Chapter 10 Salute
SALUTE
We entered the colony, and I could immediately see that the weather-worn gate as well as the surrounding wooden fence had been fortified with barbed wire.
“Have you had many fury attacks?” I asked.
“Nah,” Einar’s English companion replied, “we ain’t got many of them foockers up ’ere. Reckon only ’em you just kilt. Russell by t’ way.” He offered me his hand and I shook it, introducing myself.
I estimated Russell to be close to forty. He was of medium height and build, ginger-haired, and had a startling full beard.
“Hey, Maya.” Einar stopped a girl passing us by. “These lot here will be joining us. Show them around and tell what’s what, alright?”
Maya had long black hair, slanted brown eyes, caramel skin, and a pouty expression. She wore black leggings and a smudged white tank top with considerable cleavage. She turned to face Einar, putting all her weight on her left foot so that her hip jutted out exaggeratedly.
“Joining us?”
Her accent was Spanish. She ran her hand through her hair as she stared at us with her eyebrows raised in an expression of baffled disbelief.
“That’s what I said.” Einar nodded with the air of someone whose patience was wearing dangerously thin, and Maya relented almost instantly, asking us to follow her.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but somehow, I got the impression that there was, or rather had been, something between her and Einar.
Something that had ended sourly. I preferred not to dwell too deeply on my feelings surrounding these findings.
My relief at their mutual awkwardness had nothing to do with jealousy, no, of course not.
If I were to frequent his bed, it was only natural I didn’t want to share it with anyone else.
I instantly fell in love with Ascu, the erstwhile mountain resort turned Outbreak survivors’ settlement.
At first, I couldn’t phantom why. Like most mountain resorts, it was slightly run-down, undecorated, boasting that bleak practicality that goes against true comfort.
It was only later that I realised it reminded me of the one and only summer camp my mother could afford to send me to when I was nine.
It was since then that I associated bunk beds and communal bathrooms with rare luxury, more than I did the boutique hotels Petr and I used to holiday in.
The three larger buildings we had seen from above were made of pale wooden planks and formed a ‘U’ shape. Smaller huts made of the same material were scattered behind. Between the three buildings was an old well, some tents, and vegetable patches.
“These two were restaurants before.” Maya pointed out two of the larger buildings that were opposite each other.
“That one.” She indicated the building forming the bottom of the U.
“That has showers and toilets on the first floor and rooms on the second. There’s a water spring over there.
The sands and rocks filter the water so it’s safe to drink. ”
We entered the building to our left and found a large dining room on the ground floor with long tables and benches. The windows were small, and the wood-panelled room was dark but cosy, especially owing to the central fireplace.
My eyes immediately landed on the bookshelves in the corner opposite the bar.
“Many of them are in English, for tourists,” Maya told us, perhaps noticing the longing in my gaze, and I nearly whooped out loud.
“Kitchen’s through there,” she said, stopping near a swinging door with a round window in it like that in a ship cabin. “And upstairs lives Jean-Luc and his wife, Madeleine. He was the resort manager before.”
She led us to the opposite building, which boasted a large ‘Pizza as if speaking publicly was a challenge he measured well against, but a challenge nonetheless.
It was only when I focused very closely that I realised those subtle signs of reticence intertwined his delivery with a regularity that was so perfect there was something measured about it.
Rehearsed. It was then that I became truly impressed with him.
Our presence must have been tricky for him to explain to the resident settlers, but he skated around the topic of our potential usefulness to the colony with the diplomatic ease of a seasoned acrobat, and without yet mentioning what in particular he expected our contributions to be.
That way, he avoided the political risk of promising something he himself could not guarantee before a trip to a certain beach in the Northwest.
Unfortunately for me, he chose to focus instead on the one thing he himself had witnessed that could be gained from our presence. Mine, specifically.
“Some of you have spent hours today clearing and burning about fifty infected corpses. And you might want to know whom to thank for the pleasant afternoon.”
Mostly male voices chuckled throughout the hall. I felt the blood drain from my face in anticipation of what was to come, my heart pummelling the inside of my ribcage like a trapped animal trying to escape.
Einar smiled at me encouragingly and apologetically at the same time when he indicated that I should get up. I did, all too aware that my head barely cleared the seated crowd.
“This is Renata. And contrary to her delicate looks, she is the most lethal person currently in this room. With my own eyes, I saw her kill those cannibals single-handedly with nothing but a bow. Did any of you notice anything curious about the way she killed them?”
He slowly scanned the room with a challenging air that was all the more potent for being nearly imperceptible.
“Most of them were headshots?” a young man spoke tentatively with a French accent, and an astonished hum filled the hall.
Oh sod this, I thought.
“Most of them were eye shots, actually.” My voice shook, but rang loud, my words earning me a devilish grin from Einar.
“But don’t worry, you didn’t offend me.” I turned to the young man I had corrected with a dismissive wave of my hand, only to be met with an eye-bulging stare fit for either a global celebrity or a real-life Santa Claus.
A guffaw or two sounded around me. Then applause, tentative at first but growing steadily in intensity. Accompanied by an occasional whistle of someone who clearly was a practised football fan.
Sod this even more.
I debated bolting out of there. Until Einar’s eyes captured my own with the efficiency of a fishhook.
Almost as if I had plunged into their cool pools, and the world around froze over, all sounds were muted.
I sat back down obediently under their look, which could be described as nothing but a glare due to its severe intensity, despite not being displeased in the least. Then, with just a hint of victorious tightening of lines around his lips, Einar raised his glass slightly in an inconspicuous salute.
“Enjoying your two minutes of fame?”
No Cheshire grin was to be found on Dave’s face despite the dry humour of his question.
“Oh shut up, you know I’m not.”
“Then don’t worry. It’s all the vainglorious bastard will ever let you have, you mark my words. I’d so gladly sew his own dick to his face if I didn’t think it would be an improvement on that nose. God, I’ve been here five minutes and he already makes me want to violate the Hippocratic oath—”
“You were just a student. Have you even taken the oath yet?” I asked distractedly, thinking that I rather liked the nose in question as it contributed to its owner’s rough, rugged charm.
“You make an excellent point, hun.”
“Do me a favour and leave his dick intact until I’ve had a chance to give it a whirl, will you?”
It was only when Dave snorted out loud, choking on his water and spitting it on the table, that I realised what I had said.
I pounded his back in an effort to prevent him from suffocating.
Despite the fact that if he were to die, he would never get the chance to repeat my words to anyone.
Nobody could accuse me of not being a selfless friend.