“How many Molotovs are you thinking about, Wren?” Chuck asked, scratching his beard.
“The more the better. Look, I know it’s a long shot. All of this is a long shot. But I’ve seen what happens with vehicle fires too. If we have the element of surprise and we can start a few of them all at once, it will be mayhem down there.”
“That is a lot of ifs,” Mila said.
“Yeah, it is,” Wren agreed, but what have we got to lose?”
Mila raised an eyebrow. “Fair point.”
Chuck lifted his head to look at the rest of the group who were busy disassembling tents and packing their belongings. “Listen up you lot,” he shouted, and everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around the fire once more. “We need bottles, glass bottles. I know some of you still have an emergency tipple for medicinal purposes. I know some of you have bottles for your water. Well, this is an emergency. This will be the difference between our plan working and not. So, if you’ve got them, we need them.”
Robyn and Mila reluctantly reached into their rucksacks, and they were the first to sacrifice the bottles of spirits that they had procured from the bar. For a while, they were the only two bottles that sat on the bench. Then, one by one, more appeared as people sacrificed their remaining creature comforts. Larry was the last to place a quarter-full bottle of Jack Daniels down, after taking one last gulp. “I was saving that for a special occasion. This wasn’t what I had in mind, but it’s special enough.”
The bottles stood on the bench, looking almost magical as the flames danced behind them. The crowd watched for a moment as if they were paying their last respects before getting back to their designated tasks. “Okay. You’ve got bottles, what now?” Emmy asked.
“Some of the cotton wool from the first aid supply would be good,” Chuck answered. She nodded and disappeared.
“Some of these are almost empty. They’re going to be no use,” Robyn said.
“Ideally, we don’t want to be using the alcohol at all,” Chuck said.
“But if it’s high volume it will burn, won’t it?” Wren asked, puzzled.
“Yeah, but that’s not a Molotov cocktail. A Molotov cocktail is two-thirds petrol one-third oil. It makes them virtually impossible to put out. Certainly with water anyway.”
“You seem to know a lot about it,” Wren said.
“I told you I had a misspent youth,” he replied, smiling.
“So where do we get fuel and oil?”
Chuck let out a sigh. “Well, that’s the tough part,” he said, looking at his watch.
“Why?”
“The van we left at that school. There’d be more than enough of both in there. I used to keep a spare jerrican of diesel and a five-litre bottle of engine oil.”
“What time is it?” Wren asked.
“Just after two.”
“If we took the vehicle they came in, we could be there within ten minutes.”
“What, you mean in a village in the pitch black with an unknown amount of infected still lurking in the area somewhere?” Robyn asked.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“We’re running out of time, and it’s too much of a risk,” Wren said.
“Trust me; this could be the difference between the plan working and not,” Chuck replied. “We’ll only get one crack at this. These people are well equipped, and there are a lot of them, but I’m pretty certain they won’t have the resources to put out a dozen Molotov fires all at once.”
“But … there’s too much to do. You need to show people how to use the rifles. We need to brief people about the plan. We’ve got to get there and get set up.”
“Wait a minute,” Emmy said. “I can drive to the school. Chuck can stay here.”
“No,” Chuck snapped back. “It’s too dangerous for you.”
“Oh, and it’s not for you?”
“No, it’s okay,” Robyn said. “You stay here and get everybody prepped, and we’ll go with her.”
Chuck stared long and hard at Robyn. “I suppose that could work, but for Christ’s sake, be careful.”
“Hey! Everybody!” Emmy shouted, stopping the rest of the group in their tracks once more. “When you checked the bodies, did you find vehicle keys on any of them?”
One man stepped forwards and handed two sets of keys to Emmy. She held them up in the light, and a smile crept onto her face. “We might not have to go anywhere after all,” she said, showing the keys to Chuck.
“Oh, you absolute belter,” he replied, snatching them from her.
“I don’t understand. What?” Mila asked.
“These are my keys for the Luton that little bastard took.”
“You have oil and fuel in there, yes?”
“It was always my job to keep the show on the road, you can bet your sweet little German arse there’s oil and diesel in there.”
“Zehr gut,” Mila said, smiling.
“Err … don’t you think we should check before we start celebrating?” Wren said.
“What reason would they have to remove the fuel and oil?” Chuck asked, the smile disappearing from his face momentarily.
“It’s probably still there, I’m just saying, in our experience, it’s always best not to rely on blind hope.”
“I’m going to start calling you Miss Buzzkill,” Chuck replied.
“You can call me what you like. All I’m saying is it makes sense to check.”
“I suppose she’s right,” Emmy replied, taking the keys back from Chuck.
“We’ll go with you,” Robyn said.
Emmy nodded. “Okay then, let’s—”
“Tommy nearly died. Tommy nearly died, and Robyn saved him. Tommy nearly died.” They all looked across to see Tommy heading towards them as Ruby tugged at his arm trying to stop him.
“Tommy, it’s not the time for this,” she protested, but her brother continued.
“Tommy nearly died, and Robyn saved him,” he said, sweeping dangerously close to the fire and throwing his arms around Robyn who immediately stiffened up. “Robyn saved him.” He held her tight, and an expression of panic crept onto her face.
