The Abandoned Trilogy (Book 1): Twice Dead (Contagion) (39 page)

“Are we safe here?” Jasmine asked in a timid voice.

              “For the moment,” I said quickly before anyone else could speak.

              The tension in the coach was palpable.

“Don’t touch any of the black shit anywhere on the coach,” Private Jasper choose that moment to stand up, “Be careful when you get off, move away from the coach, but stay near enough that you can get back on quickly if you need too, and no one fall in the fucking lake please, because I’m not going in after you.”

              There was a giggle from Eden. I giggled as well, then there was a snort from Gabe, Percy said “silly bastard,” and within seconds, we were all hysterical with laughter. The tension dissipated, with every hysterical belly laugh our bodies and minds became our own again. We all laughed so hard it hurt. Even Private Jasper laughed. It was hysterical laughter, but we needed to release the tension that all of us were experiencing at that moment.

              It reminded me of the time when Mitch and I had seen the dentures and the slippers outside the café, and that memory made me laugh even more, yes, I know it wasn’t funny, but like said, valves of pressure have to be released one way or another.

              “I think I have finally lost the plot,” I gasped as I wiped my cheeks with both my hands.

Private Jasper choose that moment to take a flying leap from where he was standing to the grass outside. Everyone followed his example other than me, as there was no way I could do that with my leg and I said as much.

              The side of the coach wasn’t as badly splattered at the front was, the bull rings had strips of torn flesh hanging from them and the tires were covered in disgusting black Twice Dead goo. Percy and Gabe kept the dogs on their leashes and I limped down the back of the coach to join Seb.

              “Don’t want to jump out of the coach do you?” Seb grumped, his cheeks red from laughing, but now he was sombre, “Want to join the cripple in the back seat?”

              “Yes,” I said sitting down on a seat near to him, “It’s the only cheap thrill I am ever going to get.”

“This is so going to rat-shit.”

              “Twice Dead shit don’t you mean?” I said.

              “Be serious.”

              “I don’t really want to think about it,” I said, “I can only deal with what I can deal with and right now…” my voice trailed off and I exhaled.

              “Stevie sure as hell kicked Twice Dead butt.”

              “Yeah,” I couldn’t deny the truth of that statement, “He sure as hell did.”

              “You didn’t do too bad yourself, pretty good for the leader of the pack.”

              Leader of the pack? What was he on about? Before I could respond, Mitch had the back doors of the coach open in order to get the electronic lift working so that Seb and I could get out of the coach.

              Lewis of course had no problem with the rough terrain and moved over the lumpy and uneven grass with ease.

              Mitch helped me off the lift and I limped off to join the others who were hovering near to the coach, but not too near.

              Phoenix was sitting cross-legged on the grass with his computer open. He had a large complex looking solar battery pack feeding it power.

              “How’s the Bee-in-the-SKY?” I asked him.

              “Still working,” he grunted.

              Eden and Jasmine had gone to sit by the lake, huddled together, arms linked.

              Percy and Gabe played with the dogs, Cassidy had lumbered over to them and they let him hold both leashes and walk with them.

              Mitch was talking with Adag. Private Jasper and Corporal Peters were checking their weapons and talking in low voices whilst Paul sat quietly in the front seat of the Land Rover. His eyes were closed. How long did he have? With no medication other than painkillers, he was living on borrowed time, but then weren’t we all?

              Stevie was standing by the water’s edge away from everyone else. Though he had laughed along with all of us when Private Jasper had spoken, I could see that he was greatly affected by what he had witnessed and what he had to do.

              I joined him, standing at his side. He was staring across the lake. It was a lovely lake, flat, barely rippling in the soft breeze of the day.

There was a good-sized island in the centre. It was filled with trees and heavy foliage and by the look of it there was some sort of building there as well, hidden partly by the trees, but the stonework was a vivid red against the greenness of the landscape. I wondered what it had been used for? It looked newer than the bunker.

              “You were very brave Stevie,” I said.

              “And strong,” he said. He spoke quietly.

              “Very,” I agreed.

              “Bad people made them bad,” he said, “Very bad people.”

              “They did,” I nodded my head, and because I felt he had the right to know more, I said quietly, “One of them was a soldier.”

              “Duke,” Stevie said taking me by surprise and then he added, “He called me a Mong.”

My stomach boiled. I clenched my fists at my sides.

“You are a million times the man that he is Stevie, everyone in that coach owes their life to you, you are the real soldier not that piece of hate mongering shit!” I said fiercely, “And don’t you ever forget it!”

“Lucy,” Stevie said softly, not looking at me, his voice trembled as he spoke, “Are my family now Twice Dead?” I had been dreading this question, so far, no one had asked it, though, everyone other than perhaps the girls and Cassidy knew it was more than likely their family and friends were now no longer human.

“More than likely,” I said and I also stared across the lake, as I could not bring myself to look at him because I knew he was crying. Not hysterical crying, just a trail of tears sliding down his face, glistening on his freckled flesh, his bright eyes awash with silent and unspoken grief.

I reached out and took his hand, closing my fingers firmly around his. We stood there together until Mitch shouted at us to help clean the coach. Time to keep busy whilst we waited for the Colonel to arrive.

Cleaning the coach was surprisingly done with a mop, a broom and two buckets that were kept in the boot of the coach. Mitch liked to keep his coach clean and tidy, but that wasn’t always possible with some residents who had accidents with food, drinks and bodily fluids.

