by S G Read
With the day getting on now they did not start on the second gate, instead they put the temporary gate into position in front of the new gate and put a wooden bar across to stop the new gate moving inwards. If the elephants came they would have to pull and not push to get in, hopefully they would not suss that out with the lights flashing and the klaxon sounding!
The talk that night was on the new gate and not the forthcoming attack, until the alarm at the front gate dinged. Will was there watching, it was not an elephant this time but a car which had caused it.
‘We have company!’ He called urgently.
A man climbed out of the lead car and he saw it was Giles from the 303 settlement.
‘Looks like the 303 have come a calling.’ He added as men hurried to him.
‘He’s bleeding!’ Jericho exclaimed when he looked. ‘Open the gates, I’ll go out and make sure we don’t get any nasty surprises!’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Will declared and followed him out.
‘Barry, you and Jethro go and help them with the gate while they keep out of sight. The rest of you arm up and take up positions, somewhere you think it will do some good if it is an attack!’ Ray ordered. ‘I’ll meet them when they arrive.’
Brian took over watching the viewers and related events as they went down.
‘I count three cars.’ He said as they drove into the settlement. ‘Barry and Jethro have closed the gate again without any worries. Barry has stayed out there and Jethro is on his way back following the others.’ There was a pause as the cars drove round to the second gate. ‘They are through the second gate and approaching the house. No sign of any trouble though.’
Ray walked out to meet them and the floodlights which were still rigged up from the other night were turned on. The cars drove into the compound and stopped. Giles climbed out and it was obvious that all as not well with him. Ralph passed Ray and hurried over to him in time to catch him as he fell. The two other drivers stayed put, they were in a worse state than Giles.
‘Let’s get some bodies out here to drive them to the hospital!’ Ralph called but they were already on the way.
James jumped into the people carrier and drove down to where Giles was being held up by Ralph and helped Ralph lay him on the rear seats. James then drove to the next car and stopped as John was pulling the driver out. He was laid in the back and James drove to the last one but the driver was able to drive.
‘We need to go to the hospital.’ James said through his open window.
‘You have a hospital?’ The man replied in amazement.
‘Of a sort.’ James answered honestly. ‘But we do have a good doctor.’
‘I’ll follow you.’ The man said stoically.
Ralph drove the first car with John driving the second car and the driver of the third car still able to drive, they headed for the hospital following James. Two other cars filled with willing hands, followed along behind. Armed fighters stayed in position where they could repel an attack if it came and all the men who went to the hospital were armed.
Clem had taken up a position by the corner of the garage in the shadows and was lying down with a Kalashnikov ready to shoot anyone who she thought deserved it. Other fighters were in other positions just waiting. After half an hour with no sign of anything she was just thinking of calling it a night when a voice behind he spoke quietly.
‘Anything happening?’
‘I do wish you wouldn’t creep up on people like that Barry!’ Clem answered at the same level. ‘We’ve seen no one. Did you see anyone?’
‘Not a soul Clem, so I reckon we can go back into the house.’
‘How did you get here without coming through the gate?’
‘I climbed up the gate, walked along the wall and used the fence to get round the tower, then dropped down in the compound.’ Barry replied quietly. ‘The sooner that bit of fence is removed the better!’
‘Sounds like it Barry.’ Clem agreed and climbed to her feet. ‘Never a dull moment is there?’
James stopped outside the hospital and waited for Ralph to get out of the car he was driving. Ralph ran to the door and came back with a wheelchair and they started transferring the injured into the house. As soon as the first one was inside Ralph started on him while the others brought in the rest of the injured. Another car arrived with Donna in it and she started on the easy wounds. Some were walking wounded who were easily patched up; others were in a bad way and took a lot of work. No one left. As soon as one was ready he was put into a waiting bed. In all there were twelve men all injured! As the sun came up Ralph was still working on the last man. He had three bullets in him and it was a miracle he had made it this far but Ralph did not like to lose patients. When the last patient was transferred to a bed and made comfortable Will arrived with Jericho.
‘Need any more supplies?’ Will asked.
‘No, I think we are okay for the moment but we will need to get more before the attack on the clan.’ Ralph answered.
‘I’ll get some in the morning.’ In the distance the rooster crowed. ‘It is the morning so I’ll go after some breakfast.’
‘Any sign of anyone following?’ Ray asked.
‘No.’ Jericho answered. ‘Barry went outside for a look around but did not see anyone and if he doesn’t see anyone, there is no one there. I’ll go with you Will, after we have breakfast.’
‘The same as last time Ralph?’ Will asked.
‘I’ll make a list.’ Ralph answered and took a pad out of a draw.
‘How bad are they?’ Jericho asked.
‘Four walking wounded who will be okay in a couple of days, six who should recover and two whose fate is in the lap of the gods!’ Ralph answered as he wrote.
