Blood on the Floor: An Undead Adventure (17 page)

Eighteen

The heat becomes worse and grows to bear down with crushing weight that makes even talking hard work. Another mistake made. She should have stayed at the farm. She should have stayed in the church. She should have done many things but these are new times and you deal with what’s in front of you.

They’ve been walking for hours. In her mind she assumed they’d find a quaint little village and forage for toothbrushes and the other things on the list created in her head. Instead they carried on along endless country lanes and roads that weaved a route through more fields than ever knew existed.

Despite the heat, despite the sweat pouring from her body, despite the humidity and the end of the world and despite anything else she still has a weird feeling of contentment and in truth, she wouldn’t go back to the farm or the church. They drink water to stay hydrated and more that gets poured down over faces to sluice the sweat away. That Paco is now sweating is something she noticed with another smile and a pat on his arm as though he did something he should be proud of.

Instead of the quaint little village she had in mind they reach the edge of a town. Not a big one or anything like the size of the one she met Paco in. On the crest of a hill she stares down at rooftops that grow thicker in number and closer together towards the middle. She spots the wide main road then more buildings that stretch out to meet fields and open farmland.

‘Looks okay,’ she whispers to Paco who doesn’t reply or give any form of opinion on the perceived level of safety of the town ahead. ‘Yeah, yeah we’ll go for it,’ she adds while nodding. Shade is needed. Not the shade they’ve got now from the oak tree they’re under but proper indoors shade. A house or something. She tells herself they’ll go quietly and run at the first sight of trouble or indeed the first sight of anything like yesterday.

Down the hill they go, losing the overview of the town as they descend. She stops at the corner of the first proper residential street and scans every inch of ground she can see. No bodies. No blood either. She looks to the houses and spots a few with doors hanging open but otherwise no signs of damage.

Her hand reaches out to feel Paco is still there. She brushes across his front then gently gropes until she finds the hanging material of his side pocket that she hooks her thumb into. She tugs for them to move and debates whether to stick to the side of the pavement or go in the middle of the road. It feels natural to want to stay at the side but the middle means you can see both sides equally. She opts for the middle and guides Paco out to follow the broken white lines up the road. She keeps her hand hooked on the material of his pocket, eyes flicking left and right and turning every few steps to check behind. All quiet. All good. No bodies. No blood. She risks a quick grin at Paco and again crumples her nose,
so far so good eh?

His presence makes all the difference and she feels far less fear than walking into that other town after leaving the church. She glances at him again. He doesn’t even look like an infected person now. Apart from the eyes and you’d have to be close to see those. He’s walking normally and he’s a big bloke too so hopefully anyone looking will see a big man walking with a woman. It even feels okay, this town I mean. She nods at Paco as though affirming her thoughts to him. The heat is the only big issue. It must be well over thirty degrees and the only time she’s felt heat like this was on a Greek Island a few years back during the height of the summer. It’s like walking through an oven. Even the tarmac is bubbling in places and there’s now a permanent heat shimmer that could never be reached hanging over the road ahead.

They can find the centre, or a shop on the way and get what they need then find somewhere to get rest and shade. They can spend the night or find a vehicle and drive somewhere else. Paco has given her choices and options. She smiles again and pushes her hand hooked onto his pocket into his side with a fleeting touch of affection.

They turn into the last road that feeds into the town centre and walk steadily between the houses. Still no bodies. Still no blood. She wipes the sweat from her forehead with her arm and blasts air out through her cheeks. Then she hears the bang and stops. A loud percussive noise of something heavy being thrown against something solid.

She tugs at Paco’s pocket to draw him back and looks quickly to his arms that aren’t tensed. His hands still open as normal and his face is as passive as ever. She bites her lip then hears another bang, the same as before too. Something heavy against something solid. On a T junction and she can see the road running left and right runs behind the shops. Behind them is the road they came up. She thinks to go back then spots the gate to a high walled yard hanging open. She tugs him again and sets off while nodding at the gate. Paco goes with her, still not showing any signs of concern.

She stops him by the gate, darts in to check then ushers him through before following and easing the gate closed that’s secured by a single bolt in the middle. Another bang sounds clear in the air, closer now too and coming from the other side of the building she’s at the rear of. She squints and thinks, it must be the town centre. It has to be. Is it? The sound of a window going through makes her jolt. Paco steps closer but stares at her and not at anything else. His hands still open and his arms relaxed.

