The Gamekeeper

by J Porteous

  I nodded towards the door I had come through. ‘Now get out.’

  The man nodded hesitantly, looking back at Jessica as if leaving a prized possession. I kept my shotgun trained on him as he passed, nervously fingering the trigger as if I could fire the non-existent second shell without any notice.

  ‘We’ll be back for her,’ he said, an edge of violence returning to his voice. ‘And when the Father knows that she is here, it won’t just be me coming back. There will be no hiding from the Children of Ash.’

  I kept my shotgun steady, the barrel aimed straight at his chest. My finger hovered over the trigger. ‘You do that,’ I said. ‘I’ll be waiting for you.’

  I followed him until he was out of the door, the small man pulling it shut behind him. I let out a sigh of relief, dropping the shotgun from my shoulder. My hands shook, adrenaline buzzing through my veins.

  Small arms clasped themselves around me. I looked down to see Jessica, her face looking up at me. ‘You killed him!’ Tears stained her cheeks.

  There was no time for comforting words. ‘I didn’t have an option.’ I looked up at Diego and Felix, both men looking decidedly shaken. ‘You two okay?’

  Felix nodded. ‘We thought they’d found you when they came barging in here. I’m glad you’re safe.’

  ‘God knows what would have happened if you hadn’t come back,’ Diego said, his words stuttering. He rubbed his face, wiping dirt and tears away. ‘Why didn’t you shoot the other one?’

  ‘I only had one shell loaded.’

  ‘You were bluffing?’ Diego said.

  ‘Best not to think about it,’ I said. As I said those words, I looked down at Jessica and could not help but think what could have happened. The girl I had taken, to ensure her safety, was now in the least safe position she could have been in. Don’t think like that, I told myself. She would have died if you had left her, or worse.

  At that moment I made up my mind to double my efforts to find a safe place for her. She had not been safe back in the barn, and it had just been proven that she was not safe with me. If we could get to that city, there would be no way that those maniacs could touch her there. She could be safe and free. She could be a child; a rare thing in a world which caused you to grow up fast.

  ‘Why did they call her that?’ Diego asked. ‘What was it, Daughter of Flame?’

  ‘They’re insane,’ Felix replied. ‘You saw what they did back at Community. Besides, didn’t you see them? They were burnt too.’ He looked over at the dead man. ‘Maybe they thought she was one of them?’

  ‘I’m not one of them,’ Jessica replied, still shaking. ‘I’m not one of the bad people.’

  ‘That’s right,’ I said. ‘You’re not one of them.’ I glanced around the room. ‘We need to be moving. Is everything packed up?’

  Diego nodded. ‘It’s not like we really had much to begin with.’

  I retrieved my rucksack from its perch on one of the pews and pulled it tight around my shoulders. I broke open the shotgun, the shell flying out. It pinged across the floor, the small sound seemingly filling the quiet church. I fumbled around in my pocket, rolling the shells around my fingers. Just two shells left.

  Jessica followed me absent-mindedly, toying with the long hair on the one side of her head. Her voice held a slight tremor to it. ‘Where are we going to go?’

  There was only one place in my mind that we could go. ‘We’re going north. We’re going to find that city.’

  Chapter Four

  The church was now just a spire in the distance, standing dark and tall around the surrounding trees. Since leaving what we had thought to be relative safety, there had been no sign of the man I had let go. This was no time to let our guard down though. No doubt they’ll follow our tracks in the snow.

  The fast-flowing stream we had arrived at presented a rare opportunity to wash. It was not deep, but it provided enough water to scoop handfuls from. I knelt amongst the reeds at the water’s edge, splashing great handfuls onto my face. It was icy cold and served to jolt my senses to life. I did not look forward to washing the rest of myself in it.

  I removed my coat, jumper, and shirt, and took short, shocked breaths as the freezing water hit my skin. As much as I wanted to put my clothes back on as soon as possible, I knew that it was important; I had heard of at least two settlements succumbing to cholera or typhoid due to hygiene issues.

  ‘Fucking hell, what did that?’

