Chapter 4 as it appeared
Part 2: In the Dark of the Night
Authors: Gabby, Kulko, PCat
Malton +46
"Alright, lads. We've refuelled and are ready to go. We need to move now, before someone identifies us. We're part of that Most Wanted list. Where are we off to?" Daniel said brusquely, exiting the pilot's cabin.
"Ironic, isn't it. The hunters are the hunted..." Gabby murmured, still picturing the scenes of horror in Brazil. He and Sam had grabbed some food from one of the airport franchises. Every media feed was streaming footage of the atrocities. The streets had been strewn with bodies, surrounding a gaping crater in the patterned pavements of the Avenida Paulista.
"Gabby, snap the fuck out of it!" Sam snapped, slapping the younger man on the arm.
"Sorry. Right, we need to find a DHPD officer. They're the only ones I trust. Someone who's not in the public eye, who has access to medical aid," Gabe thought aloud. He caught Daniel's eye, and the two of them shared a silent debate with their expressions. Finally, Daniel broke the stare, looking dejectedly at the floor.
"Sam, it's gonna have to be her," Gabe mumbled, avoiding Sam's eyes.
"Why? We haven't talked since the divorce came through. She's working on one of the other Maltons in Alaska... why her?"
"Admit it, Sammy - it's perfect. I hate to do this to you, but Alaska is a fucking wilderness, and no one goes within miles of those bloody disasters. Vicky was with MSF, right? They'll have something for Cat, if she hasn't recovered by then. Danny, get us off the ground."
"Sorry, Sam," Daniel mumbled, heading for the pilot's chair.
"It's OK, I can take it - it's been ages, maybe she's calmed down," Sam murmured hopefully.
The helicopter flew low over the forests surrounding Soldotna. There were no lights in the snow-covered Alaskan town, no cars in the empty streets. As Danny killed the engines, the Musketeers heard a sound they had not heard since they were teenagers. A forlorn moan, echoing through Soldotna, audible throughout the town. Gabby shivered as he helped Kate down from the helicopter.
"Are we sure this is the right idea?" he murmured, lifting her arm over his shoulder and following the other Musketeers towards the pre-fabricated buildings outside the city's hastily-constructed walls. A lone flag fluttered in the chill Arctic breeze. Medecins Sans Frontiéres .
"We don't have a choice, mate. The police are already hunting for us. These Nu-Maltons are one of the few places without constant surveillance. And Vick's here. She'll look after Cat for us. We can trust her," Codeist said, sounding like he was reassuring himself as much as Gabby.
Another moan.
"I suppose, but... I stopped having the nightmares twenty years ago. I don't want them back, you know?"
"You and me both, mate."
Someone ducked out of a nearby tent and approached them, bloodied overalls flapping in the breeze. Her hair was still dyed blue, still spiked in the crazy way it had always been. Sam paled slightly.
Vicky looked exhausted. She had dark rings under her eyes, her shoulders were slumped, and she was wringing her hands nervously. But her eyes told a different story. They were bright, darting about - looking more alive than Sam had ever seen her during their marriage.
"I wasn't aware of a supply delivery today," she began, peering at a clipboard. She glanced up at the arrivals, and dropped the clipboard. "You guys? What the fuck?"
"Vicky, please, let us come in and we'll explain it all," Gabby pleaded. Vicky made helpless noises for a moment, occasionally glaring at Sam, who was shrinking behind the other Musketeers.
"Fine, get in. What's wrong with Kate?"
Gabby grunted wearily, shaking his head as he half-carried her into the pre-fabricated building that was Vicky's office.
"Well, you can't stay here! This camp is liable to be closed at any moment. We're only allowed to operate because Kate persuaded Simon to give us a chance. If he finds out I'm sheltering you three and his kidnapped wife, he'll fucking shut us down - and probably `terminate' our patients!" Vicky exclaimed, throwing her hands out in exasperation.
"We don't want to stay in the bloody camp, Vicky! We want to borrow some supplies and go into Soldotna!" Gabby shouted back.
"What?" Danny interrupted suddenly. "Was that the plan?"
"Of course - where else could we hide - in the tents?"
"Gabby, don't be stupid, I've seen the infected - they're faster than Malton zombies - stronger. And you've got two guns between you! Please don't go in there, it's suicide - and don't take Cat with you!" Vicky urged.
"We're not, not yet. You're going to get her back to health. Then she can decide what she wants to do. I'm going into Soldotna - I'm public enemy number one now, it's all I've got left."
"You know we're coming with you, mate," Sam spoke for the first time, glancing warily at Vicky.
