Deadlands (22 page)

The look on his face when he returned from the market and we all yelled, ‘Surprise!’ was classic.

Ash gave him the copy of
World War Z
we’d taken from the bookstore, Saint handed him a
Zombie Flesh Eaters
DVD, and Hester had baked him a cake, complete with a Lara Croft action figure toy in the middle of it.

‘This is awesome!’ Ginger said. ‘You guys are the best!’

While Hester cut the cake, I snuck into my room and ripped the drawing out of the sketch pad.

‘Here,’ I said, handing it to him.

He unfolded it and laid it out on the table. ‘What?’ he said. ‘No ways! That’s me!’

Saint stared at me, eyes wide. ‘Where did you get that?’

‘I drew it,’ I said.

‘Whoa, Lele,’ she said.

Ginger stood up and gave me one of his huge bear hugs. ‘It’s the best present ever, Lele,’ he said. ‘It must have taken you ages.’

‘Lele,’ Hester said, ‘I cannot believe that you have kept this talent secret from us for so long.’ She smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder. I felt a brief stab of guilt. Of course, the sketch wasn’t the only secret I was keeping from everyone, but there was no way I could come clean about my plans to get Jobe out of the city enclave.

Ash was watching me, a strange look on his face. He was the only one who didn’t comment on the drawing. But I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks all the same.

It had been more than two weeks since I’d seen Thabo, and I decided that I had to risk it. I told myself that I needed to see him because he was the only link I had to my old life, and I missed him, which was true. But there was another reason, of course – my confusion about my growing feelings for Ash. I needed to put them in perspective, especially as I still had no clue where Ash disappeared to on his frequent mysterious errands, and apart from the occasions when I’d noticed him watching me, I didn’t have any proof that he thought of me as more than just another Mall Rat. So, when Hester next asked one of us to make a run to the market, I jumped at the chance, praying that Ginger wouldn’t offer to come with me. Fortunately he was lost in a British comedy series called
The Office
, and he barely glanced up as I left.

I knocked on Lungi’s door, and this time she opened it herself. ‘Ha!’ she said. ‘It’s the princess from the party.’

‘Everything’s better with –’

‘It is fine, sisi,’ she said. ‘Thabo is here.’

She stood back to let me in, looking me up and down as I passed her.

‘Lele!’ Thabo said, jumping up from where he had been sitting slumped in one of the armchairs. He folded me in his arms and squeezed me tight. He smelled of camp fires and sweat, and when he drew back I had to smother my gasp of shock. He’d lost at least five kilos; his cheekbones stood out and there were huge rings around his eyes. He looked five years older than when I’d seen him last.

‘I am so glad to see you,’ he said, leading me into a small room attached to the kitchen area.

I sat down on a battered wooden chair in the corner. I could feel myself already breaking into a sweat (there were no windows and the heat from the kitchen had nowhere to go). ‘What’s going on, Thabo?’ I asked. ‘You look finished.’

‘Bad week,’ he said, pacing up and down the small space, running his hands through his dreads. ‘Three of our members were taken, Lele. The Resurrectionists are really clamping down. There’s talk that they’re going to try to register everyone. Check exactly who is for and who’s against them.’

‘Seriously? I haven’t heard anything about this!’

‘It’s not common knowledge.’

‘So how do you know?’

‘We’ve got someone inside the embassy.’ He spoke without thinking – clearly so hot up that he’d forgotten about not telling me too much. ‘Lele, this is seriously bad news. They’ll start with the other sectors first, of course, but New Arrivals won’t be left for long.’

‘But they’re not welcome here,’ I said.

He shook his head. ‘Now that they’ve started putting in the infrastructure for the electricity they’re getting more and more support, and not just from the elite. Now the people are joining them, too.’

‘But people aren’t stupid, Thabo. They can see what they are.’

‘Can they?’ he asked. ‘Don’t be so sure. The Resurrectionists are smart. They’re providing the people with what they need. With what they want.’

I pulled the robe over my head. Sweat was dribbling down my back and I fanned out my T-shirt to try to get some air on my damp skin.

‘Lele, I need your help.’

‘Of course, Thabo.’

He grinned, a trace of his old self shining through the new worry lines scored on his face. ‘You don’t know what I’m going to ask you yet.’

