by RR Haywood
‘Good, what’s going on?’ Maddox nods at Paula.
‘They have the meeting with all of their people yes, all of the people they talk and they worry yes?’
Paula locks eyes with Maddox. Having only met Lenski once she doesn't know her voice but even she detects the inflection when she all. All the people? She stares about thinking intently before searching out Roy with her eyes. Motioning to him she points two fingers at her own eyes then points to the top of the wall. Roy nods once and starts moving back staring up.
‘They should be worried,’ Maddox caught the inflection too, giving Paula a quick nod when he sees what she has asked Roy to do.
‘They know this now,’ Lenski’s voice drifts through, ‘they tell me to say none of the people have been hurt.’
‘Good,’ Maddox replies flatly.
‘And they want the peaceful end yes?’
Paula motions to Maddox, keep her talking, keep them focussed.
‘Like what?’ Maddox asks, ‘they suggest anything then?’
‘I not know this but…they worry yes? They worry the men will be killed so they not wanting to come out.’
‘Tell them to come out now then, guns down and hands up and maybe we can have that peaceful end.’
Roy runs back in from the outer gate, motioning to Paula the top wall is clear.
‘Lenski, it’s Paula…is everyone okay?’
‘I say this already, yes the people are okay.’
‘How do we know you’re not being made to say that?’
‘You don’t know this,’ Lenski replies, ‘but I say this yes, the people they are just scared and worried.’
‘So who is in charge in there?’ Paula asks.
‘Er…the man he is in charge, his name is Shaun I think…he is here now.’
‘Shaun? Can you hear me?’ Paula asks getting a nod from Maddox to continue.
‘Yep,’ Shaun calls out. Both Paula and Maddox recognising the same voice from earlier.
‘How about it then?’ Paula asks, ‘you’re the boss in there right? So you make the decision, just walk out now with guns down and arms up.’
‘How do we know you won’t kill all the men?’
‘You don’t,’ Maddox snaps in a harsh tone, ‘you don’t know anything, but what else you gonna do?’
‘Stay in here obviously,’ Shaun retorts in a sarcastic tone.
Paula motions once more for Maddox to keep going, before stepping away to join Roy.
‘Can you take him out if we get you up there,’ Paula points up at the wall.
‘Yes,’ Roy answers quick and flat. He has absolutely no doubts about his expertise with the bow, ‘unless he’s behind cover of course.’
‘He’s right behind that gate, there was no cover there.’
‘Be fine then,’ Roy nods, ‘you sending me up there then?’ He adds with a grin.
‘Er, yeah I was thinking about it. Could you?’ She asks.
‘No problem, we just need a rope. I did have one in my fucking van but my fucking van isn’t here,’ Roy thinks out loud while Paula notices once more that weird way he speaks so nicely but swears all the time, ‘and a grappling hook too, you got any grappling hooks Paula?’ He asks with a glint in his eye.
‘Yeah in my purse.’
‘Boat yards, anchors…ropes…we’re right by the sea so…’ Roy twists round to stare out over the flatlands.
‘No time for that, we’ve got one chance while he’s at the gate.’
‘Righto,’ Roy nods, ‘well unless you can teach me how to fly I don’t see…’
‘Come on,’ she jogs off with a bemused Roy following in her wake. Motioning again for Maddox to keep them talking, she runs past towards the many vehicles parked between the walls.
‘Must be something here,’ she murmurs to Roy trailing behind her, ‘there…that digger thing…what if you stand on the bucket and we lift it up?’
‘Ha! Yeah right…oh you’re being serious, er…well er…it would make too much noise,’ Roy replies, more than slightly taken aback.
‘Yeah it would wouldn’t it,’ Paula bites her lip.
‘Ladders,’ Roy points down to a battered flat-bed lorry with aluminium ladders roped onto the back.
‘Two short, that wall is very high.’
‘Put them on top of something then.’ Roy moves forward then turns quickly waving at several youths watching them with interest. ‘Move quietly and get those ladders down, not a sound though.’
The children burst away glad to be doing something. Like ferrets they pour over the flat-bed lorry, lithe fingers working deftly at the securing ropes. They are young but already have many years practise of breaking into properties and working silently to take what they could.
