The other man sighed. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“We need to tell them; it’s the only thing we can do.”
The more defensive of the two men turned to Piotr at that point and raised his eyebrows. Piotr shrugged.
“I said,” the first man snarled, “we need to tell people. They have a right to know.”
In a flash, Hugh darted forward, and before the angry man could look up, he drove a right cross into his chin. The dark-skinned man’s eyes rolled back in his head and his legs folded beneath him. He hit the wet soil with a thud.
The man he’d been arguing with stared down at his fallen opponent and shook his head. When he looked at Hugh, he said, “I didn’t know what to do with him.”
Hugh’s reply snapped back at him like a cracking whip. “Try what I just did. We can’t have hysteria in this place. Now take him to one of the holding cells.” Hugh turned to look at the large Russian. “Piotr, can you please help him?”
Near silence surrounded the group for a few minutes as the two farm workers lifted their unconscious colleague and carried him out through the still open door.
Once they’d gone, Vicky turned to the clearly agitated Hugh. “Well?”
“Well what?” Hugh said.
“What was all that about?”
“I dunno. As you’ve seen, this place drives people crazy. Some time in a cell should sort him out.”
But Vicky could see Hugh had a lot more information on the conflict that he hadn’t told her. The man clearly wanted to tell the people of Home something. However, Hugh didn’t seem keen on sharing what that something was with Vicky.
Before she could push the matter any further, Hugh said, “Why don’t you go back to your room for a while? Take an early lunch and we’ll meet up later in the gym, yeah?” And with that, Hugh walked past Vicky and left her in the farm area on her own.
Chapter 18
After she’d had lunch, Vicky walked the long corridor to the gym. The usual smell of bleach damn near made her eyes water. One of the locked doors had the man from the farm behind it. As tempting as it was to find out which one and talk to him, Vicky kept on walking. She didn’t need Hugh catching her with the man. If she wanted to know what the fight was about, she’d have to get it from Hugh.
When Vicky got close enough to the gym, she finally looked at Flynn, who sat outside it at a desk. “How are you getting on?”
“How do you think I’m getting on?”
Of course the boy would be pissed. Sat on a hard plastic chair at a tiny desk with a stamp and a smile seemed a long way away from going outside of Home and defending the place against the diseased. But as long as he stayed there he’d be safe, so Vicky could tolerate his bad attitude. From the way he sat, coiled as if ready to launch himself at her, Vicky didn’t continue the conversation and walked straight past him into the gym.
As a parting gesture, Flynn called in after her, “You need to get a stamp.”
The slightest smile lifted on Vicky’s face at his teenage petulance, but she played the game, removed her mirth, and went back to his small table. “Can I get a book too, please?”
Flynn didn’t look at her when he picked a book up, stamped it with the smiley face that pierced the page, and slid it along the table to her.
“Thank you.” And with that, Vicky entered the gym again.
The usual stale smell of damp and sweat mixed as a heady musk in the air of the small room. Vicky headed straight for the treadmill, threw her sweatshirt down on the floor, and set it to number seven so she could warm up with a fast walk.
As the only person in the gym, Vicky shook her head. Despite Hugh’s impassioned speech about working out, the people of Home didn’t seem to have taken him seriously.
Each step warmed Vicky up a little more than the last. Her heart beat harder from the exercise. Even walking gave her a workout, but she soon upped the speed on the treadmill until she’d found her thumping rhythm. Despite running at number eleven whenever she ran next to Hugh, Vicky found the comfort to keep going at around ten, so she set it there and lifted her head to watch the entranceway to the gym.
Only about five minutes passed before Vicky heard raised voices come down the corridor toward her. It sounded like Hugh and Jessica, although with the sound of the treadmill’s belt and the slam of her feet against it, Vicky couldn’t hear what they said to one another; stopping would make it too obvious.
