by Thomas Hall
‘I don’t want you to quit Dale,’ Beth said.
‘But you just said–‘
‘And what kind of person would that make me? Or you? If we put our happiness above other people’s safety?’
‘Happy people?’
She smiled. He hadn’t meant it as a joke.
Beth shook her head and turned away. ‘It’s better if we just don’t get involved.’
Dale watched her walk away for a moment. Then he went after her. He took her arm and forced her to turn and face him. ‘I already am involved Beth.’
She nodded. ‘Me too.’
‘So what are we supposed to do now?’
She shook her head.
‘Just go on being friends?’
‘Maybe we shouldn’t be seeing each other as much. It might be easier.’
Dale nodded.
‘I really care about you, Dale.’
He nodded again. Turned away so he didn’t have to look her in the face. After a moment, he heard her walk away. He waited until he couldn’t hear her anymore and then turned and followed her back to the village.
The Outlook was empty. Tom, the bartender, nodded at him as he walked in. He had a bottle of whiskey and a glass on the bar by the time Dale reached it.
Tom nodded to the back of the bar. Dale turned around. Jess was sitting by herself at the table next to the fire that seemed to be reserved exclusively for use by the patrol.
‘Thanks, Tom,’ Dale said. He picked up the bottle and the glass and walked towards the fire.
He sat down opposite Jessica without saying a word. She looked up at him. He opened the bottle and refilled her glass and then his own. He drank.
Jessica’s lived in an apartment above the old bakery. It still smelled of bread. There were clothes all over the floor and dirty dishes in the sink.
‘At the end on the left,’ she said.
Dale led her along the hallway and through the door into her bedroom. The bed was unmade. He threw her down and climbed on top of her. She pulled off her jeans. There was no time for seduction or romance.
When he heard her breathing change and knew that she was asleep Dale rolled away and stared into the darkness. He felt guilty even though he knew that he had no need. Beth hadn’t wanted him, Jess had. He was under no illusion that it was love but it was better than loneliness.
He closed his eyes and tried to sleep but sleep wouldn’t come. Outside the last few people in the world were stumbling home. Their feet shuffled along the ground and they moaned to one another. They sounded like zombies themselves and Dale might have gotten up to check but then he heard them speaking and knew that they were just drunks.
After what felt like hours Dale gave up trying to sleep. He climbed out of bed and stood in the cold room. His clothes were in a messy pile at his feet. He picked them up and started to get dressed.
‘Where are you going?’ Jessie said.
He turned back to look at her. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’
In the darkness, he could see well enough to watch her push herself up and lean on her elbows. She was naked. ‘You didn’t wake me.’
‘I can’t sleep,’ he said.
‘Me either.’ She leaned over and struck a match. She lit a candle by the bed and shadows danced around the room. ‘Come back to bed.’
‘I’m keeping you awake,’ he said.
‘You can if you like.’
‘I should go home.’
‘Get back into bed.’
He nodded and dropped his trousers back on the floor. He climbed beneath the covers and lay next to her. She was warm and soft. She put her arm under his head.
‘Do you want to talk about it?’ she said.
‘Not really.’ He put a hand on her leg.
She held him and he felt the worries he had been holding onto melt away. He closed his eyes and sleep began to creep over him. A short while later he woke up enough to see her blow out the candle and then there were only his dreams.
Beth stood on the other side of the door and refused to meet his eyes. Andrew stood between them and knocked on the thick wooden panel.
‘Come in,’ Wesley called.
Andrew turned the handle and pushed open the door.
Wesley’s office was just as it had been the last time Dale had visited. Beth led them in. Andrew closed the door behind them. Wesley was sitting behind his desk which was buried underneath a pile of papers and folders. He didn’t look up but waved at them dismissively.
‘Take a seat, I won’t be long.’
Dale sat beside Beth on the sofa. There was enough room between them that Demetrius would have been able to sit down. She had been cold towards him since they’d met outside the village hall that morning.
‘Beth?’ Dale said.
She turned towards him.
‘Is everything o–‘
She turned away and stared out of a window that overlooked the marketplace.
Wesley put down his papers and walked across the room towards them. He poured himself a drink but didn’t offer one to anyone else. He sat down opposite them on an ornate leather armchair.
‘Busy morning,’ Wesley said. He sipped his drink and then put the glass down on the table that stood between them.
Beth turned away from the window to look at him.
‘What have you got for me?’ Wesley said.
Dale looked at Beth. Beth turned away.
‘We found a farm,’ Dale said.
‘A farm?’ Wesley raised his eyebrows.
‘It’s about a mile past the ruins. Looks abandoned.’
‘Near the forest, though?’
Dale nodded. ‘We could clear the forest.’
‘Cutting down a few trees would be easier than building our own farm. How much land is it?’
‘It looked like a lot.’
Wesley nodded and sipped his drink. ‘We’ll need a lot. Five hundred mouths to feed and counting.’ He spoke to himself as much as to Dale.
