Star Drawn Saga (Book 2): Lost Among The Dead (28 page)

‘I won’t, b...believe me,’ snorted Kai, quite matter-of-factly as he bent down to retrieve the crowbar he had left by the door. ‘I don’t know why Dennis chose me to do it anyway… you’d have b…been a much b...better b…bet.’

‘Oh, I think Dennis has certain ideas about how his world turns,’ she replied, shaking her head as Kai caught up with her on the walkway and slipped his free hand into hers. ‘You know… who’s capable of what and what roles people should play.’

‘But the w…world’s not like that anymore,’ commented Kai, giving Fran a look that confirmed he thought Dennis’ attitude was as outdated as she did, ‘p...people are different now... life is different now.’

‘No arguments here,’ muttered Fran as she finally paused to knock on Sam and Mike’s door, ‘but let’s face it,’ she continued, the sound of movement and a call that they were coming drifting to them from the room beyond the door, ‘with the heroes busy trying to save their own arses from getting eaten, those damsels in distress who couldn’t fight for themselves… well, they wound up pretty dead, pretty quick.’

‘Who’s a damsel in distress?’ asked Mike, suddenly standing in the open doorway wearing a leather tool belt about his waist and particularly ugly looking red jumper that looked to Fran like whoever had made it had done so more out of love than to show any actual skill or ability.

‘Oh, no one,’ replied Fran, smiling as she waved away his question, ‘I was just saying that the Dead really levelled the playing field when it came to the battle of the sexes, that’s all.’

‘Ah…’ nodded Mike, looking at Kai with a hint of sympathy. ‘A bit early in the morning to get into gender politics. What brought that up?’

‘Morning,’ interrupted Sam, appearing behind Mike; fiddling with the straps of the baby carrier slung across her chest.

‘Morning,’ echoed Fran with a nod and a smile, before answering Mike’s question. ‘Dennis.’

‘What about Dennis?’ asked Sam, looking up as she struggled to manoeuvre an unwilling Poppy into her carrier.

‘I was just saying that Dennis has some old fashioned ideas about what women are capable of.’ Fran replied, with a shrug of her shoulders.

‘Well… look at the type of women he’s managed to surround himself with so far,’ said Sam in an almost conspiratorial whisper as she reached for a bag of things she would need for Poppy. ‘Two sorry women that look like they would wet themselves if you slammed the door too loudly, another that quite frankly is far too old to be using sex as a bargaining chip and lastly he has a right pair of manipulative Lolitas … I mean, which of those is meant to challenge his world view?’

‘Exactly,’ smiled Fran, glad that Sam had come to much of the same conclusion as herself, ‘though I think you’re wrong in one respect,’ she continued, stepping aside so Sam and Polly could join them on the decking surrounding the tree house,. ‘If you ask me, one of those Lolitas is more Lady Macbeth than you think… You just watch Emma,’ she confirmed, as they all started walking along the next walkway on their way to the Hub, ‘just watch her and how Dennis always defers to her opinion... and you know she’s worked such a number on him, I don’t know if Dennis is even aware he’s doing it but believe me, it’s Emma… she’s the one that’s really in charge here.’

As they walked along the rope-bridges, crossing from one tree house to the next, Fran and Sam continued to chat amongst themselves and as they did so it became apparent to Fran that she may have so far misjudged the young woman. Up until now the only point of reference Sam had expressed had been that of a mother, fearful for her child’s safety; but now, safe within the confines of White Oak Park, Fran was coming to realise there was more to this woman than simple motherhood. She found Sam to be a no-nonsense, to-the-point type of person, speaking her mind when she needed to yet at the same time astute enough to know when to hold her tongue; a talent Fran knew she herself was yet to master.

‘Are… are you using something?’ Sam casually asked, glancing sideways to meet Fran’s questioning look, while Kai and Mike walked slightly ahead of them. ‘You and Kai, I mean… I assume you’re having sex… what are you doing about birth control?’

‘I… we…’ Fran started to reply, a little caught out by Sam’s directness.

‘Well if you’re relying on the rhythm method… don’t,’ warned Sam with a chuckle, ‘not unless you want a shit-scary birth to go through and another little mouth to feed at the end of it because quite frankly, it doesn’t work… well, it didn’t for me.’

