7. The Warehouse

The warehouse was tucked away down a winding road that came off the M27. There were hundreds of cars littered down the sides of the motorway, where three months ago families had desperately tried to escape out of the city, believing the countryside to be safer. Those people had either turned into crawlers before they made it out, or been killed by them. It had taken Greer and the other Shadows days upon days to move enough of the cars out of the way to form a path big enough for the jeep to drive through. He looked out at the cars, the battered red corsa, the black chevvy, each one marking the end of a story he would never get to know. There was a child’s shoe sitting on the dashboard of a range rover, splattered with blood, and he knew they were close to home now. 

Donnie turned the car left and approached the gates. They had been constructed with large sheets of corrugated metal some of the lads had found at another warehouse nearby, and two boys — Henry and Mikey, though from this distance in the dark it was hard to tell which was which as they both wore the same camouflage outfit and had brown hair — were already hauling one side open, the metal shrieking against its makeshift hinges. Another two boys stood behind them – Paul and Davey – keeping watch for any stragglers that might try to get through the gate. When the gate was safely closed behind them, Donnie parked up in his spot right outside the main doors and hopped out of the car. Greer and Lester followed him, but Jasper, who had been quiet throught the drive, didn’t even undo his seatbelt. He sat still, pale faced, staring at the back of the driver's seat. 

Greer opened the door. ‘You okay, kid?’

‘This is your house?’ he asked, lip trembling. ‘It’s like a store.’

‘Lots of people live here,’ Greer said, leaning over and undoing Jasper’s seatbelt for him. Donnie, Lester, Paul and Davey were unloading the loot from the back. ‘It’s like one big family, you’ll see.’

‘Ho-ly shit! You boys have hit the mark with this haul,’ Paul wolf-whistled when he saw the crate of guns and all the food. ‘Guns? Please tell me there’s ammo too?’ 

Davey peered through the crack in the box. ‘Yup, they scored ammo too! Hey, Greery-boy, what’s that you’re holding?’

With a triumphant smile, Greer held up the tomahawk. ‘I called dibs already.’

‘Fuckin’ hell, where did you get this lot?’ Davey shook his head, elbowing Paul and nodding at the tomahawk. ‘Not the army base again?’

‘No, no, this house on Miller Ro-’

‘They’re mine, technically,’ Jasper interrupted, jumping out of the jeep. 

Greer slapped Jasper on the back. ‘This is my boy Jasper, and he was taking good care of all these weapons for his Uncle John, weren’t you?’

‘Well, thanks to old Johnny then!’ Paul laughed, ruffling Jasper’s hair as he walked past. Donnie and Lester took the box of guns inside and left Davey in charge of the food rations. A few packets of crisps were sure to disappear before they made it to the kitchen, as was par for the course when Davey was around. 

Greer took the bag of DVDs and books and slammed the boor shur. ‘Right, come on then kid, I’ll show you around.’

The large front doors to the warehouse led directly into the main room, which was rectangular shaped with a tall ceiling. It had once belonged to a builder’s merchants, and Greer remembered coming in here with his dad to help him pick out slabs of concrete for the patio, but it had stood empty since last year because customers preferred to shop at the newer, cheaper superstore that had opened up by the retail park. Or so his dad had kept saying. Something about Chinese imports. 

The large metal units that had once housed bags of cement and lengths of timber had been dragged to one side of the room, and used as a makeshift pantry. Several tents, sleeping bags and camp beds littered the other side of the room, where the majority of the boys slept now. There were a good three dozen of them now, but another headcount needed to be taken. In the middle of the room were several old, smelly gym mats that they used to train eachother to fight. A few older lads were throwing punches, and Jasper grabbed a hold of Greer’s hand as they passed them.

‘I don’t have to fight like that, do I?’ he asked. ‘I can just have my gun?’

Greer chuckled. ‘We’ll see about that.’

To the side left of the makeshift pantry was a set of metal stairs that led up to a metal walkway that scoured around the length of the warehouse, giving a bird’s eye view of the training area and camp. Greer led Jasper up the steps and then to the left, where there were several offices, a canteen and a small conference room with a large wooden table, spinny chairs and most importantly – a large TV with a DVD player plugged into it.  

