The Survivors Book III: Winter (17 page)

"
Nothing."  I took a deep breath to steady myself, and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.  "God isn't punishing you, Javed.  It's not your fault that this happened.  Promise.  I'll tell you what, I'll make you the same deal that I made Priya.  If you want, you can bring the train with us, but if we end up walking, then you'll have to either carry it yourself or leave it behind.  How does that sound?"

"
I can have it?"  He stared at me wide-eyed, all thoughts of dead families forgotten.  "This train?  I'm allowed to have a toy?"

"
I don't see why not."  I summoned a smile for him, doing my best to shove aside the disturbing topic as well.  "I do have to put in a clause for your mother's sake, though.  You have to share it with your brothers, okay?"

"
Okay!"  Javed's expression lit up.  Suddenly, he leapt to his feet and rushed around gathering up the pieces of the train set so that he could shove them back into the box they'd come from.  I smiled as I watched him, right up until I heard Skylar whoop in delight from the back of the house.  Her words were some of my favourite words ever, words that would never lose their potency even after a decade of living in the ruins of our old world.

"
Yes!  Yes!  I found toilet paper!"

"
Woohoo!"  I cheered, throwing my hands up in the air.  Javed shot a bewildered glance at me, but didn't seem to care either way.  "Well, I guess that's a girl thing, then."

"
What is?" Skye asked, trundling into the room with my backpack over her shoulder, and the sealed package of toilet paper under her arm.  It was so old that the plastic wrapping had faded to clear, but the paper itself looked fine.

"
The toilet paper thing," I explained, gesturing at Javed.  "Kid's more interested in his train set."

"
Oh!"  She laughed merrily.  "Yeah, definitely a girl thing.  Boys can be so gross sometimes."

"
They sure can."  I chuckled as well, and gave her a quizzical look.  "Are we all done here, then?"

"
I think so," she answered.  She shrugged off my backpack and handed it to me, and I put it on my shoulders.  By the time we were done, Javed had joined us, watching expectantly with the faded train set clutched against his chest.

"
Let's head off, then," I suggested.  I took point and led the way down the hall, out of the front door, and across the overgrown lawn towards the street.  Along the way, I paused to check the mailbox; I'd found more than a few little treasures in them over the years.  Sure, it was mostly just stacks of old bills and irrelevant junk mail, but every now and then you struck gold.  As it turned out, today it was the latter.

"
Hey, what have you got?" Skye asked curiously as I pulled the package out of the mailbox.

"
Not sure, but it can't hurt to look," I answered.  I turned the package over, and examined the label to try and work out who the sender was, but it was illegible.  Skye and Javed came up behind me to watch as I tore open the package.

"
Honey?"  Skylar shot a bewildered glance at me.  "Why would someone have mailed these people honey?"

"
It was a thing, back in the day," I answered, excitement rising in my breast to replace the darker thoughts.  "Mail-order honey.  That means this'll be the good quality stuff.  Oh man, Doc's going to be thrilled."

"
It'll be nasty after all this time, won't it?" Skye asked, looking at me with interest.  "The stuff's just like… sugar and bee spit."

"
Actually, honey is one of the few foods that never expire," I explained.  As I spoke, I crouched down and set the box at my feet, so I could examine the contents without the risk of dropping it.  Inside, four sealed jars of perfect, translucent sweetness sparkled up at me.  It was a sight that made me smile.  "A few years after the plague hit, I met this guy down south.  Up until then, I'd been surviving on trial and error, but that guy was ex-military and a survivalist.  He knew a bunch of stuff.  He taught me about honey."

"
Oh, yeah?"  Skye grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.  "He taught you about honey, huh?"

I shot her a dark look.
 "It wasn't like that.  We were just friends.  He was a lot older than me, and treated me like a daughter, or at least a sister.  Anyway, honey lasts forever if it's stored in an air-tight container without any impurities.  There are a couple of other foods with an indefinite shelf-life, but honey is the only one that you can eat without cooking.  It's a godsend when you're starving and desperate.  It's also one of the most powerful all-purpose medicines that the natural world has to offer, so this stuff is going straight into Doc's medicinal stores."

"
Oh."  Skye stood back, watching as I closed the box and picked it up, then she and Javed both followed as I resumed our trek back to our bunker.  She was silent for a few minutes, then she shot me a curious look.  "So, what happened to him?  You made it sound like you've been entirely alone for the last ten years.  You haven't mentioned any friends before."

"
There have been a few times when I had companions for a while," I admitted.  "But it never ended well.  I've been alone for the vast majority of the time.  I spent about six weeks with him, but one day he just vanished.  There were some gangs starting to develop in the area at that time, so it was getting dangerous for us.  He'd taught me that if he didn't come home, I was to go to ground.  So, that's what I did.  I never saw him again."

"
Well, that sucks."  Skylar sighed heavily, folding her arms across her chest.  "Sorry.  Didn't mean to stir up bad memories."

"
It's okay."  I glanced over at her, and gave her a smile.  "He's not a bad memory.  In fact, he's one of the few good memories I have from that period.  At the time we met, I was having trouble finding enough to eat.  He taught me a lot of little things that have helped me to survive over the years, and now I get to teach them to the kids.  Right, Javed?"

"
Yup!" the boy agreed, even though it was clear he wasn't paying the least bit of attention to either of us.  Skye and I laughed.

"
Mama!"  A voice in the distance called out.  I paused and turned to look.  A few seconds later, the voice called out again.  "Mama, I heared you.  Where are you?"

"
Over here, Priya," I called back.

There was a rustling sound, then Priyanka appeared on the other side of a tangle of overgrown shrubs, with Matt right behind her.
 "Mama, we found the stinky stuff that's food for the cars!  You come see, please?"