Okay, find cover and hide. Wait it out. She creeps across the yard to the back of the building and spots the rear door ajar. She stops, sniffs and checks Paco for reaction again. Still nothing. Another bang comes from the front of the building but a bit further away, like someone is going down the street smashing things.

She pushes the door open and peers through into what looks like a staff room. Mismatched chairs set round a table. A kitchen unit on one side with a stainless steel sink. A health and safety at work notice pinned to a notice board along with printed pie charts, graphs and memos addressed
to all staff.
Thick dust on the floor. Undisturbed and the air smells musty but clear of decomposing bodies or shit or piss or stale sweat. Another glance at Paco who remains as relaxed as before.

She closes the back door, smiling with a grimace as she twists the handle to push the door closed. A key in the lock that she turns over and leaves in place ready for a swift exit if needed.

The next bang is further down the street again and accompanied by a male voice shouting angrily. Human though. Definitely human, as opposed to zombie. Zombies snarl and hiss, they growl and can howl and even roar but they don’t generally shout. She doesn’t think so anyway. Into a store room filled with railings of clothes. She nods at Paco, ‘clothes shop,’ she mouths. Paco doesn’t reply or acknowledge her awesome detective skills.

A door leads to set of stairs going up to what must be either the owners or managers flat or more storage space. She closes that one as quietly as possible and eases the other one open to peer out into the main store and through rails of clothes to a big plate glass window.

Options presented and weighed. She closes the door to the shop and opens the other one to the stairs. She gets Paco in front and pushes him gently from behind to get him going up while she clings to the back of his dungarees. Another door at the top. She pushes her hand through the gap between Paco’s arm and his body to twist the handle then pushes the door open before darting back to hide behind him. Nothing happens. No one comes snarling out. She pushes into his back, indicating him to go forward.

They go into another store room stacked with boxes and railings of clothes. Again the dust on the floor tells her the room has been undisturbed. The next bang sounds out but further away again. She guides Paco deeper into the room then creeps over the window to look carefully down at a military vehicle left abandoned on the side of the road with the driver’s door open. It’s definitely an army truck. Like armoured and the wheels are huge. It’s covered in blood and gore too like it’s been used to mow people down. She stares for a while not seeing movement or motion. The next thud comes from her left. She eases forward to gain a view of the street and spots a huge man wrenching a bench from the ground that he throws through the window of a shop clearly in temper. Her mouth drops open in surprise and she quickly checks the street but can’t see anyone else. When she looks back up the man is throwing a litter bin into the side of a car that he then attacks with his feet. He’s huge. Far bigger than Paco and with a bald head that glistens with sweat in the sunshine. He grabs anything he can to throw and smash with a rage that makes his face all flushed and red.

She thought Paco was strong but this guy is off the chart. He pulls a bench off the ground which in itself is impressive considering it’s wrought iron but it’s also concreted into the pavement. She can see the chunks falling off as it gets pulled up and held overhead to be lobbed across the road into parked van. He goes on after that too. Litter bins and street signs get thrown and used to beat windows, cars, trucks and anything in his path.

He stops suddenly. A cessation of anger that ends as his huge shoulders sag down and his chest heaves for air. He turns and looks down to the military vehicle then rubs his chin as though thinking what to do. He says something to himself and sets off towards a van parked further up. He looks through the windows as though looking for keys as she begins to understand that the army vehicle is his. It must have broken down judging by the angle he’s left it in. That might explain the temper tantrum, if you can call a giant throwing metal benches through shop windows a temper tantrum.

The man goes out of sight for a minute then comes back holding something in his hands that he uses to get into the van. Keys. He’s just got keys from a house or a shop. He gets into the driver’s seat, fumbles about, wipes his head then pulls away to drive back down the road. Heather eases back out of view and listens as the van stops and a door opens.

Footsteps then grunts come clear and audible. She risks another glance to see the man taking things from the military vehicle to put into the van. Machine guns, ammunitions boxes and other things she doesn’t recognise. He works fast despite the heat and now that he’s closer she gets the distinct impression of a soldier. He looks worried and uses the back of his hairy arm to wipe the sweat from his face. He disappears inside the army truck then reappears in a hole in the roof she didn’t previously notice and the even bigger machine gun fixed there that he works on to get it off and down. That goes into the van with everything else and a bare few minutes later he’s driving off with the engine revving loud and solid with speed gained.

