Remnant's
I slept lightly that night. After Jon took over the watch, I woke up once or twice, thinking I heard something banging on the door. We woke up at about 9. Jon's watch ended at 6, and Ty took over. Sky was already up, sitting on her bed.
"Hey, are you hungry?" I asked.
"No."
"Thirsty?"
"No."
"OK."
Our clothes had dried from the night before, and she had already gotten dressed.
"Can we look for my Dad today?"
"Well, let's see how it goes," I said, "but I think you should stay here for the moment. It's not safe out there."
She nodded sadly and pretended to go back to sleep. I sighed and went back to my room and turned on the TV. Society is breaking down. A few channels, mainly those further north, are either not on or showing constant repeats. Electricity, water, and internet are still up, though. I looked at our supply of food. We haven't even started on it yet. We managed to scavenge a few things on the way to the last stand yesterday, but none of us has any real appetite.
"Guns," Jon said.
"What about them?" I replied, only half interested.
"The gun shop around the corner."
I told Toby, "There is no gun shop in this town."
"There is, though." He showed me a site on my laptop: Country Ware and Firearms.
I looked at the address. It was only around the corner.
"It's too dangerous," I said. "That's the first place everyone is going to go, and the people that own the store and have a lot of guns probably want to keep their guns and won't think twice about trying to blow our heads off."
At that moment, Toby called. He was again put on loudspeaker, and the argument continued.
"Even when we get there, the place could be locked down, the shutters closed. How will we get in? Do you have a pair of bolt cutters handy? The guns are all probably in cases."
"Well, we can smash the cases."
"And what about the people there already? Do you know how to fix a bullet wound?"
This silenced everyone. I walked over and looked out the window. There were five Vivens outside. I quickly ducked back down.
"Well, what do you want to do then? Get a car? Get more supplies? Are we moving to Toby's flat?"
"No, not yet at least, but if we can get a car, we always have a getaway option."
"Where do you want to get the supplies from?"
"Cotswold. It involves going into town, and even though it's close, I don't want to lump the stuff back by hand. None of the people in our group have a driver's license, but Toby and Jon know what they are doing, and I have an idea."
Jon probably had the most experience, so he was elected to drive. Now to find a car. It didn't take too long to find something, literally on the next street. Me and Jon had headed out the back. Nothing saw us, and we took off at a quick jog. Within 100 meters, we found a Green Ford Fiesta Ecocentric—great miles per gallon, four doors, and they did an awesome test on Top Gear. The driver-side door was open, like someone had jumped out and left in a hurry. Behind us, we could hear the monsters groaning as they made their way to what they hoped would be their first meal of the day.
We approached the car—Jon on the driver's side, me on the other. I peered into the back seat. Nothing there.
"Keys are in it," Jon said. He also checked the car and got in. "Almost a full tank."
I climbed in shotgun, and Jon started her up. I stopped him from pulling out.
"Are you mad?" I said.
"What?"
"Put your seat belt on."
"Oh yeah, just in case we get stopped by the police."
My mind flashed back to the officer from last night. A wave of guilt rolled over me. Jon pulled his seat belt on, and we headed to pick up Toby. The drive to the store was uneventful, apart from the shouts and smashing of glass. Jon wanted to stop at the store he insisted had guns, but we stuck with the plan—survival equipment first.
We pulled up outside of the store. Well, it's less of a store and more of a landmark. The store is an all-stone building with five Romanesque pillars at the entryway holding up a roof that was also very Roman-looking. It was what you would think a temple would look like. But now, it had been converted into Cotswold, an outdoor survival store spread over three floors. The first was women's wear, the second men's, and the third survival equipment. The plan was simple. Me and Toby would head in. Toby would head straight to women's for some clothes for Sky, then he would head upstairs to join me in the search for equipment. Whilst this was going on, Jon would loop around the block and wait for the signal to park up. We didn't want our ride getting swamped or stolen. We stole it first.
Me and Toby got out. We could see a buzz of activity inside—people shoving and rushing to get what they could. We made our way in. The alarm was going off for obvious reasons. Someone had thrown the café table outside through the window. Not that anyone was going to respond to the alarm apart from them. I headed straight upstairs, trying to avoid the most crowded parts. This area was a little quieter. I pulled out my list and began to pile up everything I needed. There was a hand on my shoulder. I knocked it away, rolled, and pulled out the baton. Toby burst out laughing.