“It’s alright, Tommy,” she said, patting him gently on the back as the air was gradually squeezed out of her lungs.
“Josh was a liar, and Robyn saved Tommy.”
“He’s been almost silent for the last twenty minutes or so, and then he just kept saying Robyn saved Tommy over and over again until he decided to charge out here,” Ruby said.
“It’s okay, Tommy,” Robyn said, trying to pull away.
“Come on, Tommy. Let go of her now.”
Tommy continued to hold Robyn for several seconds then finally released his grip. His eyes stared over Robyn’s head as he spoke to her, and his fingers moved to the rhythm of his words. “Robyn saved Tommy.”
“It’s what we do for our friends, Tommy. We all look out for one another,” Robyn replied.
“Tommy wants to go with Robyn.”
“You will be coming with us. We’re all going together. Nobody’s getting left behind.”
Tommy’s facial muscles clenched tight once more, and his fingers started to tap faster. “Leave Brick here, he’s just a retard.”
A look of shame swept across Ruby’s face, and Robyn knew instantly that this was a phrase Jax had spoken at some point. Robyn looked towards her sister then back to Tommy. “Nobody’s leaving you anywhere, Tommy. We’re all going together. You, Ruby, Me, Wren, all of us. We’re getting out of this place, and we’re going to start a new life.”
“With a library,” he said and his tics slowed down again.
“That’s right, Tommy,” Wren said. “With a library that’s jam-packed with lots and lots of books. I bet there are some there that even you haven’t read.”
A short laugh left Tommy’s lips. “Robyn saved Tommy, and now we’re going to the library.”
“Well, not just yet. We’ve got a few things to do first, but soon. Very, very soon.”
; “Come on now, Tommy,” Ruby said, taking hold of his arm once again.
Robyn and Wren watched as they walked away, and Robyn sniffed back a tear. “How could somebody make fun of a disabled person? How could someone want to hurt him?”
“Because they’re vermin. Worse than vermin. Hitler did it in the Second World War. It was called the T4 programme, and the Nazis euthanized about three hundred thousand disabled people. This psycho bitch, Olsen, is obviously reading straight from his playbook. They said it could never happen again, but I’m guessing they didn’t take into account a situation like this.”
Robyn’s hand tightened around her bow. She looked at each of the faces assembled around her. “There’s nothing about what's ahead of us that doesn’t scare the hell out of me. But more than fear right now, I’m feeling pissed off. I want these bastards to suffer. We can’t screw this up.”
“We’re not going to,” Wren said. “We’re going to carry out our plan, and it’s going to work. Now, let’s go take a look at these vehicles.”
CHAPTER 24
Chuck stayed at the camp and Robyn, Wren, Wolf, Mila and Emmy headed down through the woods towards the road. For the time being, Mila and Wren had reverted back to their hand-to-hand combat weapons. They were not worried about stumbling across more soldiers, but there was always the chance that a roaming zombie or two could find them.
They remained in silence until they broke cover from the tree line and approached the road. “Please God, tell me the oil and the jerrican are still here,” Emmy said as she opened the back of the Luton van. She shone her torch inside, her eyes following the beam all the way to the rear of the cargo compartment. “Damn it!”
“Maybe there is some in the minibus, yes?” Mila said, taking the keys and going to check. She returned a moment later with a frustrated look on her face. “Nothing but a crowbar.” She held up the heavy solid strip of black metal. “And there is very little fuel in the tank. I’m guessing enough to get back to wherever they came from.”
“This one’s just over a quarter full. There’s probably not enough inside to get us to Torridon.”
“We don’t have a choice then. We’re heading back to Invernasheen,” Wren said.
“Mila, you go back to camp. Tell Chuck and the others what the situation is,” Robyn said. “Me, Wren and Emmy will go to the village.”
“I do not like the thought of just the three of you heading there. What if something happens?”
“There are four of us,” Wren said, bending down and ruffling Wolf’s coat. “And if something happens, we’ll deal with it.”
“Yes. Yes, I suppose you will. Be careful … bitte,” she said, embracing Robyn then Wren and finally Emmy. “And Emmy, take this.” She handed her the crowbar. “You never know.”
Emmy held it in her hand and swallowed. “No, I don’t suppose you do.”
“You just make sure you’re a crack shot with that rifle by the time we get back here,” Robyn said, smiling. Mila said nothing; she merely nodded and turned to retrace her steps back into the woods.
“I … I suppose we’d better go then,” Emmy said.
“The sooner we get there the sooner we can get back,” Wren replied.
“It’s a long time since I’ve driven at night.”
“I can drive if you give me the directions,” Robyn replied.
“No. No, it’s better that I do it. I’m even less of a fighter than I am a driver. In fact, I’m not much of anything. If it hadn’t been for Chuck, I dare say I wouldn’t be here right now. None of us would,” she said, climbing into the cab.
Wren coaxed Wolf into the passenger side, and she and her sister sat squashed up on the front seat. Emmy placed the key in the ignition and started the engine. It coughed to life and she sat there with her hands on the steering wheel. “Are you okay, Emmy?” Wren asked.
