It'll Come Back... (5 page)

‘We’ll need to head somewhere outside of the gridlocked zone to pick up a car,’ said Phil.

‘Yeah, it might be a bit of a trek, but we can do it,’ said Kate.

‘Of course we can!’ said Edith. ‘You’re a good girl, Kate – the way you’re taking care of us all.’

Kate smiled at the old lady, then turned to Phil. ‘What’s up?’ she asked him, noting his pained expression.

‘I can’t let you head off on your own with him,’ said Phil. ‘What if Edith and Lucy stay here while we–’

‘No, Phil. We’ll already be losing enough daylight hours as it is while we wait for the feeding frenzy to be over, so we need to use the time we have left as best we can. Either that or wait until tomorrow.’

‘I don’t want to stay here tonight,’ said Lucy. ‘I want to go home today.’

‘We will,’ Kate said to her. ‘Louie says it’s only a twenty minute walk back to his – on bikes we should do that in ten minutes at the most – another ten for me to get back to you,’ she said to the others. ‘I need you guys ready when I get back so we can head off before it starts to get dark. We don’t want to be travelling through countryside after dark, not when we don’t know what might be on the roads… It makes sense to do it this way. And I’ll be fine.’ Kate looked at the others in turn. ‘This way we stand a chance. Agreed?’

‘Agreed.’

‘Okay, agreed.’

‘Yes, dear. Agreed.’

‘Great. We’re going home!’

Leaving the others resting in the staffroom, Kate headed back out onto the shop floor. She grabbed a pair of black leather boots from the shoe department, before heading down to the women’s department on the ground floor. The barricades at the front and back helped to block the Dead’s view into the store, but Kate made sure she kept low and out of sight. The banging wasn’t as frenzied as it had been earlier and Kate guessed that they were starting to forget that they were in there; she didn’t want to go and remind them.

She grabbed a pair of jeans from a clothes rail, then selected a checked shirt and headed to the changing rooms. Inside a cubicle, she slipped off her suit jacket before unzipping her pencil skirt. She shimmied out of it, glad to be free at last of the restricting clothing. She peeled down her purple tights – now full of ladders – and pulled on the jeans, tucking in her t-shirt. She tied the shirt around her waist for now – it was hot inside the store, but she figured she might need something if it got cooler later while they travelled home.

Kate sat down on the little stool in the corner of the cubicle to put the boots on. She had one on when she stopped and closed her eyes. She screwed up her face as the tears came. She let them fall. She’d had to be so in control since all of this had started and now she wanted to lose control, just for a moment. She had no idea what she was doing. She gasped when heard a voice outside the changing rooms and she batted her tears away with a hand.

‘You decent?’

‘Just a second.’ Kate used the sleeve of the shirt around her waist to wipe her face.

‘You okay?’

‘Yes-yes, Phil. Come in.’

The curtain of her cubicle whooshed open and Phil stood before her, clutching the pole that had become his new weapon. She stared up at him and frowned.

‘Are you okay, Phil? I mean, I know you’re not okay because we’ve just been plunged into all hell breaking loose, but… You don’t look too good. You look pale. Paler than earlier.’

‘I’m okay,’ he replied. ‘Honest,’ he added when Kate looked at him disbelievingly. ‘Shock. Blood loss,’ he raised the elbow of his bandaged arm. ‘More importantly, are you okay?’ he asked after a moment.

Phil took a step into the small confines of the cubicle and knelt down in front of Kate.

‘I’m okay.’

‘Liar.’

‘Really, I’m fine.’

Phil raised an eyebrow.

Kate let out a heavy sigh before biting down on her lower lip to stop the tears from coming again. When the feeling passed she said, ‘I’m just so fucking scared, Phil.’

‘I know. We all are.’

‘Not just about what’s happening out there. I mean, that’s most of it but… I don’t know what I’m doing. I hope I’m doing the right thing by taking us home.’

‘You are,’ he said with a little nod.

‘You weren’t so sure earlier.’

‘I know,’ said Phil. ‘I was being a coward – like usual. You’re doing just great.’

‘Am I?’

‘Yeah. You know, if you weren’t here I’d be content to just sit in this shop until I died of starvation. That’s if me and the others had even made it off the bus in the first place. You got everyone here and you’re going to get us home.’ Phil reached up a hand and placed his palm against Kate’s cheek. ‘You’re our saviour.’

‘Oh shut up,’ Kate said, feeling embarrassed. She never did know how to handle complements. Not that she got that many these days.

Phil let his hand linger but the moment he lifted it from her, Kate placed her hand on the back of his and pressed his palm against her cheek. She closed her eyes and they remained like that for a moment before Kate released him and he dropped his hand to his lap.

