by RR Haywood
‘Just me and you then,’ I look down at Meredith. She stares up at me grinning with her tongue hanging out. But clearly I’m not as interesting as Dave and Lani as she trots off to join them and within minutes she gets the idea and starts digging into the corpses with her front paws, splattering the ground behind her with sodden bits of body. She doesn't so much as help as cause an almighty mess but she seems quite happy so she gets left alone.
Nick operates the digger with far greater finesse than Clarence, scooping bodies up to drop them into the lorry, and this time he uses the heavy scoop to flatten them down before loading them up. Which also doesn't work either as it just creates more of a mess.
The second load is done and this time just Nick and I head out with the lorry, leaving the others in the fort getting the bodies ready.
I drive while Nick gets the smokes out, both of us sweating heavily but maybe there was something in my earlier thought process as the work has cleared my mind and I feel a great deal more settled.
‘You think she is immune boss?’ Nick asks, clearly thinking the same thing.
‘I hope so mate,’ I reply, ‘time will tell.’
‘I think she is,’ Nick says confidently.
‘What makes you say that?’ I ask with a laugh, then curse as we hit a pothole and a body drops from the back.
‘Dunno,’ he grins, ‘just do, why not? Lani is fucking awesome so why not her?’
‘Yep,’ I nod back, ‘she is that mate.’
We get into the estate and back the lorry up to the fresh pile. Nick jumps out to press the button and we stand there watching as it slowly tilts up and the bodies slide out into another wet sticky pile.
‘What’s that?’ Nick asks, turning to face away from the flatlands.
‘What?’ I spin round but don’t see anything. Nick releases the button and quickly shuts the engine off. We stand in silence for a second but then he starts nodding and looking at me.
‘Engines?’ I ask him quietly at the distant rumble.
‘Definitely,’ he replies.
‘Get the rifles ready,’ I press the button in to raise the back, watching as the last of the bodies fall out, then push it back in again and stand tapping my foot as it slowly lowers back down.
‘Nick, did you bring a radio?’
‘No, did you?’
‘Bollocks, we’ll drive back…get in mate,’ I leave the back raised slightly and get in the driver’s seat. Nick stares at the entrance to the estate. As soon as we start the lorry the sounds of the oncoming vehicles are drowned out.
Getting back onto the unmade road I get the speed up, bouncing over the potholes and rough surface that shakes and vibrates the old lorry, and us within in.
Nick leans out the window, staring back along the track until he shouts they are in sight, then more of them.
‘Bloody loads Mr Howie,’ he shouts, ‘all vans and trucks,’ he slumps back into his seat and stares forward, then thinks better of it and leans back out to wave his arms at the fort.
The silhouette of the Saxon stands alone on the top wall, then movement as one of the lads pops up in the middle.
Clarence runs out the front and grabs the gate, planting his legs wide as he heaves it closed; normally a two man job that he does with apparent ease. The others must be inside closing the inner gate.
He disappears inside as we pull up, parking the blood smeared lorry to the side we jump out with our rifles and run for the gate.
Aiming for the single walk through gate I meet Clarence coming the other way and find myself on the floor after bouncing off his massive chest.
‘Sorry,’ he picks me up, virtually lifting me from feet, ‘who are they?’
‘No idea, but they’ve slowed down,’ I remark spotting the now slow moving convoy heading down the road.
‘You got a radio?’
‘No boss,’ he replies shaking his head, ‘Blowers is grabbing them from the Saxon, Cookey’s on the machine gun.’
‘Dave and Lani?’
‘Getting the inner gate closed, Dave has given Lani an assault rifle but the magazine is empty.’
‘Was she alright with that?’ I ask with a worried frown.
‘Not really, but she sees knows we’ll all look the part.’
‘You on about my empty gun?’ She asks stepping out.
‘Yeah…er…sorry.’
‘Not your fault,’ she says stiffly, ‘I can always throw it at them.’
‘I got the radios,’ Blowers runs out breathing hard as he hands them round.
