Blood on the Floor: An Undead Adventure (26 page)

Heather pauses to stare at the little girl fast asleep, wondering if she needs to be woken to be fed. How often do kids eat? Is it better to let her sleep or get food inside? In the end she does nothing and ignores the issue to let the children feed themselves. She grabs a tin and eats. Wolfing the rice pudding down hungrily while being watched by Paco. ‘Minute,’ she says with a mouthful. ‘I’m starving…’ She finishes the tin and grabs another to ease down with her backside on his thighs. ‘Hand up…take the spoon and…oh going right in are you. No that’s fine but…and up to the mouth. Hey that was the best one yet.’

Subi and Rajesh watch intently, both holding open tins as Heather helps Paco feed himself the way their mother used to feed Amna.

‘Oh you smell so good now,’ Heather says, grinning at Paco. ‘All clean and nice…come on keep eating. All in the mouth and, get that bit from your chin. Your motor skills are getting better…you haven’t crushed that tin at all. What next? Ooh this could be messy, macaroni cheese. Fancy it? Go on then. Just don’t load the spoon up so much…okay in we go and…gently now…up and in…is it nice? Do you like it? Yeah? Nice? Going for more... okay keep going…your neck is healing so well and you didn’t poo in your pants today which was good. Oh that man was funny, all yelling out in his farmers voice…me trying to get you to wring me out…finished it?’ She stands up to turn and freezes at the two faces watching her intently who quickly look down to their tins.

‘Finished?’ She asks the children, ignoring the awkward silence.

‘Yes, Heather,’ Subi replies as Rajesh delves into the bottom of his tin then decides it’s empty.

‘Okay,’ Heather says, ‘er…time for sleep then…you er…I don’t know where you should sleep but…look we’ll split this bale and you can…I mean it’s soft and clean so…’

‘That’s fine, thank you,’ Subi says, carrying her sister over. ‘Rajesh, come to sleep.’

‘Huh?’ Rajesh stops while reaching for another tin. ‘But…’

‘Sleep, Raj,’ Subi says, making eyes while Heather works to adjust Paco and get more soft straw under his body then more under his head for a pillow.

‘Oh but…fine,’ Rajesh huffs and follows his sister to the split bale. Subi lowers Amna and nestles in to her sister’s side while indicating for Rajesh to come to her other side. He does as told. Mummy always said Subi was in charge if she wasn’t there. They get settled, still quiet and silent from the shock at being round strangers after so long of hiding in the supermarket but as interested as they are in Heather and Paco the exercise and fresh air bring their eyes down to droop.

What a day. Not what she expected at all. She looks over to the children to see them asleep. Looks safe enough now. She drops down to ease his sunglasses off, smiling at seeing his eyes that can now never look awful to her. His hand lifts to find hers that comes forward without gloves to entwine her fingers through his. That smile stays as she shuffles to get into his side so she can nestle down to shift and fidget to gain that extra millimetre. Subi watches, her eyes heavy and closing but seeing everything. She sees as Heather rests her head on Paco’s chest and holds still with her arm draped over him. She sees as Heather rises to lean over with her head lowering to kiss his forehead with lips that hold so long and so tender and she sees when she pulls away and the look of delight on Heather’s face when Paco smiles. That Paco has never smiled before is not something Subi knows.

Twenty Seven

‘What the…’ on her feet, wild and frantic at the scream ripping through the air. Paco surging up, his system flooding with aggression to kill and stamp and keep her safe. It’s too dark. Who is screaming? She flails in the dark, staggering to the door with the belief the infected are inside. The scream goes on, piercing and shrill. Paco bursts past her ramming the door open that fills the barn with the early dawn rays. Rajesh sits bolt upright his eyes wide in fear and Subi shaking from head to toe while grabbing her sister screaming from the nightmare of the beasts in the supermarket all coming alive to eat her.