              As some of us helped clean off the gore and bits of flesh with water from the lake, Private Jasper and Corporal Peters set about making a fire with foraged dry wood and bracken. They had their rifles hoisted over their shoulders and they were on edge, barking out orders and scanning the exposed land around them with worried eyes.

              Eden and Jasmine collected pinecones from nearby trees to put on the fire and Seb and Adag had gone over to the steel doors of the windowless concrete bunker and were inspecting them with interest.

              Phoenix was working on the computer; his Bee-in-the-SKY was searching for Wolf. I had asked if we could use the Walkie-talkies in our vehicles to contact the Colonel, but Private Jasper said they weren’t compatible which was a bit of a bummer.

              Gabe and Percy had got the food I had bought with me and set about doing the best they could in sharing it out. Only Cassidy was hungry, but we all tried to eat something. The dogs had settled onto the grass and were chewing happily on two chew sticks.

              We all gathered around the fire, it was burning merrily. It was still light, but when the night fell, it would be as creepy as hell.

              Corporal Peters had his arm around Jasmine’s shoulders and she was leaning against him, her own arm across his back. She was quiet, as was Eden.

              “Will we have to sleep out here?” Cassidy asked the question. He was munching on an apple I’d given him.

              “Not sure,” Private Jasper said and he moved his gaze to Phoenix and called out, “Any sign of the Colonel and the others?”

              Phoenix looked up briefly from his computer, “No,” he said shortly.

              I limped away from the fire, heading for the lakeside. Adag had gone to give Paul some water and to keep him company in the Land Rover.

              Mitch followed me to the lake and tapped me on my shoulder. He motioned with his head for me to follow him, which I did. We went to his van. He opened the back doors and he pulled out a wooden box from among the many things he had packed into the space. There was a strong smell of petrol and it got stronger when he prized opened the lid of the box.

              Inside were a variety of jars, taken from our recycling bin outside of the Home’s kitchen and filled with a combination of petrol and dried wild garlic. Mitch had drilled holes into the lids and then pushed a homemade wick into each one.

              For a moment I wasn’t sure what I was looking at and Mitch reached out for one of the jars, wild garlic infused petrol swished back and forth.

              “Not sure what it will do,” he confessed, then he grinned “Garlic Petrol Bombs, known now as a GPB!”

              That made me smile, Mitch tossed the jar into the air so it spun, before catching it and putting it back into the box. I sucked in my breath and he grinned, “It’s safe…until it’s lit, I sealed the lid rims to make sure, and I only used the best quality jars on offer!”

              “No denture containers then?” I said and he snorted back a laugh.

              “I considered Paisley slipper shoe boxes,” he said, “But the Petrol soaked through the cardboard.”

It was my turn to laugh, “How many GPB’s did you make?”

              “Six boxes,” he tapped several of the tin lids, “Each has got 20 jars in each of them.”

              “We might need to light them fast,” I said to the old soldier.

Mitch had thought of that too. When he had gone to get petrol with Private Jasper, he had stopped off at the supermarket again and found some ten gas-cooker lighters in the small hardware section. They were all filled and the flame was strong, ordinary lighters he thought could be prone not to work.

              “We need to decide who we give them too, Stevie I think will be able to throw one of them really far, Cassidy too, what about the girls?”

              Mitch nodded his head as he reached into the back of the van and pulled out his sword. He had made a strap for it so he could carry it across his back.

              “Should we call you Blade now?” I teased him and he laughed because he was a fan of the short run Vampire TV series Blade.

              “What are you doing?” Private Jasper made me jump and I swore.             

              “Don’t do that!” I exploded, “You scared the shit out of me!”

              “I could have been a Twice Dead,” he snapped at me, “You need to listen more!”

              “Highly unlikely,” I said in a dismissive voice.

              Private Jasper’s fingers were suddenly gripping my arm, making me yelp in pain and surprise.

              “What are you doing?” Mitch began angrily and then he stepped back, his hands held out in front of him because Private Jasper had pulled his Glock and was pointing it at him.

              “What do you know that you haven’t told us?” Private Jasper said in a hard voice, “What do you know about this place that makes you so fucking sure the Twice Dead won’t come here? And what the hell is in those boxes?” His eyes flicked to the box of jars we had just been looking at.

              “Our last line of defense,” Adag had heard our conversation from where she was with Paul and she moved to stand behind Mitch, “Because of the people in Thorncroft, you just might have a chance of living to see another day, these ‘idiots’ that the New World Succession condemned to death, just might have a weapon for you to use against the Twice Dead, and that is what is in those boxes,” she nodded toward the boxes.

              “What sort of weapon?” Private Jasper still had hold of my arm, but he had relaxed his grip. He was still pointing his gun at Mitch, but I saw his trigger finger relax.

              So I told him what we had worked out over time. He listened and then we waited. It was a tense moment and then slowly, ever so slowly he let his gun drop to his side and he released my arm.

              Mitch turned his back on him and walked away. He was angry, very angry. I rubbed my arm and watched as Adag hurried after the old soldier, taking his elbow and not looking back.

              “That was wrong of you,” I said to Private Jasper.

              “What would you have done?” he challenged me.

              “After what we have all been through together,” I said as I too walked away from him, “I’d have trusted you, which I now realise would actually be a really stupid thing to do.”

              Luckily, no one else from the group witnessed Private Jasper pull a gun on Mitch. The fire that we had made was near the doors of the bunker and everyone was doing their own thing.