‘Whaddaya think?’ Greer spun around the room and then plonked the bag of DVDs on the table. ‘Nice, right?’

Jasper did not look impressed. ‘It’s not as big as my telly.’

‘Alright! You’re lucky we’ve even got electricity to power it,’ Greer rolled his eyes, wanting to get this kid settled in and find him someone else to attach to. ‘Why don’t you go meet some of the other kids, pick out a sleeping bag, and see if any of them will watch a movie with you?’

‘I have to sleep down there?’ Jasper said, sounding like he was going to cry. He flaped his hands and looked around the room. ‘Can’t I sleep in here?’

‘No, it wouldn’t be fair, would it?’ Greer laughed, scratching at his head. ‘Look, come on, it’s not as fancy as your house, I know, but it’s not that bad. You might make some new friends, look.’ He walked back out of the room and pointed down at the boys. ‘That’s Luka, he’s ten. And Hamza, he’s nine too, I think.’

‘Can I put my sleeping bag next to yours?’

Greer gulped. ‘Uh, no.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t sleep down there.’

‘Why not?’ Jasper crossed his arms. This kid did not give up, did he? It was almost impressive, and if Greer didn’t have better things to do, maybe he would entertain it. 

‘Because–’ he started, suddenly unsure if he actually wanted to tell his kid anything about himself. 'Because I'm a Shadow,' Greer said, and it came out flatter than he meant it to. 'Means I get my own room. Perks of the job.'

‘Can I be a shadow?’

Greer crouched down to Jasper’s height, the way Donnie had. ‘Maybe one day, eh? But for now, it means I’m in charge. If you ever need help, you find one of us in a jacket like this,’ he said, gesturing at his camouflage jacket. ‘We go out and break into houses and try to save any kids who might be alone, like you were. And you’ve been really brave, right? Braver than any of them other kids when we brought them in. None of them threatened us with a shotgun!’

That seemed to land, a little, and Jasper's arms unfolded. He still had that pinched, overwhelmed look about him, the one Greer recognised because he was pretty sure he'd worn it himself, the first night he'd slept here, his arms clutched around Gage, terrified that any noise was a crawler coming to get them.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ he said, standing back up. ‘Tonight, you can sleep up here, but you have to sleep down there tomorrow, okay?’

A grin spread across Jasper’s face and he threw his arms around Greer. ‘Thank you!’

Greer peeled him off and steered him back in front of the television, leaving him to pick out a DVD. 

Lester, Davey and Paul were sitting around drinking ciders in the garage, a small, secondary warehouse attached to the back of the main one. Two broken jeeps sat in the corner, and an array of mechanic tools and toys were hanging from the walls and splayed across the floor. Donnie was standing by the back door, reading to himself from a small, battered bible. 

‘And the head just flew off, right across the room!’ Lester shouted, re-enacting Greer’s beheading from earlier. 

‘I bet that tomahawk could slice a bastard in half, down the middle,’ Paul nodded towards Greer, who had strapped it to his back in the holster he’d made for his original hatchet. Lester tossed Greer a can of strawberry cider and he cracked it open, raising it to his lips.

‘Where did you get these?’ he asked, taking a seat on an upturned crate beside them. The liquid was warm and sticky against his lips.

‘One of the girls found them stashed away in a locker,’ Davey laughed. ‘Who was it, Paul? Meera?’

‘Mina,’ Paul corrected, downing the last of his can before crushing it and chucking it over his shoulder. It hit the wall behind him and cluttered to the floor, where Greer watched as Donnie picked it up and put it in the bin. ‘The one with really long black hair, remember? You said she was, and I quote, ‘well fit’, and you can’t remember her name?’

Davey raised his hands in defence. ‘Hey, sorry! Maybe if we actually spent any time with the girls, I’d remember their names.’ He turned to Donnie, who was still reading from his bible. ‘How about we invite them over for a little drink, eh, Donnie?’

‘You know my position,’ Donnie said sternly. ‘It’ll only distract us from our mission.’