"Fucking hell, you three are ridiculous!" Vicky groaned.
At dawn the next day, the Three Musketeers stood at the gates of Soldotna, waiting for Vicky to open them. A door slammed behind them.
"Wait, Gabby, don't leave without me!" Cat pleaded, joining the trio. She moved slowly, but at least she could move. Gabe smiled happily - he had been worried she would stay.
The gates creaked open. Sam cast a hopeful glance back at the tents.
"Sorry, Sammy," Daniel muttered, clapping him on the shoulder sympathetically.
"I thought she would go for this," he said dejectedly as he entered Soldotna.
"Wait up!" Vicky called, jogging after them, laden with supplies. "Help me with these, guys."
The great iron doors clanged shut behind them. Kate felt a sick dread. She had hoped that Malton was long behind her and yet, here she was again in a zombie infested town. She looked around her curiously at the wide, low buildings. At least it looked nothing like Malton. She heard the sound of a safety being removed.
"Here comes the horde," said Danny.
She followed his gaze. The familiar sight of a crowd of zombies was shuffling down one of the roads towards them.
"Save the bullets," advised Gabby. "At least this is the US, we should be able to find more guns and ammo but we don't have much right now."
"Run then," said Sam with a grin.
Kate staggered after them but, as soon as she started to move, pain shot through her back and her legs felt weak. She'd filled her pack with food and medical supplies and it bounced against the bandages at each step. Her vision began to blur.
"Cat! Cat!" There were arms around her. "Guys we're going to have to slow down." It was Vicky.
"The fuck?" Gabby turned and looked back.
Kate looked behind her. The zombies were close. They were faster than they had been in Malton, like Vicky said.
There was the sound of gunfire. Danny had turned and was firing a pistol into the crowd.
"In here!" Vicky shouted. Kate found herself dragged into a building. A wooden door hung from its hinges. "Upstairs!" said Vicky. "There's not that many of them. If we drop the staircase, we'll be safe."
Kate allowed herself to be dragged up the freestanding staircase and then collapsed by a wall. She was dimly aware of more shots being fired and people hacking away with axes.
"OK! done!" someone said.
Gabby's face bobbed into her vision. "How are you doing Cat?"
Kate smiled weakly. "Not sure this was such a good idea."
"You'll be fine in a couple of days," he said reassuringly. He sat down next to her and nudged her shoulder. "It'll be just like old times."
"An announcement? Seriously?" asked Gabe.
Vicky shushed him. The signal on the cannibalised media screen was weak and inclined to glitch. But Gabby could see Simon sat on a couch, Janine and Carol, his two oldest children, sat either side of him. One held a baby on her knee. Gabby had never been able to remember which was which. Tim, the youngest, now in his late teens or maybe early twenties, sat on an armchair to one side. Behind them, Gabe recognised Cat's other family, the daughter she had had before Malton, now in her sixties, Cat's grand-children and what looked like a couple of great-grand-children. They made a good picture of a grieving family.
"So I'm begging you, Gabriel Mallows. Return Kate to her family where she belongs," Simon concluded.
"Yeah, right," said Gabby.
"My son, Timothy, would like to say a few words as well."
Tim nodded. He had a piece of paper clutched tightly in his hands.
"Mum, if they're letting you see this then we want you to know that we're OK. We miss you terribly, but you mustn't worry about us. No one is going hungry or anything." Tim smiled in a slightly anxious way and then nodded, as if to tell the cameraman to go elsewhere.
"No one is going hungry?" said Gabby. "What kind of a remark is that?"
"It's code." Gabby turned to see Purple Cat had come through from the next room. She was pale and held on to the doorway. "He was only in his early teens when... when things started to go wrong. I used to lock myself in the bathroom. When he thought it was safe to come out, he'd bang on the door and say he was hungry."
"So, if no one is going hungry..." began Danny.
"He means it isn't safe to come back."
Stephen Kulko watched the log cabin suspiciously through a pair of binoculars. His group had used it fairly often as a retreat and safe house. He had no idea who it belonged to - an abandoned holiday home - but it was well out of the way and no one ever came by without a reason. He'd been back in the Appalachians for a week and had already checked out several of the Real DHPD's regular haunts and found them not only empty but, in some cases, displaying signs of forced entry and fire fights.
In the end he'd risked an email to Josh, his 2iC, and had received a terse reply to meet him here. Kulko glanced at his watch. It was an hour after the appointed time and still no sign of Josh. Either something had happened or Josh was also watching the cabin, waiting for Stephen to show up. He scratched his newly grown beard thoughtfully and then decided to risk showing himself.
