M. Marshall - The End Is Nigh

“Do you know this man?” I had the feeling this was something they had seen before.

“I’m sorry,” the woman whispered, barely moving her lips. This man rifling through our possessions was no stranger to her.

“Does he have a weapon?” I asked.

“He doesn’t need one.” She looked pitiful, lowering her face. The blood smeared over her shirt and face was not from a nosebleed. They were visibly afraid of him.

“Hey what are you doing? We need that if we’re going anywhere. I know that it’s cramped in the back for you all, but I’m-”

“You’re not going anywhere sweetheart, and neither is your kid. It’s bad enough me carting around her two little bastards, but I’m not taking on another woman and her brat.” The man staring back at me was on another planet. His eyes darted from side to side, he kept hitting the side of his forehead with the heel of his hand and shaking his head. As if attempting to remove something from it. I had not seen anything like it, he looked through me with pure hatred. I looked around to see where Shadow was, but there was no sign of him. He must have been out of earshot chasing rabbits somewhere no doubt.

I was aghast. Instinctively I picked up Rosa and moved her and the things around her over to a safe place away from the man ripping our belongings out of our car. I could see the car keys were in his hand he must have grabbed them while I was putting away the stove. Damn. What a trusting fool I had been.

“What is it you’re planning to do? Just leave us here?” I began to walk up to him. Getting closer I sped up and stooping low closed my fingers around the fabric handle of the cooking stove, I swung it up towards him aiming for his face. The lack of resistance meant that I had missed. Before I was able to recover my footing from the swing he ducked and dove into me.

I had underestimated him. For all his rolling eyes and giving the impression of being mentally unstable, he was far quicker than he looked. After being rugby tackled to the floor, he grabbed my shoulders and slammed me into the ground. Knocking the air out of my lungs. I clamoured for a breath. Upon seeing me struggling the man saw his chance and landed a punch so hard that I felt sure he had broken my cheekbone. Without pausing both of his hands grabbed my throat, and he began to choke me.

I used my hands and nails to tear at his face and chest. My mind kept going back to the same question. What would happen to my daughter if this man killed me here? No-one would find her. Thankfully the woman had now decided to get involved, although reluctantly and not really in my favour.

“Come on not in front of the kids.” I felt his weight shift on top of me “We need to go, someone could pass any minute. Get our stuff into the car and drive away. Come on. Leave her, come on. She’s got a kid.” I felt his hands leave my throat but the burning sensation lingered and I didn’t get up. I rolled on to my side and turned to where I could see Rosa who was attempting to get to her feet. Just as she was about to gain her balance Shadow appeared from behind the tree where I had left her. Smiling she turned to Shadow, and he sat down encouraging her to join him.

I didn’t move again until I heard my car’s engine start-up and fade into the distance without us. My eyes were trained on Rosa as she followed Shadow and toddled over to reach me her little eyes were filled with tears. I lay there on the grass not moving.

“Mumum. Wakey!” She fell on top of me and grasped handfuls of my jacket in her little hands. I looked up at that small, beautiful face. In trying to do the right thing, I had almost certainly condemned her to death.

I COULDN’T BELIEVE how stupid I had been. I should have known what a risk it would be to stop and help strangers in the middle of nowhere. Kicking myself, I rubbed my throat which still burned from where his hands had been clamped around my neck. I bet there would be some colourful bruising there by the morning.

I had been stranded with nothing but the things I had taken out of the car, although I noticed that they had picked up the small box of tinned food and taken it with them. Luckily I had spied a couple of tins of tuna fish which must have escaped at some point and rolled underneath a stationary car. Crawling over to them I rolled up the sleeping bags and picked up the car seat they had left upside-down on the tarmac.

“It’s not much fucking good to me without a car,” I shouted into the empty carriageway.

I turned to look around at the section of road where we were, I could see that there were four cars. I fastened Rosa into her car seat. I plonked her down in the tree line where she could watch me as I ran from one car to the next looking for something to get us away from this place.

The first two cars had been in quite a serious fender bender. It was going to be unlikely that either one of them would be useful. The next one to me was over the central reservation travelling in the opposite direction. I jumped over the barrier and headed towards it. I looked over into the front seat and was relieved to see it empty.

The moment my hand touched the car door I heard something coming up the road. It sounded like something large, a diesel engine like a truck. I crouched down unsure of which direction the sound was coming from. I didn’t feel like I wanted to risk another chance meeting today so I stayed hidden. I had taken care to make sure that Rosa was neatly tucked away out of plain sight in the tree line. A bus sped past us, heading for the south coast. I could see that it was full of people! Seeing it gave me a tiny spark of hope. Somewhere out there a group of survivors had been able to get along and work together.

Once the bus had passed, I tugged on the door handle and the car opened without a struggle. I searched around for some keys, but there were none left in or around the car. I made the decision that if the fourth car didn’t have keys, then I would come back and attempt to hot-wire it. The thought of attempting it made me cringe. The only knowledge I had of stealing a car was a Nicholas Cage film which I had seen about twenty years earlier. How I was going to hot-wire a Volkswagen UP from that, I had no clue.

The sun was getting low in the sky. I had to get a move on. I ran over to the fourth and final car in the section, the smell hit me before I got too close. Inside sitting at the wheel was the body of what I assumed to be a man. It was difficult to know for sure, the facial features had been so swollen up. I had heard this was an effect on a body which had been left to purify on its own. I felt my stomach lurch as I realised that this car would almost certainly have it’s key in the ignition. The driver had never left. Bracing myself for the smell I tried the door handle, it was locked. Crap. I would need to smash a window to get in.

So here I was faced with a choice, a car with a rotting dead body (that would need to be forcibly removed) or hotwire a car. Not knowing what to do I started to walk back to the tree line where I had left Rosa. Getting closer, I heard laughing. What a time to laugh. I skirted around the first two damaged cars and saw what it was she had been laughing at. Sitting at her feet Shadow entertaining her. Rosa would begin to whimper, and the dog would roll over and then sit up waiting patiently for her approving little chuckle. This was the first time Shadow had been left alone with Rosa, I was amazed that he knew what to do. Maybe he came from a family with young children and knew from experience what to do to make them laugh.

Slowly I approached the tree line not wanting to startle them, I bent down to sit beside Rosa. Shadow stuck to his position in front of Rosa, she turned to greet me with her arms outstretched and smiling. Shadow wagged his tail and came over to join us. He lay down by Rosa’s feet. Reaching over to scratch his head I rubbed under his chin and he closed his eyes leaning into my hand.