Roy gauges the distance between the top of the roof to the top of the wall. He looks at the ladders extending, they’re still going to be too short.
‘Rope,’ he mouths at the children, ‘get some rope.’
‘You need a hand?’ Darius appears, leaving Maddox trying to drag the conversation out at the gate.
‘We want that ladder on that truck and some rope,’ Paula replies. Roy glances at her, startled at how she had already worked the plan out.
The ladder clunks ever so slightly as it strikes the side of the truck cabin, earning the child responsible a round of hard glares. With everything in position, the ladders are slid up to the fullest extension.
‘Too short,’ Roy tuts at the six foot gap left between the top of the ladder and the wall.
‘Rope,’ Darius whispers, pointing to a young girl running towards them with blue thin coiled rope.
‘Great but we got no way of fastening it to the wall, and it’s too thin too grip too,’ Roy says matter of fact.
‘Leave it with me bruv,’ Darius strides off. Whispering something to two children they nod back, and coil the rope out before hunkering down to start tying knots every few inches.
Roy clambers onto the truck, leaning down as Paula passes him the compound bow. At the foot of the ladder and staring up, he can’t see a way of securing the rope to the wall.
‘Mind out,’ Darius whispers as the young girl who found the rope gets on top of the truck. With the end of the rope between her teeth and the rest played out down to the ground she climbs the ladder with ease, pausing only briefly at the top before starting to go further up. Her small hands and feet find cracks and holes to propel her light body up. At the top she scans left and right with the blue rope still between her teeth, giving Roy an image of a young child pirate.
With one smooth movement she gains the top of the wall, immediately going flat to minimise her profile. Disappearing from view, they wait for just seconds until she appears leaning over giving a thumbs up.
‘You’re up,’ Darius mouths.
‘What?’ Roy stares in shock at the rope dangling down the wall.
‘It’s tied on bro,’ Darius urges, ‘go…fucking quick…’
‘How? Oh never mind,’ Roy blinks at the speed the girl did it, little burglars extraordinaire this lot. No wonder crime was so good to them if they can do stuff like this.
Bow looped over his shoulder he starts up the ladder while his tongue starts the internal probe of his mouth. The far corner, on the bottom bit where the cheek meets the jaw, yep…definitely a new lump. Fuck it. It’s going to be a big ass giant tumour sucking the life out of him. Probing further, his face contorts as he tries to stretch his tongue into the corner, poking and prodding with the tip. The girl at the top stares in wonder at the strange man climbing up pulling weird faces.
Gripping the rope he starts the climb, hand over hand using the knots put in place by the kids. Nearing the top, the girl twists round to check before nodding.
‘Stay low,’ she hisses as he negotiates the lip of the wall.
‘I’m trying,’ Roy whispers. Going flat he lies still, grinning at the little girl giving him a big toothy smile. ‘Well done,’ Roy nods.
‘Cheers mate,’ the girl whispers.
/> ‘Mate? I’m old enough to be your dad,’ Roy shakes his head. Crabbing along, he starts across the top of the flat topped wall. The girl remains at the still, watching him as he gets closer to the inner edge.
Shifting position he scans round, gaining a view of the inside of the inner gate. The Polish girl, Lenski, stands next to a man holding a long barrelled gun. Other armed men are nearby but not too close.
Even from this distance they look worried, casting nervous glances at each other as they listen to the negotiations.
He sense movement behind him. He twists round to see the girl motioning for him to get on with it, clearly relaying a message sent from below.
Nodding back he pulls the bow free, takes an arrow and in one movement is up on one knee with the arrow nocked and aimed.
Turning his head he spots the girl holding her hand out flat, telling him to wait.
The girl watches Darius below holding his hand out flat. Darius stares along to Paula watching her holding her hand out flat. In turn, Paula watches Maddox holding his the same way.
‘It’s all on you,’ Maddox repeats, ‘either you come out or you don’t.’
‘Why don’t you come in without the weapons?’ Shaun says again, ‘you want us to come out unarmed so why don’t you come in unarmed. Then we can talk about it properly.’
‘Last chance,’ Maddox says getting a thumbs up from Paula that Roy is ready.
