Brett growled back at him and Nick could hear the crowd booing at Brett’s bad manners.
For the next two rounds Nick carried on playing with Brett. The big man did indeed have only one combination of punches. The rest of the time he just swung wildly and tried to grab Nick into a hold. Nick just kept on dancing away from him, throwing painful punches into his body again and again. The big man was fast and strong but Nick was faster and Brett’s strength counted for nothing if he couldn’t land a proper punch or grab hold of him. Nick was aware that a lot of people in the crowd were now actually laughing at Brett as his fighting became more and more desperate.
It was as the bell signalled the end of the third round that Brett did Nick and the world a huge favour. As Nick turned away Brett punched him in the back of the head. Officially this was a no rules fight and in a normal situation nobody would have thought much of it. This wasn't your normal bare knuckle boxing crowd though. These were mainly nice people, and they were outraged by the foul blow. Nick had actually been waiting for it though. He rode forward with the punch for a few steps, then crouched down as if the blow had really hurt him. He listened as the crowd booed.
David had been watching the fight intently. At first, along with everyone else he had thought that Brett was just too fast and too big for Nick, then he had started to really study Nick’s movements and he had relaxed a little. Amazingly, it appeared that Nick was just toying with Brett, and he realised what Nick was up to. It was a dangerous game that he was playing. Nick had obviously realised that to get away with killing Brett right in front of everyone he would either have to make it look like an accident or have a very good reason. He thought that a few other people might have noticed the way Nick had purposely missed a few chances to finish Brett but most of them were caught up with the drama of the fight. Nick had now cleverly managed to get Brett so angry that he had lost all reason. His face was now steaming red and he snarled as he threw a huge punch to the back of Nick’s head. David watched closely then as Nick stumbled forward and Brett, now completely out of control went up behind Nick and grabbed him around the waist. It looked as if Brett was going to try and crush the smaller man.
It was just what Nick had been waiting for. As Brett grabbed him around the waist, and just before he had time to squeeze those big arms, he bunched his legs and launched himself up from the ring as hard as he could. The back of his head connected just underneath Brett’s chin. Nick had used the strength of his whole body in the blow. The momentum which had started in his legs and then built up through his whole body, ended up hitting Brett under the chin with such force that it broke his jaw, four teeth and his neck. It also lifted both men off the floor of the ring. They came back down with a massive crash that snapped some of the timber frame supporting the ring floor.
The crowd went totally silent as Nick rolled slowly off Brett and stood up. He stumbled back to his corner as Mervin leapt into the ring from the other side. Mervin ran over to where Brett lay and checked his breathing then he sat back as stunned as the rest of the community. Brett was dead.
Chapter twenty nine
Beth hadn’t watched any of the fight, and to Dan’s dismay she hadn’t allowed the children to watch either. They could all obviously hear the screaming and shouting as the fight progressed but they had no idea what had happened until Bill had opened the door. Nick had then stepped back into the small changing room and Beth had cried in relief as the girls and Dan had jumped around in excitement.
They stayed at the hotel for three more days and they mostly kept to their rooms. Nick didn’t leave his room at all, but he was visited constantly by his friends, much to his annoyance.
David was extremely busy during those three days dealing with the fallout. The death of Brett had caused quite a stir amongst the people of the community. Some of them were calling for Nick to be put on trial, while others wanted to give him a medal. David calmed both sides down and finally managed to have it recorded as a fatal accident caused by Brett’s own actions.
During this time he also held an election. Everyone was given a vote to elect members to form a governing council. With new people coming into Bournemouth regularly now the community was becoming too large for him to govern on his own. With the help of this council he hoped that they could avoid creating another Brett like situation in the future.
David was pleased when Andrew Wilkins was voted in as one of the ten people on the council. He was also pleased to see that the other nine members of the council had also been former team leaders. His confidence had taken a battering due to his bad decisions with Brett, but the fact that he had also appointed the other team leaders to their previous positions helped him to regain some of it.
David went up to Nick’s room on the third day to once again make the offer of letting him and his friends stay with the community. Nick politely declined the offer but he told David that he was free to ask the others. He told him that he thought Beth and her girls might prefer to stay in the comfort of the hotel rather than take their chances with him on the road. Beth had come up to Nick’s room after she had received David’s offer and told him that he was mad if he thought he could get rid of them that easy.
The weather had changed again and they left the hotel very early on a lovely sunny morning in two brand new black Defender Land Rovers. The vehicles were fully stocked. Each one held as much food, water, spare clothing and other useful items as could be squeezed into it. Plus each vehicle carried four twenty litre jerry cans of diesel on the roof rack. Nick’s vehicle also had his large rucksack sitting on the back seat.
Nick was driving one of the Land Rovers, with Beth and Sammy in with him. Bill, now fully recovered was driving the other one. He had Dan and Kay in with him. Dan and Bill had been sharing a room at the hotel and they had become good friends. Bill hadn’t replaced Nick in Dan’s affections. He was more of a mate to him though than a father figure and he could relax more with him. As far as the two girls were concerned Kay liked the fun of being with the boys, while Sammy preferred to stay near her mum.
Nick had made it clear to David that he wanted to leave without any fuss. So they had been up before dawn and it was just David and Andrew who stood outside the hotel doors to wave them goodbye. Sitting around yesterday, they had all decided that their next destination would be Cornwall.
They had stayed at the hotel for five days. It was ten days since they had all met each other at the services and it was Beth’s eleventh day since leaving home with the girls. For the few people who were still keeping the date in this new world it was Monday fourth of August 2014.
The bright morning sun was directly behind them as they came out of Bournemouth and headed west on the A35.
Beth looked at the green field going past then smiled and turned in her seat to face Nick. ‘This is really exciting,’ she said.
Nick just smiled as he carefully watched the road.
‘Well, whatever happens to us now,’ she added. ‘It can’t be worse than what we’ve already been through.’
Nick glanced at her then and raised his eyebrows. ‘I really wish you hadn’t said that.’
New World: Nick Smith Book one (Nick Smith Series 1) Page 19