Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (27 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Eve was turning on the spot and
taking the whole place in.  “I can’t believe I’m here again,” she
said.  “God, the memories…”  She pointed at a nearby carousel that
had dragons instead of horses.  “That’s the
Magic Circle
.  My
sister and I used to go on that all the time.  And look, there,” she
pointed at a rollercoaster at the edge of the park.  “I think that’s
The
Hood
, if I remember correctly.”

“You do,” said Shawcross.  “It’s been repainted
recently, but it’s the same old ride.  I take it you visited here as a
child?”

“Lots of times,” Eve gushed.  Nick liked her
excitement.  It was the first positive emotion any of them had felt for
days and it was infectious.

“We need to be careful,” said Annaliese.  “We’re pretty
sure the zoo is safe, but we haven’t explored the amusement park yet.”

“Thank you again for helping us,” Nick said.  “We were
doomed otherwise.”

“I just hope you haven’t brought all those infected up the
hill with you.”

“I don’t think so.  They seem to lose interest when
they can’t see you.”

Annaliese nodded.  “You noticed that too, huh?  So
how did you survive the last couple days?”

“Dave picked us up in his bus.  We drove around for a
while and then ran out of petrol in the nearby woods.  I think luck has
more to do with it than anything else.”

“Dave, the guy that doesn’t know when to shut his mouth?”

Nick nodded.  “That’s him.  He was pretty much our
saviour to begin with, but I’ve been beginning to change my mind about him
since.”

Annaliese stopped and looked at him.  “He’s not going
to be a problem, is he?”

“No, no, of course not.  At least…I don’t think so.”

She shook her head and started walking again.  “Great,
what have I let myself in for?”

“I promise he’ll behave,” Nick said, but wondered if he
could even control such a thing.

Annaliese smiled and folded her arms like a stern, yet fair
teacher.  “I’ll just have to trust you then, Nick.”

He smiled at her.  The group came to a stop up
ahead.  They were standing in a midway games area.  There were
several prize huts, like basketball, hook a duck, and an Arabian Derby skeet
ball booth.  There was also one of those laser-target shooting gallery with
animated props.  It was strange being at a place of fun in such dire
circumstances.

“Right,” said Shawcross, clapping his hands together and
getting everyone’s attention.  “The
Big Dog
restaurant and pub is
just up ahead.  We need to start stockpiling supplies and looking for
anything of use.  I’d say that with the soft furnishings inside
Big
Dog,
and the fact that it has cooking facilities, it would make an ideal
place for us to situate ourselves while we ride this thing out.  I believe
there is also a cellar where we can accommodate our…less desirable guests.”

Jan shook his head and huffed.  “Guess, I should be
used to being in a cell by now.”

“Is that absolutely necessary?” Nick asked.  “They
really aren’t any danger.”

“We had a deal,” Annaliese said.

Jan cleared his throat.  “Don’t sweat it,
brother.  I agreed to the terms.  I’m not backing out.”

“It may only be temporary,” Annaliese suggested.  “Just
while we get used to one another.”

“Or we may keep you locked up until the police arrive,”
Shawcross added.

“Come on,” said Annaliese.  “Let’s go inside.
 Then we can all introduce ourselves properly.”

The two assembled groups headed over to the
Big Dog
restaurant and climbed a short flight of steps.  The door was locked when
they got there, but it seemed like something the other group were used to by
now.  Shawcross put through the window with a metal pole and cleared away
the jagged shards from the edges of the frame.

“Hope nobody minds climbing,” he said.  “Doors aren’t
getting as much use these days.”

Everyone hopped up onto the window ledge, one after another,
and funnelled through into the restaurant.  It was very similar to how the
Rainforest Café
had been at the bottom of the hill, but a little better
maintained.

“Now, I haven’t been in here for a while,” Shawcross
said.  “The amusement park and zoo is separate to the manor house of which
I am in charge, but, if memory serves me, there should be a soda fountain
somewhere inside that we can use while there’s still power.  We should
also gather as much water from the kitchen as we can.”

“Now that you mention it,” said Nick.  “How come you
guys still have power?  It went off down below.”

“A generator,” Annaliese explained.  Shawcross said
there’s one that can power the park for a couple of days if the grid goes
off.  Tell you the truth, I didn’t even know it had kicked in.  The
power’s out everywhere else, then, I take it?”

Nick shrugged.  “Not sure.  It certainly went off
down below.  It set the alarms off.”

“So that’s what that was.  I thought I heard something
last night.”

