by Wood, J N
Michael, Shannon and Gee were very noticeably missing from the group.
‘No long winded speeches,’ I added. ‘From someone who wouldn’t have even known the deceased.’
Jack nodded and drank his beer.
Charles was trying to charm Ali by the looks of it. She glanced over to me, rolling her eyes.
Beth leaned in closer to me. ‘I think you should be careful with Ali.’
‘Why, what do you mean?’ I asked.
‘I think she likes you.’
‘Nah, we’re just friends. She knows I’m married.’
‘I’ve seen the way she looks at you.’
‘Yep,’ Jack agreed. ‘I’ve seen it.’
‘Bollocks. Have you seen me lately?’ I pointed to my face. ‘I look like I got my head trapped in a bag of cats.’
‘Every now and then…’ Beth started, but then laughed. ‘Well yes, you do a bit.’ She covered her mouth with her hand. ‘I’m sorry Chris. That’s an awful thing to say.’
‘What are you on about?’ I laughed. ‘It was me that said it.’
‘There was no reason for me to agree with you,’ she said.
‘Apart from all the scratches on his face,’ Jack said, instantly receiving a punch from Beth on his arm. Jack immediately grabbed where she’d hit him. ‘Ow Beth. You know I was bitten there.’
She rubbed his arm, apologising. He playfully slapped away her hand.
Jack looked back to me. ‘I don’t understand what she sees in you,’ he said. ‘But I think Beth might be right.’
I finished my drink and caught the eye of the waiter. ‘Well, I haven’t noticed anything, so I’m gonna carry on not noticing.’
‘Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying,’ Beth said.
The waiter arrived and took our order.
‘I thought she might have been a lesbian,’ Jack said.
‘Yeah, I briefly thought about that,’ I agreed.
Jack laughed. ‘I bet you did.’
I had to laugh with him.
‘She might be bi-sexual,’ Beth suggested. ‘And so what if she is?’
‘In that case,’ I said. ‘Can I take her home to meet Joanne?’
Beth placed her bottle of water down on the table. ‘No, I don’t think Joanne would be too impressed.’
‘Okay I won’t bother then.’
‘It’d backfire anyway,’ Jack said. ‘They’d soon kick you out of the house.’
‘Yep, probably.’
Beth started talking to Pete and Roy, so I took the opportunity to speak to Jack. ‘Are you gonna tell me what happened yesterday after I left?’
‘Yep,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘I wasn’t not going to tell you. Just hasn’t been a right time. You can also tell me what the fuck you were talking about yesterday. Something about fanny farts.’
‘Oh shit yeah, forgot about that. I hope she didn’t hear me.’
‘Hear you do what?’ he asked.
‘You first. What happened after you crashed the SUV? In fact, how did you get in and drive the SUV?’
‘I broke one of the windows, and just thought to myself, I wonder if the keys are still in there? I had a look, and there they were. They did bite me a few times when I was climbing in.’ He touched the plaster on the bridge of his nose, saying, ‘I think I smashed my nose into the steering wheel when I crashed it. I couldn’t see a thing. The car was covered in them.’
‘Yeah I heard the crash, and then saw you getting out.’
‘I couldn’t climb back on top of the crashed car, so I ran off looking for something else to climb on. I saw some of the other Blue Team in the back of a truck, and ran for them. I helped them for a while, but then someone noticed Red Team looked like they were really struggling, so we grabbed whatever Blue people were left, and went to help them. Gee and his two friends turned up as we were fighting our way over. You should have seen them three. They went out in front, and we just mopped up the few that made it around them, or came at us from behind. We made it to Red Team, rescued them so to speak, and then got back in the camp using some other gates. Then we came and found you.’ Jack’s once animated face had suddenly taken on a much more dour expression.
‘We tried to save Gee, me and Andruis, but he fell. He just let go and…’ I trailed off at the end, not wanting to relive the entire thing.
‘It’s okay Chris. Tell me about the fanny farts.’
Smiling, I said, ‘That’s the first time anybody has ever said that to me.’
