Light At The End | Book 2 | Light To Dark

by Benson, Tom

  They paused for a short break not far from the freshwater pond. While the other three were relaxing with a snack and a drink, Bill went forward and walked around the edge of the pond.

  “You come here regularly,” he murmured and remained squatting as he studied the tracks in the clearing. He wondered if Patsy left the prints, but if it were, who was the father of the child?

  A couple of hours later, when they arrived at the ruined tarmac road, it felt normal to the three men, but, of course, Tina was seeing it for the first time.

  “Nature really has taken hold,” Tina said. “How far is it now to the reserve?”

  Norman pointed, “We go along to that bend in the main road and follow what’s left of the minor road straight into the reserve.”

  “I take it that we have to be even warier from here on in?”

  “Yes,” Bill said. “If you see a branch or blade of grass moving and it wasn’t caused by one of us, say something.”

  Tina nodded. “Got it.” She adjusted her grip on the smooth spear that Norman had given her.

  The intrepid foursome continued in single file along the edge of the overgrown roadway and then paused briefly at the junction for a final briefing. When they set off again, it was with more stealth and no conversation. It took longer than the previous occasion to arrive at what was once the reception building and then like before they crouched down to look around the courtyard. It more closely resembled a jungle clearing.

  A group of baboons exited the main doorway of the first ruined building. The adult animals squatted around the immediate area, and then while some of the youngsters practised their rough and tumble, the troop set off together towards the nearest trees.

  Bill lifted a stone which was about the size of his closed fist. “Here goes everything.” He lobbed the rock through the doorway, and four more baboons exited the place screeching as they ran to join their extended family. When another large stone was tossed into the building and bounced around, there was no response.

  “I’ll signal,” Bill whispered and when he got a nod from the others, he set off to creep along the broad porch at the front of the reception. He paused and looked through the first large and empty window frame before going as far as the doorway. He set his laser pistol to Light, or what he hoped would be a stun effect for a small animal. Inside the building was reasonably well-lit, which wasn’t surprising when noting that half of the roof was missing.

  Bill squinted and screwed up his nose at the aromas assaulting his senses. Although he was wearing sturdy footwear, he was still careful where he trod. He looked around the large area and could see where a serving counter had once existed. Two old cash registers were lying on the floor still connected to long-unused electrical cables. He didn’t doubt that the drawers would still have money in them, as useless as it would now be. Bill could see three doors which looked firmly closed. Two of them had old-fashioned card-swipe panels near the handle.

  Bill returned to the main entrance and looked back towards his companions in the bushes. When they looked at him, he pointed to Norman, brought two fingers up to his eyes and then curled a forefinger to beckon the big man. Bill went inside again to await Norman, confident that Tina would recognise dangerous species and Flint would be able to assess and deal with any threat.

  “It smells like a bloody sewer in here,” Norman whispered, checking the floor before resting his spear like a long walking cane. “What have we got?”

  “I’m assuming there will be staff facilities of some sort and this big room was a retail unit. Those three long rails I imagine would have been for clothing. It looks like whatever was in any of the display cabinets or drawers has long gone. The doors are fitted with card-slots which means no keys. I doubt if even a clever primate could get in.”

  “They’re all worth a try. There might be something useful stored in one of them?”

  “I’ll deal with the lock, and then you try the door, Norman. I’ll have the laser ready, but be prepared to close the door again quickly.” He paused. “We don’t know if there are any windows or other apertures and I don’t want to go around the building squeezing through the bushes just yet.”

  The big man grinned. “This could be fun.”

  Bill had borrowed Sandy’s combat knife, and this was precisely the type of circumstances the heavy blade would be useful. He pressed the tip into an area of the doorframe which looked the worse for wear and two minutes later had chipped away the area around the card-slot mechanism.

  “Okay, Norman.” Bill put away the knife and held his laser pistol ready.

  Norman held his wooden spear in his right hand and tried to ease the door open with his left. A firm tug was next, and the door gave way with a creak. Nothing made a noise from within or made any attempt to exit, so it was evidently free of wildlife, or at least large wildlife.

  “Site office,” Bill whispered as he looked around from just inside the doorway. “Noticeboard with schedules, an old safe under the desk, and then all the usual office equipment.” He looked at the small broken window at the back. He was confident that the baboons hadn’t made it inside because the window had metal security bars.

  “Far corner on the right, Bill … something moved beside the pile of papers.”

  Bill stepped back to the doorway. “I may be mistaken mate, but I’d guess at it being a python.” He moved slowly and nodded for Norman to come inside. “Keep your stick ready to use. Seeing that big boy down there is alarming, but he’ll leave us alone if we don’t go near him.”

  Norman whispered, “I didn’t think pythons were poisonous.” He stayed away but pointed his spear at the huge constrictor in the corner.

  “You’re quite right, they’re not poisonous, mate, but if there is a python in here, it means that somewhere in this reserve is or was, a reptile house. He might have friends.”

  “What should we do about the reptile house?”

  Bill lifted a large frame from the wall. “I’m not bad on natural history, but we’ve got Tina with us who will be good. She’ll know how much shit we’re in when we see what might now be free to breed and prosper in our new world.”

