by RR Haywood
But then the last two days have been non-stop; every minute of every hour filled with something to do.
He picks the water bottle up and takes a long swig of the warm liquid, it isn’t pleasant but he knows the importance of staying hydrated, especially in this weather. Something he needs to enforce with the others too.
Dressed quickly with a clean plain white t shirt pulled over his head he moves to the door, pushing the pistol into the makeshift holster made for him a couple of days ago. It still feels weird putting the gun on his belt but he knows that within a few minutes he will have forgotten it’s there.
Ready for the day he pulls the door open and steps out with the tiniest of reactions at the hive of activity going on. People everywhere, already up and moving about. Laughing and joking with each other, animated conversations going on. The smell of cooking wafts through on the hot air. Faces turn to look at him as he emerges; smiling in greeting at their leader.
‘You get up then,’ Lenski smiles, her clipboard already glued to one hand and holding a mug of coffee with the other. Maddox smiles back at her, a genuine smile full of admiration for the woman he now shares a bed with.
‘Mornin’ bruv,’ Darius shouts from the other end of the unit. Now cleared of cannabis plants and given over to chairs and tables, used as a central eating place and somewhere for them all to meet and talk, out of the sun and heat. The smell of the plants still linger and it was a hard sell convincing everyone they didn’t need the weed anymore, but eventually, with bribery of music, video games and a very small amount of alcohol the plants were taken out and burnt on the fire pit.
The effect was that everyone got more stoned than ever before from the fumes billowing across the compound but Maddox knew it was the last time, an almost sacrificial act and one that marked a turning point.
Without the weed he could get clean water and food into the youths, plus the daily ritual of everyone taking their multi-vitamin pill too. They were already looking better, in just the few days since the bossman was killed they had been working solidly, moving heavy stuff, knocking walls down and carrying load after load of items back to the compound. Regular patrols were still done and the constant exercise had sparked their natural appetites to kick in.
They almost looked like normal kids now. Well, as normal as they could be given the circumstances, but things had yet to change even more.
That night after Howie had left saw the biggest change. Maddox spoke to Darius, Sierra and Lenski at length, opening up to them in a way he had never done before. They all shared that night, talking of their lives before the event and the people they missed. Maddox made it clear he was not the bossman and that if he made a mistake or a bad call they had to tell him, this would only work if they did it together.
They accepted it readily enough and promised, and to a certain extent both Sierra and Darius stepped up to their new roles and the kids looked to them with almost the same level of respect they gave Maddox. Lenski was a special case and different. A naturally stern woman that spoke her mind and could multi-task unlike anyone they knew. Nothing escaped her and nothing got past her.
As for Maddox. He was still the number one, feared respected and loved in equal measure. He had proven himself time and again for the youths and had worked and sweated alongside all of them. His natural aloofness gave him an air of authority, his broad muscular frame coupled with his passive face and deeply intelligent eyes all worked in his favour to create an air of a natural leader.
He didn’t flap or panic and remembered the names of every youth in the compound, taking time to talk with all of them in turn.
Letting Howie go wasn’t seen as an act of weakness, in fact it worked the opposite and showed the youths they had a leader who was prepared to make decisions. The fact that he went after them showed how brave and tough he was, the way he faced Howie down but then later changed his mind only added to the mystique and regard he was held in.
‘How long you been up?’ Maddox asks Lenski as he walks closer.
She smiles and lifts one eyebrow, pursing her lips as though to suggest she’s been awake for hours while he slept like the lazy dog he was, ‘not long, maybe the half hour,’ she replies with a wink.
‘You should have woke me,’ he grumbles looking round at the youths who have now gone back to the far more interesting concept of eating breakfast.
‘Why? We can feed everyone without the great and powerful Maddox no?’ Lenski teases softly, taking care to keep her voice low, knowing he felt uncomfortable with open displays of affection, not through arrogance but simply because of who he was. She’d change him slowly, she knew that.
‘You eaten yet?’ He asks, making his way to the table put in place to serve the food from, the girls behind smiled as he approaches and spoon porridge into a bowl for him.
‘Of course,’ Lenski replies, ‘there is much to do yes? We have busy day today.’
‘The day of days,’ he replies with a frown.
‘You ready then bruv?’ Darius booms across the room with a huge grin.
‘Yeah I’m ready,’ Maddox replies. Taking his bowl across the room he sits down at the end table, the one specially reserved for the top four. A conscious act taken to give a line of separation to the youths.
‘Sierra comin’?’ Maddox asks as Darius takes a seat.
‘Dunno bruv, she should be here.’
‘She come in minute yes? We wait for her,’ Lenski plonks the clipboard and coffee down before taking a seat with a sigh, blowing a strand of hair away from her forehead, ‘is hot already.’
‘Damn hot,’ Darius replies in a deep gravelly voice.
‘Hotter than hot,’ Maddox mimics the same.
‘Stop,’ Lenski groans, ‘not the voices, too early for the voices.’
‘Hey, what’s up?’ Sierra joins them, pulling a chair away with quick movements belying her already frantic morning.
‘Nuffin, you?’ Maddox gives the standard reply.
