by Ryan Casey
“So you’re the man who runs things around here, hmm? What’s your name?”
Stanley held his ground and held the eye contact. “Stanley,” he said.
Ian held out a hand. “Nice name. I had an uncle called Stanley. Bit of a prick.”
Stanley didn’t take Ian’s hand.
Ian sighed and pulled it away.
“So, Stanley. What I want to know is whether I’ve made myself clear enough. Because, believe me, I can make myself a whole lot clearer if that’s what you’d really like me to do.”
“Things don’t have to be this way,” Stanley said.
Ian frowned. “What was that, Stanley?”
Stanley held eye contact with Ian. “We can come to another sort of arrangement. Another sort of deal. One that is built on trust, not on bloodshed. Just... things don’t have to be this way. Nobody needs this. Please.”
Ian looked at the ground. He looked at the bodies of the fallen, some of them dead, some of them still in agony.
Then he looked around at all our people.
And as he looked, I felt like I could sense something turning in this man. It seemed like he might be considering what Stanley was proposing. Really thinking about it.
He looked back at Stanley and put a hand on his shoulder.
“You’re right. Trust, not bloodshed.”
He smiled.
Then he pulled out a knife and ripped open Stanley’s stomach.
I went cold. A muted gasp filled the surroundings. Everyone stared on as Stanley clutched on to his insides, spluttering blood, eyes wide.
Ian held on to his shoulder, smile still on his face. “Now you can trust that I am serious. Trust, not bloodshed, right? Well. A little bloodshed. But you get the picture.”
He pulled his knife away and stepped back. He wiped the blade on a manky towel, then looked around at all of us, as Stanley fell to the ground in a heap.
“You have twenty-four hours to get fifty per cent of your stuff right here ready for us. That’s my fairest and final offer.”
He backed away, over to one of the working military trucks, climbing inside. All his people got into their own working vehicles too, started to drive away.
And as Ian sat there, he looked me right in the eye, just for a second.
“Because if you don’t,” he said, “this place burns. As does everyone in it. Adios.”
Chapter Eight
Four hours passed and we still hadn’t got over what had happened—or got any closer to deciding where to go from here.
The sun shone down on the grounds. There was a sleepiness to the air; a silence that was only broken by the noises the animals were making, and the gentle hum of conversation. It could be mistaken as peaceful, as the wind blew against the trees, as the birds sang their songs.
But in truth it was far from peaceful.
It was muted.
All because of what the man called Ian had done to Stanley, and the “offer” Ian had made to the rest of our people.
I stood in front of a mass grave. We’d decided to bury those who had fallen when the wall had been destroyed. We were just inside the fences. The dust from the earth kicked up, tickled my chest, caused me to cough.
But as I stood there and looked down at the seven bodies, Stanley included, lying in a rigid heap in the ground below, I knew that regardless of whether we buried them or not, things were going to have to change. Decisions were going to have to be made.
Serious decisions.
When the bodies were buried, the group, all of us, stood around in front of the destroyed wall. Stanley’s death had left a serious leadership gap in the group, which several people were trying to fill.
And as much as I was done with leadership… I couldn’t help feeling that urge building. That urge to step up again. That urge to lead these people, one way or another.
“We’ve got twenty hours,” Ellie said, hands on her hips, cigarette between her lips. “That’s more than enough time to come up with a plan. Some way of getting around this.”
Bill—a bulky man with a balding head who always looked pissed off even when he was happy—shook his head. “They want our supplies. I say we pretend we’re giving ’em to ’em then burn ’em while they’re in here.”
A few cheers. But I knew deep down it was just fantasy.
“We saw their artillery,” I said.
Bill turned to me and frowned. So too did a few others. “What was that?”
I cleared my throat, my cheeks burning. “We saw their weapons. Their artillery. No matter what we try, there’s no way we can compete with them on the combat front.”
“Then what’re you suggesting? Giving up?”
A few disgruntled groans. People turning away from me.
I raised my voice. “Maybe co-operating wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
Silence followed. More glances of bewilderment.
“Excuse me,” Bill said, stepping towards me. He pointed at the grave. “Seven people just died. Seven of our own. And you’re saying we just bend the goddamned knee to their murderers?”
“I’m saying that seven could become fourteen and fourteen could become twenty-eight if we don’t co-operate.”
Bill shook his head. “Your friend Ellie was right. We have twenty hours. More than enough time to come up with something.”
“I’m not saying we give in to these people,” I said. “Far from it. All I’m saying is… is maybe we make it look like we’re co-operating. Maybe we do give them fifty per cent of our stuff. Maybe we serve them for a while, or at least make it look that way. And when we get a chance, when the opportunity arises… we strike.”
Bill studied me through narrowed eyes. A few other people looked like they were considering what I was saying, too; considering that it wasn’t such a terrible idea.
“So say we do go along with this… this whatever it is of an idea,” Bill said, “how do we know this group isn’t gonna cripple us more and more to the point we can’t attack them, hmm?”
