Savage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (31 page)

G
arfield had fired at the
Kirkland
as retribution and had been intending to do so again, but when Price allowed
him to look through the Challenger’s targeting optics he’d been surprised by
the magnification.  The damage to the large grey vessel had been mostly
cosmetic, but had wiped out a great many members of the crew.  Garfield
was shocked to see Anna standing amidst the chaos.  He couldn’t fire on
the ship again with her still alive onboard, so he told Barker to hold
off.  He had to think of a way to get Anna back. 

When a group of fishermen came ashore, wishing to
escape the fighting, the opportunity presented itself. 

When another explosion rocked the frigate, some sort
of combustion from within its bowels, the timing seemed perfect.  Garfield
wasted no time in sending Hugo out to the sinking frigate; to rescue Anna on
the off chance she’d been lucky enough to survive the explosion.  The chances
were slim, but she at least deserved a chance.

Garfield peered through the Challenger’s powerful
optics again an hour later and could barely believe it when he saw Hugo start
the journey back to shore with Anna safely onboard.  The chances of her
having survived all of the fireworks and bloodshed had been astronomical. 
Despite the sorrow in his heart for Poppy, he couldn’t help but smile as he
greeted Anna at the shore.

Garfield had gotten the whole story of the past few
days from old man Bob – about the men who had come ashore and how one of
them had abducted Poppy.  He didn’t blame Anna.  It was a harsh world
and all anyone could do was his or her best.  Anna would never have let
Poppy come to harm if she could’ve helped it.  He would rather mourn with
her as a friend than hate her as an enemy.  The man responsible for
Poppy’s death was dead.  Maybe that would be enough in the end.

I don’t think anything will ever be enough.

There was no place to lay Poppy’s body so Garfield
decided to carry her out onto the beach.  She had wanted so much to
explore, that it felt right to let the waves take her small body into the
Channel and carry it away.  Who knows where she would end up?  Her
body could circle the globe with time.  Poppy would have liked that.

Price and Barker secured the area with automatic rifle
fire, while the survivors of the pier said their goodbyes to those they’d
lost.  In the background, ships scattered into the distance and left them
alone with their grief.

Old man Bob went first.  “Alistair liked his food
and not a fat lot else.  He cared about everyone, though, even if he
didn’t always show it.  Sometimes he would get drunk and tell me about how
he was bullied as a kid.  I think that had a lot to do with how he was as
a man.  I’m glad he was part of our family, though.  I think, before
he died, he truly felt like he belonged.”

Everyone nodded and Jimmy had his say.  “Chris
was always walking around in those stupid red wellies.  He used to say the
salty air gave him athlete’s foot, but I think he just liked them.  They
made him look like a clown at the beach.”

That was all Jimmy had to say, so they moved onto
Samantha.  Old man Bob spoke again.  “Samantha was a fox.  If
I’d been twenty years younger…well, all I can say is that she was a sweetheart
and things won’t be the same without her.  Her pretty face and friendly
smile used to brighten up my day.”

“Me too,” said Jimmy.

They all stared at Garfield.  It was his turn and
they all knew whom he would choose to speak about.  “Poppy was…” He sighed
and stared out to sea.  Her body had almost disappeared beneath the waves,
but the golden white of her remaining braid still floated on the surface of the
water.  For a moment he wanted to dive in and bring her back, but he knew
he had to let her go.  He pulled out the crumpled drawing from his pocket
and examined it.  The peaceful pond with the moorhens was as beautiful as
ever.  If there was a Heaven, he hoped Poppy could go back there and be
with her parents.  The thought made him smile.  “Poppy was the best
thing that ever happened to me,” he said.  “Not just in the last year, but
in my entire life.  She’s the reason I’m alive.  Before I found her I
was slowly losing part of myself, but she made me keep a hold on who I was, and
then she helped me become someone even better.  Having her around the pier
was good for all of us.  Her innocence reminded us what we were all living
for.  She reminded us of the good things we’d lost and why we had to get
them back.  She was our only child and she’s gone, but we have to keep
going, so that one day there will be more little girls like her.  Keeping
her safe was my biggest failure, and it probably won’t be my last, but I swear
that I will never let another person I love be taken from me.  We’re going
to make it through this, and when we do, we will remember those lost to
us.  We can use their memories to give us strength, so that we never give
up,
no
matter who turns up on our doorstep and tries
to hurt us.  We’re a family and as long as we have that, the world will
never be over.  We didn’t ask for this, but it’s what we’ve got, so let’s
make the best of it – together.”

