The Last Survivors Book 1

Chapter 7

It turned out to be a military styled truck. A military truck that was often used to carry supplies or soldiers from one place to another. Yet this truck had been painted over, in black and white markings with the words 'Blackwing' written across the side. The truck sped past them. It was definitely not from the base. He certainly did not know what Blackwing meant. It was possible, that it was from one of the other quarantine zones.
'Who are they?' Scarlett said as the truck turned at the end of the road. They were fortunate it did not stop but they had dropped low, and moved around the side of the parked car.
'I don't know. Survivors. Maybe soldiers. Maybe another group that survived.' Damon said. 'I haven't seen any other cars on the road, that haven't belonged to us, in years though.'
'That's odd then.'
'Very.' Damon replied. He did not like it, especially with it being close to their own quarantine zone. 'We'll worry about it another time.' Damon decided. 'Let's get going once again.'
They moved from their hiding spot and hurried down the road. Damon was quite certain they were not going to swing back around and come back on them. At least he hoped so.
'How long will it be, before we get back to home?' Grace said almost as soon as they came to the end of the street.
'Not long.'
'How can you be sure?' Grace quizzed him; she was starting to get agitated.
'I have fortunately been out here a few times, Grace.' Damon said, confidently.
'Oh yeah, that is true.' Grace replied.
Damon sighed in relief as she went quiet after that. Nobody spoke while they made the rest of the way back to the quarantine zone. Damon made them stop and search for more water and he took the opportunity to relieve himself, as did the girls before leaving again.
The familiar walls of the quarantine rose into view after another hour of solid walking. They slowed down their pace. Damon had never felt so much relief to see it. The walls looked the same. As they came towards the gate, one of the guards shouted from the wall above.
'Who is it coming?' The guard demanded.
'Damon, the ex-copper. I live here, so do the girls!' Damon raised his voice.
'Ah, have you got your papers?'
'Of course.' Damon said, as he slung off his bag and started rummaging inside. Damon pulled the sheets out eventually.
'Come on through.' The guard shouted.
The gates opened allowing them to pass through.
Ironside and a few others were waiting on the other side, including Brianna, and Shane. There was no sign of Rob however.
'You survived. What happened to that man?' Bri said as soon as Damon was in earshot.
'Dead.' Damon answered.
'Pity. Did he have anything useful?'
'Few things but that is not the important thing right now.'
'What would that be?'
'On our way back we saw a military truck, heading somewhere. It is the first time I've seen a vehicle on the road that isn't ours in years.' Damon said.
A tense silence followed and a few exchanged concerned looks.
'How far from here?' Ironside said sharply.
'Two or three miles from here. I am not sure where they were heading or where they were coming from. It was just the one.'
'Could they have been heading to the city centre?'
'Maybe. According to our deceased friend, the zone we were heading too is abandoned.'
'Damn. If you had not of mentioned the truck, I would be crestfallen. I'm now hopeful again even if you did kill a survivor.'
'He wouldn't have joined us. He was going to use one of the girls as leverage to get one of the cars.'
'Sounds convenient.' Shane snorted.
'Doesn't matter about that. We just need to up our game, this time two teams tomorrow will head out and find if there is another zone where people are living. There has to be more than just out here.' Ironside said. Then he looked at Damon. 'You better rest up for tomorrow. We need as many hands as possible.'
Damon nodded. 'Did Rob and Resh make it back?'
'Yeah, they already turned in for an early night.' Ironside said, with a hint of a smile on his lips.
Damon sighed in relief. 'Thanks for letting me know.' He said before taking his leave.
Damon felt relief wash over him as soon as he stepped through the door. He was actually glad to be back even though it was a shadow of his old life, his old home. He returned to his bedroom, unpacked his stuff in his bedroom while Scarlett went with Grace. Damon laid down on the bed, still in his clothes though he had taken his shoes off, and before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep.
Damon awoke, from his slumber much later, when it was dark. He slipped off the bed, stretching his arms. Making his way downstairs he found Hancock in the kitchen. He had finally emerged from his bedroom. He was usually in his bedroom or across the road with the old couple and the dog. There were no other elderly people apart from them.
'Damon,' Hancock mumbled the name as Damon helped himself to
'You doing okay?' Damon said looking back at Hancock.
'Fine. I just wish there was more to eat.' Hancock muttered. 'I've had enough of eating the same thing over and over. I miss fish and chips. Goddamn, I miss Christmas Dinners, and sticky toffee pudding.
Are not we all missing those things? Damon thought bitterly to himself. He could do without the reminders.
'Do you think things will ever go back to how they were?' Hancock said slowly.
'I hope so. I really hope so.' Damon said with a genuine sigh. 'Have you seen the girls?'
'Girls?'
'Grace and Scarlett.'
'Oh, I saw them earlier. Very nice girls. Especially the smaller one. She reminded me of my granddaughter.' He said, sadness dripping into his voice.
'Thanks.' Damon said, before taking his leave.
Where are they then? Damon wondered as soon as he stepped into the hallway. He headed up to the bedroom and knocked on the door gently.
No response.
Damon opened the door, peeking inside.
There was no sign of anybody. The room itself was surprisingly clean, with clothes folded over the side, books and comics stacked by the side of the bed. There was a makeshift bed by the side of the bed with a pillow and sheet. Damon shrugged, and closed the door behind him.
Damon made his way back downstairs, and checked the rest of the rooms. Scarlett and Grace were definitely not in the house. Damon made his way out of the house, the cold air brushing against his skin. He had forgotten his coat. He was not going back for it though. He made his way up the road, veering towards some of the other houses.
