"Well... look at you... with your new shiny weapon." She said as I saw her hand trace the outline of it. She caressed the sword's shiny cover hanging over my shoulder.
"I know... it's going to do wonders for me I think." I said feeling pleased about it.
"It certainly will... anyway... shall we get going then? Where do you think we should go? We need somewhere private for us so we can carry on with our passionate friendship." She said laughing at me.
"We're not far from Bristol city... so... maybe we can find an empty house for the night or somewhere along the way where we can stop safely." I said as I heard someone shout out my name.
It was Joe calling me. I took Lydia's hand and went back to the others. I let go of her before anyone had seen us together.
"What's up Joe." I asked as I saw the terror on his face.
"Tim... there's someone inside the shop... I found her hiding in the corner and she's badly hurt."
"Where... how hurt is she?" I asked.
"It's her leg... but Tim... there's something else..." Joe said as I walked by his side back to the shop.
"What Joe?"
"Well... she's... she's heavily pregnant and she's very young... around 17 or 18 I'd say." Joe said sighing.
"Really...?" I said as I stared at him in horror and felt my heart panic. It was going to be another hardship having to take care of a pregnant woman. Whatever would we run into next?
I walked into the shop to look for the pregnant female. My heart let out a breathless sigh of fear when I saw her. Her leg was bleeding. But that wasn't the problem. She looked like she could have the baby at any minute, because she was enormous!
I turned back around and leaned my back to the wall, as I took my small bottle of whisky out of my pocket and drank from it.
I had just started to feel a glimmer of hope again after being with Lydia and finding the weapon. Now, things were about to get more complicated. This end of the world crap was getting harder I thought.
23. Lydia Brown - A Place to Rest
I looked at the pale young girl sitting on the floor of the shop. Her heavily pregnant form stretched her dirty, black t.shirt. I shivered at the sight of her.
As I stared, I noticed how impatient Tim was to get away. He left, so he could sort out the petrol for his van. I was alone with the girl. Her huge blue eyes looked up at me.
"Hi... what's your name?" I asked.
"Trudie." She said quietly looking up at me as she sat on the floor.
"So... Trudie... can you get up?" I asked as she nodded. "How many months are you?" I asked as I put out a hand to help her up.
"Almost nine months... I'm due in a few days." She said.
I tried not to panic, so I continued to ask her questions.
"Where do you live? Do you have anyone here with you?"
"Yes... well... I did... I got stranded here... my partner... boyfriend.. he came here with me and then he was attacked and killed... you know... bitten... he was in that room over there... but that guy you are with... he... he killed him," she cried.
"Oh... I see... well, he was already dead Trudie." I said as I watched her nod in agreement.
"My family live about five minutes away from here on a farm," she suddenly said.
"A farm? Is that your parents?" I asked feeling a glimmer of hope.
"Yes... my mum, dad and brother... also... my boyfriend had a car parked over there, but I don't drive, so that's why I'm stuck here," she explained.
"Okay... well... what if we take you there." I asked.
"Would you? Oh thank you so much... I need to see if they are okay and they must be worried about me." She said as she stood there looking at me.
"Okay... come with me and I'll introduce you to the others." I said.
I brought Trudie to the caravan and introduced her to Ellie, Janice and the others. Nick was sitting with Ellie and was starting to look better. He was having some soup out of a can. Aiden sat next to him drinking a bottle of water. The kids, Molly, Sean and Rebecca were sat around a table playing scrabble. Tim and Joe were outside by the van, so I left Trudie with Ellie and Janice. I went outside to speak to Tim.
"Tim..." I called to him as he turned to look at me.
"What's wrong? Is that girl okay? She's not going to have her baby yet... is she?" I smiled at him as he nervously spoke about the pregnant girl.
"No... she's not having it yet Tim... I've just been talking to her and she told me that her family live on a farm about five minutes drive from here... I think we should go there... see if her family are still alive." I said as Tim seemed to perk up at my words.
"That's good... it means we won't be stuck with her." He said.
It annoyed me that he was eager to get rid of her.
"That's not a nice thing to say Tim. I was thinking more about how we could have somewhere to sleep for the night." I said flippantly.
"Well... it's true... we can't survive if we have a baby with us... imagine if the baby cries... we'd all be dead in minutes... come on... let's get going to this farm." He said as he left me standing there alone.
I watched him as he got into the driver's seat. Joe went with
