Red Fever

by Caroline Clough

  “Hi, I’m Katie McTavish, Jamie’s mum. Thank you for taking care of Jamie and Belle. Let’s see about this patient then …” She crouched down at Sylvie’s bedside. “Hello, Sylvie, sweetheart … wakey-wakey. My name is Katie. I’m a doctor and I’m here to help.” She put her hand on Sylvie’s brow. Sylvie opened her eyes blearily. “We’re terrified it could be …” whispered his dad.

  “Don’t worry. I doubt it, Dave; it’s unlikely this long after the epidemic. Everyone who survived is likely to be immune,” Jamie’s mum said reassuringly. “Sylvie? Can you open your mouth for me?”

  Sylvie opened up and Katie took a good look inside.

  “It looks like a bad case of tonsilitis to me — and the rash is a side effect of her high temperature. You wouldn’t get enormous tonsils like that with red fever! The antibiotics we’ve brought back will take care of it, no problem.”

  Toby’s dad lifted him off the floor with an enormous hug, tears welling in his eyes. “This is great news! Thank you!. Thank you so much.”

  “Thank Toby. He was the one that rescued me and Jamie and Belle. And got the antibiotics back to you,” said Katie, patting them both on the back.

  Jamie stood behind her, enthusiastically patting Belle and smiling fit to burst.

  “Yes! You’re right! Well done, Toby!” cried his dad, the tears of happiness streaming down his face.

  Toby laughed. “Get a grip, Dad! And anyhow, where did you disappear to? You gave me a right fright!”

  “We had to leave in a hurry, as you can see.” said his dad. The dogs have been here for days, barking and yowling. Sylvie was having nightmares, the chickens were all over the place. It was getting impossible to stay. It was more than them being after any food we might have; it was as if they were deliberately forcing us out … and then Magnus turned up.”

  “Who’s Magnus?” quizzed Toby.

  “Him over there.” His dad pointed across the bows to a distant figure who was standing on the deck of the minesweeper. “He got here just in time and scared the dogs off. I decided it was time to go. Besides, two boats travelling together are safer than one.”

  “Where are we travelling to?” asked Toby.

  “To Orkney,” said his dad. “Magnus comes from a commune that lives on the island. He’s being sailing along the north-east coast looking for survivors. We’re lucky he found us.”

  Maybe the Lucky Lady’s not so unlucky after all. Perhaps this is the start of something new — getting away from the lighthouse with all its memories.

  Katie left to find the antibiotics that Toby had brought back in the rucksack.

  “The sooner she gets some inside her, the sooner she’ll feel better,” she told Toby’s dad.

  Toby and Jamie went to help her transfer the luggage from the dinghy to the deck of the Lucky Lady.

  “Nice boat you’ve got here,” Jamie’s mum said to Toby’s dad, as they stood on the deck watching the boys clamber into the dinghy.

  “Yeah, she’s a good little runner, actually,” he replied. “Why don’t I give you a tour once we’ve sorted Sylvie’s medicine out?”

  “Great!” replied Katie. “I love boats.”

  “Oh, no,” groaned Toby to Jamie. “Why are parents SO embarrassing?”

  Jamie giggled. “You don’t think they like each other, do you?” he asked.

  “Well, I think your mum will have to ditch the badger juice first!” laughed Toby.

  Later that day, they all squeezed into the cabin for a hot meal of soup and crackers, followed by tinned fruit. Sylvie was sitting up on her bed looking pale but perkier. From the boxes of medicines Toby had brought back with him, Jamie’s mum had sorted out a course of the antibiotics to treat Sylvie’s tonsillitis. Jamie and his mum had also managed to sneak up to the café while they were waiting for Toby and bring back more food that had been hidden in the roof space.

  After they had cleared away the dishes, Magnus rowed across from his boat to come and talk to them. The adults went off to the wheelhouse to have a serious discussion about what to do next.

  “That’s not fair,” moaned Jamie. “We should be allowed to have our say; after all, if it wasn’t for you, my mum wouldn’t be here.”