  I turned back to see Felix staring at my arm. I had grown accustomed to the fierce scar which tore down my forearm, enough to forget the questions it could cause. I shrugged and splashed more water on myself. ‘Wolf.’

  Felix stared at me for a moment, then burst into a fit of laughter. ‘A wolf? A wolf?’ His laughter subsided when he noticed there was no amusement on my face. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you? There haven’t been wild wolves in Britain for centuries, how are they back now?’

  I stood up straight and started to dress myself. ‘Zoos,’ I said. ‘Plenty of them had them. I’m assuming they got loose, and since it’s a native environment I’m assuming they got along just fine without their handlers.’

  Felix cautiously eyed the bushes which surrounded the stream, as if a wolf were just about to burst out and maul him. ‘Was that near here?’

  ‘No. This was quite soon after the cities were scorched, nowhere near here.’ I pulled on my coat and fastened it, swinging my rucksack back over my shoulder. ‘If you’re asking me if they are still out there, I don’t know.’

  ‘I’m assuming the wolf came off worse if you’re still here?’

  I nodded and tapped my hunting knife. ‘Drove this straight into its eye socket as it tore into my arm. More luck than anything.’

  ‘Is that why you washed away from the rest of us?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Because of the scar.’

  I rubbed my arm instinctively. I hadn’t realised I had done it; perhaps it had been part of some subconscious thought. I shrugged. ‘It might have scared the girl. She’s seen enough these past few days.’

  ‘You care about her, don’t you?’

  ‘I just want to get her to a safe place.’

  Felix frowned. ‘I thought you were trying to find her dad?’

  Shit. I attempted to cover my fumble. ‘I am. I’m just thinking about the next immediate step. If he’s not there, in the city, then I might have to re-evaluate things.’

  ‘That’s sensible,’ Felix said, his frown dissipating. ‘Anything can happen out here.’

  I gave a grim nod. ‘Any idea how far this city is?’

  ‘No clue,’ Felix replied. ‘Could be a few miles, could be a whole day. All I remember is that it’s north.’

  ‘We’d better keep moving then. We’re burning daylight standing here, and we’ve got no promise of shelter if we’re caught out tonight.’

  I walked with Felix back to where the other two were sat. They were perched on a fallen log, finishing off the food which I had grabbed from my rucksack. Jessica’s mouth was covered in bean juice, her smile causing some of it to run down her chin.

  Diego looked up and handed me his can. ‘Your half,’ he said. ‘Enjoy, if that’s the right word for it.’

  Cat food, again. Still, my stomach would complain until something was in it. I quickly ate what was left in the tin, I found that strategy tended to help keep the animal food down, and tossed the can into a nearby hedge. I looked at Jessica. ‘Are you ready? We’ve got a long walk ahead of us.’

  Jessica jumped to her feet. ‘We’re going to go to the city, right? That’s where we’re going now?’

  ‘We are. If it’s there. I just hope your dad is there too.’

  Jessica smiled to herself. ‘Me too.’

  It wasn’t long before we set off again. The clouds above us were a dark grey blanket, constantly threatening another flurry of snow. We soon left the side of the stream, it darted off into another woodland, then followed an old road we stumbled across.

&
nbsp; Usually, I would have frowned upon following a road. It was such a natural instinct to follow a road without thinking about it, which meant that anyone thinking more untoward thoughts would most likely use it as an ambush point. It did, however, have the bonus of being the quickest route to travel, and with the city an unknown distance away, that was what we needed.

  Diego and Felix did well, carrying a good pace as we marched along the open road. We passed a number of abandoned dwellings on the edge of the woodland, a collection of roughly built wooden structures, but found nothing of use in them. We soon left the road and trod across overgrown fields.

  Jessica started off well, her enthusiasm carrying her further and faster than I had expected. It wasn’t until late afternoon where she started to slow. She huffed and blew as the long walk took its toll, her legs occasionally buckling and causing her to stumble through the snow. There were numerous times where I had to catch her.

  She staggered forward once more, and I reached out to grab her before she fell.

  ‘Steady now,’ I said. ‘You can’t keep pushing yourself so hard.’

  Exhausted tears welled in her eyes. ‘But we need to get to the city. To my dad.’

