Surviving The Evacuation (Book 4): Unsafe Haven (11 page)

“One thing at a time, Nilda. You know what they say about building Rome?”

“Yes, but we don’t have time to be patient. That’s the trouble. We have to do it all now. We’re going to end up trapped here, with the undead outside. Then what? If our walls aren’t strong enough, our supplies not sufficient, we’ll fight amongst ourselves and we’ll die for scraps that’ll do no more than keep us alive a few more days.”

“You have to accept what we’re able to do. We’re limited by the people we have. More will come, I’m sure.”

“And we can’t wait. Like I said, there’s still Rob. That threat has to be neutralised.”

“I… see. Well, I suppose Tuck has that gun,” Sebastian said slowly. “Perhaps if they were all out in the open… but it’s a shotgun isn’t it? She’d need to be close, and we’d be relying on them still being unarmed.”

“I didn’t mean kill them Sebastian,” Nilda said. “We’ll ask them to join us.”

Most of the group, not having any clue who Rob was, had no opinion when, after dinner, she informed them of her plan. There had been more grumbling when she’d told them they would have to stand in watches. It had died away when she said she was sitting the first watch. Jay and Tuck followed her outside.

“Where did you get the truck and that food from?” Nilda asked the soldier.

Tuck took out the pad and pen and scrawled a brief note.

“The enclaves are gone. There was a battle. A mutiny. Too much fighting. The undead came. The walls were breached. All that food came from there,” Nilda read.

“And…” Nilda tried to find a non-intrusive way to ask a question that was nothing but personal. “The scars. How did that happen?”

Tuck’s hands moved rapidly. Nilda glanced at her son.

“Don’t look at me,” Jay said. “I’ve no idea what that means.”

Tuck scrawled another note. “When you understand, then I’ll tell you.”

“Figures,” Nilda muttered. “Tomorrow I’ll ask Rob nicely if he’d like to come here, but I’d like you and your shotgun to be standing behind me when I do.”

Tuck nodded, then wrote another note.

“What if he doesn’t want to join us?” she wrote.

“He will.”

16
th
March

He didn’t.

“I’m not surprised to see you back here,” Rob said. “Thought it was only a matter of time. But, no. We don’t want to join you. You could join us, if you want. I reckon you’ve something you can trade. Just you and her.” He nodded up the street to where Tuck, shotgun held casually in one hand, stood next to Mark.

“It was her food,” Nilda said. “In that truck.”

“And now it’s mine,” Rob said, with a wolfish grin.

Nilda nodded, feeling a slight sense of relief that there wasn’t some other group lurking in the town.

“How many zombies have you killed, Rob?” she asked, loudly.

“There aren’t any ‘round here,” one of his men said. Rob stayed quiet.

“Yes, they are. And you saw them. The dead ones around that Army truck.”
There was a sharing of looks among the group. Nilda nodded, she’d guessed that right. There had been too much food for even the six of them to carry by hand. That meant they must have used a trolley or stock-cart, probably from one of the shops. At the same time, she doubted he would have left his stash unprotected. So only one or two knew. Perhaps that meant there were only one or two he really trusted, and that was something that she might be able to use.

“I lured twelve of them away from there,” she said. “When we got back, there were seven more heading down the road. That’s nineteen of them, and that was yesterday. The day before, we went to the hospital and there were dozens, maybe hundreds of them there. Tomorrow there will be more. And they will come here. You’ll have to kill them. All of them. If you don’t, you’ll be trapped. Are you ready for that, Rob? Do you have enough food and water to last in there forever? No help is coming. The government’s gone. The enclaves have collapsed. We’re all that’s left. But we’ve got water, shelter, and food. We’re planting crops. We’re going to survive.” She met the eyes of each of the small group. “And we’re offering you a place with us. We’ll share the work, and we’ll keep each other safe.”

“I just told you, we’re not interested. We’ve got food.”

“But you’ll run out. You can’t grow any here. I know what you’re thinking, but you won’t be able to take it from us.”

“No?” he scoffed.

“No. You’ll be surrounded by the undead. You’ll be trapped. You probably won’t starve to death. It’s more likely you’ll die of thirst. The water’s stopped running, hasn’t it?” There was another sly exchange of glances. “I thought so. Then this is your last chance. You can stay here and die, or come and join us.” She looked around the faces and saw uncertainty and fear. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything to further reinforce their doubts, Rob spoke.

“Like I said, if you’re that scared, stay here,” he leered. “We’ll keep you safe.”

She stared up at him for a moment, then turned and walked back up the road to Mark and Tuck.

“What now?” Mark asked. “Leave them to it?”

Tuck shook her head slowly.

“No. We can’t,” Nilda said. “You can’t see it from here, but they’re filthy. They’ve no water. Give it a couple of days and they will come looking for us. Perhaps this was a stupid idea, but it’s too late now.” She glanced at Tuck and her shotgun. “One way or another, this has to end.”

Tuck nodded her agreement. Nilda didn’t find that reassuring.

“You want to attack?” Mark asked.

“There’s one last thing we can try. Come on.”

She led them a few minutes across town, stopping outside a corner shop.

“This’ll do,” she said, dismounting.

“It’s been looted,” Mark said. “Probably by Rob.”

“He won’t have taken what I’m after. Mark, keep watch. Tuck, have a look around. Find me some washing line or rope or something.”

Nilda stepped over broken shelves, climbed over the counter, and went into the back of the store. Amidst the piles of magazines, toilet paper - she made a mental note to come back to collect some of that - and other household sundries, she found what she was looking for. A flat piece of wood, three feet square, with a wheel in each corner. She found an old pair of gloves next to it. Tuck couldn’t find any rope or washing line, but she did find a five-metre long extension cable.