‘And make sure I can read it this time!’ Will ordered. ‘You doctors are always the same, couldn’t write legibly if they wanted to!’
‘I’ll do it in capitals just for you William!’ Ralph answered, stifling a yawn as he did so.
The yawn was catching, as they had all been up all night but it did not stop anyone. Jericho and Will took the list, drove back to the house to have some breakfast, soon after that they unlocked the van, before checking the yellow pages again. With several places marked on a sheet of paper, very neatly, they headed out through the new gate. No one else was moving when they left, some were asleep in chairs others had gone to bed to be available to give Ralph and Donna time to have a rest later on. Jethro was exercising to wake himself up before he started work on the second gate. Ray did not leave the hospital but stood by the injured men’s beds, until one woke.
Gordon woke first, his name was written on a card above his bed, so Ray knew his name was Gordon.
‘What happened?’ He asked, when he had given Gordon a drink of water.
‘They found our latest headquarters, came in the night and surprised us. We had sentries out but they killed them, without us knowing about it. The ones who came in the dark had night vision glasses on so we couldn’t see them but they could see us. We still fought back but it was obvious that we had no chance so our leader Charles, ordered us to scatter. We did just that under heavy fire! Better to live to fight another day especially as we are about to kick their arses for good.’
‘Did they take any prisoners?’ Ray asked.
‘They took all they could. I hid close by to try to learn from them and watch them. They took a lot of prisoners who are destined for the arena, they took all the women who weren’t killed and they took all the children they could find.’
‘Do you think they will talk?’
‘No. The clan know nothing of the attack it was retaliation for us blowing up their tank. They knew we were there somewhere, because they had taken our women before but this time some others had spied on us and let them know where we were!’
‘The Winchester lot!’ Donna exclaimed. ‘They are asking to get their fingers burnt!’
‘More than their fingers.’ Gordon replied. ‘They should all die.’
; ‘From what we have found out Jamal has their children and that is why they help him.’ Ray explained.
‘Is that a reason to betray us?’ Gordon asked.
‘No.’ Ray answered. ‘But worth thinking about when we try them.’
‘If we try them!’ Gordon argued.
Ray shrugged his shoulders. ‘If we try them!’ He repeated. ‘Do you know what happened to the rest who scattered?’
‘Those who weren’t taken returned later and we brought the wounded here. There are ten fit and healthy men and women left who will meet you at the time we agreed and all of them are willing to die, rather than let the clan win. We had a party out foraging and they came back after it was all over or they might have been taken.’
‘How many of you can fight on Friday and no heroics, if it will kill you just driving up there it is a waste of time going!’
‘We reckon four of us can still go thanks to Doctor Ralph.’ Gordon answered honestly.
‘And we can’t be sure if the clan will find out about the attack.’ Ray mused.
‘Only Charles and I knew the day of the attack, the others know it is coming but we kept the day secret from the others for this very reason. Charles won’t talk even if they torture Lizzie.’
‘Who is going to torture little Lizzie?’ Laura asked as she walked into the room. ‘Have the clan got her as well?’
‘Yes, she tried to help her father and they took her along with them.’ Gordon answered.
‘Then if there is any torturing being done I will be the one doing it!’ She declared her eyes moist with tears. ‘And if you think I am not going to be coming with you when you go up to London, think again Ray King!’
‘Did I say anything Laura?’ Ray asked defensively. ‘But I do think we need to change the plan a little to make sure we are successful. With Gareth inside trying to line up some inside help we will make our attack a two pronged one. When Ralph lets you up, come up to the main house and we will talk further.’
He left them to sleep and walked out into the sunshine, Laura followed him out.
‘Have you noticed how good the weather has been since the majority of mankind was wiped out?’ He asked, noting the good weather.
‘It has been nice for a long while, too long. I just hope it doesn’t rain on Friday!’ Laura answered.
‘At least rain will keep them inside and less willing to go out to look for us.’ Ray answered. ‘This Indian summer will make them lazy but they might hear us coming.’
‘What is this new plan then?’ Laura asked.
‘I just thought that instead of us all coming in from the M4 corridor we should send some in from the other side.’
‘Do you mean Dartford?’
‘I do.’
‘But they have men on the bridge there.’ Laura exclaimed.
‘We will sneak up on them and take them out. That way we will have two groups converging on the same place. If one lot gets bogged down the others will have an easier passage.’
‘We can help there then.’ A voice said from behind them.
They both turned to see Giles standing on a crutch.
‘How?’ Ray asked.
‘We took some night vision glasses of the ones we killed and threw them into the cars before we drove off.’ Giles answered. ‘They should still be in there.’
Ray looked in one car and came back with two sets of night vision glasses.
‘I don’t know how many we got but they mean you don’t need any light and you also don’t fall over things!’ Giles declared.
‘Are you supposed to be up?’ Laura asked.
‘Nope but no one is stopping me from going, they took Lillian from me again and I am going to get her back or die in the process!’
