Part 7 (2/2)
*You need to get it back and make a more stable area around the fence. If I can land on my a.r.s.e, anyone can and they may not be so lucky next time.'
*Good idea,' Patrick said, as he and Charlie dragged the naked man's corpse to the side of the road.
Once the way was clear, Imran urged Delilah forward. With her usual *no hurry' pace the Lanherne cart was pulled through the gate, closely followed by the black mare with the substation's cart. Coming to a stop alongside Charlie, Imran flipped open one of the side hatches.
*Well, come on then, we haven't got all day,' Imran said, as he poked his head through the hatch smiling at his mud covered friend.
Giving Imran the finger, Charlie tuned to Patrick.
*Ok, so you follow us. We'll be going at a slow pace, so as not to attract too much attention of the Dead or any packs that may be in the area. Oh, and keep your eye out for any signs of the psycho raiders.'
*Got it,' Patrick said, *Oh, and thanks for watching my back, back there.'
*Not that I did much good. It's Liz you should be thanking,' he replied.
Ryan and Liz had walked over to the carts. Ryan was wiping his length of pipe on his trouser leg while Liz took a little more care, cleaning her blade with a rag she had pulled from her pocket.
*Right let's get this thing started,' Ryan said, as he threw his pipe noisily into the back of his wagon before climbing in himself.
*They do know to keep the noise down out here, don't they?' Charlie asked Patrick, indicating towards the other cart where a loud boisterous conversation between Tom and Ryan could be heard.
*f.u.c.king idiots!' Patrick said under his breath, as he stormed over to the cart. As Patrick stuck his head through the back hatch and said something, the conversation died instantly.
*Ok, I think we're set to go now,' he called back to Charlie, rolling his eyes.
With a wave of his hand Charlie climbed into the cart with Imran and Liz. Imran would be driving, so the back of the cart was to be a little less s.p.a.cious for this part of their journey. With Charlie, Liz, their stores and weapons and now the crate with two dozing piglets inside, there wasn't much room to spare.
*Oh for G.o.d's sake,' Liz said, covering her nose and waving her hands, *Imran!'
*What? it was one of the pigs. Honest,' he said chuckling, as he glanced over his shoulder.
Turning back to the road ahead, Imran gave the reins a flick and Delilah began moving forward again. Liz immediately opened all the spy holes. Partly so she could watch the countryside go by but mainly to get some fresh air flowing through the back of the covered cart. As the cart pulled away from the Substation Liz could see a man securing the gate while Helen stood next to him, a hand on her belly, watching Patrick's cart move away.
Within half an hour the substation could no longer be seen in the distance, Delilah's steady pace taking them, one slow step at a time, on their way to the Donaldson island. Liz could hear the black mare plodding close behind them and every once in a while the faint murmur of a conversation from the Substation cart. Looking through one of the spy holes, Liz decided it looked like it was going to turn into a nice day. Even though the sky was clear blue, a pleasant cooling breeze, left over from the previous night's storm helped prevent the smothering heat of yesterday from building. Liz watched field after field go by. Each overgrown and going through the process of changing from arable to wild meadow to woodland. Dotted throughout each field, saplings had taken root and would, in the years to come, turn the English countryside, sculptured once by Man's hand, back to the wild woodland of its medieval past. Liz watched as, in one of the fields of waist high gra.s.ses, two of the Dead walked in the distance. Stumbling about on the uneven ground, they would dis-appear from sight only to slowly raise themselves again into view.
*We've got some Dead in that field Charlie. Should we deal with them?' Liz said removing her eye from the hole to look at Charlie.
Moving so he could also see through a hole, Charlie watched them for a few minutes weighing up various factors.
*No, they're too far away and we don't know what else is in that gra.s.s. No point looking for trouble unless there's a chance it may bite you on the a.r.s.e,' Charlie said, moving back to a more comfortable position, *and anyway, Patrick will deal with them if they get too close to the Substation.'
With the decision made, the cart fell back into the usual silence. The small piglets still sleeping soundly in their crate must have been given some type of alcohol at the substation to make them dozy, Liz thought thankfully. You didn't really want two loud squealing pigs drawing unwanted attention when you were trying to travel quietly through dangerous territory.
*Well that wasn't like that yesterday...' Imran said, pulling Delilah to a stop.
Moving so he could see through the front slit, Charlie looked at the water covered lane in front of them.
*Rain last night must have swelled a river somewhere and it's flooded the area,' Charlie said, *doesn't look too deep though, anyway we'll have to chance it. See, the road goes back up onto dry land over there.' Pointing to the left where the cracked tarmac serface could be seen rising out of the flowing water.
*OK' Imran said, flicking on Delilah's reins.
Reluctant at first, Delilah only needed a second gentle tap on her reins and she began walking into the water before her. It wasn't until she was midway, with the water lapping more than half way up her legs, did she become at all agitated with the situation. Looking through one of the holes Liz could see a large white ma.s.s floating in the moving water. When it b.u.mped into one of the carts wheels and turned over, she realised it had been one of the Dead, floating naked and face down. Small fish and other aquatic insects, had made a meal of the man's ruined face and chest. Even now she could see some type of insect larvae wriggling in the empty eye sockets. As the current continued to b.u.mp the body along the side of their cart, Liz was thankful they had brought the boiled bottled water from the convent with them. With the current slowly moving it past the cart, Liz watched while the body bobbed silently along. It finally came to a stop, lodged in part of the submerged shrubbery on the side of the road. They had almost reached the other side now and Delilah quickened her pace, grateful to be out of the water and back on dry land. Behind them, Liz could see the black mare was having a less easy time of crossing the swollen ford and Tom was having to repeatedly flick the reins to encourage the horse to move.