‘You’re planning on building a farm?’ Beth said.
‘The food won’t last forever,’ Wesley said. ‘I’m having to send Runners further and further afield. It’s getting too dangerous.’
Dale looked at Beth and thought that she might continue to take part in the conversation but she crossed her arms and turned away.
‘I’ll need you to go back out there and take another look,’ Wesley said. He looked directly at Dale. ‘We need to get an idea of how much land we’re talking about and then I can assign people to start clearing the field. I’ll ask the runners to get seeds. You need to make sure it’s safe.’
Dale nodded.
‘Beth, you go with him.’
Beth nodded but didn’t turn back to look at them.
‘If we’re going to have a harvest next year we need to plant soon,’ Wesley said. ‘Dale, I want you to make this a priority, do you understand?’
Dale nodded.
Wesley stood up and walked back to his desk. Dale walked to the door and Beth followed him.
They walked in silence through the village. All around him, he could hear the residents of Harmony talking, joking and laughing amongst themselves. It would have been easy to believe that they weren’t the last outpost of humanity, that on the other side of the forest the rest of the world hadn’t been consumed with zombies. It was enough to put things into perspective.
He slowed so that he was walking beside Beth.
‘What’s the matter?’ he said.
‘Nothing,’ Beth said.
They walked in silence for another few metres. Dale hoped that she would tell him but she seemed content to ignore him.
‘Come on Beth. Don’t be like this.’
‘Like what?’
‘You know what. Just come on, talk to me. We’re still friends aren’t we?’
She shrugged. An old woman looked up at them as they passed. They both ignored her.
‘Have I done something to upset you?’
‘You tell m
e.’
He had thought that she didn’t know about Jess but he was willing to admit he might be wrong about that. He wasn’t willing to confess to her, though. As far as he was concerned he hadn’t done anything wrong.
‘You’re the one who rejected me,’ Dale said.
She nodded. She started walking more quickly.
He stopped for a moment and then jogged to catch up with her. ‘Stop acting like a child Beth.’
She stopped and turned around to face him. Her expression was unreadable. ‘I’m acting like a child?’
‘Just talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.’
‘Seriously?’ she said.
‘I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.’
‘You want to help me?’
‘If I can.’
‘Then why don’t you tell me the truth for once Dale.’
‘What do you–‘
‘Oh save it. I’m not interested.’
She marched away. Dale followed. He passed other people in the streets and she seemed to disappear. He tried to decide what he should say to her when he caught up. He didn’t want her to be angry with him. The truth was that what she said mattered to him and right now he felt like shit and he wasn’t sure why.
He found her at the ruins, standing on the rock where less than a week ago he had tried to kiss her. He reminded himself that she had turned away from him. She had rejected him.
‘Do you love her?’ Beth said. The anger seemed to have gone.
Dale climbed up on the rock beside her. She didn’t offer him a hand this time. He stared down at the farm. ‘It was a mistake,’ he said, feeling like it was the right thing to say. ‘I was upset.’
Beth nodded but she didn’t say anything. Dale guessed that she wanted him to explain further.
‘I was lonely and upset. I didn’t go looking for her.’
‘Did she come looking for you?’
Dale shook his head. ‘We were just talking. Drinking.’ He remembered how it had felt to fall asleep in Jessie’s arms. He’d felt safe. ‘It didn’t mean anything.’
Beth sat down on the rock. Dale sat down beside her. They stared out towards the farm.
‘I’m sorry,’ Beth said. She wasn’t looking at him. ‘I’ve got no right to be jealous.’
‘It’s okay,’ Dale said. He wanted to put an arm around her shoulder and comfort her. He didn’t like seeing her upset.
‘If you like her you should carry on seeing her.’
‘I don’t like her,’ he said. ‘It was a mistake.’
Beth closed her eyes. Dale dared to hope that her jealousy might have made her realise that she did want to be with him. That this whole thing might actually turn out to have been for the best.
‘Come on,’ Beth said. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
She stood up and Dale followed. The farm house looked a long way away as they began to walk towards it.
It was the first time that Dale had walked across such open land in more than a year. The hospital, the forest, the village, they were all enclosed. They all felt safe. The grass came up to his hips but it was thin and patchy. If they were attacked there was nowhere they could hide. The farmhouse seemed to get further away the further they walked.
As they got closer, the illusion of the building began to fail. The brick walls that had appeared solid from a distance began to show cracks. From a hundred meters away Dale could see right through it to the field on the other side. At fifty metres it looked as if he could huff and puff and blow it down.
‘Guess we won’t be using this,’ Dale said.
‘Wesley will get it repaired,’ Beth said. ‘If it can’t be repaired he’ll just build another one.’
Dale nodded. ‘Should we check on the other side of the hill?’
Beth turned towards the gently sloping hill. The openness made it difficult to judge how far they would have to walk to get to the top of it. Dale looked back and saw the outline of the village in the distance.
