Lanherne Chronicles (Prequel): To Escape the Dead (23 page)

‘Wow!’ he whistled, his gaze moving from one green patch to the next. ‘You’ve certainly got things set up here, haven’t you…?’

‘Well, it wasn’t always like this,’ shrugged Kyle, realising Charlie had stopped walking. ‘It took a lot of work… but there were more of us then… a lot more.’

‘And how long have you been here? Kyle, is it?’ asked Charlie, his attention returning to the young man.

‘Yes, it’s Kyle… Kyle Barnett,’ he replied. ‘Most of us have been here since the beginning. This is… or rather, it was our school. Our parents paid ten thousand pounds a term to send us to Saint Xavier’s Academy but when the shit really hit the fan most of the teachers just disappeared over night. They just left the four hundred boarders to fend for themselves… It was chaos for those first few months and then some of the upper sixth form finally formed the Council and took control, organising everyone. We all had to pitch in and no one was allowed to be a dead weight or a drain… we each had to use what we had at our disposal. Brain or brawn, everyone had a part to play.’

‘The council?’ asked Charlie.

‘Yes, my brother Zak, he was Head boy so it seemed natural that he took charge of everyone. As I’m sure you’re aware, every group needs a leader… and the others, well, they’re the last remaining six of the rugby team… Oh, and myself,’ he replied.

‘The Head boy and the rugby squad,’ Charlie mused, looking at Kyle’s far from muscular form. ‘And how do you fit in with that lot?’

‘As I said, we all play our part.’ Kyle replied, a flash of a smile twitching the corner of his mouth as he tapped the side of his head, ‘I’m the brains. I was the one that worked out how to alter the solar panels so they fed electricity only into our own circuits. It’s not much but it gives us hot water for showers, albeit short ones, and we can even store enough in rechargeable car batteries to run a few heaters in the winter.’

‘Hot water…’ said Charlie, with a nod. ‘I’m impressed.’

‘And what happened to the rest of the pupils?’ he continued, realising what was left was but a fraction of the original number.

‘Many eventually left to find their parents,’ Kyle continued, gently kicking a squawking chicken out of his path. ‘We lost many during scavenging trips to the local villages and of course we had a few suicides as well… not many but enough to keep bringing the Dead this side of the wall every so often.’

Charlie silently nodded, understanding what Kyle meant. With each suicide a new battle for survival would ensue within the grounds, each time reducing their number and tipping the balance in favour of the Dead.

‘It took a long time but after a while we became self-sufficient. We had crops growing and we had meat and eggs from chickens we’d liberated from a local battery farm... It soon became unnecessary to leave the grounds at all,’ he said.

‘But if you cleared the Dead in the village…’ Charlie began.

‘We don’t have the luxury of horses or carts to keep us safe like you do,’ Kyle replied, pointing for Charlie to follow the left hand path towards a small building that looked as though it had once been a block of outside toilets. ‘Why risk travelling on foot unless we have to?’

‘I suppose,’ said Charlie, realising the predicament of those at Saint Xavier’s faced.

‘Anyway,’ Kyle continued as they drew close to the small building, ‘as we don’t have a stable as such, I thought your horses could be tethered here. The overhanging roof should offer them some shelter if it rains again…’

From the cart Carmella suddenly let out another cry of pain.

‘It’s not the horses I’m worried about at the moment,’ said Charlie. ‘You mentioned somewhere Carmella can have her baby?’

‘Oh, sorry, yes of course,’ replied Kyle, a flush of embarrassment colouring his otherwise pale skin, ‘as soon as you’ve all been examined for bites... I’m sure you understand we have to take precautions… you can all strip down in here to be checked.’

‘And you can’t take my word for it I suppose?’ asked Charlie, unsure how the women of his group would feel about getting naked in front of Kyle.

‘Afraid not,’ said Kyle, fiddling his glasses, ‘but if you’re worried about me seeing the two women with no clothes on...’

‘Four,’ corrected Charlie, ‘well, five if you include Anne but she’s only a child…’

‘Oh, I thought…,’ muttered Kyle, glancing to the first cart. ‘Anyway, no matter… I’ll get Freya to check the women and then she can help…?’

