cars that were scattered about the road, I went past what looked like another bus station. Like the last one it was in ruins, no hope of hiding out there.
I managed to get past the cars and round the corner, I knew from the signs that taking a right would get me out of the centre. I drove round to see that there were few cars in the road, I put my foot down as much as I could and drove at top speed out of the danger zone. I didn't know where I was heading
or what my next move was but I needed to get away from the city.
The road seemed to go on forever, I looked to my right to see a huge park. It seemed rather fortified for just a park, there were tall stone walls that encased it along with metal fencing and gates. I did not know if this was anyone's home but it sure seemed a lot safer than just driving round all night. The sun was setting and it would be dark soon, I almost skidded on a patch of ice so I slammed the brakes down and the car came to an abrupt halt just near one of the gates.
I turned the key in the ignition just to make sure the car was still working, thankfully it was. I got out and made sure to take the key with me, not that it would do any good as most people seemed to know how to hot wire them nowadays. I approached the tall dark gates and a feeling a panic overtook me, I shook it of as I thought of how creepy this place looked. If I shied away from every place that felt eerie I'd never sleep anywhere, I checked to see if the gates were open and sadly they weren't.
Great I'd have to climb it, even in this world climbing wasn't something I was particularly good at. I pulled the straps on my backpack tighter to make sure they wouldn't come off as I grabbed hold of the gate. I felt it rattle in my fingers as I pulled myself up, I reached the top without too much trouble and stared into the empty darkness. This place had been untouched by the worlds devastation, I took a moment to enjoy the peaceful and serene sight. To my left I saw a very large children's park complete with swings and a sand pit, on the right I could see a long wide field that seemed to stretch right to the other end of the park.
I quickly jumped over the gate being as quiet as I possibly could, I knelt on floor for moment listening for walkers. Unlike most silences this one did not fill me with fear or dread, it made me feel tranquil like everything was alright which was obviously mad but I couldn't help it. Maybe it was the place and not the silence, as I walked along the pathway in between the field and the park I came to a large building. I investigated the outside and saw that it used to be a café, I stood for a moment taking in my surroundings I could smell water and lots of it. I walked a little to my right and saw a huge bridge and underneath was a river. I knelt down on the river bank and took out my empty water bottle and filled it up. I took a swig to find that it didn't taste that bad, dirty river water was better than nothing, I went back to the café and looked in all the windows.
I saw nothing inside, I walked round the building knocking on each door and window as I did. Once I was satisfied that there was no threat I opened a door surprised that it hadn't been locked or barricaded.
I had no flash light so I had to rely on my own sight which even in the day wasn't brilliant. The café had two floors with two bathrooms on each, once I'd checked them all I decided to settle down in the kitchen on the ground floor. I put the tables and chairs in front of the other doors and windows leaving one free of clutter just in case I needed to make a quick exit.
I took my sleeping bag out of my backpack and laughed to myself as I undid the pink zip on the Disney princess sleeping bag. How amusing that at nearly fifty years old I was sleeping in a princess sleeping bag, at least there are still moments of amusement to be had. When those moments disappeared that's when the world would truly end, I ate a packet of bacon crisps which I hated and a tin of hot dogs before retiring for the night.
I woke the next morning to a loud crash I almost jumped out of my skin, I grabbed my knife and went running into the dining area. Of all the things I expected to see, walkers, men or even both but never did I think I would find a young pregnant girl. The poor thing couldn't have been any older than fourteen, her scraggy black hair was matted and I could see dried blood in it. Her dark brown eyes were wild with terror, I cold see cuts and bruises all over her body and while I didn't want to admit it I knew how they had got there. She was dressed in a baggy black T-shirt and ripped pink leggings, she wore no shoes on her feet and looked as if she was close to collapsing. I raced over to her and put my knife in my belt, I caught her just as she lost her balance.
'It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. Can you tell me your name?' I asked softly.
'Tara, my name is Tara,' she replied quietly.
'I'm Ellen, here let me help you sit down,' I took her to a chair and sat her down.
I gave her my water but warned her that it was from the river, she downed the whole thing without taking a breath.
'Sorry I didn't meant to drink it all, I haven't drank in days,' she said apologetically.
'Don't worry about it, where's your family?' I asked concerned.
'Their all dead. It's just me and this little one,' she replied rubbing her stomach.