Hugh walked in a few seconds later, and Jessica continued past the room, her jawline tense and a scowl on her face. Hugh said nothing to Flynn as he marched into the place. He stepped onto the treadmill, his usual light-heartedness absent from his demeanour. Without a word, he set it straight to number eleven.
Within a minute, Hugh had locked into his fast run. Maybe Vicky imagined it, but his feet seemed to slam down harder than usual with each step, almost as if he stamped his frustration on the treadmill’s belt.
Since their fight outside of Home with the diseased, Vicky had seen a different side to Hugh. It seemed like things were going wrong for him. Most of the people did nothing to help, and there had been infighting in the farm. Although, there had to be more to that one. Whatever the farm worker had wanted to say, Hugh had made sure he couldn’t. Not that Vicky could ask him about it at that point—hell, she didn’t even want to look at the guy in his current frame of mind. The beeps of her treadmill called out as she eased it up to eleven and fell into stride next to him.
Hugh’s aggression thickened the muggy air in the gym. For a moment, Vicky felt inclined to stop her treadmill and get off. But why should she? If she and Hugh were to run this place together, she couldn’t be bullied into silence. Whatever issues he had, he had to learn to deal with them more productively.
“So what was that about with Jessica?” Vicky asked.
A snap of his head to face her and Hugh scowled at Vicky.
Vicky returned his stare with interest. “Well?”
As the leader of Home, Hugh clearly didn’t get challenged often; he said nothing for a few seconds, his feet slamming down even harder. It could have gone one of two ways. Fortunately, Hugh snapped out of his mood. “We were trying to sort a few things out.”
Vague, but at least he said something. “Sort things out?”
“Sorry,” Hugh said and shook his head. “I’ve been a little distracted lately. I’m finding it hard to deal with the fact that we have so many freeloaders in this place, and when I ask them to start working out to get fit, they clearly ignore me.” Gassed from his run, Hugh turned the setting down on his treadmill and slowed to a fast walk. “Sometimes I wonder why I take on all the stress when very few people seem willing to share it with me. They get fat on our food, they wash with our hot water, they read by the light of our electricity, yet when I ask for something from them, they ignore me.”
Before Vicky could reply, Hugh said, “You know what?” He cracked his hand against the large red button on the treadmill so hard it shook the entire machine. “I’m not taking this bullshit.”
Red-faced and glistening with sweat, Hugh picked his top up from the ground.
“What are you doing?” Vicky asked.
“I’m going to talk to them. I’m not being the mug of this place any longer.”
As Hugh walked out of the gym, Vicky jumped off the treadmill and picked up her sweatshirt before she followed him out. Although Flynn glared at her again, she returned her attention to Hugh and jogged off up the corridor after him.
They’d travelled from the gym to the canteen in silence. With his fists clenched and his jaw set tight, Hugh focused straight ahead and marched like he wanted to kill someone.
When they stepped from the tight corridor into the open space of the canteen, Vicky ran her eyes over the vast space. At least half of Home sat about chatting or watching the kids play.
“Right,” Hugh shouted, his loud voice echoing through the place like a P.E. teacher in a sports hall. “I don’t know what the fuck you think
this place is, but whatever your perceptions are, they need to fucking change.” Some of the adults pulled children away or covered their ears, but if Hugh noticed it, he didn’t care. “We need more help, which means you lot need to get fitter. Even if you don’t get fit, you’re going to start pulling your weight anyway. Everyone’s had a free ride in this place for far too long.” Hugh stepped aside and pointed at Vicky. “She’s been here less than a week and she’s done more than most of you lazy shits have in the entire time you’ve been here. And some of you have been here for a fucking decade.”
Heat flushed Vicky’s cheeks and panic tightened her chest to have the entire canteen stare at her. She dropped her attention to the floor and rocked on the balls of her feet.
“Now the gym’s too small to accommodate all of you lazy fucks at the same time, so you, you, and you,” Hugh said as he pointed to two women and a man—they seemed to be the three largest people in the room. “Get down there now and do an hour each. I expect to see your stamped books by the end of today.”