Davey pulled a face and turned back. ‘Hey, Greer, you spend more time over there than anyone else. Got yourself a girlfriend yet?’

Greer felt his cheeks go red, and he flustered a little. ‘I, er, no, not yet.’

Lester whooped and smacked his thigh. ‘Ooh, he has, haven’t you Greery-boy? You have! Which one is tickling your fancy? Who’s the small one? Paul?’

‘Lily.’

‘Right, Lily! Pretty name for a pretty gal, am I right?’ Lester leered forward, clearly a little dizzy from the ciders, and grabbed Greer’s knee. He tensed up, and looked at Lester’s face. He was quite handsome. He had light green eyes with very long, dark eyelashes curling upwards. His hair was short, buzzed off by Donnie every other week. There was a long, thin scar from the corner of his mouth to his right temple, which he refused to talk about. Greer’s heart fluttered a little bit, and he felt sick.

‘Right,’ he said, a little unsure. He downed the rest of his cider and stood up. ‘I think I’m gonna go see my brother.’

All three boys started laughing, and shouting, ‘You only want to go to see Lily!’

Donnie shut his bible and dropped it into his top pocket. ‘I’ll come with you,’ he said, pushing open the back door. The two of them walked in silence across the yard to another, small warehouse. It had been a ‘mother and baby’ type store, which made it perfect for the girls to set up with the younger kids. Donnie buzzed the intercom that sat to the right on the wall besides the staff entrance, and a small voice came through.

‘Code?’

‘Blue,’ Donnie replied.

‘Blue what?’

‘Blue bird,’ he said, and the door clicked open. They walked into the staff room which had been turned into a makeshift kitchen. Bottles and tubs of baby foot littered the countertops, and a girl – Lily, who they had been teasing him about – was waiting for them, holding a chubby baby on her hip.

‘Aw, Greer, come here, you’ve got to see this,’ she beckoned him over to the door that led into the main warehouse. The girls had done a much better job at making the warehouse feel homely than the boys had. Bright white sheets hung from every wall, interspersed with the odd tapestry or colourful towel. There were fluffy mats lining the floor, and in the far corner someone had built a makeshift play house out of sofa cushions and chairs. The cots were lined along the middle, and around the edge were several parked prams. A changing station was tucked underneath the mezzanine floor, and where the boys had offices, the girls had dorms. ‘Look,’ Lily pointed, and he followed the end of her manicured nail to the middle where Gage stood in his cot, clapping his hands as another girl whirled a piece of red ribbon above his head, as though he were a cat. Greer wished he still had his phone, so he could take a photo. Who was there to share it with? Everyone he knew in the world lived in these two warehouses.

‘Aw,’ he said, smiling. ‘How has he been?’

‘As good as gold, as always,’ she beamed, turning around and showing him the noticeboard, which was covered in childish scribbles and fingerpaintings. She scanned around untils she found what she was looking for. ‘Ah, here. Look, he did this last night.’

The painting was a mess of yellow and red finger prints dotted onto a piece of ripped cardboard, but it still made Greer’s heart swell. 

Lily turned to Donnie. ‘Oh, Donnie, me and Mina and some of the others wanted to talk to you again, about helping out?’

Donnie wrinkled his nose. ‘You know my thoughts on that, Lil.’

‘But there’s enough of us here to cover the kids, no sweat! And Natalie can drive, cos she’s seventeen. Like, actually passed her test sort of drive, not put your foot down and hope for the best sort of drive, like your boys.’ She looked at Greer and added ‘No offence.’

‘I understand, Lil,’ Donnie said, stepping closer. ‘But I couldn’t live with myself if I let one of you girls get hurt, or, God forbid, die. I know we don’t see eye to eye, but I was raised to respect women, and to protect them. We could see about some training sessions, though. In case anything were to happen here.’

Was Donnie suggesting that he viewed the boys as expendable? That it was okay if they died, but not the girls? He pursed his lips and wandered away into the hall. Donnie could not be convinced to change his mind, ever. He was a good guy, but Greer wondered: with his black-and-white view on men and women, how did he feel about gay people? Greer swallowed his feelings down and switched on big-brother mode.

