SAFE HAVEN: REALM OF THE RAIDERS

by Christopher Artinian

  The three of them watched her leave. Lucy felt a confusing mix of emotions. The familiar fear that came with uncertainty was back, but now there was an element of anger to it as well. Mike was out risking his safety again. How could he do that to her?

  “Keith, Emma, we can’t let this get out because there will be widespread panic, but I think Joseph may be infected.” She turned to look at Keith. “You need to summon the corporal here. Don’t tell him what the problem is over the airwaves, but get him back here now.”

  *

  Mike, with Private Hughes – who he had affectionately nicknamed Bruiser – pulled up on the farm track that ran parallel with the road to Elsdon Reservoir. As they cut the engine they recognised that the noise they were hearing was not just the ambient sounds of the countryside. The pair jogged across to the other side of the field and ducked behind a dry-stone wall. Hughes looked out in the direction of the noise.

  “Fuck me!” He quickly brought his head back round and sat bolt upright against the wall. Mike had thought nothing could scare Hughes, but something had.

  Mike chose not to peek around the corner, but used the gaps in the dry-stone wall to put the picture together piece by piece. There was a vast line of vehicles by the reservoir, seemingly preparing to embark on the next leg of their journey.

  They were travelling in a combination of military and civilian vehicles. At the head of the convoy was a fleet of motorbikes, most of them carrying the rider and a passenger. There were four coaches packed with armed men, followed by two lorries. Then there were five big 4x4 gas-guzzlers, each towing a trailer with a variety of inflatable motorboats. Bringing up the rear were three smaller buses fortified with iron panelling, with small square holes just big enough for guns to fit through. They had built their own armoured cars. Mike estimated there were upwards of three hundred men.

  Hughes reached into a rucksack and brought out a pair of binoculars, then lay down flat on his stomach and shuffled around the corner to get a better look. It was a couple of minutes before he came back. Even more colour had drained from his face.

  “Fuck me!” he said again, and this time he turned round to look at his companion. “We’re in trouble, Mikey boy. I recognise one of the guys on the lead motorcycle. Ugly fucker, looks like his face has been put through a cheese grater. He was with that group we fired on the other day. They must have been a scouting party for this lot. Fuck me!” Hughes stayed low but started jogging back across to the jeep. Mike followed. As they ran they heard the high-pitched revs as the bikes set off.

  “Did you fell trees on the roads to the north like you did on the southern approach?” Mike asked as the pair got back into the jeep.

  “That we did, Mike, but a few trees aren’t going to stop these buggers. On our best day we wouldn’t be able to fight an army half this size. We’ll get back and report in, but if it was me making the decisions, I’d evacuate. Take whatever supplies we could and run like fuck, ’cos if we end up going to war with that lot...” Hughes turned the jeep around and sped back down the track like he was in rallycross.

  *

  Emma had found some fresh clothes for the young woman. She put them down next to her then held her hand while Jenny sponged off some of the dirt and dried blood. The young woman just sat there, looking off into one corner of the room.

  Lucy walked in carrying her doctor’s bag. She pulled out a syringe and a small phial of liquid, filled the syringe, found a vein on the patient’s arm and gently pressed in the plunger. “Okay, I’m just giving you a mild sedative, this will help.” She gently took the young woman’s chin and angled it up towards her. “Can you tell me your name?” There was no response. Her eyes were staring straight at the doctor, but behind them there was only darkness. Lucy let go of her and looked at Emma and Jenny. “Keep her warm, keep talking to her, and let me know if anything changes.”

  Lucy walked out of the room into the hallway. She looked up and down. There was no-one around, so she quickly took out a bottle of pills, looked at it for a moment, flicked open the top, and swallowed one of the small white tablets.

  *

  As the jeep approached the north bridge, Hughes shouted out to his comrades to open the gate. As he drove through, he asked if anyone had seen the corporal. One of the privates mentioned that he’d just heard a call for the corporal to return to the hotel. Hughes didn’t waste any time, and the tyres of the jeep screeched as it sped away.

