Dying to Live (35 page)

34.

‘I think it was because I was desperate. I just needed to be doing something and I needed to feel like we had a plan. That is the only reason, looking back, that I would have gone along with Sydney’s stupid plan. Before the societal meltdown, her conspiracy theories had just been a cute quirk of hers. When we saw our first zombie, something within her must have just immediately clicked. It was as if they just validated all of the things she had believed all her life. She radiated such confidence and was so self-assured, that she’d convinced me too.’

“Keep it down, Mike,” Sydney whispered from the shrubs.

“I’m trying,” He hissed back impatiently. Did she really think that he could stop the crowbar from squealing and scratching against the window frame, he wondered to himself angrily. There was a light thud when the latch finally gave way and the window swung open.

“Okay, It’s open. Quick, get in!’ Mike urged her.

Sydney hurried out from the cover of lush green leaves and quickly over the grass to where he was waiting.

“Alright, help me up,” She demanded. Mike sighed but linked his fingers together and offered them to her as a step. She hastily jammed her grass-stained, converse clad foot into his hand and propelled herself upwards. Her hands clutched at the window frame and her feet kicked as she tried to haul herself up. “Damn it, Mike. Help me! And don’t look up my skirt.”

Mike rolled his eyes and took hold of her thrashing legs. He tried and failed to stop his gaze from rolling up the fishnet tights and beyond the hem of her short, pleated skirt. By the time she had wriggled from sight and into the sprawling mansion, he was all too eager to follow her. Mike’s entrance was considerably quicker and much more graceful than hers had been, and moments later, he was stood inside an expansive, wood panelled kitchen. Sydney was already digging through the cupboards and cabinets.

“Mmmmmm, champagne!” She cooed. “And... Oh em gee, Mike! OREOS! I knew that she would eat Oreos.” Sydney had the packet opened in a matter of seconds and moaned with delight when the first biscuit touched her lips. Mike lifted himself onto one of the counters and sat watching her. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking she hadn’t eaten in days. However, the truth was, both of them had eaten better since the apocalypse than they had in their entire lives.

Before this, both he and Sydney had been vagrants. They hadn’t been friends back then. They had just recognised each other’s faces when the shit had hit the fan.

Mike had watched her, night after night, working Hollywood boulevard to scrape together the money to pay for a room for the night. More often than not, he had just settled for a doorway, unless he got lucky and managed to get a spot at the shelter. On the last night of normalcy, he had been watching her. He’d seen the latest trick make a grab for her. When Sydney had backed away from him, he’d grabbed the next person he could reach and sunk his teeth into them. That was when Mike had jumped to his feet and Sydney had ran towards him. She didn’t break stride, just grabbed his wrist and pulled him with her. As they ran, they had both glanced back and watched the carnage unfold behind them.

Once they’d stopped to catch their breath, they found themselves almost in Beverley Hills. Expensive cars were already squealing down the roads, their owners probably heading for one of their many exotic getaways. Mike didn’t know whether fleeing the country would have saved them, but he did know that it had left many luxurious homes vacant and ripe for the picking.

Sydney had convinced him that any one of the rich and famous who lived in the vicinity, would have nice, safe, lavish emergency bunkers. Since then, they had burned through one house after another. They had yet to find anything more than a simple panic room, but each house had ample supplies and sustained them anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. When people had money, they really stocked up on food.

“You’re staring at me... What? Do you want some?” Sydney asked Mike.

“Isn’t there any jerky I can have instead?” He asked her.

“You think Paris Hilton eats jerky?” Sydney condescended.

“Oh, come on. I bet this isn’t even her house,” Mike said.

“It is!” Sydney insisted. “And she’ll have a bunker, I just know it.”

“There are no bunkers, Sid. We don’t need one anyway. What’s wrong with this?” Mike asked her.

Sydney pouted. “When they nuke America, I want to survive.”

“Nuke America? Are you kidding me?” Mike laughed.

“Don’t laugh at me. Everyone knows that that’s going to be the only way to take this country back from the masses of zombies.” Sydney had put the cookies down and was pulling champagne flutes from a shelf. With her back to him, she continued, “Paris Hilton is definitely rich enough to pay whatever it would cost to survive when the bomb goes off.”

Mike didn’t argue with her again. He lapsed back into silence. Sydney turned around with a smirk on her face and pushed a glass of fizzy, golden bubbles into his hand.