Shawcross went and leant up against the bar.  “Shall we
get the introductions out of the way?  Then we can get on to more
important matters.”

“Okay,” Nick said.  “I’ve already introduced myself,
but this big guy here is Jan, who, like I said, has already saved my life
once.  His companion is Renee, but he doesn’t talk.  This is
Pauline…” Nick continued to point around the group.  “Cassie, Eve, and-”

“Dave,” the man answered for himself.  “I’m the one
that got us all together in the first place.”

“Well done,” Shawcross said.  “I am responsible for our
own little group.  You already know myself and Anna, but may I introduce
you to Mike, Michelle, Greg and Alan.  There were more of us at one point
but, well…”

Everybody waved hello.

“Should we be asking if anybody has any skills?” Eve
asked.  “That’s what they do in the movies, right?”

Shawcross scratched his chin.  “I suppose so. 
Annaliese would be our medic, for want of a better word.”

“I’m a vet,” she said, “but I know my way around human
tackle, too, more or less.”

“I’m a builder,” said the moustached man called Alan. 
“Retired.”

“I’m an accountant,” said Michelle, an attractive blonde
woman.  “So none of you need to worry about your tax returns.”

Everyone giggled. 

“Anybody else do anything useful?” Shawcross asked.

There was silence.

“Well, it doesn’t seem that we’re in a great position to
restart civilisation, so let’s just hope things improve.”

Some hope
, thought Nick as he took in his new
surroundings.  He wondered how long the dingy restaurant would end up
being his new home.

Don’t think I’ll get the sport channels here.

Shawcross pushed off from the bar and headed for Jan and
Renee.  “The cellar is this way,” he said.  “Are you both ready to
settle in?”

Jan shrugged.  “After you, Warden.”

Nick felt wrong as he watched Jan and Renee get lead away to
their imprisonment.  He understood where the other group were coming from
– he’d felt the same way about the prisoners not long ago – but he now felt
like he owed the men.

They were watching our backs the whole time from Dash.

“Can we bring them food and water every day?” Nick asked.

“Of course,” said Annaliese.  “It’s just a
precaution.  We’re not going to treat them like animals.”

“I think that’s the soda machine, over there.”  Cassie
was pointing across the room.  Sure enough, there was a wide vending
machine with a line of taps. 

“Okay, great,” Annaliese said.  “Cassie, is it?
 Do you want to start filling up all the cups with soft drinks and
water?  That’s unless you can find a way into the back of the
machine.  I imagine it’s locked, though.”

Cassie headed off, seemingly glad for something to do.

“I’ll help her,” said Pauline, heading off after her.

“And what are we going to be doing?” Dave asked.  There
was an irritated tone to his voice that suggested
he
wanted to be the
one giving orders.

Annaliese sighed.  “I don’t know, Dave.  What
would you like to do?”

“How bouts me and Nick go take a root around the
kitchen?  See what food we can rustle up.”

Nick shrugged.  It seemed like a reasonable idea. 
He turned to Annaliese.  “Would that be okay, Anna?”

“I suppose so.”

“Great.  I’ll get to work then.”

Nick and Dave slid through a hinged entryway cut into the
bar and headed through a staff door at the back.  Inside was a
woefully-kept kitchen that had grime on the floor and grease on the walls.”

“Glad I never ate here,” said Nick.

“Nothing wrong with it,” Dave argued.  “Dirtier the
kitchen, the better it is.  Bit of grease never hurt nobody.”

“Think we’ll have to just disagree there.”

Dave laughed and trotted forward.  He reached out and
grabbed a long bread knife from a wall hook.  He let out a whistle. 
“Think I just found my weapon for the time being.  You should grab
something, too.”

“Maybe later.  I’m more interested in settling in with
the new group first.  I don’t think arming ourselves to the teeth is going
to put them at ease.”

“Arming ourselves is exactly what we need to do.  That
ginger tosser and the mouthy vet are going to be on our balls about everything,
if we let them.  I’m not going to spend the whole time here being treated
like a guest.  This place doesn’t belong to them, so why are they acting
like it does?”

“Because they were here first, and we would be dead if they
hadn’t brought us up.  I think we just need to take it easy and get
along.  They seem like nice people.”

“Yeah, maybe.  I just don’t fancy being defenceless if
they decide to lock us up with the convicts.  What the hell happened to
Dash by the way?”

“Long story.  Now’s not the time.”

“Well, like I said.  I want to be ready if these new
people start trying to strong-arm us.  We’re outnumbered once they lock up
Jan and Renee.”

