Decaying Hearts

Chapter 16

   Once night had fallen and sleep had finally taken a restless Isabelle, I headed down to the nurse’s office just a few doors down the hall. Her first night in strange surroundings, I should have anticipated sleeps taunting delay. I had tried telling her stories of my own childhood, like any other father might, but it only poked at her curiosity. The next method was to read to her, but she was too interested in the story of The Ugly Duckling to sleep. In the end, it only took ten minutes of softly stroking the bridge of her nose for sleep to come.
   I watched her sleep a few moments, watching as her troubled face turned soft. Her eyelids fluttered lightly with the delicacy of butterfly wings beneath relaxed brows and her nose hidden beneath curls. Her soundless slumber only reminded me more of her innocence, how vulnerable she is to this world of living nightmares.
   I worried for her, about her. I could only hope that one day the world would return, rather than a life of death to become normality, but in that moment I had to prepare her for the world we faced, she would need to be able to take care of herself if the worst should happen.
   For now, I left her to sleep, with the safety of Lenny just metres away. Once again his snores echoed around the classroom and an occasional ripple of noise that warned of a violent fragrance. I couldn’t help but smile. What a guy. I knew I’d be able to leave Isabelle with him, even whilst he slept, he’d take care of her.
   Out of the classroom, the corridor was haunting with the shadows outstretched and lights at a minimal. It seemed as though any ghoul could be lurking around every corner. The light was an attraction to the dead and subtlety was key to our survival. Although, it was difficult to maintain the subtlety as I walked the short distance to the nurse’s office, with every step the sound carried down the vacant halls. If anybody was awake they would could easily hear my steps, giving away my position, my intentions.
   I entered the room and the nurse’s office was empty, apart from the two captives that had been taken the day before; the day Nancy was murdered. Two young boys were laid across thin mattresses kept in the office and handcuffed to sturdy pipes. They were both casualties of Tony’s assault, both had been shot; one in the leg and the other in the stomach. I was surprised the other guy was still alive as I saw his chest rise and fall periodically. Maria must have managed to remove the bullet and stop any bleeding; even with the lack of advanced medicine that woman could work magic.
   The other young man was sat up right with his back firmly against the wall and the clatter of handcuffs echoed. I felt my neck spasm, desperate to escape the ear piercing racket with no avail.
   “A stranger sneaking into the room, in the dead of night whilst the rest of the savages sleep, I can only assume you’re here to finish the job.” A voice spoke matter-of-factly with tiredness sat heavy against his voice. His fatigue was blatant as he battled against the sleep that fought to have him. I assumed the pair were taking shifts to watch out for their captors, but the other young lad was out cold and the likelihood of him waking up before sunrise seemed minimal.
   “If I wanted to kill you, I would have shot you myself when the Boss told me to.” I shrugged and lowered myself to a crouch just metres away from the boy.
   “Why didn’t you?” His voice came was a stutter, perhaps surprised that someone in that day and age wasn’t willing to kill him on sight. Maybe he was just used to such threats?
   “Shooting kids has never really taken to me.”
   “I ain’t no kid!” He whispered harshly. “I’m 17.”
   “You’re still a kid.” I said simply and sternly.
   “In a world like this, we can’t base ourselves on being ‘kids’ or ‘grown ups’. You’re either the living or the dead. Nothing else matters.” The boy explained.
    The truth in his words sent shivers rolling down my spine, like delicate trails of ice water slithering down a windshield. The thought of it was terrifying. A young man old enough to fire a gun in the face of the teeth, yet technically still a child, he had lost his innocence before it was due. Isabelle was likely to share the same fate; that terrified me.
   “What’s your name?” I asked softly, desperate to change the subject.
   “Zak.”
   “Josh.” I nodded and held out a hand.
   Zack glared for a moment, cautious and not-so-secretly afraid, but within seconds his hunched shoulders softened and his furrows brows relaxed as he took my hand with a firm grip.
   I spoke to him as I would speak to anybody else, like a friend and he appreciated it. The simple was he explained and engaged just showed how much he craved to comfort of friendship, to feel as though he was no longer alone.
   Despite the dark I could see his hair was blonde and curled tightly around his ears. Faint flicks of light from the forever-daunting streetlights showed his indented cheeks and the paleness to his skin. He was clearly desperate for nutrition. He was slowly starving.
   “So what’s your camp like?” I asked.
   “Nothing special. If you ask me, Dim is just your old time dickhead.” Zak huffed.
   “What do you mean?” I almost snapped with sunken brows. If Dim was as bad as everybody believes and, after Nancy, I certainly didn’t doubt it, what did that mean for Samia?
   “He walks around like this big dictator, when really he’s nothing. The way he treats that girl, Sammy?” - I think that’s her name... well, let’s just say it is no way to treat a lady, apocalypse or not.”
  “What?!” I suddenly said, my eyes widened and my mind was switched to high alert. “Is she in danger with him? Can you take me there?”
   “Wow, man. What’s the deal?”
   I sighed heavily and turned my body to collapse against the wall beside Zak. I ran two fidgety hands through my hair with my head pressed against curled up knees. A tear escaped, but I let the silver drop roll down my cheek and drip from my chin. The room was silent, I was almost sure that I heard it echo against the darkness as it landed on the floor.
   “Wait... Do you know her?” Zak gasped, obviously astounded by the slim odds. It was so unlikely to know people in other groups. More often than not, everybody you once knew was dead.
   I nodded frantically, the grip in my hair got tighter and tighter until strands were pulled from their roots. My body seemed to shake with every breath I took and my heart seemed to bear louder than the deep bass of a drum.
   “Josh, how do you know her?”
   “She was my wife.”

