The Reaper Series (Book 2): Reapers Isle

by Justin Gowland

  I saw a blur of green and Rees had moved faster than Dave could bring the rifle round and placed a well deserved kick in Dave’s nuts. Even from where I was stood I heard the squelch of one or both of Dave’s balls. The high pitched squeal was a lovely after note of seeing the look on his face. (shouldn’t hit girls when Rees is around, he doesn’t like it. Here endeth the lesson.)

  Chapter Nine

  I was bent over Maddie to make sure she was ok, as far as I could see she looked shocked and upset. She also had a small split to her scalp just above her ear and a red mark where the butt of the rifle hit.

  Rees had picked up the rifle and checked to make sure it was loaded and then gave Dave another kick but this time in the stomach. With Rees taking point we went through the pantry and I saw that the other rifles were missing, but my rifle was there, so picked it up and a pistol and we walked through the rest of the cottage. We heard voices coming from the sitting room, so we went in. Marc, Becky and Mary were standing at one end of the room and on the other side was Bet, John, Jamie, Ollie and the two girls. The thing that had me worried was the fact that Bet and her group had the other rifles and had them pointed at Marc, Becky and Mary.

  I had my rifle up and pointed at Bet and John whilst Rees was covering Jamie and the girls. The look on Bet’s face was that of a victory cut short.

  “Hi folks, can I ask what’s going on?” I asked.

  “What’s it look like Jay, the fucking snake is trying to take our place off us.” Said Marc.

  “Yup, looks like that, doesn’t it.” Said Rees.

  “Let’s all calm for a second, I mean, do you even know how to use those rifles Bet?” I asked.

  “Yes, we know how to fucking use them. Where’s Dave at I bet you ate him didn’t you?” She said.

  (god she was spitting nails.)

  “Dave’s ok, well ok is probably not the right term. He won’t ever father any kids and he is probably not breathing to good at the minute, but that’s what he gets for hitting a woman.” Rees said calmly. “Oh, and no Jay didn’t hit him. I fucking did you old bat.”

  Maddie walked over to Becky, who took her into a hug and Mary put her arm round her, glaring at Bet.

  “Ok, Bet lets get down to brass tacks, what do you want?” I said.

  “We want this place and you and your spawn loving group gone. We want you gone by tonight.” She said.

  “Ah right, so all that stuff you said when we brought you here was bullshit and you were waiting for the right moment to try and take over. Is that right?” I said.

  “Well, we did want your weapons and you didn’t want to give them up so I had to think of another way to get them. The loving granny routine seemed to work just right. John dear will you shoot one of the women please.” She said.

  “If a single shot goes off I will wipe you and all of your rotten fucking group off the planet.” Said Rees.

  “Now that puts us in a bit of an impasse doesn’t it. We want this place and you want it as well. I’ll tell you what we will let you take the things you need and the Land Rover. We will keep the cottage and everything you can’t carry. We will even let you alone whilst you move your things.” She said smiling like it was nice of her.

  “What about Ollie?” I asked.

  “What about him, he is my grandson.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, I mean Dave and his dad, John here are a disappointment, but I have high hopes for Ollie.” She said, putting a hand on his shoulder, he looked up at her and grinned and I swear to god I could see Dave in that face.

  Think nearly everyone was a bit shocked at that bit of news. So everything that had come out her mouth was complete and utter shit. My mind was running at full pelt, I looked at Marc, Becky and the others. I had to make sure they got out of this safely, it was as I scanned the room for an answer that it came to me because of a picture over the mantle.

  “I’ll tell you what if you and your bunch of hillbilly’s..” she looked really pissed at that, “go to the bottom of the garden we will pack our gear and leave.” There were a few intakes of breath and I held my hand up. “You have to give us enough time and when we are leaving Rees will come and wave from the back door. That way we can leave without any fighting, do you agree?”

