Whakahapa, 8

Down at the car, they sorted through his supplies, selected some and moved stuff around so that it could be carried inside in a box.

Amos took a shotgun and some cartridges from the box on the front floor. He put the cartridghes into his jacket pockets and laid the gun on the box of groceries. “There's another gun, a rifle, if you want it.”

“A rifle?” Esther shook her head. “I don't want a gun. Who would we shoot, each other?”

“No, of course not. We probably won't shoot anything. I just feel safer if I've got a gun.”

“But you don't . . oh, okay. Whatever makes you happy. Just see that you don't point it in my direction and I don't want the other one.”

“Are you sure? It's just there.”

“Yes, I'm sure. I've got you to protect me, haven't I?”

“Yes, you have!” Amos beamed. He wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not. He hoped not.

A wind was blowing, whipping the kerbside trees around and temperatures were dropping. There was definitely rain coming. He put the windows up, closed the car up and they went back inside.

Up in what had been decided was his room, he put the food on the table and tried to set the cooker up and attach the gas bottle. He was having trouble and couldn't figure out how it was meant to go.

Esther pushed him out of the way. “For goodness sake! You're all thumbs, Boy; it's has probably got a reverse-thread don't you know? I'll fix this, you go and find some water.”

He stood back and looked around. “There's hand-basins and taps in the rooms here.”

“There are, and there's no water in them. I checked. Go and see if there's any in the bathroom or, failing that, in the kitchen downstairs. It will be out at the back somewhere, probably behind the dining-room.”

“Okay, sure.”

He went out to the corridor, it looked very dark after the well-lit room, so he returned and got a candle to light his way. Back to the corridor, and then returned again, sheepishly, to get a pot to carry water in. Esther said nothing, just raised her eyebrows and turned her back on him.

He took the pot and left, peeved.

He was glad, very glad, to have company but he had been coping on his own. Esther made him feel like such a klutz and a child.

There was no water in the bathroom, not even a trickle, so he went down to the ground floor and to the kitchen. The cold taps there had no water, but the hot taps did – a slow flow of cold water.

He filled the pot and returned to the room where Esther was waiting, feeling absurdly proud of having accomplished his mission. He tripped over nothing in the upstairs corridor and almost dropped the water. Darnit.

Esther took the pot, without a smile. “At last!” she said. “I'm hanging out for a coffee here. We have got coffee I hope?”

“Ah, no. Sorry. I don't drink coffee, but there's herbal tea-bags.”

“Herbal tea? Haven't you got any proper tea?”

“No, just herbal. There's no milk either. I guess that we'll have to get used to that.”

“Of having no milk? No we won't. There'll still be milk-powder and that keeps forever if it's dry.”

“Right! There will be milk then. That's good.”

“That is good. We're not going to starve anyway.”

“We're not and that's good because I'm hungry!”

“Me too,” Esther grinned. “So get on with it.”

Amos set-up and lit the small gas cooker and put some water on to heat. Esther sat watching quietly until she could take no more.

“Typical bloody male! You're no cook are you? You haven't got a clue what you're doing.”

“Hey,” he protested. “I can cook, basically anyway.”

“Very basically by the look of it. Get out of the way, Boy, and I'll do it. You can do the cleaning up after.”

He moved back and watched for a while, but soon got sick of that. Esther seemed to know what she was doing, but she spent most of the time growling and complaining about his provisions. He had a whole town out there, a whole country full of supplies and this was all he'd got? It would do for one night, she supposed, but it was nothing but “boy food”.

Tomorrow, in the daylight, they'd go shopping for some proper food. They needed herbs, spices, sauces and seasonings and meat of some sort if they were going to have a decent meal.

Amos soon 'switched off' and stopped listening and turned his mind to other things. He was good at that, he'd had a lot of practice. All of his life he'd been lectured at while he wasn't listening. Great wasn't it? Now there was just Esther and him and he was still being lectured at! But, he was used to it and it was better than being alone.

He lit some more candles and stood them on surfaces around the room. There was no real need to, there was plenty of light, but it was something to do. He half expected Esther to growl about his wasting candles, but she didn't. It didn't matter anyhow, there were plenty more were they came from.

Outside, the rain had arrived with a vengance. They were safely inside and upstairs with the windows closed and covered, but he could still hear the belts of rain lashing out there. It would not be nice out in a tent in that – they'd probably be floating.

How long would it be before fallen leaves and other rubbish blocked the drains and flooded the roads and washed them out? Probably not long if that sort of weather kept up. He'd have to be even more careful on the roads.

Esther finished cooking, and grumbling, and they sat and ate together in silence. Mostly in silence. Amos was curious and he asked her what her life was like as an unbeliever. He'd never had a conversation with an unbeliever and couldn't imagine how they lived.

However, Esther wasn't at all interested in his erstwhile life, and not in hers either. As far as she was concerned, that was all over and done with and all that mattered was the future, if they had one.

They finished eating and washed it down with fruit juice, which was something else for her to grumble about.

