Only The Living (Lost Survival Series Book 1) (5 page)

We must have walked along the train tracks for close to fifteen minutes, and we hadn't encountered a single soul... living or Lost. “...Maybe they only come out at night-time?” I suggested, checking our flank for the hundredth time.

Ian shook his head hesitantly, keeping his gaze fixed on the path straight ahead. “It's only been a day since they turned up. You saw what they did on that train, right? Most of them will be stuck indoors, and they’ll feed on the unlucky ones—”

“Ian.”

“Oh... Right. Sorry.”

I glanced worriedly at Beth, who thankfully wasn't listening to our morbid assumptions. Instead, she seemed far too invested in scoffing down a plus-sized chocolate bar to realise we were talking in detail about cannibalism. Might’ve spoiled her appetite, if she knew.

Before I could ask how it was possible for someone so little to eat so damn much, my rolling eyes just barely caught the afterimage of some faint movement up ahead. “Stop!!” I yelled, a little too loudly.

Both parties froze, and that's when I realised they thought I was talking to them... I was too stunned to move. They could hear me? “H-Hello?” Ian offered, almost testing to see whether they were alive.

When they finally spoke, it was a relief to hear other people’s voices for once. “...You... you guys aren't... y'know...”

The tall, slender man in a business-casual suit breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing our startled faces. The fact that we reflected any emotion at all was a clear sign that we were safe to approach.

He was accompanied by a petite, smartly-dressed brunette with glasses alongside a skinny, red-spotted teen boy. They were armed only with a large pair of scissors, a metre stick and a kitchen knife between them. Each must’ve had their own story to tell.

I'd say they were a mismatched group, but that'd be rich coming from us. The tall man looked down over our small statures, raising a sympathetic eyebrow. “...Jesus, you're just kids. Where did you guys come from?"

Ian instantly spilt his guts about the ordeals we'd faced, escaping the city centre as the military were completely out of their depth, riding on the train of death and spending the night in a cold, dark newsagents.

“...That's a damn shame. I'm sorry you had to go through a mess like that, all on your own.” The group then proceeded to talk about their story, convincing me to lower my guard and trust that they weren't going to attack us and rob our stolen loot. I had to constantly remind myself that this wasn’t a horror movie, where the survivors would always meet a 'rival' group.

They all met at the local community centre — which I happened to be familiar with — a place where pretty much every resident in the area was taken by the police, only ten or twenty minutes after hearing about the situation on the news.

Almost everyone was denied the opportunity to bring supplies, due to how fast the infection had spread. Once the centre’s doors were sealed off from the outside world, the people spent that first night in the freezing-cold main hall without any food or blankets.

All of the families stuck inside were currently starving, or in dire need of their prescription medication. After hours of arguing with the small police force present, a handful of three-man groups were sanctioned to grab whatever supplies they could from their homes, and their homes only. Not one police officer would escort them, claiming it 'wasn't their job'.

We listened to their every word, so absorbed in the story that I almost forgot we were standing out in the open. Ian drew a long breath, exhausted just from hearing about their troubles.

“That's pretty rough... It sounds like they’ve got their hands full over there. Thanks for warning us.” The small woman smiled brightly at us, her face far too optimistic after talking about something so stressful.

“It’s the least I can do. I know it sounds unpleasant right now, but it's the others I'm worried about... The old and the sick, they need proper medical attention."

Pausing slightly, the woman gave each of us a curious look. She was perhaps a year or two older than us, probably wondering why we were heading in that direction in the first place.

"Would you like to come back with us?” she asked, taking careful note of the little girl behind me. “If either of you live around here, your families probably wound up at the community centre. I'm sure that things will get much better soon... if we can find some more supplies, that is.”

It was likely that my mum, my step-dad and my friend Millie would have been taken there, as well as Ian's parents. There was no way to be sure, though.

Feeling that I could trust these people, the smiley brunette in particular, I turned to observe Leo's little girl as she stared up at the incredibly tall man in awe. More than anything, I wanted her to be as far away from those creatures as possible.

“I... I don't know,” I sighed. “It might be safer for Beth to stay in a place like that, but... Ian and I, we can't do anything reckless until we finish searching our homes. It's not like we can just drop her on you guys and run off—”

Beth shook her head unpleasantly, as though she'd just eaten something bitter. “No! If Mister Danny and Mister Ian are going to find their mummies and daddies, then... then so am I!” She folded her arms decisively, not budging an inch.

