32 Days Later
Meeting
David rarely slept, and in this creepy shop with shadows everywhere toppled over dummies, there was no way he could find peace enough to fall asleep. He only slept from mere exhaustion these days.
The street lamps still worked during the night, and their dim light shone through the shop windows. Not that it mattered since David wouldn’t be able to sleep either way.
Maybe he should have eaten something, he thought as his stomach rumbled. Eating had become something that happened when he cared to remember. He hadn’t seen another human being for weeks and eating wasn’t really that high on his list of priorities until he could find something to live for. He hadn’t totally given up on the hope that there might be someone else out there, but the possibility seemed less and less probable as yet another day passed without a single sign that there was anyone but him left alive.
There was no emergency plan for this sort of thing, not like a flood or a nuclear disaster. He hadn’t been affected physically by the infection, not even a sneeze – he’d just been left to watch those he loved wither away in a matter of minutes. Watch the fear in their faces as the all too familiar red streaks appeared in their eyes, and they found it harder and harder to breathe normally.
Abby had been last. She had clung to him like a child while both of them cried, until he felt her go limp in his arms and he sank to the floor, cradling her fragile body in his arms. He had called an ambulance but there was no one coming. And there was nothing anybody could do.
They had been his life. His parents had been killed in a car accident when he was little, leaving him to grow up with his grandmother who had passed when he was eighteen.
Abby, Sally and John. It didn’t matter how much he tried not to think about them.
As he fought the urge to curl up sobbing, he suddenly thought he saw something in the corner of his eye. Something moving further up the road outside, still far away. Probably just a stray cat. Well, all cats were stray now, but it was still worth investigating. Anything to get his mind off his family. He shakily got to his feet, leaving the sleeping bag in a heap on the floor. His limbs felt stiff from lying there for so long, but he was used to it by now.
Now there definitely was something moving. His breath caught in his throat as he could make out legs, walking feet, a hooded sweater – it was a girl, he gathered as she got closer. Barely aware of his surroundings, he was suddenly on his way out the door.
She was coming his way, but she didn’t seem to be aware of his presence yet. He could make out more features as she got closer, but she was not looking at anything than the ground in front of her feet. Her unkempt, blonde hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in ages and she seemed almost ghostly pale in the hazy autumn night and the glow of the street lamps. Her dirty clothes hung loosely on her thin body, and he suddenly realized what he must look like himself. Until now, there hadn’t been any reason to care.
He just stood there until she lifted her gaze from the ground and stopped dead in her tracks. They were less than ten yards apart now, and they just stood there for what felt like minutes.
The first human being in over 30 days.
“Hi.”
She spoke first. He gave her a small nod.
“Hello,” he said, not used to the sound of his own voice.
They were still staring at each other intently. David couldn’t take his eyes off her – in many ways, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, just being alive and talking.
“Am I hallucinating again?” she asked in a Cockney accent, taking a hesitant step closer to him.
“Am I?” he said. “I thought I was alone.”
She actually managed a smile.
“So did I.”
She looked at the tube of Oreos she held in her hand for a moment, as if she didn’t remember getting it in the first place.
“I’ve got Oreos,” she said, looking up again. “You want some?”
-
His name was David, and he looked just as skinny as Ivy felt. He had a nice smile, which he had used hesitantly when she had asked if he wanted to share her biscuits, and a mop of untidy brown hair as well as a slight beard from not caring about shaving for a while. And he looked so very tired.
After she invited him back to “her place”, he retrieved his things from the clothes shop where he had slept, and they started to make their way to the bed shop.
“Where have you been?” she asked as they passed a row of wrecked cars on Sydney Street. She didn’t want to think about what might have happened if she had decided to sleep somewhere else than in the shop tonight – they might have missed each other completely.
David shrugged.
“At home, for a bit. I’ve been walking around for a while now. You?”
“I’ve been here,” Ivy said. “Walking around, too. Not much else to do, is there?”
He didn’t answer that. Ivy wondered what you were supposed to say to each other when you were the only two left alive in London.
“Did you ever watch ’28 Days Later’?” she asked when they had walked in silence for a while. She used to love zombie films – now, when her own life was only the zombies away from resembling nearly every zombie film ever made, they weren’t that appealing any more.
“Yeah, when I was little. Loved it.” David sighed. “Ironic, really. But I guess being alone is better than having infected people running around trying to kill you.”
“I guess…”
It was a surreal conversation. But then again, every day since Ivy had been left alone had been kind of surreal.