‘Nuffin, we ready then?’
‘Guess so,’ Maddox spoons a mouthful of porridge in and nods, ‘anything in the night?’
‘Nah,’ Sierra shakes her head, ‘Jagger had his crew on duty, he didn’t say anything when he went to bed.’
‘Bed? He ain’t got time for bed,’ Maddox says with forced harshness.
‘You leave him, he tired and I say he have some hours yet.’
‘They all up then?’ Maddox asks taking another spoonful.
‘Yep, all up and going at it,’ Darius replies, ‘you’s the only one having a lie in bruv.’
‘A lie in?’ Maddox snorts, ‘didn’t get to sleep until…’ he looks at Lenski for confirmation.
‘I not know this, I was sleep when you came in,’ she shrugs.
‘Well it was late anyway, spent some time with the crews, they’s worried, which is fair enough,’ he accepts with a tilt of his head.
‘They buzzin’ this morning,’ Sierra smiles, ‘never seen ‘em like it, they look like proper kids all runnin’ about.’
‘Good, that’s the weed,’ Maddox says pointing his spoon at Sierra, ‘no weed for what, two days now? So we ready then? You sure about this?’
‘It’s your idea bruv,’ Darius spreads his hands open.
‘My idea but we gotta agree,’ Maddox replies.
‘We been through this, we agree, we say we agree…we all agree and we double the agree so now is too late to not have the agree yes?’
Maddox pauses mid munch to look over at Lenski, she rolls her eyes but smiles straight after, showing she is half joking, but as always with her, the hard tone suggests it is only a half-joke.
‘It’s the right thing to do,’ Maddox continues his eating, tucking in with gusto, ‘if Howie hadn’t come when he did we’d be fucked, they’d have got through here in minutes. I like this place but it’s not safe enough and we can’t make it safer.’
‘So we go,’ Lenski shrugs, ‘he offered the fort and said we can go, is done now, we go.’
‘Yeah,’ Maddox says quietly as though unsure, ‘shame though, I like it here.’
‘So do we,’ Sierra replies seriously with a look at Darius, ‘but you’s right Maddox, this place ain’t big enough and we alright now but the kids’ll get bigger and want more space…’
‘More food…more drink…more women and more boys and more showers and more clothes…’ Lenski adds quickly to a grin from Sierra, ‘it is good idea, best idea…’
‘So we still planning on just turning up?’ Darius asks, ‘I still think we should send someone first.’
‘No,’ Maddox shakes his head, ‘we been through this, we turn up together, all of us…all our food, stocks, supplies, vehicles…everything, we show them we ain’t coming on our knees and begging, we joining forces…we got stuff here, loads of stuff…and our crews are young but they’re good fighters.’
‘I don’t know,’ Lenski cuts in, ‘I think same as Darius, we send someone first.’
‘Nah, I’m with Maddox,’ Sierra shakes her head, ‘if we send someone it looks weak and we ain’t weak, Maddox is right, we show them we coming to join them, not run away from what we got here.’
‘But we do run away from here, you say this place not safe now.’
‘Yeah we know that, but we don’t want them to know that,’ Maddox explains with a wave of his spoon, ‘and we ain't running away, we’re re-locating,’ he adds with a flash of white teeth.
‘Upgrading,’ Darius grins.
‘How many survivors we got out there now?’ Maddox asks, watching as both the girls start flicking through sheets on their clipboards.
‘Twenty eight,’ Sierra replies. Maddox nods and thinks of the new families now living in the houses closest to the compound. After the big fight, those that didn’t get involved in the planned take-over were approached and offered the chance to move closer to the compound where it was safer, and in exchange for helping dig the school playing fields for crops and fishing from the shore. But that was before Maddox made the final decision to leave and head for the fort.
The night of the attack had played on his mind constantly, knowing they were one step away from being wiped out. He didn’t like the thought of relying on someone else but the initial few days were over, they’d survived and now it was about getting somewhere proper where they could live and not just get by.
Besides, Sierra and Lenski were right, the kids would need more space and even having some adults might not be such a bad thing. He only hoped they would be put together in the fort so he could keep them safe until they were ready to start mingling with the other survivors.
Maddox had spoken to each crew at length and had spent the last two days going round all the youths, explaining why they were moving, pointing out all the benefits but also warning them strongly that he was still in charge of them and if they fucked about he’d be on them instantly. They represented him and the compound now so they better show some pride.
They took the news badly at first, fearing change simply for the unknown factor. But these kids were strong and resilient, from broken homes and backgrounds that would make most social workers weep.
They knew they were going together and that’s what mattered. Maddox was still leading them and Lenski, Darius and Sierra were still the leaders too. The comfort and structure they’d missed out on before now was still there.
So the excitement grew, rumours spread at how they would get to use the big guns that Howie and his men had, and be part of the guards that kept the fort safe. How they would all be together somewhere inside and still stay in the crews they were in.
Even the huge explosion yesterday didn’t faze them. Word soon spread it was probably the refinery going up from the heat, then it was explained what a refinery was and then where it was. Most of them stood looking in awe at the huge smoke clouds in the distance and they all felt the rumble through the ground that rattled the old windows in their wooden frames.
