Chapter 3

During dinner that night Tommy sat at a table alone nursing his piece of pigeon pie. It smelled wonderful to his empty stomach, but the emotional carnage messing around in his head, was making it hard to concentrate on the act of eating.

"Penny for your thoughts." Amelia nudged his shoulder with her hip, smiling softly and sat beside him. Tommy tried to return a smile, but it came out more like a grimace.

"Uh…..Just wondering what's going to happen to us all, I guess." Tommy stabbed the pie a few times with his plastic fork and then, with a sigh, dropped the cutlery on to the plate.

"Are you not going to eat that?" Amelia asked in surprise, subconsciously licking her lips.

"Go ahead. Help yourself." He pushed the plate towards her.

"Oh no, I couldn't."

"It's just going to go to waste and you're hungry. Eat up while it's still warm. Go on."

"No. I can't take food from you. We're all hungry."

"Look, I ain't going to be eating it. I want you to have it."

They stared at each other for a moment and then Tommy, blushing, broke eye contact and took Amelia's hand, shoving the fork into it.

"Thank you." She said sincerely and began to tuck into the food eagerly.

Tommy zoned out as she spoke to him about what had happened at camp that day when they were out foraging for food. The soldiers had managed to acquire some shampoo, pain killers and more torches. Amelia was excited that she might get to actually wash her hair with real product. She tugged at it, embarrassed. It was greasy and her highlights were growing out.

"You know any good hairdressers around here?" She giggled, but stopped when the young man beside her failed to react.

"Tommy?"

"Huh?" He blinked, realising Amelia had asked him a question.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. You were saying?"

"Am I bothering you?" She shook her head, mortified at her behaviour. "God, I just walked over here unannounced and sat chewing your ear off. I even ate all your pie! I'm so sorry. Goodness, I am so rude." Amelia flushed and made to stand.

Tommy grabbed her arm.

"No, don't go. I...I was just thinking about my brother."

"Is he okay?"

Tommy let go of her arm and shook his head sadly.

"He lost his daughter. Sarah. My niece. She was shot."

Sarah covered her mouth with her hand in horror.

"Oh god. I am so sorry."

"He's not dealing. He just sleeps all the time and he isn't eating. I just don't know what to do. He has always been there for me and I can't seem to do the same for him. Everything I say is the wrong thing. Shit, if I can't even get him to eat what use am I?!" He ground his short, bitten finger nails into his palm.

Amelia squeezed his shoulder in comfort, but what could she say? Everyone in the camp had lost someone. They sat in silence, dwelling in their own grief and problems.

He wanted his friends back. What had happened to them? Had they survived? His house? Had it been burned to the ground like so many others? Had it been raided? He wanted his family whole again.

"I just want to go home." Tommy said finally. It was barely a whisper and his voice was thick with emotion.

"Me too." She placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Two strangers seeking warmth and security from each other.

"Me too."

Joel had fallen asleep after Tommy had left. He was weak and tired and so sick of the torturous thoughts in his head. Sometimes in his sleep he found brief moments of relief. For a while at least, until the horrific nightmares found their way behind his eyelids. The nightmares he could just about deal with, it was the dreams of Sarah that ripped him apart. Dreaming of her playing football, dancing to some pop song in her room, playing video games and gossiping on the phone to her friends. Those dreams left him empty and numb.

He woke again at the sounds of people returning to their tents after dinner. Opening his eyes, he stared hard at the pointed white ceiling of the tent. Mercifully, he hadn't dreamt of anything much that time. Glancing over at Tommy's empty bed he felt a pang of regret. What was he doing right now? His brother could hardly deal with ordering pizza on his own, never mind the situation they were in now.

Their parents had died ten years ago. His mother through cancer and his father, the doctors said, from a broken heart. He had raised Tommy since he was sixteen so his brother had come to depend on him more than he probably should have.

And now he was pushing him away. Pushing him away to be alone in a cruel, dangerous world. Wasn't it worth surviving to take care of his pain in the ass little brother?

But the loss of Sarah. It was overwhelming. Indescribable. How was a parent supposed to cope with the death of their child?

