The Fight for Life

by S G Read

  easier to catch than dogs!’

  ‘Yes we need to go and collect all the livestock we can find before it all ends up as animal food,’ Ray answered, ‘but we also need to finish the fence. We are half way there so if everybody works on the fence apart from the people doing the wall and that in itself will save a bit of fencing; then we should do it quicker. Then we can all go out and collect animals!’

  The discussion went on late into the night about what might have happened to allow the wild animals to be able to roam freely. Some thought the elephants might have broken out and somehow let the others out as well, other thought monkeys had opened the cages. Nothing was resolved by the time they all went to bed.

  At first light the auger was drilling a hole for the first pole of the morning. Another auger was also drilling the second hole to speed things along. Two teams were fixing the wire fence in place, one stapling the wire to the posts, the others fixing more wire fence to the end of the length of fence they were fixing. The new piece was stretched tight by the lorry and the wire fixed to the last pole it would reach, then they added more wire and did the same to that piece. This time there was a separate armed guard for each team, to make sure nothing stopped them working. They saw nothing in the way of wild animals all day. When they came to the main road they put the wire across it for speed, they could always build towers inside the fence line when they built the wall round if they wanted gates there.

  Darkness was falling when they stopped work; to be out there after dark was not a good idea if you were on foot. They had already crossed the main road and were heading for the last corner of the area Ray wanted covered. When they turned that corner and worked their way up they would meet the side road which passed by all the houses on that side and disappeared into the distance. Ray had driven a little way down it but no one had gone down it until it reached wherever it was going. Ray decided to drive it the next day just to see where it went and what they should do about it. He returned to the house and checked with Ralph on Bradley’s condition, only to be told that he was no better, no worse. At least he was still alive though.

  Ralphy came in to report about things in general. He had been talking to both Wilbur and Carter when he was able to and was keeping up with developments where they were, if there were any.

  ‘Wilbur says he has heard from others across the country so he’s not alone, Carter has even heard from the government in America. It seems some of them went into fall out shelters in time to miss the plague and have been able to talk to him via radio.’

  ‘There are bound to be quite a few survivors as long as no one is going about killing them, like they are over here.’ Ray replied.

  ‘What is the plan with the clan?’ Will asked.

  ‘If Bradley recovers, it will help us enlist the help of his friends. I would like to get someone on the inside to get word to anyone in there, who might help us get the women and children out when the time comes. There is no way they are going to get out using them as a shield, they have to die! Anyone they use as a shield will be in great danger but we will not let the leaders pass, so if we can sneak in and get the women and children out before they know we are there, then and only then we can mount an all-out attack, without worrying about those sort of casualties.’

  ‘What about the Welsh?’ Kevin asked.

  ‘They are waiting to hear from us as is the 303 mob. They know about the Winchester lot and are steering clear of the area totally. They will all come up when we are ready, the children can stay here with a few men and women as guards and the Welsh will meet us near the bridge the clan was watching, when we went to the airport. We will have to get rid of the men on the bridge and take out any patrols we come across, take out the place they use to keep an eye on things and get the women and children out before they know we are there!’ Ray explained.

  ‘Sounds like a tall order.’ Jacob declared.

  ‘It is. With a man on the inside to get them ready to go it would be easier.’ Ray replied.

  ‘Who would that be?’ Will asked.

  ‘Gareth.’ Ray answered.

  The rest looked astounded.

  ‘You do know what Jamal was doing to him in there?’ Will asked.

  ‘Yes I know and I am hoping that Jamal will want to do it again. He will be kept with the women and children and anyone else who is likely to run away but if he goes back of his own accord, he might have a little more freedom to move about.’ Ray answered.

  ‘How are you going to get him to do it?’ Jacob asked.

  ‘I have no idea.’ Ray answered. ‘Bringing back Bradley alive might help with negotiations about it.’

  ‘You wouldn’t get me back in there if I was him.’ Will admitted.

  ‘How important is it for him to do it?’ Jason asked.

  ‘Well we might be able to get someone’s attention inside, who isn’t with the clan but it would be foolish to try or just something to do as a last resort.’ Ray answered.

  ‘I get what you mean.’ Jason replied. ‘Once we try, if we get the wrong person all hell would break lose.’

  ‘That’s about it.’ Ray agreed. ‘Better to go in on our own terms and smash a door down with something big.’

  ‘What ram raid the place?’ Will asked.

  ‘Yes. Gareth does know the lay out of the place and he can let us know where we can go in to do the most good.’ Ray answered.

  ‘We could send someone else in to tell them.’ James declared.

  ‘No we couldn’t!’ Clem declared. ‘You either mean me or you mean you. In either case no one is going in there!’

  She stormed off, James went after her.

  ‘This is not going to be easy.’ Jacob said tiredly. ‘I think I will have an early night.’

  The informal meeting broke up with people going to bed, others to watch the television now that most of the children were in bed and a few to settle down to read.