Everybody nodded, Barker, Price, and the newcomers
included.  Garfield walked up the beach towards a rocky outcropping where
Anna was sitting.  The two French girls sat in the sand with their dog and
smiled when they saw him coming.  He smiled back at them, but it was Anna
he wanted to talk to.

During the funeral, she had stayed back, tears in her
eyes and blood on her face.  She had been through something terrible,
something she probably would not speak about for a while, if not ever. 
The thing that was truly hurting her, though, was the people they had just cast
out to sea. 
She feels responsible.  Perhaps she is.  Perhaps
we all are.

He sat on the rock next to her and placed an arm
around her.  She stiffened up at his touch, but did not fight him as he
pulled her into a cuddle.  The two of them had never been intimate as
friends or otherwise, but Garfield was tired of being so guarded.  The time
of low self-esteem and personal barriers seemed petty now.  Anna was
family and right now she was hurting.  So was he.

He reached into his coat pocket and handed her
something.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s a Army ration pack,” he explained.  “It has
a multivitamin in there.  You wanted vitamins, right?”

Anna laughed and nodded, but then her expression
creased and she fought not to cry.  “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be.  Looking back at the way things might
have gone is no different from imagining how the future might be.  It’s
out of our control.  You couldn’t have known what was going to happen.”

“But I didn’t have to start a fight.  I could
have played ball with the men on the boats.”

Garfield huffed.  “And then what?  Get
treated like slaves or intimidated into giving away whatever we had.  They
tried to hurt Poppy, I heard all about it.  If I’d been here, I wouldn’t
have done anything different.  You were protecting Poppy.  I wouldn’t
have had you do anything more.”

“I got her killed.”

Garfield shook his head.  “We’re all on borrowed
time.  You kept her safe for the last year, we all did.  We should be
thankful we had her while we did.  There’ll be time to blame
ourselves
later.  Right now we need to stick together
and get out of this alive.  We still need to leave.”

Anna nodded.

“I won’t leave you again, Anna.  From now on, we
stick together no matter what.  I abandoned you and I’m sorry.”

Anna wiped snot from her nose and chuckled. 
“You’re saying sorry to me?”

“I am.  I’m sorry for a lot of things.  I’m
sorry I’ve never given you a cuddle before.  I’m sorry I brought Poppy a
bunch of magazines she didn’t want.  I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you
when you needed me.”

Anna leaned into him.  “I forgive you.  You
did bring a tank back for me, after all.”

“Yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?  And here was you
saying that a tank would be useless.”  He kissed the top of her
head.  “I’ll let you ride in the turret if you want.”

Anna giggled.  “Tell you the truth, I would
rather just sleep in the back of the truck and have you wake me up in a
year.  I don’t think I could take any more excitement.”

“So I hear.”

“Thanks for rescuing me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, then looked out to sea and
saw that Poppy was finally gone for good.  The only thing that made him
feel better was the
Kirkland
was too.

Garfield had been shocked to see Anna standing amidst
the chaos on the
Kirkland
.  He
couldn’t fire on the ship again with her still aboard, so he had told Barker to
hold off.  He had to think of a way to get Anna back. 

When a group of fishermen came ashore, wishing to
escape the fighting, that opportunity presented itself.  When another
explosion rocked the frigate, some sort of combustion from within its bowels,
the timing seemed perfect.  Garfield wasted no time in sending Hugo out to
the sinking frigate; to rescue Anna on the off chance she’d been lucky enough
to survive the explosion.  The chances were slim, but she at least
deserved a chance.

Garfield had gotten the whole story of the past few
days from old man Bob – about the men who had come ashore and how one of
them had abducted Poppy.  He didn’t blame Anna.  It was a harsh world
and all anyone could do was his or her best.  Anna would never have let
Poppy come to harm if she could’ve helped it.  He would rather mourn with
her as a friend than hate her as an enemy.  The man responsible for
Poppy’s death was
dead,
thanks to her, and maybe that
would be enough in the end.

The remaining members of the pier – old man Bob,
Lemon, David, Cat, and Jimmy – made their way from the beach back up to
the pier.  With them went the new members of their family – Hugo and
his girls, the soldiers, Barker and Price, an American named Wade, and the
three fishermen who had surrendered their boat to Hugo.  Garfield decided
to stay with Anna on the rocks for a while longer, watching out for sounds of
dead approaching down the beach.  They seemed to have a bit of time for
now.  It felt good to just sit there and enjoy the warmth of another
body.  As long as there was time to do that, perhaps all was not
lost.  They had a good chance of making it.

