Population Control

Jason VII

Bérézina - a sense of panic associated with a huge defeat

0o0

"There's an old tandem bike in the garage. Camille and I can take that and see if it's safe to walk the channel."

"We're almost out." Sami whispered. He looked at me with hopeful eyes, a hint of a smile, I wanted to hug him.

I held him at the shoulders, "We are."

Silently, Camille followed half a step behind. I glanced back to make sure she was still there.

Opening the garage was like opening an archaic vent, dust spewing like spit. "We don't use the garage much and it's been years since we visited." She didn't say anything, or acknowledge I was talking. To the side of the Land Rover in the middle was the red tandem bike, a sheet covering it. Pulling off the sheet, I coughed and spluttered. Camille made a sound, almost like a laugh. I carried the bike to the front door, closing it behind me.

"What seat do you want?" When she didn't answer I took the initiative. "I'll take the front then." I pulled out the map I'd taken from the house after we got Matthew settled. Mum marked the map with the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, arguing with dad the last time we came down saying the satnav got it wrong. And- "Shit."

"What now?" Camille sighed.

"I... Ok so the house may be a bit further away from us than I thought..."

"How far?"

"Well the entrance I thought was in Dover... but it's in Folkstone."

"Surely that will be closer?" She rolled her eyes – at least I was getting a reaction out of her.

"We've got to go back into the town."

She took a deep breath, held it for what felt like forever, then let it go. "I'm not moving any bodies again."

Neither did I. "I'm sure we can find a way around them." I had the map for this part only, the road names labelled and every ally outlined in a certain colour and the main roads in another.

So, we hopped on the bike. Going from first to second gear was easy, but we went up a large hill, obstacles along the way. Ranging from people's strung out intestines to bins spewing into the road. There were a few times we stopped, lifted the bike, and walked. I tried not to stare at the dead bodies I was stepping over, but their vacant eyes were too paralysing to look away from. We ran into only a handful of Rabids Camille easily dealt with. "Aren't you going to pick the arrows up?" I asked. There were fifteen arrows for six Rabids. Three of them stabbed into a line leading to its head.

"What's the point? We're almost there." She huffed. Like none of it mattered. Like life wasn't worth living.

Twenty minutes later and a lot of awkwardness I couldn't resolve because how the fuck do you comfort a grieving person when you're also grieving yourself, we were there. All the booths were closed, the barriers down. Cars stood like soldiers but all their doors were open. And so was the emergency exit. Only by a fraction, a metal door with no window and an emergency exit sign.

"How long do you think it'll take to walk?" I asked. An hour, four hours, a day away from freedom.

When she didn't answer I turned around, and she had an arrow in hand, stabbing it in a Rabid's head. It went limp in her arms and she stepped back to hold its weight, the entire body shaking when she wriggled the arrow free. Blood splattered on her face, and she used the back of her sleeve to wipe it away. "Well how long does it normally take in a car?"

"Like half an hour."

"A few hours maybe?"

I walked to the door, hand cautiously curling around it. God I'm an idiot, have horror movies taught me nothing? But Camille isn't going to do it, so I've got no other choice, have I?

There were no blurring lights or loud signals, maybe because the power ran out. Like a sea of black ink. I felt along the wall, making sure it was still there. Nothing yet, I don't know what I was hoping to feel. "Did you hear that?" Camille said, I don't know where she was her voice echoed in the dark tunnel.

"What?" I whispered back. There was shuffling of feet, an earthy, croaky groan. My breathing picked up and I squinted hoping to see in the dark. The shuffling got closer. And closer. And a hand laid its fingers on my shoulder one by one and-

Camille's bright laugh burst through the darkness. "You dickhead!" I glared, but she continued to laugh.

"Sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself!"

I couldn't see her, but I heard the groan again. It was like her last one but this was slower, yet more aggressive. "It's not going to work again."

"That isn't me." She whispered, then the groaning started again.

"Camille, really-"

"It isn't me!" At the same time, the groaning was loud, so loud it was almost right next to me, echoing to the entrance, the only light in the tunnel.

"Come on." She sighed, brushing my arm.

"We can't keep going, we can't see!" I argued.

She scoffed, "If you're such a pussy-"

"Can we please leave? This isn't safe."

"What about any of this country is safe?" She argued back.

"Co-" Camille shrieked, like the drop on a rollercoaster but missing all its excitement. I grabbed her arm, dragging her with me to the exit when I saw the paper fly from my pocket. I couldn't keep going, it was Camille's, it was from her mum.

As soon as I stopped, I knew it was a bad idea. "What are you doing?" She snapped.

"I dropped something-"

"Then leave it! We need to go!" Fuck but I couldn't leave it. I ran three maybe four steps when a slimy hand dug its claws into my right arm and another scraped my shoe. Tumbling back, I crashed to the floor pushing myself backward but the hungry growls didn't get quieter. Still everything was black. Nothing. Nothing but pictures of undead holiday-makers or asylum seekers who wanted to tear me to shreds. Oh fuck!

Camille grabbed me by the forearms, a strain in her voice as she pulled me back and I scraped along the floor. As soon as we reached the entrance I got up, my legs finally able to work. Camille slammed the door wide open. Which was a stupid decision because Rabids clambered toward us, toppling over each other for a chance to bite our living flesh and gulp our warm blood. The pile built like a wave, some almost stepping on each other to make it to us. There were so many, there was no endless tunnel for me to stare at anymore.

Quickly, Camille slammed the door shut and shoved a nearby fallen tree branch between the connecting open handles – there was no lock, I should have realised that earlier.

We looked at each other, and knew all this had been pointless.