“I’m sure that won’t happen,” said Nick, still hoping that
Jan and Renee would only be locked up temporarily.  “They’re just being
sensible until they know us better.”

Dave huffed.  “You sure ‘bout that?  Because all I
know is that the world has changed.  It’s every man for himself now and I
see a return to tribalism.”

“Tribalism?”

“Yeah, tribalism.  People are going to start looking
out for their own.  The strong will take what the weak have.  The
only question is, which side you going to be on when the tribes begin to form?”

Nick didn’t like the sound of it.  He didn’t like the
thought of people turning on one another after so much had happened.  But
maybe that was the exact type of scenario when people were the most likely to
stand for themselves.

“I’m not picking sides,” he said.  “I think we should
all just stick together.  If we don’t then we may as well feed ourselves
to those monsters at the bottom of the hill.”

“Those monsters at the bottom of the hill are the reason why
I’m right about us turning on each other.  What are we going to do if
there’s a falling out or a disagreement, or frustration when we all begin to
starve?  Nobody can go anywhere, so the only option left is to fight for
your point of view.  We’re all going to be stuck on this hill together and
there’s no longer the option for disagreement.”

Nick blew air into his cheeks and then let it out in one big
huff.  “God, you’re negative.  You don’t have a lot of faith in
people, do you?”

“When you’ve been a bus driver for twenty years, the one
thing you start to know well is people.  Especially desperate people with
nothing to lose.”

“Okay, well, let’s just play things by ear for now.”

“Of course.  I’m just being prepared.  Now, how
bout’s we go take a look in those fridges?”

Nick glanced over at the refrigerator units and
nodded.  “Sounds good.”

Inside, he was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Annaliese didn’t know what to make
of the newcomers.  Two of them were prisoners and one of them was a
complete arsehole, but Nick seemed to be on the level, and the women in the
group seemed to trust him.  Still, she had a bad feeling that she couldn’t
quite put her finger on.

She hadn’t objected to Nick and Dave heading into the
kitchen alone, but now she wondered if it had been such a good idea.  She
decided it would probably be wise if she went and joined them.

Keep any eye on them.

Before heading off, she glanced at Eve, Michelle, Greg, and
Alan.  They were all standing around aimlessly.  They needed
something to do.

“Maybe you lot can gather up the furniture and make some
sort of living space.  It might be worth us having a barricade as well,
just in case, you know?”

The four of them nodded and got to work.  Annaliese
headed behind the bar and entered through the kitchen door.  Nick and Dave
were at the far end with their head in the fridges.

“Found anything?” she asked them.

Both of them spun around.  Nick answered, “There’s not
much we can use.  Just some condensed milk and big jars of
mayonnaise.  Most of the food here is probably frozen.”

Annaliese headed deeper into the room and pulled open a
metal door against the far wall.  She thought about the last time she had
opened a freezer unit, and shuddered.

Hopefully this one won’t be full of sick people.

Inside was plenty of food to keep them going.  Mostly
burger patties, fries, and frozen hotdogs, but also boxes of artificial cheese
and other odds and ends.

“Well,” said Nick.  “It’s not Michelin star, but it
will do.”

Annaliese closed the door again and turned around. 
“Best leaving it where it is for now.  We’ll have to make a list of it all
and plan out rations.”

“I agree,” said Dave.  “You’re a clever girl,
you.  I can tell.”

“Thanks,” she said.  “Must have been all those years at
university.”

“So, what’s next on the to-do list?” Nick asked her.

“We’ll have to check with Shawcross.  No doubt he’ll
have an opinion on what to do next, but to be honest there’s not a lot we can
do other than wait.  When everyone is feeling up to it, we should start
making a perimeter around the park, in case any infected people arrive.”

Nick nodded.  “Yeah, I like the sound of having fences
between us and them.  We should maybe look around for stuff to keep us
warm as well.  If the power goes off, it’s going to get cold.”

“Good point.  I’m not sure we’re going to come across
any blankets, though.”

“Let’s get to it, then,” said Dave.  “No point hanging
around.”

The three of them exited the kitchen and re-entered the
restaurant.  Michelle, Alan, Greg, and Eve were moving the tables and
chairs up against the windows and doors.  They had also turned some
sideways, creating private berths for people to lie down in.  All in all,
it was a job well done.

Over at the far side, Cassie and Pauline were diligently
filling up plastic cups with cola and placing them on the floor in rows. 
With a bit of luck, the machine would keep spitting out liquids for a
while.  People seemed a lot less tense when they were busy.

