Lanherne Chronicles (Prequel): To Escape the Dead (25 page)

‘Oh, and don’t forget the highlight of our day,’ said Sally, passing a plate to Charlie. ‘We also got to scrub some of the corridors on our hands and knees… now that was fun.’

‘Come on, Sally,’ interrupted Charlie, taking the plate from her, ‘we’ve all got to do our bit… and it’ll only be for a few days.’

‘And what then?’ asked Liz, trying to ignore Sally as she examined her hands, red and chapped from scrubbing all afternoon.

‘We’ll take a look at the maps again in the morning,’ sighed Charlie, wearily lifting a spoonful of crushed potatoes to his mouth. ‘See if anything jumps out…’

‘Damn…’ growled Michael, jabbing at the cabbage on his plate with a fork. ‘Why did they have to be such arseholes about us staying… this place is perfect.’

‘But it’s their place,’ said Charlie, his spoon hovering midway to his mouth as he gave Michael a look, ‘And if you think taking it from them by force is justifiable… well, then I think I’ve been a very bad judge of character…’

‘No... No, I was just…’ began Michael, shaking his head to dispel Charlie’s fears.

‘Anyway,’ interrupted Liz, glancing over to another long table in the refectory where Saint Xavier’s guards sat noisily tucking into their cooked mutton, while the other members of Saint Xavier’s academy ate mostly in silence, ‘something about this place doesn’t sit well with me… I can’t put my finger on anything specific… apart from that lot over there acting more like prison guards than protectors… something just feels off…I don’t think I’d want to stay here with Anne even if they let us…’

‘Hmm,’ Charlie agreed, slowly nodding his head, ‘I know what you mean, there’s definitely something about this place that makes my palms itch…’

‘Oh yeah, which one?’ smiled Phil around the mouthful of half-chewed cabbage he had stuffed in one cheek.

‘This one,’ Charlie replied, holding up the knife on his wrist as though he was giving Phil the finger.

‘Just wondered,’ chuckled Phil, spooning more of his meal into his already full mouth.

‘Heads up,’ whispered Cam under his breath, discretely glancing over Charlie’s shoulder to Zak who had just entered the refectory closely followed by Kyle a few steps behind him. 

‘Ah, I’m glad you’re all still here,’ began Zak, his darkly circled eyes peering intently at them through a messy fringe of jet black hair. ‘I just wanted to thank you for your hard work today… I’m sure it’s the last thing you wanted after your trip…’

‘A deal’s a deal,’ said Charlie, standing to look Zak square in the eye.

Liz couldn’t help but notice the raucous laughter and noise from the table of black banded guards had died down considerably, one or two of them discretely reaching for their bows in case something happened.

‘Yes,’ Zak continued, ‘and speaking of the deal, I have a brief mission for a few of you tomorrow.’

‘What sort of mission?’ asked Phil, suddenly losing interest in the plate food in front of him.

‘As you know without a cart or a horse we’re limited here to what we can scavenge from the surrounding farms and villages,’ he replied, his gaze flicking from Charlie to Phil. ‘We can only take what we can physically carry ourselves…’

‘And as you pointed out,’ interrupted Kyle, ‘with so many of the Dead about it makes the job doubly dangerous for us, so…’

‘So we need you to go to a local farm for us,’ Zak carried on. ‘We know they have an old fashioned plough in one of the barns… we can use it here.’

‘A Plough?’ said Charlie. ‘You want us to get a plough?... and just what are you planning on using to pull it?’

‘We’re not thinking of taking your horses if that’s what’s worrying you,’ said Kyle. ‘We’ll use good old fashioned manpower… now that is something we have plenty of…’

‘Yeah… so I want you,’ said Zak, running his hand though his hair as he nodded from Charlie to Phil and Tom, ‘and you two to go at first light. It’ll be heavy work and you three look in the best shape to manage it. The rest of you will continue with the same jobs you did today…’

‘Charlie, I…’ said Liz and Phil in unison, both uneasy about the three men all leaving at once.

‘Or you can all leave right now,’ Zak cut in, his tone indicating he had no qualms about instantly sending them all beyond the safety of the wall.

