Twenty-Five Percent (Book 2): Downfall

by Nerys Wheatley

  He smiled. “I think you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

  He held out the Turkish Delight again. She smiled and took it.

  Angela shook her head slowly, watching Claire and Sam chat as they ate. “I haven’t been able to get her to say ten words since she got here.”

  Alex smiled. “Sam is an unusual man. And he certainly has a way with people.”

  They stayed while the church hall gradually emptied of the people who had been trapped there for days. Thanks to the boxes of confectionary they’d found in the Co-op warehouse, everyone went home chewing on a chocolate bar of some sort. Some of them came over to thank Alex and Micah. Most didn’t. Sam spent the whole time talking with Claire.

  Chloe brought her grandparents over to them and her grandfather shook both Micah and Alex’s hands.

  “Chloe’s told us what you did for her. We’ve lost...” His voice cracked and he paused as his wife slid her arm through his. “We’ve lost our son and daughter-in-law, but thanks to you we have our granddaughter. If there is anything we can ever do for you, don’t hesitate to ask. Please.”

  Chloe ran over to say goodbye to Sam. She returned carrying all three books of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. After hugging Alex, she held onto Micah the longest.

  “You’ll be okay,” he said, smiling. “I think you’re tougher than all of us. And go easy on any passing soldiers.”

  She laughed and then blushed when he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  Micah sighed as they watched Chloe leave with her grandparents. “Remember when you could say goodbye to someone and not have to be scared they would die without you?”

  “She’ll make it,” Alex said. “We all will.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  Alex looked across the room at Sam. “I have to.”

  When almost everyone had gone and Alex and Micah were getting ready to leave, Sam jogged over to them.

  “Um, I’m really grateful for everything you’ve done for me, allowing me to come with you,” he said, “and I don’t like asking for more...” He glanced back at Claire who was standing, watching them. “Claire has nowhere to go. She was on holiday with her mum when they got caught by eaters and her mum was killed, and she can’t get home to her dad and brother in Carlisle and she’s all alone and sad and scared and everyone hates her because she’s a Survivor, even though she’s only been one for a few months, and...”

  “Sam,” Alex interrupted, “she can come with us.”

  There looked to be a real danger that Sam’s smile would split his face in half. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he said, bouncing on his toes. “You’ll really like her. She’s funny and clever and brave and you won’t regret this, I promise.”

  “I take it you like her,” Micah said with a smile.

  Sam flushed red. “She’s so pretty, don’t you think? I mean, I know I don’t have a chance with her, she is so far out of my league. Although I’m not even sure I have a league. But at least we could be friends.”

  Alex frowned, confused. “Uh, Sam, I thought you were... I mean, when we met yesterday, you wanted to... um... aren’t you gay?”

  “No. Why?” His eyes widened. “Ohhh. You thought because I wanted to, you know, with you? No, that was because I really, really like Survivors. And I didn’t want to die a virgin. But mostly because I just love Survivors. Although, given a choice, I’d kind of rather it was a girl Survivor. Not that I’d say no if you changed your mind. Have you changed your mind?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  Sam nodded. “Well, if you do, let me know. The offer still stands.”

  He looked back at Claire and Alex took the opportunity to glare at Micah whose shoulders were shaking with stifled laughter.

  “I’ll go and tell Claire she can come,” Sam said, spinning on his heel and running back to her.

  “When you’re quite finished,” Alex said to Micah.

  “I’m so sorry you’ve lost your admirer,” he said. “Do you need a moment to collect yourself?”

  “You are so immature.”

  “Because I can give you some privacy if you need to shed a few tears.”

  “No-one thinks you’re funny but you.”

  “Rejection can be hard to handle...”

  “I swear I will knock that smile right off your face.”

  After saying goodbye to Ryan and Angela, they left the church and headed across the square to collect the motorbikes. The eaters were clearly visible inside the Co-op, many of them pressed against the windows, their fingers scraping at the glass.

