I never though about it till Rees said those words and an icy feeling settled in my stomach and started to spread.
“What’s he going on about Jay?” Marc asked.
I turned and looked at him and said “Ok try not to lose your temper ok? You know the visions that I am having?”
“Yeah?”
“Well up till now I have not seen one child under the age of six and defiantly no babies.”
“Oh shit!” He said.
“It might be a good idea that we don’t let Becky or the other women know about this. The only reason I remember that little nugget is that you tend to tell me about every vision you have.” Rees said.
Marc had sagged down to the floor and had his head in his hands and was shaking.
“Marc just because I didn’t see them didn’t mean that weren’t any of them.” I said.
Rees and I stood watching as Marc pulled himself back together and slowly stood.
“Rees is right we don’t tell any of the girls about this. The last thing we need is for Becky to get upset and have a miscarriage or something. I need to go and talk with Becky and I said I would help Jacob sort out a way to move hot water to the bath house. I’ll see you at dinner.” With that Marc turned and walked towards the steps down into the courtyard.
Rees and I stood watching him go down the steps.
“We’re going to have to start moving supplies to the fall back soon.” Rees said.
“What?” I asked.
“It might be a good idea that Marc and Becky go to look after the fall back. With Becky being pregnant the last thing she needs is stress.”
“I suppose it makes sense but the problem with that is Marc and Becky won’t be willing to go.”
“It doesn’t have to be right now it could be in a couple of weeks even a month or two. But in the end it will be the best for them and the rest of us.”
I nodded even though it would mean that my brother and his new family would be safe it would mean they would be by themselves.
I said as much to Rees and he said “Well we could always send the Derek and his family with them. That would still leave enough people to secure the castle if needed. Plus we would still have the boat in case we needed to make a quick getaway.”
“Ok let’s leave it for a few weeks and see what happens between now and then.” I said.
I walked away leaving Rees stood looking out at the sea.
The next few weeks went by quietly; nothing surprised us or changed very much inside the walls of the castle. (Well that might not be truthful every time Maddie and I had time she jumped me. Every time she thought I didn’t have a condom but I always had one hidden somewhere. Even when I was in shower and that one was a little painful where the sun don’t shine.)
Over the weeks Jacob and Rees had taken the boat to some of the houses on the coast that had solar panels and scavenged them for use on the castle roof and walls. He still hadn’t managed to figure out how to hook them up but with the fuel we had gotten we were ok for the time being. Derek had finished his training with a pistol and had moved on to the rifles. We had sent up some targets about a hundred feet from the walls and he was practicing from them. I had managed to talk Jacob into letting me show Chris how to use a pistol but didn’t want him to learn anything else just yet.
I was sitting in the café nursing a mug of tea when Jacob came running inside.
“Jay, Rees wants you out by the cars. We saw a Reaper in the village….” He said.
Before he could finish I was out my seat and running. I rushed through the castle and down the steps to the hard standing. Rees was leaning over the bonnet of the Land Rover with his rifle watching the edge of the village.
“How many have you seen?” I asked bringing the scope up on my rifle.
“Not too sure could be just the one but might be more. I can’t make out any differences from here.” He said.
“I told you to pick up a scope for rifle when we had the chance.” I said with a tight grin.
“Oh and spoil all your fun? Fuck you Walker!” He said laughing.
Looking at the village I slowly panned along the edge and saw a flash of movement on the left. Watching that edge I saw a Reaper head and shoulders look over a wall then disappear. Rees tapped me on the shoulder and when I looked up he pointed down the main street. Raising my rifle again I saw a couple of Reapers up near the chapel and one near the shop. Bugger that meant there were at least four of them in there with maybe more. Had they found me? Or was this just a scouting group out to find survivors?
“It looks like there are four in the village but there could be more. It seems funny that they are hiding and not coming any further forward.” I said.
We heard more running feet and I turned to see Becky, Marc, Maddie and Mary coming down the steps. I held my hand out and indicated that they needed to slow down. The last thing we would need is if someone fell and hurt themselves coming down those steps. Slowing down Becky was the first to get to us and Rees started to fill them in on what was happening as I continued to watch through the scope. The Reapers seemed to pop up have a quick look and then duck back into cover. All the time that we had to put up with them they had attacked as soon as they saw us. So what the hell was making them hang back from us?
I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned to look at Becky and Maddie’s concerned faces.
“Why are they not attacking?” Becky asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe they are waiting for more Reapers to turn up. To be honest with you all I don’t know. We haven’t had to deal with any of them since we went to get the boat and fuel.” I said.
“You don’t think they have managed to find you?” Marc asked.
“Marc will you learn to keep your mouth shut!” Said Maddie looking like she was about to bitch slap him.
“Sorry, Jay I didn’t think.” He said.
“It’s ok I had already thought that.” I said.
Rees looked over at the village and asked “What we going to do? It’s not like we can have them on our doorstep is it?”
