29
We met in
the living room of the house I had been staying in. Although treacly darkness
covered the streets outside, we drew the curtains to stop anyone peering in.
With a candle burring in the centre of the room, wax dripping down the side and
an orange glow cast by the flicker of the flame, it looked like a secret
meeting of a resistance group. When it was someone’s turn to speak they picked
up the candle, as if they were a teenager telling a ghost story around a camp
fire.
I held the
candle to my face and felt the heat lap against my skin. Any closer, and it would
have singed the weeks-worth of stubble on my chin. With the flame so close to
me the rest of the room was bathed in shadow. I couldn’t see the people in the
room, but I knew that Lou, Alice and Ben were there. Where the darkness hid the
faces of those present, it also kept from view the empty spaces where Justin
and Melissa should have been.
“Where’s
Melissa?” I said.
Lou shifted
in the darkness. “She hasn’t left her room since Justin went.”
“Is she
okay?”
“You might
say she’s a tad unhappy.”
I hung my
head back in annoyance, though Lou couldn’t see the gesture. “You know what I
mean, Lou.”
“She’s fine.
I keep checking in on her.”
I held the
candle out toward Alice and Ben and let the orange light splash on their faces.
Ben looked better than when he had arrived in Bleakholt. Alice made him sit as
close to her as possible without spilling onto her lap, but the boy didn’t seem
scared. With everything he had been though I expected him to be a wreck, but he
was made of strong stuff like his mother.
I brought
the candle back to my face. “We need to make a decision,” I said. “Ewan killed
Victoria. Let’s be clear on that. He might say that he wants what’s best for Bleakholt
and that he is protecting the people who live here, but he murdered her. He
took her by surprise, stabbed her and then he burnt her body. This is a
violent, manipulative man.”
“I’ve known
worse,” said Alice.
I knew
exactly who she meant.
“Torben is
nothing compared to Ewan,” I said. “I honestly believe that he would kill
anyone to keep control. He says he loves Bleakholt, but that’s bullshit. He
loves power. And he’ll destroy anyone to keep it. I’ve seen it in his eyes; the
look of a man who craves what others have.”
“So let’s
kill him,” said Lou.
I had killed
people before. Those were evil men who were a danger to others and had deserved
to die. I had shot Torben and I had stabbed Whittaker, and although I knew it
was for the best, it left me with a rotten feeling in my stomach. But if I had
to do it again, I would.
“That
wouldn’t work,” I said. “Ewan has too many people with him. Half of Bleakholt
were in support of his coup, and the other half are shit-scared. We’d be torn
apart the second we touched him.”
“How about
we leave?” said Lou.
A few weeks
ago, all I wanted to do was leave. Staying in Bleakholt had never been on the
agenda for me, because I knew what was coming. Now though ,I knew the potential
Bleakholt had. It really could be a salvation given time, and I couldn’t
abandon it. The wave of infected were coming, and if we could just do enough to
stop them breaching Bleakholt’s defences, then maybe there was hope.
“We’ve come
too far to run away,” said Alice. I heard her shift in her seat. “Kyle, give me
the candle.”
The sour
smell of the wax drifted up my nostrils. I bent forward and passed the candle
to Alice and felt the darkness of the room slip over me. I missed the
comforting heat of the flame on my face.
Alice’s face
was half lit by the candle and half in shadow. “I have an idea. You’re going to
absolutely hate it, Kyle, but it’s the only way.”
“Right now
I’ll consider anything,” I said.
“No. You’re going
to despise this plan.”
“Just spill
it,” I said.
Alice held
the candle closer to her face. Her breath made the flame dance as she spoke. “I
was thinking about what you said about Ewan and the amount of people on his
side. That means that if we want to get rid of him we need bodies. And there
just so happens to be a bunch of people camped outside Bleakholt who would love
the chance to shake things up.”
Lou made a
scoffing sound with her throat. “You don’t mean Moe?”
Alice’s eyes
were set in stone. “That’s exactly who I mean. There’s enough of the Vasey
group to at least put up a fight. We know that they want to move into Bleakholt
and get a share of the resources, so we could promise them that. And Moe is a
conniving son of a bitch. I can’t think of anyone better placed to help us.”
I couldn’t
believe I was hearing this again. I had already swallowed my feelings down a
couple of times. I had tried to ignore the anger that burned in me when I
thought about Moe and what he had done. I wanted to kill him, it was that
simple. But I also knew that some things were more important than my own
feelings.
“If we kill
Ewan,” I said, “We’ll need someone to take his place straight away. If we chose
someone strong and do it quick enough, the rest of Bleakholt will follow them.
Maybe some of Ewan’s people would, too. These people just want an easy life,
and they’ll follow the person with the loudest voice.”
“Congratulations
Kyle, you got the job,” said Lou.
I shook my
head. I had thought of myself as a leader once. I had ideals and I wanted what
was best for everyone. I wasn’t the best leader in this room though. I had let
my own thoughts and worries cloud my thoughts and force me into bad decisions.
“Not me. I’m
not the leader. Alice, I think it should be you.”
