Surviving

by Kady Monroe

  Whatever made the noise in the night was gone, so she woke Amar and got them both fed before making a late start to the day. It was nice to see the sun out and the countryside glistened with melting frost. Turning the van back to town, she was glad that at least in this area, there seemed to be no concrete blocks. And coming to think of it, she’d not seen any the day before either. Jenny hoped that meant she was heading out of the reach of whoever was placing them.

  At the border of the town, she saw Amar’s nose pressed up against the passenger window, staring at the beach. She thought maybe after she found Matt’s house, they might find a quieter, safer stretch of sand where the boy could fulfil his wish.

  Jenny tried a different route through the town, taking a road which led uphill. Amar declared that he would help her look at the street names. She smiled and thanked him for being brave enough to look out the windows as there wasn’t any shortage of zombies around. The search went on much longer than expected with one close call in a narrow street lined by closed-up businesses. The cobbled street jarred the van’s passengers, and parked cars made navigation more difficult. As she drew to the end of the road, a group of zombies staggered out in front of the van. Amar ducked his head down when Jenny hit a couple of them while the rest slapped decayed and withering hands against the vehicle. It was a scary few minutes.

  The address she hunted for was situated at the top outskirts of Harrow Bay. On one side of the road, sat squat little bungalows, most of which needed a lick of paint. On the other side were grey stone, semi-detached houses that might have been built in the early twentieth century. Examining the door numbers, Jenny reasoned Matt’s dad’s house should be one of the bungalows, since the odd numbered addresses were on that side. It was a long street and not without its perils. The bungalows all had a small drive on their properties, but the two-storey houses on the other side had no off street parking. Cars were lined up almost nose to tail along the road and the shuffling dead loitered.

  The road headed back downhill. There were a few residences that had been converted into businesses, mainly on the right-hand side. A local shop and post office both had their shutters closed, and one of the bungalows was a second hand furniture dealer. Gaudy signs hung from the front garden wall, stating Bargains Galore, Used not abused, Come have a look. The plaques stood out amidst the plain lawn and gravel front gardens of the adjoining houses.

  They were nearly at the end of the road when the door numbers got into the ballpark she was hunting for. Her eyes scanned for Matt’s white van. When she arrived at the right door number her heart fell. The property next door to it was burnt down. Matt’s dad’s place also showed signs of minor fire damage to the side nearest its neighbour. An old model Ford estate sat in the drive with a flat rear tyre and its bodywork covered in a thick layer of dust, bird droppings, and autumn leaves.

  The damage to the house wasn’t just from fire. The splintered door and broken windows told their own story. She still wanted to take a look, but the amount of zombies around wouldn’t make it possible. The front property’s boundary consisted of a small two-foot wall. Not high enough to keep the dead out, plus there was no gate. Anyone coming or going from the bungalow would use the driveway as a path.

  Jenny looked towards the back of the property and glimpsed a line of four foot high wooden fencing at the rear of the garden. Driving on, she checked the same thing on each of the bungalows she drove past, and counted houses as she went.

  The sixth one down sported a larger front fence. Perfect for her plan. She turned to Amar,

  “I’m going to park the van and I want you to hide in the bathroom with the blind down while I go to check out my friend’s house,” she paused, seeing Amar’s face falling, “I’ll lock the doors so you’ll be safe and I promise I’ll draw the other people away before I come back.”

  Tears already welled in the kid’s eyes and his bottom lip trembled,

  “No, I don’t want to stay here on my own. I want to go with you.”

  “I know,” she said gently, “but I’ll be quicker on my own. Can you be brave and hide for me?”

  “No. I want to go too,” the tears spilled as he pleaded,

  “Please, Jenny, I’ll be good and do what you say. I promise.”

  She knew life would be more complicated with a child. “Please,” he begged.

  But she wasn’t upset with Amar. Jenny understood his fear. He’d been on his own for days and didn’t want to let her out of his sight. She also knew she wasn’t going anywhere if she didn’t give in on this matter, because she believed he might get out of the van and follow her. It was either forget going to investigate the house, or take Amar with her. If she didn’t check the place out, she would keep wondering about whether there was any clue to indicate the others made it this far. Her choice was made.

  Jenny put the van in reverse and told Amar to go get ready to go outside. He looked at her with suspicion.

  “I’m not trying to trick you. I promise,” she said.

  He still seemed reluctant to move, so she said in a sterner voice while still keeping the van on track,

  “Come on, chop chop, we haven’t got all day,” then gave him a small smile. It did the trick, he was up and out of his seat in a flash.

  She reversed into the drive of the fifth house down from Matt’s dad’s place. The van’s width went a long way to filling the gap between this house’s front wall and the next house. She wasn’t sure it would be enough to keep the dead from getting around the van, but if things went according to plan, then they should have nobody to worry about on return.

  None of the zombies in the street had caught up to them yet. Jenny quickly got out of her seat and grabbed her jacket and the bolt cutters. Amar was ready to go, wearing his thick outdoor clothing. As she put on her own coat, and also the one from the trawler, she said

  “We’re going out the back doors. Once we’re out you’ll keep a tight hold of my hand and keep quiet. Ok?”