I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I know it sounds a stretch. Especially after what happened. But I don’t see any other better ideas right now.”
I paused.
“Except maybe one.”
Bill looked back around at me. And then I realised that everyone was looking at me. I didn’t like it. Didn’t like the way it made me feel. Didn’t like the way it shone the spotlight on me. But my hunch earlier was right. Somebody here was going to have to take the centre stage. Someone was going to have to step up, to be a leader.
And as I thought about all the goodness Stanley had preached about, all the trust he had running through his veins… I thought about what mattered most. About what mattered even more than this place.
I looked at Sarah. Then I looked down at her belly, where our child was growing inside.
I took a deep breath and looked back at the residents of the farm and site.
“What I’m about to suggest. You might not like it. It might seem counterproductive. It might go against everything you believe in. But just… just hear me out, okay?”
Bill’s eyes narrowed. I could tell he’d judged what I was about to say before I’d even said it.
I swallowed a lump in my throat and took a deep breath, knowing full well how much shit I was going to get for what I was about to suggest. “If we can’t co-operate with them. If we can’t find a way to make it work, even for a while. Then with the kind of artillery and firepower they’ve got, I can only see one other option. One other way to make sure all of us are safe and that no more people fall. One other way to end this before it’s even begun.”
I saw interest in the eyes of everyone. Bill. Ellie. Suzy.
I looked back at Sarah, back at her belly, back at our child inside, and I took a deep breath.
“We’re going to get out of this place. We’re going to abandon our home. And we’re going to do it with as many supplies as we can before Ian returns.”
Chapter Nine
&n
bsp; If there was one thing I hadn’t expected, it was for my idea of leaving this place to go down as well as it had.
I sensed there was an air of defeat about the decision. That nobody really liked the idea that we were backing down, especially after how far we’d come with this place, and how safe it was. But at the same time, when the majority of people looked in the mirror, they soon realised that they valued their own lives more than they valued this place.
And they valued a free life over one where they were subservient to another group.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make. It was a bitter pill to swallow. And not everyone was on board.
But enough people were for it to make a difference. So that was what we were doing.
I pulled the potatoes out of the ground and threw them into a rucksack. The rucksack was getting heavy fast. I knew I had to think very carefully about what we took. We needed things that would get us by without weighing us down completely. Enough to keep us alive for a while out there in the wilderness. Because truth be told, I didn’t know how long we were going to be out there. None of us did, not really.
But one thing was for certain. We were going to have to get far, far away from this place, and from any communities nearby.
Because Ian was the man with the power. He could devastate anyone in his path. I’d seen that much evidence.
So we needed to get as far from him as possible.
“You sure this is the right way?”
I looked over my shoulder. Suzy was by my side, also gathering things into a rucksack. Will and Kaileigh were both with her, by her side. They didn’t seem too alarmed about all this. And that saddened me, in a way. Was this just normality now? Was this just the way that real life went?
I turned back down and grabbed another potato. One more couldn’t do much harm, right? “Don’t see what other option we have.”
“We should stand our ground. Find a way to fight.”
I sighed. “Suzy, we’ve discussed this.”
“I heard what you said. Truly. And I know this isn’t easy. But by giving this place up… we’re giving up our home. The place that we’re safe inside.”
“But we’re not safe inside here,” I said. “Not anymore.”
Suzy shook her head. “There’s, what? Plenty of hours until that Ian turns up here again. Plenty of hours that we can stay up all night and plan something. Maybe we can get the supplies out of the camp, draw them in and trap them somehow. Maybe we can take one of them, hold them hostage. Maybe we can—”
“Suzy,” I said.
She stopped and looked at the ground. I could tell from that glance that she felt defeated.
I walked over to her. Put a hand on her shoulder. “I want to fight. Just as much as you do, I want to fight. But we can’t. We don’t have what it takes. And… and our children. Your Will. Mine and Suzy’s kid. And Kaileigh. I can’t… I can’t take that kind of risk. Not anymore. Not again.”
She looked up at me and half-smiled. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
I sighed and nodded. “Me too.”
I pulled the rucksack further over my shoulder and began to walk over to the mound of supplies, where I could see a few people gathering by the hole in the wall.
“But this isn’t a battle we can win,” I said. “It’s time to find somewhere new. As long as we’ve got each other, we’re always home.”
I noticed something, then. Something over by the hole in the wall. Raised voices. Discontent.
My stomach sank when I saw who was rallying the people.
“Bill,” I said.
I walked over there slowly, trying to see what was going on.
Bill was standing on a small podium of debris. He was addressing the people around him—Sarah included.
“He might want you to give up. He might be telling you that the only way through this is to leave this place, our home. But why? Think about it, really. He’s thinking about himself. He doesn’t care what happens to us on the road. As long as his wife and his new baby are okay, that’s all he cares about.”
A few cheers. A few mutters of agreement.
“That’s not true,” I said.
I saw Bill look at me, as too did several others.