“Not really.”
“What’s wrong?”
“We’re going to die today, aren’t we? I mean … I know you won’t admit it. But we are, aren’t we? If you look down deep inside of yourselves you know it … you can feel it. I know you’re trying to keep everybody’s spirits up and stay positive, but when you think about it, what we’re talking about is an act of madness. There are what, fifteen of us? Most of us have never even raised our fists in anger, and you’re talking about us taking on a massive army. I just thought that when I finally shuffled off this mortal coil, it would be in a quieter manner.”
Wren was about to answer when her sister beat her to it. “There was a time when I would have agreed with you. I never did anything to be proud of in the time before all this happened. Wren, on the other hand, she was amazing. She was this super athlete. She was actually lined up to go to the next Commonwealth games,” Robyn said proudly.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Anyway, I was so average … below average even, and she was this supergirl. Whenever she did anything, she was amazing at it. Whenever I tried anything, I was crap. So in the end, I just gave up and didn’t bother trying anymore. When all this started, I’d given up on day one. My sister … well … she secured water and food supplies, she made weapons, she started training … she did what she had always done, and I did what I had always done. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for her to give up on me, but she didn’t. She taught me how to fight, but more importantly than that, she taught me how to believe in myself.”
“That’s all very well and good, but you and I are very different people,” Emmy said, looking at Robyn’s face in the dashboard lights.
“Yeah, well, me and Wren were very different. And she taught me the most important thing in the world, and that’s whether you believe you can or you can’t do something, you’re right.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If you think you can’t do something before you even try, then your own negativity is going to make you fail.”
“That’s a very catchy soundbite. Did you see it on Doctor Phil?”
“Dr who?”
“Never mind.”
“Look. We’re not going to fight an army that’s thousands strong, we’re going to block a road. That’s it. That’s our aim.”
“But what if it goes wrong? What if something happens and—”
“There are a thousand what-ifs,” Wren interrupted. “We just need to make sure we control whatever we can. The stuff that we can’t, we’ll deal with it as and when. Like, Bobbi said, our mission is to block them from reaching Safe Haven. Don’t think about anything else.”
Emmy turned back to the road and let out a long sigh. “I suppose you’re right.” She released the handbrake, and the vehicle slowly moved away. “I really don’t understand how you had no confidence considering how good you are with that thing,” Emmy said, gesturing towards the bow in Robyn’s hand.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re like an expert archer. How could that not have given you confidence?”
“I never had this before the outbreak. I only picked a bow up for the first time when we made our escape from Edinburgh.”
Emmy turned her head towards Robyn. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Yeah, you should have seen her,” Wren said. “I could barely nock an arrow, never mind fire one, and my sister was practically getting bull’s-eyes from the first time she picked it up.”
“I always wanted to do archery. Never really had the time.”
“When we get to Safe Haven, I could teach you if you’d like.”
Emmy smiled. “I like the way you say when and not if. You really think we can do this, don’t you?”
“I know we can.”
“Okay, yes. When we get to Safe Haven, I’d love to learn how to use a bow.”
It did not take them long to reach the outskirts of Invernasheen. Emmy’s hands gripped the wheel a little tighter as she changed from fourth to third gear to negotiate the winding single-track lane.
“Up ahead,” Wren said
.
“Oh God! Oh God! What do I do?” Emmy asked, tensing even more as two creatures charged out of the darkness and into the full beams of the headlights.
“Put your foot down.”
“What?”
“Ram them.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, now do it or we won’t have enough speed.”
Emmy pressed on the accelerator, and the engine whined as they moved faster and faster. She let out a frightened scream as the first then the second creature smashed into the front of the vehicle before disappearing beneath. She held on firmly to the steering wheel as the tyres bounced over the monsters’ broken bodies just as another creature emerged from around the next bend.
“Oh God! Where are they coming from?”
“They’ll be able to hear the engine and some will see the lights. We’ll probably attract all the stragglers we didn’t get earlier on today. You’re doing fine,” Wren said as the third creature bounced off the front of the Luton van and cartwheeled into the darkness.
“It’s always Chuck who drives the lead vehicle whenever we’ve gone anywhere. He’s the one—”
“Do you think maybe you’ve been relying on Chuck a bit too much?” Robyn asked.
Emmy fell silent for a second as they took the next bend. Three more beasts appeared at the far end of the lane and stormed towards them. “Some of us aren’t really cut out for all this.”
“Bull!” Robyn said. “You’ve single-handedly taken out three of these things in less than a minute. “What needs to happen before you realise you can do this; that you can do whatever you put your mind to?”
Emmy pressed her foot down harder and slipped into fourth gear. Overreaching branches whipped and thudded as they sped along the road. Bang! Bang! Two of the creatures went flying into the hedgerow on the passenger side. Bang! The third beast sprawled on the sloping bonnet. How it managed to stay on was a question none of them knew the answer to, but it pressed its battered face up against the windscreen, wiping bloody streaks over the glass as it desperately tried to gain entry.
The End of Everything | Book 9 | The End of Everything Page 19