“C’mon, let’s go and find it,” She said with excitement. “Where do you think it will be?”

Deciding to humour her, Mike shook his head. “I don’t know. Underground, I guess.”

“You mean, in the basement? We always check the basements. It sucks. Why can’t you ever say, ‘Oh Sid, maybe it’s in the dressing room’ or, ‘Hey, let’s check the cinema room’... God, Mike. You’re such a buzz kill.”

“For Christ sake, Sid. If you don’t want my opinion then don’t ask for it. You want to go and check out the clothes and jewellery and all the rest of that girly crap, then be my guest. I’m done with your stupid ideas anyway.” He folded his arms and watched as her features grappled with her emotions. It seemed she didn’t know whether to be shocked, angry or even hurt. Instead, she turned on her heel and marched away down the hall.

Mike could hear vague tinkling and thumping noises echoing through the vast home. He didn’t even want to know what Sydney was doing. If this really was Paris Hilton’s house, she was liable to be pissed off when she came home.

To pass the time while Sydney calmed down, Mike went on a wander of his own. The mansion was huge and every time he went through one door, there was another one he hadn’t looked behind yet. Mike found himself in what he could only describe as a small library. He became aware that the Sydney’s auditory presence had died away, but it didn’t cause him concern. He was probably on the other side of the house to her now. Mike was inspecting shelf after shelf of books, running his hand over the spines. He didn’t hear Sydney enter, because something caught his attention. One of the books appeared to be only half on the bookcase. Mike reached out a hand and pulled the book free. He didn’t bother to read the title because his eyes were already lingering on the red button that had been hidden behind it.

Sydney stepped closer, curious to see what Mike was looking at. She watched him reach out and touch something and then heard a low creaking sound.

“What was that?” She wondered aloud.

Mike’s head swivelled in every direction, searching for the answer. Then he noticed a portion of the wooden floor slowly sliding aside to reveal a staircase. Harsh white lights flickered on down there and Sydney and Mike looked at each other.

“No fucking way!” Mike smiled at her in disbelief. Sydney ran at him and hugged him, jumping up and down in excitement.

“I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!” she sung, before skipping away to explore.

“Maybe we will survive this after all,” Mike said quietly to himself. Then followed closely after her on the steps that led down, down, down.

35.

‘Xin was driven when we awoke at first light. Her leg seemed to be a lot better. Maybe it was the medication or the full night’s sleep, but she went off in search of a better map. Meanwhile, the rest of us were dividing out the weapons and packing up food and medical supplies. When everything was loaded into the Typhoon, Xin wanted to head straight off. It was only a day’s drive to Washington and she was certain that by the same time tomorrow we could be in Virginia. We were all sad to be leaving Harry, but I guess by then we had all experienced much more upsetting goodbyes. None the less, my mind was still on that when we set off on our journey again.’

“This map is much better,” Xin said, shifting in the passenger seat. Lucy was driving this time. The plan was to buckle down and only stop for toilet breaks or to switch drivers. “I can definitely find us routes around the worst areas.”

Xin’s high spirits seemed to jar with the obvious depletion of their group. It wasn’t a malicious happiness that filled her and nobody presumed that Xin was glad to be rid of Harry’s presence. However, given that the alternative had been losing Pete, there was a sliver of relief inside of her, which she channelled into a renewed focus on their goal. The others had been quiet since their departure, nobody quite knowing what to say to fill the void.

“Thomas was right; his directions didn’t lose us that much time. I think we should be hitting Kansas state line pretty soon,” Xin continued. She seemed to realise that nobody else shared her mood and deflated a little. “I’m sorry.” She said.

“No, don’t be,” Frank expressed dejectedly from somewhere behind her seat. “It’s not like he died, right?”

“It was what he wanted to do.” Pete also sounded disheartened. “I don’t think he really wanted to be part of this from the start. There was just nowhere, and no one, else for him to be with.”

“Harry was a cop, right?” Andy spoke up.

“Yeah,” Frank nodded.

“So, he’s tough, and he dedicated his life before the outbreak to helping people and doing the right thing. That’s what’s important to him. I think it’s hard to find any kind of inner peace nowadays, but maybe he’s found some semblance of it back there,” Andy offered. “We might miss him, but I don’t think we should mope around if that’s the case.”