‘To be honest,’ Fran began, finding it strangely welcoming to have another woman to talk to about such things, ‘my periods are a bit all over the place, so even finding their rhythm would be a bit tricky.’

‘Hmm,’ nodded Sam, ‘I know what you mean… that could’ve been my problem too. I suppose it’s not eating properly, you know, like on a regular basis… I guess our bodies have better things to do just trying to keep us alive.’

‘I’m not sure it works like that,’ said Fran, brushing an errant curl of hair behind her ear, ‘and anyway Kai and I, well, we haven’t been… well, of course we have… but not for very long…and… and anyway, we had some condoms!’ she finally blurted out, her words causing Kai and Sam to both glance back at them, wondering just what the two women were discussing.

‘Had?’ repeated Sam, raising an eyebrow questioningly; after she had waved Sam and Kai to turn back round.

‘Yes, had,’ confirmed Fran, with a shrug of her shoulders; knowing that when you lived your life with the threat of being ripped apart by the Dead at any moment, sometimes you lived for the moment and foolishly forgot about the consequences. ‘I…I guess we need to get that sorted.’

‘Hmm…yeah, I think you do,’ said Sam, smiling as she gave Fran a friendly elbow, a wink and nodded towards Kai’s firm behind. ‘You lucky girl… But seriously,’ Sam went on to say just as they began their stroll along the final walkway to the Hub, ‘about getting some sort of contraception… don’t leave it too late… you don’t want to have to deal with the consequences, believe me… Don’t get me wrong I love Poppy with all my heart,’ she continued, gently stroking Poppy’s back as the infant happily watched the world go by nestled against her mother’s chest, ‘but… but there are times… times when I wish for her sake that she hadn’t been born.’

‘Sam, you don’t have to…’ Fran started to say, pained by the look of shame in the young mother’s face.

‘I mean, what chance does she really have?’ asked Sam, as if Fran could somehow see into the girl’s future. ‘What sort of life has my baby been born into? One built on fear, pain, death… is that a life any child should be forced to endure?’

‘But you’ve found this place now… perhaps…’ Fran tried to point out, wondering if White Oak Park could possibly offer the woman the one thing she needed; hope.

‘I remember those fist weeks and months, Fran,’ continued Sam, closing her eyes as dark and monstrous memories rose to the surface of her mind. ‘Parents determined to protect their children, fighting with all they had and… and still it wasn’t enough. They watched their children die, Fran. Watched them get torn apart in front of their very eyes... I… I would rather end her little life myself than let them get their hands on her… I swear I would.’

‘I know,’ was all Fran could think of to say, as Sam softly kissed the top Poppy’s head desperate to chase away the scene playing out in her mind.

‘But… but it’s not going to come to that, Sam… I promise… it’ll never come to that,’ said Fran, reaching out to touch the other woman’s arm, hopeful her reassuring words hit home, ‘not while I’m around, I promise.’

‘That’s not a promise you can make, Fran…’ sighed Sam in reply, shaking her head wearily. ‘I wish it were, but you and I both know… it’s simply not.’

‘You watch me!’ said Fran, the force and determination in her words causing a reluctant smile to break on Sam’s lips.

‘Yeah, okay, Rambo,’ smiled Sam, rolling her eyes. ‘If you say so.’

‘Uh, oh,’ said Mike under his breath, drawing both their attention to the end of the walkway where Dennis waited with his thick arms folded and an impatient look on his face; while behind him a nervous looking Natalie hovered back and forth, ‘looks like we’re late.’

‘Sorry, are we late?’ asked Fran as they stepped off the rope-bridge onto the decking surrounding the Hub tree house. ‘You said first thing… the sun’s not been up that long, surely?’

‘Let’s just get going, shall we,’ Dennis replied, leaving her question hanging unanswered, ‘I have better things to do than baby sit you lot… Grant! Jimmy!’ he suddenly bellowed, calling for the two men that would be working with Kai and Mike respectively.

‘That mutt going to behave itself?’ he went on to ask, nodding at Bob.

‘
Bob
will be fine,’ said Fran, emphasizing the dog’s name.

‘Yeah, well, I’m not mad on dogs,’ muttered Dennis, openly glaring at the Bob who simply looked up at him, his head tilted questioningly to one side, ‘far too needy for my liking.’

