Pushing Up Gravestones - Pushing Up Gravestones – Chapter 41

Mum stared at the zombies, standing
on her tiptoes as was the norm. She raked a hand through her hair and turned to
dad, her brown eyes full of worry, her face stern and serious. Dad met her
gaze, his own eyes equally as anxious and he touched her shoulder gently.

“What should we do?” She whispered, obviously not wanting us to hear
but still trying to be heard over the noise of everyone else. He angled his
body so neither of their faces could be seen by us.

“I don’t know,” he replied, “we can’t have them all hanging
around here, it’s too dangerous.”

“I want to fight!” I said suddenly, forgetting I wasn’t meant to be
listening, “you can’t just send us away like children!”

“You are a child Denis,” Mum said, her forehead creased with her
frown, “you’re not old enough for this.”

“I’ve been fine so far! You can’t make us leave!” I argued, not
prepared to back down.

“No offense Mrs Roberts but I think we can handle a few zombies.”
Rory said respectfully, “we’ve all killed plenty before.”

“You may think you can do this but look around, grown adults can’t deal
with this so why do you think you can?” Dad replied calmly, his eyes
pleading with us.

“I don’t know if we can dad but we have to try, we can’t just run away and
hide.”

“We’re just trying to protect you.” Mum said, her normal serious
attitude slipping, her eyes filling with tears, “I couldn’t bear it if
anything happened to you.”

I suddenly realized that this was affecting them just as much as it was
affecting me, except they tried not to show it. I wondered when this was going
to end, would we ever get rid of this infection or were we all going to be
killed eventually? Were we fighting the inevitable? And what if we did defeat
all the zombies, what would happen then? Would the few of us that remained go back
to our normal lives? Would we be able to? Would there be enough of us left?

“I know,” I said, wrapping mum in a tight hug, “but we’ve all
grown through this, I’m not who I was last year, heck I’m not even who I was a
month ago.”

“Yeah, the world ending does that to you,” Ferrah said in an attempt
at humor. No one smiled but I appreciated it and I was sure the others did too.

I heard soft sobbing and saw Rory hugging Tina, her face hidden in his
shoulder. Her small frame shook with her crying and Ferrah moved towards them,
wrapping both of them in a tight hug. I felt a small pang of jealousy as Rory’s
arm slipped around her, despite the fact we were now friends and she’d told me
she wasn’t interested. I couldn’t control it, but I didn’t beat myself up about
it, there were other things to focus on right now.

Ferrah released Tina and knelt down beside her, her hands cupping Tina’s face.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, wiping away Tina’s tears with her thumb.

“I’m scared.” She whispered, refusing to meet Ferrah’s eyes.

“Okay.” Ferrah said, “Why are you scared?”

“Because the zombies are going to get us and even grownups can’t keep them
away,” Tina said, chewing her lip and still staring stubbornly at the
floor.

“Well that’s a good reason to be scared.” Ferrah said, “it’s
okay to be scared of something that’s worth it, even I’m scared sometimes, and
so is Rory, and Denis.”

“I know but I don’t want to be, I don’t like it.” She admitted
softly.

“I know you don’t like it but you have to just forget about that and focus
on something good.” Tina nodded slowly and Rory slipped his hand into
hers. “Do you think you can do that for me?” Tina nodded again and
Ferrah stood up and turned to me. “Maybe we should go.” She said and
I frowned, not wanting to but beginning to sense I didn’t have a choice.

“That would be a good idea,” Dad said, his eyebrows knit together
like wool.

Everyone turned to look at me and I sighed.

“Fine!” I snapped, exasperated. “So how will we get out of
here?” I demanded and mum and dad exchanged a look that almost made me
laugh out loud. They had no idea.

I was opened my
mouth to say that we would be forced to stay but the loud roar of an engine cut
me off.

I jumped and spun
round to see who it was but all alarm faded from my body when I saw Uncle Bob
sitting behind the wheel, a man, with closely cropped black hair sat beside
him, his face harsh and made all the more menacing by a razor-thin, ruby red
scar which ran the entire length of his jaw on the left side.

