The Reaper Series (Book 2): Reapers Isle

by Justin Gowland

  “Right, Walker what do you think we could do with? LOL.” He shouted from the other end of the armory.

  “Well to tell you the truth, I don’t think we need to take to many with us and weigh us down. Why don’t we take a rifle for each of us, a pistol each. Of course webbing would be good if it is in here, also I would think all the ammo we can carry and the magazines to go with it.” I really couldn’t think of what else.

  I mean I didn’t think that there would be any time we would need a LMG or GPMG so leaving those behind would give us more space for other important equipment.

  “Hey, Walker I have a present for you!” shouted Rees

  I turned to look at him and there, in his hands was the most beautiful piece of weaponry I have ever seen. He was holding an SLR and it looked virtually brand new, but the best thing was it had a x15 scope attached. I was shaking when Rees walked up and put it in my hands.

  “Rees, you’re a star mate, but it’s no good if there isn’t any ammo for it.”

  “Aww, come on do you think I would give you that without ammo. There is about a thousand rounds that I can see in the ammo store for it.” He said smiling at me.

  We found a cart that they used to take stuff out the armory and loaded it up. I placed my .22 rifle on the cart and loaded three magazines with rounds for the SLR, attached a strap to it and slung it over my back whilst we loaded up. We decided that it might be a good idea for me to take an SA80 as well as my new baby. When we had enough on the cart, I lifted the counter top and opened it and the door to the hallway. Moving the gear to the front door was a pain in the arse because it weighed so much. I stood guard at the door whilst Rees moved the Land Rover so we could load up.

  Rees did all the heavy lifting because I said I was still injured. It didn’t take too long to load the gear with the rifles going in last.

  “Rees, did this place has a stores for cammo and shit?”

  “Yeah, it is down the other corridor at the end near the conference room. You want some gear like?”

  “Just thinking it might come in handy.”

  With a shrug of his shoulders, he said “Makes sense.”

  So I went in whilst he looked after the gear in the Land Rover. Now usually I would have wanted him with me, but with all that gear in the Land Rover. Who knows who is kicking about. I mean any old Tom, Dick or Harry could come along and steal it. (yeah, I know we just stole it, but now it is ours, SO THERE!)

  I walked to the end of the hallway and turned left with my new rifle tucked firmly in my shoulder. (god, it felt good to have it in my hands. Yeah I know quite pervy but I don’t care.) I slowly went down the left hallway toward the end this time I didn’t check the rooms, just went straight to the store room at the end. Pushing open the door, I saw that there was the same style counter and I lifted it this time and opened the door part. Looking up and down the shelves, I found trousers in my size and then a jacket. The thing that I was taking the most time was finding some combat boots in my size. In the end, I found a pair that were right at the bottom of a pile of desert combat boots, I wanted the black type, but a pair of dessie’s would have to do. Collecting my booty I headed back to the entrance.

  I was about half way down the hallway to the junction when I heard a creak. Turning to look behind me and I saw a door open slightly, then a claw appeared round the edge of the frame. (Oh Shit!) I started to move quicker holding my gear and having my rifle over my shoulder didn’t help matters. My hands were full and there would be no way I could drop my stuff and get the rifle around in enough time to get a shot off. So my best bet was to run and hope to get to the Land Rover before they caught me.

  I had made it to the hallway leading outside and I glanced back to see three Reapers all in the same outfit as the one in the toilet. Stood in the hallway, just looking at me. That’s when they started that keening noise and started toward me. (yup, time to run.) Running as fast as I could toward the open door, I was about ten feet from the door when a shadow blocked out the light and I heard “Walker, hit the ground!” and that’s exactly what I did.

  Slamming to the floor and sliding most of the way to the doorway, I heard the roar of an automatic rifle on full auto. Feeling the air and the passing of the bullets overhead, I was glad we had gone for the rifles first. I couldn’t hear the impact of the rounds, but I could imagine the damage.

  “You can move now dude.” Rees said, as he changed his magazine.

  Standing slowly and I will admit shaking a little (what! It’s been a while that I had to duck under live fire.) to my feet and gathered my gear. I looked back down the hall and the three Reapers were piled up in a tangle of pink tutu’s and black blooded bodies.

  I walked past Rees and he said “Walker…. Hey Walker you all right? Just looked like they wanted you autograph and maybe a bit of your arse mate.”

  “You do realize we now have rifles! Don’t you?” I replied.

  “Since when has that ever stopped us from taking the piss out of each other?”

  “Good point. Actually, I think they said that you had a better ass and that they wanted to lick the chocolate starfish.” I said smiling.

  “Mate, that’s a bit much.”

  “Sorry, just a bit stressed at the minute.”

  “Hey, we all have a stressful day every now and then. But that one in the toilet really did look like he wanted to give you a kiss.”

  I opened the passenger side threw my gear over the seat into the back and climbed in. Rees flicked the safety on his rifle and opened the drivers door and got in. When he got settled into the driver’s seat and started the engine, I leaned across and clipped him on the back of the head and said “Twat!”.

