by RR Haywood
‘My heart is beating faster.’
‘Because you’ve got yourself worked up.’
‘I think I’m having the glycaemic attack now.’
‘You’re not.’
‘Be ready to take the wheel.’
‘I’m ready.’
‘Oh god…I’ve got diabetes. What if it’s type one? I bet it’s type one. Oh shit I’ve got type one diabetes.’
‘You…it’s not…okay let’s just get to the village and have a drink.’
‘I might not last that long.’
‘You will.’
‘The jam will have bogeys in it.’
‘Paula to Marcy, you got any spare seats in there?’
Day Eighteen
Brief update No 2
I have spent the morning moving swiftly through towns and villages and it is really quite incredible the distances that can be covered by a horse on empty roads.
Most of the places were non-entities. Small hamlets of cottages with barely two or three streets and other than the now usual signs of damage either from the event or the storm there was nothing to indicate the passage of a group of soldiers.
One chance discovery however has led me on what now has proven to be the correct route and I think I am only a short time behind them.
A town we passed through, larger than many others and very flooded with much debris and flotsam floating about. There was something about it that made me circumspect and wary and Jess started showing signs of being unsettled too. She became somewhat fractious as though she could smell something in the air and the very place had a foreboding feeling that I did not like.
It was a body. Just a single body amongst many others floating in the deep waters bordering a hastily vacated poorly made scaffold board band stand. I gather there was some festival taking place when the outbreak first hit. It was a mere glance at the body, just a trifling glance and no more than a flicker of my eyes to the side and I happened to see, in that snatched glance, a bullet hole in the forehead of the corpse of the infected male.
That immediately drew my attention as the entry point was exactly mid centre of the forehead which is the same thing I had seen on some of the corpses in Finkton. It may be nothing. It may be entirely coincidental but I think not. To shoot a moving being through the forehead speaks to me of Special Forces training.
This find made me search harder until I discovered what appeared to be a recently damaged wall and two large metal gates that had been rammed aside in order to gain access to the secure yard of bank within which were several armoured vehicles. I also noted, and I am proud of myself for my detective work, that the rear of the bank had been entered and a dry spot on the ground made me realise one of the armoured vehicles had been taken.
It is hot but at least it has stopped raining. Jess is faring well and seems to be enjoying the exercise but I for one will be glad to put this town to our backs and continue our search.
NB
Eight
‘We’ll use that one,’ I point ahead over a low wall to a building set back from the road with a pretty red and white striped awning stretching out over a range of seats and tables. We’re further up from the brief firefight we had a little while ago and the bodies are still slumped in the road. Everything here is thatched. The shops. The houses. Even the bus stop shelter has a thatch on it. I bring the Saxon to a stop and step out into that wall of heat that sucks the air from my lungs. I’ve never known heat like it. Energy sapping and too close for comfort. Sweat pours off all our faces and we keep drinking water to replenish the loss of fluids which just makes everyone need a piss.
Meredith is suffering the most with her thick coat that is shedding by the handful. She’s panting non-stop and so desperate for air that the lads opened the back doors to try and get some breeze through the vehicle.
Everyone gets out but slowly and I see the wince from face to face as they walk into jungle humidity.
‘Maps?’ Marcy asks walking round to meet me with a glistening face that only makes her look even more attractive.
‘Yeah, you got any idea what’s got into him?’
‘Reggie?’
‘No the fucking Pope…’
‘Funny,’ she grimaces at me, ‘and no I don’t. He’s never been like that before.’
‘Is he intelligent?’
‘Oh god yes,’ she says emphatically, ‘but with that intellectual intelligence. You know, like chess and crosswords and things like that but no common sense.’
‘Okay, we’ll search these shops…’
‘You don’t have to humour him you know.’
‘Yeah I know and you don’t have to feel responsible for him either.’
‘It’s because of me he’s here,’ she says, ‘so I will feel responsible for him and his actions.’
‘We’ll see what he wants to say, if that is, he can get the bloody words out in a way we understand.’