  With morning came no more news on Bradley, he was still alive and that was it. A team went out to scavenge telegraph poles from the streets as there were no more new ones ready to drop in the holes. The team putting up the fence wire ran out of things to do before they came back and started back at the compound laying razor wire on the ground and pegging it down. With three strands of razor wire there, each slightly further out than the other any animal trying to dig into the settlement would certainly have a surprise. At the top of the fence there was already some razor wire in case any animal climbed up it. It was not perfect but it would have to do until the wall right round the settlement was completed. The others were now calling it the King’s wall, a bit like Hadrian’s Wall. Laying the razor wire was not an easy task and it took sometime. The other team came back with telegraph poles and started to put them up, they were shorter than the others as they were cut off at ground level and not dug up but they were still tall enough to do the job.

  The builders raised the wall to head height and dug the foundations to the next tower ready for concreting. They finished the trench off and ran the wires in the trench but with no one available to go and get the concrete it stopped there. The pole team saw the possibilities of the next tower to save a lot of work and sought out Jethro when they reached the corner with their last pole.

  ‘Jethro, we were thinking.’ Richard said when he had his attention. ‘If we get the concrete and lay the footings, you could build the next section, now that there is more than just the two of you.’

  ‘I’m good with that but see that pile of blocks?’ Jethro answered.

  ‘Yes, is that all there is?’

  ‘Yes we need more so after you have brought in the concrete, you will have to go and get more blocks, a lot more blocks and you will have to go a fair way! Are you up for that as well?’

  Richard and his team went into a huddle.

  ‘Yes we are.’ He said when he returned. ‘Concrete first and then blocks while that is setting.’

  ‘Oh and some sand and cement as well.’ Jethro added. ‘Clem and Justi
ne don’t like it when we stop laying blocks, so they keep mixing up the pug until I tell them we don’t want any more!’

  ‘Push you do they?’ Richard asked.

  ‘Yes, I’d rather have a normal boss any day!’

  ‘We heard that!’ Justine and Clem declared together.

  ‘By the way the pug is going off.’ Justine added.

  Richard and his team headed for the cement works in two cement lorries, James followed in the flat bed lorry for blocks, sand and cement. He had seen how they loaded the concrete into the mixer lorries and he was the one who had to show them. The generator was still there for pumping the water.

  They loaded the cement into the mixer and took it to the settlement. As it was being mixed all the way it was ready to be tipped it into the foundations when they arrived. James made sure the cement mixing lorries were well washed out before anything else was done. After that they moved off to collect more blocks and cement.

  The first blocks were laid on the foundations as soon as it was hard enough to take it, while the digger started on the next stretch.

  ‘What happens to the gap between the walls?’ Kevin asked when he saw the twin line of blocks with a gap in them.

  ‘They will be filled with concrete eventually to give the wall even more strength.’ Jethro explained. ‘But we need to get the place secure before we worry about that.’

  Ray and his team did not finish with the razor wire but they were well on their way to doing so. Now two sides of the settlement were finished.

  They all congregated back in the compound for a meal before Jake, Jeremy and their families went over to the other house.

  ‘When do you want us to start on the hospital?’ Ray asked when Ralph appeared to eat.

  ‘When my patient responds to something, anything would be good. At the moment he just lays there breathing, without any indication that there is anybody home!’ Ralph answered.

  ‘Tell me he is not brain dead!’ Ray exclaimed.

  ‘I can’t. I can tell you he shouldn’t be brain dead but he is not showing signs of waking up or anything. The food we are giving him intravenously is old and might not be any use. For all I know he could be starving to death.’

  ‘Maybe Clem could help.’

  ‘I’m a married man remember.’ Ralph warned.

  ‘No, I meant to wake him up!’

  ‘It would certainly wake me up!’ Ralph declared. ‘I heard all about her antics.’

  They spent the next day doing more or less, what they had done the previous day. The fence reached the corner which the wall was heading for, the razor wire was fitted all the way to the corner and the wall crept closer to the corner. They started another tower and the trench was dug as far as the corner where the last tower would be built for now.

  When Ray had done all he could he stopped to help the others but the arrival of Ralph on the scene made him stop and walk over to him.

  ‘He is awake and hungry!’ Ralf declared. ‘Shall we go and look at what is going to be the new hospital?’

  ‘Why not? Well done doctor, I’ll bring my team.’

  They returned to the wooden gate, watched it open, drove through and watched it close again, then drove to the second house.

  Ralph walked through the house. Jake and Jeremy’s wives had cleaned it thoroughly and all Ralph had to do was to decide which room would be for what. He looked through the equipment they had brought back for him, some which was on his list and some which was not. Parked outside the house was a paramedic vehicle full of more things.

  ‘We thought you might want to stock this up and bring it along when we sort out the clan.’ Ray said when Ralph looked it over.

  ‘A good idea. Anyone who gets themselves shot can be made comfortable before they are taken home!’ Ralph agreed. ‘I might even be able to sort out any visitors so they can go straight home!’

  Ralph sorted the house into rooms. One as an operating theatre, another as an examination room and he even wanted a small waiting room. He sorted through the equipment and had them put it in the room it would be used in. Of the upstairs rooms three were to be bedrooms for him, his wife and his boys. One was to be a ward with three beds in it and the remaining room was a laboratory.

