The Visitor | A Post-Apocalyptic Murder Mystery Page 5

  She started talking about Paul again as soon as she came in with the coffee, but I put my hand up to stop her.

  "We talked it to death last night, I've got fucking Morris dancers stomping about in my head, and you need to accept that he's dumped you."

  It worked. She shut up. I stuck on the TV and we watched Shipden under quarantine.

  "Ooh, it's scary, isn't it?" said Leilani, doing this silly fake shudder.

  "Not really. It's twenty miles away, and no one can get in or out of the town."

  "Yeah, but they say it's airborne!"

  "Best we stay inside, then."

  But we didn't, we sat in the garden for most of Saturday, and Leilani said I know you hate not being able to go home, but it'll be lovely having company for a whole week about twenty times. I don't know why she thought that. I wasn't very nice to her. Can't imagine what it must be like to be so desperate for company that you'd want to share your living space with a snarky bitch like me.

  On Sunday Rexy told me he'd heard of some other people in Shipden getting ill.

  "It's weird. Those three who came down with it, they were supposed to have had no contact with anyone."

  "Maybe someone was lying."

  He looked tired and drawn, and all I wanted to do was get back home to him. He made jokes about being able to play video games all night, but then he stopped, and said, "I'm not fooling anyone, am I? I can't stand you not being here."

  And that stabbed at my heart, because I couldn't stand not being with him, either.

  "Don't go out," I said. "Remember the Rona." His mum had refused to believe the coronavirus was as bad as the news said, and ignored all lockdown rules. She got it. Two days on a ventilator, then she died.

  In the evening Leilani and I went to the pub to meet 'the girls' (her mates from work). Sunday was dress-down night, I was told, which meant smart-casual instead of body-con dresses. My t-shirt and leggings were socially unacceptable, apparently, so I borrowed a half-way reasonable floral dress (vintage-looking, with a drop waist) and wore it with my leggings and biker boots, which she said looked all wrong, and why didn't I borrow her nude courts? Nude courts my arse.

  I drank too much so I could deal with listening to her fucktard mates telling her that Paul had 'commitment issues' and would come running back as soon as he realised what he was missing. I kept quiet at first, but after the fourth beer my true feelings escaped from my mouth.

  I said, "You're supposed to be her friends, so why are you feeding her this bullshit? He dumped her because he doesn't want to be with her. The sooner she accepts that, the sooner she can move on."

  That sent them into apoplexy, so I wandered off and got talking to some ne'er-do-wells at the bar. Inevitably the conversation got round to the virus―and the vaccination programme.

  "I don't know anyone who's even got their date," said one of them. Glenn. He had a bad tattoo of Kurt Cobain on his forearm; if it hadn't said 'Kurt Cobain - Teen Spirit - 1967-1994' underneath, I would have thought it was Britney Spears.

  "Nor me, but I'll tell you what," said his mate, Ty, who couldn't take his eyes off me. "If this thing starts spreading, I'm not waiting around to catch it. I'm hitting one of them units."

  Was I sure what I'd just heard? "Hitting it how?"

  Ty moved closer. "Steaming in there and getting meself some. By force, if I have to."

  If I could get the vaccine, they might let me back into Shipden. It was worth a try. "You'd do that?"

  "Already done a recce, ain't I?" Ty puffed up his chest. "There's one out the back of our old school. Looks piss-easy. Ain't even guarded; there's just three nurses in it."

  I swigged back my beer. "So let's do it."

  That wiped the smile off his face. "For real?"

  "Yeah. You said, 'piss-easy'. I'm in. How about tomorrow?"

  "Oh―yeah, okay, then." He nodded and grinned at Glenn and the other one whose name I hadn't bothered to catch, like he was the big man. I smiled to myself. He couldn't lose face, or he wouldn't get into my knickers. Not that he would anyway, but eejits like him never stand back and think, 'Is this woman really likely to fancy me? Um, perhaps not'.

  "Let's make a plan, then," said I.

  Ty grinned at his mates again. "We doing this, then, lads?"

  Third man didn't look too sure, but Glenn mumbled, "Yuh, okay, if she wants, yuh."