‘Let me handle him.’
‘All yours,’ I say with relief, ‘your eyes are better again today,’ I add when she looks straight at me.
‘Yeah?’ She steps closer and widens her eyes while staring at me, ‘are they still red?’
‘Little bit but you wouldn’t notice now, not unless you were looking really closely,’ I stare back and feel an overwhelming urge to lean forward and kiss her, which must be displayed on my face judging by the smug smile she gives.
‘Sod off,’ I step away and force myself to look away.
‘You wanted to.’
‘Did not.’
‘So did, I’m so hot…so bloody hot,’ she pulls the bottom of her top away from her body, shoves a hand up between her boobs and pulls it out to show me the sweat, ‘got sweaty boobs.’
‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ I groan and walk off.
‘What?’ She laughs, ‘I’m only saying.’
‘And showing.’
‘You wish,’ she quips.
‘Maybe I do,’ I turn back with a grin and claim the victory of seeing surprise on her face.
‘What did you say?’
‘Right everyone, we’re looking for…’
‘Maps,’ I get a chorus of voices calling back at me.
‘Ordnance survey maps,’ Cookey says exhaling heavily, ‘and he wants scales of one in fifty and one in twenty five and whatever else we can find and as many as possible and they have to be ordnance survey and…yeah shit like that.’
Reginald appears behind Clarence, ‘the scale is vitally important,’ he says quickly, ‘and yes, find as many as you can.’
‘Yes, Reggie,’ Cookey says heavily.
‘Roy, you stay out here with Paula, Reginald and Marcy keeping watch. Blinky and Charlie with me searching that first thatched souvenir shop, Blowers and the lads take the next thatched shop up and Clarence and Dave the thatched one further up…then we’ll check the thatched bus stop then the thatched toilets and finally get to that thatched café for a thatched drink and when we’ve finished we’ll get back into the thatched Saxon and get the fuck out of here before someone starts thatching those dead bodies on the ground.’
‘Huh,’ Blinky snorts laughter, ‘I like thatch.’
‘Blinky!’ Charlie groans. We all look to Cookey for a return comment but he shrugs and waves a dismissive hand.
‘Too hot, sorry,’ he says.
‘Come on then, let’s get it done,’ Charlie and Blinky move towards me as the rest filter off, ‘you two okay?’
‘Hot,’ Charlie says with a roll of her eyes.
‘Fucking hot, Mr Howie,’ Blinky blurts, ‘like really fucking hot but I’m not bothered or anything.’
We walk towards the front of the store and I turn, as always, to check behind and catch a look from Marcy with her head cocked to one side and a questioning look on her face that makes me stop in confusion, ‘what’s up?’
‘Nothing,’ she turns away quickly.
‘People are weird, so…Blinky, have a look through the window and see if you can spot movem
ent while Charlie and I check the back…do not enter until we’re back with you.’
‘Sir, yes Sir,’ Blinky snaps.
‘Howie is fine,’ I say.
‘Mr Howie,’ Blinky says.
‘Okay, so…Charlie, we’ll head down that alley and see if we can see through the windows or get to the rear,’ I go first with my rifle raised and her following a few feet behind, ‘window there,’ I point out to the first barred window clearly sealed shut from years of overpainting. ‘Have a look,’ I keep watch while she presses close and peers through the grimy glass.
‘Nothing, store room by the looks of it.’
We head down the alley to the rear wall and through a gate into the enclosed yard, ‘back door and a window either side of the door…we’re looking for any signs that someone has been through here, if the door has been opened recently…that sort of thing…we’re listening too, for any sounds from inside…and if we can smell anything too…’ I speak low and turn constantly to scan the sides, rear then back to the line of the building. She does the same but moves in a crouch to the side of the closest window and eases up to peer through the glass.
‘…you’d better check this, Mr Howie.’
The tone of her voice has me moving to her side to look through into a room with a large table overturned on its side.