‘Cookey, you hearing me?’
‘Yeah loud and clear, who are they?’
‘No idea, how far back do you need them to stop with the angle of fire.’
‘Walk forward and I’ll tell you…bit more….bit more….yeah that’s fine…’
‘You got the binoculars up there?’ Nick asks through the radio.
‘Fuck yeah…hang on…’
‘Don’t swear on the radio Alex.’
‘Sorry Dave…er…wait a minute….it looks like Maddox in the front one,’ he adds after a spell.
‘Really?’ I ask.
‘Looks like him, yeah and that girl too, definitely them.’
Exchanging glances we walk a bit more down the road, Meredith back on her lead held by Lani. We spread out into a line, Dave standing next to Lani. The first long van slows down and comes to a stop several metres back from us but with the sun glinting off the windscreen I can’t see who is inside.
The doors open and Maddox jumps down from the driver’s side, closely followed by Lenski out the other.
‘Mr Howie,’ he calls out with one hand up in greeting, ‘alright to come up?’
‘Yes mate, of course,’ I stride towards him with a big grin, letting them know we’re happy to see them.
‘Darius, tell ‘em to stay in the vehicles for now,’ Maddox calls back as another thick set youth walks up from the second vehicle. We hear a muted radio transmission as Darius speaks into a black handset, pausing briefly to make sure the order is being followed before walking down.
‘Bloody hell mate, what’s going on?’ I stick my hand out which he takes with a firm grasp.
‘We thought about what you said,’ he answers with a smile.
‘Lenski isn’t it?’ I offer her my hand, ‘nice to see you again.’
‘You too,’ she gives a quick shake. Clarence and the lads all say hello, exchanging quick handshakes which takes a few minutes as Darius and another girl come forward and join in with the greetings.
‘So what you doing here then?’ I finally ask.
The smile fades slightly from his face, a serious expression replacing it as he looks back with his deeply intelligent eyes, ‘like I said, we thought about your offer.’
‘You brought everyone with you?’ I step out to look down the road at the vehicles stretched out.
‘Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you before we agree if we coming in or not.’
‘Right?’ I look to each of them noticing the resolute looks on their faces, something planned and prepared.
‘I don’t want you to think we’re coming with our tail between our legs, we ain’t running scared,’ he says firmly, ‘we got supplies, loads of food and other equipment, we got weapons and the crews might be young but they’re disciplined and I wanted to agree terms before we do anything…’
‘Hang on a minute mate,’ I put my hand up cutting him off, ‘we we’re going to come and see you later anyway and ask you to join us…’
He stares back at me with interest, ‘we er…’ I hesitate, not sure exactly what to say or where to start, ‘they got inside yesterday and turned everyone.’ I blurt out.
‘What?’ Lenski steps forward staring at the fort with a look of horror, ‘is this why you outside?’
‘Eh? No! We killed them all and well…other things happened too…’ My voice trails off as I glance at Lani, who ignores me with one eyebrow arched, telling me exactly what she thinks.
&n
bsp; ‘But yeah, everyone’s dead,’ I shrug, my voice drops low as a sudden stab of hurt goes through me at the thought of Sarah and everyone else.
‘Jesus,’ Maddox sweeps his gaze across us, ‘you killed them all? You said you had thousands.’
‘We did,’ I nod back wincing at the memory of Sarah running towards me with her lips pulled back.
‘Listen,’ Lani steps forward, taking over from me as I struggle to compose myself for a second, ‘it’s been bloody terrible, everyone got killed and the fort is covered in bodies. We’ve started clearing them out but, well you’re welcome here, all of you,’ she speaks clearly with a strong voice, ‘we’ve still got loads of food and everything but adding your stuff will be good. We were going to come and ask you to move here with us, the fort is too big for us to defend so we need more people and Mr Howie said you were the obvious choice, seeing that your crews are disciplined and organised.’
They stay quiet for a second, shock etched into their faces as the realisation hits them.