He wove a careful path to the house, trying to keep behind or near cover as much as possible and to move fast enough to prevent a sniper getting a clean shot. He paused at the edge of the driveway. If Josh was here he should have seen him. Kulko reckoned it was Josh's turn to show himself before Kulko actually risked stepping out into the open.
Suddenly he heard a suppressed giggle to his right. He whirled to see Geoff and Amy, not a dozen yards away, at the corner of the cabin.
"You're losing your touch old man," laughed Geoff.
"You gave yourselves away," grumbled Kulko. "I taught you better. Where's Josh?"
Geoff's face fell. "Got picked up within about a day of those terrorist attacks. Pretty much everyone with a base in one of the towns did, under the emergency powers of arrest. Only those of us who were camping out made it."
"How did you know I'd be here then?"
"Josh's wife - she got the email. Sent it on to us. She's been great but there's not much she can risk. She's the only person left to look after the kids now. No one's heard from Josh since the arrest."
"It wasn't just our people they got either," said Amy. "Lots of folk got rounded up. We don't think they actually knew who they were looking for. They just took anyone who spent a lot of time out of town, or had access to shipment details, anything like that."
"It's made life doubly hard," said Geoff. "Too many people blame us for family getting arrested. We can't count on support on the ground any more."
"Not good!" agreed Kulko. "However I've built this thing up once. We can do it again. It's just that the rules of the game have changed a little. People still need those food shipments. Demand-based rationing or whatever it's called, still doesn't work."
Geoff and Amy nodded. "We've been waiting for you to get back," said Amy. "We've made a camp in a new area and kept a low profile. We knew you'd think of something."
Kulko felt the burden of their faith. Something told him that life had become much, much harder than they had yet realised.
Kate was cooking... again.
Gabby had spent nearly fifty years firmly thinking of her as Purple Cat, but after three weeks in her company he found himself mentally using the name Kate. It wasn't just the cooking, but the way she meekly fetched and carried and rarely volunteered an opinion or suggestion. He stared glumly at his shoes. If Kate had been able to find any boot polish he'd probably have been able to see his face in them.
He'd spent a lot of his time in Malton suggesting Cat do the cooking and all. Now he had, well, Kate Brankin doing it, he rather missed the irritation and sarcasm of the old Cat.
"That smells good," he said, half-heartedly, as he planted his shot-gun by the door. It did too.
"Right," said Danny pushing away his plate. "I'll take first watch on the cades. I'll come and get you in a few hours Gabs."
Gabby nodded. Danny picked up his guns and stomped down the stairs of the apartment block they were currently holed up in. Kate's vision blurred slightly as he left. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm the incipient panic and reminded herself that Gabby wasn't Simon. She felt the fear subside.
She stood up and began clearing the dishes to the bucket they were using as a sink.
"Want any help with that?" Gabby asked. But being Gabby, of course, he didn't pick up any dishes but, instead, wound his arms round her waist and kissed the back of her neck.
Kate paused a moment, taking those deep breaths Vicky kept telling her would help keep the panic attacks at bay. She turned her head towards him, meaning to say something sarcastic but her lips brushed against his and she lost the train of thought.
OK, so Gabby wasn't exactly picky about who he snogged she thought as the kiss lingered and deepened. Or even picky at all, if she was honest with herself. She wasn't sure that mattered though. Her heart-rate was up again and, although the under-current of anxiety was there, it was buried deep enough to be ignored. Kate turned towards him pressing her body against his. The bottom line was he had hauled her out of the fire and she was grateful enough that anything he cared to take, she was more than willing to give.
Gabby broke away for a moment. "Kate? Cat? Are you sure about this?"
"Whatever you want," she murmured.
As he kissed her again, arms pulling her close, she fought down a whimper of pleasure in her throat. Simon had never liked noise. She tried to concentrate on Gabby, trying to feel how he responded as she let her hands run through his hair and round his face.
Gabby began backing towards the bedroom he'd picked, pulling her with him. She was already scrabbling at the buttons on his shirt. He paused again in the doorway to the room. His head was thrown back and his eyes were closed. She couldn't reach his mouth so settled for kissing his neck. His breathing definitely caught. He liked that then.
"Cat," he said, opening his eyes and looking down at her, "I really need to know you want this."
She gazed up into them. "Anything for you."
"Cat!" he murmured into her hair somewhere. Then he pulled her into the room, kicking the door shut behind them.
"Gabby! Wake up! Your turn on cades!" Danny was banging on the bedroom door.