“The only thing I can think of is for us to go and clear them out. Rees if you, Mary and Becky take the right side of the village. Then Marc, Maddie and I can take the left. Now the good news is that the nearly all the houses are still locked tight. The only things we need to look out for are the alleyways and the sheds and outside loos. We slowly move from cover to cover and meet up at the green just past the chapel. I have my radio and Rees has the other. We should only need to use them if things get out of control. Are there any questions?”
“Why have you split me and Becky up?” Marc asked.
“The reason is because we need to split the rifles but still have a shotgun on each team.” Rees said.
Mary’s soft voice said “Look I’ll swap with Marc that way we still have the same layout.”
“Are you sure babe?” Rees asked.
“Yes I know Jay will look after me and if it makes Marc feel better this way then so be it.” She said.
“Ok now that we have that sorted we should move into position. Remember the radio is only to be used in an emergency. We take our time and take it slow don’t rush because if we rush something is going to happen and someone will get hurt.” I said.
With that being said we spread into our two groups and headed to the starting point. I looked a Rees and nodded to tell him that I would look after Mary and he smiled to say thanks. When we got into place the sand dunes managed to cut our view of Rees’ group. I pressed the talk button on the radio once to let Rees know we were ready to move. Getting a squelch of static back told me that Rees and his group had started to move off.
I took the lead with Mary in the middle and Maddie bringing up the rear. We had to cover about a hundred meters before we hit our side of the village. Slowly we came to the wall where I had seen the Reaper hiding behind and I quickly took a look over it. The Reaper had moved away from the wall, I could see where it had been standing the grass was crushed but there wa
sn’t any sign of the Reaper.
Chapter Fourteen
I moved to the end of the wall and slipped round into the garden Mary followed and Maddie stood at the wall whilst I tried the back door. It was still locked so the Reaper hadn’t managed to get inside. We had to move on and find them before they could get more on the island. Moving on to the next house we carefully checked and found the door locked and bolted. Where the fuck was these Reapers? We got halfway through the village by the time we saw one of them. She was hiding behind a large head stone in the chapels’ graveyard. I sat there looking over a fence at her with Mary sat beside me and Maddie watching our backs.
“What is it doing?” Mary asked.
“To be honest I haven’t got a clue. It’s like it wants to see what we do first. Saying that though I haven’t seen a Reaper yet that wouldn’t just attack straight away.”
“We are going to kill it though?”
“Yeah just need it to move out a little more.” I said raising my rifle.
As soon as my rifle cleared the fence the Reaper disappeared behind the gravestone.
“Shit! I don’t think it is going to make it easy for us. The other thing that worries me is that we haven’t seen the other ones yet.” I said.
We stood and Mary went to tell Maddie that we were moving on. Exiting the garden we moved past the last house and were about to enter the graveyard when we heard shots and shouting from the other side of the village. Standing still I waited to see if I would get a message on the radio asking for help but nothing came. So we moved on and into the graveyard slowly moving in between the gravestones and trees. I could see that the rear door to the chapel had been torn off its hinges. Those made me think back to when I found the bodies had the door been broken then or not? I couldn’t remember so we headed toward the broken door. We lined up against the wall with the open doorway in front of me and the door lying on the floor beside it. I could see that the hinges had been torn from the doorframe when the door had been pulled free it must have taken some strength to do that. That gave me the feeling that we had found the Reapers little hideout.
“Maddie can you stay just outside of the doorway and cover our backs please. Mary you’ll be coming inside with me just remember when you fire the shotgun please make sure you’re not pointing it anywhere near me.” I said.
“Jay I have been watching Mary learn to shoot that thing and she is a good shot so don’t worry” Maddie said.
“No I’ll make sure I load your arse with buckshot the next time you ask that.” Mary said with a wink at Maddie.
“Ok but please both of you be careful.” I said
Maddie and Mary looked at each other then they just nodded. I moved to the edge of the doorway and quickly moved inside followed by Mary. I moved as quickly as I dared down the small passageway and Mary moved with me. Maddie took up her position at the door just in case we needed a quick way out and also to stop anything coming in after us. In front was an open door that from what I could see seemed to lead straight into the main chapel there was one other door on the left and it had ‘Clergy Only’ written on it in faded gold lettering. Dropping my rifle on to its sling I pulled my pistol from the holster on my hip. Pointing to one side of the door I told Mary I wanted her to stand there she moved and placed her back to the wall. Holding the pistol in my right hand I tried the door handle it was unlocked. Slowly turning the handle I opened the door and went in to find the room was a complete mess of clothing and paperwork were everywhere. The desk that I would have said stood in the center of the room had been tipped over. I looked over the desk to see a large pool of brown dry blood and what looked like a partially eaten arm. Mary had stayed at the door and not came into the room which I thought was a good idea on her part.
“What was on the other side of the desk?” She asked as I walked back to the door.
“Just some dried blood it looks like whoever was in here put up a fight in the end judging by the mess.”
“Do you think it was the priest?”