‘The fort is safe,’ Lani stresses, ‘we weren’t here when they got inside so we don’t know how it happened but we had problems with some other people, so we think they just didn’t guard the gates properly…did you see the refinery go up yesterday?’
They nod back, looking at each other again, ‘it was the refinery then?’ Maddox asks.
‘That was us,’ Lani continues, ‘we were getting fuel when it happened here, we’ve lost everyone…our families, friends…the doctors and well…everyone,’ she adds quietly.
‘Oh,’ Lenski says quietly with a pained look, ‘that is bad, so for you…I…’ she pauses as she thinks of the right words, ‘we are so sorry this happen, we did not know this.’
‘How would you,’ I shrug, ‘but as Lani said, the fort is empty now, just us left…so you’re welcome to join us.’
‘Got some clearing up to do first,’ Clarence adds.
‘We can help,’ Maddox states, his voice quiet and low as he absorbs the information, ‘we got plenty of people and my crews will…’
‘Our crews please,’ Lenski corrects him.
He smiles with good humour, ‘our crews will get them cleared away…I’m really sorry for all your loss,’ he adds seriously, showing a respectful nature that belies his appearance.
‘We get people turning up every day,’ Lani replies, ‘so we need to get it done as quickly as possible, plus we’ll need guards on the gate at the front and back and on the walls…inside is a real mess…’
Clarence and I glance at each other as Lani lists the immediate tasks that need to be done.
‘…You can stop staring at me now,’ she says for our benefit which earns some confused looks from Maddox and the others, ‘come inside and we’ll show you what we mean,’ she adds.
Lenski steps forward quickly, walking beside Lani as the rest of us follow them through the gates.
‘These gates open up to let vehicles in and we keep them all in here between the walls…those tents were our medical assessment points, anyone coming back in had to be checked fully before they were admitted,’ Lani gives a running commentary as we walk across and into the fort proper, carrying her empty rifle across her chest in the relaxed position.
‘Fuck me,’ Darius states slowly as they step inside. Maddox, to his credit, remains mostly expressionless but just stares across at the thick layer of mangled bodies that look even worse now from lying in several hours of heat and having been run over and squashed by the digger.
‘See what we mean?’ I ask as they stand in silence taking the view in.
‘All these…people, they lived here?’ Maddox asks slowly.
I hesitate just long enough for him to shoot me a hard look, caught out and there’s no point starting off on deceit. ‘It’s a long story that you can either hear now or later.’
‘This is big place yes?’ Lenski looks up from the bodies and takes in the size of the interior, her head turning as she follows the wall all the way round, ‘the doors, what they for?’ She points to the recessed and wooden doors along the walls.
‘Stores, offices, armoury, engineering rooms…all sort of stuff. Most of the people lived here in tents, a few of us had rooms, ours are at the back and we used the police offices to organise everything as they’re most central.’
‘Police offices?’ Maddox queries.
‘We had police here until yesterday, we had doctors, engineers and even a vet…gone now, all gone.’
The four of them look at me, reading the hurt expression on my face. In a way I feel better that I am feeling the pain of loss. That there is a burning jolt inside me every time I think of Sarah and the others. Something I haven’t felt before, no guilt or remorse or pain, just numb. Even now the feeling isn’t strong like it should be, but buried deep and easily swallowed down.
‘Whole place was thriving, thousands of people, families, children…what a fucking waste,’ I shake my head sadly, ‘an absolute fucking waste.’
‘How did they get in?’ Maddox asks, watching me closely.
‘Don’t know,’ I say quietly, ‘they can talk now so maybe they just walked up to the gate or something, we had issues about the interior defence and security but it wasn’t taken seriously and they paid for it. A few people at the top who couldn’t make their minds up and were too twisted with grief and power to see what should be done.’ I look back at Maddox, then at all of them, ‘but that won’t happen again…not ever.’
‘I understand,’ he nods holding my gaze.
‘If you are going to stay here then we get the basics sorted before anything else, that means…as Lani said, security round the clock on the gates and we get a vetting process set up for new people arriving.’