  He just laughed and put the car in gear and drove out the small car park. We headed back the way we had come and came to where the apartments were to find that the van was now across the road blocking our way out. I leaned in the back, pulled a set of webbing over and put it on, then put some full magazines in the pockets.

  I turned to Rees and said “Looks like I am going out to talk to the native’s”

  “Be careful if they have rifles or shotguns this could turn ugly quickly.”

  I nodded, I made sure my rifle safety was on and stepped down from the passenger side of the Land Rover. With the rifle in my shoulder, but pointing down to the floor, I walked slowly toward the van. As far as I could see there was no one in the cabin, looking inside I couldn’t see the keys in the ignition. So I tried the door and it was locked, looking round I saw some movement on the other side of the van.

  Slowly stepping down from the side of the van, I went down to one knee and looked under the van and saw at least two sets of legs. Standing I turned to the Land Rover so that Rees could see me and I point to my eyes, then held up two fingers, to let him know that I had seen two people. He nodded leaned over out of view for a second and then sat up with his rifle across his lap.

  Calling out I said “Could the person or person’s, who placed this van here please come out to talk.” I backed slowly away from the van.

  “We want your guns, put them down and we will move the van.” A male voice shouted.

  “Sorry, but no we have worked hard for these weapons.” I replied.

  “We will not move the van unless you drop your weapons and move away.” The voice called out a little shaky this time.

  “Look, we don’t want to hurt anyone but we will if we have to. We want to get back to our safe zone and our friends and family. So move the van or we will have to move it for you.”

  There was a muffled argument behind the van and a sound like a slap across the face and a whimper. A few minutes later a woman who looked like she was in her late fifties came round the front of the van with her hands up. From first impressions she had dark, almost black hair with streaks of gray running through it. A what you would call careworn face and dark eyes, that said she had a shrewd mind behind them. She wore nurse like top and a pair jeans with black shoes. She walked toward me and stop
ped about five feet in front of me.

  She cleared her throat and said “I am sorry about all this, its just that you’re the first people we have seen in the last two weeks and pardon for saying this your also the only ones we have seen armed.”

  I look at Rees, then her and said “Listen, if there was a way we could leave you some weapons we would its just that time is getting on and we should have been back a while ago.”

  “No, no it is ok we will get the van moved for you, but I wanted to ask a question….. if you don’t mind?”

  “Go ahead!” I said, thinking that they were going to ask if we could back another day and get them some weapons from the TA armory.

  “Well, you said you have a secure zone is that right?”

  “It is sort of secure, we haven’t had any attacks in a while. Why?”

  “There are only six of us left here and this place is like a beacon to them, and we get attacked every night. We have lost eight people since we tried to secure the place. The question we would like to ask is, could we come with you?”

  I stood there sort of gobsmacked an extra six bodies would help around the place, but that’s is also an extra six people to look out for.

  I asked her “Can you give me a minute to talk with my friend please?”

  She nodded and said “Of course I would never force you to make a choice without talking with your group.”

  Walking in back to Rees I was thinking of Maddie, Becky, Marc and Ollie. What would be best for our group? And would it be right to make the decision of saying yes to these people without asking them? Bugger what should I do? Rees was climbing out the Land Rover with his rifle in his hand, looking at me then the van, then the old woman that was still stood near the cab of the van.

  Chapter Five

  I looked over my shoulder at her then spoke to Rees “Ok, here is how it goes, first of all they wanted our guns and I told them politely to fuck off. There was a small discussion on their side of the van, the old biddy came round and asked if they could come and join us at the cottage. They have lost eight of their people in the last couple of weeks and have only six left. Apparently they get attacked every night and it looks like they are slowly losing the will to carry on. So, Fat lad, what do you reckon we should do?”

  He shook his head a smirked “Look first you call me boney, and now it is fat lad, I wish you would make your mind up. As to our other problem well, we could honestly do with the extra help, but the downside is where are they going to bed down? Now I have an idea, but they are going to have to rough it in the shed we use for the Land Rover until we can get it up and running. So in my opinion, yeah the extra bodies would be handy. You have forgotten the main thing though, the boss has to make the decision for our group remember.”

  “Bollocks, I need to talk to Becky then and I don’t think this radio will reach from here.”

  Rees puts his head on its side and looked at me puzzled “Pray tell, why the fuck are you wanting to get in touch with Becky for?”

  “Well, she is in charge, since I got injured.” I replied.

  “Yes, but when you got better she gave you it back and said she was never going to do it ever again. So the answer to this groups question, is yours to answer. So boss, what do you want to do?”

  I wanted to slap the fucking grin off his face, I have said before that I never wanted to the leader of anything, but now I am the leader of our small group and have to make the decision to double our group in size. So I had to make the decision fairly quickly as the day was moving on.

  Walking back the old lady, I just made my decision as I came to stand in front of her.

  “Ok, before I say yes or no. I need to know whether or not our group would be willing to help out and because we don’t have enough rooms would you be willing to rough it ill we manage to sort out something?” I asked.

  “To be honest as long as we all feel safe I don’t think it will be a problem for any of us.” She said with a glint of steel in her eyes.

