Velma stood and found that her legs were wobbly. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to thank Harold or curse him for getting her into this situation in the first place. She turned away and walked to the door, clasping the handle as if it was the only thing in the world that was keeping her upright.
CHAPTER TEN
In the twilight of the day, the camp looked beautiful. The leaves on the trees had begun to turn a burnt orange colour and sun lit a misty trail across the grass. Beth was sitting beneath a tree and looking down on the convoy. Waiting for something that seemed as if it would never come.
It was a peaceful scene, but it didn’t last.
In the distance, Beth could hear a motorbike engine, but she was getting used to that. People went out every day, scouting for zombies, or looking to see what was ahead so they could decide which way to go. The motorbike that she could hear now was not a concern.
The bike stopped in front of the jeep and Darrel climbed off.
Beth watched him run into the first caravan. She couldn’t hear what he said, to whoever was in there, but found that she was leaning forwards as if she might be able to see what was going on. A moment later Russell emerged.
He looked around and then saw her at the top of the hill. He pointed at her, and Beth wondered what she had done.
She stood and walked down towards him.
“I need you to get your people together,” he said.
They’re not my people, she thought but had the presence of mind not to say. “Why? Has something happened.”
“Dad!” Darrel said, coming charging out of the caravan.
Russell ignored him. “There’s zombies coming,” he said.
“Where?” Beth said, looking around as if she might be able to see them.
“Over the hill,” he said, nodding in the direction Darrel had come from. “About a day away, but I want us long gone by the time they get here.”
“We can fight them,” Darrel said.
Russell turned around to face him. “How many did you say there are?”
“I might have been wrong.”
“Just tell her Darrel.”
Darrel looked away as he spoke. “Maybe a thousand.”
Beth gasped and put a hand over her mouth. All she could think about was the swarm of zombies she and Dale had seen from the window of the house they’d broken into back in Harmony. That might have been a thousand.
“You said at least a thousand,” Russell said.
“We can still fight them,” Darrel said.
“Not if we don’t have to,” Russell said. “We’ve got children with us now Darrel, I’m not taking the risk.”
Beth wondered how the small group would have fared against more than a thousand zombies. If Darrel was willing to fight, and the only reason Russell seemed opposed to the idea was the risk to the children, then they must have been pretty confident. She wanted to ask if they’d fought that many before, but didn’t.
Russell turned back to her. “We’re leaving at sunset,” he said. “Get your people together before then and be ready.”
Beth nodded. Russell and Darrel turned away from her and went back into the caravan.
* * * * *
She found Rachel in the campsite. She’d taken to sleeping in the cave where she could usually rely on not being disturbed. Beth felt bad about waking her, but she didn’t have time to waste.
“Knock-knock,” Beth said as she bent down and climbed through the cave entrance. It was dark and cool in the enclosure and at first, she didn’t notice anything unusual about it. Their noise was quiet and easily covered by the sound of her crawling through the tunnel.
Rachel appeared to be sitting on the floor looking at her. It took a moment for Beth’s eyes to adjust to the darkness and when she realised that Rachel didn’t have a top on she turned away instinctively.
“I’m sorry Rachel, I didn’t realise—“
Rachel screamed and suddenly fell forwards, covering herself and trying to turn away. “Shit! Beth, what are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you,” Beth said, still not turning around.
“Can’t it wait?”
“No, it’s important.”
She listened to Rachel moving around, presumably picking up clothes and getting dressed. Beth gave her as long as she could afford to cover herself and then turned. She was surprised to see David sitting on the floor beside her. His hair a mess and his cheeks flushed, he hadn’t bothered to put a top on, and she could see the dark hair that covered his chest.
It took an embarrassingly long time for her to realise what she had stumbled in on.
“I’m so sorry,” Beth said.
“It’s okay,” Rachel said. She smoothed down her hair and then turned to David, putting a hand on his arm in a tender gesture. “Can you give us a minute?”
David nodded and started to get up.
“It’s okay,” Beth said. “You should stay as well David.”
He looked at Rachel for confirmation, and she gave him a small nod. David sat down again.
They made an odd couple. He was in his late twenties, and she had to be ten years older than that. Beth supposed that potential partners were slim on the ground now and that people were being more open to possibilities they might not previously have considered.
“We’re leaving tonight,” Beth said. She wanted to get out of the cave as quickly as possible.
“Tonight?” Rachel said. She turned to David and then back to Beth. “That’s so soon. Shouldn’t we wait until morning?”
Beth shook her head and told them about the zombies that Darrel had seen coming over the hill.
Neither Rachel nor David argued with her after that. They fell silent, and Beth crept out of the cave.
Noel was sitting by the river which seemed fitting.
“Where’s Dawn?” Beth said as she approached him.