What the hell was all that about? She stays still, watching and scanning for anyone else. That man looked like a soldier and the truck is obviously an army one. Are the army functioning? He had machine guns and things like the army have. Wow. If the army are going then it might mean they have safe places. Having said that he was also throwing benches through windows and smashing cars up. That doesn’t sound safe. Not with people like that. But then it is hot and breaking down can set anyone off. Maybe he’s just having a bad day. Or a bad lots of days. How many days is it now since it happened? It’s two weeks today. Crumbs, only fourteen days since it started? Feels like months.

Her mind whirls with thoughts of armies and people in control. She doesn’t trust anyone. Apart from Paco and he’s a mutated zombie. Being with people now just feels wrong but then if they do have the army working then it could be a good place to be. Wherever they are.

Okay. Wait and see if they come back for their army truck and make a decision then. She nods to herself and eases back from the window.

‘Toothbrush…got to get a toothbrush.’

Nineteen

‘It’s a bit messy,’ she remarks quietly, standing at the back of the army truck and peering inside to the discarded chocolate bar wrappers and empty drinks bottles lying everywhere. T shirts that look like they were folded neatly now lie on the floor and her awesome detective skills deduce they were knocked down when the big man was rushing to unload it. She spots a pair of boxers left on the floor and tilts her neck to read the words written across the backside in black marker pen
Cookey’s big boy pants.
She blinks and huffs figuring it must be squaddie humour. Either that or they are indeed Cookey’s big boy pants.

‘Well it carries people,’ she tells Paco, pointing to the bench seats down the sides and then up ahead to the front seats. ‘Must be a personnel carrier,’ she decides, nodding at the vehicle then at Paco as if that solves the whole of the riddle.

It’s been an hour since the big bald soldier left in the van and it’s taken that long to monitor the street before finally deciding it was safe enough to venture out. Now the street looks empty and devoid of life. The trail of destruction the man left is impressive as she views the spots where the benches and bins used to be. At least he opened some of the shops for them by graciously removing the windows.

The supermarket is the first choice and she leads Paco over then drops behind him with her hands on his hips to guide him through the smashed in door first. It’s already been looted but then she was expecting as much. The metal shutter hiding the cigarettes lie hang down from being prised open and she spots produce and things strewn all over the floor. It smells bad too but the smell of rotten food rather than dead bodies. She stays behind Paco but edges in closer to his body to put her hands on his elbows as though to feel if he tenses up. He stays relaxed and for a second she holds still, listening to him breathing and feeling the warmth coming from his body.

‘Clear?’ she whispers? He doesn’t reply but she swears there’s a slight motion in his body, like the preparation of taking a forward step. ‘Okay,’ she adds and applies the gentlest of pressure to his elbows with her hands. He goes forward immediately, almost as though he was waiting for the instruction.

The booze is all gone, which is no surprise. What is surprising is all the junk food has been looted but half the healthy tinned stuff is left behind. Same with the bottled water and cartons of juice and long life milk. People are idiots.

‘I think people are idiots,’ she whispers, giving voice to the thought. They go along the inside of the checkouts to see up each aisle before she decides the shop is clear and seemingly safe. She was hoping it would be cooler in here but if anything it’s even more stifling and the sweet rancid stench of fouled food soon makes her want to rush.

She leads him to the toiletries section first and grabs several new toothbrushes, paste, tampons, wipes and foot powders. Bandages, plasters, antiseptic creams and sprays, sun lotions and creams, moisturisers, Nurofen, lip balm, mascara, hair bands, more hair bands, a new hair brush and some more hair bands. Scrunchies and clips and she goes back for more tampons and even picks up a box of condoms before realising what they are then blushing as she drops them on the floor to be kicked away while she checks to see if he saw.

The bag fills quickly, too quickly. It’s not greed but opportunity and she’s making the most of it. She rushes back down to the checkouts and grabs a few of the big bags for life before going back in to load up with bottles of water, cartons of juice, cans of energy drinks, tinned fruit, rice pudding, muesli bars and more hair bands.