‘They all coming with us then?’ Maddox asked about the survivors, having explained to them the plan and offered the opportunity to travel with them.
‘Most yes,’ Lenski replies, ‘some they stay here, they say they lived here many years and they don’t want to leave so,’ she shrugs, ‘I tell them where we go so they come later, it’s up to them I think.’
‘Yeah right, vehicles?’ Maddox looks at Darius.
‘All done,’ Darius grins, ‘they in the street now getting loaded up, I got the crews doing their stuff first and then we got the stuff from the store room to go out, all the food…’
With the morning meeting finished they separate with each one of the four heading off to deal with the many tasks that lay ahead. Once the decision had been made, Maddox had applied his mind to the fullest and planned with his usual intense focus, making sure everything was thought out and prepared.
As he walked through the units he mulled it over again, was this the right thing to do? He knew he could change the plan and stay here and it would be accepted it readily enough. It was the right thing. The high front gates looked good but they were structurally weak and a concerted effort would see them either pulled down or pushed open. They had weapons but only shotguns and some rifles, which all took time to reload and expended vast amounts of ammunition for relatively little damage inflicted.
If that horde had reached the gates they would have been lost, same with the estate survivors. They would have got kills, and probably quite a few of them. But it was also only a matter of time until someone, or something worked out a way of going through the houses that bordered the compound. If they did that and attacked the gates it would be over in minutes.
They needed walls, big walls that couldn’t be breached or climbed and that meant going somewhere else. The seed had been planted by Howie and it quickly out down roots to spread through Maddox’s conscience.
The crews living area at the rear of the compound looked barren now, the tents taken down and stacked ready to be loaded up, bags of clothes and personal effects were being carried out with each crew taking responsibility for their own, and the chiefs overseeing the whole operation.
The solar panels were being stacked up, they were bulky and heavy but the Bossman had made sure he got the best equipment to grow his beloved plants and they were too good to be left behind. Same with the grow lights and wiring loops. They were all being loaded into vehicles sourced and brought back from the estate.
Driving wasn’t an issue as nearly all the youths had at one time or another, driven cars and motorbikes illegally through the estate. Maddox and Lenski were probably the only ones with proper driving licenses and Maddox knew that even Darius had owned several vehicles before the event happened.
Round the other side and he watches the girls from the units bringing the piles of food out from the stores, stacking them by the gates ready to be loaded up. It was important they appeared on mass with all their equipment, and Maddox knew they had to arrive looking clean and disciplined too, that creating the first impression was more than important, it was essential if they were to be taken seriously and not seen as another bunch of desperate refugees.
Maddox knew how the kids would be perceived with their street language, constant swearing and reverting to putting their hoods up at the first sign of trouble. An instinctive reaction done to cover their faces so they couldn’t be recognised and arrested later.
They must have thousands of people in the fort already, so finding space might be hard. But then they only needed a small area, maybe in a corner or something. Somewhere they could stay together. Maddox had thought ahead and understood he would have to see how the ground lay before making the decision to hand over all their stock, food and equipment or whether it formed part of the negotiation for extra space inside, and he’d even planned for making sure crews were assigned tasks otherwise they’d quickly get bored and cause trouble.
Howie and the fort leaders needed to understand they might look like kids, but they were hardened and would kill without hes
itation. They only had loyalty to each other and didn’t have the same moral base that others did. That meant discipline and punishment had to be hard, they had to be given respect and freedom, with time to unwind but if they fucked up, the resulting action had to be swift and brutal, and more importantly it had to come from Maddox and not someone else.
He felt an almost overwhelming sense of devotion to the kids that made up the crews, and he knew first-hand the lives they had before all this happened, and how in many respects, their life was now better than it was before.
There is a time for thinking and a time for doing. The thinking was done, the plans laid down and put in place. Now was the time for doing and Maddox jumped straight in. Smiling and laughing with the crews as he manhandled the heavier items up to the vehicles and made sure they were being loaded properly.
The girls from the unit brought regular supplies of water out, ensuring the youths drank often and regular. The heat was intense, scorching in the sun with high humidity that had them all soaked with sweat within minutes of working.
They didn’t complain but stuck at it, moving and carrying, lifting and stacking, crew chiefs nipping between their groups shouting and calling instructions out. The boys soon had their tops off, showing off their lean underdeveloped physiques as they tried to impress the girls, making jokes about the gun shows and puffing their chests out.
Hard physical graft, harder work than any of the youths had done before but with over a hundred of them, it was done quickly with a methodical approach overseen by the clipboard wielding Lenski and Sierra.
Pausing to take a drink of water, Maddox looked at the two women stood next to each other. One tall and Polish with a stern countenance, the other black and much younger but they had taken to each other and developed a strong relationship. Both of them holding their clipboards and pens, comparing notes and lists, talking quietly and smiling often. Sierra seemed much older than her years but girls on the estate always grew up faster, they had to. It was a brutal life and full of predators that preyed on the young and naïve, especially if they were pretty and innocent.