‘Carmella,’ said Charlie, giving Kyle her name.

‘Yes, she can take Carmella to one of the empty teacher’s rooms and make her more comfortable,’ Kyle continued with a nod.

‘OK,’ nodded Charlie, tying off Star’s reins to a support post of the building.

Walking to the side hatch, Charlie wrapped against the wood with the knife at his wrist, while behind him Kyle whistled to gain the attention of young man hoeing weeds from a channel between rows of potato plants.

‘Knock, knock!’ called Charlie, tapping the closed hatchway again. ‘Everybody out…’

‘About time,’ Liz grumbled, pushing open the hatch to shove the irritated ewe out first before dropping to the gravel path to look about. ‘Shit….’

‘I know,’ agreed Charlie, easing her out of the way to take Anne in his arms, ‘but we’re only here a few days so don’t get used to it.’

‘Hmm, I heard…’ Liz replied, quickly grabbing hold of the rope about the sheep’s neck.

Glancing behind her she saw Sally, Tyrone and Paul were also jumping out of the second cart to join the others who had previously fought the Dead at the gate.

‘Get Freya so the women can be checked.’ Liz heard Kyle snap at the young man who had just run over. ‘And hurry!’

‘Yes, Kyle,’ he replied, sprinting off as if his life depended on it.

Liz turned to look at Kyle as he watched the young man weaving through the vegetable beds to reach a part of the main building. Almost as if he could tell Liz was watching him, he swivelled his head to look directly at her and smiled.

‘The sooner Freya can check you for bites, the sooner Carmella can be made comfortable,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders apologetically.

‘Hey, it’s your turf, your rules,’ she replied, mirroring Kyle’s shrug and smile.

‘Yes, it is,’ Kyle continued with a nod, the smile on his face suddenly becoming nothing more than a random twist of muscles on his face.

He was about to say more when Fran began the slow task of helping Carmella down from the cart. In the briefest of moments Liz saw something flash across Kyle’s face as he swiftly looked Fran up and down. 

‘Can someone help me?’ Fran huffed, struggling to get Carmella’s feet back on the ground while she went through another bout of labour pains.

‘Here, let me…’ said Kyle darting forward past Liz to help Fran before anyone else could intervene.

‘Fran,’ she replied, only half paying attention to Kyle while she tried to hold Carmella upright.

‘Well, Fran,’ he went on the say, once he had taken much of Carmella’s weight upon himself, ‘let’s get Carmella inside shall we? There’s a bench she can sit on while we wait for Freya… I’m sure she’ll be more comfortable there.’

Before she could answer, Kyle was guiding Carmella with herself in tow towards the doorway of the small building.

‘What do you think?’ Liz whispered, catching Charlie’s eye.

‘We don’t have much choice at the moment,’ he replied, glancing back to the open doorway.  ‘I’m not mad on the way they mete out punishment for law breaking here but from the look of this place they must be doing something right…’

‘Hmm…’ she replied, her gaze wondering over to the vast allotments of vegetables being tended by half a dozen of the ex-pupils of Saint Xavier’s and then back the way they had come to the wall.

Something about what she saw didn’t sit right with her. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she definitely felt a strange niggling concern at the back of her mind and then it suddenly hit her. It was the two archers still on guard on the platform, instead of looking out across the road for any of the approaching Dead they faced inwards as if keeping watch over those within the walls.

‘Charlie...’ she began, an uneasy feeling building inside her.

‘Ah, here’s Freya,’ said Kyle with a smile, appearing back in the doorway to interrupt her.

Liz turned to look at the approaching young woman. Just as Kyle had said Freya was indeed pregnant and at a guess Liz would say she was at least six months gone. With her thick curly blond hair escaping the floral headscarf she wore, Liz thought Freya was very inappropriately dressed for a woman in a world full of the Dead. Clothed in what she could only describe as a knee-length smock dress over which a droopy looking cardigan hung half off her shoulders, Liz knew the woman wouldn’t stand a chance if she needed to run from the Dead. As if her attire hadn’t screamed ‘Dead hands latch on’ enough, when Liz looked down at her feet she saw that Freya was also wearing flip-flops.