“That’ll do,” Nilda said.

“Now what?” Mark asked.

“Help me carry it. We need to keep quiet.”

Awkwardly, with only Nilda knowing where they were going, they carried the cart another half mile, not quite towards her terrace, but to the road where she killed her first zombie.

“You’re not… oh no! You can’t be serious!” Mark exclaimed.

“Just keep an eye out for the undead,” she said, as she pulled the corpse up onto the cart. She tied it down with the cable.

“I can’t believe you’re going to do this,” Mark said when she’d finished.

“The thing about first impressions is that sometimes they’re not the ones that stick,” she replied. Together, they pulled the creature back towards Rob and his barricade. The cart rattled all the way.

“It’s noisy,” Mark murmured. “It’ll summon all the undead in the town.”

“That’s the plan. They can join us. Or they’ll get surrounded. Either way they won’t be a threat.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Rob yelled when they got within shouting range. He and the other five youths were standing on the barricade, an assortment of weapons in hand.

Nilda kept pulling the cart closer, not stopping until she was ten feet away.

“This is a zombie. One of the undead. We killed it, just now, about five streets from here. How long were we gone, Rob? Thirty minutes? How long until there’s one in this street? How long until there’s scores of them? How long until you’re trapped? We’re at the school. Come and join us. Bring your food. Or stay here and die. It’s your choice. All of you.”

She turned and briskly walked away.

“How did it go?” Jay asked when they got back. He and Tracy had been waiting by the school gates.

“I don’t know yet,” she said. Tuck went to stand by the gate, shotgun in hand, and an almost amused expression on her face.

“Four more people have arrived,” Tracy said. “They came from the south. They said they were fleeing the undead.”

“Right,” Nilda murmured.

“There’s been no one from the north,” Tracy added. “It’s odd really. Unless there’s some haven up there where it’s safe.”

“Maybe,” Nilda said, but she wasn’t really listening. She had her eyes fixed on the road, waiting to see if her plan would work.

Just before sunset, Rob and his gang arrived at the school gates.

“Welcome,” Nilda said, before Rob had a chance to say anything. “All the food is shared. You can leave it at the pavilion. There’s dinner cooking and we’ve showers that work. The water’s cold, but I doubt you’ll mind that. Once you’ve eaten you can wash. And we’ve clean clothes.”

Rob nodded, and opened his mouth.

“You’re all welcome here,” she said again, before he could speak, “Get some food, and then get some rest. There’s work to be done tomorrow. Go on.”

It was obvious that Rob wanted to make some attempt to exert his authority. But the lure of food was too much for his followers. They pushed past him towards the pavilion. Wanting to follow from the front, he went after them. Only the large man lingered.

“The zombies came,” he said. “Whilst we were… arguing. Seven of them.”

Nilda nodded.

“My name’s Nilda, This is Tuck.”

“Charlie,” he said. “The thing is, um… about Rob… um—”

“Go and get something to eat,” Nilda cut in, forcing a smile “It’ll be a long day tomorrow.”

She watched him head off to the pavilion. She didn’t need his warning to know to keep an eye on the gangly youth, but perhaps they weren’t all like their leader. There was some hope in that. She watched long enough to see Tracy pigeon-hole one of the youths, Mark another, Sebastian a third, leading them to separate spots on the pavilion steps.

Nilda let out a deep breath.

“That’s one problem solved,” she said to Tuck. The woman gave a noncommittal shrug. “Right. Just another million to deal with. Come on then.” She headed towards the pavilion.

“Listen up,” she said loudly. “Tomorrow we start on the perimeter. We need high walls.”

“It’s got walls,” Rob said.

“Not all the way around. A lot of it is just railings. In a few weeks, perhaps just in a few days, the undead will gather outside. That’s inevitable, so we need to be prepared. We’re going to reinforce those railings with fencing. We can collect it from the houses and back gardens—”

“And who put you in charge?” Rob cut in.

“You don’t strike me as the kind of person who votes, Rob. But if you want, we’ll do that now. Hands up who wants me to lead.”

Fourteen hands, some instantly others hesitantly, went up.

“Majority rule, Rob. Breakfast will be at five. At first light we’ll go out. I want you and you and…” She started pointing and allocating tasks to each of the group. It was only when she’d finished, and turned around to go and talk to Jay that she saw Tuck had been standing behind her, the shotgun held not quite casually in her hands.

17
th
March

“How much does it come to?”

“Forty kilos of barley,” the girl said. “It was all still at the back of the pub, just where you said it would be.”

“And the vinegar,” Jay added. “That was Deb’s idea. You know, for preserving.”

Nilda glanced at the girl standing next to her son. She was a year older than Jay and had come in on her own the previous evening, two hours after the sun had set and an hour after a party of four had cycled in from Nottingham.

“But vinegar won’t go off,” Nilda said eyeing the catering sized jugs. “We could have got it later.”

“Not if we get surrounded like you think might happen. And there’s the flour too. Two sacks of it,” Jay said. “And the rats would have gotten that. We think they might be a problem, soon.” He glanced at Deborah as if for confirmation.

“Good work,” she said. “Both of you. It’s been a good day.”

Jay shrugged and the two of them went off. The moment she was sure her son wouldn’t notice, Nilda allowed herself a small smile. It was good to see him doing something so normal as boasting on the behalf of a girl to improve his mother’s opinion of her. And it had been a good day. The flour, the barley, and the odd assortment of condiments had more than made up for the newcomers. In addition to those who’d arrived the previous evening, there had been seven more that day. All came from the south, and most had been heading towards the Lake District. All had seen the smoke. All had been disappointed to find a group of survivors who were much the same as them. But, to one degree or another, they had all buckled down to whatever job they were given.