‘Nothing else is disturbed,’ I whisper, ‘all the pots and pans are hanging up, the cupboards are closed…no signs of blood anywhere…we’ll check the other window.’
We move in a crouch past the door to the other window but it only offers the same view from a different angle. A sealed room with the single exit door closed and a table overturned.
‘Looks like a staff room,’ Charlie says, ‘see the notice board on that wall, it’s got one of those health and safety posters on it.’
‘Where? Yep got it. Good spot, well done,’ I offer her a quick smile, ‘try the back door handle, see if it’s open.’
She nods and steps away to gingerly push on the handle and slowly exerts more force before giving up, ‘locked,’ she says quietly.
‘Back round to Blinky then.’
‘Will we still go inside?’
‘Yeah but we’ll let Roy know to watch this alley while we go in…in case anything comes out the back while we’re going in the front. Blinky, the back is closed up but a table inside the back room has been turned over.’
She nods eagerly and grips her weapon at the prospect of having something to shoot at.
‘You try that main door, see if it’s open. If it is open then push it and step aside so Charlie and I can get a clear shot at anything coming out, got it?’
‘Yes, Sir,’ she nods and rushes to the door, checking over her shoulder as Charlie and I get in position, ‘ready?’
‘Yep,’ I nod and she yanks hard on the handle, pushes the door open and steps quickly to one side as I suddenly realise I didn’t ask Roy to watch the alley to our side.
‘Roy,’ I call out.
‘Already on it,’ he says quietly from a few feet to my side.
I go forward with the rifle raised and aiming. Into the main shop floor and a confusing array of shelving all filled with more thatched objects ready to be sold and no doubt imported from China where they had child slaves weaving the thatch on the bird boxes. Jars of jam, marmalades and preserves adorn one side. Every one of them fitted with those frilly checked cloth lids held in place by a rubber band. The air is stale and hot, filled with the scents of fruit and merchandise and the fetid stench of a decaying body that has now become so familiar.
‘Smell that?’ I ask the girls behind me.
‘Body?’ Charlie asks.
‘Yep, normal dead by the smell of it…it’s a different smell to the other things.’
‘So that means there are no infected in here?’ She asks.
‘How do you figure that?’
‘If there’s a dead body doesn't it mean it died and didn’t come back so therefore…I mean if one was in here it would have turned the one that is dead?’
‘Good thinking but it could have been a suicide, someone bitten too deeply to come back…it could even be an infected person that got killed so until we know we don’t make any assumptions. Check behind the counter but keep your weapon trained on that curtain,’ I say motioning towards the drawn curtain separating the shop floor from the rear private area. Charlie goes forward, taking each step carefully and I glance over to see the rifle is held steady and Blinky working closely behind her.
‘Not too close, Blinky,’ I say softly, ‘if Charlie jumps back she needs space to move.’
‘Got it,’ Blinky says taking a small side step, ‘that better?’
‘I know where she is, Mr Howie,’ Charlie says, ‘it’s the same on the pitch…knowing what space you have to move into.’
‘Of course, my apologies. I didn’t mean to patronise you.’
‘No no,’ she says quickly, ‘we’re both glad of the lesson, oh…yes…the body is halfway under the curtain.’
‘Can you see the head?’
‘No, just the legs.’
I edge to the counter and peer over to see a pair of legs poking out through the curtain. An old lady with wrinkled tights and this close I can smell the stench of shit and piss from her bowels and bladder voiding when she died.
‘Tricky one,’ I say, ‘is she dead or pretending?’ She is dead but it’s a good lesson for these two to consider, especially after the ones in that plaza all lying down.
‘She stinks of shit,’ Blinky says, ‘and piss…and jam…and everything is fucking thatched…can I shoot her?’
‘You want to shoot her?’ I ask.
‘To see if she’s dead. She’ll soon fucking move with a bullet in her fanny.’
‘Blinky!’
‘What? She will.’
‘What if she’s not dead?’ Charlie asks, ‘you’d kill her.’