  ‘We do,’ I said. ‘But we’ve been pushing ourselves harder than we need to. We can afford to go a little slower and still make it before it gets dark.’

  She picked herself up again, steadying herself once more. A couple of deep breaths were needed before she could speak again. ‘So, we can go slower?’

  ‘Yes, but just a little.’

  A scream cut the air. I turned to see Felix stumbling back, a hole in the ground beside him. He regained his composure and scrabbled to the hole. ‘Diego? Diego, are you okay?’

  I stormed across the cold ground, peering down into the fresh pit. Diego lay at the bottom, crumpled in a heap. He moaned, which meant he was still breathing. The pit was around five foot deep, and had been covered with a thin layer of leaves and dirt over the top of old cloth. ‘It’s a pit for animals,’ I said. ‘And a piss-poor one at that.’

  Diego rolled over, his face and clothes stained with wet mud. ‘My leg,’ he groaned, his eyes screwed shut in pain.

  I glanced at his foot. It was twisted at an unnatural angle, his boot splayed to one side. I crouched beside the hole. ‘You’ve got to get up, Diego. Get up and we can pull you out.’

  ‘Okay, okay.’ Diego pushed himself up on to his elbows, his legs still lying where he fell. He looked down at his foot and quickly looked away. ‘Fuck.’

  ‘Come on, Diego,’ I said. ‘You’ve got to get up.’

  Diego rolled onto his side and worked his way up onto his knees. With his one good leg, he pushed himself up, yelping in pain as his other foot dragged across the ground.

  I looked up at Felix. ‘Give me a hand, will you?’

  Felix grasped one hand and I grabbed the other. With gritted teeth, we pulled his weight out of the pit, leaving him lying on his stomach, sobbing in pain.

  I placed my hands on Diego’s side. ‘Now this is probably going to hurt.’ With a firm shove, I rolled him onto his back, the man cursing at me as he went. I moved my attention to his boot, and more precisely, the foot within. I lightly held the boot, wiggling it and causing Diego to shout once more. I put his foot down with care. The boot fell flat to the ground again.

  I stood and wiped the sweat from my brow. ‘That’s a broken ankle.’

  ‘Shit,’ Felix said. ‘Shit. What are we meant to do now?’

  ‘The best thing we can do is make a splint for it.’ I said. ‘We’re going to need to find something sturdy.’

  ‘I’ll help,’ Jessica said, appearing beside me once more.

  I nodded. ‘That sounds like a good idea.’ I looked up at Felix. ‘Look after him. Just shout if he gets worse, we won’t be far away.’

  Felix nodded. ‘Sure thing.’

  ‘Come on,’ I said to Jessica. ‘Let’s go find something for Diego.’

  The immediate area was relatively bare: a combination of gnarled trees, deer carcasses, and old fire pits. I dug around, looking for anything in the dirt. Jessica followed suit, scuffing her shoes across the ground in the hope of unearthing something.

  I looked back at Felix and Diego. They were still in sight, and Diego looked none the better. I tapped Jessica on the shoulder. ‘We’re wasting time.’

  She looked up at me. ‘What?’

  I glanced back at Felix and Diego. ‘Even if we find something for Diego, he’s going to be slowing us down. There’s no way we’re going to make it to the city by nightfall.’

  ‘But, we can’t just leave them?’

  I knelt next to Jessica, placing my hands on her shoulders. ‘Jessica, sometimes in this world you’ve got to make hard decisions. It’s not nice and it’s not fair, but sometimes you just have to do it.’

  Jessica looked over towards Felix and Diego. ‘But they might get hurt. What if the bad people get them?’

  ‘People do get hurt. It’s just how things happen.’

  ‘Doesn’t that make us bad people too?’

  I sighed. How could I explain to a young girl that there is no good and bad any more, just those that are alive and those that are dead? ‘It’s...difficult to explain.’

  ‘I’m not going to be a bad person,’ she said, her voice strong with defiance. ‘I’m staying here with them. I’m not leaving them.’ She broke my grip of her shoulders and stormed towards where Felix and Diego were.

