Of course, there might be someone hiding nearby that was as savvy in the rules of bush-law as I was, but I would not know until I sensed him. Regardless of the risk, I followed the road rather than moving into the underbrush, and stepped carefully around the bend until the source of the smell came into view. A human body lay in the middle of the road ahead of me, blood pooling on the tar seal beneath it.
The corpse was so fresh that the blood had barely begun to congeal in the hot sun. I stared at the brush nearby for a long minute until I was sure there was nobody watching, then I crept closer to the body to get a better look.
It was a man, sprawled on his back with dead eyes staring blankly at the sky. He was clad in battle dress, just as the massive soldier had been, but wore no body armour. That mistake had cost him his life: his chest was riddled with bloody wounds. I judged by their location and the way his body lay that he’d died nearly instantly, in a hail of high-powered bullets.
A fold of his clothing half-concealed something. Curious and analytical, I prodded the corpse with my boot to clear the cloth away. It revealed an empty holster on his hip, big enough to hold an automatic pistol and a couple of spare clips. The holster was empty now, and a quick glance around revealed no sign of the weapon or the ammunition.
I did see shell casings though, small ones, probably from a 9mm gun like the one that this man had carried. In my mind, I turned the physical evidence over and replayed the scene a few different ways until I had a clear picture of what must have occurred.
The dead man had fired first, I guessed; he must have done, as the wounds in his chest were from a heavier weapon. For there to be shells from his weapon on the ground, he must have opened fire before the person with the heavy weapon shot him. The corpse was facing east, and I recognised the wounds in his chest as entry rather than exit wounds.
The scenario crystallized in my head: this man had been following someone heading east. He had approached them from behind and opened fire, and they had in turn killed him in self-defence and taken his weapon. Michael. It had to be.
I had told him to stick to the forest, but it didn’t surprise me that he had gotten lost along the way. His sense of direction in the wilds was still developing, which was why I was our guide. I was just relieved that by some dumb luck he’d found the road instead of wandering off in the wrong direction. Even he could follow a road. As far as I could tell, he was going in the right direction.
I left the corpse, not caring if the man was the victim of pests or animals this time. He was nothing to me, someone that wanted to hurt me and my family. He deserved no respect in death.
A dozen metres further down the road, my boot struck something small and sent it tumbling across the asphalt with a metallic chime. I paused to look, and discovered the shell casings from the heavier weapon scattered across the ground. Although I couldn’t be sure, I was fairly certain that they’d come from Michael’s rifle.
Unfortunately, I also spotted something that worried me. Sprinkled amongst the fallen shells were a few droplets of dark crimson, that were rapidly turning brown in the heat: blood. One of my companions was injured. Which one, I couldn’t tell. Spurred on by concern, I picked up to a run and headed eastwards as fast as my tired legs could carry me. It was more than an hour past noon now, almost two, and my friends would be worried sick about me.
I was relieved to see the blood trailed off after only a few metres, meaning it had been staunched rather than left to bleed. That reassured me, but still I felt the overwhelming need to return to them as soon as possible. I longed to feel Michael’s arms around me, holding me safe and warm. Then there was Priyanka and her elderly pet; the girl had a smile that could light up the room, and I feared either she or the helpless animal might be the ones hurt.
I could not abide that thought, and it made me feel better about what I’d done to protect them. The guilt would come later, when I had time to brood – but for now I was busy, my thoughts and actions dictated by necessity. There was no time for recriminations or regrets until after I knew my companions were safe.
***
An hour later, I was drawing close to the end of my reserves of strength. My legs trembled with every step, but my resolve held strong. I was almost there, I could sense it. I’d covered many more kilometres, and I could feel the land beneath me beginning to slope gently downwards. The bush grew denser and denser, until I was travelling through dark shade despite it being the heat of the afternoon. The changes in the landscape around me told me the river must be nearby.