   I left Zak after I had grabbed him a few cereal bars for him from the emergency food storage the group kept in the canteen. I really didn’t care what the rest of the group would think once they discovered the missing supplies. The human race was endangered and I wasn’t willing to kill someone without due course, or let someone starve.
   Once morning had broken and the sun rose against the horizon, I left the classroom in search of Tony whilst Isabelle still slept. Stepping out into the hall, I headed toward the canteen where I soon found him, sat at one of the plastic tables with a steaming bowl of porridge in front of him. I stood before him and he refused to even acknowledge my presence. He was most likely still pissed at me. Jackass. Even with my shadow falling cross him, he failed to even flash me a glance.
   “Can I help you, Josh?” Tony finally said around a mouthful of food.
   There was nothing more disgusting than a man who refused to look another man in the eye when speaking to him, especial whilst holding a petty grudge. It wasn’t like I hadn’t apologised – for something I wasn’t even partially sorry for. My opinion of our so called leader was slowly and surely diminishing.
   “We need to go to Dim’s camp.” I demanded, leaving little room for an argument on the matter.
   He dropped his plastic spoon into his bowl and leant back to look at me with crossed arms. Tony spoke with a dark, patronising tone that made me dislike him even more. “And why is that?”
   “You saw what he did to Nancy, those people there are at risk...”
   “We are all at risk.”
   “Frankly, that living nutcase seems to be much more dangerous than the dead that walk.” I recited. I decided not to mention my diabolical plan to rescue my wife from the hands of dim witted psychopath. I doubted that it would buy me any brownie points, but then again, maybe the craziness would form a bond, seen as though it seemed Tony was you know, senile.
   “It would be too much of a risk to our people. Are we suppose to just leave the school behind with our weakest members left to defend it, whilst the strongest infiltrate a foreign camp? With no intelligence or information on them at all, other than the obvious fact that Dim is brutal, it is a suicide mission.”
   “No. I only need myself and two others, maybe even just one.”
   “Do whatever you please, Josh. I will not risk the lives of my own, especially not for some childish heroic fantasy.”
   “There are others alive out there and you have no intention of uniting with them?! What happened to convincing them to join us?”
   “Remember Josh...” Tony began standing up from the table. “You are just a guest here and you are quickly outwearing your welcome.” With that, he marched into the corridor without another word.
   Somehow, Zak’s dictator-like description of Dim, didn’t seem too far from matching with Tony. In the matter of days I had been there, the apparently kind and self-sacrificing leader and transformed into an egotistical pig head. How had the group coped under such leadership? Was it a new side that had never been shown until my arrival? Or had his true personality began to shine through like a light house amidst a storm?
   Lost and out of ideas, I sighed deeply and fall back into one of many plastic chairs. How was I going to save Samia? I couldn’t go alone, but who would defy Tony. I slammed my fist into the table and porridge splashed on to the surface.
   “Young man, there’s no need to make a mess.” A tired voice spoke behind me.
   “Sorry, Robert, how are you feeling?” I said guiltily.
   “I’m fine, thanks son, but I’m not here for small talk.”
   I stare at him profoundly. He had not spoken to anyone in the last 2 days and suddenly he had an agenda on his mind.
   “I hear you want some help getting to their camp. I’m your man.”