Gabby tumbled out of the bed cursing and started pulling on his clothes. "Coming!" he called.
On the far side of the bed, he heard Cat stirring. He leaned over and kissed her head. "Get some sleep," he whispered.
Outside the room Danny was waiting for him. "Where's Cat?" he asked. "Her room's empty."
"She's in my room," said Gabby and smirked.
Danny whacked him round the head, surprisingly hard.
"What was that for?" he said indignantly.
"Please, please, tell me you didn't just sleep with Cat."
"Why not?" asked Gabby.
Danny hit him again.
"This time last month she was still in Simon's house. Fuck Gabby, the bruises have only just faded."
There were still scars on her back, Gabby thought uneasily. "But..." he began.
"But nothing Gabs. Look, I can see sleeping with his wife is the ultimate two finger salute to Simon, but shit! It's Cat! She isn't some kind of point score and she's a total mess right now."
"She's doing all right," protested Gabby.
Danny hit him. "No she's not. Gabby are you sure she even realises you're not Simon."
"What? Of course she does!"
"Ever since she could get up she's been following you around like a stray animal and waiting on you hand and foot which, let's face it, isn't typical."
"So she's grateful," said Gabby defensively.
That earned him another whack. "And you think that's a good enough reason to take advantage of that gratitude. Could you possibly stop thinking of yourself just once in a while."
"Come off it Danny. It's not like I jumped her. I did check she was OK with it."
"Gabby, Cat wouldn't say boo to a goose right now. Let alone no to you. You went through counselling after Malton, like the rest of us. You know these things take time."
Gabby sighed. "Look! I'll talk to her OK. Properly, I promise. But it's my life Danny and you don't really know what's going on."
"I know you get through women like some people get through changes of clothes. You'll drop Cat like a hot potato once you've got over the triumph of rubbing Simon's face in it. She's not even your type. You're a good mate Gabby but I'm not just going to stand by and let you hurt Cat more than she's been hurt already."
"It's not what you think Danny."
"Yeah right! 'course it's not. Look! I'll do another half hour cade duty. Talk to her, OK."
Gabby made up a bowl of cereal and took it into the bedroom. Cat was still curled up asleep at the far edge of the bed in what he could only describe as a foetal position.
He touched her shoulder. "Hey! Cat!"
She woke with a start.
"Sssh! It's all right. I brought you breakfast."
She blinked blearily at him and sat up. He handed her the bowl. "Sorry it's so early. Danny says we've got to talk."
She stared at the bowl a minute. "I'll eat it at the table," she said. "I don't want to spill anything."
"'s OK. We'll be out of here in a day or two. I can cope with the odd stain."
She picked up the spoon doubtfully and then put it back shaking her head. "Sorry Gabby! I can't. I can feel myself panicking. I'll get up. It'll only take a moment."
She handed him the bowl and he stared miserably at it until he got distracted by watching her dress. Then he wondered, given what Danny had said, whether he should let her dress in private. However she seemed entirely unselfconscious about it.
"Come on," she took the bowl from him. "You can talk to me at the table."
"So what does Danny want us to talk about?" she asked once she had sat down.
"Danny thinks I'm going to dump you after a week or two."
Cat shrugged. "I wouldn't mind if you did. It would be OK."
Gabby banged the table in frustration. "No it wouldn't!"
Kate cried out. Her head ducked and one hand came up protectively.
"God Cat!" said Gabby hurriedly. "It's OK. I'm not going to hurt you." He sat down next to her, pulling her trembling body into his arms. "You know I'd never hurt you, right?"
"I know. It's just difficult to control the reflex, you know."
"Cat? Did you..." Gabby wasn't entirely sure what the question actually was. "Did you sleep with me just because you were grateful?"
She was silent a moment. "That's a difficult one."
"Oh!" Gabby felt obscurely disappointed.
"No," she said, "not just because I was grateful. Though I am grateful. Not only because you guys came and dragged me out the other day, but because you were always there, for years, even when I was briefing against you in the papers. I never doubted you remained my friend. I value that a lot."
"You don't have to have sex with me, you know. I don't want you to feel you owe me something."
"It's not like that Gabby. I don't feel I owe you. I just know I'd do anything for you. I want to do anything for you and last night... goodness Gabby! Do you think that I was just going through the motions, really? Honestly, I wasn't faking it. I wanted that. It was good, great even!"
"Well that's a something anyway. Frankly if you'd said `you're shit in bed, Gabby. I'm going back to Simon.' I think I'd have had to shoot myself or something."