A few eyes rolled and mouths hung open in shock, but nobody questioned Hugh’s order as they stood up, lethargic in their actions.
Quiet consumed the canteen as everyone continued to watch Hugh, and Hugh stared at the three people he’d ordered to exercise. Their slow movements wound the tension tighter as they shuffled from their seats past the leader of Home. The first two left the room with their eyes lowered. The third one, a blonde woman with blotchy skin, drew a breath to speak when she got level with Hugh.
Before she could get her words out, Hugh said, “I don’t care what you have to say. If you can walk, you can exercise. Get your fat arse down to the gym now.”
After they’d gone, Hugh turned to Vicky and spoke loud enough so everyone could hear. “Lazy fucks. If I have to wedge a rocket up their arses permanently, then that’s what I’ll fucking do. I ain’t taking it any more. I’ve had enough.”
Vicky opened her mouth to respond, but Hugh spun on his heel before she had the chance, and walked off. He called over his shoulder as he disappeared down the same corridor the people he’d sentenced to exercise had, “Meet me tomorrow morning by the front door. Just after breakfast. We don’t need to do anything else today.”
Left in the canteen on her own, Vicky took in the looks from the people around her and sighed. What had seemed like a heroic role in helping the people of Home suddenly had a very different taint to it.
Chapter 19
Flynn had come back to the room he shared with Vicky late the previous evening. He must have been in the canteen because Vicky had gone for a second workout and hadn’t seen him outside the gym. When he entered the room, Vicky lay awake in the dark and watched his silhouette slip into bed. The creak of the flimsy metal frame issued a catcall of moaning springs. He obviously didn’t want to talk, so Vicky pretended to be asleep.
When she woke up the next day, he’d already gone. If she’d have searched the canteen, she probably would have found him. Instead, she skipped breakfast, kept her eyes straight ahead when she walked through the dining area, and headed for the front door to meet Hugh.
At the other side of the canteen, Vicky climbed the stairs to the small foyer and Home’s exit. Early, she stood in the space alone and stared out the window at the long grass. At about waist height, the sun lit up its tips, highlighting the vibrancy of the green field. The warm image stood in contrast to the touch of the cold glass when she rested her forehead against it. Hypnotised by the field as it danced with the elements, Vicky let the window steam up from her warm breath.
A voice called out behind her and Vicky spun around to see Hugh walk up the stairs with a girl of no more than about fourteen behind him. “Right,” he said to her. “I need you to let us out and then wait here until we get back so you can let us in again, you got that?”
Quite sharp in the delivery of his instructions, it clearly intimidated the slim and pale girl, who said nothing but dipped a curt nod at him.
“Good. Now don’t mess this up because we’ll die if you do. Our lives depend on you, okay?”
The girl nodded again and her already pale skin turned translucent. She looked like she could vomit at any moment.
Before Hugh could say anything else, Vicky walked over to the girl and lifted both of her hands. She waited for the girl to look up, the wide blue orbs of her scared eyes finally taking Vicky in. “Don’t worry, darling, I know you can do this. We won’t be too long, so all you have to do is keep an eye out for us and open the door when we get back. You’ll be fine, okay?”
The girl nodded and Vicky beamed a smile at her. “Atta girl.”
“Okay,” Hugh shouted. His booming voice made the girl jump from the ground. Any of the tension Vicky had helped her release returned with interest. “Open the door, sweetheart.”
Although Vicky shot Hugh a glare, he seemed oblivious to it or, at the very least, chose to completely disregard it.
The girl visibly shook as she fumbled with the bolt at the top of the door and Hugh tutted at her.
“Fucking hell, Hugh,” Vicky said. “She’s a kid, give her a fucking break, yeah? I know you’re frustrated at the moment, but don’t take it out on her.”
