VIROS – FOUR KIDS, ONE APOCALYPSE #16

It was Abe who finally broke the silence.

            ‘Look what I found,’ he said, holding up a small plastic bag.

‘Here’s some batteries for the torch and a great big bunch of keys. I bet they would get us into every single caravan on this site.’

            Amber smiled at her brother.

            ‘We haven’t got time for all that. We should grab what we can and get going again.’

            ‘You’re right,’ said Abe, ‘but we’re exhausted. We have been running and fighting for hours and we need to rest.’ He looked around. ‘This place is ideal.’

            We all looked at Amber. She frowned and then finally nodded.

            ‘If we must,’ she said kindly. ‘But we can’t stay too long. It’s three in the morning and we need to be back on the road in two hours. We have to be at the school before it gets too light.’

            ‘We will, Sis,’ said Abe. ‘I promise.

            I sat down in an office chair and found myself suddenly very tired. My arms and legs ached really badly. I was starving as well but felt too tired to eat. Abe handed me a bottle of water and I took a long swig. I passed the bottle back to him, swung my legs up onto the desk and leaned back. The chair tilted backwards. I closed my eyes.

            I woke up to find that the room was still dark. I had no idea how long I had been asleep for. I looked around and panicked. Ellis, Abe and Amber were nowhere to be seen. Where were they? The chair creaked as I stood up and I started at the noise. It sounded so loud. I went into the backroom and saw that the door was ajar. I went to close it and that’s when I saw Ellis.

            She was crouching at the foot of the door, looking out into the darkness. I knelt down beside her. She turned and put her finger on my lips. She shook her head and I nodded mine. She opened the door ever so slightly and pointed outside. I had to stand up to see what she was showing me. I gasped.

            I could see Abe and Amber standing on top of the caravan closest to us. In the moonlight it looked like quite a fun thing to do until I noticed that a large group of viros were rocking the caravan and trying to shake the twins from the roof. I looked at Ellis and could see that she was scared. I knelt down again and put my mouth tight against her ear.

            ‘Meet me by the gate,’ I whispered. ‘I’m going to distract the viros. You three must wait until they are gone and then get out of here.’ I went back to get my rucksack and put it on my back. I knelt down again. ‘Abe will have to push you until I get back.’

            Ellis shook her head but it was too late and before she could stop me, I had carefully opened the door, stepped outside and started to creep towards the caravan. The viros were too preoccupied with the twins on the roof to notice me. I had to get their attention. I looked around and saw an old metal fire bucket lying in the grass. I picked it up. If I had something metal I could hit the bucket and make a noise. Then I remembered the spoon. I pulled it from my pocket and hit the side of the bucket with it. The clang was quite a loud one. I hit it again. Clang. One of the viros heard the sound and turned around. I hit the bucket again. Amber and Abe looked down. Another viro turned round. Then another. I kept hitting the bucket and started slowly walking backwards as I did so. The viros started to follow me. Clang. Clang. Clang. The bucket rang like a rusty bell and now all of the viros had turned round and were starting to shuffle after me.

I was starting to enjoy this and beat out a marching rhythm for the viros. I know that the joke was lost on them but I still thought it was pretty funny. I looked over to the door and saw that Ellis was still watching. I felt really proud. I was saving the lives of two of my friends and Ellis was watching me do it. I was no longer the silly little baby leaving a tearful message on an answerphone. I was big and strong. I hit the bucket even harder and started to march myself, pumping my legs up and down as I did so.

            ‘Left. Right. Left. Right,’ I called out loud as I marched. ‘Left. Right. Left. Right.’ I imagined that the viros were my own private army and they were under my control. ‘Left. Right. Left. Right. Quick march!’ The viros followed, ready for my order. It was then that I tripped backwards over the low brick wall of the car park.