As I began to pad around a long, gentle curve in the road, I was startled by the sound of a human voice shouting. Another shouted back, but I couldn’t make out their words. Then there were gunshots, rapid and piercing, from several different kinds of weapons. I skidded to a halt as self-preservation kicked in. Until I could see them, I couldn’t be sure who was shooting at whom. It could be friends, it could be foes. It could be both.
The shotgun held close against my chest, I pressed myself into the shadows of the undergrowth and crept around the bend at a wide angle. The paved plateau in front of the bridge opened up below me, providing a wide area of open ground that would leave me exposed if I moved much further. There were two bodies there, sprawled out and still twitching, no more than a minute dead.
I glanced around cautiously and saw nothing besides the two of them. My heart hammered in my chest as I emerged from the shadows and snuck towards them to see if I could determine what had happened. Both of the bodies were male, both in battle dress and at a glance I could see that both of them had been killed by a hail of high-calibre bullets.
It was only then that I sensed eyes upon me. I spun towards the bridge, with my shotgun raised automatically to defend myself. I found myself looking at a familiar face on the other side of a longer barrel: Michael.
Both of us were still in fight or flight mode, so it took a second for what we were seeing to sink in. When it did, we both lowered our weapons and rushed to one another. His longer strides covered the ground more swiftly than my exhausted ones, and he caught me before I made it a half-dozen steps.
Strong arms enveloped me and held me close. I buried my face in his sweating chest, luxuriating in the heat and the scent of his body. A few months ago, I would never have imagined that I could find the odour of a sweaty man to be pleasant, let alone intoxicating – yet now, I did. It was fresh and healthy, and it belonged to the man that I loved with all my heart. I clung to him, overwhelmed by sensations of affection and relief so strong it made everything I’d done seem so worthwhile.
After a minute, I drew back and kissed him, quickly and repeatedly, indulging a need to express my affections as physically as possible. He understood and held me close, returning my shower of kisses with his own until I calmed down.
“I was afraid I’d never see you again,” he whispered to me, his arms still wrapped around my waist. His voice was huskier than usual and I detected deep emotion in it that made my heart lurch.
“I know, but… I had to. You know I had to,” I whispered back. He nodded, silently telling me that he understood. He always understood. It was the same reckless abandon that had driven him into a violent rage when one of the undead had cornered members of our family, weeks ago. Unlike him, I had not been driven into shock in the wake of my actions, though. I had stayed calm and rational throughout. It felt like it had happened to someone else.
“They’re fine. I’ve got them hiding under the bridge,” he told me softly, anticipating my question before I could ask. I nodded and glanced at the corpses for a moment, then I suddenly remembered the blood I’d seen on the ground.
I shoved myself back and stared at him, inspecting his body from head to toe. Sure enough, there was a crude bandage wrapped around his bicep, and another around his left wrist. He didn’t bother to put up a fight when I took his hand, and dragged him off towards the shelter of the bridge to get him cleaned up.
“I saw the first body, way back, and I saw your blo
od on the ground. I’ve been so worried about you,” I admitted as we retreated down the bank and ducked into the dark recess beneath the bridge’s span.
Very little plant life grew down there, since it never saw any sunlight. When my eyes adjusted, I spotted Priya sitting on a patch of hard concrete, her knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around them. Her eyes were closed and young face was a picture of misery, but the dog spotted us straight away and alerted her to our presence by letting out a happy yip.
The moment she saw me, her eyes widened. A second later, she had her arms around my waist and was clinging to me like she was afraid that I’d left her forever. Even though I was anxious to see to Michael’s wounds, I understood her vulnerability and made no effort to detach her. Instead, I led both of them back over to sit on that patch of concrete, the three of us all huddled in a row in the shadows.
Priya leaned against me crying quietly while I stripped away Michael’s makeshift bandages. I inspected the wounds, cleaned them, and then redressed them with proper, sterile dressings from my first aid kit. Although it caused him pain, he clenched his jaw and bore up well to the discomfort. I knew that he trusted me to only have the best of intentions for him, and he knew I would only cause him pain if it was for good reason.
