by RR Haywood
‘What’s your name?’ Rapist grunts, glancing up at Nick with what he hopes is a friendly look.
‘Nick,’ for a second he was going to tell him to mind his own business, but what harm can knowing his first name do?’
‘Nice to meet you Nick,’ Rapist nods with a quick puzzling grin, ‘in fact mate, I’m glad it was you we met you know, even though you shot me eh?’ With a chuckle the man carries on limping, ‘nice young lad like you, yeah…soldier are you?’
To save giving the long explanation, Nick just nods but makes sure to keep a good distance between them and the pistol held ready.
‘Good for you nipper, wanted to serve myself but life got in the way. Shame really, I was always told I’d have made a fucking good soldier…cor fuck me…that hurts some…’
Nick lets him speak, using the time to gain the measure of the man. He is larger than average and covered in faded old style tattoos. Messy, lank hair, thick limbs and a big gut that no doubt was somewhat bigger two weeks ago. This man doesn't take care of his appearance. He screams bully with the hard look and icy, thousand yard stare.
Two weeks ago, Nick would have done everything he could to avoid people like this and the rough, brutal, bullish attitudes they always had. They were always too ready to fight and pick on those smaller than them.
But that was two weeks ago, and now, even without the pistol, Nick would have stood his ground.
‘Yeah, you know Nick, the last two weeks have been hell ain’t they, just hell…keep hoping the government will sort it out but it don’t look good does it…what’s your orders then Nick?’
‘Orders?’ Nick asks, not liking the way this man keeps using his name.
‘Army orders, what’s the score then Nick?’
Nick is unsure how to answer so he doesn't. He remains quiet, reluctant to get drawn into a conversation.
‘Oh I get it,’ Rapist gives a knowing wink, ‘yeah course Nick, can’t be telling everyone what your orders are can ya, nah course not. Guess you must be in the Special Forces or something eh Nick?’
‘Just keep walking,’ Nick prompts. His tone tells Rapist his constant, inane chatter is starting to work. He can wear this lad down, get him comfortable and safe, make him think there is no malice and no threat.
‘Poor lad, he alright is he?’ Rapist nods at Todd, ‘going through all that must have scared him half to death…didn’t mean to scream all them bad words at the poor mite but I was shitting myself that he’d run into those things and get bit…I tried asking nice like Nick, but the lad kept running so I figured I might try and scare him into stopping…you can see that can’t you Nick?’
‘Quiet one ain’t ya Nick, I get that…I like the peace and quiet myself….yeah I can see a young me in you Nick. Very good the way you handled that gun there, very quick…and a good steady arm too…well trained but then the British Army is the best in the world, ain’t it Nick?’
‘You remembered what happened last night then?’ Nick asks quickly, ‘how many came into your camp?’
‘Cor bloody hell Nick, it was so dark. I’m a big fella and all but I don’t mind telling you that I shit myself, frightened half to death I was…begging ‘em to just go and take what they wanted but…’
‘But what?’
‘They wouldn’t have any of it would they, did that to Vince’s daughter the poor sod, then Vince, he like went for one of them and it all kicked off…One bloke went for me….His dad I reckon it was…anyway, so he went for me and I was begging him to stop but…things happen,’ his voice trails off as though the memory is too hard to handle.
‘So how many were there?’ Nick asks again.
‘Well, there’s his dad,’ he nods at Todd, ‘then er…the other fella so that’s two…and er…well Todd there he was sort of you know…er…behind them and er…’
‘Just two of them? Against three of you?’
‘Three?’
‘Vince’s daughter?’
‘Eh? Oh yeah…well she’s only a wee one herself.’
‘How old?’
‘Eh? Oh er…fourteen I guess, yeah she’s fourteen.’
‘What about Sam?’
‘Who?’
‘Todd said you killed his Dad and Sam? Who was Sam?’
‘Oh yeah…that was the other er…the girl,’ Rapist grimaces, realising Sam must be the name of the girl he raped.
‘Girl? A girl attacked you too?’