Noel looked up. “She’s with the convoy. She’s safe.”
Beth knew that she would have to get used to Dawn doing her own thing, not only was her sister getting older, but Beth would likely be too busy to keep track of her all the time once they were on the road.
“We’re leaving then?” Noel said.
“You heard?”
He shook his head. “I can’t think of any other reason you’d come looking for me.”
Beth sat on the ground next to him. “There’s a swarm of zombies coming,” she said.
“Thank you for letting me know,” he said. “Do you need any help getting ready?”
Beth shook her head.
“Is something wrong?” she said.
“Why would you think that?” he said.
“Because you’re talking like you aren’t planning on coming,” she said.
Noel didn’t say anything.
“You are coming with us Noel, aren’t you?”
He didn’t reply. Beth put a hand on his arm, and he turned to look at her. Now that she looked closely she could see that he had recently been crying.
“You’re coming with us Noel,” she said, not a question this time, but an order.
“If you say so,” he said.
Beth turned to face him, but he refused to look at her. “That’s not a good enough answer.”
Noel stared into the distance.
“What’s going on Noel?” she said. “What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “Does there have to be something wrong?”
“This isn’t a game,” she said. “And we don’t have long. Can you just tell me what’s wrong so I can do something about it and we can both get out of here?”
Noel closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “I’m being silly,” he said. “Don’t pay any attention.”
“What is it?” she said.
“I just... I just wonder...” He shook his head, and Beth thought he might cry. “This isn’t the life we wanted.”
“You and Oscar?” she said.
“We knew it would be difficult, everything always seems to be,
but we had a home, and we had friends. We had a life in Harmony.”
She stroked his arm. “Harmony’s gone.”
Noel shook his head.
Beth started to correct him, if he thought there was anything left in Harmony, if there was some minor possibility that Oscar might have survived, then she would lose him.
“Oh don’t look at me like that,” Noel said. “I know there’s no going back. But Harmony wasn’t just a place, it never was. Harmony is all of us, the people, who lived there.”
In the distance she could hear a bird singing and, beyond that, the sound of revving engines. She guessed that there was still a couple of hours before sunset and that Russell wouldn’t leave early. More than likely they were just running through some last minute checks of the vehicles.
Noel continued: “If we’re part of the convoy then what does that mean for Harmony?” he said. “It will all be gone.”
“It doesn’t mean that,” Beth said. “I’m still here, Dawn and Rachel and the children are still here.”
“I know, but it’s going to be different.”
“Of course it will,” Beth said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be worse. Promise me you’re coming with us.”
“Okay,” Noel said.
“Promise me, Noel,” she said.
He stared at the running water for a while longer and she thought that he would answer truthfully the next time he spoke. “I promise,” he said.
Beth sat with Noel for a while longer, but neither of them said much. They were too lost in their own thoughts about what they were losing by joining the convoy. After a few minutes, she stood up and brushed herself down.
“I’ve got to go and tell the others,” she said.
“Of course,” Noel said.
“Don’t forget,” Beth said, trying to sound positive. “You promised.”
“I know,” Noel said and went back to looking at the water before she had even turned away.
The others were easy to find, and they took the news as well as she could have expected. Those who she told about the zombies were initially shocked, but soon recovered. She had thought there might be panic, but that only proved that she had forgotten how long these people had been living with the constant fear of zombie attacks.
* * * * *
People began to gather around the vehicles. Colette led Beth to the front of the group beside Russell, Matilda, and their other daughter, Tiffany.
“Your people are all here?” Russell said.
She looked around but, without getting the two groups to separate and conducting a head count, there was no way she was going to know for sure. “I think so,” she said.
“Then load them up,” Russell said. “We need to get moving.”
Beth started to move, but before she got two steps away, the crack of a distant gunshot made her stop. She turned to look up the hill, but she couldn’t see anyone there. She turned to look at Russell, but he didn’t seem to know what had happened either.
Three bikes appeared one after the other, flying over to top of the hill at what she could only assume was maximum speed. Although they were still far away, she could see that there were two people on each bike. One facing towards her, the other facing away. Three more shots were fired, but she couldn’t see what they were shooting at.
“Everyone inside now!” Russell shouted, his voice boomed as loudly as the gunshots.
To their credit, his people didn’t panic. Which made it easier for Beth to see her people amongst the crowd. She hurried forwards and began ushering them into the rear camper, which was going to be theirs until they found something more suitable.
She held the door open.
“Get in,” she shouted. “Come on, hurry up.”
She counted them off: the children were there, Rachel and David urging them forwards. Dawn was there, trying to distance herself from the young children while still moving towards the door. Even Noel was there, but he didn’t look happy about it. She smiled at him as he passed and, when the last of the group was safely aboard, she followed them in and closed the door.