Tears glazed the girl’s eyes as she looked at Hugh and it seemed to take the edge off his aggression. A slight nod at the girl and he said, “Please open the door.”
When he looked back at Vicky, Vicky nodded at him.
The crack of the first bolt called through the open space, followed soon after by the crack of the second one. The large metal hinges moaned their protest as the girl pulled the door open, and the fresh outside air whooshed into the small foyer. Vicky stood in the glorious breeze and drank in the fresh grassy rush of it. It had only been a few days since she’d breathed outside air, but it felt like a lifetime. A lot of the stress and stagnation within her body washed away, and Vicky stood taller than she had done in a while.
Hugh led the way and stepped outside. Just before she followed him out, Vicky reached over and touched the top of the girl’s arm. “Don’t fret, love, you’ll do just fine when we need you to. See you soon, yeah?”
The girl nodded and Vicky turned her back on her to head outside.
The breeze in the doorway had been heavenly, but the unfiltered wind outside of Home bordered on orgasmic. For the briefest second, Vicky allowed herself the luxury of closing her eyes and felt the wind against the exposed parts of her skin. It rushed over her face and billowed in her ears. She clenched and unclenched her hands and it danced through her fingers. When she opened her eyes, she found Hugh staring at her. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
“I spent ten years outside. To live in a windowless hole is quite restricting by comparison.”
A slight smile lifted on Hugh’s face. He then thrust his large arms out to the sides and pulled a deep breath in through his nose, which raised his wide chest. “It sure does feel good, doesn’t it?” he said on the exhale. After a glance around, he added, “But come on, we need to get going.”
Hugh doubled back to walk up the hill that led over the top of Home. Vicky followed him. When she’d caught up to him, she said, “I know you’re getting frustrated with how much you have to do, and I can see how the responsibility of Home is incredibly stressful. Also, I know I’ve only been here a few days—”
“Spit it out, Vicky. I have thick skin.”
Not that she’d seen evidence of his thick skin, but Vicky said it anyway. “Do you think you could stop being such a dick? It’s not good for morale.”
Hugh’s jaw dropped and he looked at Vicky. Something close to rage burned in his eyes until he swallowed it down. After he’d looked around them again, he laughed to himself and shook his head. “That’s why I’m pleased you’re my deputy.”
“Huh?”
“I need someone to say that to me. Not many people would. Thank you.”
A shrug and Vicky looked out for the diseased as she waited for Hugh to continue.
“But like with any relationship, you have to accept the part you play in it,” Vicky said.
“What, I should look after them?”
“No. You do look after them.”
“So their laziness is my fault?”
“You give them a comfortable existence and you’ve not asked for anything in return. That’s an amazing thing. But when you need something back from them, you need to remember that you’ve not required anything from them for a long time. To you or me, what they need to do is obvious and you’d hope they’d offer it freely. But for them, they need a period of adjustment before they can become the people you need them to be.”
While Vicky spoke, Hugh scanned the area again. The long grass could be hiding the diseased; although, despite the wind, they should hear them coming. Besides, at about three feet tall, the grass would only hide children and the smallest of adults. Both of which would be easy to outrun should they get surprise attacked.
At the top of the mound, Vicky looked out over the sea of black. “Was it three hundred and twenty-two solar panels?”
“Three hundred and twenty-seven,” Hugh corrected. “Enough to power this place forever as long as we look after them.”
The grass around the panels had been trampled. “We’ll need to stamp the grass down again,” Hugh said. “I don’t want it messing with the panels in any way.”
As much as she tried to resist, Vicky looked over at the spot where she and Jessica had dumped the bitten woman. A gust of wind threw the reek of rot at her. More pungent than the tang of the diseased, Vicky ruffled her nose against it. Although several corpses lay in the same place, Vicky looked at the woman, her mouth spread wide in what seemed to be a silent scream, her eyes dried pits in her face. “What will we do with the two men that came into the community the other day? How long can we keep them locked up for?”
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