‘You gonna let new people in then?’ He asks.
‘Definitely, that’s the most important thing…the most important thing,’ I emphasise, ‘it has to be safe and we have to learn from someone else’s fuck up and make sure it doesn't happen again. We got better guns here than you have, assault rifles and stuff. Your lads can use them but only if you agree to take instruction from my lot first.’
‘Agreed,’ Maddox nods.
‘The food will be split evenly and shared out with someone guarding it all the time.’
‘Agreed,’ he replies again.
‘We keep the police office as the central point and we…as in us’ I motion to all of us stood there, ‘run things from there, there will be a running order here and that means I am in overall charge but you run your crews. My team stay together all the time so if we go out or something, then you are in charge.’
‘Agreed.’
‘Your crews are your responsibility and we won’t interfere unless absolutely necessary.’
‘That is my main condition,’ he cuts in, ‘they will listen to you, I’ll make sure of that but they take time to respect new people especially anyone they see as authority…they look rough but they’ll get better. As for discipline you have no concerns.’
‘Agreed,’ I smile at him, ‘anything else?’
‘There will be,’ he looks away, ‘but not right now, you understand that we’re not running to you yeah?’
‘I get it mate, we’re joining forces. We need someone to run the fort while we’re not here, someone who can make decisions quickly for the benefit of everyone and someone who won’t become a fucking dick about it too.’
‘I make sure of this yes?’ Lenski adds with a quick smile, ‘what is first to be done?’
‘Bodies need removing,’ Maddox replies then looks at me, ‘you alright if I get my crews on security now at the front and back?’
‘Please do, we’ve got a couple up there keeping look out with heavy weapons,’ I point to the Saxon.
‘And the vehicles? Do you want them inside here?’ He asks.
‘How many crews you got?’ Lani asks quickly.
‘We have plenty, we get crew to front yes? And crew to back and two more to take the things from the vehicles and the rest they he
lp you in here yes?’ Lenski replies.
‘Sounds good, let them all come in and have a look first if they want. I don’t think we’ll have enough rooms for everyone so some might have to stay in the open but most of these tents are ruined,’ I explain.
‘We got our own stuff and all the crews will be together outside, if it’s alright with you it’ll only be me and Lenski and Darius and Sierra that need rooms, but we can stay outside too if…’
‘No we got enough for you.’
‘Are you both couples?’ Lani asks.
‘Yeah,’ they nod with looks at each other.
‘You two are the couple yes?’ Lenski asks Lani with a glance to me which causes Nick and Blowers to look away, Clarence to look up at the sky and Lani to glare at me.
‘Not our business,’ Maddox senses the glaringly obvious atmosphere that suddenly descends.
‘You look like the couple before,’ Lenski shrugs.
‘Yeah I thought so too,’ Lani replies sweetly.
‘On that note,’ I cut in with a low voice, ‘we got a lot to do.’
Fifteen
Did she fall asleep? There is no difference between eyes open and eyes closed but her memory has a fuzzy gap. Fully awake now, heart hammering as she remembers where she is, a flood of adrenalin surges through her system. Her body getting ready to fight or flee but she has to stay here until she knows they are gone.
How will she know they are gone? She shifts position and wipes the sweat pouring from her forehead. The stink in here is awful, truly terrible. No air vents and no window so the stench just builds up. Pitch black too, she waves her hand in front of her face but can’t see it. The door she rests against is well made and flush to the floor, no light coming through.
Groping at her watch she presses the small button to illuminate the screen, early evening but still plenty of hours of daylight left. She must have been in here for a couple of hours already.
Thirsty now she has woken up but nothing to drink other than the filth that would be in the toilet bowl. Why did she come in here? The darkness pervades her mind, lulling her into a false sense of security.
There were noises outside, that was it. She got in here and hid, listening to the scrapes as they moved round the outside of the building, but the heat and after effects of the adrenalin made her sleepy, probably light headed from the stench in here too. But at least it should mask her own smell.