They had been given a driver and a navigator so there was nothing for any of them to do except find a seat and wait. The engine rumbled to life beneath them, and they began to move forwards.
Beth found a seat by a window and looked out, hoping that she wouldn’t see any zombies and that the bikers would reach them in time.
* * * * *
Beth watched the bikers race down the hill and behind them came the zombies. There were so many of them that she didn’t know where to look. They fell over one another and down the hill at increasing speed. She had never seen them move so quickly and desperately. She began to wish that the bikers had led them somewhere else.
The door burst open, and one of the children started to cry. Beth heard Rachel comforting the kid and turned her attention to the door where Russell was standing and looking at her.
“You know how to fire a gun?” he said.
Beth nodded and tried not to think about the last time she had done so, in the ruins, minutes before Dale had been killed, when she’d still thought there had been a chance for them.
Russell handed her a snub-nosed machine gun, and she looked at it. The only guns she had fired were small pistols and rifles. It was surprisingly heavy. He handed her clips of ammunition.
“Get on the roof and if any of them come near, shoot them, okay?”
She nodded, and he looked at her for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure she was going to do it. Then he nodded and stepped away from the door, not closing it behind him.
“Beth you don’t have to do this,” Noel said.
He was standing behind her when she turned around. “It’s okay.”
“Let me go up,” Noel said.
“It’s fine,” she said. “Make sure everyone’s okay down here. Try to keep them calm.”
Noel nodded, and Beth walked out.
Outside it was close to dark and the caravan was moving at a walking pace. She felt around the edge to find the ladder. Once she was on the roof she crouched, to keep her centre of balance low, and found a place with handrails where she could sit and fire the gun.
The zombies were too far away to see clearly and distinguish from the bikers, and the last thing she wanted to do was hit one of them by mistake. Clearly she was only there as a precaution, in case they didn’t get away in time. The best thing for everyone would be if no shots were fired.
The caravan wasn’t moving much quicker than walking pace, and the dark mass of zombies were cascading down the hill towards them like a waterfall. She saw the bikers pull up alongside the caravan and heard voices shouting, but what they were saying remained unclear.
They started moving more quickly, and she had to drop a hand from the gun to hold on. At first, they were travelling straight towards the mass of zombies, but then the convoy began to turn. The bikers followed alongside, keeping between the caravans. Perhaps if the zombies got much closer, the bikers could peel off and lead them away.
Beth aimed at the mass of zombies. She couldn’t help feeling that shooting them now wouldn’t do any good. There were simply too many of them out there. Despite Darrel’s bravado, there was no way that the small group could kill them all.
As the convoy picked up speed and continued to change direction, Beth turned so that she could keep a bead on the zombies. They weren’t getting closer, but they were keeping up, and that was just as bad. She didn’t know what the roads were like, but if they met an obstruction that they couldn’t easily get around then, they would be trapped.
There was more shouting, and she could make out Russell’s voice from the jeep at the front. If he was calling instructions, then they didn’t make it as far as her. She kept watching, trying to ignore the sound of children crying in the caravan below.
The field was bumpy, and they couldn’t travel quickly, but gradually the zombies fell behind. Even at just twenty miles an hour, sometimes only fifteen, the und
ead couldn’t keep up. Beth watched the dark shapes recede into the distance and only hoped that they wouldn’t meet more along the way.
By the time they reached the road, she could no longer see the zombies. They had to stop to open the gate and then one by one the trucks and caravans left the field behind.
“You can come down now,” Russell said.
Beth looked over the edge of the roof and saw him standing by the gate. She nodded and looked back across the field towards the place where she knew the camp site had been. Their time there was over now.
“Beth?” Russell said.
She swung her legs over the side. When she got to the ground, she held the machine gun out to him.
“Keep it,” he said. “There might not be time to get it to you if you need it again.”
“Do you know where we’re going?” she said.
Russell shook his head, turned and started walking away. “We’ll find out when we get there.”
Beth climbed into the caravan and thought that it didn’t matter where they went because they were already there. For better or worse this was going to be their home now.
She found a seat next to Dawn. The engine started, and they began to move forwards, away from the campsite and away from Harmony. For a while, at least, she could relax and believe that everything was going to be okay.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Velma stood at the gate. There were two sentries standing on the wall either side of it, at least twenty metres above her. They were both staring out at the forest beyond, neither one of them had acknowledged her arrival. There had been a jeep waiting for her when she’d arrived, but no soldiers. It was now 0910 which meant they were late.
What was she supposed to do if they didn’t turn up?
A part of her felt relieved that she wouldn’t have to leave the compound, but then she remembered the man who had spat on her and the dirty looks she kept getting, the whispers in the corridors, eating by herself while everyone else crammed onto benches to avoid her. That wasn’t a life she was desperate to hold onto.
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