‘Gagey-baby!’ He cooed, swooping down and snatching him up. ‘How’s my baby brother?’

Gage giggled and then dribbled a little. The girl with the ribbon laughed and went off to tend to another baby. None of the other babies had older siblings. Most had been found by Greer and Donnie on one of their first missions, left alone in locked houses. There was one sound that came back to haunt him more than the rest: a little boy, strapped into a highchair in a sweltering dining room, screaming for someone who was never going to come back. Donnie had swaddled him away and said he felt like bones in a bin bag. Even worse, the bodies they had found, the kids they hadn’t gotten to in time, the stench of decay as they opened up nurseries and peered into cots. The memory made him think of Jasper’s uncle, and how it had been kinder to kill his child than leave him to scream and starve. He pressed his lips into Greer’s chubby cheek and kissed him.

‘Shall we make you a bottle before you go to sleep?’ he asked softly, bouncing Gage up and down the way their mum had used to. He carried him back to the kitchen, and with one arm switched on the kettle and pulled open the cupboard. Donnie had gone, and Lily was mixing up a bowl of something that looked like mushy peas. The tins were meticulously organised and labelled, and he pulled down a tin and unscrewed the lid. ‘Bear with me, Gage,’ he said, transferring him to the other hip. ‘I’m still not as quick as the girls with this.’

‘Here,’ Lily said, offering to take him. ‘Could you make up an extra one so I can put Cindy to bed? I already just sterilised some bottles.’

‘Cindy?’ He raised an eyebrow, and he passed Gage over. 

‘Short for Cinderella. Don’t look at me, it was Sasha who named her!’ she laughed.

Greer started measuring out the formula into the two bottles Lily had prepared. ‘Well, it’s certainly unique.’

‘We’ve got a Belle, too. Though that’s not as bad. You remember that half-starved little lad you found two months ago? She wanted to name him Olaf!’ Lily bounced Gage up and down. ‘I wish we knew their real names. I know you try and look for evidence of them, but that name was the last thing they had from their parents, you know?’

Greer finished making the bottles and screwed the caps on tight. ‘Was that the one Donnie and I found?’ he asked, thinking back to that scream. ‘The starved one? Who wouldn’t stop screaming?’

She nodded. ‘He’s getting better, slowly. Mina’s mainly assigned to him now. He can’t be left alone. He thinks you’re not coming back. We named him Milo in the end.’ Lily scooped the two bottles into her other arm. ‘I’ll put him down to bed, don’t worry.’

‘But-’

‘No, no, it’s no bother. You go get yourself to bed. You look tired,’ she said, and swiftly rushed back to the main room. Greer felt a pang in his chest. He had wanted to give Gage the bottle himself, to soothe him to sleep. To comb his fingers through Gage’s fluffy hair and brush his soft cheeks. He missed so much of Gage’s life; now he was in the Shadows, but that was what allowed him to save other children, like Milo, and Cinderella and Belle, and Jasper. But it still hurt. Perhaps if he got injured on the next run, he could retire with the girls. Their job seemed more and more appealing to him every time he visited. But he pushed the thoughts out of his mind and turned around and left. 

He crossed the concrete yard quickly and headed around the back of the main warehouse, where there was a small porta-cabin used as a site office once. Inside were two sets of bunk beds and a set of lockers. He opened up his locker, the second down from the top, and pulled out the only thing he’d managed to save from home. It was a picture of his mother, with Gage on her lap and Greer sitting next to her on the red sofa in Grandpa Greg’s house. He clasped it to his chest, climbed into the top bunk on the right, and let sleep wash over him.

‘Wakey wakey!’ 

Greer snapped his eyes open and yelped at the sight of Lester’s face way too close to his. The odour of unbrushed teeth smelled like sour milk. Lester dropped back down off the top bunk, laughing loudly, and Greer’s pounding heart slowed back to normal.

‘Can you not wake me up like that?’ he said, rubbing his eyes clean of sleep dust. ‘I thought you were a bloody crawler.’