Heather gasps, her heart hammering from the panic inducing seconds of bursting from sleep to full on wide awake. Adrenalin coursing her veins, making her shake and tremble as she rubs her face. ‘Oh my…jesus…’

‘Ssshhh, Amna ssshhh, it’s okay…’ Subi soothes and rubs her sister who inhales to scream wildly again with a blast of sound that will be heard for miles in every direction.

‘Make her stop,’ Heather says, rushing towards the children to stand impotent at being faced with a screaming child.

‘Just a dream, just a dream,’ Subi holds her sister, rocking back and forth to try and settle the girl who just keeps screaming. ‘Amna…stop now….just a dream…’

‘She’s got to be quiet,’ Heather says, frantic with worry at the noise. ‘Make her be quiet…wake her up.’

‘She is awake,’ Subi says, the fear and panic extending to make her own tears start to form.

‘Shush…ssshhh,’ Heather waves her hands at the girl. ‘Amna, shush now…stop screaming…Subi, do something…’

‘She’s scared,’ Subi tries harder, rocking faster with hands rubbing down her sisters face ‘Amna, shush now…it was just a dream.’

‘Christ, does she need food?’ Heather asks, ‘Amna…are you hungry?’

Amna screams. She screams because the monsters were alive and coming for her. She screams because the beasts were crawling broken and bloodied through the piles of maggots to eat her flesh. Amna screams because she is scared witless of being in a strange place with strange voices. She screams because she saw her mummy being killed by her daddy and she screams because they had to run and hide in the supermarket where the dead monsters are.

‘Make her stop…’

‘I can’t’ Subi cries because her sister is scared and Heather is angry and because the big man is looming behind her.

‘Amna,’ Heather goes closer, grasping the girl’s arms. ‘Stop it…you have to stop it…’ The girl thrashes, pulling away to shake and scream with a voice that will let every infected know where they are. ‘Stop,’ Heather begs, pleading. She grabs the girl, heaving her up and into her own body that she rocks side to side while rubbing the girl’s back. ‘Shush…stop…you have to stop screaming.’ It takes time but Amna eases down from a scream to wail then a sob as her arms going round Heathers neck to cling tight. ‘It’s okay, easy….take it easy,’ Heather rocks side to side, swinging her hips as the girl falls into a fitful silence of broken sobs. ‘Go back to sleep,’ Heather tells the other two. Walking round the barn to soothe the child in her arms. ‘Ssshhhh now, ssshhhh, go to sleep…’

‘I’m scared,’ Rajesh whimpers, the barn is too dark. It smells unfamiliar and he just woke up with his sister screaming.

‘Shush, Rajesh,’ Heather says, ‘go back to sleep…’

‘I want my mummy,’ Rajesh starts crying, his sobs joining Amna’s as Subi tries to be older and stronger and fight the tears pouring her cheeks.

‘Mummy’s dead,’ Subi sobs, her voice cracking with emotion.

‘Oh God no…no no no…just go back to sleep.’

‘I want…I want my daddy…’

‘Rajesh, shush now…you’ll wake Amna…’

‘Daddy killed mummy,’ Subi opens the flood gates as Heather winces and stares out the doors too ill-equipped to deal with this. ‘Daddy….daddy killed mummy…’

‘I want my daddy…’

‘Christ, please just go to sleep. Look, Paco is right here…they can’t get in. Everyone is okay…everyone is safe and…’

‘I…I want…my…’ Rajesh sobs, tears falling down his face that screws with his body wracking from the grief and loss surging up.

‘Subi, comfort your brother…’

‘Daddy killed her…’ Subi mouths to speak more but the words come out a broken whisper of raw emotion that Heather doesn’t want or need. What the hell does she do? They’ve got to stop crying. She soothes Amna, rocking her over to the split bale while staring down at two more children sobbing their hearts out.

‘Daddy,’ Rajesh sobs harder, breathing in gulps of air.