“Our guests are secure and comfortable downstairs,” said
Shawcross, who was marching towards them with Mike by his side. 
“Fortunately, the key to the cellar was still in the lock.  You’ll also be
glad to know that there are several barrels of both soft drinks and beer down
there.  We will need to bring those up, of course.  Can’t leave them
with the prisoners, lest they have themselves a party.”

“Jan and Renee aren’t like that,” Nick protested.

Annaliese was glad that the prisoners were secure, but she
did wish that Shawcross would show a little more tactfulness in how he spoke
about them.  They were obviously well respected by Nick, and the man
bristled every time his companion’s morals were called in to question.

Guess the big bearded guy really did save his life.

“We were planning to check out the perimeter,” Annaliese
told Shawcross.  “See if we can reinforce our position.”

Mike laughed.  “We sound like bloody soldiers.”

“Sooner we accept that we are, the better,” said Dave. 
“I’m ready to go and check things out.  Anybody want to join me?”

Annaliese didn’t want the man to wander off alone, but she
didn’t want to be stuck with him either.  “Mike,” she said.  “Could
you get Greg and Michelle and go with him?  I think more heads would be
better.”

He nodded.  “Sure thing.  I’ll get them now.”

“I will start making an inventory of what we have,” said
Shawcross.

“Excellent,” Annaliese said.  It was a job she was
hoping he would volunteer for.  It would keep him busy and out of the
way.  She turned to Nick.  “Should you and I go look for bedding
material?”

“Sounds good to me,” he said.  “Let me just check in
with Eve and the others, so they know what’s happening.”

Annaliese stood and waited while everyone separated. 
She watched Nick go over to each of the women in turn.  He seemed to take
responsibility for their welfare.  She had a feeling, though, that he was
just working hard to mask a deeper concern.  Clearly something was eating
at him, and he was trying to make it go away by remaining busy.

Maybe he needs to talk to someone.

After a few moments, Nick returned to her.  He was
holding a pint of coke and took a sip.  Then he offered it to her. 
“Hope you don’t mind, but with all the excitement it feels like I might faint
if I don’t take a drink.”

She waved a hand.  “Hey, you’re very welcome.  We
need to be tight with our supplies from now on, but you folks are more than
entitled to a drink.”

He lifted his arm in the direction of the window. 
“Shall we?”

Annaliese nodded and they both headed for the broken window
that would take them back outside.

“So,” said Nick.  “What’s the deal here?  Does all
of your group work here?”

“No, actually.  Just Shawcross.  I’m a vet that
was on call here.  Everyone else was staying in Ripley Hall for a company
function.”

“Really?  Wow.  Do you think you would be alive if
you hadn’t been called out here?”

“I doubt it.  Being here is probably the only reason
I’m alive, if the news is anything to go by.”

Nick’s eyes went wide.  He helped her through the
window quickly.  “You’ve seen the news?  What did it say?”

“Not a lot.  It went off soon after, but it was pretty
clear that this is happening everywhere, all over the world.”

Nick jumped out of the window after her and let his gaze
drop to the floor.  “Well, guess that’s that, then.  This is the
goddamn apocalypse, isn’t it?”

Annaliese shook her head.  It was crazy to use that
word in a literal sense, but… “Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the end of the
world as we know it.  The news did say there was military in some places,
but didn’t say where, other than up north.  Maybe if we hold out long
enough, things will change.”

“Let’s hope so.”

There was a brief silence as they walked along and Annaliese
took the opportunity to probe her new companion.  “I guess for some of us,
it already feels like the world has ended.”

Nick nodded and seemed to stare off into the distance. 
“Pretty much.”

“You said you had a wife and child?”

Nick looked away from her.  “Yeah.  Deana and
James.  They were both infected.  I left Deana alive, but James…”

Annaliese put a hand on his back.  “It’s okay.  I
get it.  You don’t have to say.  I can’t imagine what you went
through.

Although, I pretty much can.  I know what it’s like
to lose a child.

“But,” she continued.  “The people in your group seem
pretty glad to have you around.  Most people are infected or gone, so I
guess we should try and count ourselves lucky that we’re still here at
all.  Least that’s what I keep telling myself.  Only thing that’s
keeping me from going crazy, to be honest.”

Nick glanced at her.  “So, did you lose anybody?”

“Yeah, I lost someone.  But not because of all
this.  Guess I’m lucky that none of this horror has directly affected me
like it has other people.”

“I don’t think anybody is lucky anymore.  I’m sorry for
your loss, whenever it may have been.”