‘Not dead? What you mean like properly alive?’
‘Yes, excuse me? Are you alive?’ Charlie calls out politely.
‘She’s dead as fuck,’ Blinky says, ‘she’s shit herself and pissed all over the floor.’
‘Sick people do that too.’
‘What and then lie in it for seventeen days?’
‘She might have fallen yesterday, I say hello? Can you hear me?’
‘No she can’t bloody hear you cos she’s fucking dead.’
‘You don’t know that,’ Charlie says tightly, ‘Mr Howie? Could she still be alive?’
Funny thing is that I was convinced she was normal dead but now she’s mentioned it and planted that seed in my head.
‘Er…I guess so…tap her foot and see if she responds.’
‘I’ll kick her bloody foot.’
‘Blinky you’re so blood thirsty.’
‘Yes and normal thirsty too so kick that granny so we can get to the café and have a drink.’
‘I’m not going to kick her. I shall tap her foot with the rifle and see if that forces a reaction.’
‘You alright?’ Clarence asks coming through the doorway, ‘we found a load of maps.’
‘Oh nice one, well done. Who found them?’
‘Cookey and Mo,’ he says staring at Charlie bending over and poking something behind the counter.
‘Hello?’ Charlie calls out politely, ‘can you hear me?’
‘Er, what’s she doing?’ Clarence asks as the lads push in behind him.
‘Found a body,’ Blinky says, ‘dead old granny that shit and pissed herself and stinks of jam but Charlie won’t give her a kicking so she’s tapping her foot to see if she’s alive.’
‘Oh,’ Clarence says as though it makes perfect sense.
The lads squeeze through the shelves knocking thatched bird boxes and thatched pencil cases onto the floor in a rush to see Charlie poking the end of her rifle into a dead ladies foot.
‘Ooh you can’t see her head,’ Cookey says, ‘so you think she’s alive then?’
‘Well we really don�
��t know,’ Charlie says pushing the barrel into the foot again while making ready to flee in case it jolts up.
‘You’re so posh,’ Cookey says, ‘Blowers, go round and give her the kiss of life.’
‘Who? Charlie or the dead one?’ Blowers asks.
‘Ha! You fucking wish.’
‘She might not be dead,’ Charlie says, ‘hello? Are you alive?’
‘She’ll be dead from old age by the time we’ve done anything,’ Blinky says, ‘just shoot her in the foot and see if she screams.’
‘I am not shooting an old lady in the foot.’
‘You did earlier,’ Nick says, ‘and in the head…and the stomach…’
‘Yes well that was different,’ Charlie says standing up, ‘she’s not responding,’ she adds in a serious tone that has the lads cracking up.
‘Nick, call an ambulance,’ Cookey says.
‘AMBULANCE,’ Nick shouts.
‘What’s going on?’ Roy asks from the doorway, ‘who needs an ambulance?’
‘The dead lady,’ Cookey laughs, ‘or not dead lady…we’re not sure yet.’
‘Charlie,’ Blowers says trying to suppress the giggles, ‘you’ll have to pull the curtain back and see.’
‘Oh gosh, will I? Yes I shall have to shan’t I. What? What is so funny? Oh stop it and piss off the lot of you.’
‘She swore!’ Cookey exclaims, ‘she actually swore with a proper swear word.’
‘I swear all the time actually,’ Charlie says pointedly, ‘when I need to that is.’
‘Can we please just shoot the old granny and get a drink…hang on a fucking minute,’ Blinky says looking round, ‘Clarence said you found the maps…then we can go get a drink instead of playing with pissy pants down there.’
‘We can’t leave her,’ Charlie says edging towards the curtain.
‘Ooh go on,’ Nick urges softly but I notice his rifle raises an inch to be ready just in case.
‘Want me to do it for you, Charlie?’ Mo Mo asks.
‘Oh thank you, Mo Mo,’ Charlie beams at him, ‘that is very gallant but I shall do it now I am here.’
