by Holroyd, Tom
What was life like for you in the castle?
It was very hard for the first couple of years, we didn’t really know what we were doing you know. People died from the stupidest things, colds and infections mainly. We had food but didn’t really know how to grow things properly and there was always the risk of a G coming over the walls. It was rare but it did happen, after the first few times we would shut ourselves up in the keep at night and only go out in pairs during the day. Having said that though, once we had been there for a while and things became routine, life actually became quite pleasant.
There was a rota for work which helped to give a bit of structure and everyone would help out, either tending the vegetable patch or helping out in the kitchen, although most of the time you just got in the way of John. He was our chef, a big blond guy who we nicknamed the Swedish Chef, you know the one off the Muppet show. Anyway he was amazing and could produce fantastic stuff from really basic supplies; I can’t tell you how much of a morale booster it was being able to eat decent hot food. We all spent time on guard as well, either patrolling the ramparts or manning the gate.
The second winter was like a pleasant break for us, no moaning and lighter guard duty but even then the work didn’t stop. We had decided that we needed a better wall at the main entrance and spent most of the winter building one from trees and barbed wire. We did the usual stuff as well, smashing heads, raiding the city and surrounding area but as the years went by we had to go further and further away to try and find supplies.
The one thing I always found funny was the way the war seemed to turn the world upside down and I don’t just mean in the way that the modern world changed, it was in subtler ways. You know how winter used to be the time of rest and everything going into hibernation because of the cold? All that seemed to change around, at least it did in the Grey. As soon as the snows fell and the infected froze, that was when everything suddenly came to life. We would see birds, foxes, rabbits all that life that had spent summer hiding suddenly came out. It was beautiful, like nature letting the Gs know that it was still there. Don’t get me wrong it was no winter wonderland out there, in a lot of ways Darwinism had gone nuts.
What do you mean?
Well I’m no expert by a long way but the entire food chain was turned on its head. The infected pretty much wiped out anything big and slow, so all cows, pigs and sheep were off the menu, save those in settlements, and everything else sort of went through some hyper evolution to deal with the situation.
Can you give me an example?
Foxes! Bloody Foxes!
Before the war, anyone living in a city thought that they were a cute, little, ginger dog while anyone living in the countryside knew they were basically a great white shark with fur. Those little buggers became the wolves of the UK. They got bigger and meaner and in a lot of cases smarter. After the second winter we used to have to stand guard at night to stop the bastards stealing all our food or livestock. They were worse than the packs of feral dogs or even the giant rats.
That was another problem. Rats had become the new staple diet of the food chain and because there was so much for them to eat in the first few years they got bigger and smarter and because of that anything that wanted to eat them had to be big enough and smart enough to catch them. I guess that was why the dogs and cats got so big and mean.
I have a bit of a personal question if you don’t mind? How did you all stay clean on the top of a hill?
We built a shower. We had raided a pluming store and managed to put together a system that used an old boiler tank and copper piping. Basically, we would fill the boiler with rain water then someone would have to turn a handle and pump the water round the system. The water would go through a coil of copper pipe that ran across the back of the cooking fire warm it up and then out of a shower head in a screened off area we had built. It was a bit of a gamble as it was either really hot or really cold but it kept us clean and when you got it right, oh there was nothing on earth like it.
When was your first contact with the Government?
It was some time in our third winter, we had been listening to the government broadcasts on the radio of course but we had no way of answering back. I will quite happily say that the BBC saved our lives, the stuff that we learnt from the programs was invaluable. Medical Hour taught us how to grow our own penicillin, Gardeners World taught me more than I ever thought possible about growing food but it was the comedies and news broadcasts that really gave us hope. You’ve got to remember that, for the first few years we had had no contact with anyone else and had no idea if there was a government or even a country left. But listening to the radio and being able to hear about all the work being done in the Safe Zones and Burghs and every night being told by that wonderful posh British voice “Stay safe, stay alive. The Government is coming for you. Goodnight and good luck!” it made us see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The first proper contact was when we saw a helicopter in the distance flying north from the direction of Southampton, we screamed and shouted and waved which obviously had no effect. It was only when we remembered the bonfire ready to make potash for the veg garden that we got their attention. The helicopter came in and hovered over the castle before landing in the bailey. We all rushed over to see them and I remember feeling quite sorry for the pilots as they were bombarded with so many questions, they didn’t know where to start and were looking quite flustered. I pushed to the front of the crowed and managed to shout everyone down before offering the pilots a drink. We all clustered round them as we walked up to the keep and sat in what we called the mess hall but was actually a rickety roof stretched between two of the castles old stone walls.