‘Sorry,’ said Kate. ‘I just needed…’

‘Don’t be silly. I understand.’

Neither spoke for a moment but then Kate broke the silence. ‘Why don’t you want to go home to your wife?’

Phil gave a sort of half snort, half laugh but there was no humour in it.

‘Do you mind me asking? I mean if–’

‘It’s okay. It’s just I’ve never…’

‘You don’t have to.’

‘No. No, it’s just–’

‘Really, it’s okay, Phil. Forget about it. Forget I asked. It’s none of my business anyway. I mean, we don’t even know each other. What am I thinking asking you personal questions like that?’

‘No, it’s not that. I want to talk about it. I should talk about it. It’s just…’

‘Okay. When you’re ready, right?’

‘The thing is, I’m ashamed.’

‘Hey, don’t be.’ Kate leaned forwards, placed a hand on Phil’s arm and gave it a squeeze. Their eyes met. ‘Whatever it is, you mustn’t be ashamed,’ she said, holding his gaze.

‘I’ve never spoken about it with anyone. I’ve always found it easier to live in denial. I’m pathetic.’

‘You’re not pathetic.’

Phil gave a weak smile and glanced at where Kate’s hand rested against his arm. Kate gave him another squeeze.

‘You can trust me,’ she said, pulling her hand away and sitting up a little.

‘It’s just it’s not easy to admit to. Especially when you’re a man. Men are supposed to be strong, not useless and weak, like lumps of shit that…’ Phil sat down on the floor and rested his back against the thin wall of the changing cubicle. He looked off towards something in the distance.

‘Phil, I don’t know you, but from what I’ve seen today, you are very strong and you are certainly not useless and weak or a lump of shit and anyone who says different, well, I’ll hit them with Edith’s umbrella!’

‘Thanks.’ He glanced up and caught Kate’s eye. ‘She’s very… controlling. My wife. She’s… pretty… fierce. She’s made my life a misery for fifteen years and I’ve always been too fucking chicken shit to do anything about it. I’m going to help you get back, Kate – you and the others. But I’m not going back to her.’

‘You’re just going to leave her?’

‘Yep. I should’ve done it years ago.’

‘Well,’ began Kate after a pause, ‘she deserves it for not realising what a wonderful man she had.’

Phil smiled. He reached up a hand, placed it on Kate’s arm.

‘Fuck her,’ he said.

‘Yeah, fuck her,’ said Kate. ‘Time to start over.’

‘Clean slate.’

‘Yep. Clean slate.’ Kate bit her lower lip as her thoughts drifted off. She leaned forwards and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

‘You okay?’ said Phil. He brushed a lock of hair out of her face.

He let his hand hover close to her face for a moment and Kate found herself wanting to press her cheek into his palm again. He lowered his hand and the feeling passed.

‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.’

‘You know, I used to notice you on the bus every morning. You always looked so bright and cheerful, especially in your colourful clothes and that red lipstick you always wear, and… I used to look forward to seeing you.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. Sorry if I’m embarrassing you. I–’

‘No, you’re not embarrassing me. It’s fine. I used to notice you too.’

‘You did?’

‘Yeah. You always looked so sad, it broke my heart,’ said Kate.

Phil glanced down at his lap. ‘You looked sad, too – last Monday morning. You didn’t have any make up on and you looked like you’d been crying or–’

‘You know, Phil, we should get back to the others. We should think about making a move soon,’ said Kate, shoving her foot into the other boot.

Kate and Phil crept out from the changing rooms, around to the right and out onto the shop floor. They kept low and out of sight as they made their way towards the stationary escalator. Phil headed up first. He placed his feet carefully on each metal step, so as not to make too much noise. About halfway up, he stopped and gripped the railing. With his head hung low, Kate watched the rise and fall of his shoulders for a moment.

‘You okay?’ she asked.

Phil took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Yeah,’ he began, turning to glance down at Kate.

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah, I just felt a bit light-headed for a minute there. I…’

Kate put a hand up to steady Phil as his legs sagged beneath him. She prepared to catch his weight but he managed to right himself, only, not before the metal pole fell from his grasp and clattered down the steps, echoing around the empty store. Frenzied banging of dead fists against glass followed as the noise awoke the interest of the creatures outside.

‘Shit! Shit!’ said Kate.

‘Fuck! I’m sorry,’ said Phil. ‘I’m so sorry!’ He sat down on one of the steps and put his head in his hands.

‘It’s okay.’

‘It’s not though is it? Shit, I don’t know what came over me.’

Kate placed a hand on Phil’s shoulder and she sat down next to him. ‘Hey, this has all been a lot to take today. And don’t forget you’ve lost quite a bit of blood. No wonder you’re weak.’