The front door of the bed shop was blocked by yet another car that had collided with a lamp post, but as always, Ivy squeezed her way around the car and through the door, and David followed and closed it behind her.
“Nice place,” he commented as they made their way further into the shop, passing bedroom displays and things strewn around as a result of Ivy living there for over a month.
“Yeah. S’got all I need. I’ve put up signs on the roof, just like in ‘Dawn of the Dead’.” She smiled, and then said: “How long since you slept in a proper bed, David?”
She looked at him as he shifted his feet, his gaze moving from the checkered bedspread to the vase containing a bunch of plastic flowers on the bedside table to his right.
“Long,” was all he said. Suddenly, he looked up at her again, the momentary darkness in his face gone. “So, which one’s mine?”
Ivy blinked.
“Oh, you mean the beds,” she said as she realised what he was aiming at. He nodded. “Well, any one you like,” she continued. “But this one’s mine.” She pointed at a large four-poster bed that had been pushed into a corner. The flower patterned sheets were rumpled.
David put down his bag on the bed to his right, not seeming to care all that much.
“Why this place?” he asked while stripping of his black jacket. “Why not a hotel or an empty apartment?”
Ivy didn’t look at him as she sat down on her own bed.
“There could have been people in hotels. Dead in their beds or in the corridors. And do you really think I could have taken someone else’s home?”
What kind of person did he think she was?
“No, no, of course you couldn’t.”
He seemed a little apologetic. There was a short silence, in which they both sat on their beds looking at each other. Ivy studied his face. She guessed him to be around 30, although the beard and lack of sleep probably made him look older than he really was. His clothes were dirty and his hair didn’t look like it had been washed in a while, but he was a good-looking man nonetheless. If things hadn’t been like they were, with everyone else dead, she might have fallen in love with someone like him.
“Do you think we’re the only ones?” Ivy asked after a few minutes. Until tonight, she had thought that she was the only one left alive – and now she had David. What if there were more people like them out there?
But they had both thought they were alone for so long.
“I don’t know,” David said quietly, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. “No idea. But we’ll keep together, right?”
Ivy gave him a gentle smile.
“Yep. You’re stuck with me now.”
David smiled back, and their eyes met in a silent understanding – to trust each other. That was all they could do, since neither of them wanted to end up on their own again.
“There’s a shower in the back,” Ivy said as David started to take off his shoes. He smirked.
“Are you implying I need one?”
The street lamps still worked during the night, and their dim light shone through the shop windows. Not that it mattered since David wouldn’t be able to sleep either way.
Maybe he should have eaten something, he thought as his stomach rumbled. Eating had become something that happened when he cared to remember. He hadn’t seen another human being for weeks and eating wasn’t really that high on his list of priorities until he could find something to live for. He hadn’t totally given up on the hope that there might be someone else out there, but the possibility seemed less and less probable as yet another day passed without a single sign that there was anyone but him left alive.
There was no emergency plan for this sort of thing, not like a flood or a nuclear disaster. He hadn’t been affected physically by the infection, not even a sneeze – he’d just been left to watch those he loved wither away in a matter of minutes. Watch the fear in their faces as the all too familiar red streaks appeared in their eyes, and they found it harder and harder to breathe normally.
Abby had been last. She had clung to him like a child while both of them cried, until he felt her go limp in his arms and he sank to the floor, cradling her fragile body in his arms. He had called an ambulance but there was no one coming. And there was nothing anybody could do.
They had been his life. His parents had been killed in a car accident when he was little, leaving him to grow up with his grandmother who had passed when he was eighteen.
Abby, Sally and John. It didn’t matter how much he tried not to think about them.
As he fought the urge to curl up sobbing, he suddenly thought he saw something in the corner of his eye. Something moving further up the road outside, still far away. Probably just a stray cat. Well, all cats were stray now, but it was still worth investigating. Anything to get his mind off his family. He shakily got to his feet, leaving the sleeping bag in a heap on the floor. His limbs felt stiff from lying there for so long, but he was used to it by now.
Now there definitely was something moving. His breath caught in his throat as he could make out legs, walking feet, a hooded sweater – it was a girl, he gathered as she got closer. Barely aware of his surroundings, he was suddenly on his way out the door.
She was coming his way, but she didn’t seem to be aware of his presence yet. He could make out more features as she got closer, but she was not looking at anything than the ground in front of her feet. Her unkempt, blonde hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in ages and she seemed almost ghostly pale in the hazy autumn night and the glow of the street lamps. Her dirty clothes hung loosely on her thin body, and he suddenly realized what he must look like himself. Until now, there hadn’t been any reason to care.
