Remains of the Dead

“Look at the trees.”

Cahz stood, his carbine resting on its sling, his arms resting on the carbine.

After a moment he called back, “What trees?”

“That’s it exactly,” Ryan said, pointing. “You can see the stumps.”

“So,” Cahz said indignantly. “Someone cut them down. Firewood or lumber. It’s not important. We need to keep moving.”

He turned and started walking again.

“It’s recent though,” Ryan said, still staring at the other side. “The undergrowth would have obscured the stumps if it weren’t.” He looked round at Cahz. The soldier was marching away, ignoring him. He said, louder, “That means there must be other people alive out here!”

“That means there were other people alive,” Cahz said without stopping. “Past tense.”

“We can’t be sure of that,” Ryan said, trotting to catch up. “Shouldn’t we search for them or something?”

Abruptly Cahz stopped and turned round. “Do we look like a fucking search and rescue team? We get ourselves out of this shit before we worry about anybody else.”

Ryan flung his arms out. “I’m just saying-”

“Well don’t!” Cahz snapped.

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Ryan pressed.

Cahz turned round and started walking again.

“It was doing something that got us in the shit we’re in,” he mumbled.

* * *

“Thanks for waiting,” Ryan said in a sarcastic tone as he caught up.

For the better part of a mile, Cahz had been relentlessly pulling ahead of him. Every now and then Cahz would call out to demand Ryan stop lagging behind. But Cahz would never wait for him to catch up; at best he would turn around and march backwards for a few metres to check his ward was still following. When Ryan started to catch up, Cahz would turn and march off, forcing the exhausted refugee to keep up the pace.

Ryan put the heavy bag of tins on the ground and rubbed his fingers, trying to bring the circulation back to the purple tips. He gave a shudder as the heat generated from moving evaporated in the cold rain.

“I’m not waiting for you,” Cahz said. “I was checking if the radio was working.”

“Oh well, thanks a bundle then,” Ryan said, hooking his thumbs into the straps of the papoose.

“India Tango One calling. India Tango One to anyone receiving. Please come in, over.” Cahz stood still, almost holding his breath, listening for an answer.

“Still nothing,” he said breaking the silence. He pushed back the cuff of his glove and checked the time. “Nineteen hundred hours.”

“Shouldn’t the chopper hear us? Or your ship?” Ryan asked. He had the straps of the rucksack pulled tight, like a comedian about to snap a pair of braces as he took the strain off his shoulders.

“Ship is well out of range. These sets only have a two or three mile range.” Cahz slipped the radio back in its pouch and fastened it secure.

“So the chopper could be like five miles away and he’d never pick us up?”

“Yep,” came Cahz’s glib reply.

He walked off.

Ryan wiped the rain from his face and called after him, “You seem a tad casual about that.”

Cahz didn’t bother to turn round to speak. “We’ve got flares and signal smoke we can use to get his attention. And even if he’s too far out of range to hear us, he might still get the static buzz and know there’s someone close.”

“Wait,” Ryan said in a puzzled tone. “What time did you say it was?”

“Nineteen hundred hours.”

“That’s seven o’clock,” Ryan said. He jogged up to Cahz. “You said the chopper would be back at six o’clock.”

“I said the earliest to expect it back was six,” Cahz corrected. “I didn’t say it would be.”

Ryan threw his arms out in frustration. “Oh that’s great. It could have been and gone.”

“I’ve been doing radio checks every fifteen minutes since six-and anyway we’d have probably heard it,” Cahz said, still marching.

“Oh, great. Probably,” Ryan raised his voice in exaggeration. “We’d probably have heard it.”

Cahz came to a sudden halt. “Listen, Ryan. If we spot it, great; if we don’t we keep going.” Cahz’s voice was strained. “It’s as simple as that. There’s no point wasting energy on shit I can’t control.”

A short distance away a zombie gave an excited moan.

“You hear that,” Ryan said. “You going to ignore that too?”

Cahz didn’t answer as he strode off.

Ryan turned round to look behind them. The street was choked with weeds and debris but no sign of the undead. The rasping call came again, closer and louder than before, but still Ryan couldn’t see the zombie. From somewhere further off a response call echoed.

Cahz seemed unperturbed by the distant moans. Their winding route through the housing estate meant that Ryan’s view was only ever clear for a few hundred yards before a twist in the road obscured it.

“I’m sure we’re being followed,” Ryan said, looking behind them into the sheets of rain.

“Yeah, I’m sure we are, too,” Cahz said without breaking stride.

“It’s going to get dark soon.” Ryan put some effort into his stride and caught up with Cahz. “I thought the plan was find somewhere to hold up before it got dark.”

“Plan went to shit a while back.”

“Whoa! Hold it right there!” Ryan grabbed Cahz by the shoulder, dragging him to a reluctant stop. He kept his grip on Cahz’s body armour. “Yes, the plan’s gone to shit, but so has the whole fucking world! But it’s the shit we have to deal with. Now I know you’re in a bad place right now, but you’d better get it together or I’m going to leave you.”

Cahz laughed. “You’re going to leave me?!”

“Yes, mister fucking hard ass soldier,” Ryan replied. “You’ve got the big gun and the big attitude, but I’ve been stuck out here for years! What about you? When was the last time you were out here without your men and your guns and your helicopter?” He let go of the body armour and gave Cahz a light push on the shoulder. “You go on on your own if you like. I’m finding somewhere to spend the night.” He looked down at the girl huddled in the rucksack strapped to his chest. “I need a rest and she needs a change.”

He slung the bag of cans over his shoulder with a clatter, then turned and walked away.

Cahz watched as Ryan made his way up a side street.

“Just fuck off then!” Cahz shouted. “You’re not safe behind the walls of your precious warehouse now! You’ll be dead in an hour without me hauling your ass along!”

Ryan shouted back, “I’m used to this shitty world, Cahz! How about you?!”

“I wouldn’t be in this world of shit if it wasn’t for you!”

Ryan stopped.

Cahz shouted to the back of Ryan’s head, “And Cannon would still be alive!”

Ryan turned around calmly. “Don’t pin that on me. I never landed you in this. And I never-”

“Yes you did! Yes you fucking did!” Cahz screamed back. “If you hadn’t turned up this morning and fucked up everyone’s day!”

“What were we supposed to do?! Jump up and down shouting yoo-hoo?! We were starving to death in there!”

“Yes, you could have,” Cahz argued. His face was bright red and dripping with rain. “You could have jumped up and down! You could have run around butt naked!” He tapped two fingers to the side of his helmet. “Didn’t you think? Didn’t you think to light a fire or use a signal mirror any number of things rather than barge your way through and turn up asking for a rescue?”