'Where did you get those bruises from?' I had to know if there was another vile group of men nearby.
'The men who killed my family did this to me,' she told me tearfully.
'Where are they now? Do they have a camp nearby?'
While I was exceedingly worried for her I had to know if I was in danger. 'Yes, there's an old bus depot on the other side of this park. They fell asleep and I escaped, but I don't know how much longer it'll be before they start looking for me,' her voice was panicked and she jumped at a noise she heard outside.
I got up to see what it was and saw that it was just the wind howling.
'It's alright, it's just the wind. Look I can help you if you want I have a car not far from here, tell me is their base over the bridge?'
If it was then it would give us that bit longer to get out of here. 'Yes it is, it's across the road from the south gate.'
'Right come on, let's go.'
I grabbed my stuff and shoved it in my bag. I held her up as we walked out the door, I heard no sound as we went back towards the park. As we approached the gate it dawned on me the she was going to have real trouble getting over it, I had no bolt cutters with me so I couldn't break the chains.
'I'm sorry but there's no other way out of here, you'll have to climb over it,' I said apologetically.
'It's alright, just keep a look out for me,' she replied sounding out of breath. Panic rose as I watched her climb the gate, fearing that she would fall. It took her a good twenty minutes to get over, she struggled and got out of breath as she went over the top. Once she got back onto solid ground she looked as if she was going to faint.
'Hold on, I'll be there in a minute,' I called through the gate. It didn't take long for me to get over the fence, though the icy wind did make it harder than it should have been. I jumped down and fished the keys out of my pockets, I walked over to the car and unlocked the door and got in the car. Tara got in next to me, she struggled to get the seatbelt over her large stomach.
'Where are we going?' She asked shyly.
'I have no idea but we need to get to the countryside,' I replied trying to figure out which way to go.
'Before my family were killed we were trying to get to a place called Anstey, there's an old nature reserve park that's being used as a community for people.'
It sounded like a good place to head to.
'Do you know the way?' I hoped she did.
'Yes,' she sounded out of breath and I could detect fear in her voice. We drove most of the way without incident, fortunately we had avoided going near the other group. The roads were mostly clear of other cars, I knew that I had enough petrol in the car to drive another few hours. The further away from the city I drove the buildings I saw were intact, I felt my palms getting sweaty and I gripped the steering wheel with such strength that my knuckles turned white. I breathed deeply as I kept a look out for any signs of life on the way, could it be that my daughter's were in this group that I was heading to? I tried not to get my hopes up but I couldn't help it, I could be less than an hour away from my children. I wiped my eyes as the tears tried to fall, I would not get ahead of myself.
First thing I needed to do was get this girl to safe place, she looked as if she was close to giving birth and I didn't want her to have her baby in the middle of nowhere.
'How long till your due?' I had t
o ask. 'Any time now I think,' she said fearfully.
'Don't worry we'll get you to this group and you'll have a safe place have your baby,' I reassured her. We drove the rest of the way in silence, I had to think about what to do next. If this group was gone I had to take care of this girl and her baby. I could only hope that she and her child would survive the birth, I knew I couldn't take it if I lost another mother and baby I thought sadly as I thought about Marcia. Tara was even younger than Marcia and I just hoped that her body was strong enough to withstand the birthing process.
After an hour we came to the outskirts of Anstey, it was a quaint and tiny little town. Though the town was empty I could see how stunning it used to be, the little flower pots the hung over each shop though the flowers were long since dead, it was still nice to see a place where the residents had taken care of the towns appearance. I told Tara to keep a look out on her side of the car as I rounded the corner, how strange that there were no dead here not even fallen people. I took the third left on the roundabout and headed down a street full of houses that were still standing.
I loved seeing places where the houses still stood, especially little towns and villages that were beautiful even after the world had gone to hell. The long road was filled with pretty things, the grass was still green and roads clear of abandoned cars.
'I think the turning is on the left,' Tara said disturbing my thoughts.
'How do you know this place so well?' I asked feeling curious.
She smiled at me as she rubbed her belly.
'I used to live round here before everything went to hell, I spent many summers in this nature reserve.'
'Good thing for us that you have such good memory,' I replied happily.
'We actually drove past my house on the way here,' her voice was solemn and quiet, no doubt she was thinking about her family.
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