For my part, I was relieved to discover the injuries were only flesh wounds, and none of them would cause him any real trouble unless they got infected. Of course, with someone as attentive as me to be his nurse, there was no way he was getting infected any time soon. At least, I hoped not. I’d had enough of infections to last a lifetime.
Hell, we had barely recovered from the last time we ended up in bandages. That was the last thing we needed. Michael still had a tiny red pucker mark of half-healed tissue on his ribs from when he’d been shot with that air rifle ten days earlier. He still had to cover it, but it was past the danger stage.
Michael had the presence of mind not to ask what had happened. Even if he had, I wouldn’t have told him with young, innocent ears sitting right there beside us. A vague reassurance from me that our racist friend wasn’t going to trouble us any further was good enough for both of them.
After the wounds were cleaned, the four of us just sat catching our breath for a while. Priyanka finally stopped crying and clung to me in silence, while Michael stared off thoughtfully into space. I sat in the middle, turning over in my mind the strange situation I found myself in this time. I felt so protective of that young girl even though I’d only just met her, and I could see in Michael’s face that he felt the same way.
Was it animal instinct that drove us to protect the young, even when she wasn’t our child? It was a strange feeling, but it made sense to me. In little Priya, I saw someone who had an entire life ahead of her, one that was so full of promise and potential. Although she’d come from someone else’s womb, in that young child I saw the future of my species. We were on the verge of extinction, and yet she gave me hope.
She, and all the other children like her. Madeline, Priya, any children that Michael and I might have one day. They were our future. Without them, there was no tomorrow for humankind.
I didn’t realise that I was squeezing Michael’s hand until I noticed him looking at me with concern. I gave him a sheepish smile and relaxed my death-grip, but he seemed to understand. He put his arm around me instead and drew me up against him. I contentedly nestled against his side and closed my eyes.
Suddenly, the dog let out a yip and sat bolt upright. Startled, the rest of us looked at him and then at each other, trying to work out what the dog knew that we didn’t. I started to say something, but Michael held up a hand to silence me; a moment later, I heard the sound as well. There was an engine coming our way. No, several engines.
“Stay here,” I whispered to the others, extracting myself from between their bodies. I crept noiselessly out from beneath the bridge and inched up the bank beside it, keeping myself hidden deep within the long grass. Despite my instructions, I felt the warmth of a large body beside me and knew that Michael had followed me. Side by side, we lay in hiding, waiting for the source of the noise to come into sight.
From the west, along the very same road we’d come down less than an hour before, came a small group of quad- and farm-bikes. The lead bike stopped when the rider spotted the corpses lying in the road, and the others came to a halt in a gaggle behind him. After some discussion, the rider of the first bike hopped off and hurried over to the corpses to examine them.
As he drew closer, I recognised him, and heaved a deep sigh of relief. Shoving myself up out of my hiding spot, I waved to the startled rider until he realised who I was and waved back.
“Kia ora, mate!” Hemi shouted. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Chapter Eighteen
It took some explaining to get Hemi up to date on the situation that had led to us being in possession of a number of corpses, an elderly sheepdog, and a small, buzz-cut-wearing teenage girl. Luckily for us, Hemi was good-natured and patient. He listened with interest to our tale, and expressed relief over our survival.
Priyanka needed some time to adjust to the presence of more people in our group. When the others first arrived, she was too frightened to come out of her hidey hole under the bridge. Eventually, curiosity won out over caution. I felt her tiny presence manifest behind me. When I looked down, I found her staring at the newcomers with enormous eyes.
By the time we finished talking, she was standing beside me instead of hiding behind my back, though she still clung to my hand. I glanced down at her occasionally, and each time I found her watching Hemi or one of the other men with intense fascination. I decided that was most likely to do with their physical appearances. Although they were still different to her, they looked much more similar than Michael or myself.