Why in the world didn't he have any coffee? She liked her coffee , she needed it and that was going to be the first thing on the shopping list tomorrow. Amos didn't approve of coffee and he told her so. Coffeee contained an addictive drug and it was very bad for people's systems, especially the urinary tract.

Esther didn't want to know about that, 'Thank you very much'. She rose and stretched, reaching for the ceiling, and then relaxed. “Okay, time for bed I think. Cleaning-up is your department, but I'd leave it until the morning when it's light and you can see what you're doing, if I was you.”

“I would rather do them now. By the morning they'll just be harder to clean.”

“Please yourself, but I'm not helping. I've done my bit and now I'm going to bed. I'm knackered. Take the lamp so you can see.”

“I will, thanks. And thanks for cooking dinner, it was great.”

“It was adequate. When we get some proper provisions, you'll see what I really can do. G'night, Boy.”

“Goodnight, Esther. Goodnight and God Bless.”

“Can it!” She left for her room.

Amos reheated the water that was left. Once it was boiling, he gathered up the pot, their, (few), dirty dishes and utensils, hung the lamp on the pot handle and went downstairs. It made no sense really, he just wanted to clean up. It wouldn't matter if dishes and stuff never got cleaned, they could throw them away and get new ones, but that'd be wasteful.

Besides, he was not a bit tired, he was so happy that he was no longer all alone and he wanted something to do. So, in a happy wide-awake mood he was in the kitchen with the lamp up on the sill of the window in front of him and scrubbing in the sink.

His thoughts wandered as they tended to do whenever he was doing a mindless chore. He began re-living the high points of his day and planning what he'd like for tomorrow. He really hoped that Esther wouldn't go off and leave him. It was so good to have someone to . . . well, to just be with really.

He'd have to try harder; she didn't seem to like him very much. She'd been searching too and all she'd found, so far, was him and it looked like she was disappointed. Esther seemed to be very capable and good at whatever she did. He knew that he wasn't that good at anything really, but she made him feel totally useless and such a child.

Maybe it was just an age thing, Esther was older than him. How old was she again?

“Whoah! What was that? What the HELL is that?”

Something, some creature was outside the window. It moved into the finger of light from his lamp and sat there staring, with blood-red eyes, grimacing with a big mouth full of pointed teeth.

It was about the size of a large dog, deformed and twisted with one shoulder higher than the other and the head held at a strange angle. It was a sickly-white colour and glistening, shining like it was all wet and slimy. Slobber dripped from its open mouth and it was the ugliest and most frightening thing he'd seen in his life. Hideous and menacing, it was a monster out there in the dark.

All he could think was, 'Abomination!' He had seen the Abomination of Desolation.

Snarling and spitting, the horrible undead thing rose unevenly to its four feet and lurched away into the darkness. It moved like a broken zombie would and one leg dragged behind it.

Where had it gone? Where was it going? Oh, Hell! It wasn't coming in after him, was it? Scared and shaking he reached out to grab the lamp and, stupidly, knocked it over. It fell from the window sill to the bench, bounced and rolled and crashed to the floor. The light was out and he was left in total darkness. Not good.

“Oh! Oh, no. No, no, no!”

Startled, terrified, he dropped to the floor, fingers searching around until he found the lamp. It was hot! He recoiled, shaking his scalded fingers in the air. He realised what the strange noise was – it was himself, gibbering in his terror.

He clenched his teeth and willed himself to shut up. That thing out there in the dark might, or might not, be able to see him, but it could surely hear him if he wasn't quiet. “Oh, Damm!”

Matches! He still had the matches didn't he? Yes! They were in his pocket. He dragged them out and struck a match, blinking at the burst of light. Nothing. There was nothing there. The door hadn't opened and the creature hadn't come inside. Yet.

The match burnt down, he shook it out and lit another one, then picked up the lamp and sat it on the bench. He pumped the plunger and tried to light it again, but couldn't.

He lit a third match and looked closely at the lamp. The glass was cracked, that was not a big problem, but the mantle was broken and that was a problem. The lamp couldn't be lit without a mantle.

He wished that he had a candle, but he didn't. All he had was the matches. He didn't have his gun either. Dumb Kid! The gun was still up in the bedroom and that was, yet another, stupid mistake. Anyone would think he had a death-wish.

He left everything where it was and, lighting his way with matches, made his way back upstairs as fast as he dared go. The sight of that, that thing had seriously shaken him. It was like looking at pure evil. He'd never seen anything so menacing.

What sort of idiot would come downstairs in the dark, alone and with no protection? ('Clue – one whose initials are AS.') He so wanted to get back up to where his gun was; he needed it.

Actually, he wasn't quite sure if shooting that abomination would do any good. You can't kill something that's already dead and that's what it looked like – dead. Nasty. Still, he'd feel better with the shotgun in his hands. Dead or not, he'd blow it to bits! It'd have trouble walking with no legs.

At the top of the stairs, light was shining from the open door of his room along the corridor. He ran to it, dived through the door and slammed it shut behind him. He grabbed the shotgun and stood holding it up, panting, with his back against the wall and staring at the door as if he expected the Abomination to burst through itafter him.

