The Grave: A Zombie Novel (15 page)

Nobody spoke. Suzy cast a glance at Will, but he was examining the pickaxe. She picked up a wooden board. It was roughly four feet long and she knew if she struck someone with it, they would know about it. She also hoped she would not have to use it.

“Right, grab your gear, let’s go. Once we’re outside we keep quiet until we’re in the clear. We don’t know where those things went last night, so be careful. If you see something, let me know.” Kelly didn’t wait for an answer and marched to the front door.

Outside in the yard, the air was crisp and cool. The power bar
Kelly had eaten had settled her stomach, but she already regretted eating it all. It had been so good though that she hadn’t been able to resist the whole thing. As she made her way across the yard, she looked and listened for signs of the dead. The air was perfectly still and she heard no sounds other than her own breathing and the footsteps of everyone behind her. As she walked down the driveway back to the road, she began to feel tense. Very little was known about the Deathless. What if they were lying in wait? What if they had regrouped and now instead of a handful there were a hundred, a thousand, or more? As she walked, she looked into the bushes and the trees, trying to spot anything unusual. Was there a pair of feet under that gorse bush? Had she seen eyes watching her from over the crest of that hill? A small rabbit darted out in front of her and she let out a shriek. It raced off into the undergrowth, immediately disappearing out of sight.

“Don’t let your nerves get the better of you,” said Tug as he walked up beside her. “Don’t be worried about what you can’t see, just what you can. Okay?”

“Yeah,” she replied, trying to sound confident. Not only had she made herself look a fool, she had risked them all by screaming like that. She gripped the wooden board in her hand and continued down the driveway, letting Tug take the lead.

At the junction to the
roadway, there was no sign of them. The dead had left having either found food elsewhere or having lost sight of their prey last night. Yawning, Tug lead the way up the hill, following the road as it wound its way amongst the green hills of The Grave. The sky was clear and it looked as though all of last night’s rainclouds had blown away. Will, the last one out, shut the gate to the farmhouse driveway quietly, and then jogged to catch up to Mark.

“You think we’re going in the right direction?” Will asked him.

Mark raised his eyebrows. “You mean do I think we can trust him? He’s got an attitude, but yeah, I think we can follow him. If there’s one thing I know about him, it’s that he wants off this island. Right now, he’s probably our safest bet.”

Mark held up his camera and took a quick shot of a house as they walked by. One side had collapsed and exposed the ramshackle interior. The outer brickwork had crumbled away exposing the inner struts and joists. Surrounding the house were overgrown roses of all colours and bright flowers, making the dark house look
even more striking.

“I hope you get to do something with those photos of yours, Mark,” said Will as he waited for Mark to finish.

“I will. I haven’t shirked a story yet and I’m not going to start now. It’s pretty amazing actually. Look at that place, all the colour and life. I thought...well I don’t know what I thought exactly, but I didn’t expect this place to be so
vivid
and full of life.”

“I need some of what you’re on,” said Will
, incredulous. “I don’t see what you do. That house is just dead. This whole place is utterly devoid of life. It’s like looking at one of those old sepia photographs. You know, all brown and tinted colours? I guess you probably think they’re cool, but I just see an emptiness, like it’s a memory of life. It’s not the real thing. There’s no life here, just death.”

Mark chuckled. “You’ve spent too long in New York. I don’t think you know how to live without that constant buzz. It’s a rush all right, but sometimes you’ve got to get away from it all.”

“And a vacation in The Grave is your recommendation?” Now it was Will’s turn to chuckle.

“
Well, it’s peaceful. You’re never going to get stuck in a traffic jam. And the beaches are deserted,” joked Mark.

The two men laughed and talked, all the while keeping their voices low. It seemed as though the dead from last night had truly gone though. It didn’t feel like there was anyone around. The area had seemed deadly ominous last night in the cold, dark evening. Now
that the sun was up and they were on their way, it felt different.