‘We’re friends, Thabo. If I can help you, I will.’

‘Lele,’ he said in a voice so soft I had to strain to hear it, ‘I know you’re with the Mall Rats.’

I jumped. ‘How?’

‘I keep my ear to the ground.’

I didn’t know what to say to that. I knew his dream had been to join them, and I wondered how he felt, knowing that I was part of their group.

‘Lele, listen. There are things we need that you can get for us.’ He paused. ‘Is there a chemist shop intact out there in the city?’

So he didn’t know everything if he still thought we went out into the city. But what confused me was his lack of interest in
how
we managed to leave without being attacked by the Rotters, or, for that matter, arrested by the fence patrol. He either knew more than he was letting on, or it didn’t matter to him.

I opened my mouth to answer, but he hadn’t finished. ‘We have to have medicine – especially insulin, and antibiotics, of course. And we need condoms.’

‘Condoms?’

‘Birth control. Not everyone wants to breed, you know.’

I couldn’t stop the blush. ‘Right. But you don’t get it, Thabo. The Mall Rats aren’t allowed to . . . it’s too dangerous. We can’t get medical supplies. Surely you must know this?’

‘Lele, you’re the one who’s not getting it. We need this stuff. Our members are dying needlessly. Now’s your chance to do something that matters.’

I felt a lurch of panic. ‘But if the Mall Rats find out –’

‘They won’t.’

‘But Lungi – she’s one of their contacts.’

‘Lungi will keep quiet.
Her
loyalties lie where they should – with the people.’

‘What do you mean by that?’ I asked.

‘You know what I mean, Lele. The Mall Rats are the only ones who can leave the enclave, yet all they do is bring back luxuries,’ he shook his head in disgust, ‘kak we don’t need.’

I opened my mouth to defend them, but I couldn’t deny that he had a point. A good one. He handed a list to me. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I realise most of this would have expired by now, but we’re desperate.’

I scanned the list: insulin, condoms, gentian violet, morphine, bandages, micropore film, burn salve, sulphur and several items I’d never heard of.

‘What’s potassium chlorate for?’ I asked.

He dodged the question. ‘Listen, Lele, if you help me, I’ll help you.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ll arrange transport for you and your brother.’

I stared at him in shock. ‘How?’

‘Don’t worry about that now. Bring this back for me and I’ll make sure you and Jobe get safely to the Agriculturals.’

I threw myself into my training that week, doing my best not to obsess about what Thabo had asked me to do.

I was having trouble sleeping, torn as I was between two loyalties: the safety of the Mall Rats and Thabo’s promise to help Jobe and me escape to the Agriculturals. The Mall Rats had become my friends, and I practically thought of Hester and Ginger as family. Could I really go against the rules and put them in danger? I knew I couldn’t allow my brother to be carted off to an institution, but was there another way? Could I find a place for him to hide out in New Arrivals? Or would that bring even more trouble down on our heads?

In the end something else made up my mind. Hester was getting worse by the day; she’d lost weight – her skin seemed stretched over her bones – and some mornings she didn’t even have the strength to get out of bed. On more than one occasion, Ash had insisted that he would bribe a doctor from the posh enclaves to help her, but she refused to take the risk. The Resurrectionists may have been turning a blind eye to the stuff we were bringing into the enclave, but as Saint had said when I’d first joined them, who knew what they’d do if they brought one or all of us in for questioning and found out about the existence of the mall?

The night before the next mall trip I didn’t sleep a wink. I spent the hours tossing and turning and sketching compulsively, the drawings morphing into terrible nightmarish images: raggedy Rotter bodies, spirals of that creepy spaghetti stuff and faces with dead staring eyes.

I was up and dressed before any of the others. I made the porridge for everyone while they showered, although I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat any of it. My stomach was a hard knot.

‘So, Lele,’ Ash said, ‘no prizes for guessing what you want to shop for today.’

I knew he was expecting me to say that I’d go for the book list again, but if I remembered correctly, the shop I’d slipped into on my first solo excursion (the shop where I’d seen the wheelchairs and herbal medicine) was next to the Woolworths store where the Mall Rats sourced the underwear – at the other end of the mall.