‘And I don’t believe Carmella is in any position to be moved right now… not from what Freya tells me,’ added Kyle, an unconvincing look of concern on his face. ‘The baby is sure to be born very shortly…’

‘Well it doesn’t look as though we have much of a choice,’ said Charlie, his voice full of cold understanding, holding Zak’s stare while the others around him voiced their objections.

‘It should only take you a few hours,’ added Kyle, raising his voice over the protesting group, ‘you’ll be back soon enough.’

‘So you’ll go?’ asked Zak, knowing that only Charlie’s words would clarify the situation.

‘Yeah, we’ll go,’ he replied, scratching the stubble on his chin with the back of his hand as he slowly sat back down.

‘Good,’ said Zak, a thankful smile twitching at his lips. ‘I’ll give you directions in the morning… In the meantime… please, continue with your meal.’

‘And your work,’ added Kyle, smiling from Liz to Sally with a tilt of his head.

Liz fought the overwhelming desire to punch sanctimonious look right off of Kyle’s face and with common sense finally winning out, she returned his smile; mustering up as much sincerity with which she had received it.

‘Of course,’ she replied through gritted teeth, before turning to Sally with fake enjoyment. ‘Come on Sally, let’s get back to the kitchen…a woman’s work is never done you know… if we’re lucky they’ll be pots to scrub.’

‘What?’ asked Sally, slightly bemused by Liz’s words.

‘Liz…’ warned Charlie, while Tyrone and Michael tried not to choke on their food.

‘No, no, it’s fine,’ said Kyle, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. ‘I know we do things a little differently at Saint Xavier’s… but it works for us…’

‘And we’re very grateful for your hospitality,’ said Cam, standing quickly so he could usher Liz away to diffuse the situation. ‘I’m sure Liz was only joking… weren’t you Liz?’

‘Joking! My arse!’ Liz grumbled under her breath as she let Cam guide her away from the table toward the door at the end of the refectory, Sally slowly following behind her.

‘We need them more then they need us right now,’ he whispered, as he reached to open the door. ‘I know they’re arseholes but can you just put up with it for a while longer… at least until Carmella is OK to be moved?’

‘It’ll take every ounce of control not to kick Kyle in the bollocks every time I see him…,’she said under her breath, glancing back at the table where Kyle still stared blankly back at her, ‘but I suppose I can cope with it… for a while longer.’

‘Good,’ Cam replied, holding the door open behind Liz a little wider when he saw Lauren began to back through it with a plate of roughly carved meat in her hands.

‘Oh, there you are,’ she said, noticing Liz. ‘Now that the guard has their food can you take this to the others for me.’

‘Sure,’ Liz replied, unenthusiastically taking the plate of meat from Lauren.

‘Thanks,’ she replied, turning her attention to Sally. ‘Can you help me in here?’

With a sigh, Sally stepped round Liz muttering something about her hands.

‘Oh…’ Lauren continued, only just remembering something as Liz turned back into the refectory, ‘try and make sure Porrow gets some before the other gannets pounce on it.’

‘Porrow?’ asked Liz, looking back at the table of men all wearing their green arm bands.

‘Sorry, he’s the old man.’ Lauren apologised, realising Liz didn’t have a clue who she was talking about. ‘He’s what’s left of the teaching staff… he’s a bit… well, fragile…’

With a nod, Liz searched the faces at the table until she found the only face older than some-one in their mid-twenties.

‘Will do,’ she mumbled, looking at the grey haired man, his shoulder’s drooping as he sat at the table forlornly studying the hands in his lap.

With the tantalising yet tortuous smell of the cooked meat beneath her nose making her mouth water, Liz walked slowly over to the long table where the ‘green’ men all sat. As they turned to eagerly receive the platter she carried she was relieved to notice that Zak and Kyle were just leaving the refectory.

‘Would you…’ she started to say to the man Lauren had simply referred to as ‘Porrow’ but her words were cut short as immediately forks began to jab at the plate, eager to get to the cooked red meat.

‘Hey!’ she cried, snapping out with lightning speed to grab one of the hands.