I told him the full story about being woken up by the fanny fart sex, trying to remember every detail.
‘And it was definitely that woman we were stood behind? Because I think she did hear you.’
‘No it’s not definitely her. It’s just a guess because she’s English. There seems to be a lot of us knocking about in the camp, so there could be another English woman that also lives in our house.’
‘I thought you got up early this morning to visit your girlfriend? Was this woman not sleeping in the bunk under you?’
‘There was somebody there, but I don’t go around inspecting people’s faces while they’re asleep. How fucking weird would that be if they woke up, and I’m staring back at them?’
Jack glared at me. ‘Especially with your Freddy Krueger face.’
‘And probably best to keep the hilarious girlfriend jokes down while Ali is sat just on the other side of the table.’
‘She can’t hear me,’ Jack said. ‘Did you say Charles is an Ipswich fan?’
‘Yep, so he reckons. Said he’s from Stowmarket.’
‘Do you think we can trust him to drop us off somewhere safe?’
I glanced over to Charles. ‘I don’t see why not.’
Theo seemed to have stolen Ali’s attention away from him, so Charles was staring forlornly at his drink.
‘Chaz,’ I called out.
He looked up from his beer, a smile spreading across his face. ‘Yes Christopher.’
I had a quick look behind me, found what I was looking for, and dragged over another stool. I nodded to it, saying, ‘Fancy a chat about our great escape?’
With one last glance at Ali, he stood and walked over to us, sitting on the offered stool. ‘When are you planning on leaving?’ he asked us.
‘All being well, tomorrow evening,’ Jack replied. ‘Would that be okay with you?’
Charles shifted on his stool. ‘Well, that was sooner than I was expecting, but I think it should be fine.’
‘How big is your yacht?’ I asked him. ‘Because there’s eleven of us.’
Charles leaned in. ‘Does that include Alison?’
I laughed. ‘I’m afraid so. You should come with us. You could spend a lot more time with her.’
Charles grinned. ‘No thanks. As delightful as she is, I’m still saying no to that offer.’
With hindsight, that sounded a little bit like I was trying to pimp Ali out. I bet Jack fucking tells her I said that. Note to self. Make sure Jack doesn’t tell her.
‘It’s more than big enough to fit eleven,’ Charles said. ‘And we’re not going far anyway. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of picking you a possible place to dock. If it’s clear, I was thinking of dropping you off in Birch Bay. It’s in the next cove, just south of us. There should be plenty of vehicles there, and it’s far enough away from the camp to avoid the dead things that are piling up outside.’
‘Do you know how far Birch Bay is from Elliot and Martin’s container?’ I asked.
‘Four, maybe five miles,’ Charles replied. ‘Don’t worry, far enough away.’
‘No, I was thinking we could go back and pick up our stuff,’ I said. ‘We’ve still got food and guns in our vehicle there.’
Charles placed his empty beer bottle on the bar. ‘Well that’s up to you. Once I drop you off, you can go in whichever direction you please. But if it’s guns you need, just search enough homes in Birch Bay, you’ll soon find some. Remember which country you’re in.’
> ‘Also,’ I added. ‘My passport is in the bus.’
‘You don’t need a passport to illegally enter another country,’ Jack said. ‘It’s best to avoid the authorities in those kinds of circumstances.’
‘What about getting back to England?’ I asked.
Jack and Charles shared a quick glance. I furrowed my brow, looking at them both in turn.
What the fuck was that?
‘Don’t worry about the passport,’ Jack said. ‘But if it is possible, we can try and get to the bus.’
I’m not sure what they’re thinking, but I’m going home to Joanne.
Charles dramatically waved a hand in front of him. ‘Anyway, that’s enough talk about that. We can arrange a time of departure in the morning. Now should be a time of remembrance, and drinking. Gintaras wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.’ He raised his hand and glanced over to one of the waiting staff. The guy rushed over. ‘Thank you Jacob. Another round for everyone.’
‘Sure Pea,’ Jacob said. He hesitated, before bending down so he was closer to Charles. ‘Everyone in the whole place? Or just this table?’
