In a post-apocalyptic world where a virus of unknown origin
had taken most of the world, No Man’s
Land by Jacqueline Druga brings
you the fascinating tale of a man’s struggle for survival. When the news first
came out, many, like Calvin and Leah, dismissed it as a rumour. The virus, they
were told spread through saliva, sex and bite. Some suggested it was airborne.
An infected person, when died turned into a Former
or a Vee, as they were called. People
were advised to stay in their houses. They were advised to stay alert. All this
sounded more like a zombie movie – too scary to be true. Even the Government
was in denial. The news didn’t tell them the whole story. It was better to do
as they suggested in the TV. Probably it would pass soon.
That would prove to be a fatal mistake.
Calvin had envisioned his wife, Leah lying in a clean bed in
a hospital, surrounded by their loved ones holding a beautiful baby in her
hand. Instead, they found her giving birth to their child in a tool shed,
surrounded by the dead. And he realized that Leah won’t be around much longer.
There was a gaping wound in her arms that just won’t heal. She had been bitten.
Leah passed away while giving birth to their son, Edward as
Calvin later named him. But it was not long before she rose again – this time,
she was one of them.
“The world was hell, and I just allowed a baby to be born into it.”
Would he be able to protect the child – a completely defenceless
little thing – from the world that had suddenly turned into a violent and
hostile place for humans? But that, Calvin decided, was his first priority. It
was a mandate to kill Leah, to damage her brain, in order to put an end to
this. But it was not easy to plunge a knife into someone you’ve loved all your
life.
Dead, alive, infected, whatever... she ws still my wife.
Till the end of No
Man’s Land by Jacqueline Druga,
the main protagonist, Calvin would be shadowed by this moral conflict. It was
imperative that he killed her. Yet, a part of him refused to do it to whatever
remained of his deceased wife. A part of him told him it was wrong. His
helplessness here touched me more than anything else in his character.
Afterwards he’d invite graver dangers with this indecisiveness.
He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead he held the
baby in his arms and waited for further developments.
All I could do was sit there shivering, holding the baby, hammer at my side, while I watched Leah and waited for her to attack.
But this couldn’t go on forever. He had to leave her, for
the sake of the child. The child was now his first priority. He had to do
everything in his ability to let it live. And he couldn’t do it sitting in the tool
shed with Leah. He would take his backpack and get to the car. To his utter
shock, Leah would follow them. She wouldn’t attack or anything. She would just
follow, as if saying, “Don’t leave me.
Please don’t leave me.”
Calvin couldn’t leave her behind. He had tied her wrists and
covered her mouth with duct tape. He put her inside the car and drove away. He
was looking for a sanctuary. There was news that there are virus free zones,
heavily protected by military. If he could just reach one of those places, he
and Edward would be safe. He drove along, occasionally stopping for supplies
that were items primarily scavenged from abandoned buildings. On his way, he
spotted a church with fence around it. There were people living. He asked for
shelter. Pastor Jim said it was the house of God and said took him to a back
room. But then as Calvin tried to wash the child, it broke into full-blown newborn screams. It was too
dangerous, because the noise would possibly lead the Formers right into the
Church. Pastor Jim asked Calvin to leave immediately. Calvin and Edward were
back on the streets once again.
It was then when he met Mr. Mill who agreed to put him up
for the night. At night, he was robbed by those men. Edward was taken away from
him. This is when he met Hannah, who had rescued Edward. After some debates,
Calvin reluctantly agreed to take Hannah along with him. They took shelter in
the abandoned residence of Daniel and Jennifer Harvey. Well, it was not
entirely abandoned, as they later found out. The corpse of Jennifer was lying
in the front yard. But what laid there, was no Jennifer anymore.
Her fingers extended and her one eye moved. Her mouth opened and closed, biting at nothing.
Here in this building, they would meet an extremely
aggressive predator. He was not a Former, but a living human being, whom they
let in when he cried out for help. The most fearsome enemies of No Man’s Land by Jacqueline Druga, most ironically were fellow survivors, who took
this crisis as an opportunity to loot and rape with impunity. Would they reach their destination - the Sanctuary City? Would Calvin be able to save his son? What would happen to Leah who, till now followed them everywhere they went? We moved on with the story looking for the answers, and in the end what we get are just not answers but deep revelations.
One particular aspect of this novel, that makes it stand out
from a series of novels in this genre, is its unique story-telling. The
characters of No Man’s Land by Jacqueline Druga have their strengths
and weaknesses. Even the hero, Calvin is far from being perfect. Unlike the
gun-toting, sweaty-faced muscleman that you usually find in those stereotypical
zombie novels, Calvin is quite an ordinary person like you and me. He couldn’t
handle guns and was often nervous in the face of danger. However, that didn’t
make him less of a hero. In that way his character became more realistic. There
is a plot-twist in the end that is going to turn all your calculations and
predictions upside down. But of course, I am not going to tell you anything
about it. You have to find that out yourself.
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