Uncle Bob killed
the engine, flung open the door and swung out the truck. He landed with a thud
beside us, a small cloud of dirt rising from his feet, his grey hair bouncing.
He clamped a hand on my shoulder and drew me into a quick hug which felt like
hitting a brick wall. He smelled of sweat and blood and fresh air, but
underneath that all was a scent the reminded me of when I was a kid going over
to his house so he could babysit me, playing crazy games and eating things I
would never be allowed to at home.

Those were the
days before I became a teenager and they decided I was old enough to be left on
my own. When I was young and innocent and didn’t have to worry about zombies
attacking me whenever I rounded a corner.

“Hey
kiddo,” he said, grinning down at me, “how ya keepin’?”

“As well as I
can with the apocalypse looming,” I said and smiled back at him.

“You getting
out of here?” He asked, glancing from me to Ferrah and Rory who each held
one of Tina’s hands.

“Mum wants us
too but I want to stay and fight,” I said, the happiness that had swelled
inside me from seeing him disappeared all at once.

“Oh there’s
no question, you have to go.” Uncle Bob said, and mum and dad exchanged a
smile. I frowned and he chuckled. “Look at the pout on that girl, it’s
like she’s five again.” That only made my scowl worse and dad joined in
his laughter.

Mum tutted
disapprovingly and crossed her arms across her chest. This didn’t have the
effect she wanted so she sighed heavily and shot them a look that could have
killed.

“I don’t
think now is the time.” She said, looking pointedly over her shoulder at
the scene behind her. It was one of chaos, the bodies of zombies and humans
alike littering the ground, being trampled as other zombies moved forward to
take up the battle.

I was thinking the
same thing but mainly because I didn’t enjoy being laughed at, even though they
didn’t mean anything bad by it. I think they needed to laugh just as much as
the rest of us, we’d all been serious for far too long.

I tugged my
fingers through my tangled ponytail and scratched my scalp. What I needed was a
good shower but there was little chance of that happening, even if all I could
do was wash with a warm bucket of water I’d be happy. I just needed to feel
clean again, to scrub off the blood and dirt of the day and snuggle down in a
well-worn T-shirt and leggings. Simple, comfortable.

“Take the
truck.” Uncle Bob said suddenly, turning to me. “You need it more
than I do and all I’ll be doing is fighting.”

“Are you
sure?” I asked, concern evident in my voice.

“Of
course.” He said, tucking a curly strand of hair behind his ear.
“I’ll find something else, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,
Bob.” Mum sighed gratefully, her tense expression loosening a bit.

“Ah don’t
mention it.” He said, waving his hand dismissively. “Anything for my
favorite niece.”

“I’m your
only niece!” I said, smiling at the familiar joke.

“Exactly.”
He replied, pulling me into another hug.

“Thanks,
Uncle Bob,” I whispered, squeezing his shoulders.

“No problem
kiddo. Stay safe.”

“I always do,”
I said and turned to Rory, Ferrah, and Tina. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll
drive.” Rory volunteered and climbed into the truck. The man who’d been
beside Uncle Bob was now gone, he’d somehow slipped away without me noticing
and I was grateful for that. He’d freaked me out and though Uncle Bob had obviously
trusted him I wasn’t sure.

He seemed to have
disappeared now and Tina climbed in followed by Ferrah then me.

“Keep
safe!” Mum said, waving to me. “And try not to get into too much
trouble.”

“We
will.” I blew her and dad a kiss and Rory started the engine.

“I love
you!” Dad yelled.

“Love you too
dad! Love you, mum!”

“Love you
too.” She replied, her voice only just distinguishable over the rumble of
the engine. I wiped a tear from my eye as I wondered if I’d ever see them
again.

Rory spun the
truck around and bumped along the dry ground, picking up speed as we got closer
to the line of zombies. My heart began to race as we got closer and closer then
finally we were among them, their fingers slamming against the windows and
scrabbling across the metal.

Tina let out a
whimper and I felt Ferrah shift beside me as she wrapped her arms around Tina.
I could hear her whispering in Tina’s ear, repeating the same five words again,
and again, and again.

“It’s going
to be okay, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.”

Something heavy
slammed into the side of the vehicle, fingers like claws tore through the front
windscreen smashing the glass and sending the shards spinning across the
dashboard. Tina screamed and Rory swerved violently, somehow managing to fling
off the unwanted passenger.

We burst through
the crowd of zombies and sped down the road, leaving the crowd of angry zombies
behind us.