Free Savage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel by Iain Rob Wright Page A

went but that we must keep moving. 
When you said you were scared, I promised to keep you safe.  Remember?”
    Poppy nodded and smiled.  She looked back at
their time on the road fondly – it hadn’t all been bad, not after they
got used got it.  They had never been apart back then, and towards the
end, before they had found the pier, they were always giggling.  It never
mattered that they were always in danger and that terrible things surrounded
them every day, they would always cheer each other up.  Now, neither of
them ever smiled.  Garfield was always foraging and she was always
alone. 
    There were tears in her eyes as she spoke, she
knew.  She had to stop crying all the time.  “I love you,
Garfield.  I miss you when you’re gone.”
    Garfield’s eyes went wide as she said the word
‘love’.  She had never said the word to him before, had not said it at all
since her parents died.  She did love him, though.  He was all she
had.  The only person she could rely on and her only friend.  He had
looked after her for more than three months on the road and she would be dead
if not for him.  He took me away from that horrible place where my
mummy and daddy were monsters.  He brought me here where it’s safe. 
Even if the pier is boring, it is safe.
    For a moment, Garfield looked as though he was going
to say the word back to her, but instead he just said, “I miss you, too. 
Now go get ready for bed.  I have to leave early in the morning.  One
game of eye spy and then we sleep.”
    Poppy nodded.  She slid off her stool and walked
away silently.  Tears tried to spill from her eyes, but she fought them
away.  She didn’t want Garfield to go.  He was always leaving her and
she started to wonder if he really did care the way he said he did.  Why
didn’t he say it back?  She climbed onto her mattress and closed her
eyes to sleep.  She didn’t want to play eye spy.
    Why didn’t he say ‘I love you’ back?
     
     

GARFIELD
    G arfield packed the last of the
smoked mackerel into his backpack and placed it next to his bottled
water.  It would not be enough to sustain him permanently, but he intended
to find supplies on the road.  The infection had ravaged the country so
fast that most supermarkets and petrol stations were still well stocked. 
There had not been enough time, or enough survivors, that looting had ever
taken a firm hold.  The world had died on its feet before people’s minds
ever had a chance to turn to long-term survival.
    The chef’s knife in Garfield’s belt
was accompanied by a claw hammer, a screwdriver, corkscrew, and a metal pipe
all hidden about his person .  It was foolish to rely on a
single weapon.  Garfield had seen good men perish who had.
    The other foragers – they could be called his men, although he would never say so himself – were all ready and
waiting.  They stood with heavy backpacks and had armed themselves with
various weapons.  The plan was to make haste to the church on the edge of
town and get a couple of vehicles working.  There were ten foragers plus
Garfield.  Lemon was their master of unlocking, a shy, stumpy man, who
stuttered when he was stressed.  There wasn’t a door he couldn’t get
through or a car he couldn’t hotwire.  His bag of tricks contained
everything from wire cutters to hacksaws.  Kirk was second-in-command and
the group’s resident badass – if a little too cocky for Garfield’s liking. 
Cat was the only female member of the group, and tougher than all of the
men.  She travelled with David, her lover.  Squirrel and Danny were
the pier’s screw-ups, lazy and stupid, but agreeable and humorous.  Last
came Luke, Tom, Gavin, and Lenny – a group of sensible middle-aged men
that made up the reliable backbone of the foraging party.  Each of them
insisted on wearing a bunch of red football shirts they had found in a sports
shop.  They believed the bright colours made it easier to see each other
in the field.