He just stood there until she lifted her gaze from the ground and stopped dead in her tracks. They were less than ten yards apart now, and they just stood there for what felt like minutes.
The first human being in over 30 days.
“Hi.”
She spoke first. He gave her a small nod.
“Hello,” he said, not used to the sound of his own voice.
They were still staring at each other intently. David couldn’t take his eyes off her – in many ways, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, just being alive and talking.
“Am I hallucinating again?” she asked in a Cockney accent, taking a hesitant step closer to him.
“Am I?” he said. “I thought I was alone.”
She actually managed a smile.
“So did I.”
She looked at the tube of Oreos she held in her hand for a moment, as if she didn’t remember getting it in the first place.
“I’ve got Oreos,” she said, looking up again. “You want some?”
-
His name was David, and he looked just as skinny as Ivy felt. He had a nice smile, which he had used hesitantly when she had asked if he wanted to share her biscuits, and a mop of untidy brown hair as well as a slight beard from not caring about shaving for a while. And he looked so very tired.
After she invited him back to “her place”, he retrieved his things from the clothes shop where he had slept, and they started to make their way to the bed shop.
“Where have you been?” she asked as they passed a row of wrecked cars on Sydney Street. She didn’t want to think about what might have happened if she had decided to sleep somewhere else than in the shop tonight – they might have missed each other completely.
David shrugged.
“At home, for a bit. I’ve been walking around for a while now. You?”
“I’ve been here,” Ivy said. “Walking around, too. Not much else to do, is there?”
He didn’t answer that. Ivy wondered what you were supposed to say to each other when you were the only two left alive in London.
“Did you ever watch ’28 Days Later’?” she asked when they had walked in silence for a while. She used to love zombie films – now, when her own life was only the zombies away from resembling nearly every zombie film ever made, they weren’t that appealing any more.
“Yeah, when I was little. Loved it.” David sighed. “Ironic, really. But I guess being alone is better than having infected people running around trying to kill you.”
“I guess…”
It was a surreal conversation. But then again, every day since Ivy had been left alone had been kind of surreal.
The front door of the bed shop was blocked by yet another car that had collided with a lamp post, but as always, Ivy squeezed her way around the car and through the door, and David followed and closed it behind her.
“Nice place,” he commented as they made their way further into the shop, passing bedroom displays and things strewn around as a result of Ivy living there for over a month.
“Yeah. S’got all I need. I’ve put up signs on the roof, just like in ‘Dawn of the Dead’.” She smiled, and then said: “How long since you slept in a proper bed, David?”
She looked at him as he shifted his feet, his gaze moving from the checkered bedspread to the vase containing a bunch of plastic flowers on the bedside table to his right.
“Long,” was all he said. Suddenly, he looked up at her again, the momentary darkness in his face gone. “So, which one’s mine?”
Ivy blinked.
“Oh, you mean the beds,” she said as she realised what he was aiming at. He nodded. “Well, any one you like,” she continued. “But this one’s mine.” She pointed at a large four-poster bed that had been pushed into a corner. The flower patterned sheets were rumpled.
David put down his bag on the bed to his right, not seeming to care all that much.
“Why this place?” he asked while stripping of his black jacket. “Why not a hotel or an empty apartment?”
Ivy didn’t look at him as she sat down on her own bed.
“There could have been people in hotels. Dead in their beds or in the corridors. And do you really think I could have taken someone else’s home?”
What kind of person did he think she was?
“No, no, of course you couldn’t.”
He seemed a little apologetic. There was a short silence, in which they both sat on their beds looking at each other. Ivy studied his face. She guessed him to be around 30, although the beard and lack of sleep probably made him look older than he really was. His clothes were dirty and his hair didn’t look like it had been washed in a while, but he was a good-looking man nonetheless. If things hadn’t been like they were, with everyone else dead, she might have fallen in love with someone like him.
“Do you think we’re the only ones?” Ivy asked after a few minutes. Until tonight, she had thought that she was the only one left alive – and now she had David. What if there were more people like them out there?
But they had both thought they were alone for so long.
“I don’t know,” David said quietly, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. “No idea. But we’ll keep together, right?”
Ivy gave him a gentle smile.
“Yep. You’re stuck with me now.”
David smiled back, and their eyes met in a silent understanding – to trust each other. That was all they could do, since neither of them wanted to end up on their own again.
“There’s a shower in the back,” Ivy said as David started to take off his shoes. He smirked.
“Are you implying I need one?”