“What happened? What the fuck happened?” she howled at Al, baring her teeth and pointing down at Greg while she kept her burning eyes locked upon her second in command. “You were supposed to wait. I ordered you to wait. I fucking told you not to go down there, but you did. You stupid bastard. This is your fucking fault.”
Paul saw what was happening and began to usher the onlookers away, hoping that the two would not begin tearing at one another while the militia were present. It was bad enough to see their leaders forcefully disagree, but to witness them physically assault one another would be detrimental to the morale of the whole base. Paul had two options: either stay to break up any fight that ensued, or safeguard that the troops saw nothing at all. He chose the latter. Cross-words could be dismissed as a clash of leadership techniques.
The medics carted Greg off towards the clinic accompanied by Flash who was speaking to the limp form on the stretcher with soothing and encouraging words.
“What the fuck are you all looking at?” Paul shouted to his dumbstruck troops. “Get back to your posts.”
The men and women of the guard force quickly disappeared from sight, watching over their shoulders as they raced towards their positions and places of duty.
“Well?” Tina bellowed. “Answer me.”
She stepped closer, frothing at the mouth with her shoulders hunched and knees bent as though preparing to spring at him with an attack. Her fists were screwed tight, the knuckles turning white as her nails became embedded deep into the soft flesh of her palms. Her anger was boiling over, her reasonability and professionalism giving way as her temper gained control over her composure.
“Not now, Tina,” Al replied with an exhausted sigh. He was shaking his head, clearly upset and already burdened with guilt. “Please, not now.”
“Not now?” she screeched at him.
She could contain herself no longer. In the blink of an eye, she had covered the short distance between them and launched herself up into the air, instantly expelling his advantage in height and reach. With a roar, she punched him square in the face, busting his nose and sending him reeling backwards from the disproportionate power of her unexpected strike. She crashed back down in front of him, absorbing the landing with her knees as she propelled herself forward once again, driving a kick into his abdomen, and giving him no time to react to her lightning assault.
Al dropped to the ground, his exhaustion coupling with the surprise and aggression of Tina’s attack. He landed heavily on his backside, but before she could close in again he had twisted to the side and was already up on his feet, pouncing to the left and then turning his body to jump at her from the flank. He threw out his left arm, catching her across the chest with an open handed slap and knocking her backwards. His right hand was already up and waiting for her and closed around her neck as she landed against his palm. With both hands tucked beneath her chin, he stopped her in her tracks and lifted her from the ground, allowing her to hang there for a moment, long enough for her to feel his power and realise that the fight was far from being one sided and could easily be over if Al wished it.
“Not now, Tina,” he snarled in to her face, pulling her closer and squeezing a little harder. “Not fucking now.”
She could feel his hot breath against her skin and see the fire burning from behind his eyes. She struggled against his loosening grip, kicking her legs and pulling at his forearms. He let go of her and stepped back, raising his hands out in front of him and warning her to stay back. She hesitated, knowing that she could not catch him by surprise again and that she would be unable to beat him with brute force.
They stood and stared at one another for a while, saying nothing and breathing heavily as their emotions and the short physical confrontation sapped their energy and oxygen.
“Why, Al?” she demanded as he went to turn away from her. “Why did you go down there? Greg is going to die now. You know that, don’t you?”
He turned and stomped towards her, his huge size becoming more apparent as he bore down on her, gritting his teeth and snorting through his flared nostrils. He stopped and glowered at her as she stood rooted to the spot, towering over her.
“Yes, I know he’s going to die,” he snarled down into her face. “Do you think that fact is lost on me? Do you think I don’t know what’s going to happen to him and the suffering he’ll have to go through?”
“So why the hell did you…”
“It was
his
fucking idea,” he snapped at her.
He paused, and then his shoulders sagged as his anger ebbed away and quickly turned to remorse again.
“You were asleep, and he came to me saying that he thought it had been a long enough soak period. He said he was going back down there regardless of whether I came with him or not. He wanted to find a way out before it was too late, Tina. If I had come to tell you, he would’ve gone without me. It was his choice, but I couldn’t let him and Flash go running around down there alone.”
She glared back at him, now seeing the upset in his eyes and the pain that he was going through. Despite it being Greg’s idea, she could feel the burden of responsibility that was pressing down upon the big man. It was tearing him apart, and she could feel his agony reaching out from inside him and plucking at her own empathy. In that moment, she placed herself into Al’s shoes and realised that she would have done the same. She would never have let anyone go down there alone while she was capable of helping.
“Yeah, I know that Greg is going to die,” he continued, his voice sounding low and distant while his eyes shone back at her. “Another good man and friend who will soon be gone. Do you think I don’t know that?”
Tina was abruptly humbled by Al’s words and tone. She felt strangely ashamed of her outburst and subsequent actions and began to question her methods and suitability for leadership. She wondered whether she was crumbling under the pressure and failing her people when they needed her more than ever.
Al was doing what he did best, and so was Greg. It was people like them that she relied upon more than anyone to be proactive and carry out the most dangerous missions. They were in a dire situation. The base could not hold out or sustain them for much longer, and with their defences slowly falling apart they needed to find a way out. With so many people involved, and with so few options in a completely hostile world, she had always known that not all of them would make it through unscathed, and Greg was the first casualty amongst what she suspected would be many more during their search for a new home.