  "Good!" I clapped my hands together. "What time's it open?"

  "Seven," Ty said. "Used to be nine, but now it's earlier 'cause of all them turning up at hospitals an' causing trouble an' that."

  "Seven it is, then. What's the place called?"

  "Goose Street Middle School, it's―"

  "I'll look it up." I indicated my phone. "So what's the plan?"

  Ty produced a knife from somewhere about his person. "I ain't going to hurt no one. Just threaten 'em." He stroked his finger down the blade. "I'll grab one of 'em and hold it to her neck while you lot get the vaccines."

  I raised my eyebrows in amusement. "You done this before, or just seen it on telly?"

  Ty tucked the knife back in his pocket. "Don't you worry about me, lady, I know what I'm doing." He had a grungy sort of sex appeal; if I'd liked them Neanderthal and already hadn't found the love of my life, I could have given him a road test, but―yeah, that 'if' thing.

  "We'll take the lot, then we can sell 'em," said Glenn.

  "You do what you want," I said. "I just want one for myself and my friend." I meant Rexy, of course, but I could see Ty flaking out on me if he thought a shag might not be on the cards.

  "Boyfriend?"

  "Nah." I gave him a little punch on the arm. "Young, free and single, me."

  He moved closer. "Good to know. You coming for a drink with me tomorrow night, then?"

  "Sure, why not?"

  He got his phone out, finger poised. "D'you wanna give me your number?"

  "You don't need it. You'll see me in the morning. You got work tomorrow?"

  "Ten-thirty. Work in The Swan, don't I?"

  "I don't know, do you?"

  He moved closer. "Yeah! Cellarman."

  "Living your best life, huh?"

  "Y'what?"

  "Never mind." I moved away. "See you tomorrow morning, then, lads. Seven sharp. No, ten to. Head of the queue."

  When I got back to Leilani and her girlies, she was still being comforted about my suggestion that Paul's desertion was anything other than a temporary mental aberration that he would later regret. I'd had enough and said I was going home; alas, she decided to come with me, saying she needed her beauty sleep. This was followed by squeals of 'you don't need it, you're stunning anyway', from the girlies which was, no doubt, to boost her morale. Leilani put her hand to her heart and said, "Hugs, you guys!"

  I had five days of this shit yet to come. Boy, did I need that vaccine.

  On the way I told her what I was going to do. I did so to amuse myself, correctly predicting her reaction.

  "You can't do that! Not to NHS staff; they're angels!"

  "We're not going to hurt anyone. I just want the vaccine so I can go home, and one for Rexy. I'll pick up a couple, and then I'll be off."

  "Avvy, no, you can't!"

  "The staff'll be okay. They'll dine out on the story for weeks. Probably get a week off on full pay to get over it."

  "It's not right. And that Ty―I wouldn't go near him! He gets up to all sorts!"

  "It's not him I'm interested in. It's the vaccines." I played my trump card. "So you don't want me to get you one, as well?"

  She'd got her date, but it wasn't until a week on Wednesday. I enjoyed her hesitation before she said, "No, I don't! You'll be depriving people who are entitled to them."

  Well, that riled me up. "What d'you mean, entitled to them? Why is one person more entitled than any other?"

  She was silent for a while as we walked along; I breathed in the summer smells on the warm night breeze.

  Then she said, "The government have decided who gets the
m when. The government that was democratically voted in by us."

  I laughed. "Well, I didn't vote for them. Look, I just want to get back to Rexy and my flat. And make sure he's safe. I don't trust this quarantine."

  "I don't suppose I can stop you, then." I wasn't looking at her, but I could hear the expression on her face.

  "You can't. And this is your last chance: do you want me to get one for you, too?"

  Oh, she was struggling. I knew it, even as she insisted that no, she wouldn't take any part in criminal activity.

  "It's-it's heinious," she said.

  I said, "The word is 'heinous', not 'heinious'."

  "I don't care, it's just wrong!"

  That's right, love. Stick to words you can pronounce.

  I was first in the queue in the school car park at six forty-five. People started wandering up behind me ten minutes later, and the tedium began:

  I've got to say, I'll be glad to get home with my wristband on!

