Living with Survival

Chapter 5: The Walls Come Down

The light of the day was blinding. Tim froze for a few seconds, feeling vulnerable holding onto a stranger. "Take your time" The Kingmaker whispered, his voice calming and sturdy. When his surroundings finally began to appear, Tim felt like he had fallen into the past. Walls of stone surrounding a plethora of activity, People bustled about around market stalls, sharpening weapons and other activities that wouldn't look out of place in the Middle Ages. Tim turned to look over the ramparts. The surrounding gardens were overgrown and the trees beyond it sat still like silent guardians. Beyond was the small town of Warwick, silent as the grave.

Tim was aghast, he'd seen some crazy shit over the past year, but this felt like the next phase of it all. The beginning of the restart button, The Kingmaker seemed to sense his confusion. "You must have many questions. So ill answer the most important, how?" The older man's lanky physique gave him ample space to peer over the walls. He stared out at the surrounding countryside, recalling life leading up to this.

"As you know, it started as rioting. But we all knew it was something else. I was the groundskeeper here. I got the job mainly due to my love of this places history, or rather its place in history. As the cities began to fall, people were rushing to airports and coasts, barricading themselves in supermarkets, renowned death traps with a thousand ways in and very few ways out. Whilst this was happening all over the country, a few of the staff began barricading and fortifying the castle. Some of the locals from the town got word and joined us. Some were brick layers and labourers, invaluable to us at that time, still are. The infection arrived and wiped out everything around us, yet we stood firm. Foraging and looting the surrounding areas for food and weapons. Eventually when it all died down and the Americans made contact from London, they advised staying put and waiting for them to come to us. That never happened. Now we hear over long range radios of Europe being wiped away."

"Seems you're all alone" Tim said as he stared down at some of the townsfolk. One man teaching another how to wield a halberd, a woman gutting a fish and adding it to a small pile beside her, several men dressed in ramshackle pieces of armour manned the gate house. This remained locked. "Not entirely alone" The Kingmaker sighed. "Who else is out there?" With this the man's hands clasped together as he leaned them over the battlements. "There is Onley Prison, about 20 miles north. Inmates managed to take over and fortify it. We only learned about them lately. Met one of them on a foraging mission, same kind of mission we were on when we heard gunshots coming from that factory where we found you".

Tim's head was swirling. People had not only just survived, they were setting up camp. Then he suddenly thought of his people, person. "Where's Ellsy?" Tim looked anxious. The Kingmaker said nothing, simply pointing at one of the distant towers. There stood a lonely figure staring out at the beyond the walls, her hair being played with by the gentle wind. "Can you make it over to her, or would you like help?" Tim shook his head, unable to take his eyes away from her. "Then we'll speak soon "The Kingmaker turned to leave and was almost through the door from which they'd came when Tim shouted "Thank you". The gracious man simply smiled, nodded and disappeared.

Tim limped around the fortifications towards her. A growing anxiety with every step, he could see it now. The distance he had let creep in between Ellsy and himself the past month or so. He had let his grief for Jon blind him to what he still had. What he still wanted. He had no idea what he wanted to say. He just wanted to grab her and never let go. As he came up beside her, she saw him from the corner of her eye. Only her head turned away from the view, and the most beautiful relieved smile filled her face, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Hello" Tim smiled back. Ellsy turned towards Tim, giving every bit of her attention to him. "How are you feeling?" Tim leant against the stone wall, trying to find a position that didn't leave him in pain. "Much better now" Tim smiled as he looked into her eyes. "I missed you" Tim's eyes began to well up with tears. "How could you have missed me, you've been Unconscious most of the time" Ellsy moved closer to him. "I fell into grief Ellsy. All this shit. It was hard to see the future surrounded by all that, even when my future was staring back at me". Their eyes didn't leave one another's, her hand reached out to his. Her softness and grace nearly sent him over the wall. He felt dizzy. Instead of falling over the ramparts he fell into her lips. They embraced for a while. They let everything up to this point fall away, just a good view and a great kiss.