  “Ok, well then I would like to extend the hospitality of our group to you and yours.” I said holding my hand out.

  She took my hand and shook it, her grip wasn’t slack and it wasn’t hard either she knew what she was doing.

  “Right can we move this van and my big friend there will drive through to the other side. The next thing will be to get your group and gear together for the move to our little home for home.”

  She smiled and said “That’s not a problem our gear is always packed in case we need to move quickly, and we are standing beside the only vehicle we have. We can be loaded and moving in say twenty minutes if that’s ok with you?”

  “Nope, that’s fine, It might be an idea that one of you ride in the Land Rover and one of us rides in the Van. So that if we get separated then we can show you how to get to our camp, and not get too lost.” I answered.

  “Ok, we will get the van moved in a couple of minutes and you can pull into the courtyard and we will start loading everyone into the van for moving. Is there anything we should bring with us?” She asked.

  “Just bring some sleeping gear and whatever food you have, we have food, but probably not enough to feed everyone for long so the extra will help.” I said.

  “Ok, I’ll get everyone told we are moving, we should be ready quite quickly.” With that, she turned and walked round the van and into the courtyard of the apartments. A young man in his early twenty’s climbed into the cab of the van and pulled it into the courtyard, shut off the engine and went inside.

  I looked at Rees and indicated that he should follow me into the courtyard. I heard the rumble of the engine and slowly followed me in. I had my rifle slung over my shoulder, but in such a way I could bring it to bear quite quickly. I stopped at the entrance and saw a few Reaper bodies stacked along the wall, I counted six. Nearly all of them had been killed with both head injuries and sharp trauma. (in other words stabbed to death.) Rees turned the Land Rover round in the courtyard so that he was pointing outwards for a quick getaway.

  I walked over and leaned on the bonnet and said “Bud I said that we should have one of us in each vehicle and one of them in our Land Rover. Just in case we get split up.”

  “Yup, sounds like the right thing to do and we have one of them as a hostage if they take one of us hostage. I suppose you want to drive the Land Rover?” He said.

  “Well, I hadn’t thought of that bit to be honest mate. You can if you want to!”

  “Don’t be daft with our group you’re more important than I am.” He said smiling

  “Fuck off, everyone is important and I am not going to argue with you. But yeah the Land Rover would be nice to drive lol.” I said smiling.

  “See just another way you fuck me over, you little shit.” He said laughing.

  We stood watching the new group of people slowly come out of the apartments and stand next t the van, waiting to put their gear inside. From what I could see the balance leaned mostly toward females than males. There were a pair of young girls, I would roughly say in their late teens. One was blonde and thin and not tall, but I would have said about average height with an oval face. The other had light brown hair and would have to be about two or three inch’s shorter and had the same looks as the other girl and I suppose they could be sisters. Next came a very fit looking lady, and she had a sort of an ordinary looking face, but her red hair was cut short just below her ear. What made her stand out was that she was holding a baseball bat (thank fuck it wasn’t a cricket bat.) that had been clearly used on the Reapers. She looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties.

  What came next nearly had me and Rees in stitches of laughter. It was a dumpy little man that was dressed in a full three piece suit, he must have been around the seventeen stone mark, nearly all stomach. His hair was slicked back from his large forehead and he had steel rimmed glasses perched on a large strawberry of a nose. He must have been in his late forties, early fifties. He didn’t look too pleased at having to leave, but the man wal
king behind him was not having any of it.

  This man had a pair of jeans on and a leather jacket and we could see that he must have done weights at some time. He had dark black hair and a square jaw and deep set eyes that seemed to always be moving. He wasn’t overly tall I would have said roughly average in height, but the way he carried himself, he knew his bulk from weights gave him the intimidation he probably need in life.

  Out came the young lad that had driven the van, he was in his twenties and was wearing jeans and a black jumper he was about average height and as thin as a whip. His hair was a brown color and the same went for his eye’s he was I would say as sort of ordinary looking boy. The sort of person that before this you would never have looked twice at, the only thing that had me looking twice today was the large hand print on his face. So that was who had got slapped on the other side of the van. I smiled and looked away so he couldn’t see me smiling.

  Lastly out came the lady that I had spoken to next to the van, she walked over to the Land Rover carrying a large bag over one shoulder and a heavy looking piece of metal scaffold pipe and like the woman carrying the baseball bat it was covered at one end with blood and other matter. She stopped in front of us and looked up at Rees and said “Well, I am glad we didn’t try anything. I would hate to meet you on a dark night.”

  Rees did his rumble laugh and bowed to her and said “At your service milady!”

  She laughed and said “Never been called milady or anything like it in my life you can call me Bet short for Betty but have always been called it so it stuck.”

  I held my hand out a laughed as it was taken in a warm soft hand and said “Well hi, Bet this mountain behind me is Rees and I’m Jay. I’ll be driving the Land Rover and Rees will go with the van.”

  She looked again at Rees and said “Oooo…. I bet Jamie isn’t going to be happy with you my friend. He usually likes to have one of the girls in the front with her.”

  I asked “Which one is Jamie?”

  She pointed to the average looking young lad with the hand print on his face.