After a moment she turned away and went back into the church, Russell followed close behind.
* * * * *
She looked at the people who had gathered together in the church. Rachel and David were calmly handing out blankets and pillows and little boxes filled with rations. No one appeared scared, no one looked worried. It reminded her of old films about the blitz in London and that made her feel sad.
On the one had it was good that they were pulling together, on the other it was a shame that they had to do so at all. This was the second time she had brought them to the church for their own protection, and she couldn’t say how many more times she would need to do so.
It was one thing hiding from zombies, it was another altogether to be hiding from other people.
Russell followed her through the church towards the rooms at the back of the building which had been set aside for use as their ‘battle room’. He closed the door behind him.
“What’s the plan?” he said.
Beth took her time removing her weapons and laying them on the table between them. Then she removed her coat and walked past him to hang it on the back of the door.
“Beth?” he said.
“Yes?” she said.
“Well?” he said. “What are we going to do?”
“We’ll stay here for the night and send someone out tomorrow to see what the damage is.”
“I mean about the Townies,” he said. “What are we going to do about them?”
“What do you mean?” she said. “Why would we do anything?”
Russell stood there for a moment with his mouth opening and closing and she couldn’t tell whether he was pleased by what she’d said or not.
“You said yourself that the zombies aren’t coming this way. Seems silly to put our people at risk if there’s no danger.”
He said nothing.
“Don’t you think?”
“I suppose,” he said. He looked at her as if he thought it was a trick.
“Sit down,” Beth said. “There’s nothing for us to do now. Do you want coffee?”
“Coffee would be good,” he said, but he didn’t sit down. He went to the door. “I should let Darrel know.”
Beth nodded and let him go. She leaned back in her chair and tried to relax. Although she had meant what she’d said to Russell, that there was no sense risking anyone’s life for the Townies, she still felt uneasy about it. If the zombies came and wiped them out then it would solve a big problem, but she still wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.
She told herself that Margaret would probably reject her help, if she offered it, and that all she was doing now was bypassing that conversation.
* * * * *
Beth looked up when she heard a knock on the door. Dawn didn’t wait for her to respond before coming in.
She sat up and smiled.
“How are you?” Beth said.
“Fine,” Dawn said. “I was helping Rachel clean some of the dressings.”
“That’s good. Have you had a chance to look at those books?”
Dawn shook her head. “Not yet. I’ve got them with me though.”
Beth smiled. Dawn was going to make a good nurse and, as an added benefit, it would keep her out of trouble.
“Can I sit down?” Dawn said.
Beth nodded and indicated the seat in front of her. Was it her imagination or did Dawn seem nervous?
Dawn sat down and Beth waited for her to start talking.
She didn’t.
“Do you want something to drink?”
“I’m fine,” Dawn said.
Beth went into the small attached kitchen to make herself a drink and to give Dawn a chance to think about what she wanted to say.
“Did you tell Russell that you wouldn’t help the Townies?” Dawn said.
“Were you spying on us?”
“You’re avoiding the question,” Dawn said.
“We were having a private discussion, why were you listening to us?”
“Are you going to help the Townies or not?”
“They don’t want our help; they’ve made that very clear.”
“You haven’t asked them.”
“They kidnapped our people, they blew up our homes, they killed Kathy. They don’t want our help. Even if they did, why should I give it?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
Beth looked at her little sister and wondered when she’d grown up. She still looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, but spoke like a woman.
“You know it’s the right thing to do, don’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten so defensive.”
“Dawn, it’s not as simple as that.”
“Isn’t it? It seems pretty simple to me.”
“And that’s why you’re not in charge. Listen, Dawn, I understand, I really do. You want to do the right thing and that’s great. Really. But you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dawn crossed her arms and pouted, which Beth thought went some way to proving her point.
* * * * *
Dawn stood up. She walked to the door without saying a word. She probably would have left without saying anything, if Beth hadn’t called her back.
“What?” Dawn said, sounding even more like a sulky teenager.
“Where are you going?”
“What does it matter to you?” Dawn said.
“Sit down,” Beth said.
Dawn didn’t sit, but she turned away from the door, crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Beth.
Beth stood up herself and walked towards her. “It’s not that I don’t want to help.”
“Then help,” Dawn said.
“I can’t.”
Dawn sighed dramatically and turned away. She pulled open the door.
“Where are you going?” Beth said.
“If you won’t help then I will.”
She reached out and tried to grab Dawn’s hand, but she was too slow and it slipped through her fingers.
