Blake smoothed back her sister’s damp hair. ‘Don’t lose hope just yet, all right?’
Lyndal turned away.
Chapter 39
Blake continued to open the shop every morning, but nobody came. The only time merchants left their houses was for water or to scavenge what they could from the forest. But even the forest was starving. The merchants had stripped it bare.
Every morning Blake and Thea continued to sweep their verandas, determined to keep some routine and purpose in their lives. They would lean on their brooms and talk about the latest deaths, which families had managed to successfully grow food, and which families had nothing. But seven weeks into the lockdown, Blake stepped out onto the veranda with her broom and found Birtle sweeping the veranda in place of his wife.
‘Is Thea all right?’ she asked.
Birtle gave her a smile that was not very reassuring. ‘Just a bit tired.’
Everyone was tired. It did not matter how much they slept, their bodies just seemed to be giving up. The day before, Blake had tried to give her neighbour some of the grubs, but Thea had turned green at the sight of them and insisted she focus on keeping her sisters fed.
‘How’s Eda?’ Birtle asked.
‘No better, I’m afraid.’
Eda had developed a cough days ago that seemed to be getting worse. They had sent for the physician only to be told he had died. It would not have made a difference anyway, because the medicine she needed was food.
‘I hope Eda’s not keeping Thea awake,’ Blake said. The cough was worse at night, and Blake had started staying up with her, propping her up in front of the fire and dozing at her side.
‘Your sister’s not the reason she’s tired,’ Birtle replied before resuming sweeping.
Blake made a mental note to check on Thea the following day, but she never got the chance. Birtle showed up at the shop early the next morning, head stooped and eyes red. Blake froze when she opened the door and caught sight of him.
‘I wondered if your mother might sew a body bag for me.’ His voice barely carried over the rain falling behind him.
Blake pressed her eyes shut and took hold of the door frame. When she opened them, she forced a smile. ‘Of course she will. Come in. The fire’s lit. When the bag’s done, we’ll go back to the house together.’
Birtle’s mouth wobbled as he stepped past her and walked into the house.
After hearing the news, Lyndal gave Birtle a small bowl of soup, which was just leek and water with a little salt. Sometimes the warmth tricked the mind into thinking it was enough.
Candace sewed the body bag and handed it to Blake, who returned next door with Birtle.
‘What would you like to do with her?’ Blake asked, swallowing down her rising nausea.
Birtle sighed. ‘Neither of us has the energy required to dig a grave. I guess we’ll lay her along the wall with the others.’
The piles of corpses were growing. It was not just because the walls were the farthest point from the village but that merchants wanted people to see what was happening. But the only people who saw were the defenders guarding them. Still, there was a small amount of satisfaction in seeing them walk the walls holding handkerchiefs to their noses.
They took one end each, Blake recoiling inwardly as she held Thea’s limp, bony ankles through the fabric. The walk felt eternal, and her arms tired out before they were even halfway there. She looked anywhere but down, even braving the walls which she had managed to avoid since her last encounter with Harlan. She was afraid he would summon her, try to feed her.
She was afraid of more people dying because of her.
‘I need to rest,’ Birtle said, gently placing his wife on the road and wiping his brow with a shaky hand.
Blake leaned on her knees, reminding herself there was no point in being sick because she had nothing to bring up. ‘Ready?’ she asked, grabbing hold of the ankles once more.
Birtle bent and lifted his wife.
The closest wall was the north one that separated them from the nobility. Unfortunately, they had to make their way through a quarter-mile of mud to reach it. By the time they got there, they were soaked through from the rain, and the body bag was splattered with mud. Blake paused when the wall came into view, eyes moving over the bodies, many of them not even covered.
So much death.
‘Do you want to put her on top of the others or next to them?’ Blake could barely believe what she was asking.