Lester gnashed his teeth together in a crude mockery of a creature and laughed again. He was half naked, pulling on a pair of boxers over his thighs. Greer sat up, avoiding looking at Lester’s bare chest, and slid down the ladder of his bunk. 

‘Donnie tried to wake you an hour ago, but you were dead to the world,’ Lester said, pulling on his black undershirt, which had been left crumpled on the floor. He looked Greer up and down. ‘Did you sleep in those?’ 

Greer shrugged. ‘Makes it easier in the morning.’

‘Gross,’ Lester scrunched his nose. ‘Freshen up a bit, or Lily won’t ever want to snuggle up with you.’

‘Don’t,’ Greer warned, opening his locker and stashing the picture safely away before dousing himself in Lynx Africa.

‘Anyway, Donnie needs you. He’s been on the radio with Cry, and we’ve got a new mission.’

Greer groaned. Whenever Cry wanted anything, it was never simple or straightforward. He hated that stupid robotic voice every time he heard it on the walkie-talkie or the radio in the office. ‘I thought we were hitting that posh road, with the gated houses?’

‘Apparently not,’ Lester finished dressing, pulling on his army jacket and lacing up his boots. He slapped Greer on the shoulder as he passed and then turned around with a big stupid grin on his face. ‘Oh yeah, that new kid? Jasper? He caused a bit of a stir with the other kids last night.’

‘What happened?’

‘Just come and see; they’re still at it, unless Donnie has sorted them out,’ Lester said, grabbing Greer’s arm and pulling him out of the cabin before he’d even had a chance to put his boots on. He grabbed them by the laces quickly and slung them over his shoulder as they jogged across the yard and back into the main warehouse. Greer was hit by a wall of noise, kids shouting and screaming and running up and down the metal stairs with loud thuds. He looked up and saw that Jasper was standing on the mezzanine floor, and he was clutching his teddy in one hand, and with the other he was emptying a big bag of popcorn over the boys that were protesting beneath him. Davey and Paul were trying to separate two older boys who were throwing punches at each other, whilst Lester made his way over to one of the younger kids who was red in the face from crying. Jesus Christ, Greer thought, what the hell had that kid done? As he crossed the floor towards the stairs, he noticed how much food had been dumped and trodden into the floor, and one of the steps was sticky with spilt apple juice. He pushed past two boys who were running back down with handfuls of chocolate bars and marched up to Jasper.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ he shouted, grabbing the boy’s wrists and pulling him away from the barrier. He turned his head to the TV room and saw boxes of food had been stashed under the table.

‘It’s my food!’ Jasper whined, pulling away. ‘They started it!” He pointed down below at the boys, who were now shouting at each other instead of him. ‘I did what you said and went down and asked if anyone wanted to come to my room and watch DVDs but they said it wasn’t fair I had my own room and they kicked me out so I went down and I saw all the food from my house and i took it back and because they stole my room I took their sleeping bags and–’ he paused, out of breath. ‘It’s not fair!’

Greer thought the kid could do with a big slap. ‘Do you realise how much food you’ve wasted?’ he growled, snatching the bag of popcorn back. ‘I said you could sleep in there for one night to help you settle in, and you steal food and bedding from the others?’

‘It’s my food!’ Jasper said again, bursting into tears. ‘It’s from my house! From my mum!’

Before Greer could reply, as the ideas were whizzing around in his head, there was a loud, deep boom of a voice that echoed suddenly throughout the room.

‘What on EARTH is going on here?’

A swish silence fell across the room. Greer looked down and saw Donnie standing in the doorway, arms crossed like an angry teacher. He strode across the room, surveying the mess, and then looked up at Greer and Jasper, eyes narrowing. 

‘Everyone, get to cleaning this up, now!’ he shouted, and like little mice, the other boys scurried into action. Donnie advanced up the stairs and walked with slow, heavy footsteps up to Jasper. Like yesterday, he crouched down until he was eye to eye with him. ‘Now,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘What are we going to do with you?’

‘Are you going to take me back home?’ Jasper asked through bouts of tears. 