  “Well, I can’t say I am disappointed in you Jay I thought you might have fought and that would have been fun but ok we will let you have three hours and no more. I want to start tea around then.” She said with a barking laugh and she left the sitting room followed by her brood.

  I waited for the door to close before going to Maddie and saying “Are you ok babe?”

  She nodded and leaned against Becky.

  “Jay what the fuck bud?” Marc said.

  “Yeah, Walker like the skinny kid said.” Rees joined in.

  “Ok, we don’t have much time and we need to get all the ammo and pistols and shotguns in the Land Rover. The stupid old biddy thinks she has won. Meh! Right girls we need food, water, sleeping bags and anything else you can think of. Rees I need you to quickly check the Land Rover and make sure it hasn’t been tampered with. Marc, can you keep an eye on the hillbilly’s from upstairs and tell me if they come anywhere near the cottage and I’ll plan the route.” I said

  “What do you mean route and why are we leaving, we have the advantage of the cottage now.” Rees said.

  “Normally mate, I would agree if it meant that we would have a perfectly secure house at the end of the battle. To tell you the truth, they can have it, but we are leaving a going away present. That and the fact I have thought of a more secure location that will be better for us in the long run.”

  “Ok, I’ll give where is this mythical land?” asked Mary.

  “Mary sorry to say this, but can we trust you?” I asked.

  “I always thought there was something wrong with that lot back at the apartments, but could never figure it out. It now makes sense now, the way Bet always seemed to be shouting at John and Dave like they were kids. Only family does that.” She replied.

  “Ok, right as to where we would find better than here….” I pointed to the picture above the mantle. It was a castle on a finger of rock leading out from a beach.

  Marc was the first to recognize the castle, “That’s my brother for you, fucking smart arse to the end.”

  “I thank you!” I said with a mock bow and a smile.

  Rees patted me on the shoulder and said “Only you could see that and think of it as a safe haven, but I have to admit Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle would be a cool place.”

  “Right lets get a move on with those things we need to do and Rees I want a quick word about the going away present.”

  The girls and Marc went out and started moving things, I closed the door and looked at my mate.

  “Dude, do you think we could rig something to blow the generator? I don’t want to hurt anyone but I want to make it difficult for them after we leave.” I said.

  “Yeah, I can do something.” He said grinning.

  “Remember, I don’t want anyone hurt, they have Ollie remember.”

  He shrugged his shoulders and left the room to go make things go brumm and things go bang. (yeah, I know big kid, but I’ve told you that before.)

  I settled down to check routes and how long it might take us to get from Durham up to Holy Island. I figured unless we hit some major problems, then we could probably make the journey in a few hours.

  Maddie came in after a short while and said "Jay, we should have all the food we need in the Land Rover soon. Becky is upstairs getting sleeping bags and what gear we have together. Are you sure that you want to leave them this place?"

  "To be honest, Maddie I don't think that we have a choice unless we fight them and I am not going to sink to their level. That and the fact that they have Ollie and because they have a child, I am not going to fight over a building.” I replied.

  “Ok, I’ll go help Becky get things out to the car then.” As she was about to go out the room sh
e turned and looked at me “Jay, I know you might not want to hear this now, but I love you.” She said.

  “I love you too.” I said smiling.

  She left with the biggest grin on her face that I have ever seen.

  I stood and picked up my rifle and went down the hallway and up the stairs, moving past the other bedrooms to the one that I had used whilst I had been here. I opened the door and saw Marc sat in a chair looking out the window, looking over the garden to where we were going to set up the firing range. Marc turned in his chair when he heard me come in, when he saw it was me he stood up.

  “They're all still down there, they keep looking back at the cottage.” He said.

  “Well, we should be ready to go soon. Just keep an eye on them and if they start coming to the cottage give us a shout.” I said.

  “Ok, bud” He said and sat back down looking out the window.