  She’s a strong one, for good or bad. I wasn’t about to leave the girl, so resigned myself to sorting Diego’s leg. I dug around in the dirt and fire pits until I found something useful; an old fire iron. It was strong and long enough to do the job. If the worst came to the worst, it could double as a weapon as well.

  I wandered back to the group. Diego was now sat up, staring dejectedly at his leg while Jessica and Felix attempted to cheer him up. I held the iron up as I approached. ‘This should do the trick.’

  I crouched beside Diego and placed the fire iron next to his leg. It was a good fit, and would keep his leg stable enough for the journey; however long that was going to take. I looked up at Jessica, a smile spreading over her lips.

  It didn’t take long to tie some cloth around Diego’s leg and the iron, keeping his leg and foot in a straight line. With Felix’s help, I stood him up, letting him place all of his weight on his good leg. He winced as he adjusted to it.

  ‘How’s it feeling?’ Felix said. ‘Think you can walk?’

  Diego put some weight on his bad foot and hissed in pain. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Not without help.’

  ‘You think you can carry him?’ I asked Felix.

  Felix nodded. ‘If that’s what it takes.’

  Diego grasped my arm. His face was heavy with sweat, his breathing laboured. ‘Thanks. For not leaving me behind.’

  I somehow managed to avoid glancing at Jessica. ‘No problem.’

  Our pace slowed dramatically. Jessica and I walked ahead, probing the ground with sticks to avoid any further trap holes. Felix and Diego followed behind, pausing frequently to rest. Jessica and I stopped where we needed to, letting them catch us when necessary.

  I looked up at the ever darkening sky. Night was coming, and so far there was no cover in sight, let alone any supposed city. I jabbed my stick into the ground ahead of me once more.

  ‘I’m glad you came back.’

  I looked over at Jessica. ‘Of course I did.’

  ‘But you said you wanted to leave them.’

  ‘I did. I didn’t say anything about leaving you though.’

  We carried on walking in silence, with only the jabs of sticks hitting the hard ground breaking the quiet.

  Jessica piped up again. ‘Are we going to find somewhere before it gets dark?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘Hopefully we will.’

  ‘What happens if we don’t find somewhere?’

  It wasn’t something I really wanted to think about. ‘Then it’s going to be
a cold night.’

  Darkness came quickly and completely. The world appeared to close in around us, limiting our vision to the trees closest to us. The moon cracked the cloud cover in places, the occasional silver light illuminating the path ahead of us. If not for that, we would have been floundering in the dark.

  Jessica trudged through the snow beside me. She had left her stick behind long ago, her hands now crossed firmly across her chest in an attempt to keep as much warmth in the oversized coat as possible. I looked at her and knew that we couldn’t go on much longer.

  ‘I’m tired,’ she said, following her words with a big yawn. ‘My feet hurt too.’

  ‘We’re all tired,’ I replied. ‘I bet this is the furthest you’ve walked for a while, eh?’

  ‘Much further.’

  I looked back, Felix and Diego appearing as shadows cast across the dirty snow. Diego had struggled since the start of our trek, but now he stopped with increasing regularity. He needed proper rest, and soon.

  ‘Will we know the city when we see it?’

  ‘They say it’s got electricity,’ I said. ‘We’ll be able to see it easily at night.’

  ‘It glows? Like the moon?’

  I still forgot that there were children who had never experienced something which the world had once found so basic. ‘Brighter than the moon. It won’t be hidden behind the clouds.’

  ‘So we definitely haven’t missed it?’

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ I said. Her eyes sank to the floor, my heart with her. ‘That doesn’t mean we’re not going to find it though. We’ve just got to keep going.’

  Haphazard footsteps approached. Diego almost cried with pain. Even in the darkness of the night, I could see his face was etched with agony.

  Felix let go of Diego, letting him fall to the floor with a grunt. He bent double, his hands on his knees as he sucked in breaths. ‘I can’t carry him any further, I just can’t.’

  Diego propped himself against a tree, letting his head roll back until it thumped against the trunk. ‘Just go on,’ he said between sobs. ‘I can’t go on like this. I just can’t.’