‘Yeah, bloody hell Nick, she was going crazy…like a..a…banshee or something…just nuts…shocking, really shocking…’
‘Todd, who is Sam?’ Nick asks quietly.
‘…sister,’ Todd replies, his voice muted and muffled.
‘Your sister?’ Nick confirms, feeling the boy nodding his head.
‘How old is Sam?’
‘…Teen.’
‘What did you say Todd?’
‘Fifteen,’ Todd pulls his head away to answer then promptly pushes it straight back into Nick’s side.
‘Fifteen, you were attacked by a fifteen year old girl?’ Nick asks in a suspicious voice.
‘Was she fifteen?’ The rapist shakes his head in shock, ‘no way…not fifteen…bloody hell she was a big unit…I would have put her at nineteen, or maybe even twenty…fuckin’ hell…gotta be drugs, high on drugs…’
‘I think,’ Nick speaks up in a strong voice that cuts the rapist off mid-sentence, ‘that you are full of shit mate…’
‘Eh? Hang on Nick…you weren’t there mate…’
‘And if you don’t stop talking I will shoot you in the other fucking leg…trust me…I will shoot your other fucking leg…’
‘Nick, just listen mate…’
‘Don’t believe me? Up to you fucknuts…keep going and see what happens…I ain’t that intelligent, really I ain’t, but even I can spot bullshit like that…’
Rapist hobbles on, his nasty little eyes scanning the road ahead like a hungry rat looking for food. Opportunities present themselves all the time, just got to be ready to make the best of it when it happens. They’re obviously going somewhere specific, probably to meet other people, maybe more soldiers. If that little shit starts speaking and tells a good tale he’s done for. They’ll either shoot him outright or string him up like they used to in the old days. Ain’t no law or fair trials now.
The going is painfully slow as Rapist makes a meal of his injury, painfully limping and grimacing. However, as time goes on the pain increases until he is genuinely struggling with real pain flaring in his leg and his cheek.
‘Nick, I needs to rest a minute,’ he wheezes, still adding a bit on for effect, hoping the young lad will be lured into thinking he is worse than he really is.
‘Nope,’ Nick replies cheerfully, ‘keep going.’
‘You just shot me in the leg…have a heart Nick, come on….just a quick rest…’
‘Alright,’ Nick concedes, thinking he could do with a drink of water and a cigarette. Checking the area he spots a house with a front door torn from the hinges, leaving a gaping hole into the hallway ‘Over there,’ Nick points, directing the limping man across the road.
‘Up the path,’ Nick prompts, walking slowly behind while the man takes his time muttering and grumbling with pain. ‘Stop there…HELLO? Anyone home?’ Nick calls out, ready to shift his aim from the man to the hallway should anything present itself.
Fuck. Now what? They can’t all go into the kitchen can they? He can’t leave Todd outside with this man, and he strongly doubts that Todd will want to go inside on his own to get them all a drink of water.
An easy solution presents itself as Nick nods, thinking this is what Mr Howie would do. ‘Right mate, you go down and get some water…I’ll be right behind you and if you do anything other than get water I’ll shoot you in the bollocks…’
‘Course Nick,’ Rapist nods eagerly, ‘course mate, you’re in charge.’ He stumbles over the front door step, wincing as a fresh jolt of pain soars through his thigh. They go down the hallway and into
the kitchen at the end. Nick is right behind him, watching every move. Having learnt first-hand from Dave how dangerous knives are, Nick does a quick visual sweep of the kitchen making sure there are no potential weapons lying around. The rooms have been turned over with signs of intense fighting taking place. Dried blood is smeared across the beige walls and a long stain leads away towards the open back door. Glancing outside, Nick spots the corpse on the grass with a garden fork impaled through its face.
‘Get some water,’ Nick nods at the sink. The man sighs as he rests his backside against the work top and lifts a mug from the draining board. Twisting the tap on he rinses the mug out, ensuring all his movements are slow and controlled, doing everything he can to drag it out. Eventually he fills the mug and takes a long swig, gulping it down noisily.
