Janice and I followed Sarah and George to their camp. The night air was a misty blackness. We couldn't see anything around us. I held my gun and the stick Tim had given me for protection, as I felt a strange quiver go through my body. This was going to be one hell of a night!
19. Tim Sparks - Sickness
I could hear someone lurking around outside. Aiden sat in the back of the van and Joe was next to me holding his axe and getting ready to move. I knew he was on high alert just like he had been for a while now.
I'd been drinking too much lately, but that wasn't really a worry for me. What worried me, was the fact that the booze was running out, although, I still had two crates of red wine left. What would I do without it? The red wine and the whisky helped me to cope. It felt like a relief to down a taste of whisky every now and again. I just didn't know how I would cope without it. I mean, I only drank later in the day mostly. I had always had a drink in the evening after work and at the weekends. It was just a way of helping me to relax.
I knew Joe didn't understand me, but it was tough. I didn't want to change the way I was. The one good thing that had come out of this end of the world crap was that I had slowed down my drinking considerably. I wasn't drinking as much lately, because with all that was going on, it was hard to get the time to just sit and relax with a tasty bottle of wine like I had done in the past.
I shook my head trying to focus my mind on who could be outside. I wanted to see what was going on, so I made eyes at Joe and signalled to him to be quiet as I slowly opened my door.
I peeked outside in the dark, cold night. I couldn't see anything except for shuffling footsteps. The caravan door was on the other side, so I quietly and slowly walked around the vehicle so I could see who was there. I heard a voice whisper, but I didn't know if I recognised it or not. I moved closer and carefully peeked around the corner. I saw a woman and a man standing at the entrance. The door was still closed.
Suddenly, I heard Lydia's voice. Oh thank goodness she's alive. I breathed with relief at the sound of her voice. I looked around again and saw she was talking to the couple, so I decided to make an appearance.
"Lydia... thank goodness you are okay." I announced as I walked nearer to her.
"Tim... oh Tim I thought we'd lost you... where are the others? Are they okay?" I nodded, but then I forgot that she didn't know about Alan yet. I decided to tell her that later as I stared at the couple next to her.
"Oh Tim... this is Sarah and George... Janice and I went to get their little boy... he's sick."
"Did you bring him here?" I asked hoping it was nothing serious.
"Yes... Janice is taking his temperature now. We managed to get the cabin door open and she's in there with him." Lydia explained.
"Who else is there with her?" I asked knowing that the sickness could be the end of him.
"No one just her and the boy." She said.
"I think someone else should be in there with them... just in case." I said without thinking as I noticed the parents staring at me.
"I know..." Lydia replied.
"What happened back there Lydia when you left us? Was everything okay?" I asked.
"Yes...we hid here and no one came... we were lucky... and then Sarah and George came and asked us for our help. But when we went to Sarah and George's camp... well... we discovered that the other couple and their child and the grandfather were killed by biters. We didn't get to them in time... it was just lucky enough that their boy was okay, because he had managed to hide." She said with a sadness as I listened to her.
"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." I said to the couple. "Did you see anyone else around... like another group of people?" I asked them.
"We did... but that was ages ago now." The lady, Sarah, said to me.
I nodded but didn't reply. I knew it was too dangerous to be hanging around out here. I felt certain they would find us. We needed to move on. After all, we wanted to get to Wales as fast as we could, but so far, there had been too many distractions.
I grabbed Lydia's arm and pulled her to one side so I could speak with her.
"Lydia, I really think we should leave here... we need to move on... we can't stay here. We could be found any minute and we don't want anymore distractions." I said.
"I know, but Nick is still sleeping and the boy is really sick. Janice is seeing to him now." Lydia explained.
I was eager to get away from here, but it didn't seem like it would happen, so I nodded and gave in.
"Okay... perhaps, we should just stay here tonight... Joe and I will do the first watch out. We should all stay in the caravan and let the boy and his parents stay in the cabin." I said looking at the couple as they nodded in agreement.
I knew I was being selfish, but I didn't want