Mark was optimistic for the first time since the crash. Tug would find a path to the coast and
surely, it wouldn’t take long before they were seen. A boat ride and a plane would see them safely back on American soil in no time.

Will was concerned, but he said nothing else. Mark had his little project to keep his mind occupied and that was good.
Will supposed that everyone did. His mind kept switching between his mother and Suzy. Tricia and Claire were supporting each other and Kelly was still trying to be team leader, taking care of everyone. Rasmus wanted to get back to the museum so he could honour his friends and Tug had himself to think about. If they had nothing else, the desolation of this place would wear them down. Will felt as if The Grave was not just devoid of life, but of hope. How could anyone survive a place like this? He shuddered and concentrated on what Mark was saying.

“Tug’s stopped. We’d better see what’s going on.”

They had been walking for about half an hour, all the while keeping their wits about them. No dead bodies had approached them, and they had managed to follow the road for a few miles before they’d needed to stop.

“What is it?” said Will as they joined the others.

“It seems we’re approaching some more houses. You can see down the road that there’s a cluster of buildings. We’d better be careful,” said Kelly. “There’s no point looking in those places for help, we won’t find any. We should keep on and pass straight through.”

“S
hould we go around?” asked Suzy. “What if those...things are hiding inside?”

Will tucked his hands into his pockets. The morn
ing was cold and he was lucky he had been wearing his overcoat when the plane crashed. It had dried out overnight and the fleece-lined pockets were comforting. “Best to stick to the road,” he said. “In theory there’s no reason why any of them should be hiding inside the houses - there’s nothing to hide from. If anything, they’re more likely to be out in the open looking for food.”

At the mention of
food, Rasmus’ stomach growled audibly. Will felt his turn too, but refused to let it distract him. They were unlikely to get much food soon and he had enough experience to know to eat small amounts slowly. Rasmus had wolfed down his ration so quickly this morning that it had barely touched the sides.

“We’ll be much
faster if we stick to the roads,” said Tug. He began to walk up the road, striding out purposefully. “We’ll only get slowed down in the fields and the long grass. Best follow me and keep to firm ground.”

Will and Kelly took off immediately, with
Rasmus moaning under his breath about his hunger, but reluctantly following. Tricia was retying her laces and Mark was adjusting his camera strap so it hung loosely around his neck.

“
You all right, Claire?” asked Suzy putting an arm around the young girl as they followed behind Will and Kelly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Claire smiled
, but it was clearly forced and she was not fine. Suzy left her arm on Claire’s shoulder as they walked together.

“Try not to worry too much, okay? These guys have been in some serious scrapes, they’ll get us through this.
Will and Kelly have been all over the world so they know what they’re doing. Tug’s an asshole, but he won’t take us anywhere dangerous. And Rasmus, hell he knows everything about everything. Plus you’ve got me.” Suzy squeezed Claire’s arm and then let her go. If she mothered her too much, she sensed Claire was liable to start crying. Suzy remembered last night and how she had started crying with Will before they had kissed. She bit her lip and focussed on Claire.

“You really think those houses are empty?” Claire looked nervously at the road ahead. Since leaving the
farmhouse, they had kept to the road. It seemed to lead in the direction they wanted to go, so they decided to follow it for as long as they could. After leaving the farm, they had not seen or heard anything; no birds or animals, nothing living or dead, and no towns or villages either. The road now however was lined with about a dozen houses on either side. In the middle was a small shop. The village, if you could call it that, was deserted. The houses were like giant tombs just waiting to open up and spill death out into the road. Windows and doors were broken, open and rotting; the very air smelt of damp.

“Come on, let’s go,” said Suzy taking Claire’s hand.

The eight figures walked through the morning air, treading quietly. Clouds were forming in the sky and Suzy hoped the rain was not returning. The sunshine was becoming weaker and the drains had become blocked with fallen leaves and branches. They frequently had to avoid stepping in pools of murky water.