  Toby didn’t mind what the adults decided. He had had enough of making decisions. It was totally overrated. He’d be quite happy for his dad to take over. He, Toby, was going to climb into his little cubbyhole in the stern, and sleep as long as he could.

  When the adults trooped back into the cabin to tell them what was happening, the boys sat and listened attentively. Sylvie had gone back to sleep, with Belle cuddling up to her on the bed.

  “Well, boys,” said Magnus, scratching his white beard. “Looks like you’ll all have to come and stay with us in Orkney, at least for the time being.” Toby liked the look of Magnus. He looked like Toby imagined a sailor should, with a weather-beaten, tanned face, a shock of white hair and a beard to match. He wore a thick Guernsey jumper and a red cotton cravat round his neck.

  “It’s not safe around here with Cerberus and his packs of dogs. I’ve been analysing their behaviour and how they’re developing,” said Katie. “They know what they’re doing — they’re forcing people out and taking everything they can. And who knows what they’re planning next. The pirates won’t keep them away for long.”

  “We don’t have the same problem in Orkney,” said Magnus. “Smaller population meant fewer stray dogs left after the red fever.”

  No more dogs, no more nightmares!

  “Sounds great to me!” cried Toby. “When can we go?”

  “Well, I was going to take my boat down as far as Aberdeen on this trip, but from what you’ve told us about the pirates blowing up the place, perhaps it would be best to keep away. So, we’ll set sail right away,” Magnus told them

  “Magnus says he’s plenty of fuel, as the oil refinery at Scapa Flow has still got loads. So he’s going to tow the Lucky Lady all the way. That will save our fuel and means that I can have a nice long nap!” Toby’s dad grinned. Toby hadn’t seen his dad so positive for ages.

  “You can all come and stay with me on the HMS Kirkwall. Mrs McTavish can even have her own cabin,” said Magnus.

  “Cool,” said Jamie’s mum.

  “What about me? Can I have a cabin?” Sylvie’s croaky voice squeaked out. Everyone laughed.

  “Yes,” replied Magnus, “as long as you promise to keep that rabbit hutch clean!”

  “You don’t have a telly and a DVD of The Little Mermaid, do you?” Sylvie asked sleepily.

  “No, I’m sorry, lass, I don’t,” said Magnus. Toby went and gave Sylvie a hug.

  “Don’t worry, Sylvie,” he said. “I promise that one day you and I will watch The Little Mermaid again, together.”

  “Thanks, Tobes, I love you too,” yawned Sylvie, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

  The sun was dipping down behind the rolling fields beyond the cliffs, as the two boats pulled away from the north-east coast and headed out into the open seas. As Toby looked back, a solitary black dog appeared, watching them leave. Cerberus, guarding his territory. In a way, he had won: he had forced them out. But they were alive and safe, which was all that mattered. And they were on their way to a new life. Toby shuddered, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked away.

  The workmanlike minesweeper dwarfed the Lucky Lady as she waggled behind it, like a duckling in the wake of its mother. Toby was sitting in front of the minesweeper’s wheelhouse, leaning against the long shaft of a gun.

  “That’s a Bofor canon, is that,” said his dad, sitting down to join him.

  Toby looked up and smiled. “I’ve seen enough guns to last me a lifetime,” he said. “My ears are still ringing with all those explosions.”

  “That must have been scary, Toby. I wanted to say how proud I am of you, and that I’m sorry, really sorry about …”

  “You don’t have to say, Dad. I know,” interrupted Toby.

  “No, I do have to say it. I blamed
you for Mum’s death, and that was wrong of me. I see that now. I’m so sorry,” said his dad. Toby lent over and squeezed his dad’s hand.

  “Dad, I understand. It was a horrible time for all of us.” His dad put his arm around him and hugged him close.

  “Thanks, Toby. It’s time to put that behind us now, and look to the future. Thank god, Sylvie’s going to be OK, and that’s all down to you, Toby. We’ll start a new life in Orkney.”