The group’s numbers were not inconsiderable and their
bond was already strong.  They had a large stockpile of guns and rations,
along with two very heavy trucks, and a tank.  What they needed now was a
home.

But for now, they all stood on the pier, gathering up
supplies and preparing for the future.  Samuel may have killed the pier
the same way he had killed so many men, but he would never take away what it
had meant: that mankind could survive and pull together as one.  Now that
Samuel was gone, perhaps the remaining members of the fleet would pull together
too.  The time for leaders had passed.  Community was the only thing
that would get them through now.  They were brothers and sisters, members
of the same struggling species.  They must all live and fight as
one. 
Or die alone and apart.

Garfield gave Anna one final squeeze.  “Time to
go,” he said, but neither of them moved.  Instead, they held one another
and wept until the sun died and the moon arose.

B
eing on the road with his new
companions had been unbelievably dangerous.  The dead were everywhere as
they trekked northwards.  With no particular location in mind they hoped
only to find someplace safe to set up a new camp.  That didn’t mean they
were willing to stop at the first place they found, though.  They were
more than a dozen in number and wanted to find a place where they could be
safe, but also have the opportunity to build a life for
themselves
. 
They had passed up various supermarkets, sports stadiums, and farms in favour
of continuing the search.  They all hoped that when they found what they
were looking for they would know it. 

One thing they agreed on, however, was that the pier
had kept them prisoner.  If they found a chance to rebuild, they wanted to
live as people again.  They would plant seed and round up whatever animals
they could find.  They would build fences and cull the dead.  The
soldiers would show them how.  It would be a dangerous existence, for
sure, but so far no one had been hurt on the journey and
their
confidence of survival was growing.  They had faced the dead many times,
in numbers great and small, but they had remained earnest and acted without
risk.  They watched out for one another and made decisions via
committee.  Each member of the group was equally important – even
Hugo’s daughters – and for that every man and woman was faultlessly loyal
to their new family.  There were no leaders and no dissent.  There
was no power and no egos.  The only danger was the dead, and they faced
that threat together, as one.  It had kept them safe for a long time.

With each passing day, Hugo began to feel more and
more hopeful.  Three months had passed since they’d left the pier and his
daughters had now begun to smile much more than they ever had at sea. 
They were in constant danger, but they were alive and free.  They had
friends, family, and a future.  Hugo was no longer their sole protector
and guardian, he was just their father again, there to love them.  A dozen
others were there to help keep Daphne and Sophie safe; Hugo could finally relax
and find a little peace, even amongst the ruins of Great Britain. 
I
wonder whatever became of France?  Will I ever see it again?
 
Somehow he didn’t care.  He had his family and that was all that mattered.

The group had made it all the way past Stoke
now.  They had done so in convoy, kept safe by the big Army trucks, and
the tank, which led their way.  Each man and woman had been trained to use
a rifle or a handgun and they hung out of the truck beds and the tank’s turret
whenever the dead came too near.  By keeping up their speed and making
their shots count, they had remained safe and made good time.  The dead
fell before them like cardboard cut outs in the wind.  They were no longer
the hazard they once were – being organised and well armed made them a
manageable threat.  Life was still a struggle, but it was doable.
 Once they found a place to settle, things would hopefully get easier
still.  Cat was six weeks pregnant – a supermarket urine test had
told her so.  David was constantly filled with glee, but his attempts to
mollycoddle the mother of his child were always met with an elbow to the
ribs.  Cat was a tough cookie and wouldn’t be looked after, but it was
clear that the pregnancy filled her with a poorly guarded glee.  Hugo
couldn’t wait to see the baby brought forth into the world.  Sophie and
Daphne had already volunteered to be aunties, which Cat had graciously
accepted. 

Hugo smiled. 
We truly are a family now.

Humanity would come back from the brink of extinction,
one baby at a time.  Hugo now dreamt about his daughters finding love and
giving him granddaughters.  It would have been absurd to think about only
three months ago, but now…

Hugo chuckled and threw the tennis ball across the
abandoned football pitch.  Houdini raced off after it, racing all the
way.  A group of pigeons took flight as the little dog zoomed towards
them, and Hugo laughed even harder.  The group had spent the last night
camped out at an old leisure centre and were getting ready to move on
soon.  Hugo felt alive and well.  Last night he had closed his eyes and
slept like a baby for the first time in over a year.  Somehow the world
didn’t seem quite as horrible on land as it had done on the sea. 
A
man’s feet should be on the earth.  It is where we belong.  As long
as mankind keeps on walking, we’ll make it to tomorrow.

END