‘Eh? What’s that fucking mean? Last chance or what? You gonna wreck your own gates to get in here? We’ll kill everyone before you get a foot inside.’
‘Remember this,’ Maddox calls out making sure his voice carries into the fort, ‘you remember I gave you every chance.’
His flat hand changes to a thumbs up. Paula’s copies his, Darius changes his own hand shape which is then copied by the girl.
Heart rate slow, breathing normal. Nothing but the arrow exists. Roy sees the thumbs up, turns his head and looses. The arrow flies true and straight on a downhill trajectory that uses the force of gravity as much as the pressure given to its flight from the bow.
The arrow takes Shaun through the throat, pinning him to the wooden post behind him.
Maddox listens, hears a thud and strangled yelp, followed in an instant by screams coming from inside.
On his feet and Roy breaks cover, the next arrow already nocked, pulled and ready. The crowd of people react in stunned shock. Some scream out as others gape at the sight of their leader killed outright. A man steps out holding a weapon only to be taken off his feet by the arrow striking his chest driving clean through his heart.
‘GET DOWN,’ Roy bellows, ‘DROP THE GUNS NOW…LENSKI…’
Already reacting, she grasps the bolts ramming them back. Maddox wrenches the gate open. Grabbing Lenski, he pulls her through before striding in pistol up and aimed. Paula is right behind him as Darius and the children burst in, storming into action.
‘GUNS DOWN,’ Maddox roars. The crews already inside spring to life. Ploughing into the crowd they start striking and hitting at anyone holding a weapon. Roy screams from the wall, Paula charges forward, firing a round into the air. There’s chaos but in a controlled and directed manner, an overwhelming assault to the senses. Two men killed within seconds, gunshots ringing out, people shouting orders. Children everywhere running amongst the group ,hitting and grabbing guns from unsuspecting men.
‘OKAY…OKAY…’ Derek throws his gun down. Stretching his arms to the sky, he stands stock still yelling at everyone else to do the same.
Within thirty seconds of the first arrow striking Shaun, the fort is re-taken. The last of the armed men drop their weapons or have them ripped from their hands by hard faced children.
Women screaming, children crying and quickly they start dropping to their knees in a desperate attempt to show surrender.
‘CLEAR?’ Roy shouts from above.
‘CLEAR,’ Paula shouts back,. ‘Get those guns away,’ she shouts at the children, motioning towards the weapons dropped to the ground.
‘Wow…’ Ginge, being the only one left standing and holding his arms completely stretched to the sky, stares in stunned awe. ‘Man….that was like, you know…wow.’
‘Took your time,’ Sierra walks out from the room she was locked in, grinning at Darius as she quickly walks over to kiss him.
Roy lowers his bow but keeps his eyes locked on the crowd below. Two lives taken. Two men killed without hesitation and his only concern is that worrying sensation now in his tongue, aching a bit like it’s strained. The fact that his tongue has been stretching over to the far corner of his mouth doesn't enter his head.
‘That was great mate,’ the girl joins him at the edge of the wall.
‘Thank you,’ Roy replies quietly, ‘and my name is Roy, not mate.’
‘You teach me?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Teach me to do that?’ She asks seriously.
‘Takes years,’ Roy mutters watching the crowd closely, ‘hours of practise every day.’
‘I see you shooting them arrows at the zombies, you’s well good and I ain’t goin’ nowhere so teach me yeah?’
‘Was that an actual sentence?’ Roy asks with a quick shake of his head, ‘what’s your name?’
‘Kizzie innit.’
‘Kizzie Innit? Unusual name.’
‘Nah bruv it’s just Kizzie.’
‘Oh, right yeah sorry er…well Kizzie we’ll have to see.’
‘Don’t brush me off,’ the girl tuts.
‘Kizzie, it really is hours every day and takes a long time to learn.’
‘Yeah so’s when I’m older I be as good as you yeah?’
A flicker of irritation crosses Roy’s face. Not at the interest the girl shows, but the way she speaks,. ‘Tell you what,’ Roy says, ‘we’ll practise archery, but only if you start talking properly.’
‘How’s I gonna know that then bruv?’