  “Just one thing, Dad. What happened to the chickens?” asked Toby. His dad smiled.

  “Don’t worry about them,” he said. “They’re all as cosy as could be in Lady’s engine room. I wasn’t going to leave them behind for the dogs!”

  “Well, I’m not offering to muck them out!” Toby said. His dad laughed and Toby laughed too.

  Everything’s going to be OK. Things are going to be different. All I’ve got to do now is find a DVD of The Little Mermaid for Sylvie. Oh, and find some way of playing it. After this mission, that’s got to be a doddle!

  Read on for the thrilling first chapter of Black Tide, the sequel to Red Fever, where wolves, wild dogs and pirates fight to survive in this terrifying post-apocalyptic world.

  1. Kidnapped

  Something was wrong. In the fuggy state between slumber and waking Toby could sense something wasn’t right with his world. He tried to open his eyes but sleep had a strong grip on him and he couldn’t shake it loose.

  Wake up! I must wake up! he told himself.

  With a huge effort Toby squinted out of one eye, rubbing the other with a grimy hand. Blackness was all around him and for a moment he couldn’t work out where he was. He groped to feel for the torch that was tucked in beside him and, grasping the handle, quickly wound it up. It threw a pale flickering light on the inside of the tiny cabin.

  Ah, I’m in my den, thought Toby.

  For a moment he felt reassured. This was his safe place where he came to hide from the madness outside that was now his life. But as he lay curled up on the old mattress that took up most of the space, Toby felt a growing unease. There was something so strange about the way the boat was pitching and rolling sideways. Toby had hated sailing but since the red fever had changed everything in the past three years, he had had to learn the ways of the sea. He had had no choice; it was that or not survive.

  A terrible sense of dread crept over him and, fighting his terror, he pulled on his damp clothes, keeping an ear open for any noise. There was no sound of the Lucky Lady’s engine, there was no sound of his dad or his little sister Sylvie. There was no sound of anything except the whack, whack, whack of the waves hitting the side of the boat as it was tossed and thrown about.

  What’s going on? Why aren’t we moving? The boat feels like it’s drifting. What’s Dad doing?

  Toby felt sick as he crawled to the hatch door and flipped it open, shading his eyes to the brightness of the morning light. Something felt wrong, terribly wrong. As he swung round to face the Lucky Lady’s cabin Toby saw exactly what it was. There standing on the deck were two huge men dressed in black, their backs towards him. Toby froze, the cold hand of fear closing over his heart.

  “Hey! You two! Come in here and help me tie the prisoners up!” shouted a gruff voice from the cabin.

  “Yep Captain!” one of the men shouted back. The two men stooped and disappeared through the low wooden door of the boat’s cabin.

  Prisoners? thought Toby. Whoever is in the cabin must be talking about Dad and Sylvie. We must have been boarded by pirates!

  Toby now saw the grey outline of a large inflatable boat moored alongside the Lucky Lady. He pulled himself up onto the deck and, grasping the rail, made his way unsteadily towards the cabin as the boat bucked and shifted under his feet.

  What are they doing with Dad and Sylvie? What do they want with them? Surely they just want to steal our food and fuel? These can’t be ordinary pirates.

  Toby felt a hot anger rising in his chest as he thought of the dirty rough men pulling his little sister Sylvie around. She was only six years old and though she could be very annoying at times, Toby was always fiercely protective of her. After all, she had no mum to look after her now.

  What am I going to do? There are at least three of them and they are enormous and probably have weapons! How am I going to fight them off?

  Toby slunk down and crawled nearer to the cabin door. He could hear raised voices from within.

  “Take your filthy hands off us!” an angry voice rang out. It was his dad. “Why are you doing this? What do you want with us? Just take our food and fuel!”

  Toby heard a loud coarse laugh and then someone said, “We don’t want your meagre offerings! It’s you we want!”