Paco becomes a mule. The loaded rucksack on his back and his hands clutching several bulging bags as she leads him out the shop, across the road, down the alley, into the yard and into the staff room where everything gets deposited on the floor. Well she deposits it on the floor while he watches.

‘Ready?’ she asks him. They go back out the staff room, through the yard, down the alley and across the road but this time to a clothing shop before she stops and remembers she just came from a clothes shop. She huffs and lifts an eyebrow at him before shrugging and walking him back out into the main road. ‘Perfect,’ she grins and sets off striding with him dutifully following after her. An outdoor retail shop with a big bin smashed through the window and the door already kindly opened by someone else. It’s been looted by the same standards as the supermarket with odd stuff taken instead of the serious things. She grabs a new bigger rucksack and loads it anything she thinks might be useful.

Back in the staff room she stands sweating profusely. The air is so close now, like it’s become thick. They’re both sweating tons and she feels a dull headache coming up. She locks the back door and starts carrying everything up the stairs to the store room that has now become their base of operations. Paco follows her up empty handed then back down as she huffs and tuts at him. He doesn’t go up empty handed the next time but carries everything she can hook on his arms, hands and over his shoulders before sending the poor sod up ahead of her.

Finally she sinks down on the bare wooden floors panting for breath and melting into a puddle of sweat.

‘Sugar…need sugar,’ she heaves up onto her backside and reaches up to grab Paco’s wrists. ‘Come down,’ she urges, tugging him to lower down. He bends first that her makes her giggle. ‘No your bum…sit down on your bum…’ the concept is difficult but by tugging on his arms and knees she finally conveys what she wants and he lowers to sit down cross legged next to her, which just makes her giggle again. ‘Come here,’ she crawls over him to stretch his legs out so he doesn’t look like a naughty schoolboy. ‘See? Like this…sitting,’ she tells him, pronouncing the word slowly. ‘Sitting…this is sitting…got it? Oh my god I’m so hot. Are you hot? You look hot.’

She can’t physically get up and walk anywhere ever again so instead she crawls about mooching through bags to come back with two can of Red Bull. She opens both before finding her marigolds that get pulled on so she can lift one of the cans to his mouth with her fingers gently holding his chin.

He gulps noisily. Swallowing it down in one long action until the can is empty. She smiles and wipes a dribble from his lip as he belches noisily.

‘Greedy pig,’ she crinkles her nose at him and grabs her own can that gets glugged down with equal gusto and adds her own belch to match his.

The sugar, caffeine and synthetically produced taurine get into her system quickly, raising her heart rate.

The sugar, caffeine and synthetically produced taurine get into his system quickly, raising his heart rate.

Energy thrums through her body that makes her eyes go slightly larger from the pleasurable feeling.

Energy thrums though his body that makes his eyes go like dishpan lids from his already near perfectly primed cells going bananas from the fresh intake of new ingredients that get processed, broken down and sent round body from a heart going like the clappers.

She sinks down feeling hot, sweaty and grimy but strangely energised and looks round in wonder at the bags of new things. These are strange days. Strange days indeed and to question it would drive you mad, so she doesn’t. Instead she looks at Paco and blinks in surprise. ‘Are you okay?’

Paco doesn’t say whether he is okay or not. Instead his head nods really quickly. Up and down with small movements while his eyelids stretch wide open.

‘What the hell?’

He grins manically. His mouth turning up to show teeth in what can only be a smile. She bursts out laughing at the sight of him nodding like crazy while grinning from ear to ear.

‘Paco?’

His hands lift to fall that thump on the floorboards, like a spasm or a twitch that makes Heather cover her mouth with the back of her forearm to stifle the laugh.

His shoulders join in with a single shrug then another and another until he’s shrugging, grinning, nodding and lifting his hands an inch off the floor to drop them down again.

She can’t help laughing. The way he’s sat there with his legs stretching out and his hands resting on the floor either side of his body, like he’s dancing on the spot and the sight of him grinning like that is too much. Really too much. The laugh grows, tears come into her eyes and she gasps for air while trying to turn away to stop looking at him. When she looks back he’s still going and it sets her off again so hard she bends double while kneeling and clutching her stomach. When she looks again she sees his arms lifting out from the sides and going back down like he’s trying to fly. It’s too much. The tears roll quickly down her cheeks as the poor chap tries to process the strong energy drink coursing through his body. She crawls closer, laughing hard and tries to grab his arms to stop him flying. He doesn’t resist or force against her and she can feel the tremble running through his body but the expression on his face is what keeps her laughing. His eyes tracking her while nodding and grinning like he’s desperately agreeing to whatever she just said. There’s no pain in his eyes, no sadness or worry but an expression of gleeful abandon from a grown man doing something so silly.