Alice
laughed. “Me?”
“I’m
serious. You’re a better leader than I ever will be. If we’re going to do this,
I want you to step in. The people will listen to you. They respect you. If you
promise to take the job, I’ll agree with us speaking to Moe.”
Alice sat in
silence for a few seconds. Ben looked up at her and waited to see what his mother
would say. Thoughts of Moe flashed through my mind but I pushed them back. They
would never go away, and someday I would have to deal with them. For now, they
had to stay hidden in the shadows.
Alice looked
up through the shimmer of the candle light and gave a solemn nod.
30
Lou pulled her coat up to her chin and shivered. She looked at me,
eyebrows raised.
“Why did we have to set the meeting up at night?” She said.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Better ask Alice that.”
Alice’s heavy boots pounded through the mud. “Ewan’s men would have
seen us if we tried to do it during the day.”
The front of my boot wedged into the mud and became stuck. The mud
squelched as I shook it loose.
“That’s doesn’t explain why we’re having it in Moe’s tent,” I said.
“It was the only way he would agree to the meeting,” said Alice.
Billy breathed heavily as he trampled through the mud. He walked on the
right hand side, as far away from Lou as he could get. That left Alice and I in
the middle. The four of us were strong people and seasoned survivors, but I
still felt like we needed more.
The smell of the Vasey camp stopped just short of making me gag. It
smelt like a crisis centre after an earthquake, with the homeless survivors
squeezed together. The residents moved their tents closer for warmth, but many
of them sank inwards at the roof and looked on the verge of collapse. It was as
though they couldn’t be bothered to set them up properly, or maybe they just
didn’t care anymore.
Most of the Vasey campers were asleep. Those who were awake stared into
the night with empty eyes. They looked like Stalingrad soldiers shivering
through a war, their bodies wasting away. Seeing them like this, it was hard
not to feel sorry for them. After all, Moe had been the leader. Most of the
people here had just followed him because he was a strong person.
Was he
stronger than me? Was it my fault that they’d followed him?
Moe’s tent was three times as high and twice as wide as even the
biggest of the Vasey camper’s tents, and it watched over the rest like a
monolith. The material was a yellow-pink hue, and in the dark it looked like
flaps of skin that had been stitched together in the shape of a pavilion. The
wind crashed against it and made a screeching sound as it rattled through the
metal supports.
We stopped fifty metres away. Alice put her hand on my shoulder.
“Remember, Kyle. We need Moe’s help.”
“I know.”
“That means if he says something that pisses you off, you’ve got to
keep control.”
An orange light flickered from inside the tent. Moe’s shadowy outline
moved back and forth as he paced the floor. There was a figure stood to his
side, slightly taller than Moe and not moving. As we reached the entrance my
skin itched.
“This is it,” said Alice. “Stay calm everyone. Make the deal.
As I crossed the tent threshold a warm glow burned on my face. In the
corner there was a black chiminea with logs burning in the middle. It seemed
like a dangerous thing to have in a tent, but Moe had cut a hole in the top
that allowed the chimney to stick out and carry away the smoke. It gave the
tent a warmth that it had no right to have in the dead of winter. Moe’s tent
was larger than the rest in the camp and it was a sick display of riches in a
country of squalor.
Moe turned and gave a crooked smile. “Welcome to my humble abode.”
The figure next to him was Sana. She stood with her arms crossed. The
steely features of her face were offset by the burning glare of her stare. As
we all filed into the tent, Sana’s eyes ignored everyone else and followed me.
A table sat in the middle of the tent with eight places around it. I
counted the number of people present. There was me, Alice, Lou and Billy on our
side. That left Moe and Sana for Vasey.
“Expecting anyone else?” I said.
Moe shook his head. “Thought we’d keep this gathering cosy.”
He gestured to the table. “Take a seat”.
There were two bottles of wine and plates of fruit and vegetables on
the table. Having seen the conditions of the camp outside, this amount of food
seemed obscene. It was clear that Moe wasn’t sharing everything equally. I
wanted to make a point of it, but I knew I had to stay quiet for now.
Alice, Lou and Billy took seats around the table. Moe pulled out a
chair at the other end and lowered himself into it. Sana stood behind him, arms
crossed, eyes fixed on me.
“Sit down, girl.” Moe said.
Sana shook her head. “I’ll stand.”
Alice and Lou picked up on the stare that Sana was giving me. The
hatred in her eyes transferred from her eyes and fixed in the air. It made the
atmosphere tense, as though things could snap with the slightest pressure. This
wasn’t a good way to start.
“Are you armed?” I said, looking at Moe but really wanting to know
about Sana.
Moe nodded. “I sleep with a knife under my pillow and shit with one by
my side.”
“Then I think we better put our weapons away, for now.”
Moe smiled and stood up. He gave me a look as if he was being the most
gracious man in the world.
“If you say so, Kyle. Forgot how paranoid you were.” He looked over at
Sana. “Yours too,” he said.
Sana frowned and pulled a knife from her belt and passed it to Moe. He
walked to the end of the room and dropped them in a box.