People looked up as Dawn stormed through the church and then again when Beth went running after her.
“Come back here Dawn,” she said.
Dawn kept going and didn’t stop until she reached the door. Fortunately it was locked.
“Don’t you dare,” Beth said, seeing Dawn go for the key.
“I’m not going to just let them die Beth,” she said. “Either you need to help them, or I will.”
“You aren’t in charge Dawn and you aren’t going to blackmail me.”
“And you aren’t going to keep me a prisoner.”
“You’re not a prisoner.”
“So let me go.”
Beth realised that she had spent too much time in the company of adults. It seemed as if she no longer knew how to argue with a teenager. Dawn might have thought her logic was sound, but she wasn’t living in reality. Even if she went out she wouldn’t be able to do anything on her own. Chances were that she couldn’t even make it to the town hall before she was cut down by the zombies.
“Come on Beth,” she said. “You know it’s not right to let them die, not when you can help them.”
“I might not be able to help them,” Beth said, keeping her voice down and hoping that no one could hear.
“You could try,” Dawn said.
Beth sighed. “Come back to the office. Let’s talk about this.”
For a moment she thought Dawn would refuse. She could physically restrain her sister, but she didn’t want to resort to that.
“Okay,” Dawn said.
* * * * *
Dawn wanted to help the Townies and the more she thought about it the more Beth accepted that it was the right thing to do. It might even be the start of building a bridge between the two communities and that would make the long winter months easier to deal with. On the other hand, Margaret had made it clear that they didn’t want help, so there was a chance that, saving their lives, might actually make the situation worse.
Beth close
d the door, but they didn’t sit down. It wasn’t going to be a long discussion.
“No one else is going to want to help them,” Beth said. She could imagine the argument between her and Darrel if she even suggested it.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Dawn said.
“They might not even want our help.”
“And they might be too proud to ask for it.”
Beth sighed because she knew that Dawn was right. She couldn’t just stand back and let the zombies swarm through the town, killing everyone outside of her group. It wouldn’t be right and it wouldn’t solve the problem of Will. What would she do with him if the Townies were all dead? Abandon him? Let him join them? Kill him?
“I can ask,” Beth said. “But I won’t order anyone to help, and if there aren’t enough volunteers to mount a rescue--”
“You can convince them,” Dawn said.
“If there aren’t enough volunteers,” Beth repeated, “then we’ll have to give up the idea. Agreed?”
Dawn looked like she wanted to keep arguing.
“Are we agreed Dawn?”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yes, fine, agreed.”
Beth was pleased that she’d managed to convince Dawn not to go running through the street trying to help the Townies, but now she had the much more difficult task of trying to convince people they should volunteer to help a group of people who had, seemingly, tried to kill them. It wouldn’t be an easy and she would have to really try, or Dawn would know, and follow through with her original threat.
* * * * *
Beth stood at the alter and tried not to think about the last person who had stood there to make a speech. What had happened to them? Were they dead or only nearly dead? Maybe they were part of Margaret’s group and she was about to find out whether their life would be saved or not.
She had gathered everyone together, including as many of the people who had been outside as she could afford to spare.
They fell silent without her saying anything. It seemed as if they had been waiting for her.
“The zombies aren’t coming this way,” she said, deciding not to waste time with small talk. There was no time for it. “At the moment, they’re on their way to the town hall.”
There was a sigh of relief and she didn’t blame anyone for feeling that way, she had been relieved when she had found out as well. She turned away from them and saw Dawn standing by the door to the office, she nodded, urging her to continue. Beth turned back to her audience.
“When we arrived in Carningsby there was a swarm of zombies attacking the town hall, trying to get in. The Townies were doing nothing, they’re defenceless.”
There was only silence now as people waited to find out what she was going to say. She could feel the weight of their expectations.
“We could help them,” she said.
“Why should we help them?” Ellen said
“That’s a good question and I’ll be honest with you, I don’t have a great answer. I didn’t want to help them at first either.” She turned her head slightly so that she was addressing everyone. “They tried to scare us away and when that didn’t work they tried to blow us up. They killed Kathy. This would be the perfect chance to get rid of them, right?”
There were some mutters of agreement, but only Ellen’s voice was clear and firm.
“That’s what I thought too, but what do we gain? What do we gain if we stand by and let a group of people, a community, get eaten by the zombies?”
“Revenge!” someone shouted and Beth couldn’t tell who.
She started to nod. “Maybe, maybe we do, but then what?”
There was no answer.