"
Sure, sweetie," I agreed.  I turned to Skylar, and offered her the box of honey.  "Make sure this gets to Doc safely?"

"
'Course."  She took the jar and tucked it under her arm.  "I can take your backpack, too."

"
Thanks."  I slipped the pack off, and handed it to her with a smile.  "I'll see you guys soon."

"
Stay safe," she said by way of farewell, then with a wave, she and Javed were off.  It wasn't far back to the warehouse and Skye had her gun with her, so there was no valid reason to worry about them.  I hurried over to meet up with Priyanka and Matt.

As soon as I found a way around the jungle that had once been someone's hedge, Priya threw her arms around my waist and hugged me.
 Then, she grabbed my hand and dragged me off without a word.  We passed down a street and ducked through an alleyway that terminated beside an old gas station.

At some point in the past, someone had cracked open the underground tanks and started to syphon out the contents, but they'd stopped half way through the task.
 A large barrel, half-filled, sat on the forecourt with a length of hose still leading back to the tanks, but now both were gathering cobwebs.  I detached myself from Priya and went over to inspect the barrel, but before I got within a few meters I knew that the petrol was unusable.

"
Sorry, Priya.  This stuff is stagnant," I told her gently.  Taking the opportunity to educate them both, I lifted a finger to touch the tip of her nose.  "Do you smell that?"

"
Yeah.  Smells like bads."  She glanced over at the tanks.  "Car food is bads?"

"
Unfortunately."  I sighed and put my arm around her.  "Petrol – the stuff that the cars eat – can last for years and years if it's stored in underground tanks, or in metal containers, but if even a little bit of water gets in then it'll… let's just say that it'll go bad.  Just like how people can't eat bad food, if we try to make the cars eat bad petrol it'll make them sick."

"
Oh."  Priya's expression sagged, but she didn't have much time to mope.  A second later, Matt drew a sharp breath.

"
Someone's coming," he whispered, taking a nervous step back.  I turned to look, just as the shouting started.

"
Oi!" Jim yelled, already red in the face and angry.  "Just because we asked you buggers for help one time doesn't give you the right to come traipsing all over our land whenever you feel like it!"

"
Hold up, mate."  I raised my hands in a placating gesture.  "We're here for a good reason.  Just hear us out, okay?"

"
Jim, stop being an ass." Rebecca emerged from between two buildings, followed by Michael and Hemi.

"
Shut up, woman!" Jim snapped irritably.  "You're not my mother."

"
Maybe not, but I know where you sleep," she answered sweetly, coming up behind her 'husband' to place a hand on his arm.  Unlike his, her expression was friendly, and she smiled at me.  "Hello, Sandy.  Nice to see you again."

"
You too," I greeted her, lowering my hands.  "I'm sorry to show up unannounced.  There have been a few changes in our group, and our radio is out of order."

"
I assumed as much."  Rebecca glanced past me, at the open petrol tank.  "That was us.  We tried to salvage the fuel a few years ago, but water got into the underground tanks.  We have another reservoir up the road, but this one's useless."

"
I gathered as much from the smell."  I shot another look at the worthless fuel and shrugged.  "Not much we can do about it now.  Anyway, we came here to talk to you two.  We're all leaving the Waikato, and we wanted to invite you to come along with us."

"
What?"  Rebecca reared back, her eyes wide.  "Why are you leaving?  I thought you were happy in Ohaupo."

"
We were, but… something's changed."  I glanced up at Michael, and he gave me an encouraging smile.  I returned it and looked back at Rebecca and Jim.  "Guys, you remember the things in Hamilton, right?  The killer mutant zombies?"

"
Hard to forget about those," she answered, her expression turning grim.  "Why?"

"
They've come south," I answered bluntly.  Her eyes flew wide, but I continued before she could say anything.  "They attacked us at Ohaupo.  We managed to escape without any casualties, but Anahera's tribe wasn't so lucky.  While we were busy cleaning up at Ohaupo, they swung around to the west and attacked the hill fort at Lake Ruatuna.  There were only four survivors."

"
Oh, my God!"  Rebecca clamped her hands over her mouth.  Jim muttered a few curses under his breath, and put his one good arm around her shoulders.

"
So, you think they're coming here next?" he demanded, his voice an odd mixture of anger and resignation.  "If they do, it's because you led them here.  You know that, right?"

"
I know," I admitted.  "But we had no radio.  If we just went straight south, we might have led them away from you, but maybe not.  They might have found you anyway, and they'd have taken you by surprise.  You wouldn't have stood a chance."  I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.  "Guys, I don't think you realise how much we appreciate what you've done over the years.  By keeping the station going, you've helped us to keep in touch with our own humanity, and our link to civilization.  Plus, hot showers.  I can never thank you enough for the hot showers.

"
But it's over now.  It's time to move on.  All of us.  We've gathered up all the people that we know, and we're heading south.  We're going to Wellington, and we're going to try something new there: we're going to build a city."

"
A city?" Rebecca asked, her expression flickering through a variety of emotions all at once.  "You're going to build a city?  Seriously?"

"
Yep."  I smiled at her and nodded.  "First, we're going to Avalon, a suburb in Lower Hutt, to find the Anchorman.  Then, we're going to find the perfect site to build a new city.  It's time.  The mutant attacks were the catalyst, but this had to happen eventually.  We can't keep just surviving, gnawing away at the bones of a dead civilization forever.  We need to create our own civilization."

I shifted my gaze to Jim, and smiled at him as well.
 "It's going to be a place where everyone is welcome, so long as they're willing to contribute.  We don't care about your race, creed, origin story, or sexuality, so long as you can share in our vision.  Civilization has fallen, but it's fallen before.  Humanity has survived before.  We can rebuild.  We can begin again.