*You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar,' Liz thought to herself.
It was obvious the horse was frightened. A few kind words would calm her down quicker than trying to force her across. Eventually, the mare managed to pull the substations cart past the deepest section and then, like Delilah, she increased her pace, eager to leave the water behind her.
With both carts now through the ford and the horses no worse for wear after their experience, they carried on their journey through the small winding lanes of the Cornish countryside. Half an hour later they reached the turning that would lead Patrick to the empty Penhaligan home. Imran pulled Delilah to a stop, waiting for the other cart to come up beside them. Once they were level Charlie opened one of the side hatches, as Patrick did the same.
*You should be ok, from here. Just follow the route I showed you and you'll find the house no problem,' Charlie said.
*Will do, and thanks again for all this. These supplies will really help us through the winter, I can tell you,' Patrick said, as he and Charlie shook hands, *And you take care of yourselves with those lunatics running round. There's too few of us left now as it is.'
Saying their *goodbyes', each group wished the other success and safety for the future. They arranged a date when, if they hadn't heard from each other, they would visit to see if everything was OK. The way the world was now, it was important to build these relations.h.i.+ps with other communities. These oasis of humanity could not exist long term in a vacuum. Information and ideas on how to make life easier, should be shared. Extra supplies, or the time of survivors with specific talents could be bartered for, bringing trade and commerce back into this Dead world. Also, and perhaps more importantly, years down the line any livestock they had would suffer due to inbreeding, unless they could mix the gene pool with new animals and breeds.
With a final wave through the hatch, Liz watched the Substation cart gradually disappear as it turned a corner of the tree lined lane.
*Well, looks like it's just us again,' Imran said, as he urged Delilah forwards.
With the three falling into a comfortable silence, soon the creaking of the cart and the rhythmic, almost hypnotic clip-clop of Delilah's hooves, were the only sounds they could hear. The minutes soon turned to an hour, while Delilah walked away the morning with her steady gait. All the while Liz and Charlie watched through the eye holes for any dangers that could be lurking in the high hedgerows either side of them. At one point Delilah had to be steered around a Mini that had crashed into a ditch. The bonnet, crumpled and dented sat partly in dark ditch water, while the back wheels were lifted high off the road. The Mini may have been yellow at one time but now its paintwork was blistered and peeling, as rust bloomed over the surface. With its winds.h.i.+eld smashed and one of the doors open, a riot of wild flowers, gra.s.ses and ivy had claimed the inside of the small car. Hanging half out through the open door, lay a sun bleached set of bones clothed in rags. The seat belt may have saved this person's life during the accident but it had also trapped them whilst a less lucky pa.s.senger tore into them. The pa.s.senger must have crawled out through the broken winds.h.i.+eld, leaving behind its new comrade in Death struggling, pinned by its seatbelt. Someone had eventually dealt with the trapped driver though, the skull with its large puncture hole evidence of their handiwork.
Once in a while, one of the piglets would let out a soft squeal as it slept, dreaming of what-ever pigs dreamt of. Liz watched them for a while, wondering how long it would take for the little sow in the crate to mature enough to have piglets of her own. It was only when she looked away from the piglets that she noticed some of the weapons hanging from the ceiling of the cart were now hanging at an angle. Realising Delilah must be pulling them up a hill, she gave Charlie, who had drifted off into a light doze a kick.
*We're going uphill Charlie, perhaps it's a good time to see what lies ahead?' she asked, as Charlie rubbed his face to wake himself up properly.
*What? Sorry about that, must've dozed off. Yes, let's see how the land lies,' he replied, standing up.
Imran pulled Delilah to a stop once they had reached the crest of the small hill they were climbing and after a check through the spy holes that nothing was around, Charlie opened the hatch. Wanting to get a little fresh air, Liz poked her head through the hatchway too. At this height they could just see over the high hedgerows to the wild fields falling below them. The scene before them was of the usual patchwork of overgrown meadows bisected by the low grey stone walls that defined one field from the next. To their right was a small woodland that had started to bleed young saplings into the meadow it b.u.t.ted up against and beyond that she could see the winding silver reflections of the river they had pa.s.sed earlier that morning.
*That's where we're headed,' Charlie said, pointing far off to the left where an older and denser forest could be seen in the distance.
Just like she did when she was on watch duty at Lanherne, Liz let her eyes go slightly out of focus. Looking past the individual items that made up the scene, she watched for movement, just how Charlie had taught her to. Seeing nothing, she was about to go back inside the cart when something caught her eye in the meadow by the smaller woodland. Now focusing her vision on that area, she could see the lone figure that had emerged from the tree line.
*Look! Over there!' Liz said, to Charlie pointing, *I think we've got a live one.'
Retrieving an old pair of binoculars from inside, Charlie looked to the spot Liz has indicated. From this distance it was too far for Liz tell if it was a man or woman but it was clear, whoever it was that they were alive.
*It's a man and yep, he's alive alright.'
They watched as the figure slowly made his way into the meadow and suddenly froze.
*Uh, Oh...' Charlie said under his breath.
The man spun round, looking back towards the trees he had just come from and then seeing something he didn't like, began to run as fast as he could through the high gra.s.s away from the tree line.
*What is it? The Dead?' Liz asked Charlie, her voiced filled with concern for this stranger in trouble.
<script>