For a long time they stood watching one another without saying a word, but their eyes spoke volumes. They had been through a lot together over the years, and there were undoubtedly more trials to come. This was not their first falling out, and both of them felt sure that it would by far not be their last. Regardless, they needed one another, and the troops and civilians were counting on them to do everything that they could to get them to safety.
Al was physically and mentally exhausted. Carrying Greg through the sewers, fighting off the infected, and then having to deal with Tina had sapped every ounce of his strength. He could feel his body becoming weaker and suddenly felt small and frail despite his size. A tear dropped from his eye, and he quickly wiped it away, ashamed that Tina was there to witness such an event. He turned to her, wanting to ask for her forgiveness, but he was fighting a battle with his conscience. There was a voice screaming at him from inside his own head that there was nothing to forgive. Deep down he knew this, but being one of the base’s commanders, he felt responsible for what had happened.
He stared into her eyes. She meant a great deal to him, more than she realised, and it was she who when times were tough had unwittingly carried him through. The same went for Tina. Al was her unacknowledged soulmate. The atmosphere between them had simmered substantially over the past few minutes, and the anger had dissipated, being replaced by humility, understanding, and mutual sympathy for one another’s emotional struggle.
“You good?” she asked, sensing that he was preparing to leave.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
He nodded to her and then turned on his heel, headed for the complex.
“Tina,”
an urgent voice called over to her, coming from the direction of the northern entrance into the base.
“For fuck sake,” she huffed, turning to see who it was that now needed her attention. “What now?”
Al stopped and turned around, realising that the night’s events were not yet over and that there was more on the horizon. He unslung his rifle and looked up towards the wall, searching for any sign of panic, but there was no movement. There were no figures rushing about, and the guns remained silent.
“Tina,”
the voice called again as a shape emerged from the darkness.
It was Ron. He was running towards them and appeared agitated, which was a rarity considering that the man always seemed to be in a permanent state of disinterest regardless of what was happening. He came to a skidding halt in front of them, out of breath but anxious for Tina and Al to follow him back to his communications hut. He was already turning to run back in the direction he had come from.
“We’ve got comms with someone,” he panted as Al and Tina followed after him at a brisk jog. “I think it’s those islanders again.”
“You got the HF radio working then?” Al asked.
Ron slowed his pace slightly to allow them to close the distance. He looked back over his shoulder at Al and shook his head.
“Not a chance. I’ve tried, but I can’t get it working. These transmissions are coming through on the VHF set.”
Tina and Al glanced at one another. If what Ron was telling them was correct, and they had no reason to doubt him, it meant that whoever they were talking to were within a relatively close range to the base. At that moment they felt a mixture of hope and excitement, but trepidation also bubbled to the surface. They knew very little about the people they had been speaking to, and to suddenly have them on their doorstep was an unnerving prospect.
“The VHF?” Al huffed.
“Yeah, the VHF. Gary is trying to get a rough idea on their location with the direction finder, but they’re not saying much and sending only in short bursts.”
“What makes you think it’s the islanders?” Tina asked.
“Just a wild guess, but who else would it be? It’s not like the airwaves are filled with much chatter these days.”
They reached the communications hut. Gary was sitting at the table with the handset pressed against his ear, repeatedly calling into the radio and sounding frustrated. He looked up as the three of them entered and shook his head.
“They’ve gone quiet all of a sudden.”
“Any luck on getting their position?”
Gary shook his head again and continued trying to reach the people on the other end. It was another five disappointing minutes before a faint voice came through the speaker again. It sounded distorted and crackling, but Al recognised the man as being the same one that they had been speaking to up until a few weeks earlier. The Welsh accent was distinct, despite him doing his best to slow his speech down and concentrate on his pronunciation.
“How’s things going in there? You having a spot of trouble?”
“It’s them,” Al grunted.
“And they’re close enough to know what’s going on,” Tina concurred, staring at the radio and feeling her spine begin to tingle.
They all paused for a moment and glanced at one another. Gary held up the handset, not wanting the responsibility of continuing to communicate with the strangers. Al snatched it from him and raised it to his ear.
“Yeah, you could say that,” he replied into the radio, trying to sound casual and friendly. “I take it that you have eyes on?”
“Roger. We can see what’s going on, and to be honest, it doesn’t look too good. What’s your plan?”
Al paused. He wanted to explain what they had in mind, but he was naturally suspicious of giving too much information away to someone he did not know. Experience had taught them to trust no one from the outside until all their cards were on the table to see. They had no idea of what the man’s intentions were, and for all they knew, it could be another band of raiders, looking to take advantage of the situation for themselves.
“We’re working on it,” Al replied simply.
“Roger that and understood. You’ll be pleased to know that we’ve already done some of the work for you.”
“How’s that?”
“We’ll tell you once you’ve let us in.”
Al frowned and turned to look at the others.
“How does he mean ‘let us in’? There’s no way they’re going to get through all of that out there.”
Tina shook her head, but already Al’s face was changing to one of horror. He suddenly realised why the voice sounded so broken up and filled with static. They were in a location where the signal was struggling to transmit.
“Shit,” he bellowed, snatching up his rifle. “The tunnel.”
Within minutes they were charging through the darkness. They left Ron and Gary to continue speaking to the man on the other end of the radio, hoping that they would be able to keep them distracted while they raced to get into position. All kinds of scenarios were tumbling through Al’s mind as once again he drew on his reserves to keep him going. His exhaustion was forgotten now as his body began preparing itself for yet another confrontation. This time, not with the walking dead, but with the living.