“Oh really, Alex? Really? ’Cause as far as I see it, that’s exactly what’s happening here.”
“Bill—”
“You might want us to leave this place. You might want us to go running into the woods. But that’s not what I want. I say we stay. I say we fight. And I say if we go down fighting then so be it, because it was worth it.”
A few more cheers. I could sense the tide turning.
Bill walked over to me. He squared right up to me, looked right into my eyes.
“I respect you, Alex. I really do. But you’re not a fit leader. You can’t make the decisions for all of us. Don’t suddenly pretend you care about us after all this time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said.
“Alex,” Sarah begged.
Bill took in a sharp, deep breath and smiled. “Sarah, I’m sorry you have to hear this. Truly. But it’s pretty obvious Alex here only cares about himself and his own. We’re like second-class citizens to him. Everyone knows it. It was just that under Stanley, we were too polite to say.”
I felt my fists tensing. I wanted to punch Bill. I wanted to shut him up.
Bill put a hand on my shoulder, squeezed hard. “So here’s how it’s going to go, sunshine. You’re going to pack your own bags. You’re going to leave. And we’re going to stay here and we’re going to fight.”
My mouth went dry. My heart raced.
More and more people raised their voices in support.
“Unlucky,” Bill said. “Looks like you just lost the support of the people…”
He said something else after that.
He carried on talking, and the crowd carried on cheering.
But I wasn’t focusing on him.
I wasn’t focusing on any of them.
Because all I could focus on was standing at the hole in the wall, studying all of us and the supplies we had gathered.
Holding a gun.
His group standing around him, weapons raised.
And slowly but surely, more and more of our people began to realise that they were here.
Ian was here.
And he was here early.
He looked at my group.
He looked at the supplies we’d gathered to take with us.
Then he looked right at me, smile on his face.
“Well, well,” he said. “Going somewhere?”
Chapter Ten
“Well, well. Going somewhere?”
When Ian spoke the words, my stomach dropped. A collective tension grew over our home, over all our people. It even felt like the weather was turning, evening storm clouds beginning to gather above.
Ian just stood there, smile on his face, rifle in hand. Behind him, the rest of his people. All of whom were holding guns of their own.
“Do I have to ask that question again? I mean, do you people have a thing for not understanding things? Did I not make myself clear enough? Okay, okay. My apologies. I’ll be clearer this time. Are… you… going… somewhere?”
Silence followed. A silence where people looked at one another, all searching for answers, all looking for some kind of response. I knew we needed one soon. I knew we were going to have to talk. Ian didn’t have to make himself any clearer than he already had. But I knew that he wouldn’t be afraid to do so if he felt it was his best option—
“It—it was him.”
I looked over at Bill and saw he was pointing right towards me.
My body froze.
“Bill,” I said.
“He told us to gather our stuff. He—he told us to gather it all and get out of here before you came back. We didn’t all want that. Really. Some of us wanted to co-operate. Please.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed as he turned from Bill to me. It was sic
kening, seeing Bill so emasculated, after the way he’d put himself across as such a leader just moments earlier. The way he’d been on the verge of booting me and my family out of this place.
But he hadn’t been given the chance to prepare. He’d been caught well off-guard.
And now he looked like an animal caught in the headlights.
“You,” Ian said.
I didn’t have to look directly at him to know who he was addressing.
“Hey.” He whistled through his teeth. “You. Yeah, you. Little troublemaker. Come over here.”
I felt Sarah’s hand tighten around mine. “Alex.”
“Get somewhere safe,” I said.
“Don’t—”
“Get to shelter, okay?”
I looked Sarah in her eyes and I could see from the way they were streaming that she thought she’d lost me already.
I put my hands on her sides and I leaned in to kiss her.
When I pulled away, I looked right into her eyes. “Just trust me. I’ve got this. Okay?”
She took a pained deep breath then nodded.
And I turned away and walked over to Ian.
As I walked towards him, I saw him eyeing me up, getting a read on me. I saw the eyes of my people on me, watching, waiting.
I stopped right opposite him.
He smiled at me. Smiled for just a few seconds, silent. “And your name is?”
“My name doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, I think it does, Mr Attitude. You see, I made you a very reasonable offer. And the man before you… Stanley, was it? He died right where you’re standing. Maybe a little to the left. I have to say, you did an expert job cleaning his guts up off the ground.”
“What do you want?”
Ian sighed. He looked around at his people, rolling his eyes. “These people, huh? I mean, do they ever listen? I feel like a bloody stutterer. Repeating myself over and over and over. Okay, Alex. Okay. I’m going to put it to you very simply. We wanted half your shit. You tried to dick us. So now I’m afraid we’re going to have to take your shit. All of it.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Don’t give me that,” Ian said, raising his hand, anger creeping into his voice. “Your old friend, Stanley-boy. He tried to give me that and look how it worked out for him. So please. Don’t give me that crap. We do have to do this. You’ve made it so.”