‘Maybe we should just go back,’ Beth said. They had walked for more than an hour to reach the farmhouse.
Dale nodded. They started walking. Suddenly he made a decision.
‘Beth wait,’ Dale said.
She stopped and turned back to him. There was no anger in her expression now, only curiosity. ‘What is it?’
He walked towards her and took her hands. She didn’t try to stop him.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Beth I know I’ve been an idiot. And I know my job is dangerous. I know I can’t force you to love me but I can’t stop myself from loving you either.’
He paused for her to respond but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t turn away either. He took that to be a good sign.
‘I just want you to know that I care about you and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.’
They stood for a moment that way. In the middle of the field, perfectly alone. He waited for her to say something. He dared to hope that she would tell him that she loved him too and that she had changed her mind. She didn’t.
‘We should go back,’ she said.
Dale let go of her hands. He felt as if he had done everything he could but it hadn’t been enough. He nodded. They walked back to the village in silence.
CHAPTER 9
THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT. DALE COULD TELL AS soon as they passed the ruins and the old buildings and the campsite came into view. It was in the air. Beth slowed down to walk beside him and he knew that she felt it as well. He could almost sense that she wanted to reach for his hand but she didn’t.
It was too quiet but there was something else as well. Not quite a noise, more like a vibration in the air. Dale felt his chest tighten. He should have insisted that they take weapons with them. It had been stupid not to take a gun each.
‘Slow down,’ he said. He realised that he was whispering.
‘What’s going on?’ Beth said.
He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’
They walked on more slowly. There weren’t many people in the village but they should have seen someone by now. It was too quiet.
They walked along the narrow streets between rows of houses and the vibration in the air began to sound like a moan. Then they heard footsteps.
Dale grabbed her hand and pulled her against the side of a house. He hit the wall hard and knocked the air out of himself.
‘Wait here,’ he said.
She didn’t let go of his hand. He turned back to look at her. ‘What is it?’ she said.
Dale shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Just wait here. Okay?’
Beth nodded and let go of his hand.
Dale kept close to the buildings as he walked towards the sound of footsteps. It sounded like a lot of people.
He stopped at the end of the street and forced himself to breath more slowly. To calm down. He recognised the anxiety that he was feeling. A part of him already knew that he was about to enter a war zone.
Dale looked around the corner. Another street but this one wasn’t empty. A dozen people were turned away from him but easily identifiable, by their withered bodies and shuffling walk, as zombies.
The zombies were walking away from him towards the middle of the village. None of them turned. Dale watched them for a moment and then went back to Beth.
She came towards him. ‘What is it?’ she said.
‘Zombies,’ Dale said.
Her eyes widened. ‘Here? How?’
‘I don’t know.’ He was trying to work out what they should do. The first thing was to make sure Beth was safe and then he could decide whether to stay with her or try to find Solomon.
The buildings around them were all unoccupied but they didn’t seem safe. Further back there were the ruins and he might be able to hide her there but they would be close to the forest and if more zombies were attracted by the moans, she wouldn’t be able to run away. He calculated the possibilities and speculated on what might happen.
‘We need to get
Dawn,’ Beth said.
Dale turned towards her.
‘She should be at school.’
‘She’ll be safe there,’ Dale said. ‘They’re well protected.’
Beth wasn’t listening to him. She started to walk away.
‘Beth wait,’ Dale called as loudly as he dared. He jogged to catch up with her.
‘I don’t care Dale. She’s my sister.’
‘Just…’ He could see that he wasn’t going to change her mind. ‘Just wait for me, okay.’
She didn’t slow down but he managed to catch up. He was convinced that the school was safe but if they could get to it then Beth could hide there with her sister. She would be happy and, more importantly, safe.
There were zombies on every street. Not as many of them as Dale had feared but enough that it slowed them down and forced them to take alternative routes towards the school. Dale cursed himself for not bringing a gun and resolved that he would insist Wesley give him one whenever he was sent on a mission in the future. Always assuming there was a future.
The school was not in the middle of the village. The closer they got to it the fewer zombies there seemed to be. Dale led the way and Beth followed. By his estimate, it was only midday but the sun already seemed to be setting.
Beth didn’t speak. When Dale glanced back, he could see that she was worried. He was worried too. He couldn’t begin to imagine how the zombies had gotten into the village. It had seemed like a normal day when they’d left. But this was far from normal. This threw his whole idea of Harmony being a safe place into doubt.
‘Dale?’ a breathless voice called.
He stopped and turned. It wasn’t Beth that had spoken.
Solomon came running towards them. He was carrying a gun and dressed in full riot gear. He stopped in front of them, panting.
‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere,’ Solomon said.
‘What’s going on?’ Dale said. He could tell that Beth didn’t like the interruption. She was keen to keep moving and get to the school. ‘What happened?’
Solomon shook his head. ‘No idea. We’ll find out later. I need you to get back to the town hall and suit up.’