"Shut up, arsehole, and help me find what we need."
"What's left on the list?"
"Lantern, stove, fuel, and a couple of hand axes."
"All of that? What have you been doing whilst I was downstairs?"
"Hey, up your arse with a piece of glass."
"Oh yeah, you would like that," he retorted. "Jog on."
We quickly found everything we needed. I ran off and grabbed some heavy-duty shopping bags. We bagged it up and called Jon to let him know we were ready to be picked up. We headed down the stairs. Toby was in front of me. A lanky man walked over to Toby and proceeded to try and snatch the bag out of his hand. Toby held it firm and proceeded to tell the man what he thought of him. He responded by punching him in the face.
I walked over to the man, extended the baton, and smashed it straight into his kneecap. He collapsed in pain.
"Get your arse up, and let's go," I said to Toby.
We grabbed our bags and got to the car. A few Vivens were in the area now. Jon had obviously taken one down, judging from the splatter on the windscreen. We put the supplies in and drove off.
As we turned a corner, I told Jon to stop the car. A man was on the floor, bleeding from a wound to his throat. Next to him, an overturned shopping trolley full of boxes. I jumped out and grabbed as many of the boxes as I could manage, then got back in.
"What you got?" Jon asked.
"Mobile phones," I said.
"Oh sweet! Have you got the latest iPhone? You mean they have brought another one out? Fuck me, Jon, what's wrong with you? Has the new one got a new picture on it or something?"
"God, you're old," he said.
"Shut up and keep driving," I laughed.
We stopped in a parking area reserved for permit holders only, although I doubt we were gonna get clamped today. We were a couple of hundred meters away from the house, so the things wouldn't be attracted to the noise. We got out, lit up cigarettes, and discussed the next move.
The obvious thing to do would be to move all our supplies and ourselves to Toby's flat, but I didn't want to do this just yet. With the building still full of people and the possibility of them trying to steal what we had acquired, this was a real possibility after what had happened to Toby in the store. Jon still wanted to go to the gun store. This led to another argument that led to shouting, which was interrupted by moans not too far away. This snapped us back to our senses. We agreed that everything we had gathered today would go back to Toby's flat with the exception of Sky's new clothes. We would remain in our own place and pack everything up for removal.
A group of about 30 undead rounded the entrance to the parking area.
"I'm getting out," I said.
"Are you mad?" Jon replied.
"Look, you are gonna need time to unload all this stuff. You can't do that with those things hassling you. I'll distract them while you do it. Unload the car, park it somewhere safe, and head back."
He nodded. I climbed out and looked at the group of monsters. Jon drove off. I extended the baton and walked slowly towards them, shouting to make sure I had their full attention. The group advanced on me. I skirted the outside edge, smacking any stray hands that came my way with the baton. I was behind the group now, and they were slowly turning to face me. I led them down the hill, further away from the house, stopping occasionally to let them catch up and yelling the odd insult. Not that they could understand it, but it made me feel better.
When we reached the base of the hill, I sprinted back up, passing the creatures, heading back through the parking area, calling Ty to open the back door. I was out of their line of sight when I entered the back gate and headed into the house. I locked the door behind me, and Sky ran up to hug me.
"Hey, you miss me?" I said.
She nodded.
"I have a present for you." I took my backpack off and pulled out some of the clothes Toby had got. Jeans and fleeces mainly, but she seemed happy and ran off to change.
"How did it go?" Ty asked.
"Place is going to hell," I said. "Toby and Jon are taking the supplies to the flat, and we are gonna start packing up here soon to move it over there."
I rang Toby and, surprisingly, got an answer.
"Thought you and Jon would still be unloading."
"No, we finished that 10 minutes ago," he said.
"That's weird. Jon's not back yet."
I hung up on Toby and called Jon. It rang and rang, but no one picked up. I called five more times. I texted, saying if he didn't reply, I was going to kick his arse. Still no reply.
Two hours later. Midday. Jon still isn't back and no response on his phone. Sky asked me where he is. I told her he is out with Toby, but I think she knows I'm lying.
Where the hell is he?
The news is not much of a distraction anymore. Evacuation centers are being set up all around the country. They advise that everyone should head to the nearest one immediately. We won't be doing that. This thing has gone too far already to be stopped.