Using a twisting motion that Charlie had taught her, she bent the hand sharply back at the wrist causing the fork to clatter to the floor and the hand’s owner to yelp out in pain.

‘Ouch! Sheesh,’ cried the young man who Liz recognised as one of the twin brothers sent beyond the wall to clear the corpses, his armband now changed from red back to green. ‘OK, OK… I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’

Liz held his hand a moment longer, turning her gaze to the other men, some of whom guiltily tried to avoid looking at the slices of meat they had already managed to claim during the melee. Slowly the empty forks hovering mid-air were withdrawn and a new wariness appeared in the eyes of those around the table looking at her.

‘Well…’ Liz continued, finally releasing the man who she thought may have been called Harry or Harold to return her attention to the old man. ‘Now that people have stopped acting like animals at a Zoo, would you like some meat…’

‘Porrow? Mr Porrow?’ she continued, unsure if the name Lauren had given was his surname or not.

‘Would you like some of the meat… Sir?’ she finally said, remembering Lauren had said he had been a teacher at Saint Xavier’s.

Slowly Porrow lifted his head to look at her. Despite his grey hair, she could see now that he was not old as she had first thought. Probably in his fifties, his sallow skin seemed to be stretched over the bones of his face making him appear a good fifteen years older, while across one of his cheek bones Liz was sure she could see the tell-tale fading marks of a bruise. But it was his eyes that disturbed Liz the most. Clear blue and piercing, they told of a heart breaking despair tinged with madness. It was obvious to Liz this man was lost and no matter what happened he would never find his way back, such was the living nightmare that tormented his soul.

‘You shouldn’t be here…’ he whispered, his fingers latching tightly onto the lip of the table as his eyes flitted aimlessly across her face. ‘Go…’

‘Sorry?’ she asked, glancing at the younger men around the table for confirmation.

‘You can’t be here…’ Porrow repeated, tears beginning to fill his eyes, ‘Go away… you need to go away.’

By now he was obviously starting to upset himself and even as he reached across to grab Liz’s hand a heavy tear rolled down his cheek.

‘Go away!’ he continued, his bony fingers suddenly digging into her hand as the volume of his voice rose. ‘Go away!  You can’t be here! Get out! Get out!’

‘Porrow!’ shouted one of the guards, pushing his chair away from the table with a squeak as he rose to his feet.

Liz finally managed to snatch her hand away and in that instant it was if she no longer existed for the old teacher. Once again he became still, his whole world suddenly reduced to the hands in his lap.

‘Ignore old Porrow,’ said the guard, sparing a sneer in the older man’s direction, ‘he’s become a bit touched in the head since the Dead came.’

Looking from the guard back to the old man, Liz slowly and silently placed the plate of meat on the table. For a second the other younger men seated at the tables paused, unsure if they were now allowed to dig in without feeling Liz’s wrath again. But the moment she began to turn to return to the kitchen they saw their chance and pounced, forks once again vying for a chunk of the succulent cooked mutton.

***

Later as heavy storm clouds slowly made their way across a darkening sky, Liz and the others were led back to their rooms under the escort of Kai and Lauren.

‘It’s certainly a miracle I never expected to see again,’ said Cam looking up at the glowing bulb housed in its intricately etched glass dome.

‘Well, Zak only allows us to have the lights on for twenty minutes after we’ve finished the day’s work,’ replied Lauren, looking from the light fitting to Cam. ‘We use most of the electricity from the solar panels to heat the water and of course to charge up the car batteries for winter.’

‘A whole twenty minutes,’ Cam sighed, ‘you don’t know how lucky you are.’

‘I… I suppose we are,’ she said, her mind wandering as she paused to look through one of windows, the darkness beyond only allowing her to see her reflection. ‘It’s pretty bad out there isn’t it?’

‘Just how long have you been here, Lauren?’ asked Charlie, catching her eye in the reflective glass.

‘Too long,’ she muttered, her voice barely a whisper and then as if catching herself, she turned away from the window with a brittle smile on her face. ‘Come on, we’d better get you all back to your rooms.’

Stepping away from the window, her eyes briefly locked with Kai’s and something shared and unspoken passed between them before they carried on walking.