‘I’ve stirred up a fucking hornet’s nest.’

‘It’s okay. They’ll quieten down again.’

‘Do you never get angry?’

‘Huh?’

‘You’re like the calmest, most understanding person I’ve ever met. Whatever happens, you just take it in your stride.’

‘Believe me, Phil, I might look calm but inside I’m–’ Before Kate could get any further, she and Phil heard a cracking sound from somewhere downstairs. Kate stood and darted down a few steps, her feet clanging against the metal, until she could get a good enough view of the back of the store. A crack had formed down one side of the doors as they began to give under the weight of the countless Dead outside pressing against them. ‘Fuck!’ said Kate.

She turned and sped back up to Phil. ‘Come on – we have to get the others and go now. We’re in big fucking trouble!’

As she reached the top of the escalators, Kate saw Lucy weaving through the rails of clothing in the men’s department as she darted towards her and Phil.

‘What’s going on? We heard a ton of noise. We thought…’ Lucy came to a stop before Kate.

‘We have to get out of here now. The back doors are giving way. Where are the other two?’

‘Just coming,’ said Lucy, her cheeks flushed as she panted from the short dash across the store.

Kate glanced over Lucy’s shoulder to see Louie supporting Edith by holding onto her elbow as they both hobbled across the shop floor.

‘Are you okay to go?’ said Kate, aware that there was no option for anyone to answer ‘no’ to that question.

‘Of course I am dear,’ said Edith as she and Louie drew closer.

‘We’re going out fighting a little harder than we planned,’ said Kate while she waited for them to catch up.

‘Well, no time for nonsense, then,’ said Edith. ‘Let get out there and brain those dead bastards!’ she said, holding a metal pole in one hand and the umbrella in the other. Edith passed the umbrella to Kate.

‘Thanks–’

At the sound of smashing glass, Kate shoved Lucy towards the escalator. ‘GO GO GO!’ she yelled. ‘You too, Phil. Go!’ She watched the injured man put all his effort into clambering down the steps to overtake Lucy. He stopped to pick up his metal pole as he neared the bottom. Kate waited for Louie and Edith to go ahead of her and, clutching the umbrella in her right hand, she took the rear.

At the bottom, Kate glanced towards the back to see the Dead swarming into the store through the busted doors. Two Dead lay on the ground, slumped in the doorway, large shards of glass from the doors had sliced through their heads and killed them outright. The Dead that poured into the store stumbled over their fallen comrade’s bodies. The clothes rails proved a further obstacle for them. The front runners writhed and crawled in an attempt to get over the barricade, until the mob caught up with them, the force of the extra bodies causing the rails to overturn. The living dead creatures tumbled over the barricade to sprawl onto the lino, with the ones further back falling forwards onto them, causing a pile up. The Dead crawled and clambered over the rails, the clothing and each other to make it onto the shop floor. They dragged themselves to their feet and started towards the fleeing survivors, trailing smears of blood on the white lino with each step.

Phil led the group towards the front doors.

‘Keys! Who’s got the bloody keys?’ he yelled back to the others.

‘I have,’ said Louie as he trotted alongside Edith, holding her elbow.

Kate took Edith by the arm. ‘Go!’ she said to Louie.

The boy pulled the keys from his pocket as he ran and soon he had joined Phil and Lucy at the front of the store.

As Louie fumbled with the key in the lock, the Dead on the street outside began staggering towards the doors. Kate could see around ten or so approaching the front of the store but she knew more would come, attracted by the noise.

‘Hurry!’ said Kate as she and Edith joined the others.

She glanced over her shoulder to check the progress of the ones already inside with them. She noticed that they moved slower than the ones they’d escaped from earlier, as though their bodies were succumbing to rigor mortis now they’d been dead a while. She hoped that would work to their advantage and give them a chance to get out. The front runner was only metres away. It moved awkwardly, one shoulder held higher than the other, one torn, broken leg dragging behind, leaving a trail of blood. It snapped its jaws at Kate and the others, swiping its claw-like hands at the air between them. Blood dripped down its chin. As it drew closer, Kate left Edith with the others and lurched forwards, driving the point of the umbrella between its eyes. As it slumped to the floor, Kate moved towards the next, ready to strike.

‘Kate, come on!’ she glanced over her shoulder to see Phil looking at her. The front doors stood open and Louie, Edith and Lucy were outside – Lucy and Edith swinging their poles into the heads of the Dead while Louie looked on, holding his pole by his side.

Kate didn’t bother with the Dead she had been about to kill and instead turned and followed after Phil as he emerged outside to help Lucy and Edith.