Donnie smiled in a reassuring way and put a hand on Jasper’s shoulder. ‘No, but you are going to be punished, as will the other boys involved. That’s only right, isn’t it?’

Jasper nodded and rubbed at his eyes. Donnie straightened up and took him by the hand. ‘Greer, go get ready in the garage. I’ll fill you in when I’m back.’

Donnie walked off with Jasper in tow, hiccuping through tears. Greer felt a little uneasy. What punishment did Donnie have in mind? Something strict and biblical? He couldn’t help but feel responsible for giving the kid special treatment, but there was little he could do now. He quickly made his way to the garage and waited around with Davey, Lester, Paul and three of the older boys that Donnie had recently promoted to full Shadows. Lester was loading ammo into the guns from Jasper’s uncle’s house and handing them out, keeping the rifle for himself. He offered one to Greer, but he refused and grabbed his Tomahawk, which one of the new boys was admiring. 

The door creaked open, and Donnie reappeared, but no Jasper. 

He clapped his hands together twice and said, ‘Right! Listen up!’ He held up a walkie-talkie and that annoying robotic voice crackled to life.

‘Good morning, Shadows. It’s Cry here. Your leader Donnie has accepted a mission from me and has chosen only the brightest and best boys to assist him. As you know, I am situated in a radio tower and broadcast my messages across several different channels in order to keep us surviving children connected. However, there are growing concerns that the creatures themselves are beginning to understand the broadcasts. Two of my relay points have gone dark this week. Therefore, I need a replacement transceiver capable of running on multiple frequencies, and I need it fast, before I lose the ability to reach any of you at all. Now, there is a working unit at the old coastguard station on the coast road, by the docks.’

There was a crackle again, and Donnie pressed down the button and spoke into it. ‘What will this transceiver look like?’

‘It’ll be a grey metal unit, about waist height. It should say COASTGUARD on the side in yellow. There will be a coiled cable running up through the roof to the aerial, but do not touch the aerial cable. Just the transceiver itself, and anything marked with a serial plate. It’ll take a few of you to get it out. It’s been reported there are large amounts of crawlers on the coast, so you’ll want enough kids to defend you whilst one team goes inside. I’ll send you the co-ordinates of where to take the transceiver aftwards. Capisce?’ 

‘Roger that,’ Donnie said into the walkie-talkie. He looked at us, eyes narrowed again, super focused. ‘Let's all bow our heads and pray before we set off.’

There was a small groan, mainly from Lester, but everyone obliged and bowed their heads. Greer stared at his boots and thought about this transceiver. Why Cry couldn’t just go and get it himself, he didn’t understand. Cry seemed to be some sort of radio genius, hiding away in the radio tower in the middle of the city. That’s where they’d guessed, anyway. He might be the son of some hermit doomsday prepper, in some fully kitted-out bunker underneath them. 

‘'St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,' Donnie murmured, crossing himself before he'd even finished the sentence. A few of the boys did the same. 'Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil… defend us from the grasp of the undead, amen.’

‘Amen,’ said a few quiet voices. Donnie pocketed the walkie-talkie and led everyone out to the carpark. 

‘Greer, Lester, you’re with me,’ he motioned, and then pointed at one of the new boys. ‘Danny, is it? You too, hop in the back. Davey, Paul, take Will and Ali with you. Everyone gets a gun; only use it if you have to. The plan of action: Greer, Lester, and I will head in and obtain the transceiver whilst the rest of you keep the perimeter clear of the undead. Are we all clear?’

Everyone nodded.

‘Right then, let’s get that transceiver! Chop chop!’

As Donnie clapped his hands and the boys scattered into their keeps, Greer felt the weight of the tomahawk in his hands and suddenly felt very uneasy about the whole thing. He liked the missions where they saved kids and tried to reunite them with their families. He liked the missions where they killed crawlers and looted food and supplies for everyone. But this seemed needlessly dangerous. He thought about the relay points going dark, one after another, and wondered if Cry actually knew what had taken them out, or if he was just guessing. It didn’t sound right.

He climbed into the front seat beside Donnie. His mouth had gone dry.