Purple Cat laughed. It was like seeing a glimpse of someone that had been hiding for weeks, if not years.
"That's more like it," said Gabby, pleased to see her smiling.
"Seriously Gabby, I may hardly know if I'm coming or going. Yes, I'm grateful. But I also know you're the best friend I have. Heck! I even know you turn me on something rotten. But if you're asking do I feel about you the same way I feel about Simon?" Kate shook her head. "I don't think so, Gabs. I'm sorry."
Gabby sighed and held her tight. "I think, maybe, we should agree on no sex until you've got your head together a bit."
"I'm all right Gabby, really I am. If you want sex then honestly, it's not a problem."
"I think maybe it is. Kate, you basically just said you're still in love with Simon. I don't see how you can feel like that and sleep with me and not end up twice as fucked up as you are now."
"But Gabs..."
Gabby kissed her. Partly to get one last kiss and partly to shut her up.
"No more sex," he said firmly. "Not for a while at any rate."
He held her some more and then, inexplicably, she started to cry.
"This is the same zombie group we encountered yesterday," murmured Sam.
He, Danny and Vicky were crouched behind a dumpster out the back of a hardware store. Zombies milled around the entrance.
"They're the one's that chased us out of that motel last week," added Vicky.
"Group's getting larger too," muttered Danny.
They all exchanged a glance. The small group of zombies was turning into a crowd. Soon it would be a horde.
"Last thing we need," said Vicky. "There aren't any survivors in this town. We did too good a job getting them out. We move too slow: no free running lanes or safe houses unless you create them yourself. We didn't figure that into our plans."
"Kate doesn't help," said Sam.
"Leave her be!" hissed Vicky angrily. "She's healed up!"
"She's not a survivor any more," said Danny. "If she doesn't snap out of it soon, we're going to lose her."
"If we can't lose this horde," retorted Vicky. "Then it's pretty academic, I'd say."
Gabby glanced at his watch. End of duty, it was time to wake up Kate for her turn. All was quiet outside, but there had been groans earlier when Sam, Danny and Vicky had come back from a supply run. He had a sense that the pressure of zombies outside was growing. He shook his head, picked up his shotgun and climbed the stairs. He was surprised to see a light under the door of Danny's room. He paused a moment and then pushed it open.
Danny was sat at a desk. He held a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and there was a row of shot glasses in front of him, all full. As Gabby watched Danny poured two more glasses, set one at the end of the row and downed the other.
"Danny?" asked Gabby.
Danny looked up. "Fuck off Gabby."
"Hey man! Don't drink alone." Gabby picked up one of the shot glasses.
"Put that down!" There was a tone in Danny's voice Gabby hadn't heard before.
"What?"
"Put it down. It's Djamila's."
Carefully Gabby put the glass down. He realised, with a sinking feeling, that it was the anniversary of her death.
"I'm sorry Danny. I forgot."
Djamila Murphy shot down somewhere over Iceland six years' ago today.
"Fuck off."
Carefully Gabby backed out of the room and went on his way to wake Kate.
Outside a new groan broke the silence of the night.
"We're surrounded!" Sam shouted, backing hurriedly out of the side street they'd been heading for. He slammed his last clip into his handgun. Gabby nodded grimly. The five of them were now pressed together at the center of a horde. Trapped at an intersection. They'd be lucky to make it to any of the buildings and even those were probably filled with the undead. The last few houses they had checked had been anyway. The bodies were thick on the ground, but still they advanced, closing in on the Musketeers. As he reloaded his shotgun, Gabby glanced at his friends. The Musketeers, standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Vicky, stray locks of blue hair tumbling over her face. Kate, looking as fragile as ever, pressing against his arm. Gabby shivered as she backed further into him.
"You'd better give me your shotgun," said Kate, suddenly. "You use your pistols. Your aim is better than mine."
Gabby spared her a surprised glance. "You sure?" Kate had been noticeably gun-shy since they'd got to Soldotna.
Her face was set in a grim expression. "Time I started fighting back."
Wordlessly, Gabby handed her his new version of Slasher and pulled out his pistols. The extra gun wasn't likely to make much difference but at least they would all go down fighting. Nearly fifty years after they had left Malton it looked like their luck had finally run out.
He considered saying something. After a brief period of weighing it in his mind, he decided against any melodramatic speeches.
"Love you guys," he muttered.
"Gay," Sam said flatly. His eyes twinkled but Gabby sensed the farewell in them.
"Let's do this," said Vicky raising her pistols.
The five of them began to empty their last bullets into the advancing zombies.