Deadlands (16 page)

‘It wasn’t great.’

‘So, you’re like Ginger,’ I said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘No home.’

‘You’re wrong there, girl,’ she said. ‘This is my home, and it’s yours too.’

I almost blurted out the whole plan right then – that as soon as I had enough credits I’d be out of there – but I clamped my mouth shut at the last moment.

‘Saint?’

‘What?’

‘How did you become a Mall Rat?’

‘Okay, that is enough,’ Saint said. ‘I need to sleep, and I am not here to answer your questions all night, you understand?’

‘Yeah, I get it.’

I lay back, the day’s events continuing to run crazily through my mind, but the mattress was far more comfortable that it looked and within minutes I was dead to the world.

My mind was still buzzing from everything that had happened the day before, and for a second or two after I woke up I had to struggle to remember where the hell I was.

Saint’s bed was empty, and all I could hear was the rumble of the generator. Grabbing my filthy jeans and the leather jacket, I padded into the corridor and headed for the bathroom. I didn’t know what the water situation was, but I decided to have a shower anyway, lathering my body with a tube of orange-scented Body Shop shower gel that felt delicious on my skin. There wasn’t a mirror in the small room, but as far as I could tell, my body had far fewer bruises and abrasions than I’d been expecting.

Feeling refreshed, tingly clean and full of nervous excitement, I wandered through the training room and into the kitchen and lounge area.

Ginger, Ash and Saint were sitting at the table when I walked in, and they all immediately fell silent when they caught sight of me – no prizes for guessing the topic of their conversation.

‘Good morning, Lele,’ Hester said. She was stirring a pot on the stove, and she appeared to be genuinely pleased to see me.

‘Awright, Lele?’ Ginger said as Saint nodded to me. ‘You have any cool dreams?’

‘Can’t remember,’ I said, relaxing slightly even though Ash hadn’t looked up from the book he was reading.

‘Hungry, Lele?’ Hester asked.

‘Starving,’ I said. Hester handed out bowls of mealiemeal porridge to each of us, and placed a huge jar of honey on the table. I hadn’t tasted honey since I’d left the agricultural enclave and my mouth watered at the sight of it.

Ginger pushed the pot towards me with a grin. ‘Like that, do you?’ he said.

‘My favourite,’ I replied. ‘Where we used to live, there was a guy who kept bees. We’d have fresh honey all summer long.’

‘Nice one.’ He chugged back the Coke he was drinking and crushed the can, burping noisily.

‘Ginger!’ Hester said.

‘Sorry. Can’t help it.’

‘You shouldn’t drink so much of that stuff.’

‘Yeah,’ Saint said. ‘It’s poison.’

‘It’s delicious is what it is,’ he replied, winking at me.

Ash was still lost in his book. I decided that I wasn’t going to sink to his level, and at least make an attempt at politeness. ‘What are you reading, Ash?’ I asked, trying to sound friendly and interested.

Without looking at me he held the book up so that I could read the title.
Ways of Dying
. I’d never heard of it. ‘What’s it about?’ I said, trying again.

‘Stuff,’ he said, again without glancing at me.

I bit back my retort. If he wasn’t going to make an effort, then neither was I. ‘Are we going back to the mall today?’ I asked Hester instead.

‘We only go once a week, Lele,’ Ginger said. ‘Unless we get a special order.’

‘Right. So what do you do the rest of the time?’

‘We train,’ Saint said.

‘Train for what?’ But then I remembered what Ginger had said the day before about the Hatchlings.

Saint gave me a savage grin. ‘You’ll see, Zombie Bait.’

Hester clucked her tongue at her. ‘Be nice, Saint,’ she said. ‘But Lele, you must eat up. You will need your strength. You have a busy day ahead of you.’

‘Doing what?’

‘We’re going to teach you how to handle yourself, girl,’ Ginger said. ‘We’re going to teach you how to give the zombies a good arse-kicking.’ He stood up and lashed out an arm, almost sending the honey pot flying.

Hester sighed and shook her head. ‘Ginger, for that, you are to do the washing up.’

‘Aw, what?’

‘No arguments.’

I felt the weight of someone’s eyes on me, but when I glanced at Ash, he was seemingly lost in his book again.

‘That’s for blindsiding me in the Deadlands,’ Saint said.

I glared up at her, fighting to get my breath back. She’d swept my legs from underneath me and I’d fallen hard. Anger surged through me, and I leapt to my feet and rushed at her. She sidestepped gracefully, almost casually stuck out her right leg, and sent me sprawling onto my back again. This time I hit my head, and when I closed my eyes silvery stars danced in front of me.