‘I’ll teach you, and for a start my name is Ro. Not bruv, or mate, but Roy.’
The girl looks up at him with an expression of sublime confidence, ‘okay Roy, sweet bruv. So we going down there now, yeah?’
‘No Kizzie, we’re staying here to keep watch. The walls don’t have anybody on them you see. That was their mistake,’ he nods at the large group kneeling on the ground. They left themselves undefended and open to attack, which is what we exploited.’
‘Ah right,’ the girl nods.
‘Kizzie? You comin’ down?’ Darius peers up, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun.
‘Nah bruv, me and Roy innit, we’s defending so no fucker exploits the walls.’
‘I think your man got an apprentice,’ Darius jokes to Paula.
‘Good for him,’ Paula replies wincing at the two dead bodies speared by arrows. Having walked back in, Lenski views Shaun’s corpse with distaste before crossing to join Maddox in front of the group.
‘I warn you of this yes? You not say I did not try,’ she calls out.
‘We gave him a chance,’ Maddox adds, ‘it’s done now.’
‘What happens now then, love?’ The large woman asks, ‘you mind if I sit on my arse, I’m too fat to stay on my knees.’ Without waiting for the answer she shifts position, wincing from the pains in her legs as she stretches them out.
‘CONTACT,’ Roy shouts, ‘VEHICLE COMING.’
‘Darius, you stay with these. Maddox, you coming with me? ROY? YOU STAYING UP THERE?’ Paula speaks fast, moving towards the gate.
‘YEP, GOT GOOD RANGE,’ Roy shouts.
Leaving Darius to oversee guarding of the group, they run towards the gate.
‘Must be more refugees,’ Paula mutters watching the approaching vehicle in the distance. Standing quietly, they watch as the zebra striped vehicle gets closer, exchanging confused stares at the sight of the strange looking Landrover.
‘Is Howie yes?’ Lenski takes a step forward, ‘yes is Mr Howie.’ She nods looking back at Maddox and Paula.
Relaxing slightly they
wait as the vehicle slows to a stop, the easily identifiable bulk of Clarence in the passenger seat.
Doors open as the group clamber down, Meredith jumping out first to run over with excited barks in greeting.
‘Hello,’ Milly shouts in advance of anyone else speaking.
‘Er, hi,’ Paula calls back with a bemused smile.
‘Long story,’ Howie says with a glance at the girl holding Lani’s hand, ‘where’s Nick?’ He asks staring back to the fort.
‘Nick?’ Maddox asks.
‘Yeah…is he not back yet?’
‘No, no sign of him,’ Maddox replies. He sees the look of worry cross their faces.
‘Shit…right…’ Howie stops a few feet from them staring back over the flatlands.
‘We got the fort back,’ Paula explains quickly.
‘Really?’ Clarence asks.
‘Got Roy onto the wall, he took their leader out and another man, Lenski got the gate open and we went in…’
‘Well done,’ Howie says seriously, ‘anyone hurt?’
‘Just two of theirs,’ Paula replies.
‘They not hurt anyone,’ Lenski adds, ‘where is Nick?’
‘No idea, he didn’t show at the car park so we figured he’d come back here. Everyone get water and food quickly, change clothes and wash if you need to. We’re going back out. You got everything here?’ He looks to all three in turn.
‘Yeah,’ Maddox nods, ‘we got this, we’ll get some more with you yeah?’
‘What’s the situation in there?’ Clarence asks.
‘We only just took it, like a few minutes ago…they’re all kneeling in the dirt just inside the gate.’
‘Boss? We need to sort them out first, then go get Nick. You got anyone good with vehicles? The Saxon broke down on the way out,’ Clarence stares at Maddox.
‘Only stealing them,’ Maddox replies, ‘some of ‘em are okay at stuff but…’
‘There might be someone who can do this, we have many come here now,’ Lenski cuts in.
‘Shit Nick, where the hell are you?’ Howie mutters, ‘let’s get inside.’
‘Mr Howie said a rude word,’ Milly pipes up announcing it to everyone, ‘I’m Milly,’ she grins.
***
Worried now. Very worried. Nick is strong and capable and he’d know to get back here. Something has happened.