“Then they’re gone and we’re still here, knowing that we could have helped them and knowing that we didn’t. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I could live with myself knowing that I stood by and let people die.”
“Maybe they deserve it?”
“Maybe they do, but that’s why we’re better than them. If we let the zombies get to them there will just be more zombies for us to fight later.”
She waited to see if there would be any more comments but no one spoke. Beth looked across the room and tried to work out whether she had convinced them. There would be no way of knowing until she saw which way they voted.
“Are we in agreement that we should try to help the Townies?” she said. “Raise your hand if you agree.”
At first nobody moved and she started to worry that they were all against the idea. Then she raised her hand and a moment later a few others did the same. Soon everyone in the room had their arm in the air, with the exception of Ellen and the people immediately next to her. Beth smiled to herself, but thought that she would have to be wary of the girl and her supporters in the future.
“That’s good,” she said. “Very good.” Beth lowered her hand. “The next thing I need is volunteers. This isn’t a normal mission; I’m not going to order anyone to go. But if you know how to use a gun and you want to help, put your hand up now.”
Again she raised her hand and waited.
* * * * *
There were more of them than she expected. Half a dozen including herself, but, Russell and, to her surprise, Darrel. Noel volunteered as well and she felt pleased about that. She would be working with people who she trusted.
Dawn was standing at the door when Beth reached it.
“I don’t suppose there’s any point asking if I can come, is there?” she said.
“No chance,” Beth said. “You don’t know how to use a gun and besides, I need you here.”
“What am I supposed to do here?” she said.
“You’re the nurse, remember? You need to make sure everyone’s okay, and keep yourself alive in case we need you when we get back.”
“I’m not a nurse,” Dawn said.
“True, but keep reading those books and stick close to Rachel. You’ve already got a job to do, so let me do mine.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Now,” Beth said. “I’m hoping we can get there before the zombies, maybe convince the Townies to leave with us instead of sticking around.”
“Do you think you can?”
Beth shook her head. She didn’t think she stood a chance of convincing Margaret to do anything. It had occurred to her that this would be a good time to take Will back, that maybe Margaret would be more willing to listen to her then, but the logistics were too complex and they needed to be quick.
“I can try though, and if she won’t listen, she can’t stop us shooting zombies.”
“Good luck,” Dawn said.
Beth stopped at the door and turned back to look at her sister. She nodded and then stepped out of the room to join the volunteers who were already waiting for her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Beth led them out of the church. As soon as the door was closed behind them there was silence. She could hear Noel breathing and Russell’s heavy footsteps. None of them spoke. They stuck to the darkness and made their way onto the street.
The latest snowfall was still fresh and, despite the darkness, Beth could see that they were the first to come this way. The snow crunched under their boots. There was no sign or suggestion of movement in the distance, but when the wind was just right, she could hear the moan of zombies.
They were close.
They walked as quickly as they could, keeping near the buildings where they would be able to seek shelter if they came across zombies.
Beth recalled the way the zombies had flocked towards the building before and she wondered whether there was any reason for it, other than the fact that there were so many people there. Perhaps the zombies were somehow aware of that, in the same way that animals seemed to be aware of nearby food. Maybe they could smell the Townies and saw the town hall as a lunch box, of sorts.
After nearly half an hour of walking they began to approach the town hall. Each of them removed the safety from their favourite weapon and as a group th
ey slowed down, keenly aware that there might be a zombie around every corner.
* * * * *
The town hall looked abandoned, just as Beth had believed it to be when they’d first arrived. The only difference this time was that there were no zombies outside, yet.
“They can’t be far,” Russell said, his voice was gruff, even as a whisper.
She nodded. Now that they had stopped again she could hear their moans in the distance and they seemed to grow louder with every moment that passed.
“We’ll be quick,” she said.
Beth walked towards the front door, knowing that, despite appearances, there would be people in the building watching her. If it had been any other group she might have worried that they would shoot her, but she couldn’t imagine Margaret giving that order.
She knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
To her surprise the door swung open.
* * * * *
Despite having been there before, Beth didn’t recognise it. Her memory of the place was of bare walls, pipes and wires. The entrance hall was impossibly grand in comparison and might have been even more so, if she had been able to see it clearly. There was a thick carpet under her boots and the walls were covered in large paintings of people and landscapes. At the end of the hall there was a staircase.
“I guess we go up,” she said.
“Lead the way,” Russell said.
With something like reluctance, Beth led them to the stairs and up. She didn’t know what she would find at the top.
As they rounded the last corner she saw the giant standing there.
Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Absolute Zero Page 15