‘Rajesh,’ Heather says quickly, ‘you were right, Paco is Paco Maguire…you hear that? Yeah? He is Paco Maguire…’

‘My daddy,’ Rajesh carries on.

‘Oh shit,’ Heather groans and rocks. She sinks down to lower Amna into the straw and reaches out to touch Rajesh. ‘Hey…come on…stop that…Subi, you stop crying too.’

‘Daddy killed…’

‘Enough,’ Heather says firmly, ‘stop it. Both of you…pack it in and stop crying.’

Subi heaves for air to fight the sobs, her cheeks stinging again at the hard tone coming from Heather.

‘Now pack it in, stop it…Rajesh, stop that…’

‘I want my…’

‘Rajesh,’ Heather snaps.

‘Raj,’ Subi reaches out to hold her brother, her eyes darting quick and fearfully at Heather. ‘Shush, Raj…come here, shush…’

‘Okay,’ Heather sinks back at the sudden quietness descending the barn. ‘Thank fu…I mean thank God…thank someone anyway. Just…just go back to sleep,’ she gets up to walk outside to stand with her hands on her head cursing herself for going in the supermarket. Paco follows her out. She feels his presence behind her and moves back to press her body into his and brings his arms up to wrap round her chest. What the hell? Three crying children. Did she ever cry that much? She can’t ever remember crying. Not like that. They have to find people to take them, or work out where this fort is and take the kids there. She doesn’t know anything about any forts and searches her memory for anything to do with a fort. They don’t have forts these days. The sun’s coming up already. She sags into Paco, feeling his body take her weight leaning back. Find survivors. Give them the children and keep walking. That’s the plan. She pulls his arm up to kiss his skin, feeling the bristles of his arm hair on her lips. Is he safe? She kissed him on the head earlier and they’ve shared a bottle twice now. She doesn’t care anyway. It feels nice. His arm hair brushing against her lips. She feels him pushing forward gently into her back and murmurs softly. Pressure on her head. His chin resting on her skull. She freezes at the significance. He smiled at her last night. She kissed him, he smiled, he’s holding her, his head is resting on hers…

‘Need a poo.’

‘Ssshhh, Amna. Go back to sleep.’

‘Need a poo.’

‘I’m hungry.’

‘Raj, be quiet.’

‘I NEED A POO,’ Amna announces, now wide awake.

‘Right,’ Heather sighs to herself, patting his arm. The quicker they get up the quicker they get moving and the quicker she can find someone else to take them.

The morning started bad. It becomes worse. Far worse. Three children addicted to sugar and salt now withdrawing from being unable to consume chocolate and soda for breakfast. Headaches, short tempers, lack of attention span, inability to focus, weepy, crying, scared and in a strange place with a strange woman becoming increasingly snappy.

‘Don’t want it.’

‘You need to eat.’

‘No.’

‘Amna, you need to eat.’

‘Choclit.’

‘No chocolate, eat this…it’s fruit…it has sugar in it.’

‘No.’

‘Eat it.’

‘No.’

‘Please.’

‘No.’

‘You’ll get hungry later.’

‘Want choclit.’

‘Fine, go hungry then…Rajesh! What did I say? Leave Paco alone. Come away.’

‘But…’

‘I said no. Did you eat your breakfast?’

‘Not hungry.’

‘Oh for…Subi? Have you eaten?’

‘My tummy hurts.’

‘Hurts? Where?’

‘Want choclit.’

‘Leave Paco alone, Rajesh! Subi, eat the fruit…’

‘Need a poo.’

‘You just had one, Amna.’

‘Need a poo.’

‘Fine. Go and poo then.’

‘Take me.’

‘No, go yourself.’

‘Take me.’

‘Amna, no…Rajesh! Leave Paco alone.’

‘TAKE ME.’

‘Don’t shout at me. Subi, take your sister for a poo.’

‘Does Paco poo?’

‘Eh? What?’