‘Freya, will you check the women and the little girl for bites and then take the one having the baby to Mr Bronwyn’s room,’ said Kyle, with a jerk of his head to the open doorway. ‘I think she’s going to need your help delivering the baby…’

‘Yes, Kyle,’ Freya replied, with a nod.

‘Now if you two ladies wouldn’t mind,’ said Kyle, looking from Liz to Sally while he gestured with a nod to the open doorway.

With every movement dripping with as much sexuality as she could muster, Sally sauntered over to Kyle holding his gaze for as long as she could before he broke eye contact, nervously looking away. Rolling her eyes in exasperation at Sally’s antics, Liz took Anne from Charlie’s arms, stepped awkwardly past Kyle and entered the small brick building just in time to hear Freya speak to Carmella.

‘I’m sorry, I’ll be as quick as I can… promise,’ she said checking the pregnant woman’s bear torso for bite marks.

Looking around the small interior of the building, Liz had been right to assume it had once been some sort of outside toilet. With blue and white antique tiles decorating the walls and stalls and with sink surrounds made from a rich deeply varnished wood, it was certainly the fanciest convenience she had ever been in. Stepping over to lean against one of the sinks, she noticed that even the creamy porcelain of the bowl had been painted with delicate trailing blue flowers.

‘Check thoroughly, Freya!’ came Kyle’s voice from the doorway. ‘And shout if you find anything.’

‘I’m not an idiot,’ mumbled Freya to herself, slowly turning Carmella round to check her neck and back.

‘Now if you could just take down your trousers,’ she continued, handing Carmella back her shirt. ‘I just need to see your legs.’

With her face slick with sweat, Carmella leant against the wall for support and pushed down her baggy jogging bottom trousers. Beside her Fran had already stripped down to her underwear in preparation and was eying Carmella with concern. Following her example Liz, slipped the strap of her sword over her head, shrugged herself out of her jacket and pulled off her T-shirt.

‘Sally,’ said Liz, nodding to her clothes as she crouched down to help Anne. ‘The quicker we’re done here the quicker Carmella can get to her room.’

‘Oh, yeah… Sorry,’ Sally replied, pulling her top over her head.

‘I think I’ll leave these off,’ Carmella puffed, after Freya had given them all the ‘all clear’.

‘That’s fine,’ Freya replied, smiling reassuringly back at the woman, ‘your shirt’s quite long enough to cover you.’

‘Now, I just need you all to tie one of these around your upper arm,’ she continued, pulling strips of bright pink fabric from her cardigan pocket. ‘We all have to wear a band of one colour or another…’

Taking the strip of cloth from her, Liz then went to reach for her jacket but Freya’s hand quickly snapped out to grab it first.

‘Here,’ she said, staring at Liz as she handed her the folded jacket.

‘Erm... thanks,’ she replied, slightly bemused by the strange woman as she slowly took her jacket from her.

‘So how come ours is pink and yours is yellow?’ asked Fran, helping to tie the band about Carmella’s arm.

‘Pink is for… guests,’ she replied, taking a moment to think of the word, ‘As a female member of Saint Xavier’s I wear a yellow one and the men all wear green… except when they go beyond the wall then they have to wear a red one. Only when they’ve been checked and given the OK are they given the green one again.’

‘Don’t the women ever go beyond the wall?’ Liz asked casually, realising Freya had specifically only referred to the men doing so.

‘No,’ She flatly replied, briskly turning away from Liz to make sure everybody was dressed and ready.

‘All clear!’ she then called to Kyle, gently taking Carmella’s arm again.

‘Marvellous…’ said Kyle appearing in the doorway, his intense gaze automatically drifting to Fran. ‘Now we can make our mum-to-be a bit more comfortable.’

‘Good,’ said Fran, feeling slightly uncomfortable under Kyle’s such obvious scrutiny.

‘Now, Freya, run along with Carmella,’ said Kyle, with a shooing dismissive hand movement.

Fran moved to follow when he reached out to stop.

‘Sorry, the rest of you need to stay with me for now,’ he began.