“No I found the priest the last time I came here. I didn’t get the chance to…”
It was then that we heard a weird sort of mewling sound coming from the chapel. I put my finger to my lips and slipped past Mary and headed for the chapel itself. Peeking in through the door I could see there were four Reapers bent over in the middle of the pews the noise was coming from them. Every time they made that noise it was accompanied with the sound of tearing flesh. Mary was stood looking down the passageway at Maddie. Tapping her lightly on the shoulder I pointed for her to stay where she was and I was going to move into the chapel. Moving slowly on the balls of my feet I moved to the end of the left hand set of pews and crouched down in front of them. Looking round the edge I could finally see what the Reapers were eating it was the Reaper that I had seen out in the graveyard. What the fuck was going on?
Slowly trying to make as little noise as possible I put my and they pistol on the floor and raised my rifle. Aiming at the center of the group I fired at them all my shots weren’t too good because I was just going to hose them down then finish them off later. I fired again and all four were down two were writhing around and the other two were still. Standing and taking my time to walk down the aisle the first Reaper had taken a round through his back and blew his heart and other organs back down the aisle toward the main doors. The second had taken two rounds one through his neck the other had blown half of his face off. The last two unlucky for them and because I was leaning round the pew at the time had taken a couple of rounds each in the stomach and they were busy bleeding out all over the floor. I left them to it and walked back to where Mary was stood and we both went to get Maddie. We left the same way that we had come in and moved round the back of the chapel.
We checked the last houses before the green and found nothing else so we waited for Rees and his team. We had been waiting about twenty minutes when I saw a shadow detach from the trees on the other side of the green and recognized Rees. We all meet in the middle of the green and I told Rees what I had seen in the chapel.
“Well that must be all of them then because we killed two that were hiding near the ruins.” Rees said.
“Did you notice anything different about them?” Maddie asked.
“Now that you mention it they were trying to hide when we caught them. The strange thing is they have always attacked before and it never matter how many of them there were or how many they were attacking.” He said looking puzzled.
“That and they have started to eat their own.” I said.
“That is a bit mental.” Marc said.
“Anyway come on let’s get back to the castle. Nothing left out here now.” Becky said walking back down the main road.
As she walked ahead and past the shop a gray blur erupted from a small alley. Before any of us could react there was a wide arc of blood and scream that will probably haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. The Reaper was sat on Becky’s’ chest clawing at her neck and face with its claws. A heart rending scream came from beside me and I saw Marc run past. He leapt at the Reaper and knocked it from Becky’s’ chest. The Reaper was launched a few feet from where Becky lay with Marc on top of it smashing his fists into its face. Maddie was the first to get to Becky and see if she could be saved, but I knew that it was going to be impossible because of the amount of blood that was pooling around her head. Marc was screaming and Rees was trying to pull him from the now dead Reaper. The black blood from the Reaper was splashed all over Marc’s chest and he was still trying to kill it.
Walking over in a daze I helped Rees to pull my brother away from the scene as we moved him away I quickly looked over at Maddie and she gave me a small shake of her head. Fucking great he had just found out he was going to be a dad and now it was gone and it only took a few seconds. As we pulled Marc away his body seemed to go slack in our arms and the tears and sobbing started from everyone. Mary was sat on the floor crying, Maddie had Becky’s’ head in her lap with her tears dropping on to B
ecky’s’ ruined face. Rees had hold of Marc and I could see the shock and emotion behind his ridged face. I felt so numb about it all and didn’t know what to say or do.
I mean Becky had been one of the first people we had meet since this all started. She stood up for people but also had an open ear for their problems and she was going to be a mum. She had just been talking with Maddie last night about how she was so looking forward to it and how much she loved Marc. But we needed to secure the area from any other hidden threats that might be lurking nearby.
“Rees let's move Marc over on to the pavement. We need to secure this area I think no one is in the right frame of mind at the minute.” I said
“Think you’re right I’ll check near the shop if you can do the other side.” He replied.
We gently lowered Marc to the ground and then went looking for things to kill and woe be tide anything that came for us. I did a sweep around the houses and nothing seemed to appear so I moved back to the rest of our group. Rees had got there before me and was laying a sheet over Becky’s’ fallen body. The question on my mind was why had the other Reapers not attacked when then saw us like the usually do but this particular one had jumped Becky when we were all there? Marc was on his knees with his head in his hands shaking with loud sobs. Maddie had moved out from under Becky’s’ head and was stood to one side holding Mary and they were both crying. Maddie’s’ jeans had a large circle of brown where Becky’s’ head had rested on her legs. Looking up I saw Rees waving me over slowly I walked over to him being careful not to step in the growing pool of blood.
“I’m going to go get the Land Rover and we can move her body back to the castle in it.” He said.
“Yeah that’s a good idea. We are going to have to move Marc into the back as well. If you take Mary and Maddie along with you mate. I’ll stay here with Marc and Becky.” I said feeling a large weight settle on my heart.
“Ok I’ll be back soon.” And with that said he went and got Maddie and Mary.
As Maddie walked past she put her hand on my back and I gave her a small smile. Maddie and Becky had become virtual sisters since this had all happened and they had looked out for each other and had told each other all those little secrets that women do.
Reapers Mist: Third in the Reaper Trilogy by Justin Gowland Page 9