Behind him, Grant Nash suddenly appeared in the open doorway, a large apple lodged in his mouth.

‘Morning,’ he mumbled around his mouthful, before taking a noisy bite of the apple and wiping the resulting juice that ran down his chin on the back of his sleeve.

‘Right…Kai, Grant will show you ropes…’ said Dennis, ignoring Grant’s half-hearted attempt at pleasantries. ‘It’s not rocket science. Just work your way round the park dealing with any of the Dead you come across. Listen out for the bells, it’s usually a good indication the direction to go… Oh, and either of you gets bitten, the other one deals with it then and there... got that? I don’t want any Dumb-arse adding to our problems by hanging about so he can come back as a runner.’

‘U…understood,’ stammered Kai with a nod, receiving only a look of bored distain from Dennis for his troubles.

‘Jimmy, you…’ Dennis went to say, only then noticing the young man was still absent. ‘Where the fuck is that waste of space? Jimmy! Jimmy, get your head out of your arse and get out here!’

‘He’s taking a crap,’ offered Grant, taking another bite from the apple.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ mumbled Dennis, as if the man’s bodily functions were dreamt up just to annoy him personally. ‘Right, you stay here,’ he went on to say, pointing to Mike, ‘I’ve told Jimmy what you need. I thought he could take you down to the lake…start with the reeds there… that’s the sort of thing you need, right?’

‘Yeah, that’s a start,’ Mike replied, slightly excited to be embarking on such a useful project that would benefit the whole group, ‘and I noticed there’s a lot of Japanese knot weed round here too… that’ll be useful and it regrows really quickly.’

‘Yeah, whatever,’ said Dennis, already bored with talking to the artisan, ‘just try not to get yourself killed.’

‘Where’s Tom?’ asked Fran, before Dennis could bark any more orders at them.

‘With Brett, he’s getting that horse of yours ready for our trip,’ smirked Dennis in reply, clearly looking forward to exacting his revenge on Ray and the others currently holed up at Trelissick House.

‘Tom’s mind… it’s… it’s all mixed up…whatever problem you have with this Ray bloke, you don’t need to involve him,’ said Fran, worried that Tom’s mania had blinded him to what he was really being asked to do. ‘This isn’t Tom’s fight.’

‘Isn’t it?’ Dennis simply replied, staring at the young woman in front of him. ‘You listen up, lady, there’s something you’d better learn about this place and learn it quick. You stay here, you fucking fight when we’re threatened… And before you go wining on about it’s not fair or you don’t want to, this isn’t no democracy, we’re not going to be holding no elections any time soon and I don’t want a debate every time I want to wipe my arse... I’m in charge and you do the fuck I say or you can fuck off… simple as that! Understand?’

Fran could almost feel the force of Kai’s thoughts beside her, willing her not to react. So, fighting the urge to reduce the orbs between Dennis’s legs to a mashed pulp, Fran simply nodded that she understood and decided to hold her tongue; for now.

***

‘Just keep walking, follow the path round… Natalie knows the way,’ said Dennis, strolling nonchalantly behind them, a length of heavy pipe resting on his shoulder as they walked through the mist enshrouded forest to what used to be the park’s leisure centre. ‘Keep an eye out for those corpses, Nat,’ he called ahead, ‘hot little thing like you, they won’t be able to resist.’

Fran was sure she heard a desperate whimper of response escape the clearly terrified woman’s lips.

‘Natalie… Natalie, it’s okay,’ she started to say, noticing that in her need to reach the safety of the Dome, she had increased her walking pace and was now in fact a few metres ahead of them.

It was then, with an ominous growl of warning from Bob, that a shadow solidified from the mist on the path in front of them, a shadow in the shape of a man; a man no longer in the realms of the living. Dressed in the rancid remains of a sports tracksuit which hung to his withered and mould covered frame, the Dead man’s skin was alive with crawling insects and burrowing larvae; and as the mist finally cleared about it, at last exposing the truth of its degradation for them all to see, it locked his hungry glare onto the woman just before it.

‘Natalie!’ Fran hissed, instinctively putting herself in front of Sam and Poppy.

If Natalie had heard Fran’s warning she gave no indication of it, for she simply stood frozen to the spot watching as the Dead man took a step closer; the sound of her sharp rapid breathing and the shaking of her shoulders punctuating each of its tortured movements.