Now I was really angry, the tears seconds away from falling.

I stood up and brushed myself down, Hester, Ginger and Ash watching from the sidelines.

‘Ready to go again, Zombie Bait?’ Saint asked, grinning.

Every inch of me was itching to lash out at her, but I was done. I hadn’t signed up for this kind of treatment. ‘Screw you!’ I shouted at Saint and stalked towards the door.

‘Hey! Where’re you going?’ Saint asked.

‘I’m out of here!’ I yelled back. ‘You don’t fight fair.’

‘Hey! You think the Hatchlings fight fair, sweetheart? Well, do you?’

‘But you’re supposed to be training me! Not beating me up!’

‘Then go,’ Saint said. ‘Walk away. Cry your tears like a spoilt baby.’

‘That’s enough, Saint,’ Hester said. She walked over to me. ‘Lele. You have to learn to control your anger.’

‘I can’t do this,’ I said.

‘You just going to give up, Zombie Bait?’ Saint asked. ‘It’s an easy thing to walk away. It’s the easiest thing in the world.’ She shook her head in disgust and walked over to Ash and Ginger. ‘Told you,’ she muttered to Ash.

I ran up behind her and pushed her, the force of my fury giving me added strength. Saint stumbled forward, and I tried to lash out with my leg, but she was far too quick for me. She whirled around, grabbed my arm, forced it back and sent me spinning on to the floor again.

‘That’s enough, Saint!’ Hester said.

Now the tears were flowing freely. With difficulty, Hester sank down on her haunches and took my hand. ‘Lele,’ she said, ‘the anger you have, you must learn to use it, to control it. It is just as much a monster as the things we fight outside.’

‘Whatever,’ I muttered, wiping my cheeks.

Instead of looking annoyed at my rudeness, Hester smiled. ‘You have a lot of spirit,’ she said. ‘You are strong. Come . . .’ She held out a hand, but I remembered how she’d struggled even to walk without wincing in pain, and I didn’t want to cause her any more discomfort. I got shakily to my feet without her assistance.

‘Here is a trick for you,’ Hester said, reaching out and wiping a stray tear from my face. ‘When you feel the anger starting, try to picture something in your mind that you love or that you hold dear. Try to replace the anger with that image.’

‘I’m not cut out for this, Hester,’ I said.

‘You think that the others are? They all had to learn, just like you.’

‘Yeah, Lele,’ Ginger said. ‘Ash, like, totally beat the crap out for me for weeks till I got my chainsaw.’

‘You think you could give it one more go?’ Hester asked.

I hesitated. Saint was watching me carefully. I knew I couldn’t let her win. ‘Okay,’ I said.

‘Try and focus this time, Lele,’ Hester said. ‘Don’t let the anger blind you.’

‘And when you fall,’ Ginger said, ‘let your body go limp, or try and curl up into a ball.’

Saint sighed. ‘This is going to be almost too easy.’

I was hit with another surge of anger, but this time I took a deep breath and thought about Jobe, concentrating on an image of him playing with Chinwag.

Saint ran at me, and I held my ground until the last moment. Then, copying her movements from before, I stepped to the side and kicked out, catching her on her thigh. I caught her unawares, but she was still too quick for me. As soon as she’d regained her balance, she hooked her right leg around mine and for the third time that morning I landed on my back. I’d forgotten to allow my body to go limp, and it hurt, but without the anger taking up most of my energy it didn’t feel quite so bad.

‘You okay?’ Saint asked, looking down at me as if she expected me to burst into tears again.

‘I’m fine,’ I said, getting to my feet. ‘Let’s go again.’

She blinked in surprise, but then she turned and made her way back to her starting position.

This time when she ran at me I managed to leap back in time to avoid a sideswipe, but she still caught me with a follow-up kick.

‘Nice try though, Lele!’ Ginger said with a grin.

Saint shrugged. ‘Not great. Better, though.’

I glared at her but I actually felt that I’d achieved something. And, surprisingly, the anger had abated.

‘Now,’ Hester said, ‘we will take a breather. Lele, there are things you should know. Let’s begin with the basics.’

‘Can I do the zombie talk?’ Ginger asked.

Hester sighed and then waved her hand in Ginger’s direction. ‘Go on.’

‘Cool!’ Ginger turned to me. ‘Thing is, Lele, there’s only one way to kill a zomb. It’s not like in the movies, you know, where you’ve got to destroy the brain. That’s not going to help. These ones are different – you’ve got to disable the spinal cord.’ He touched a spot at the back of his neck.