Pete nudged Andy with his shoulder and smiled, “You know, for a kid, you speak a lot of sense.”

“Knock it off, grandpa,” Andy laughed back at him.

36.

‘It had been strange to watch the others drive away without me. I didn’t really know how to feel. I suppose that in this world they were my only friends, but there was a part of me that still felt like they were strangers. Lucy kissed me on the cheek before she left. The guys had all shaken my hand and wished me luck. Xin had hugged me and whispered heartfelt thanks into my ear, not just for taking Pete’s place, but for everything. And it meant a lot to me. We hadn’t always seen eye to eye but I had respect for her. I didn’t want to sit and dwell on the farewell, though. This was the right choice for me to make and I intended to see it through.’

Harry, Stephen and Kristy quickly established a good system for clearing the stores. They had discussed their method at length before putting it into practice. Stephen and his wife positioned themselves above the doorway into the store and waited. Harry crawled through the ceiling space and positioned himself above a spot deep inside the shop. Then it was his job to attract the attention of any stragglers that were inside. It was easy to draw them over with a noise or movement, the trick was not to draw the attention of any zombies out in the main plaza beyond the store. In the darker stores, Harry decided a torch beam would be a less risky choice of distraction. Nevertheless, in the stores well lit by daylight, the gentle tap of his gun butt against a metal support usually worked. Once they spotted him, Stephen and Kristy would need to pick the right moment. When their way was clear, they could drop into the store and take care of sealing the entrance. Stephen usually watched Kristy’s back whilst she saw to the doors. Afterwards, they would sneak up from behind the zombies and take them out, Harry provided backup with a silenced gun from inside the ceiling. As soon as they were all dead, it was safe to take inventory of the supplies that were available. Harry could then help them back up into the ceiling.

It was tiring work and slow going. Other than communicating their tactics and the whereabouts of their shuffling dead companions, there was not much talking to be done.

The others stayed behind at their makeshift camp. Aiden wanted to take his toys and play by the glass doors that led outside. He’d had to wait an hour for the dead faces to disappear, but when they eventually had, he settled a blanket on the floor and sat down with his new toy soldier.

“Soldier Frank,” Aiden murmured in a deep voice. “I see three of them.” He peered out of the window and turned the action figure to do the same.

“Aiden... Honey?” The weak voice of his mother called.

“It’s okay, Momma. I’m over here,” He called back softly. Courtney held the shelving unit for support as she made her way around it. She was visibly improved and relieved to see her son. “You’re meant to be resting, mom.”

“You should come away from the doors,” She told him anxiously.

“It’s fine, look,” Aiden assured her, gesturing at the glass. “They haven’t even noticed me.”

Courtney scratched at her chin nervously. She glanced towards the window and shivered before looking away.

“What are you playing?” She asked him.

“We’re not playing. Soldier Frank is helping me keep watch,” Aiden told her.

“You’re a good boy, Aiden.” Courtney smiled at him. “I’m going to go and lay back down now. Don’t stay at the windows for too long.”

Aiden sighed, nodded and turned back to the soldier. “Let’s patrol the area, Soldier Frank.”

At dinnertime, Harry, Stephen and Kristy returned. They had managed to clear out the first three stores and were feeling hopeful about getting another two done before the daylight failed them. Kristy had found a pamphlet with a map of the mall inside it. They agreed that it would be useful to mark off the stores that were now safe. It was disheartening for them to read that there were over two hundred stores and only three which they had managed to check off.

“This is definitely going to take some time,” Harry was explaining to Ahmed and Zahra. If we carry on at this speed, even working every day, it’ll be well over a month before the whole place is safe.”

“No, you no worry. Better we all safe than rush, yes?” Ahmed reassured him.

“If I find...” Zahra fumbled for a word. “Sack!” She exclaimed. “If I find sack, you bring food back when we need, yes? Then we not run out. Take time.” She smiled at Harry and offered him a bowl of spaghetti hoops.

Harry smiled back at her but inside he wondered whether this was actually going to work out at all. He looked around. Jess was trying to eat and read at the same time. Laura was trying to teach Sean to juggle with tennis balls and she laughed every time he let them fall. Aiden was talking to his action figure while he ate. As he took in each of their faces, he knew that he would have to suck it up and make it work, but suddenly he wished that the others had never left.