Up ahead, Rasmus was showing no fear and co
nfidently marching through the row of houses. He looked from side to side occasionally, but saw no reason to panic. He had decided he couldn’t leave everything to Kelly. Tug might have the experience of being out in the ‘thick of it’, but he didn’t know these people. Rasmus decided he needed to step up and help lead his friends out of this desolate place. He was scared, but he could not show it. The young girl, Claire, particularly, would be looking up to him and expecting someone more experienced and knowledgeable to lead them home. They had not asked him to lead, yet somehow he felt like he should. There was no reason why he couldn’t assume the role. He knew they did not have much time so he tried to hurry the others along as much as he could. There was precious little untainted food and water available to them so the better time they made, the more likely they would be to make it off the island alive.

“Hurry up now, let’s crack on shall we?” called Rasmus. “I believe we are at the top of the hill. Around the bend I’m sure we will find the coastline in view.”

Tug shook his head. Rasmus was being too loud, too cocky; it was likely to lead them all into trouble. Tug stepped up the pace to catch up. He was going to have to get Rasmus back into line.

Rasmus bent down to examine so
mething on the side of the road; a purple flower sprouting from a crack in the pavement. On another day, in another time, The Grave might have made for a fascinating study. With the land untouched for so many years, nature was changing the landscape, quite literally, and the flora and fauna with it. Beyond the row of houses, Rasmus could see a huge hill covered in yellow gorse, an unwelcome remnant of the Pakeha, and a spiky row of native cabbage trees towering into the sky. The hill cast a shadow over the land; a dark veil as if it wanted to hide the lifeless land from view.

Looking in the front yard of the house closest
by, he saw Totorowhiti and a red Matipo that had grown to at least ten feet tall and just as wide. Whilst he had not yet seen any sign of animal life himself he was sure that it was there. So many of the birds and creatures of this land had been nocturnal before it had been renamed, and they were unlikely to have changed now. Since the influx of the dead, they had probably become more afraid of man, more timid, and better at hiding. Rasmus continued onward, feeling his mood lightened and his body full of vigour. His mind had suddenly clicked that he was in a wondrous place, dangerous yes, but really quite a magnificent place that promised so much to a scientist like him.

“Come
now, my dears, almost there,” Rasmus called out.

W
ill and Kelly trudged not far behind Rasmus content to let him lead the way for now and there was a mutual trust in each other’s ability to find a way out. Will kept looking behind to make sure everyone else was keeping pace. Suzy and Claire were close and Tug was just ahead of them. The particular line that Kelly had asked for at the farmhouse had disintegrated. Tricia was now at the rear and Mark close behind her. Will saw Mark fiddling with his camera, but he knew full well that there was nothing wrong with it. Mark had been in enough situations to not need to prepare for action. His camera was always on, and Will suspected that Mark had hung back purposefully, so as to put the women in the middle of the group and himself deliberately at the back.

Assured they were safe enough, Will
walked on and wondered if Rasmus was right. Beyond the top of the hill, he believed the plains would open out and they would be on course to reach the coast. If the clouds kept away, they would be able to see the coastline. Will pushed his hands further into his pockets, feeling the warmth of his body slowly sapping away. The air was still very cold and they had not had anything hot to eat or drink.

Rasmus,
Tug, Will and Kelly had gotten through the row of houses safely and nothing had jumped out at them or attacked them. Suzy and Claire were almost clear and Tricia was ahead of Mark, who having seen the red Matipo that Rasmus had done a few minutes ago, had stopped to take a photograph. The shrub had entwined itself with a trail of white roses and the colours struck him as quite beautiful amid all the gloom of the ghost town. As he paused to admire the overgrown garden, a bright yellow ball rolled slowly toward Mark. He reached down as it neared him, picked it up and crushed the soft ball into his palm. Turning it around, he saw a smiley face had been crudely drawn onto it with a thick, black marker. The ball had rolled out of the doorway from the house one up from him, and as the others were still walking away, he tried to see why the ball had appeared now. Something must have caused it to move; a rat, a bird, or a gust of wind maybe. Perhaps it had just been dislodged by one of the others and they hadn’t even realised it.