They explained that they were from the supply depot that was being built up in Southampton and were scouting for survivors so that they could get them back in touch with the Government. They stayed for about an hour and answered all our questions about what was going on around the country before they said they had to leave and report our location. Some people wanted to go with them but there wasn’t enough room on the helicopter so we had to watch and wave them goodbye.
They were back a couple of hours later this time they brought with them an old man and a load of poles slung under the helicopter. They dropped him off and he explained that he was a radio mechanic and was here to set up our system so we could talk to Southampton. It took an hour to set up the mast and wind turbine generators and then a couple of days for him to train some of us to operate it but we finally had a way of talking to the outside world. We got through to a kindly sounding old lady in Southampton who was the operator. I never got the chance to meet her but she had such a wonderful, well-spoken voice, really calm and poised and just relaxed you whenever you spoke to her, I guess that was why she got the job. Anyway, that first call lasted for a few hours and we told them everything we could think of about our situation. She asked us how many people we had, what food, water etc and did we need anything. By the end of the conversation there was a shopping list a mile long and she promised something would be along soon.
“Something” turned out to be a bloody big helicopter, you know one of those ones with two rotas that landed in the bailey and just seemed to vomit people and supplies before taking off again. We all rushed over to greet these new arrivals who turned out to be the assessment team.
Assessment team?
Yeah that was what they called themselves. Basically, the Government was too stretched to garrison every settlement they discovered so they would often send in a team of specialists to make them as defended and self-sufficient as possible. The assessment team was the first wave and were there to see what we needed and where they could help. They also brought a whole load of supplies with them to help brighten our day, things like blankets and chocolate and tea. God I never realised how much I missed tea until then.
Anyway, these people had a good nosey around and worked out what we needed and fired off another shopping list. Within a day we had a carpent
er and his tools to help build shelters and proper buildings, a doctor to set up a clinic, seed corn so we could plant wheat and make our own bread, pigs, sheep and chickens. It was amazing but more than all that was all the training we were given. There were a couple of soldiers who gave us recommendations on where to improve our defences, carpenters and doctors who gave lessons and then as quick as they had arrived they were gone again on the helicopter to the next settlement.
After that we were left pretty much to our own devices. We kept in contact with Southampton and when we needed supplies they would drop some off, if someone was really ill they would come in and pick them up but other than that we were left to get on with it.
Why do you think that was?
When they first turned up some people wanted to leave with them but the soldiers refused to let anyone on board; they said it was due to limited space in Southampton, load of bollocks really. They wanted us there, safe and secure because it meant pinning down several thousand infected so they didn’t have to deal with them. I can understand that and it was no big deal really, we were safe, pretty much impregnable and once we were given some cutlasses we could make a real dent in the swarm outside each winter. By the time we were liberated there were probably only about three thousand Gs left from the ten that turned up in the second year.
How where you liberated?
Very slowly.
Seriously there was no huge battle and knights in shining armour rescuing the fair maiden in her castle. We were liberated by a bunch of combat engineers who were building the fortified motorway past our door. I found out later from a Major who was in charge of supply convoys that we were only chosen to be reconnected because we would make a good supply depot and there was an airfield just over the road. Always nice to be wanted!
Apparently they started building the fortified motorways as soon as they had reoccupied the Western Docks in Southampton in order to reconnect the city airport with the dock and then they just spread out from there. They were already on their way to Salisbury when they found us and just decided to come straight here. Makes sense I guess but they took their bloody time, three months to go 25 miles.
We only realised what was happening when we saw this swarm of infected on the road into Salisbury banging on a shipping container that had been dropped across the road. At first we had no idea what the hell was happening until the next morning when we saw this truck pick up the container and move it a few meters down the road. At the same time two containers that had been pressed up against the sides of the first were pushed into place so that there was a U shaped barrier across the road. Behind it we could see a flurry of activity and then twenty minutes later the barrier moved again. We guessed they must have moved about five hundred meters a day and behind it we could see those twelve-foot, rubble filled bastion barriers that had been built on the pavement on either side of the road. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective and we could see the infected wandering up and down the sides trying to get through. The whole road inside was a flurry of activity with lorries dropping off the pre-filled wall sections and tractors moving them into position behind the shipping containers.
It went on like this all day and all night for two days before they were building right up to out front door and pushing Gs out of the way with a bulldozer. It was a really happy moment when the final section went up. The big gate that we had built was pulled apart and we were finally re-connected to the outside world. We were still under siege from thousands of infected but we felt liberated.
Was that the end of the war for you?