  Anybody want hand sanitiser?

  I'm ready for lockdown. Got plenty of toilet paper and anti-viral wipes in―I'm not getting caught out this time!

  None of my friends have got their date yet. Makes me feel guilty, you know?

  Sure. Guilty as hell. More like smug because you think there's a reason you're getting it early.

  A plump, harassed-looking blonde woman in navy scrubs opened the door of the unit and asked for the first three, just as Ty and Glenn rolled up.

  Our heinious crime was underway.

  People shouted out, 'Oy, get to the back of the queue!' as the lads nipped up the steps after me, but it was too late - the door closed behind us, I slipped the bolt shut without Plump Blonde noticing, and she beamed at us all.

  "Ladies first, I think, don't you?" She consulted her screen and looked back at me. "Now, I need your name, and your ID―passport, driving licence, or two items from the permitted list on your appointment letter."

  I opened my mouth to make something up, wondering what the hell Ty was waiting for, but he leapt in front of me just in time, knife out, and pressed it to her neck.

  "Hey―"

  She held up her hands, and Ty put his face close to hers.

  "Carry on like normal," he hissed at her. "You alert y' mates, I slit your fucking throat."

  She shut her eyes, and began to take deep breaths, like it was a procedure she'd been taught. I quite admired her for not panicking and screaming the place down, actually.

  I said, "We won't hurt you, but I need to get home, and for that I need the vaccine."

  "Home? Where?"

  Like I was going to tell her, but that dumb little shit Glenn piped up, "She's got to get back to Shipden."

  The woman said, "But they won't let you in, even if you've had it―"

  Ty forced her neck back, yanking her hair. "Shut up, and let's have them."

  A voice called out from behind a curtain: "Kathy, are you sending my first one through?"

  Kathy swallowed hard. "In a minute!"

  "The vaccines!" hissed Ty.

  She was shaking, but managed to find her keys and open a drawer. "These are all I've got in here, the others are in the cubicles―"

  "We need 'em 'n' all," said prat Glenn. "Ty's got a buyer for as many as we can get."

  So now she knew that one of us lived in Shipden, and one was called Ty. Talk about stupid. I reached across and took two out of the drawer; Kathy actually drew in her stomach so I could do so. Probably thought if she kept me happy, she'd be safe.

  I tucked the two little packets into my bag, and opened the door.

  "What the fuck you doing?" said Ty, forgetting to keep the knife at Kathy's throat; she leapt up and fled into one of the cubicles.

  I laughed. "Got mine. See you, losers!"

  And I hurried down the steps and out towards my car, only vaguely aware of the bewildered faces in the queue, and Ty shouting out, "Oy, what about tonight?"

  I texted Leilani just before I got to Shipden. Didn't want her coming over all righteous and calling the cops, so I made it super-nice, thanking her for putting me up, telling her to look after herself. She'd be getting ready to go to her sad little office job. I didn't know where it was or what she did. Just office shit. I got a text straight back saying Sad 2cu go but understand. I wont tell anyone. U take care 2 xxx

  I took out the antiseptic wipe, made a fist, found a vein, and inserted that lovely vaccine. Wipe, plaster, genuine green wristband. No bat fever for me!

  I smiled as I drove down the road and saw the sea gleaming in the distance. Home.

  But the bastards wouldn't let me in.

  "Sorry, love, no can do. Them's the rules."

  "That doesn't make any sense! I've had the vaccine, I'm safe."

  "No exceptions. You might be a carrier, or you could've contracted it before you had the vaccine. Can't risk the lives of Shipden residents."

  "But I'm a Shipden resident, I'm going straight home, and the only person I'm going to see is my boyfriend!" I produced the other vaccination kit. "Look, I've got his here, so that's good, isn't it? One less to infect others, one less for your units to visit."

  He snatched it out of my hand, and I realised my mistake.

  "Where d'you nick this from?"

  "What are you talking about? My mum's a nurse, she got me two―"

  "Stealing these is a criminal offence."