Charles lowered his voice. ‘Sorry Jacob, just this table.’
‘Hey Charles,’ I said, after Jacob had left. ‘Do you know if Elliot and Martin were working yesterday?’
‘Yes, but don’t worry about them. It was their shift yesterday, but they managed to get over to Semiahmoo. Spent a few hours in quarantine.’ He checked his watch. ‘Should be getting the boat over any minute now.’
I nodded over to Andruis, sat at the bar. ‘How’s the big Lithuanian doing?’
He’d greeted us on arrival, but then immediately went to sit on his own.
Charles glanced over at his friend. ‘He’s fine. I think he’s just upset about Matis. Maybe the death of Gintaras as well. He told me he knew of him back in Lithuania.’
By the time Jacob returned with our drinks, Jack and Charles were deep into a conversation about Norwich City players. Jack was now talking about how he’d gone to school with a former Norwich goalkeeper. I’d heard the story many times, so I moved to sit next to Ali, Pete and Theo, to tell them the latest news on our departure.
‘Hey Chris,’ Pete said. ‘I’m going to take Ali back to the house.’
Ali groaned and shook her head.
‘Could you keep an eye on Theo for me?’ Pete asked.
Theo shot his brother an annoyed look. ‘Peter, I don’t need anyone to keep an eye on me.’
Pete smiled back at him.
‘Yeah okay,’ I said. ‘Before you go, Charles has agreed to sail us all down to Birch Bay. It’s not far from here apparently. Can you be ready for tomorrow evening?’ I directed this last question more towards Ali.
‘Erm, I don’t know if–.' Pete started to say.
‘Yes we’ll be ready,’ Ali quickly said. She shot her cousin that same determined look I’d seen earlier.
Pete sighed, before saying, ‘I’m sure Sandra will have something to say about it. We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.’
‘Are you happy to go with Charles?’ I asked them.
‘Yeah sure,’ Ali said. ‘We can’t use the tunnel anymore.’
‘Thank god,’ I muttered.
Pete tried to help Ali get to her feet, but she pushed him away.
‘I can do it,’ she said. ‘I’m feeling stronger after that drink.’
‘I very much doubt that,’ Pete said. ‘You shouldn’t have even had one.’
Ali managed to get out of the pub with just the help of her walking stick. Pete followed closely behind, poised to catch her if she fell.
‘I hope she is getting stronger,’ I said to Theo, after the door had closed behind them.
‘What if she isn’t ready by tomorrow?’ he asked.
I shrugged. ‘We’ll have to postpone I suppose. But you know your cousin. She’ll be ready no matter what. Especially as it was her idea to leave tomorrow.’
Theo had a concerned look on his face, but nodded in agreement.
The drinking carried on throughout the rest of the afternoon. Jack and Beth both left at some point, Jack returning an hour or so later, after dropping his wife off at work.
‘We should think about getting some food,’ Jack suggested.
‘Yep, I suppose so,’ I reluctantly said.
I didn’t really want to leave, but we needed to eat.
‘Hey,’ Charles said. ‘Let’s move this into the back room. We have a bit of food stored back there.’
‘Brilliant,’ I said. ‘Charles, you are the perfect host. I’ve no idea how you manage to make any of this work, but I like it.’
Andruis joined me, Jack, Roy, and Theo as we followed Charles around the bar and through an open door marked private.
The room beyond was like a snug in an Irish bar, only bigger. Charles told us all to sit at the round table in the middle of the room. He then opened up a hatch in the wall. The bar area was just on the other side.
Charles leaned his head through the opening. ‘Zoey, same again please.’ He turned around to face us. ‘All happy with the same again?’ We all agreed, and he spun back around to talk with Zoey.
The change in location had managed to break up the once flowing conversations. Most of us sat there staring at our drinks. I looked to Jack, smiled and raised my eyebrows. He blew air out of his mouth, flapping his lips slightly.
Charles was handed a tray through the open hatch, containing our drinks. ‘Come on guys. I know there was a funeral today, but cheer up,’ he said, placing the drinks on the table. ‘Your friends wouldn’t want you to be miserable.’