‘Todd, you need to drink some water,’ Nick urges.
‘Here mate,’ Rapist holds his hand out, extending the filled mug towards the small boy. Todd flinches back to quickly get behind Nick.
‘He doesn't like you does he,’ Nick comments drily.
‘Can’t blame him,’ Rapist shakes his head sadly, ‘poor kid…it’s alright for us as we know what’s going on, don’t we Nick…but these poor little blighters eh?’
‘Put the mug down and go over there.’
‘Yeah course Nick…mind if I sit down on that chair Nick? My leg is hurting somethin’ proper mate. Cor you got me a right good shot there Nick…no hard feelings though eh nipper…’
‘Todd, get some water mate,’ Nick urges, gently pushing the lad towards the mug and taking a relieved stretch when Todd finally let’s go of him.
Keeping one eye fixed on the seated man, Nick gets to the sink and finds another mug to fill. Rapist stares at him with interest whilst gripping his thigh.
‘Take your drink Nick, I ain’t going nowhere mate…go on…get a nice drink…bleedin’ hot out there it is.’
Nick gulps the water quickly, his thirst not that great since his hearty breakfast this morning. Fishing a packet of cigarettes out from his pocket, he taps one out and watches a greedy glint come into the other man’s eyes.
‘Got a spare one Nick? Left mine in the van.’ Pondering the request, Nick shrugs and chucks the packet over, noticing the deft catch and the quick movements of the man as he pulls one out and starts patting his pockets down.
‘Ere nipper,’ Rapist says to Todd, ‘you’d best go and stand by that back door if we’re smoking in here.’
A passing comment said in a kindly voice, but Todd looks at Nick with wide, scared eyes, unsure of what to do.
Nick doesn't want to be seen agreeing with the man, but at the same time the child should stand by the back door while the room fills up with smoke.
‘I hate it when people smoke round kids,’ the man comments, inhaling deeply to blow the smoke out into the air above him.
Nick doesn't reply, but flits his gaze between Todd and the man, taking care to blow his own smoke towards the open back door.
‘So you been about much Nick?’ Rapist asks conversationally. ‘Ere nipper, can you pass me that towel there,’ he points to the tea towel hanging from the cooker front.
Todd doesn't move, refusing to even look in the direction of the man and keeping his gaze fixed firmly on Nick. Leaning over, Nick grabs the towel and throws it over. The man ties it round his injured leg, wincing at the pain before gingerly touching the wounds in his cheek.
In silence they stand, sit and smoke. Nick wishes Mr Howie was here to deal with this. The man is talking shit about what happened, but shooting him in cold blood just doesn't feel right. Leaving him here is another option but not one that Nick is comfortable with.
‘Let’s go,’ Nick speaks up. The man nods amiably and struggles to his feet. With Rapist in the lead, Nick follows with Todd glued to the back of his legs. The small group shuffle down the hallway, out the door across the garden and once more into the road. The heat slams into them like a wall.
‘Eh Nick, you ever felt heat like this before?’ Rapist comments in a tone that suggests they are now acquaintances. ‘Hotter than fucking Malaga this is, bloody terrible it is…Be nice resting on a beach with a can of lager, watching the birds though eh mate, Cor I bet the birds love you in that uniform eh? Ha! Takes me back…being young and handsome…’
Nick zones out, letting the man waffle on in his pathetic attempt to build a relationship between them. He’s trying to bridge that gap and show the human side of his manner, show that they’re all in this together. Nick might struggle with the written language but his perceptions are good, very good, and he understands exactly what the man is trying to do.
Todd remains silent and stays very close to the back of Nick’s legs, keeping him as the barrier between him and the man. He saw what the man did to Sam, how they were both almost naked and wrestling on the floor. He knew the man was hurting his sister, and he knew it was a very bad thing. Todd had never seen anyone wrestle with their clothes off before, and his mum was always saying you shouldn’t be naked in front of anyone, apart from your mum and dad, and Sam was okay too, and doctors and nurses…but other than that, you shouldn’t be nudey.