  “That’s where you put the eaters?” Claire said. “How did you get them in there?”

  Alex was pleased to see she hadn’t replaced the brown contact lenses she’d been wearing when he first saw her. To get through life, Survivors had to develop a thick skin when it came to what others thought of them. Maybe he could teach her what he’d learned in the four years since he’d been infected. He liked the idea of being a mentor.

  “We lured them in there, locked the doors and got out the back,” Micah said. “Although it wasn’t quite as easy as that sounds.”

  “We were trapped,” Alex said. “Without Sam’s help we might not have got out.”

  “Really?” she said, gazing at Sam in admiration.

  He threw Alex a look of profound gratitude. “I just cleared a path so they could get through,” he said, shrugging and staring at the ground.

  Claire smiled and touched his arm. “Sounds impressive to me.”

  Micah and Alex exchanged knowing glances. It seemed Sam had more of a chance with the girl of his dreams than he thought he did.

  They found the bikes where they’d left them and Micah handed his helmet to Claire.

  “You get I’m a Survivor, right?” she said. “If we crash, I’m far more likely to come out of it alive than you are.”

  “Is that true?” Micah said, looking at Alex.

  “I really don’t know.” Alex had always regarded ‘research’ as a dirty word.

  “It’s true,” Sam said. “Having denser, stronger muscles means your bones have to strengthen to support them. It’s basic Survivor physiology.”

  “So you should keep this,” Claire said, handing the helmet back to Micah. “Plus, I’m less likely to eat a bug sitting behind you.”

  “This isn’t your first time on a motorbike,” Alex said.

  She climbed on behind Micah. “My boyfriend had one. He was very proud of it. Used to take me driving a lot.”

  Sam’s face fell. “So you have a boyfriend.”

  “I should say ex-boyfriend. He left me when I was infected. When I got my mind back there was an email waiting for me. He didn’t even have the guts to dump me face to face.”

  “That’s a pity,” Sam said. “You could have hit him really hard.”

  Claire grinned at him. “That was my biggest regret.”

  . . .

  They drove for some time, wending their way through the countryside, until Micah came to a stop. Alex pulled up next to him and flipped up his visor.

  For a while, Micah stared into the distance without moving, face hidden behind his visor, his bike idling. They’d known each other for less than three weeks, but already Alex felt like he knew the man better than some people he’d known his whole life. So even before Micah spoke, Alex knew what he was going to say. He was surprised it had taken him this long to bring it up.

  Micah flipped up his visor to reveal his pained expression. “Alex...”

  “Chloe has got you thinking about your sister.”

  Micah dropped his gaze and nodded.

  “And you want to go and check on your family.”

  Micah sighed. “I know...”

  “You know it will add on hours, maybe even days, to our journey to Omnav, but you’re scared if you leave it, it will be too late.”

  Micah opened his mouth.

  “And you also know there’s a chance we might not make it out of Omnav,
and you can’t stand the thought of dying without knowing your family is safe.”

  Micah flashed him an exasperated glance. “Will you stop doing that?”

  Alex suppressed a smile.

  Micah sighed again. “If you want to split up so you can go straight to find Hannah, I’ll understand. I know how important this is, not just for Hannah, but maybe we could even find a way to stop all this somehow. It’s just...”

  “You can’t...”

  “Stop it!”

  They lapsed into silence. Alex watched a handful of woolly white dots grazing a field in the distance for half a minute before nudging Sam from behind him and climbing off his bike. He opened the seat and pulled out a map, unfolding it and holding it out in front of them.

  “So if we take this road here, that’s the most direct route to your parents’ house.” He traced a finger across the map.

  Glancing at Micah beside him, Alex saw the relieved gratitude in his friend’s eyes before he moved his gaze to the map.

  “We’ll have to circle around Mansfield,” Micah said, “but that shouldn’t take us too long. Maybe we’ll even get there by tonight.”