  He nodded as she undid the lock and opened one of the double doors. She jumped out and helped the kid down before closing the doors and engaging the locks.

  “Be brave,” she whispered as they hurried up the side of the bungalow. Jenny stopped and surveyed the back gardens. All were empty. If they hadn’t been, then she would have abandon the plan.

  With the way ahead safe, they rushed to the dividing fence between house four and five. It took a little bit of effort to get Amar over but once they were in the next garden, they crossed to the next fence and did the same. She hadn’t been able to see all the dividing fences of each house and expected some of them to be higher. It was a bonus they were all the same climbable height. The pair of them carried on to Jenny’s goal and also evaded the zombies’ attention.

  The back door stood open. They approached and listened for a few moments. No sound came from within. Not taking anything for granted, Jenny raised her weapon ready to strike and crept into the house. Amar kept a tight grip on her hand as he trailed along behind her. The kitchen counters were in disarray. Every cupboard and drawer stood open, the shelves cleared out.

  Turning to Amar, Jenny put a vertical finger to her mouth and closed the back door. Nothing was scattered on the beige lino floor, so crossing the room didn’t require much stealth. The door to the hall was ajar. Slowly opening it further, she scanned ahead. The front door blasted a cold breeze towards her as she took in the other three room doors off the hall. They too were open. Jenny went forward and with stealth, peeked around the door frame into the first room. It was a decent sized bathroom. The medicine cabinet’s sliding doors were also open, the shelves devoid of contents. She moved to the next door on the right-hand side, which turned out to be a stark white front bedroom. Net curtains hung at the window, keeping eyes from prying in. And once again she found drawers and cabinets open. Clothes and belongings lay scattered everywhere in this room. The neatly made bed was covered in tossed mens clothes and books. Shoes and old National Geographic magazines lay scatte
red on the carpet floor.

  After creeping across the hall, past the front door, they reached the only door on the left. It led into a large, dated living room which was past its prime. The threadbare wine carpet could only be seen in places because of the magazines, newspapers and old vinyl records lying distributed everywhere. The mess didn’t seem to be that of someone in a hurry to leave, but of someone ransacking the place. Jenny took another moment to glance out the net clad window. The zombies were down the road, hovering around the van.

  Well, she guessed at least she was grateful there were no dead in the house and no sign of blood. She stepped further into the room and picked up a photo frame which lay face down on the floor. The picture showed a stern looking man with two young boys who seemed as equally glum as the adult between them. She recognised a very young Matt on the left. The other boy was taller and seemed to be a year or two older, perhaps eleven or twelve. Jenny removed the picture from its frame and put it in one of the large front pockets of the trawler coat. Amar silently watched her. Then she noticed a pack of cigarettes on the floor. Going to them, she saw they were the brand Matt smoked. The pack was empty, but on picking it up she had also noticed an ashtray on a dining room table. A single cigarette butt and ash was left behind. Did Matt smoke this one? She wondered. But she couldn’t confirm it was his, therefore she wasn’t really any further forward in knowing if they made it to this house or not. With nothing else to see, Jenny decided it was time to go.

  Taking another look out the window she saw a single male zombie inching down the street to join the others. She decided Amar and her would go out the back door and wait for it to pass before she put the rest of the plan into action.

  The back garden was still empty, so Jenny went to the corner of the bungalow and covertly watched the zombie. It still hadn’t reached the start of the drive yet. The corpse limped with some kind of damage to its left leg. As it came into full view, her stomach wrenched as she noticed the ragged stump at its ankle. It was walking on its footless leg, grinding the bone and skin down with each step. With all she had already seen she would have thought she would be used to sights like this by now, but her stomach said otherwise. She continued to keep an eye on the zombie’s progress until Amar tugged on her coat sleeve. When she glanced down to see what he wanted, she saw he was watching the tree line over the other side of the rear garden fence. She knelt down and whispered,

  “What is it?”

  The boy turned to her and whispered back,

  “I thought I heard voices,” turning to point at the fence, he continued, “I think there’s a man over there.”

  Hope rose again in Jenny, even though she hadn’t heard any voice, she wondered, what if they stayed in the area, but located to a different property?

  Keeping out of sight from the zombie in the street, the pair of them approached the wooden fence.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  It was difficult to see past the trees and shrubs but after a few moments, Jenny heard a man speaking. Regrettably, it wasn’t Matt or Clive, and she didn’t think the voice was coming from the opposite house’s back garden. The person sounded further away, on the street perhaps. She realised maybe her old group might have picked up some new people, and there was always the possibility of Matt’s dad being with them. Still, she remained wary and told Amar to keep quiet while they investigated.

  They waited until the limping zombie passed by. But once the coast was clear, Jenny helped Amar into the next garden along. The foliage wasn’t dense there and allowed a much better view of the row of houses behind the back fence. They were bungalows too. She couldn’t see or hear anyone. They waited until the voice sounded again. Now she was sure it was coming from the front of the house at the back of Matt’s dad’s. She felt it would be safer to put one more gardens length of distance between the person and Amar and her, so they climbed over another fence. Jenny hefted the weight of the bolt cutters in her hand and knew she wouldn’t hesitate to use them if need be.