‘Why there?’

He shrugged. ‘Not sure, innit. We think it’s got something to do with splitting the spine, which is where the spaghetti stuff gets its energy or whatever.’

‘That’s a bit vague.’

‘Yeah, well, I’m not a zombie scientist, mate. The best thing is to separate the head from the body. That does the trick.’

‘Gross.’

‘Yeah, I know, right? But before you can get them into a position to do that, you’ve got to fend them off. See, zombs move quickly, ’specially the newly hatched, and they’re going to come at you with everything they got. Teeth, nails, arms and legs.’

‘They cannot feel pain, Lele,’ Hester said. ‘They move extremely quickly. Far quicker than they could in real life.’

‘How is that possible?’ I asked, remembering the horrible speed of the Hatchlings Ash, Saint and I had encountered in the clearing.

‘Think about it. Imagine if your body could no feel pain. Imagine if your nerve endings were dead and that you couldn’t feel your muscles taking strain. Nothing would stop you, nè?’

‘I suppose.’

‘Right,’ Ginger said. ‘I’m going to pretend to be a zomb, ’kay?’ He stuck his arms out in front of him, rolled his eyes back in his head and lurched towards me. ‘Braaaaaaiiiiiiinssss,’ he mumbled. ‘Braaaaiiiinssss.’ He looked ridiculous, and I tried not to giggle.

Saint sighed. ‘That’s a Hollywood zombie, Ginger. Not a Hatchling.’

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever, Saint,’ Ginger said, winking at me. ‘Now, say I was coming for you, Lele, what part of my body would you go for?’

I stepped forward and lightly punched him in the stomach.

‘No, Lele,’ Hester said. ‘If you find that you are without a weapon, and a Hatchling is attacking, always grab the throat. Keep the head at arm’s length. You don’t want the teeth anywhere near you.’

‘Yeah,’ Ginger said, ‘if they bite you, they can infect you with that spaghetti stuff.’

‘The curse of the deadly pasta,’ I said before I could stop myself. And suddenly I was giggling. I couldn’t help it. It just sounded so ridiculous. Ginger joined in, and even Saint and Ash cracked a smile.

‘I know, I know,’ Ginger said, still giggling, ‘Mental, right?’

‘Try again, Lele,’ Hester said, smiling at me.

This time when Ginger approached, I planted my feet firmly and shot out my right arm, grasping him around the throat, and doing my best to keep him at arm’s length. He stumbled backwards, and although I knew he was faking his lack of strength, I began to feel slightly more confident.

‘Well done, Lele,’ Hester said. ‘You are a very fast learner. Now we will move on to a few basic defensive moves. Saint, Ash, demonstrate, please.’

Saint and Ash moved to the centre of the room, and I watched as they took it in turns to block punches and kicks. They both moved gracefully and smoothly, making hardly a sound.

‘She’s just like Lara Croft, innit?’ Ginger whispered to me.

‘Huh?’ I said.

‘Saint. She’s like . . . so totally cool.’

His skin was turning bright red and I hid my smile behind my hand, wondering if Saint had any idea how Ginger felt about her.

‘But it is not just the Hatchlings you need to watch out for, Lele,’ Hester said.

‘It’s not?’

‘The Resurrectionists can also be tricksy,’ Ginger explained. ‘You run into a border patrol, you could be in hot water.’

‘I don’t get it? I thought the Resurrectionists wanted the stuff you collect from the mall?’

‘Yes, Lele, but we cannot risk them catching us leaving the enclave,’ Hester said.

‘But they must know you do?’

‘They do not know for sure. And think about it: someone with your skills, or Ash’s, Saint’s or Ginger’s, would be very valuable to them.’

‘Go on,’ I said.

‘I think you can imagine what kind of stuff they would want you to bring back into the enclave to keep any . . . rebellion down, Lele.’

‘You mean like weapons?’

‘Yes.’

‘But the Guardians banned weapons after the War, didn’t they?’

‘Because they did not want another uprising. But think about it. Ot would suit them to have us fighting amongst ourselves.’

‘More bodies,’ Ginger sniffed, ‘means more Rotters.’

‘The Hatchlings may be dangerous, Lele,’ Hester said, ‘but someone who can think and plan can be even more deadly.’ She paused. ‘Ash, you’re up next.’

Ash approached me. ‘Grab hold of the collar of my jacket with both hands,’ he said to me, face expressionless.

‘What?’

‘Just do it,’ he said.

I grabbed the lapels on his jacket. ‘Now what?’ I asked.