  Leaving him to keep an eye on the hillbilly’s, I went downstairs to check on the girls in the kitchen. Mary, Becky and Maddie were loading food and water into boxes. I went through to the pantry where we kept the ammo and rifles and saw that the girls had already loaded nearly all the ammo apart from one or two boxes of ammo and a single pistol. Well, at the very least I wouldn’t be feeling very bad about leaving them with nothing to protect themselves with. Looking out the rear door I couldn’t see any of them out there so went back into the kitchen to see only one box of food left to be taken out to the car.

  Picking it up I heard the quick footsteps of someone upstairs heading toward me. Marc appeared at the door just as I was going past and said “They’re on the way back to the cottage.”

  “Ok, you go get everyone in the car and we can get the fuck away from here.”

  He ran outside and told the girls to get in the car, I went to the back just as Marc had climbed in and passed him the box and Ghost jumped in with Marc and the girls. I closed the door and turned to see Rees jogging round the corner of the cottage. I went to the passenger door and climbed in, (yeah, I know I kick off about driving, but I wanted to be able to shoot if need be.) Rees climbed in and I threw him the keys and my written notes on the route to Holy Island.

  As we pulled away, I saw the glint and grin on Rees’s face and the first thought through my mind was ‘What the fuck has he done?’. I watched in the side mirror as John and Dave came out through the front door to the cottage. I saw the flash before I heard the crack of a rifle round. It was lucky that we didn’t do any training today or that shot might have come close to hitting us. Rees slammed on the brakes and I opened my door raised my rifle, looking down my scope I snapped off a single shot that hit just above the door, but had the desired effect of frightening the crap out of them. They hit the ground and kept their heads down, as I closed the door to the Land Rover and Rees pulled away.

  We entered the track and was hidden in the trees within seconds and I lost sight of the cottage. I felt like I had lost something, and felt sad for having lost a place that I had thought was secure, only to have brought a bad element in which had ended in taking it away from us. We had reached the main road and Rees pulled us on to it and stopped. By now the day had gotten further along and it wasn’t going to be long before we would have to rest up for the night.

  I turned in my seat and said “Rees mate, I know you want to go back and kick off, but we are going to need to find somewhere to rest up for the night.”

  “Yeah, I know I just thought you might want to hear this before we get on our way.” And he opened his window, not to be ungrateful I opened mine and stuck my head out.

  I was just about to pull my head back in and ask what he was on about when there was a huge bang and a large cloud of black smoke billow over the top of the trees in the direction of the cottage.

  “What the fuck was that?” I asked

  He pulled his head back in and said “Well to be honest, I didn’t think it would make that much noise. The generator just went bang and wait for it….” Another smaller bang went off “that would be the van engine as well.” He said with a big grin.

  “I said, I didn’t want anyone hurt bud!”

  “I know that’s why I only made it so there would be a big bang and lots of smoke, I mean it has fucked the generator up and the van won’t be going anywhere soon. Oh, and they seem to have lost the horses as well.”

  “You didn’t kill the horses did you?” said Becky in a shocked tone.

  “What do you take me for I would never hurt an animal. I let the horses out the paddock and chased them into the trees. I would have hurt the Hillbilly’s, but Walker said not to, so I didn’t.” He replied.

  Marc leaned leaned over the seats and gave Rees a clap on the shoulder and was barely keeping the laughter in.

  “Come on lets get moving, we need to get some distance between us and them. We also need to find somewhere for the night to sleep safely.”

  Rees still was smiling, he turned and pulled the Land Rover away from our old home and hopefully toward a new one. We drove for what seemed to be most of the evening, but was probably only a few hours. Heading east we were going for the east coast road and then going to head north. Our speed wasn’t great and it only got worse the nearer to the A1M motorway. There seemed to be more and more abandoned vehicles, the strange thing was that there was very little in the way of dead or damage.

  Chapter Ten

  There were a few bodies here and there and these bodies did seem to have been fed on quite a lot. Marc pointed out the side window as we got close to the A1M and to be honest, we couldn’t believe what we could see. Rees stopped the car and we looked on open mouthed there on the A1M pointing north was a small single prop plane. It didn’t look damaged in anyway, it just sat there on the road like I would have on the runway of an airport.