Todd also heard what the man said about last night, but the connection wasn’t made. Todd didn’t understand what the man was talking about and he was too scared to say anything.
With a growing impatience, Nick keeps glancing up at the sun. Time is ticking away and the pace they are going is too slow. What if the others can’t wait or something else happens that means he misses them?
Worst case scenario is that he has to find a vehicle and head to the fort. They all know that is the fall back position.
The smoke pluming into the sky edges nearer, but it doesn't look right. It’s not big enough for a start. Initially, he thought the distance made the smoke appear small, but it is small. Far smaller than it should be for a whole High Street on fire. However, the fires could have died down during the night, leaving just small sections smouldering.
A nagging feeling grows. Are they heading in the wrong direction? Surely they should be close to the town centre by now. No signposts, no directions and no features that suggest they are getting closer. If anything the houses are getting bigger and are set back further from the road suggesting they are moving towards the outskirts of town where the more expensive houses are built.
The cars on the driveways become less working man and more Mercedes and BMWs. Keeping his eyes glued to the smoke, Nick waits for the road to open up to gain a better view.
Maddox’s kids ran off in all directions last night, so it’s possible they got this far and something happened that resulted in another fire, or something else.
Unsettled and starting to worry, the normally easy going Nick stays close to Todd, making sure the boy is within arm’s reach.
Rapist picks up on the change. The atmosphere is now that bit more charged than it was. The soldier lad is worried, something isn’t going right for him. Pick your moment and wait for the opportunity.
His leg hurts like hell, but nowhere near as much as he makes out. Slowing down again, he gives it a good act of struggling to walk. He clutches his leg while holding his breath, which he knows will make his face go red and push the veins out in his neck.
Voices? Maybe? A fleeting sound that fades as quickly as it came. Noise, maybe a car door. Nick keeps his eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead, wishing that bend to straighten out so he can see what it is and hoping it is some of the team.
An engine, definitely a diesel engine spluttering noisily. Jesus, the thing is being hammered in second gear, protesting with a loud whine that builds to breaking point. Whatever vehicle it is backfires, a loud boom that causes Rapist to twitch and Todd to rush closer to Nick.
Rapist stays quiet, his own gaze watching keenly as the bend ever so slowly opens up.
The screaming engine cuts out suddenly, spluttering as it dies off. They can hear more voices now, someone laughing and another car door being slammed shut.
> With a quick glance, Rapist notices Nick is focussed on the road ahead, his steady gaze holding as firm as the hand which grips the pistol. Luck of the devil his mother used to say, as she shook her head in disgust at the wayward child she couldn’t help but love.
Landrover’s are sturdy and robust vehicles, used by police, military and emergency services all over the world. Easy to fix and famous for being able to navigate the most treacherous of terrain. As strong as they are, as robust as they are, being held in second gear for hours of driving over long miles does nothing to maintain that reliability.
If Lilly had been driving a modern vehicle she would have easily worked out how to change up through the gears. The Landrover, though, was something else. She could find first and second but third? No way. I just wasn’t there. She tried and tried again to make the shift but it just wouldn’t budge and resulted in a loss of whatever speed and momentum she had gained.
Her only choice was to stay in second. She could have, with knowledge and experience, brought the speed up and block changed from second to fourth. But she didn’t know that.
The Landrover struggled on, doing what it was designed to do. Already an older vehicle with many faults, dodgy electrics and a damaged gear box, it was simply unable to sustain the high revolutions forced by the constant second gear driving.
It got hot. Too hot. Things started to break, small things that made thunks and bangs but as long as it kept going it didn’t matter.
Lilly was tired. The long walk in the blistering heat the day before. Then being up all night and getting by on pure adrenalin. The lack of proper food and sleep had taken its toll. Even with the window open, there was no fresh air and as the sun came up the interior got hotter and hotter.
Heat sapped at her eyes, forcing them to become drowsy to the point of the vehicle swerving side to side until she snapped awake. The high drone of the engine dulled her senses until she felt sleep tugging at her eyes.