Ian thanked them for their offer, but refused with a light chortle at the child's reaction. “Sorry, but it sounds like you guys and those policemen have some things to decide. We'd hate to be a drain on resources, and besides, we really should check our own homes first.”

He was right; the last thing we needed was some pompous policeman telling us when we could and couldn't leave. Not when we had no clue whether our loved ones were even inside.

“No offence,” Ian waved awkwardly. “We've got some stuff to finish up, but we'll definitely keep it in mind when we're done. Thank you for telling us.”

The woman nodded firmly, understanding our situation and respecting our reservations. “No problem! To be honest, we've only found one of those... monsters, since leaving the centre. I grabbed this as a weapon from my lecture hall, when it all started. It’s mostly for show, but you guys could use it way more.”

She handed me her giant metre stick, which easily towered over Ian's beloved cricket bat.
Who's got the bigger one now,
I smirked to myself. Following that thought, I handed Beth my trusty window-smashing mallet, warning her not to use it unless she has no other choice.

She was still pouting at the fact that we almost turned her over to another group. At least now, she could try to defend herself in case we got separated somewhere down the road.

To thank the woman for her kindness, I forked over a little more than half of the supplies I'd nicked from the newsagents. If nothing else, it'd help to ease the tension for all of those people holed up in that improvised evacuation zone.

Saying our goodbyes, we continued down the tracks as our new friends disappeared over the opposing fence from whence they came. “...So, we find our parents, then we try our luck at the community centre?” I ventured, moving briskly onwards.

Ian slung his cricket bat over his shoulder. “Yeah, sounds like a plan. Good to have one laid out, finally.”

Strolling behind us, the happy little girl felt the weight of the blood-stained mallet against her palm. “Okay! I'm gonna find my mummy too, and then we'll all go live there together. I can't wait!”

The mid-day sun was once again high above our heads, signalling that it was around twelve o'clock. A full day had passed since our lives were shattered in that university's interview room... Somehow the disaster felt like a whole other lifetime ago, as though it happened to a much more innocent version of the man I’d become in the past 24 hours.

The train station at Newcraighall was finally coming into view; the patchy dull-grey platform was actually a pleasant sight for once. Only a hop, skip and a jump across the nearby grassy field until we were home free.

“Beth, why don't you look around for a bit, see if there's a place where we can sit down and have lunch? Stay where we can see you, okay?” I asked with the intent of stalling time, to which she gave a determined nod.

While the small girl skipped around the littered platform, Ian and I stopped under the rain shelter for some privacy. He already seemed to know what was on my mind, scoffing at my transparency. “...Go on, say it then.”

“...We have to tell her that she isn't going to find her parents... It can't go on like this, man.”

My mind had been consumed with dread ever since we lied to her, even though we did so with good intentions. There was just no easy way to have that conversation, to say that Ian was the one who killed her mum... that Leo was one of the Lost, and there was no known way of bringing him back.

The boy with the cricket bat turned defiantly away from me, as though I wasn't taking his feelings into account. “I don't like it any more than you do, I'm not a monster... But we both know exactly what’s going to happen, the second that we tell her. She'll run off to look for the old train again, and all she's going to find there is her mum's dead body."

That was what he said, but we both knew that even surviving the trip back to that wreckage would be a miracle in itself. The distant look in his eyes confirmed it; Ian wasn't willing to take any chances after what we'd just narrowly escaped from. "This is all in her best interests, and she's damn lucky that it was us who saved her instead of no one at all. Do you
get
that?”

I didn't have to tell Ian about how immoral his plan was, but I could at least sense how conflicted he felt about deceiving an orphaned child. In all fairness, I was the one who forced him to put Beth's mum down. He had to look his victim’s daughter in the eyes all the time and hide that knowledge, so I decided to let it go.

It seemed that our discussion had ended not a moment too soon, as we heard a high-pitched scream coming from the nearby ticket office. I'd seen Beth wandering past only moments ago, assuming she was smart enough to not go inside.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me...”

Flying towards the automatic door, the first thing we saw was a tuft of blonde hair shaking violently behind the ticket cashier's glass wall. Beth slapped her hands wildly at the grey-eyed cashier, trying to gain some distance in the small cubicle. Luckily, his chest strap seemed to be snagged on his chair, stopping him from grabbing the child.