“Priya, this is my friend Hemi. Say ‘hello’ to Hemi,” I told her, trying to introduce her to the young man. The girl stared at me, then ducked her head shyly and hid behind me again. I exchanged a glance with the others and shrugged. “Sorry, she’s had a bit of a scary day. She’ll come back out of her shell when she’s ready.”
“Sweet as, man.” Hemi grinned cheerfully. He gave the girl a playful wave when he caught her peeking at him again. She stared back at him, her mouth agape and eyes almost as wide as saucers. Everyone chuckled.
There were four men besides Hemi in the group, and all of them were familiar to me from the time we’d spent with the tribe. I was pleased to see that Ropata, the carpenter, was with them, since his skills would no doubt prove invaluable in the task waiting for us.
Tane and Iorangi were there as well. The two men were brothers, who stood tall and imposing, but I’d learned that they were just big teddy bears full of good-humour and fun. Tane was around my age, and wore his hair in long, distinctive dreadlocks. Iorangi was a few years younger, but taller than his brother by several inches.
The last member of the group was a slender, wiry man in his mid-thirties. I knew his name was Richard, but that was about all I knew. We’d only spoken twice before, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. He was just quiet, and usually kept to himself.
Once the explanations were over, we set out on foot to find a better place to sit down and have lunch together. The bridge followed the rim of the catchment dam for the power station down river, but it was bisected in the middle by a small island which was home to an overgrown picnic area. It seemed like a good place to rest for a bit, since it gave us a clear view in all directions in case there were any more neo-Nazis coming after us.
After we had eaten, we gathered our belongings and moved on. The road continued in a long curve, but this time it didn’t just span water – it crossed the top of the Arapuni dam itself. That was by far more terrifying than the first half of the crossing had been. The river pooled placidly to our left, while on our right the only thing that separated us from a drop of more than a hundred meters was a tattered mesh fence. When we made it safely to the eastern side of the river, I let out a deep breath to
calm my frazzled nerves. I’m not a huge fan of heights.
“Oi, Sandy – we’ll give you a ride, eh?” Hemi called to me. I glanced back and watched his group wheel their bikes the rest of the way onto solid ground.
“Sure. We’ll cover more ground that way,” I agreed. I looked down at Priyanka, who still clung to my hand like a limpet. “We’re going to go for a ride, okay? Go sit behind Hemi and hold on tight.”
Priya’s eyes just about bugged right out of her head. She shook her head frantically and ducked behind me. “Don’t wanna.”
“C’mon, it’ll be okay,” I reassured her. “I’ll be right there, too. We’re going to go fast. You don’t want to get left behind, do you?”
Priya stared at me in horror, then looked back at Hemi.
“Go on, sweetie,” I said, leading her towards the bike. “It’s okay. I’ll be right here. Hemi won’t hurt you, he’s my friend. He’s a good boy.”
“Good boy?” Priya echoed softly, though she still looked dubious.
“Yeah, good boy.” I nodded firmly, and guided her up to sit behind him. “Put your arms around his waist and hold on tight, okay?”
“O-okies,” she said, and did as she was told. I smiled and ran my hand over her head, then went to find my own ride. Michael did likewise, calling the dog after him.
Although we were forced to travel relatively slowly so the elderly canine could keep up with us, we made much better time over the last leg of the journey than we could have hoped to do on foot. The nimble little bikes bounded over the tattered tarmac without complaint, their light weight and good suspension keeping us safe from harm.
Seated on the back of Tane’s quad bike with my arms wrapped around his waist, I watched the scenery pass in a blaze. Every so often I got smacked in the face by a dreadlock and had to shove it out the way, but I took it with good humour. The last leg out of trip passed swiftly and painlessly compared to the first couple of days.
The Survivors (Book 2): Autumn Page 20