‘Does Paco poo?’

‘Yes of course he does…’

‘Want choclit.’

‘Oh my God…look, we are going in five minutes so…’

‘I WANT A POO.’

‘Have a poo then. Go outside and…’

‘And choclit…please can I have some choc…’

‘I don’t have any! Amna. We do not have any chocli…sod it! Chocolate, we don’t have…’

‘Does Paco like chocolate?’

‘Huh? We’re going in five minutes. Poo. Eat. Do what you want but…Rajesh!’

‘What?’

‘Do not give Paco food…I said not to touch him…’

‘You fed him last night.’

‘Yes but…just…’

‘I can put the gloves on and…’

‘No! Come away now. Subi, get your brother away from…oh my God, Amna! What are you doing?’

‘Pooing.’

‘Not in here, go outside…’

‘Heather?’

‘What?’

‘Can I have the gloves please?’

‘No…Paco, leave those sunglasses on.’

‘But…’

‘No, Rajesh! We are leaving right now. Everyone up. Paco, get up. Subi…’

‘My tummy hurts.’

‘I had a poo.’

‘Out. Everyone get out. We are going. No. Do not…out. Subi will you, oh my…Rajesh leave those bloody gloves alone. Amna, clean your bum. Subi, clean Amna’s bum. Out. Come on…’

‘Want my shoes.’

‘What?’ Heather asks, exasperated.

‘Shoes,’ Amna says stubbornly.

‘You’ve got your shoes on.’

‘My shoes.’

‘You’ve got your…’

‘Red shoes.’

‘Red shoes? They were filthy. You’ve got new shoes.’

‘Want my shoes.’

‘No. They’re disgusting.’

‘Want my shoes. Red shoes.’

‘I said no. You’ve got shoes. We’re going…’

‘MYSHOESREDSHOESMYSHOESREDSHOES…’

‘Okay okay, I’ll get them…look, they’re right here. Now come on.’

‘MYSHOESMYREDSHOES…’

‘I’ve got them!’

‘Want them on.’

‘Right. Fine. You want them on. Of course you do. Okay, we’ll take these nice new shoes off and put these filthy things back on. Happy now? Can we go? We are going. Right now. NO! Enough. GET OUT.’

They go quickly from the mini explosion erupting from Heather. Three children falling instantly to sulking which prompts a stab of guilt in Heather who hefts her bag now much lighter after most of their food has been eaten. The other bag is left. The children have what they walk in and that’s it. She leads them across the field to the gate and through to the road, all in silence. Then the sugar withdrawal makes itself known again with constant gripes. Feet hurt. Legs hurt. Stomachs hurt. Rajesh drops back to walk next to Paco and has to be told to go ahead with his sisters. Amna stops and refuses to move. Folding her arms and stamping a red shoe down demanding choclit. Subi cries. Rajesh tries to touch Paco’s leg. Subi needs a wee. Amna shouts and all within sight of the gate they just walked from.

How do mothers cope? How does anyone cope with children? She used to hear people going on about how
rewarding
it is to have children and how
loved
they feel. This is not rewarding or loving. It’s a mess. They’re just moaning non-stop, nagging, whining, crying and trying to poke Paco. She gets a stress headache and her belly starts cramping that reminds her she’s still on her period. Why wasn’t it hurting before? It’s too hot. They’re going too slowly. Amna keeps stopping but doesn’t want to be carried. Now she does want to be carried but it’s too hot and she’s too heavy. Can Paco carry her? No! He is infected. She kissed him. That doesn’t matter. That’s your risk and not the life of a child. She kissed him though. They shared a bottle. Stop it. That is complacency from familiarity. His wounds are dressed, he isn’t bleeding and he doesn’t dribble at all now. No. He cannot carry Amna. Why won’t Rajesh leave him alone and why is Subi being so sulky. She was helpful and nice yesterday. Oh god, she can still see the barn. They’re not making any progress at all.