  The garden they peered into was probably twenty-five feet at most, and the house appeared undamaged. They climbed over the fence and crept to the corner where Jenny could look down the drive. No one was in sight. Then she heard a rough voice whisper,

  “Get moving you lazy sod.”

  Amar and Jenny froze on the spot as a younger male voice answered,

  “My hands are blistered, it hurts.”

  “Aw, poor little rich kid, my heart bleeds. Get back to work before I really give you something to moan about.”

  “Can’t I just take some of these band-aids please, we’ve got plenty.”

  A female voice spoke up, and the boy yelped in pain as Jenny and Amar heard a slap making contact,

  “You, have got nothing. What’s in the barrow is ours. Get that straight kid, cause Ma and fucking Pa moneybags are gone, and you gotta earn your way now. So be a good little dick and do as you’re told.”

  There was a burst of quiet laughter from the rough spoken man.

  Jenny definitely didn’t like the sound of this and on looking down at Amar, he made a face and gave a thumbs down. She nodded.

  The man spoke again,

  “That door’s open, so get your arse in there and check it out.”

  Not being sure which open door the man was referring to, Jenny and Amar moved back up the driveway and hid behind the corner.

  From the quiet noises she heard, she deduced that someone was in the house next door to the one they waited at, probably the young male. The pair out front were quiet. Presumably waiting for their lackey to say the house was safe. Amar stood behind her while she watched for movement. A minute later, the searching boy appeared at the back door of the other house and scanned the garden. He was making sure no zombies were out there, but he spotted Jenny instead. She noticed his bruised and swollen black eye, and his blond hair was unruly and unwashed. She guessed his age range to be around twelve. He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe she was a real live person. He quickly looked back over his shoulder before bringing his eyes back to meet hers. She relaxed a little when he didn’t alert his companions. He noted the bolt cutters in her hand though and was obviously wary. She couldn’t blame him for that, so she drew Amar into his sight and whispered,

  “Come with us.”

  The boy studied Amar and she got the impression he was looking for injuries or signs the kid was scared of her. Amar put his gloved hand up and motioned for the newcomer to join them. Undecided, he took another glance back into the house. Jenny hoped the other pair wouldn’t enter the property and notice the boy’s interest in something. The next thing she knew, the boy bolted out the door and sprinted towards them.

  Jenny said, “We better get out of here before they notice you’re gone.”

  The tense boy nodded.

  Checking over the fence, Jenny affirmed the back garden behind was secure, so she helped Amar over. The other boy winced in pain as he climbed to the other side. They crossed the garden to the house wall. Jenny’s plan to set a car alarm off by hitting a vehicle with the bolt cutters was off the cards now, as it would also alert the other two horrible people. Her new idea would set the zombies moaning, but hopefully it wouldn’t immediately tell the other pair that their boy was escaping.

  They moved into the next garden, getting a little closer to Jenny’s camper. On looking down the drive, she couldn’t see any of the zombies in the street, but she could smell them and hear their feet shuffling. Jenny explained her scheme to the boys.

  “Stay here. I’m going to go down to the street and let the zombies see me. Once they move in this direction, we’ll run down the back gardens to the van.”

  “I want to go with you,” Amar whispered.

  Jenny considered this. She didn’t know the new boy and maybe he was playing along and planned to alert his group when he found out where Amar and Jenny were hiding. Her gut told her this wasn’t the case, but to be on the safe side she agreed to Amar’s request.

  He held ont
o her hand as they crept forward. The other boy followed too. She checked the street and saw a small crowd hovering around the motor home. Walking out onto the street, she tapped the ground with the cutters. Dead eyes turned to investigate the noise and on seeing fresh meat, they moaned and did as she expected. Amar’s hand trembled in hers as she stood there, waiting long enough to make sure as many as possible were on the move towards them. She had to give credit to the little terrified boy, he put his trust in her and stood his ground without complaint.

  The waiting was nerve-wracking, but Jenny wanted to make sure the dead were far enough away from the van. With no one coming up behind them and the zombies less than twenty feet away, they turned and walked back up the drive. She wanted to make sure they saw where she went. However, once she could no longer see the dead her group sprinted forward and began the process of getting over the other fences which stood between them and the camper.

  They didn’t see the other group of people which was good. Maybe they hadn’t realise the boy was gone, or the noise of the zombies was putting them off. Either way, it made life easier. Not so at the van though, as two corpses had accessed the garden. Jenny clicked the remote to unlock the van and told the boys to run for the back doors. She approached the nearest zombie and struck it on the side of the head, already moving on to the next one before the first one crumpled. The second corpse was tougher. He had been a fit young man in life and moved quicker than anticipated. She only managed a quick glancing blow off his shoulder as he lurched forward. Moving out of his way and keeping her nerve, Jenny swung again and connected with his forehead. Hearing the crunch of shattering skull, she ran for the van’s back door which the pair of boys were holding open for her. She launched herself in, locked it and rushed to the driver’s seat while telling the kids to sit down and put their seat-belts on.