I tried the doorknob to the see-through office, but it was jammed shut... I noticed that the metallic shelf behind her had been knocked over, wedging the handle firmly in place. Beth wasn't strong enough to dislodge it, no matter how much she kicked at the blockade.

“Beth, stay calm...” I tried to say in a calm tone, but it came out more like a panicked whimper. “Do you still have the mallet? Pass it through to me, now.”

With one hand feebly forcing the Lost cashier away, she threw the mallet into the blood-covered ticket slot. Bumping against what looked like a lump of the cashier's own flesh, both items collided and slid through with a wet squelch.

I grabbed the emergency tool with my free hand, and brought it crashing into the side of the reinforced glass. Nothing but a small white mark was left where I’d struck.

“Beth, hang in there!” Ian screamed, impatient as he charged against the office door several times.

I kept banging on the glass with all of my might; with each strike doing visibly more damage, I managed to create a small chip. “Stand clear!” I said aloud as I went in for one final smack with both hands.

The glass didn't shatter entirely, but a hole large enough for Beth to crawl through was punctured. Grabbing my new weapon, I inserted the metre stick between her and the Lost, manipulating his thrusts back towards the wall and restrained him against it.

“Now, come through!” As Beth hopped up onto the desk, the small lamp in the back of the office fizzled and blew out, making her yelp as the room became partially darker. Pulling her through, we all ran straight for the door... and planted our faces nose-first into the glass.

“It was automatic before... Don't tell me...” Ian glanced back at the lamp, and towards the door again. He held up his hand in silence, listening intently. From all directions, we could hear a peculiar whirring sound descending in pitch, until there was only the wind. “It's finally happened... The National Grid."

"W-What?" I whispered, anxious with the snarling Lost behind us.

"I read about this online, some kind of government protocol. Scotland's power is being re-routed from the lesser-populated areas, and being given to the emergency services. No more electricity for us.”

I was glad we had Ian to think about these things; I hadn't considered our power consumption at all, not even when we were using a high-powered train to escape from the city. However, the revelation was short-lived as the Lost cashier scraped his way through the hole in the glass, hungry for our attention.

Ian made short work of his spinal cord using his cricket bat, while I took more swings than I'd care to admit in order to break through the automatic glass door. Handing Beth back her trusty mallet, we stepped into the sunlight and gasped for air.

“So...” I breathed heavily, “...Anyone for lunch?”

----

Not far from the ticket office, we found a large grassy field which separated us from the old neighbourhood. Around halfway across, we discovered this lovely mound with a quaint little tree, holding enough room for us all to rest in the shade.

Beth was still a little shaken up, so I divided three oranges and three apples from the bottom of my rucksack in the hopes that fresh food would bring her around. While she ate and collected herself once more, my stomach was twisted with the guilt coursing through me.

“Listen, Beth... I'm really sorry that we weren't watching you properly, but you can't just run off like that. Must have been pretty scary—” I realised that the girl had ignored me, occupied with demolishing her fruity snacks in record time.

Glancing up at me with a face covered in apple bits, she seemed to have caught wind of my apology as she shook her head dismissively. “No, I'm sorry, Mister. I thought that I could save us time by looking around... That meanie came out of nowhere, but I wasn't scared!! I'm tough, just like my mum!"

I couldn't help but stifle a short laugh, nudging her down the hill. "Oh, you weren't scared? So we must have
imagined
you shrieking for help, eh? Don’t be a hero kid, just stay close to us next time. It’s our job to keep you safe, okay?"

Somehow the little minx drove me off-topic, bartering more sweets out of my increasingly-light rucksack. After disposing of the wrappers, we were on our way across the emerald-green field once again.

I was starting to grow fond of our little group — Beth, an innocent little girl who had no one else left in the entire world. Of course I felt horrible about misleading her, but it was the only way to stop her from heading backwards. Once we had gone far enough, I could tell her the truth... and she could hate me all she wanted, but at least she'd be alive.

Frankly, I didn't even know how we were going to convince her to enter the community centre without her mum at her side... The prospect of 'once you get in, you can't get out' was starting to sound better by the minute, though.

As for Ian, I still had no idea what he was thinking half of the time. He was already Beth's best buddy, and a natural Lost killer. Perhaps a little more than a stone's throw from the boy I'd met at the interview, so nervous that he could barely speak without stammering.

Of course, the juxtaposition of his two personalities only made me more curious as to what happened between him and his family, the day before the interview. Ever since we'd formed our strange team, they had both really come out of their shells.

Shame that the world had to end for it to happen.