He could feel the tears again, but bit his lip hard until the pain allowed him to push the emotion down deep inside. His arms and legs were heavy and when he tried to stand up from the bed he was overcome with dizziness. He knew it was through hunger. But how could he eat? How could he go to dinner with Tommy and a bunch of strangers and eat like nothing had happened?

Joel punched the bed. It creaked ominously.

"Lousy piece of shit." He muttered and swung his legs off the side.

He exhaled loudly. He would find Tommy and try make things right. He could do that. What was it his brother had said? Take one day at a time? Joel pushed himself to stand and took a minute until the world stopped shaking.

"Okay, Tommy. Let's try it your way for a while."

Joel walked out the tent and then realised he had no idea what way it was to the marquee where they served meals. He had hardly left the tent since they arrived. There weren't a lot of people standing about who he could ask either. Most had retired to their own living quarters or had set about doing their designated chores.

He decided to walk about for a while and get to know the compound while in search for his brother. He would eventually come across the food marquee – the place wasn't that big after all. Walking around and between tents reminded Joel of times when he was much younger. His friends and he would go to music festivals in summer. The atmosphere was much different of course. There was no one drinking and playing guitar outside their tents, no doughnut stands, no groups of drunken kids taking shots and smoking stuff they shouldn't be.

As he approached a large tent, Joel realised he had walked too far left, as he had reached the edge of the compound. He made to turn and head northwards, but serious voices inside caught his attention.

"I'm telling you this isn't going to last much longer."

"Another fifty people arrived yesterday! We don't have the resources to handle everyone. Food is low. Medicine is pretty much non-existent. If the people start a riot, we don't even have a lot of ammunition to keep it contained."

"There must be another way, goddammit!"

"Sir, I just don't see another way. I heard word that there have been gangs forming. They attack places like this, kill the civilians – those that aren't female at least - hang the soldiers and take the food and weapons. We're not prepared for an attack like that."

Joel crept closer to the opening of the tent, straining to hear every word the soldiers were saying.

"Jesus Christ. Two weeks and humanity goes to pot."

"Survival of the fittest."

"We're not animals, Lieutenant!"

"Yes, sir."

"I can't allow this. We'll find another way."

"There is no other way!"

"Speak like that again, son and I'll have you done for insubordination."

"Old man, don't you see?! There is no army! There's nothing! We're doomed! We had to kill Eddie last week cause that damned infected got over the gate. We slit his throat! I killed my best friend and for what? Fucking nothing?!"

"You listen to me…..!"

"Fuck this!"

Joel held his breath as suddenly a fight broke out inside the tent. There was loud struggle, cursing and yelling and then suddenly one of the men cried out.

"Oh shit, Carl. You've killed him! You've fucking killed him!"

"Shut up! Keep your cool! We'll say he was infected and we had no choice. I'm not taking orders from a guy soft in the head. That ain't gonna' fly no more. It's kill or be killed."

"Oh shit! Shit!"

"Shut your goddam mouth! Tidy this place up and I'll take care of the body. You stick to what I told you and it will be fine. You breathe a word of this and I'll chuck you over the gate and let the infected get you. You hear me?"

"Y…..yes."

Joel ducked back behind the tent as one of soldiers marched out.

"Holy shit." He muttered. He needed to get to Tommy now. Something was going down. And soon. Their safe haven wasn't so safe anymore.

Joel searched for Tommy around C-Camp for another half an hour, but returned back to their own tent as he could feel himself tiring. It was getting dark now and the wind and rain were picking up. People were starting to close the flaps of their tent and pull out extra blankets for the children and elderly. He sat on the bed heavily and wondered what the hell he was going to do about what he had overheard. He had effectively just heard someone be murdered. Joel shuddered at the thought. What the hell was going on with the world? He knew one thing – they couldn't stay here.

Like a punch in the gut, guilt overwhelmed him. Sarah. He hadn't thought about her for over an hour. The guilt didn't make any sense, but he was terrified if he stopped thinking about her he would forget her face, her voice, her laugh. He had been distracted and it scared him to the bone how easily she slipped from his mind. He had nothing of hers. Not one damn picture. He didn't have his phone with her text messages. Joel touched his watch absent-mindedly and then startled at the realisation that he had one thing. The watch. The last birthday present he received from his daughter. It ticked, seemingly unstoppable, in the face of such destruction. He rubbed the face with his thumb and smiled as he remembered how he had joked with his daughter that it didn't work.