  “Are we ready for the next door?”

  “Two minutes, Norman.” Bill broke the corner of the frame, lifted out the large map and rolled it before stuffing it inside his jacket. He removed a detailed map of the Scottish Highlands from another wall. The pair went out and performed the same entry routine on the next door.

  “Staff facilities,” Norman said as he pulled the door open. “A toilet signed at that back door. Apart from that, we have a small kitchen and a place for a few people to sit around.”

  “Let’s see what our third room has to offer.” Bill got to work on the doorframe, and his technique did the job once again.

  Norman moved the door so that it cleared the frame and then it jammed. He placed a foot against the wall, nodded to Bill and pulled back hard.

  Bill aimed the laser into the room and smiled. “Jackpot, Norman.” Bill stepped into the large space which had narrow gaps around the outer walls where there should have been panes of glass. Crossing each gap were short metal bars for security, so there was the possibility of snakes or something smaller inviting themselves in. No large animals had been in what appeared to be a stockroom.

  “How about seeing what’s here and then making a selection before we set off back to Auchcarn?”

  “Good idea, Norman. Keep your wits about you, mate. We don’t know if anything is curled up in the drawers or on the shelves.”

  For ten minutes, the two men worked methodically around the stock and were satisfied with their efforts when they’d finished and returned to the main room. Bill had a few items hanging around his neck and a grin on his face.

  “What about securing the door?” Norman said as he looked around. “We could maybe drag something heavy in front of it?”

  “Primates are intelligent enough to work alone or together,” Bill said, looking around like Norman. “How a
bout jamming a couple of those metal shelf brackets under the door and then still pulling something in front?”

  Five minutes later, after hammering three long metal wedges under the base of the door, they pulled a metal cabinet over and laid it on the floor. The obstruction looked good, and they went outside and joined their companions.

  “One set of binoculars each,” Bill said as he lifted three sets from around his neck and handed them out. “They may not be the strongest, but they’ll prove useful even after we’ve left here.”

  “These must have been produced for the tourists.” Tina hung her gift around her neck and then raised them to test the optical wheel. “What was the hammering for?”

  Norman and Flint hung their binoculars around their necks, both nodding with satisfaction.

  “We’ll tell you more later,” Bill said, “but there’s a retail stockroom in there. We do have one important thing to find, apart from where the big cats might have been housed.”

  “Go on,” Tina whispered.

  “There was a snake curled up in there … and we’re talking about a big constrictor … possibly a python.”

  Tina nodded. “They must have had a reptile house and no doubt it will have accommodated a few other exotic species apart from snakes.”

  Bill nodded. “That’s what crossed my mind. Do you want to have a look at the general layout?”

  “It would be useful if we had some idea where the various compounds and boundary fences are because this reserve must be tens of square miles in size.”

  Bill reached inside his jacket and produced the sheet he’d removed from the frame in the office. “Perhaps this will help. I’ve also got a spare map of the Highland region.”

  “Oh, wow, this is great, Bill.” Tina unrolled the site map for the reserve.

  “Smart arse,” Flint muttered, and grinned. He was more interested in watching for unwanted visitors and remained alert to the sighting of anything bigger than a domestic cat.

  “Okay,” Tina said, “the good news is that we now have a map of the establishment.” She paused. “The bad news is that it extends to four miles on the east and west boundaries and five miles on the north and south boundaries. Twenty square miles is a large area for four human beings to be wandering around on foot.”

  Flint glanced over his shoulder at his friends again. “Are there any more buildings we can check out apart from that reptile house you mentioned?”

  Tina said, “I’m checking the legend for anything of significance before we set off.” A few seconds later, she nodded. “Okay, we’ve got a few places I think would be useful. As you’d expect, there are parts of the reserve which will have a walking area, allowing visitors to get close to caged or penned animals. There are security gates for vehicular access to the more open areas.”

  “What about the buildings?” Norman said.

  “Although we can’t see the other structures due to the natural growth there are at least three other buildings nearby. There should be a sizeable cafe, a wildlife education centre and a wildlife clinic.”

  “What’s that small square near one of the security gates?” Bill asked and pointed to the symbol.

  “An observation tower,” Tina said. “It looks like there are four of them and two of them are set up near the security gates which allow vehicle access. The security gates will no doubt have small kiosks beside them with controls for the gates.”

  Bill said, “If we could get access to one of those towers, it might save us the risk of wandering around the larger fenced-off zones.”

  Flint said, “Do you think there will be any gates left if those animal rights people got access?”

  “It depends on a couple of things,” Tina said. “I’ve visited places like this in my profession, and if you were of a mind to set the animals free, you’d need to have a damn good plan. Good working practice for safety in this reserve would mean the inclusion of two sets of gates. They would form a sort of air-lock, allowing single vehicle access at any point.”

  “Right,” Norman said, “so there might be six vehicles spread out along part of the route, but they had to be allowed entry individually—that makes sense.”

  Tina said, “It’s a reserve and sanctuary, not a zoo. It means that apart from a fence of some description, there will be none of those massive concrete basins or pits for polar bears and suchlike. The big and more dangerous animals would simply be fenced-in but have a greater area to wander around.”