‘Oh you poor baby,’ she chuckles and laughs at him, gently clasping his cheeks in her gloved hands. ‘It’s just the sugar…’

He nods harder with an action that brings the giggles back into her body. He likes the sound of her laughing. He likes her hands touching him and the tone of her voice. He doesn’t know he likes it but he grins wider. Stretching his mouth more that sets her off again with her hands still cupping his cheeks.

‘Stop,’ she gasps the words out between laughs, leaning closer towards him while holding his head. ‘Stop…Paco…oh god,’ the giggles come again from the deep slow blink he gives. His eyes squeezing together then popping wide. Her head drops from laughing so much, her forehead almost touching his. He can see the tears on her cheeks and feels the shake in her body from the laughs that sound so nice. His eyes watch her face all the time. Learning the nuances and subtle changes that accompany her voice and body language. She slowly gets her breathing under control and tries to draw a deep steadying lungful while risking another look at him. As soon as she does so he squeezes his eyes and pops them open while grinning wider. She’s gone again. Fresh tears course down her cheeks and her body trembles while leaning harder into him. Her legs over his thighs. She gets lost in the moment, caught up in the giggles that grip and don’t let go. While laughing, while giggling and feeling the pain in her sides and gasping for air she wraps her arms round his head and pulls him close to her chest while she sags forward over him. There is no danger here, of that there is no doubt. She pays no heed to his saliva going on her top or the sweat from his body touching her bare skin. She pays no heed to his mouth being so close he could nip gently and draw blood. She feels only his form and the purity of joy that laughing brings and the closeness to another body that she knows won’t ever try and hurt her. Not ever. Never ever. She hugs him close, laughing and giggling while he becomes engulfed in the feeling of a warm body pressing into his head. It’s hot and hard to get a full breath but he shows no reaction and somewhere deep inside that equilibrium is pushed yet further away.

The sound of the diesel engine comes fast and it takes seconds for the new noise to register in her brain. She lifts up, still smiling and turns to face the window. The engine noise gets closer then the sound of brakes and the vehicle slows to a stop. Doors open and a deep voice calls out.

‘You two move out and keep watch.’

She instantly matches it to the big man she saw earlier. It’s exactly how she imagined he would sound.

Another voice speaks, younger and sounding worried. ‘Wow man…that’s like, you know, a proper big army thing yeah?’

‘It is, now fix it,’ the deep voice growls.

‘Man, you don’t understand that like, you know, I gotta see what’s wrong with it before I fix it. What happened, did it like you know, make noise or what man?’

‘The power went…no noises or bangs, just went,’ the deep voice says.

‘Slow or fast?’

‘Quick. Just died.’

‘Man that sounds like a fuel problem, maybe a fuel line or something like, you know?’

‘Know what?’

‘Was there like, you know, diesel on the road or…?’

‘No,’ the deep voice snaps. ‘Nothing.’

‘Well okay man, that’s helpful you know? I’ll go take a look then.’

‘You do that. If you get it working then I might not shoot you.’

She flinches at the words, still hugging Paco’s head then drops down to whisper into his ear, telling him to shush and stay quiet. She pulls away to turn fully towards the window, one hand now resting on his shoulder.

‘Lads,’ the deep voice calls out but the tone is ever so slightly different, with a natural authority underlined with a hint of humour. ‘If he doesn't anything you don’t like, runs off, shouts out, whatever… shoot him.’

‘You got it, hench man,’ a young prematurely deep voice of a teenage man replies. Something in the way the words are said tell Heather the big man didn’t mean it but he wanted to make the other man work fast.

She stays silent, glancing at Paco who also stays silent as they listen to bangs and clunks of someone doing things to the vehicle. Low voices come drifting up on the hot air. Two teenage males speaking quietly and the mechanic man trying to convince them he is working as fast as he can.