Annaliese smiled glumly.  “Thank you.”

They came back to the midway games area and Nick came up
with a suggestion.  “We could use the plush toy prizes as pillows – some of
them are pretty big and they look soft.”

Following the same train of thought, Annaliese had an
additional suggestion.  “I think they sell wet weather ponchos in the gift
shop, too.  They could be good for bedding.”

“Looks like we’re on our way, then.  Let’s get
started.”

Nick vaulted the basketball midway game and begun pulling
stuffed dinosaurs down off the shelves.  He threw them out so that they
landed in a loose pile on the pavement.

Annaliese entered through the back of the Arabian Derby and
started grabbing the biggest plush toys she could find.  There would be
more than enough to use as pillows.

“We’re going to need a bag or something to carry this stuff
back,” he shouted over to her.  “Any ideas?”

“The gift shop.  It might sell tote bags.”

“Let’s go check it out.  We can look for the ponchos at
the same time.”

Nick vaulted back out of the basketball game and joined
Annaliese on the pavement.  She led him towards the gift shop and was
grateful that she had once visited the park with her husband back when they
were courting.  It was useful knowing her way around the theme park area
of Ripley Heights.

The gift shop was up ahead and themed like a fairytale
cottage.  Nick picked up a rock from a nearby flowerbed and let fly with
it.  It smashed out a window of the shop.

“That’s how you guys do this, right?”

Annaliese laughed.  “Nowadays we do.  Got to tell
you, though, I really miss using doors.”

“I miss a lot of things,” said Nick.  “I miss crap
television and pop music.”

“Huh!”

Nick looked at her.  “What?”

“Nothing.  It’s just that those are the things I miss,
too.  Aren’t you supposed to missing football and the pub?”

“Hey!  Way to stereotype me.  I’m not really that
kind of guy.  I’m more wine and a movie at home with the wife.  At
least…I used to be.”

“Come on,” she said, changing the subject.  “Let’s get
inside.”

They climbed through the broken window of the gift shop and
headed inside.

“Fantastic,” she said, heading straight for a hanger full of
souvenir hoodies.  “These should keep us all warm.”

“And here are the ponchos,” said Nick, thumbing through a
folded-up pile of plastic sheets.  “They’ve got souvenir towels over there
as well.”

“And here are the tote bags.”

Nick laughed.  “Well, that was easy.  Makes me
wonder when something’s going to go wrong.”

There was an explosion.

It shook the floor beneath them.

But it came from far away.

Both of Nick’s eyebrows were stretched high and Annaliese
thought he looked a little like a shocked clown.  “What the hell was
that?” he asked her.

She shook her head and chewed at the side of her
mouth.  “I don’t know.  We should go check it out.” 

She hopped back out through the window and told Nick to
hurry after her.  There were still aftershocks coming from whatever had
exploded in the distance and several continuing mini-explosions made it quite
easy to pinpoint the direction.  She headed towards the edge of the park,
back to where the cable car station was located.

“What are you going to do?” Nick shouted after her. 
It’s not like we can go down the hill to investigate.”

Annaliese skidded on her heels as she headed around the
park’s
Magic Carpet
carousel and arrived at the cable car station. 
From there she had an unobstructed view from the top of the hill to the
landscape below.

Nick bumped into the back of her.  His jaw dropped
open.  “Hell’s bloody bells.”

Hell is a good word for it.

Annaliese was holding her breath and she suddenly let it out
as the pressure in her lungs increased.  In the distance, past the woods
and forests that surrounded Ripley Heights was a nearby village. 
Annaliese could just about make out the spire of a church there.  The
whole place was in flames, for at least a square mile.  The fires blazed
from a hundred different sources.  Some licked at the sky for hundreds of
feet.  As she scanned the horizon she saw other distant villages ablaze
also.  It was as if the earth was burning.

“It’s all over,” said Nick.  “Totally over.”

Annaliese couldn’t argue.  Civilisation was burning.
 For all she knew they were the last human beings still left alive. 

And they were stuck on a hill with nothing to do but await
their own deaths.

“What do you think is happening down there?” Annaliese asked
Nick in a whisper.  Shock would allow her to speak no louder.

“I guess a petrol station went up or something.  This
whole area is pretty wooded.  One place probably went up in flames and set
the whole area on fire.”

“What if the fire makes it over here?”

Nick sighed.  “Then I guess that’ll be the end of the
last safe place on Earth.”

Annaliese felt herself crying. 
Doesn’t feel so safe
to me.