‘I’ll do the underwear run,’ I said.

A flicker of disappointment flashed over Ash’s face and I wondered if he had been planning on offering to accompany me again.

The walk to the mall seemed to take no time at all. Fortunately no one seemed to notice that I didn’t say a word during the trek through the Deadlands. Ash, Saint and even Ginger seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, Hester’s worsening condition on everyone’s minds. Plus, with the increase in relocations, we were all on edge, expecting to be attacked by Hatchlings at any moment.

We paused to check out a group of Rotters milling around outside Ratanga Junction. ‘You’ve been dead quiet, Lele,’ Ginger said, nudging me. ‘You all right, mate?’

‘I was just thinking that I never got the chance to ride the roller coaster before the War.’ I hated to lie to him, but there was no way I could tell him what I was actually thinking.

‘I did,’ he said.

‘You did? What was it like?’

‘Awesome, Lele,’ he replied. ‘It’s like your tummy flips inside out.’

That was a feeling I could relate to. My stomach had been roller-coastering for hours. I knew what I was about to do could put the Mall Rats at risk, but how could I say no? Thabo was right. I’d be helping people. Doing something worthwhile for once instead of just bringing back luxuries for spoilt rich bitches like Zyed and Summer.

‘Okay,’ Ash said. ‘Let’s make it quick. Meet back here in an hour. I don’t want to leave Hester alone any longer than we have to. Everyone got their walkie-talkies switched on?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. I couldn’t swallow; the saliva had dried in my mouth.

‘Want me to tag along with you, Lele?’ Ginger asked.

‘Nah, I’ll be okay,’ I said too quickly.

Saint gave me a sharp glance. ‘You sure?’

‘Yeah,’ I said.

I headed off, moving as fast as I could without giving the game away. As soon as I was out of sight, I broke into a run, praying that I was going in the right direction. Thankfully, as I headed down the escalators, I saw the familiar signage. I slipped into Woolworths and grabbed as many bras and socks as I could. I didn’t even check the sizes or bother to take from different racks to mask the amount I was shoving in my bag. My hands were shaking. It was now or never.

Checking both ways to make sure the Mall Rats were nowhere to be seen, I headed towards the shop I remembered from my first time in the mall (it was actually opposite, rather than next to Woolworths). I walked straight to the far end, heading for a counter above which hung a
Prescriptions
sign.

The shelves behind the counter were packed full of a confusing array of medicines, pills and tubes. I paused briefly at the condom display, grabbing a handful and shoving them into the bottom of my bag, before I finally spied a section that was helpfully labelled
Pain Relief
. Leaping over the counter, I scanned the shelves, comparing the items with the list. I randomly selected several co-proximal packets, and threw a bunch of aspirin and paracetamol bottles on top of the underwear.

This was going to take me forever. The names on the list didn’t match the bottles on display.

Barely keeping the panic at bay (I knew I was fast running out of time), I scanned the packaging on the shelves once more. Nothing. And no sign of the other stuff on the list. Then I saw a door leading into the back of the store – presumably where the hard-core medication was kept. I tried the handle, but it was locked.

Refusing to give up now that I was so close, I started searching the drawers under the counter, scattering their contents everywhere, desperate to find the key.

I should have been more careful, more vigilant, kept the noise down, at least. The first I knew of the dire trouble I was in was when I heard the words: ‘Just what in the
hell
do you think you’re doing?’

I stood up so fast that I banged the top of my head on the shelf overhanging the drawers. Saint was peering at me from the other side of the counter, her eyes wide with shock. ‘Tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing, Lele,’ she hissed, her voice laced with fury.

In one fluid leap she jumped over the counter, and before I could react she’d grabbed my right arm and bent it sharply behind my back. The pain was immense. ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done?’ she asked.

I struggled against her, but she wasn’t going to let me wriggle away. ‘I can explain!’ I said.

‘Save it, Zombie Bait,’ she hissed in my ear. ‘I knew you were planning something. How could you be so stupid?’

She yanked my arm up behind me even higher and I yelped in pain. With her free hand I heard her fumbling in her pocket as she pulled out the walkie-talkie.

‘Ash, Ginger,’ she said. ‘Come in, guys. Emergency. Meet me outside Woolworths, now! Over.’