The handle turned and the door opened. Amos stifled a scream, raised the gun and sighted along it, trying to stop his hands shaking.

“What the hell?” Esther walked in. “Put that thing down before you hurt someone.”

“Sorry.” He shrugged and lowered the gun. “I wasn't sure that it was you who was coming in.”

“Not sure? Who else would it be? Last time I looked, you and I were all there was.”

“Maybe we're not. I, ah, I saw something, in the dark outside the kitchen window.”

“You did? Was there someone out there?”

“No, not a person. It was an animal, I think. I'm not sure what it was.”

“What? Did you see something or not, and if you did, what was it?”

“I saw something. I don't know what it was, but something was out there. It moved into the light and sat there looking at me, and then it moved away again, like a dead thing walking.”

“Dead things don't walk. If you did see something and it wasn't just an over-active imagination, what did it look like?”

“Like nothing I've ever seen. It was just pure evil.”

“That's telling me nothing. Watch my lips – what did it look like? How big? How many legs? What colour? Describe it to me, Boy.”

“Oh. Right. I do wish you'd stop calling me 'Boy'. I'm not a child.”

“Stop acting like one then. Tell me about this creature of yours.”

“I didn't say that it was mine.”

“Amos!” she growled a warning and he grinned in apology.

“Sorry. Okay, so I saw this thing outside the window. It looked like it had crawled out of a grave. It was about as big as a big dog, but it was no dog's head on it – it was round, like a man's and it had no ears that I could see.

Its skin, if that's what it was, was all sickly-white and wet looking, slimy. It had no hair, it was all totally white, except for the eyes, they were red, like blood. The teeth were all pointed and sharp-looking and it was slobbering and drooling while it stared at me – like I was a lump of meat.

It was all sort-of twisted and higher on one side than the other and skinny – all skin and bones. When it moved, it lurched like the legs weren't working together.

Esther, it was awful, really, really horrible and threatening, like something out of a nightmare. If I had this gun I would have blown it away. I'm not moving again without it.

“Hmm,” she said. “You've had a fright. Something has definitely scared you.”

“It did!” he agreed. “It would scare anyone who saw it.”

“It does sound like something from a nightmare. Are you sure that you didn't drift off to sleep?”

“I did not. I was standing up, at the sink, washing the dishes, and it was out there. Don't you believe me?”

“I believe that you think you saw something. What it was, I wouldn't have a clue. It could've been a dog, injured and starving maybe. There's not much out there for a dog to eat. And, of course it was wet, it's bloody raining, isn't it?”

“Well, yes, it is now, but I don't think it was then. That could be why it looked wet, but it was shiny, sort of.”

“It would be in the light. No, Boy, I don't believe you saw a monster. I think you saw something, you were already in an emotional state and your imagination made it more than it was. Call it an hallucination, that could be all that it was. I'll tell you one thing though – I'm not going out looking for it, not in the dark. Tomorrow, we'll have a look around.”

A gust of wind and rain belted against the window. They both looked over, thinking the same thing. There was not much chance of any signs of anything being left out there. No matter how big they were, footprints would be washed away by the morning.

“Tomorrow,” Esther nodded. “So where is the lamp?”

“Down in the kitchen, I broke it. I reached out to grab it, knocked it over and it smashed.”

“We're down to candles then? No matter. Tomorrow we'll get another one, or two. We'd better go to bed and stop wasting candles before they're all gone too.”

“Yes, but I'll keep one burning so that there's some light. Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“You certainly can not. I told you, we're having none of that. Anyway, we're not that close as friends.” She grinned as she refused him. “Didn't your Elders tell you, no sex until you're married?”

“Every day,” he sighed. “But that's not what I meant. I just meant to sleep together in the same room. I really don't want to be alone tonight.”

“Because of what you saw? I hope you don't think that I'm going to save you from monsters.”

“No, but. I just don't want to be all by myself. I probably won't sleep anyway, so I'll keep watching.”

“Well . . . yeah, okay. You're not sleeping in my bed though. Drag your mattress through and you can sleep on that on the floor. One warning, you keep me awake and you're out of there. I need my sleep.”

“I'll try not to disturb you.”

“Try very hard. Come on then, and don't you dare point that gun in my direction.”

“I won't. I knew that we should've brought the other one up for you.”

“But we didn't and it's too late now.”

Sleep was a long time coming but it did come. Amos lay for what seemed like hours on his mattress on the floor, trying not to make a sound while Esrther slept peacefully above him. It was all right for her, she hadn't seen what he saw and she was not so worried.

Somewhere, close by, a door or a window or something was banging in the wind. It scared him when he first heard it, but once he realised what it was, it was just annoying. Very annoying because he nothing to do but to lie there listening to it.

Someone braver might have gone and found it and stopped it banging. Amos was not the someone. He'd stay right where he was!

He did drift off to sleep sometime, because he opened his eyes and the room was full of a grayish light.