Alice looked at Billy. “Better take ours,” she said.
Billy collected our weapons and walked to the end of the room. As he
walked near Moe, Sana moved in his way. Billy stared into her eyes and then
bumped her out of his way with his shoulder.
Moe drummed his fingers on the table. “So here we are. Friends again
and weapon-less to boot. What say we all have a drink?”
He strained his stubby fingers for the wine bottle, but Alice leant
across the table and dragged it away. Moe gave her a stern look.
“This isn’t the time,” said Alice. Her voice was strong and neutral. If
she hated Moe as much as I did, she did a better job of hiding it. “We’ve got
an agreement to make, and time isn’t our friend.”
Moe leant back in his chair. As he put his arms behind his head I saw
how skinny his biceps were. Despite the fact that he had kept most of the food
for himself, he had lost some of his bulk. Maybe it was just his age catching
up to him.
“I’m guessing you’re here about our pal Ewan,” he said.
I sat forward, a dull ache cramping my stomach. A thought stabbed
through my mind.
Moe and Ewan are working together
.
“You’re friends with him?” I said.
“Not really,” said Moe. “He used to come here and bitch about Victoria
and try and get us to jump into bed with him. We turned him away. He’s scum.”
“You’ve got that right,” said Lou. Billy darted her a look, then turned
his head away.
Moe beat a rhythm on the table. It sounded like a drumbeat that an army
would march to. Outside the wind blew against the tent entrance and made the
material of the door flap desperately against the sides of the tent. Through
the open doorway I could see a sliver of the moon. The glow seemed impossibly
bright tonight, as though the moon were hurtling itself toward the earth. A few
miles away the hills stood large, like giant stone sentinels watching over the
land.
“What do you suggest we do?” said Moe.
This was it. It was time to make the deal. Part of me still wanted to
reach over the table and rip Moe’s throat out, but I knew that I just had to
keep it together for a few minutes longer. Once the deal was done, we could get
out of here.
Alice crossed her fingers and joined her palms together. Her shoulders
were straight. She looked Moe in the eyes.
“If you and the rest of the Vasey people were to help us, we could get
rid of Ewan tonight. I don’t know what would happen after that, but it’s imperative
we get rid of him. He doesn’t seem to be doing anything about the wave of
infected, and he’s ready to kill anyone who disagrees with him. He’s already
sent Justin out into the Wilds. Our proposal is simple. Help us save Bleakholt
by supporting us when we get rid of Ewan.”
Moe leant back and stared at the tent ceiling. After a few seconds, he
opened his eyes. He looked at Alice and gave her a nod. Before he could speak,
a shadow approached the entrance of the tent. A man poked his head in. He
scanned the room, lingering on us for a few seconds with a nervous stare, then
spoke to Moe.
“There’s a problem,” he said.
Moe’s face flinched. “What kind of problem?”
“You know what kind,” said the man.
Moe looked at us. “If you’ll excuse me for a few seconds,” he said. “I
hate to be rude, but I have to deal with this.”
Moe stood up and walked to the tent, with Sana following him. Before
she stepped out into the night, she turned and looked at me. There was a cold
smile on her face. “We won’t be long,” she said.
As soon as Moe and Sana left the tension deflated from the room. It was
as thought we had all been holding our breaths under water, and now that we had
surfaced we could suck in as much oxygen as we liked.
“I thought he was gonna say no,” said Lou.
Billy stood up and stretched his arms above his head. His joints
cracked. “What’s with the woman? She wouldn’t stop staring at you, Kyle. Looked
like she was trying to drill into your brain.”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
Alice crossed her arms. “I’m pleased with how this is going. You’re
doing well, Kyle. Just keep it together long enough for us to work something
out.”
Shadowy figures approached the tent entrance. I stood up and felt my
blood pound. I was already annoyed. Had Moe decided to bring others with him?
Was he intimidated by being outnumbered? The hairs on my arms rose, as though
annoyance coursed through me like electricity.
The figures got closer. I felt my muscles tighten and prepared myself
to start shouting.
“Kyle,” said Alice in a reprimanding voice.
I sat back down. I took a deep breath and tried to let the feelings
settle.
As the first figure approach the entrance, my breath caught in my chest
and a shard of fear stabbed through me.
“Oh shit,” I said.
Instead of Moe’s cruel face or Sana’s unblinking stare, something else
stepped into the tent. It raised its arms and stumbled toward the table, a
guttural groan sneaking out of its throat.
More figures bundled in behind it, and soon the infected were spilling
into the tent and filling the space. It was starting to resemble a tent at a
festival, but instead of music we listened to the desperate cries of the dead.
Billy got to his feet so quickly that his chair tipped over. The first
infected lurched at him but he stepped back and let it swipe the air. Alice
stood up and walked around the table, putting the wood between her and the
infected.
The infected filed in. Within seconds the tent reeked of death. It
didn’t matter how many times I’d smelt it before, the stench of decay always threatened
to empty my stomach.
Lou looked at me. “The bastard set us up,” she said.