  Bill nodded and pointed at a symbol on the map. “What’s that place—RASAL?”

  “I think that might be the building you mentioned before—the reptile house. That word is an abbreviation for Reptiles, Amphibians, Snakes, Arachnids and Lizards.” Tina inhaled deeply. “In a worst-case scenario, the building will have been wilfully damaged to allow the inhabitant’s freedom.”

  “Surely there wouldn’t be that many?” Flint said.

  Tina half-turned to face him. “Flint, the creatures housed in there might be the smallest in size, but a few of them are among the deadliest.”

  “Oh, great,” Flint said which caused Bill and Norman to suppress laughter.

  Norman said, “I think it might be a good idea not to mention the reptile house or its occupants when we get back to Auchcarn.”

  “That would make sense,” Tina said. “The imagination can do a lot of damage to individuals.”

  “And to community morale and general well-being,” Bill said. “Where’s our next place to check, Tina?”

  “The cafe and education centre are closest but not far from them is the clinic.”

  “I’ll stay beside you to watch our front and let you read the map. These guys can keep a wary eye around us and to the rear. Let’s move out.”

  If the roads outside the reserve had looked overgrown, they were clear in comparison to the roads within. In keeping with the wilderness environment, the routes were narrow to begin with, and most were now completely covered in greenery which reached out from both verges. Natural and frequent fertilisation by myriad species of birds and animals had increased the nourishment, and strengthened the hold of the local flora.

  Ten minutes after leaving the reception building, the team arrived at what had been a cafe. It was now a wooden shell containing a few pieces of broken furniture. The front door was missing, and the ‘safari-look’ wooden fittings were scattered around the large room. A few birds and smaller creatures were at home and had no reason to fear the four intruders.

  As the team continued along the narrow overgrown road, they were all on high alert as they approached a large round building with a conical thatched roof. The place was not looking good. If the cafe was rough, then the education centre was only a few steps away from being another shell. The structure looked solid, but the windows were all missing, and the door hinges had given up the fight a long time ago. From a distance, there was the view of various pieces of wooden furniture strewn across the floor, and a pile occupied the central area.

  Bill was almost at the doorway, approaching from the right.

  “Don’t go inside,” Tina whispered from a short distance away.

  Bill stepped back and away from the damaged doorway to look back at Tina. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve just seen a small bundle of fur stumbling around in there, and it looked like a wolf cub. Yes, and now I can see two more so judging by their age I’d suggest that mummy wolf is in there among the furniture or she isn’t far away.”

  “Okay,” Bill said and moved away to join the others. “Why don’t we go and check something else.” He grinned at Flint who was slowly shaking his head from side to side.

  The clinic door remained secure although there was damage around the substantial locking mechanism and the hinges. Wooden shutters hung from the frames of wire-mesh, reinforced windows which had somehow survived.

  Bill and Tina inspected the door and windows while Flint and Norman kept a wary eye.

  “What do you think?” Bill said.

&nb
sp; Tina said, “It looks like somebody tried to get in and gave up.”

  Flint glanced over his shoulder from his kneeling position. “Perhaps they intended to try again on the way out but didn’t make it.”

  Norman said, “That’s a pretty dark theory, but not a bad one, I have to admit.”

  Bill said, “I’ll scout around the back and sides to see if there are any other windows.” He was back in two minutes after going all the way around. “This is the only way in, and the owners wanted this place secure. There is a fire escape door at one side, but it’s metal and flush-fitted to a metal doorframe so no access from outside.”

  “Okay,” Tina said. “I’d like to try to gain entry because it might contain something useful.”

  “Stand back,” Norman said. “I think I know how to deal with those windows.”

  “I’ll go on guard with Flint and leave you to it, mate,” Bill said.

  Norman stepped forward and rammed the pointed end of his spear hard into the bottom corner of a window. The hard wooden shaft penetrated the glass and the wire mesh within.”

  “I’m impressed,” Tina said.

  “The weakest part of plate glass is usually the centre, but the corners are a safe bet for multiple glazing or anything reinforced.” He pushed more of the pole inside and then began a wide twisting motion to widen the mesh and break more glass. Five minutes later he had made holes at three places along the edge, and then he eased the bent metal and shattered glass back, rolling it like a rug.

  Tina threw off her backpack. “Give me a leg up, Norman.”

  “You’re not going in there—”

  “If we make a hole big enough for you to go in we’ll still be here tomorrow.”

  Bill and Flint both laughed aloud as Norman grinned and got down to offer hands and shoulders. The vet climbed up and through the window.

  Tina disappeared and a few minutes later popped her head around the corner. “Do any of you guys have a flashlight?” She grinned at their expressions. “The fire door is now open.”

  The three men followed Tina inside, and while Flint went to the broken window to keep an eye out for unwelcome visitors, Bill handed Tina his flashlight. Tina investigated the contents of the smaller rooms within the building; Bill and Norman worked with the mechanisms to open the security window shutters from the inside. They were successful, and the natural light let them see what was available.