'Damon? What's up?' A voice called out in the darkness.
Damon turned towards the voice. It was Resh.
'I'm looking for Grace and Scarlett.'
'Ah, there with Rob and some others.' Resh answered.
'Okay. Fair enough.' Damon relaxed a little. 'So what happened with you and Rob then?'
'We got stuck, and we lost sight of you. We were expecting you guys to come back but we waited. Brianna came back. She told us that some guy had rescued you from the zombies and he had taken you to safety. We wanted to go for you but Bri said you would be fine.'
'I see.' Damon said.
'She was right; you turned out to be just fine. You seem to be doing fine protecting those girls.'
Damon had to laugh. 'I wish that was true.' It was far from the truth. Scarlett had saved them, rather Damon saving them both.
'It is. I had better get some rest now and so should you.' Resh suggested.
'You're probably right.' Damon agreed. They said their goodbyes, before leaving.
Inside, he found Hancock in the same place as he before, but they did not speak at all. Damon grabbed himself a very light snack before making his way to his room.
The following morning, Damon woke to the sound of voices coming from somewhere. Yawning, Damon rose out of bed and got dressed quickly. He made his way downstairs but he stopped half way. The front door was open, and Hancock stood at the door talking to some figure.
It turned out to be Brianna.
'What's going on?' Damon asked breaking into the conversation, not caring too much about etiquette right now.
Bri eyes darted over toward Damon. 'You know old, Frank and Marie across the road?'
'Yeah,' Damon grunted.
'Their dog is missing.'
That took Damon by surprise. Damon was not expecting that. In his tiredness, it took him a moment to think it through and all he could come up with was, 'Oh.'
'Yeah, and we are trying to find out what happened to it. They are upset.'
'I can imagine. Is that all?'
'We found the bones of a dead cat too, the one that loitered around here too. We don't know if they're related.'
Damon's eyes widened momentarily, but then he had to relax, hoping that Bri had not noticed.
'Where?'
'In one of the bins around the corner.'
'Right.'
'Are you ready to go?' Bri asked.
Even though she was looking at Damon, Hancock spoke. 'I'm heading across to see them now.'
He shuffled past Bri and made his slow journey towards the house across the road.
'I meant you, Damon.'
'I'm ready but let me go fetch Scarlett.'
'You should leave her here.'
'It'll be fine. She can handle it. Grace can stay here though.'
'Thank God for that.' Bri said, not even hiding it.
Damon hurried upstairs and went to fetch Scarlett.
It took less than ten minutes. Scarlett did not even have to convince Grace to stay, she just rolled over in bed and said a distinctive 'no thanks.'
Scarlett came down donning a different jumper but the same black overalls.
The front door was still open but Bri was gone.
'Where is she?' Scarlett said.
'Maybe she's gone to the rest of the group....'
'What?' Scarlett said.
'They found the cat remains.'
'Oh.' Scarlett said.
'Did you kill the dog?'
Scarlett blinked, looking away. 'Maybe.'
'Damn it. It was their dog.'
'Better eating that than people right?'
'You didn't hide it in the bins again did you?'
'No, Hancock cooked it this morning. We told him it was meat we found on our travels and he believed me.'
Damon gagged. 'Great. Does Grace know?'
'No.'
'Let's keep it that way.' Damon replied. 'Let us go, but let me just get everything.'
Once they were ready, Damon closed the door behind them and headed to one of the gates. James, Rob, Resh, Brianna, Shane and a number of others including Ironside were gathered around the cars.
'Now that we're all here. We are going in two groups. I am leading one group northeast and Bri is heading west. After hearing that another car has been spotted that, this should encourage us to double our efforts in finding other survivors. Other people must have survived somewhere. Then we can have a chance of not just surviving, but actually build a future for us all. Let's get to it!' Ironside gave the sort of inspiring speech. 'While I'm gone, Shane is in charge, so do what he says.' A few cheered, others nodded and climbed into different cars.
Damon took his customary seat in the back of the car with Scarlett squished in the middle between him and Rob. James sat in the front with Bri, who was at the wheel again. A second car with Resh and Liam followed them out. They drove through the gates carefully but once they were out, they went at full speed.
'So where are we heading?' Rob said after ten minutes or so of solid driving, interrupting the banter between Bri and James. He was glad something stopped it, he wasn't sure how much more he could take of it.
'Well, we—or at least Ironside thinks there was a quarantine zone over or near to Rusholme and Chorlton for those survivors. Maybe there was even two mini quarantine zones. We can't say for sure until we actually get there.'
'I do know of Chorlton, I had a cousin that lived around there. Always meant to meet up with him but it never happened. He was always busy and so was I.'
'Shame.' Damon said. 'I used to go there sometimes, it was nice up there.'
'Yeah he used to post so many pictures on Facebook and Instagram.'
'Feels like a long time since those days. People were always posting onto social media, all the time. Now no one's left to look at the stories behind...'
'I wasn't a fan of social media. I hated all of it. It was bad for my state of mind especially with the divorce. He used to post pictures of him and his new girlfriend all. I got sick of the sight of their smiling faces so I deleted my Facebook.'
Dramatic, Damon thought but said nothing. There had to be more than just that to the story as she could have just blocked him and have done with it.
They drove the rest of the way finally pulling to a stop adjacent to a park. Damon recognised it as Whitworth Park. Once a beautiful park that contained the Whitworth Art Gallery and now it was sprawling with plants and trees that have spiralled out of control without anyone to cut them down.
'We're stopping here and walking up.' Bri said as she switched off the engine. 'Stay alert. We do not know what is up here. Something might have survived.'