  Alex folded up the map. “Okay. Let’s get going then.”

  15

  They stared up at the outside of the detached, stone built house. A climbing rose looped around the white front door, a few cream-coloured blooms clinging to the thorny stems.

  Flowers still filled the small cottage garden even in September and it was obviously well loved and cared for. Apart from the lengthening lawn. But they’d seen that everywhere they’d been in the past three weeks. People had better things to do than mow the grass. Like trying to stay alive.

  “My mum was never into gardening before we moved here,” Micah said, staring at the colourful display. “The first thing she said to my dad was, ‘I’m not looking after this. Either you do it or we cover it with gravel.’ Then after we moved in I went off to college and by the time I came back for half term she’d turned into Alan Titchmarsh.”

  He smiled, but Alex could see the fear in his eyes. Micah was stalling.

  “I can go in first and check it out, if you want,” Alex said.

  Micah looked at the front door. “No. I’m fine. I can do it.” He smiled again. “You know your track record with going into places first. It would kind of suck if my dad ended up being the next person to stab you.”

  “You say that as if it’s a foregone conclusion there will be a next person to stab me.”

  “Given the last few weeks, I think that’s a fairly good bet.”

  “How many times have you been stabbed?” Sam said.

  Alex looked up, trying to remember. “Three?”

  “Are you counting the man with the sword?” Micah said. “Because technically he didn’t stab you, you just got cut when you grabbed the sword.”

  “But he was trying to stab me, and I got hurt as a result. So yes, I’m counting it.”

  “Someone had a sword?” Claire said.

  “Alex grabbed the blade and pulled it out of his hand,” Micah said. “I think that was the moment I realised the man I’d somehow got stuck with for a huge eater outbreak had a hole in his marble bag.”

  Sam’s eyes were wide. “Didn’t it hurt?”

  Alex nodded at Micah. “That’s exactly what he said. And yes, it did.” He opened his hands to reveal the pink scars still healing on his palms.

  “Wow. That is so cool. Did you keep the sword?”

  “It’s at home. I didn’t think it would be much use for sneaking into Omnav.”

  “Plus, he’s rubbish at using it,” Micah said.

  “I’m not bad.”

  “I feared for my life on more than one occasion when you were swinging that thing around.”

  Alex shook his head. “You’re just jealous because you don’t have a sword.”

  “Why would I want a sword?”

  “Chicks dig swords.”

  “Chicks dig stunning good looks, ripped bodies and highly intelligent minds. And I don’t think there’s any doubt who comes out ahead in all three of those categories.”

  “Sword-envy is an ugly thing,” Alex said.

  Claire snorted, putting one hand over her mouth as she laughed quietly.

  Micah drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Alright, I’m ready.”

  He walked up the path, pulling a set of keys from the front pocket of his jeans. Pushing one of them into the keyhole in the door, he hesitated.

  “I’m right with you,” Alex said from behind him.

  Without looking back, Micah nodded, turned the key, and pushed open the door. Warm, stale air puffed from the doorway.

  Micah stepped over the threshold and called out. “Dad? Mum? Lucy?”

  No-one answered. Alex followed him into a wide, tastefully decorated hallway. Claire came next and Sam entered last, pulling the door closed.

  “Dad? Mum?”

  Walking to the closest doorway, Micah looked inside briefly. He crossed the hall to another door and, finding that room empty too, jogged along the hallway towards the back of the house. Alex followed, almost running into him when he entered the kitchen.

  Micah was standing stock still just inside the doorway, staring at the floor. Alex peered around him. At first, he saw nothing. Then he noticed a small, dry, red circle lying on the floor at the base of a cupboard. He stepped forward and saw several more drops beyond it.

  “It doesn’t mean anything,” Alex said softly. “It could just have been an accident, someone cut themselves. It doesn’t mean anything.” Despite his words, a sick feeling was developing in the pit of his stomach.

