10
Zoe stared. Her gaze was intent on mine. Her shoulders rattled each time the shutter banged.
After the fifth, I lost count.
Naomi was the first to move, the first to turn to Matt then back to the rest of us as they re-joined the arc of our circle.
“You're joking, right?” Naomi said, looking to the shutters then back through the group. “You're fucking joking? You guys need to stop watching shit TV.”
We continued to stare forward, our eyes on Naomi. I noticed Lily's voice had quietened in the background.
“You wanna take your chances?” Andrew said, his eyes wide.
“With the fucking zombies?” Naomi replied. “Shut the fuck up. They're people, like us. People left behind in this fucking mess. They've heard the alarm and come to find help,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “If it was you, wouldn't you want safety?”
Everyone kept quiet. She'd made a good point, but she hadn't been there. She hadn't seen the milky eyes of the woman, her mouth in a death grip around Chloe's hand. She hadn't had to pulverise the woman's head to release her friend.
“But what if it's not? What if it's the military clearing the place out?” I replied.
Naomi took a step toward me, opening her arms.
“Break open the champagne. We've been saved and can get the fuck away,” she said, softening her voice, her eyes clenched.
“What if it's an invasion?” Matt asked, his voice low too.
“What? Not you as well. Do you think aliens have landed?” Naomi replied, the harsh rattle of shutters stopping the rest of her words.
“No, no,” Matt said, taking his own steps forward so he could lower his voice as he shook his head. “Another country, I mean?”
Naomi's smile grew wide.
“And you reckon they're going to knock on the door?”
Our heads turned in unison. A fright ran through the five of us as Toby appeared around the corner; his head low, his gaze on his bright-red hands. A dark soaked bandage in his palm.
“What if it's a doctor?” he asked, his voice solemn. “It won't stop bleeding. She can’t have long left.”
Naomi turned and took a step before pivoting her head back, locking her gaze with mine.
“Your call,” she said, raising her brow. “When this mess is over, the decisions we make will be pulled apart. Perhaps think that over before you leave them out in the freezing cold.” She turned and headed back toward Chloe.
“Hey, unfair,” Zoe replied, her voice wounded as she took a step toward me.
“Is it?” I said, looking around the group and catching each gaze intent in my direction.
Naomi was right. Every decision would be picked at in detail, but when did I get appointed leader? If she cared so much then why didn’t she put herself forward to take control? Ever since she settled into the group, she’d become a vocal part of our dynamic. She was fun, for the most part, keeping us on our toes when the things we did had no consequences.
Before this shit, decisions were taken on a whim by whoever spoke up first or came up with the craziest idea. Was I now in charge because of the guy who’d run into the path of my car? Was it because I was the first to hear about the crisis? Or because I'd been standing next to Chloe when we watched the world change forever?
Was it because they thought I could handle the pressure, or did they, did she, need someone else to take the responsibility? Need someone else to take the shit for doing something wrong?
I drew a deep breath. Like it or not, which I didn't, they’d given me control and I had to do something.
Feeling the weight in my pocket, I turned to the remainder of the group.
“Who’s coming with me?”
11
My breath caught as Andrew volunteered with no delay. Stepping to my side, his face hung with a heavy brow, shoulders rising.
I couldn’t help but raise a thin smile. Matt took a moment. His gaze searched toward where Naomi had just travelled before he stepped forward, his hands still stuffed in his pockets.
Not waiting for Zoe to make a bad decision, I turned to her, clenching her shoulders, taking her by surprise, her head reacting as I leaned in.
“I need your help, too,” I said, and watched as her eyes went wide. “I need you to get the others away from the door. Get them as far back in the store as you can. Find a comfortable place if Chloe's up to it.”
I watched as Zoe blinked a nod and I turned, not waiting for her to process the words; not giving her time to react or to come back with some headstrong plan.
The coppery odour of Chloe's blood was apparent long before we rounded the aisle to see her head lain on Lily's lap. Toby still pushed down bandages to her hand, the scarlet pile at his knees bigger than the fresh stock to his side.
Naomi hung around where the car wedged, the collar of her long coat drawn up tight around her neck. Her white breath reflected in the torchlight.
With only a glance in Chloe's direction, I couldn't hold my gaze any longer. Her face was devoid of movement. Her life still draining out through the bandage.
All but a single lantern at Chloe's side fell to dark, the warehouse near returning to its original forbidding state.
The steel of the car stung my fingers with cold as I leant around the thin wall and past the metal skin, peering into the night lit more than I'd appreciated with the half-moon light.
With the coast clear, I lifted myself around the car. Climbing up the bumper I regretted how easy it was