  There was a scream from Sylvie as sounds of a scuffle came from the open door. Toby’s blood started to boil. How dare these evil men board their boat and assault his family. He had to do something and he had to do it now.

  He glanced round, searching for something he could use to defend himself and spied a large wooden pole with a hook on the end that they used to pull the boat to moorings. Toby picked it up and without thinking flung himself through the cabin door.

  What he saw inside made him cry out in fear and dismay; his dad and Sylvie were cowering in terror on one of the bunk beds, their hands tied in front of them. Standing over them were four men, filling the tiny cabin with their bulky frames, all of them wielding guns. The men turned and stared in shock at the young boy waving a pole at them. Toby didn’t hesitate.

  “Take that!” he screamed as he lunged at the one nearest him, striking out with the hook and cracking the man violently across the top of his skull. The man crumpled slowly to the floor with a quiet moan, but before Toby could raise his pole for another attack on the next man, someone cannoned into him and smacked him heavily to the hard floor of the cabin.

  The last thing that Toby was aware of was the concerned voice of his dad ringing in his ears: “Toby? Toby? What have you done to him?”

  It was some time later when Toby started to come to. His head throbbed, and through the misty fog of pain he was aware of someone standing over him.

  The man called out, “Is there any point in taking this one? He looks at death’s door. Must have hit his head hard. Does the General want damaged goods?”

  “Aye! Chuck him into the inflatable along with the others. If he looks a goner we’ll throw him overboard,” called back another.

  Toby felt someone lift him clumsily, carry him out of the cabin into the cold air and then throw him into empty space. He gasped as he felt himself fly through the air and then hit the wooden planking at the bottom of the inflatable. As he lay, unable to open his eyes, he heard his dad murmuring to Sylvie nearby. He could smell the metallic tang of blood somewhere nearby, and tried to put his hands to his head, which felt wet and sticky, but his hands were tied together. Someone’s boot nudged him sharply in the ribs.

  “Leave my brother alone!” he heard Sylvie squeal.

  “Tell your kid to shut up or else she’ll end up like her big brother,” a voice commanded.

  “Don’t you touch a hair on her head!” shouted back his dad. This was followed by bursts of laughter from the four men.

  “Like you can do anything about it, eh?” said the same man. Toby could hear a tone of authority in his voice and wondered if he was the Captain the men referred to. “Now you tell your kids to behave,” the man continued, “and we’ll all get along just fine. It’s not in our interest to knock you about – we want you to arrive in one piece otherwise you’ll not be much use to us.”

  “Aye,” cried out another voice, “otherwise it’ll be us that’ll get it in the neck from the General!”

  “Shut up Calvert! Else I’ll have to shut you up too!” barked the Captain.

  Toby lapsed in and out of the darkness of unconsciousness as the inflatable’s outboard motor roared into life and the boat took off, bouncing over the waves. He could feel his dad’s hand grasping roughly onto his, and as he peered painf
ully into the light he saw his dad and Sylvie crouching in the bottom of the boat next to him.

  Where are they taking us? Toby thought, gritting his teeth as the boat hurtled along, banging violently against the waves and sending spasms of pain ripping through his body.

  “You’ll like it at Fort George,” shouted the Captain, as if reading Toby’s thoughts. “We’ve collected quite a number of folks just like you – loners struggling to survive in this mad world. You’ll thank us for rescuing you from your pitiful life. At least you’ll have company!”

  “What do you want with us?” his dad shouted back over the drone of the engine.

  The men laughed again, and one replied, “That’ll be a surprise for you to look forward to!”

  Copyright

  Kelpies is an imprint of Floris Books

  First published in 2012 by Floris Books

  © 2010 Caroline Clough

  Caroline Clough has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 to be identified as the Author of this Work

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the prior permission of Floris Books, 15 Harrison Gardens, Edinburgh

  www.florisbooks.co.uk

  The publisher acknowledges subsidy from Creative Scotland towards the publication of this volume

  British Library CIP data available

  ISBN 978–086315–931–2