  I did my best to look outraged. "My mother is a ward sister at the Norfolk and Norwich, so my brother and I are entitled to the shot too, but he's on holiday and can't get back―Mum said I might as well have it for Rexy. That's Rex Andolini, 15B, Mount Street; he'll be on your list of residents and so will I. Avalon Warner, same address." I almost stopped to applaud my own quick thinking. "So are you going to give me it back and let me in, or what?"

  "No can do, not till I've checked you all out. I need your mother's name and your brother's, too."

  If he did that, I'd be arrested. "Look, you can see my wristband's genuine. Come on, just let me in."

  "Can't. Rules, like I said. No exceptions."

  There was a barrier in front of me, with another clown standing further away, gun at the ready. I gave him a look that should have killed, said, "This is bullshit," and marched towards the barrier; I was just about to duck underneath it when the first soldier grabbed my arm.

  "I wouldn't, love."

  "Stop calling me love, and get your fucking hands off me!" I took a swipe at him, hitting him on the chin, which was probably not a wise move.

  "Pack that in." His grip on my arm didn't loosen, and his mate took a few steps forward, brandishing one of those Taser things. "Just go home, love."

  "That's what I'm trying to do! You can test me, can't you? To make sure I haven't got it?"

  "That was only on Friday night, to let residents back in before curfew." He relaxed his grip. "Listen, I understand how upset you are―"

  "I'm not upset, I'm fuming!"

  "―but we're all playing it by ear. This is a new virus―we can't be sure exactly how it spreads, so we can't take any risks. Could be on your clothes, anything."

  "But it's confined to Shipden! That's the point of the quarantine, isn't it?"

  He glanced at his mate; the mate nodded.

  "What's up with him?"

  The first soldier bit his lip, like he was wondering whether or not to say something to me. "Oh, what the hell, the news will be out soon enough. Thing is, in the last hour we've heard reports. Few getting ill down London. Which means we don't know where else it might have got through."

  "For real?"

  "For real. Should be on the news by lunchtime. Look on your social media."

  I guess he could feel the fight go out of me, because he let go. I stepped back.

  "You're not going to let me in whatever I do, are you?"

  "Sorry, love."

  I shut my eyes, tightly. "It's about time someone told you that it's 2024 and you can't call women 'love' unless you want everyone to think you're a to
tally fucking sexist jerk."

  I didn't wait for his reply. I got in my car and drove off.

  Rexy said, "I'm sorry. Thanks for trying, anyway. Look, I went out first thing―when it was quiet―'cause I needed milk and bread. I saw Caz from the Dolphin; her sister lives in Linden Road and the unit's just been to her house, which says to me that they'll get to ours today or tomorrow. I'll be okay―and if this bloody quarantine goes on longer than a week, we'll find a way to get you in. Along the beach and up the cliffs, or something―"

  "What do you mean, if it goes on longer? D'you think it will?"

  "Gotta be prepared for it. Caz says one of her barmaids is ill, and Kenny in the King's Head."

  For the first time I felt real fear. "Rexy, don't go out again. Even if you have to live on rice for a week, wait till I get back. Don't set foot outside, until you've had that vaccine."

  "Don't worry, I'm staying here."

  "Don't let anyone in, either."

  "I won't."

  I flopped back onto the sofa. "I can't believe this shit."

  "Nor can I. I was thinking, though―if I can escape the cordon, we could go to Sarah's place."

  He'd spoken about that over the weekend. I hadn't fancied it, because I know Sarah doesn't rate me (from what she can see of me down her nostrils, anyway). Now, though, I started to think that it wasn't such a bad idea.

  "D'you think you could escape?"

  "I dunno. The beach would be the best bet. I'll go check it out after midnight."

  That cheered me greatly. I could wait for him in the car down the road, and we'd be away.

  Next, I had to tell Leilani that she was going to have my company for a few more days. She was more pleased about this than I was.

  Rexy called me before I was up the next morning. He'd done his recce, and said the best way out was up the cliffs at the end of Beach Road; he'd have to find somewhere to hide, wait until the guards were distracted, then creep up.

  "When I’ve had my vaccine. They're in Bond Street, so it should be soon."

  "Tonight, then?"

  "You're on. After midnight. As long as I get the shot today."