"Baby girl, I miss you." He whispered into the darkness and fell back onto the bed, lost in thought and clutching desperately at the watch. "I miss you so much."

"Gin."

"What? No fair! Did you cheat?"

"You are such a sore loser."

Amelia stuck her tongue out and threw down her cards in disgust.

"I give up! I am officially rubbish at cards!"

"Well, you know if we were playing a certain card game, that wouldn't be a bad thing!"

"I know you have a point, Tommy, I am just not seeing it."

"Strip…"

Amelia covered his mouth with her hands.

Tommy pried them away laughing and began shuffling the cards.

"You are such a chancer."

"Can't blame a guy for trying!"

"We'd get arrested or something. I share a tent with three other people!"

"Just makes it more exciting!"

"You are awful."

Amelia and Tommy were sitting cross-legged on her bed whispering behind a divider used in tents shared with strangers. The girl looked at the time.

"It's past curfew. You should go in case the soldiers make rounds. They get pissed if people aren't in their own tents after dark."

"Aw, screw 'em."

Amelia shook her head and stood, pulling Tommy up too.

"You are trouble. Get to bed!"

"Goodnight kiss?" He smiled teasingly as the girl blushed.

"Bed!" She pushed him out her tent, but blew a kiss as he walked backwards away from her.

Tommy shook his head chuckling as he watched her disappear into her tent. Amelia was fun. And cute. She was like a ray of warm sunshine and he almost felt drunk with happiness walking away from her. It was nice to be distracted from hell for a time. He dodged round one of the soldier patrols which took him the long route back to his own tent, near the opening to the woods. As he strode back, using the moonlight to guide him, he heard a man pleading desperately. Tommy snuck closer to the woods. There was a group of people in there!

He hid behind trees and hedges, sneaking closer, until he was just behind them. There were seven people standing in a line, their hands bound behind their backs and five soldiers in front of them. When Tommy looked closer, he could see they were all older – no younger than sixty-five years of age.

"Please, we'll move on. We don't need to stay here. You don't need to do this!"

"You'll only use sources of another camp."

"I have a daughter who lost her husband. She needs me to help raise her three children." A woman sobbed.

"You'll only use the food that the children need. It has to be done. The world has changed. You can't help us in an attack against the infected or the gangs. You are too weak. We can't waste food on the old. We need it to build armies to protect the camps. You must see this."

"You bastards! You're not god! This is madness." Another yelled out.

"Shut that old man up."

Like a grim repear the soldier marched towards one of the old men in the line and pulled out his blade. It glistened in the moon and then he struck. There was no sound at first and then the old man coughed, his throat splitting in two, and warm red blood flowed down to his chest.

The rest of the group began to scream as the old man collapsed to his knees, and then fell forward face down to the leaf-litter, hands still bound behind him.

"Silence them! Now!"

Then the attack was on. The soldiers jumped from civilian to civilian, stabbing and cutting until the terrified noises of the group was silenced. Tommy watched in horror. His breaths were short and shallow. He clutched his t-shirt with one hand, his heart was beating fast and hard.

"What do we do now?" One of the soldiers asked, standing amongst the bodies, breathing heavily.

"We bury them and then tell the families there was an attack during the night."

"That won't hold up for long. If we keep removing the weak and the old, people are going to start asking questions."

"They won't be asking questions for long. One of the camps a couple of towns over was attacked earlier. We need all the food and weapons for us. We need to train those that are capable to defend."

Tommy had heard enough. He fell back on trembling arms. He had to get back to Joel. They needed to get the hell out of here. The soldiers were selecting people of little value and slaughtering them like livestock. This was insane. They had gone mad. All this time he had been terrified of the infected, when in fact it was his own species that were crazed. Humans scared and not understanding what was happening to their world, turning on each other and weeding out the weak.

He picked himself up and sprinted back to his tent, as fast as his legs could carry him.