‘No one is arguing with you Giles, I am just sorry that my wife is dead and not taken by the clan, at least I would have rescuing her to look forward to as well.’ Ray answered. ‘As it is, I am willing to die because it is the thing to do. Jamal was the one who bought the plague into this area and he will die for that. How I don’t care! It can be slowly with lots of pain, it can be quickly with the flash of a blade but he will die!’
Giles limped back inside the hospital, having said his piece. Ray looked in all the cars and found four night vision glasses and a plan started to form in his mind.
‘You look like a dog with two tails.’ Laura declared, when she saw the look on his face.
‘Well with these, we can really turn the tables on the clan. We can take out the men on both bridges without them seeing us, even if they do have some of these on. Then we can make our way into the lookout tower and put them out of business and that means, come first light, the rest can come as far as there at speed on their bikes. From there it will be slower as we near the stadium but we should be able to get there without them knowing anything about it. As they prepare for their weekly football match, we will be preparing our plans of attack and hopefully getting the women and children out before hand!’
‘Sounds good.’ Laura replied not fully convinced. ‘How much luck do we need?’
‘Loads of luck and a following wind!’ Ray admitted.
‘I hope we get it then!’ Laura avowed and walked back inside to help out.
Ray drove back to the compound and found an A to Z of London which he proceeded to take the pages out of. His plan was to make a big street map but as the maps were double sided, he had to find another A to Z and do the same to that. He stuck the pages on to a sheet which he took out of the laundry. He laid the sheet on the dining table, much to Will and Barry’s annoyance and they had already laid it for lunch. In the end they helped him and they ended up with a street map of London, one where you did not have to turn a page to see where any street went or petered out! With the map finished they returned to their kitchen duties which they thought were probably better than hospital duties.
Ray sat looking at the map and mentally placed fighters, first at their starting points and then all the way through the battle. After he had run through it a second time in his head, he made notes in a book, to help make sure he got it right on the day.
‘Can we have the table yet?’ Will asked from the doorway.
‘Only if you give me a hand to carry this map off it, the glue is not dry yet.’
They carried the map into the library and laid it on the floor where they hoped it would be out of the way. While Will laid the table, Ray made little labels to lay on the map showing the position of things they knew from their questioning of prisoners, from Gareth’s input as well as their soiree up to the airport. They knew the tall building which they used as a lookout point, to check on movement in their area. They had patrols which were stationary and some which were roving, using radios to hone in on new arrivals and take them back to their headquarters.
There were fixed patrols on the QE2 bridge as well as the bridge over the M4, they also had the same sort of thing on the M25 to the north and to the south so that they knew if anyone was on the M25 for any distance. It was the main reason for staying off the M25 completely for now. The clan used radios to communicate with Jamal, who then directed operations from the stadium, while watching gladiators fight to the death. The winner merely lived to fight another day and sometimes the same day, if Jamal took a dislike to him.
The door opened and Barry walked in.
‘Getting ready for the big do then?’ He asked.
‘Yes just setting out what we know is where, any input is always welcome.’
‘I hear you are sending in a second team to go via the QE2 Bridge.’
‘You hear right. Just in case someone is forced to tell him when we attack I thought I might add a little to the proceedings.’
‘I have some ideas on that.’ Barry declared.
‘Let’s hear them then.’
‘What if we take the boat we used the other day to fish with, to go up the Thames when it is dark. When we get close enough we can drift in with the tide and use poles to keep us away from any obstacles. I
hear you have some night glasses.’
‘We have, if two of you have a pair of them each do you think you could get close enough to take out the men on the bridge?’
‘I think we could. Failing that we go in earlier and I do my thing and take them out the slow way.’ Barry answered.
‘If you take the 303 men who can’t really travel far by foot with you and Will to take out anyone from a distance, do you think you could attack quietly from the other side?’
‘If you take out their lookout tower in time.’ Barry answered pointing to the place Ray had labelled. ‘Or we might drive right in to trouble, those 303 lads will never be up to riding bikes in time, so we will have to take them there in some sort of vehicle and they make noise and go on roads.’
‘Well we could signal you somehow when we have taken it. I have some ideas on how to get the posters over the stadium but when they get over it someone has to make sure they drop onto the grass.’
‘What; are you going to float them over the top?’
‘That is the plan Barry. We have already collected the helium bottle and balloons which I hope will be good enough to do the job. I plan to have a dry run today sometime but we cannot waste too much gas, we have only the one bottle.’
‘We could get more, I am sure.’ Barry answered.
‘We could but time is running out and Gareth will soon be giving himself up and entering the lions den.’
‘He’s going into the stadium?’
‘Yes. I ask him to, so I am going to make sure it works or die in the attempt!’ Ray answered.
‘I think he will not want to be in there any longer than he has to be.’ Barry replied. ‘I heard stories of what went on in there: I think I would like to meet this Jamal face to face.’