‘Louie, lock the doors!’ yelled Kate as she slammed them behind her. ‘Louie!’ Kate held onto the double doors while the Dead inside the store approached. ‘Louie, for fuck’s sake, snap out of it and lock these doors!’

Louie turned his wide-eyed gaze away from the Dead that staggered towards the group. He thrust the key into the lock just as the front runners reached the doors and began slamming their dead palms against them.

‘Bad luck arseholes,’ said Kate, sticking her middle finger up at the mob inside the store. She turned and drove the tip of the umbrella though the eye of a Dead that lurched towards her on the right. Another two approached from the left. ‘Louie, a little help,’ she said to the young boy who had eased himself to stand behind her.

‘I-I can’t.’

‘You can. Just imagine their heads are coconuts and you really want to win the teddy bear for your sister by knocking the most coconuts off the shy.’

‘I–’

‘They’re just coconuts, Louie!’

Kate speared one of the Dead, while Louie edged out from behind her and towards one of them – a girl in a black school blazer and short grey skirt. He raised the pole but as the dead girl lurched for him, Louie squealed and ducked. He went down on his haunches and placed his arms over his head. The dead girl swiped at Louie again, this time aiming low and grabbing a handful of the crouching boy’s hair. The Dead dragged him up by his hair and Louie screeched with pain. He shot his free hand out to grasp the creature’s wrist.

Two Dead lurched at Kate. She raised her foot and kicked one back, while she jabbed the other between the eyes with the umbrella. It took a couple of goes to get the metal tip in far enough to kill it, and by that point, the other Dead had righted itself and lurched forwards for another go. From the corner of her eye, Kate spotted Louie as he wrestled with the dead girl while it continued to drag the boy up by his hair.

‘Hit it!’ yelled Kate, noticing Louie’s weapon arm hanging limp by his side. ‘Hit the bloody thing!’

She turned her attention back to the dead man that came at her. It had got too close while she was distracted, and she couldn’t get the large umbrella in a position to stab it so she swung the umbrella like a golf club, knocking the Dead sideways. It staggered back into the middle of the street where Phil was waiting for it. Holding his metal pole like a baseball bat, Phil swung it at the Dead’s head, knocking out a sizeable chunk of brain and skull.

Now free, Kate dived towards Louie. The dead girl had pulled him up high enough and was leaning in for a bite. Kate ran with the umbrella rested on her shoulder like a javelin, and, with its teeth touching Louie’s cheek, she thrust the tip deep inside the Dead’s ear. The Dead slumped to the ground, finally releasing Louie’s hair.

‘My face!’ he cried. ‘I’ll be scarred for life. It bit my face!’

‘Louie – there’s not even a scratch, okay?’ said Kate, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

‘But, my face, it had its teeth… it…’

‘Louie. You’re okay,’ said Kate, looking the boy deep in the eye.

She released Louie and glanced around her to see that all the Dead had been despatched. She also noticed that Lucy stood staring at Louie with a boys-my-age-are-so-immature look on her face.

‘I’m okay?’ Louie asked Kate.

‘Yes, you’re okay.’

He gave a yeah-I-knew-that-all-the-time shrug, smoothed down his hair and gave Lucy a whiskered grin. Lucy rolled her eyes and turned her back to him while she made out she was inspecting her make-shift weapon for how it had held up in the battle.

‘Right, we need to move,’ said Kate. She clocked more of the Dead lurching towards them from the left. ‘I don’t think me and Louie can risk heading to the bike shop now – there are too many dead fuckers round the back, so we’ll head off on foot. It’s not far, right?’ she said to Louie.

‘No. Not far. Twenty minutes. Ten/fifteen if we run.’

‘Okay.’ She turned back to Phil who was trying to get his breath back after the fight. ‘You get Lucy and Edith across the road to Wilkos, and I’ll meet you there in, say, an hour. That should give me plenty of time to get to Louie’s and back again. If I’m not back in an hour, just go. Okay?’

Phil wiped sweat and blood off his forehead with the back of a hand. ‘We’re not–’

‘An hour, Phil.’ Kate glanced at her watch. ‘That’ll make it 12.45 – say 1pm. Then you get Lucy and Edith home. Okay? We’ve no idea what state the streets are going to be in and how long it might take to get back. Don’t wait, okay?’

He nodded reluctantly.

‘Good – now go!’ Kate watched as one of the Dead rounded the corner of Fenwicks department store. Phil darted on ahead and swung the metal pole into its head. Lucy took Edith’s arm and the pair followed after Phil while he waited for them at the corner. They disappeared around to the right, in the direction of Wilkos.

Kate turned to Louie. ‘Okay. Lead the way, and let’s make this quick!’