WalkerZ - A Zombie Apocalypse Story

Chapter 6 - Gang Warfare

Merryn shook Brian's hand and passed him a letter to deliver to an old friend on the Isle of Wight. "Good luck Brian! I'll come and see you next time they send me to the Isle. I get up there every now and again."

"I look forward to it." The man straightened up and looked over her shoulder. "Look after my boy eh?"

"You have my word." Merryn turned and walked away, flashing a smile at Tom as he walked down the jetty to join his father. She joined Mal at the shoreline and watched father and son say goodbye to each other.

"Sometimes you don't need to hear a conversation to know what's being said, do you?" said Mal as he wiped a tear from his eye. Brian had tears running down his cheeks as he embraced his son who said something that elicited a sad laugh from him. The older man stepped back, took a long look at his son, and clapped his hands on the lad's shoulders. Then he reached into his pocket for something. Tom held out his hand with a quizzical expression on his face, a look that changed to delight and he smiled properly for the first time since Merryn had met him.

"There's always a little hope for humanity somewhere, old friend," said Merryn, hugging Mal. "All we've got to do is try and give ourselves the space to find it."

Tom joined them as they waved off the sailboat with its crew. "He gave me grandad's old service mirror," he said, holding out his hand. "Pilots in the RAF used to carry a metal mirror in their shirt pocket so they could use it to signal others. Grandad's saved his life when a bullet bounced off it, look you can see the dent. I had no idea he still had it."

"Your father is a good man Tom, as are you. Are you ready for what comes next?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Tom seriously.

"Ma'am?" replied Merryn. "I don't warrant 'ma'am' status yet young 'un. Merryn is fine."

"Merryn it is," replied Tom with a shy grin. "May I come with you back to Plymouth. I'd like to be with the others. We work well together."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I suspect we need a buffer between Eddie and Andrew as well."

"That too. You'd think they were brother and sister the way they carry on."

"They'll work it out," said Mal. "I suspect it means they're in love and haven't quite worked out how to show it yet."

"You'll have to ignore the pocket philosopher here," said Merryn to Tom, "He spends too much time staring at screens and playing video games."

"What video games?" asked Tom, looking interested.

"Well," said Mal, rubbing his hands together briskly and smiling. "Why don't you come on down to the games room young Tom and we'll see if I can still remember how to play Mortal Kombat."

"He's going to beat you Mal," called Merryn as the two of them walked away discussing old console games.

Hope walked alongside her as she made her way back to the barracks. "What do you think we're going to find when we go back?" she asked as she linked arms with Merryn.

"I don't know Hope. But this time we're going to have a drone with us at least, so we can use it to scout ahead which should help a bit. That's usually Gareth's territory, but I get to use them too every now and again. I'm hoping we're going to find a few random walkers, the remnants of whatever gangs we've not already come across and maybe a good store of food and equipment, but you don't know until you get there. So many places got cleaned out in the first days and weeks of the infection when people went on the rampage and ransacked whatever they could, we don't usually know what's left. Knowing my luck we'll come across a warehouse full of nothing but dog food."