  “Rees you don’t know how to fly a plane, do you?” said Marc.

  I turned and looked at him, then at Rees and shook my head.

  “Marc, I know you think me and Walker are these Spec Ops dudes, and that we can do everything. But to answer your question, no I fucking don’t know how to fly a plane, and any case that one wouldn’t be able to carry all of us.” He said and started to move the car in and out of the stalled and abandoned cars. I could hear him mumbling to himself as he drove and I had to turn my head, otherwise he would fly off the handle at the sight of my grinning face.

  “Well, I didn’t know.” Said Marc.

  I had to put my hand on Rees’s arm to stop him from turning round and strangling my brother.

  “Marc, before you put your other foot in it, why don’t you pass out something to eat and some water.” I said.

  Grumbling, he passed out some breakfast bars and bottles of water. We drove through the underpass and further to the east of Durham trying to stay on the back roads. We came to a couple of run down looking houses on a back road that seemed to have not been lived in for quite a while. I told Rees to pull round the back of them to where we couldn't be seen from the road. I climbed out and grabbed my rifle and lifted it to my shoulder and had a quick look round where we had parked. I couldn't see anything that was strange or out of the ordinary.

  "Rees you want to come and have a look round with me?" I asked.

  "Yeah, give me a sec to get my gear." He replied.

  I checked my rifle and made sure that I was carrying extra mags in my webbing. Mary, Becky and Marc picked up the shotguns and one of the remaining rifles. Looking inside the Land Rover, I said "If you lot want to stay here and this place works out ok, we can use it as our camp for tonight and head out early. Please don't follow us inside, if you hear any shooting, but if you hear one of us tell you to drive, don’t argue just drive ok!"

  They all nodded, but Maddie looked like she was about to cry.

  Rees and I walked over to the door and we both chambered rounds. I stood to the right of the back door to one of the houses with my rifle at the ready. Rees strode up with his pistol up and his rifle on his sling across his chest. He looked at me to check that I
was ready and I nodded for him to go ahead and open the door. He placed his hand on the door handle and tried to open the door, but it seemed to be locked. Ok, time to try the other time old method for door entry. I pointed at my foot, then the door and Rees nodded, leaned back and gave the door one of the hardest kicks I have ever seen. The door fairly few open and hit the inside wall with a shudder and the frame seemed to shake in the wall.

  Before the door had stopped shaking, I was inside and to the left of the entrance with my rifle up and scanning round the room. We had come into the kitchen and from the looks of the state inside it hadn't been used in a long time. The cupboards all had doors hanging off and the benches had what looked like at least a couples of inches of dust. Moving further into the room so that Rees could have more room and would be able to have better arcs of fire. Rees moved past slowly to the only door out of the kitchen. He pointed at himself, then at me. He pushed his foot against the bottom of the door and slowly opened it enough that he could move through without getting caught up on the door or the frame.

  I heard him move down the hallway and I let my rifle fall down onto it's sling and I pulled my Browning from my holster and followed him into the next room. This room was not much better than the kitchen, the carpet was threadbare and the curtains at the window were hanging from the rail and the window was grimy and we could hardly seen through it. Again the theme of the kitchen, followed into this room with the dust and dirt. We went into the hallway and both stood at the bottom of the stairs. Rees placed his foot on the bottom stair and I smiled at him, and he flipped the middle finger at me and slowly went up the stairs. (we had this little thing between us since we had done basic house clearing training. It was who ever had put a foot on the bottom step of any house we were clearing, had the task of clearing the upstairs, whilst the other guarded the ground floor.)

  I stood at the bottom of the stairs listening to Rees move around up stairs, clearing the bedroom and the bathroom. I heard creaking at the top of the stairs and looked up to see Rees was standing looking down.