God no, it was just the start. Our ramshackle little settlement was overnight turned into a bustling supply depot complete with bunk houses for soldiers and engineers, grain silos and tall bastion walls. The settlement that we had set up pretty much died then and there as some people signed up for the Army and others just drifted off. Some of us stayed to help but mainly because this had become our home and we were loath to leave it. I volunteered to help organise the supplies and found myself in charge somehow and for four years we were a main stopping off point on the supply system. That was how New Sarum came to be; from a medieval castle to a supply depot to a growing town, makes me proud to think that I have helped to build something and leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
Authors note: A year after this interview a statue of Mary was erected in the market square of New Sarum. It was commission in secret by grateful citizens to honour the energy and passion of this incredible woman.
Islands
Brockhall Camp
General Palmerston and I have stopped overnight in the Army way station on the M1 near Daventry. The way stations evolved from the night camps built by the Royal Engineers and were originally intended as a secure location where the teams building the fortified motorways could rest. They evolved into base camps for the motorway patrol units, whose job it was to keep these vital routes clear. Today they serve much the same purpose but are no longer twenty miles apart; due to financial cuts and the reduced threat the distance between each camp is now sixty miles. We have just finished dinner with the officers of this camp and have retired to the mess ante-room to continue this interview.
When we sealed the Safe Zones my first thought was, thank God now we can take some of the pressure off and re-organise. How wrong I was. The hard work had really just started.
Why was that?
Well for one thing we still had the Northern and Sothern Zones to clear and at the same time we had to guard the walls to prevent any breaches. To do all of these tasks we only had about a third of the Army scattered across both Safe Zones, the remainder were sealed up in their Burghs and fighting for survival. It was a hell of a situation and we needed to get a handle on it quickly.
The first step was to get the Safe Zones cleared but thankfully that process had begun as soon as the last section of the walls had been put in place. By the time the gates were sealed the Brigadier in charge of the “sanitation” was confident that he had gotten most of the larger swarms and only smaller groups or individuals zombies were still around. The second part was the guarding of the walls but again that was a fairly simple job as in those early days we did not have enough ammunition to allow the soldiers to take pot shots at the horde that was boiling and moaning at the base of the wall. All the lads could do was stand and make sure none formed a breach that would rip into the Safe Zone.
The biggest problem was the lack of men. As I said only a third of the Army was available in the Safe Zones and we were busy sanitizing, guarding the wall or guarding the refugee camps. We were hugely overstretched and in danger of collapse. We were rescued, and I do mean rescued, by the Ministry of Resources. Thanks to McMillan and his frankly mad ideas we were able to empty the camps and give the military some breathing space to rest and re-organise. The best idea that man ever had was the concept of making each settlement as self-sufficient as possible and as far as CDS was concerned that meant in terms of military support too. That was where the Militia idea came in. The way we saw it, every single person who had made it to the Safe Zones had already proven themselves to be a survivor and should therefore be able to look after themselves. So we formed training teams and sent them out into the countryside to every farm, settlement and camp we knew of and trained an entire population how to fight. It wasn’t pretty but it was functional and that was the watchword of the day. In those days if something could do the job then who cared what it looked like.
What can you tell me about the re-organisations?
That caused a lot of teddies to get thrown out of a lot of prams, the Navy and Air Force did not like having all their toys taken away. I mean what used is a Type 45 destroyer that is designed to combat air attacks against ground hugging zombies or fighter jets for that matter. They just did not seem to get the concept that we were fighting a ground war now and all the equipment that we had built up for the last conflict was completely inappropriate. CDS was utterly ruthless, he told everyone who moaned about anyt
hing to either “shut up or get out”.
We tied up most of the Royal Navy fleet leaving only the River class patrol boats and mine hunters active, the rest were just too much of a drain on resources. Do you know how much fuel an aircraft carrier burned in a week, neither did I but it was a hell of a lot. The nuclear subs were more useful as we could link them to the Nation Grid but the rest were tied up and left for most of the war with only enough maintenance to ensure that they were still sea worthy when the time came to use them again.
It was the same with the RAF, anything with a jet engine was grounded. We had Typhoons, Tornadoes, Harriers, C-17 all of it on airfields throughout the Safe Zones the only things that were flying were the helicopters and the C-130s. The Army did not get off lightly either, all the tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery and attack helicopters were mothballed.
All of this left a lot of people suddenly out of a job and we essentially dragged them all kicking and screaming into the Army. We kept some of the Royal Navy crews on to take over some of the civilian ships and form the new Costal Defence Force, most of the pilots and ground crews were transferred onto the transport or helicopter fleet but the rest were drafted into either the Army or the Royal Marines and as you can imagine that required a lot of retraining. A lot of drill to get them to march together and a lot of marksmanship practice to teach them to shoot straight. Although it wasn’t until we were able to get some munitions factories going that we could really turn up the training. Eventually through a lot of blood, sweat and tears, not to mention a lot of swearing we had something that resembled an army.