I thanked Charles for my beer, before turning to Roy. ‘Are you a Norwich fan? Did you know Charles supports Ipswich?’
‘Yes he told me earlier. But no, I’m a Rochdale fan. Sarah got me into them.’ His face dropped when he mentioned his wife’s name.
Bollocks, that’s not gonna help the mood.
A door opened and one of the women who had been serving behind the bar walked in, carrying a tray. She placed it on the table in front us. The tray contained two loaves of home baked bread, and a selection of tinned tuna, salmon, and crab.
Saved by the food.
We ate it in no time at all, only bread crumbs were left by the end. I think I must have had five sandwiches. We were obviously sick of the rice and vegetables we’d been eating.
The various conversations started flowing again, and we continued pouring alcohol down our throats.
‘You know what Jack?’ I said.
Jack placed his drink down on the table. ‘What Chris?’
‘I was really looking forward to having a night out with Michael and Shannon. I think they’d have been a good laugh.’
‘They were a good laugh.’
‘No, you know what I mean, a good laugh on a night out.’
‘Yes I know what you mean.’ He picked up his bottle and raised it in the air. ‘To Michael and Shannon. The breast of us.’
I lifted my drink and knocked it against Jack’s. ‘Yep, they were the breast of us.’
‘And to Gintaras,’ Andruis said. ‘He sacrificed himself to help others.’
We all raised our drinks, and called out, ‘Gintaras.’
‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Gee always looked after everybody else. Always put himself in harm’s way to protect us.’
Jack suddenly stood up, saying, ‘Shite.’ His chair toppled over to land on its back. ‘I’m supposed to pick Beth up from work.’
‘You are a terrible husband Jack,’ I said.
‘I’m just going to stop her off at the house.’ He paused, frowning. ‘Drop her stop. Drop her off.’
‘Drop it like it’s hot?’ Theo offered, with a broad smile on his face.
‘Yes that,’ Jack said, pointing at Theo. He opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated, before letting out a long and loud burp.
‘Thanks for that Jack,’ I said.
‘And then I’m coming bright sack here.’ He looked around with
a confused expression on his face. ‘Where are we again?’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Roy said. ‘I know where we are.’ He placed his hands on the table and tried to stand up. His hands slipped off the edge and his forehead smacked into the table. He fell back onto his seat, holding his head in his hands. ‘Ow,’ he cried out.
There were a few seconds of stunned silence when everyone thought he might have actually hurt himself, then we all started laughing. Even Roy joined in, eventually.
Theo stood up and patted Roy on the back. He looked relatively steady on his feet. ‘I’ll come with you Jack. I’m going to call it a night.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Nine o’clock. Shit, that’s not a night.’
‘Okay, come on Theo,’ Jack said, walking towards the wrong door. Theo took him by the arm and guided him towards the correct door.
After they’d left, Andruis asked me, ‘Will he be okay finding his way back here on his own?’
I waved my hand. ‘I bet you we won’t see Jack again tonight.’
About an hour later, while Andruis was telling me the same joke for the fourth time, something about a teacher and some eggs, there was a knock on the door leading to the bar.
Charles stood up and staggered over to it. He turned the key in the lock, and opened it a few inches. ‘Good evening, nice of you to join us,’ he said to the newcomers. He opened the door all the way. Jack and Matis stood on the other side.
DAY TWENTY ONE
Chapter 22: Painful Death
I could hear somebody talking. It sounded like Beth’s voice, but it was far away. She was berating someone, about something. All of a sudden her voice was right next to my head.
‘Breakfast time Chris. You only have half an hour before they stop serving. Roy, come on, get up.’ Her voice was further away from me again. ‘You have a perfectly good bed there. Why sleep on the floor? Jack? What are you doing? Are you getting up?’
I turned over and half opened my eyes. Roy was lying on the floor, in the open doorway. The bedroom door was pressing against his head. His legs must have been out in the hallway. Jack was unmoving, but at least he was on his bed.
