Above Board

Chapter 2

Joey McCormick was tired. He was cramped and he was cold.

But most of all, Joey was scared.

He wanted his mother. He wanted her more than anything. The last memory Joey had of her was losing his grip on her hand and being separated by the crowds on the dock.

Joey remembered Will lifting him high above his head so he wouldn't get crushed. Amidst the chaos, Joey could see his mother and sister. Their faces were twisted, their eyes frightened.

They were screaming, trying to fight their way back to them. But the surge to get on the ship kept pushing Joey's mother and sister further and further away, until there was no sign of them.

Joey would wake up most nights since then, crying out for her, then remembering. And his older brother Will was right beside him, holding him close, comforting him, reassuring him.

Joey curled up further into a ball. He squeezed his fingers tightly around his ankles and closed his eyes as the wind whistled through the slits in his cardboard box.

What was taking Will and his father so long? Will said they'd only be a couple of minutes. Joey tried to remember the tune his mother sang to him when he was younger. It made him feel better in difficult situations.

Joey hummed a few notes under his breath, then abruptly stopped.

Someone was coming. He could hear footsteps!

Joey opened his eyes and got ready to leap out of the box. Then he hesitated.

The footsteps thumped and bounced. Will and his father tip-toed and pattered to avoid making such noise.

The owners were grunting. Through his box, Joey could tell two of them were carrying something heavy.

"This will do nicely," one muttered.

"Stragglers!" Joey realised in horror. The terrified ten year-old dared not move. He lay as still as he could; he knew from his brother what stragglers were capable of. They were poor, desperate people who had lost all faith in humanity since the Rioting first began. Stragglers were now behaving like rabid animals, eating anything they could to stay alive.

Including human beings.

Joey heard a loud thump as the Stragglers' heavy package was dumped on the box's lid. A human arm dangled in front of the boy's face.

Joey took off his woolly hat and bit into it to stop himself crying out and giving himself away. He breathed slowly through his mouth as the two stragglers sat down.

"Pass the salt," one said.

"Ain't got any, 'ave we?" the other chuckled. "Used the last one on that tender meat we found back there didn't we?"

"Wonder how long it'll be before the goddamn Army shows up?"

"Dunno - probably a good while. It'll take them ages to get past the blockade we set up all those years ago. Nuffink goes out, nuffink comes in, get it?"

Joey's eyes widened.

"Anyway let's tuck in. I'm starving, I 'aven't 'ad a thing to eat all day."

Joey felt the heavy mass being slid across the box lid. He prayed neither Straggler would think to open the box. Then Joey heard the sound of flesh being eaten and the cracking of human bones.

Joey covered his ears to blot out the Stragglers' cruel laughter as they ate their "meal". The top of the box was turning red.

Two drops of blood landed on his cheek, but Joey didn't move to wipe it off.