  “Then why didn’t they clean it up?” Micah said, his voice barely above a whisper.

  He turned abruptly and ran past Alex, back into the hallway where Sam and Claire were waiting by the front door. Alex followed him up the stairs. At the top, Micah was staring at a closed door. The doors to the other four rooms on the landing were open and Alex could see at a glance there was no-one in them.

  “What’s in there?” Alex said.

  “Lucy’s room.” Micah rubbed one hand down his face and looked at Alex. “What if...” He swallowed and a tear ran down his cheek. “I can’t...”

  “It’s alright. I’ll do it. I’ve got this.”

  Micah nodded, looking at his feet.

  Alex turned back to the door, his heart pounding.

  He wanted to take Micah, Sam and Claire and leave. He wanted to run away and hide until this whole thing went away. He wanted to go back to his old life with its report writing and MIA love life and people hating him for what he was.

  What he didn’t want to do was open that door. Because he knew what was behind it. He’d known the moment Micah had opened the front door and he’d smelled the air that came out.

  There was an eater in that room.

  Maybe it’s not her, he thought as he reached out his hand to the doorknob. Maybe they trapped an eater in here and left. Maybe...

  He grasped the knob and turned it, pushing open the door.

  Across the room, a teenage girl in jeans and a red t-shirt, her blonde hair in a messy ponytail, shuffled around to face them. Her white eyes locked on Alex and she uttered a rasping moan, lurching forward.

  Micah released a strangled cry, stumbling back against the wall, his eyes fixed on his worst nightmare. Alex pulled the door closed as Micah slid to the floor. Kneeling beside him, Alex wrapped both arms around his trembling shoulders.

  Micah leaned his face on Alex’s shoulder, clutching his jacket and crying in desperate, shuddering sobs.

  . . .

  “I think that’s all of it,” Sam said, straightening and throwing the wet wipe into the bin.

  He peeled the yellow rubber gloves off, leaving them in the sink and joining Alex, Micah and Claire at the kitchen table.

  Alex looked over at the floor tiles where he’d been working. All the blood was gone. “Thanks, Sam.”

  Sam nodded and took
a drink from his bottle of lemonade.

  Micah didn’t look up. A bowl of cold spaghetti and meatballs sat in front of him and he slowly pushed the food around with a fork without eating any of it. Alex wished he knew what to say. During his training he’d been taught how to deliver the devastating news to people whose loved ones had died, but ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ didn’t seem anything like the right thing to say now.

  A soft thud sounded above them and Micah winced, looking up at the ceiling. When he looked back down at his food, he wiped at a tear drawing a line down his already streaked face.

  “My mum only ever bought these for Lucy,” he said, stabbing the fork into a meatball and holding it up. “She loves them. For about two years from the age of nine, she had them with every meal. I used to tease her that she would turn into a meatball.” His face twisted in pain and he dropped the fork back into the bowl. More tears rolled down his cheeks. “She’s only sixteen. She had her whole life ahead of her.”

  Alex tried to sound reassuring. “She’s not gone yet. There’ll be a cure at Omnav and if there isn’t, Hannah and the others will make one. You can’t give up. We’ll get her back.”

  Sam sniffed and stood up, walking to the patio doors they’d opened to let the fresh air in and going out into the garden. Claire followed and they sat on a wood and cast iron bench, staring toward the trees at the end of the garden.

  Micah wiped his eyes, looking at Sam. “I keep forgetting what he’s been through. How does he keep going?”

  “Sometimes I think Sam is the strongest of all of us.”

  They were silent, staring out into the pretty garden.

  “I can’t help wondering how this happened,” Micah said after a while.

  Alex frowned, not understanding. “The outbreak?”

  “No, us. How did we end up as the John McClanes in this situation? I mean, going up against big, bad Omnav? It’s kind of insane.”

  Alex shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know, why not us? What’s Bruce Willis got that we don’t have?”