  It was dark when they drove back to the house and they all went upstairs to see Bradley, now that he was awake.

  Bradley looked up and smiled when they all walked in, but Donna did not smile.

  ‘What are you trying to do wear him out?’ She complained. ‘He is barely awake and you all come trooping in here like you own the place!’

  ‘We won’t stop long just calling to pay our respects.’ Ray answered.

  The gathered round the bed and talked with Bradley and amongst themselves for a few minutes before Donna got her way and they all walked out again.

  ‘So he is on the mend!’ Will declared. ‘Where does that leave us?’

  ‘Well I expect that he will be too weak to travel for a week, after that I will let you take him back to his friends.’ Ray answered. ‘You will also take a letter for Gareth with you.’

  ‘Then what?’ Ralph asked.

  ‘Then we start to make plans about getting rid of the clan and getting your wife back in one piece.’ Ray answered. ‘We will let him convalesce for one week and arrange with the other groups to start our attack in two weeks, regardless of what Gareth decides.’

  ‘How are we going to do it?’ Will asked.

  Ray walked to the dining table where a map of London was laid out.

  ‘They have a lookout or lookouts placed in the tower block, to let the others know who is going where in London. We need to knock that out but in such a way that no one suspects an attack. We will come in via the M4 Bridge again but having been there I can see that rather than Clem freezing her assets again, we can go there from the fourth terminal, move across under the cover of darkness and surprise the men on the bridge before they can contact anyone. If we wait and listen for a while we will know how they talk and what they say on the radios, so that the men who take their place this time can pretend to be them. That way as we move forward towards the tower we don’t have to worry about letting patrols go by without us taking them out.’ Ray said, pointing to places with his finger.

  ‘It is a long way between the bridge and the tower, do we drive it?’ Will asked.

  ‘No we will travel across the airport on bikes!’

  Ray waited for a reaction but no one spoke.

  ‘Are you all happy with that?’ He asked.

  ‘I haven’t ridden a bike since I was a lad!’ Will admitted.

  ‘Nor have I.’ Ray answered. ‘We have a fortnight to collect the bikes and learn how to ride them. When you go up there I need you to find out how many women and children are in there, then we will get coaches to transport them to safety. The houses which are inside the settlement fence will need to be cleaned up when we have finished the wall as far as the corner and any furniture needed has to be put in them ready for the new people. We will bring the children from the Winchester settlement back here, then take them home later. At the same time we will have words with the settlement and punish those who have caused suffering. The Welsh will take their people home and anyone who wants to go with them as will the 303 people.’

  ‘The Welsh settlement has moved again.’ Ralphy said from the edge of the group.

  ‘Where are they now Ralphy?’ Ray asked.

  ‘They have moved to the Eden Project, so they aren’t actually in Wales any more.’

  ‘It’s just the place to start to grow things isn’t it?’ Will declared. ‘And they can catch a lot of rain water with all those funny shaped things.’

  ‘Have you been there then?’ Richard asked.

  ‘Yes. I was working down that way and dropped in for a look. Well worth the money.’

  ‘Well it is free now.’ Jacob replied.

  ‘Unless the Welsh charge you to go in?’ Ray retorted.

  Will laughed. ‘They might too.’
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  Chapter 9

  They spent the rest of the week finishing the wall and towers, up as far as the corner where the fence ended. Jethro also found time to start the two towers which would support the wooden gates which would block the main road. He was hoping to get them high enough to support the fence before they went to war as he fully intended to go to war against the clan. As the week neared the end Ray posted a blank list on the wall. It had on it ‘Anyone wishing to take part in the attempted rescue and attack on the clan, please put your name on here.’

  That was it. By the end of the day the paper was full and another sheet pinned underneath it. Everyone wanted to go, including Ralphy!

  During that week Bradley had been up and near the end of the week made it down stairs, even walking a little way in the garden before deciding enough was enough.

  At the evening meal Ray stood up and tapped his empty wine glass with the end of his spoon.

  ‘Thank you for letting me know how you feel about the clan and for your support. I will choose those who are going and those who are staying to look after the children on merit alone. I will expect all who come to obey orders, so that we can keep as many people as we can safe and free as many prisoners as we can, alive. Some may feel that death is better than staying there but when we get them out, they will have the chance to decide for themselves what the want to do. The freedom of choice is all we are giving them, nothing more. They can of course come to our settlement and join our community but it will be their choice.’

  He sat down. It was going to be a hard thing to decide but it was his job and he would decide it. He would let the others air their views before he did, so that they knew that he knew how they felt.

  He reflected on the Welsh moving, a wise move maybe? It meant that they were no longer the other side of the bridges, which the clan could lay an ambush on. Now they could travel up to London and meet them whenever they wanted to. Once the clan were sorted they could go back into Wales if they wanted to. It could have been due to changing winds and possible fall out from the defunct power station which prompted the move. If that was the case they would not be going back to Wales in the near future!