  Back at the hotel, Mike and Private Hughes headed straight for the large dining hall.

  “Where’s the corporal?” Mike asked as they walked in.

  “I’m waiting for him now,” replied Keith, firmly believing he’d already heard the worst news he could possibly hear. He noticed the worried looks on the two men’s faces. “Why?”

  “We need to evacuate, Keith. We need to get everybody the hell out this village, now!” There was no trace of compromise in Mike’s voice.

  “I don’t think that’s going to be possible.” Corporal Darren Masters had overheard the end of the conversation as he walked up behind the pair. He was returning a walkie-talkie to his belt.

  “What do you mean?” they both blurted simultaneously.

  “My men have just reported in. There’s movement in the trees opposite the north and south bridges. Now, Mike, I caught the bit about having to get out of here. What’s all this about?”

  Hughes stepped forward and relayed the entire story of what he had seen to the corporal, who listened with interest and interjected his own questions as he needed to. When he had finished, Darren found the edge of a dining table and sat down. He rubbed a hand over his stubbled face.

  He looked towards Mike and Keith. “So, from what Private Hughes says, I’m guessing the men who are taking position now are actually the ones on bikes. The trees we felled were really to stop small groups and single vehicles. We never thought an army like this would exist, let alone head here. I’m guessing with that number of men, the road blocks won’t hold them up for more than half an hour, an hour tops.” He paused, combed his hands through his hair and stood up. “Okay. If the estimates are right, we’re probably looking at both exits being covered by roughly twenty-five men each. If we try to make an escape they could pick us off like ducks in a fairground game. They’ve got cover and they’ve got the high ground.”

  “It sounds like you’re saying we’re trapped, Darren,” Keith said, his face grim. The young officer didn’t say anything but just looked at the councillor. Keith sat down on the edge of the table with the corporal. “So what do we do?”

  “I need you to get all the reservists together. In fact, get everyone in the village together and get all our maps and equipment across here. This will be our centre of operations,” the young corporal commanded.

  “I don’t understand why we’re not using the school house as we’d planned,” Keith said, worried that all their preparations had been in vain.

  “We’ve got a doctor and nurse through there now. They’re going to be vital when the wounded start coming in.” At the mere mention of the word wounded, it suddenly dawned on Keith what was going on, and he felt weak at the knees. “It makes more sense to have the guards covering one place than splitting them. I’m going to get two of my men on the backhoe loaders. They’re going to blockade the bridges while the rest of my troops and the Jackals give them cover. We’ve got half a dozen Claymores. I’m going to look at the map to try and figure out where the best landing spots would be for the boats, set the mines up there and place squads of six reservists under cover close by. When they’ve finished blockading the bridges, I’ll get the Jackals patrolling again. Keith, I want you and my dad to stay here with two experienced soldiers and a squad of six reservists. I’ll stay in constant touch through the walkies.” Darren took a breath and looked to Keith for confirmation he’d understood. When the soldiers had fled from Catterick barracks, they had managed to take a good supply of weapons and ammunition, but more importantly, two Jackal 2 armoured cars. T
hese would now form the front line of defence from this army of raiders. They had liberated the mechanical diggers from one of the farms that had been using them to build drainage ditches.

  “Okay, Darren. Where is your father, by the way?” asked Keith.

  “He and Aunty Alice were searching the Marston fields. I’ll go pick them up now. The sooner he’s back here, the sooner we can get organised.” The young officer began to leave.

  “There’s something else.” Keith looked towards Hughes and Mike and then decided what he had to say was too important to delay it any longer. “The doctor thinks Joseph might be infected.”

  All three men took a sharp breath. “How sure is she?” Darren asked, his professionalism overriding his personal involvement.

  “She’s not a hundred per cent, but her instincts seem pretty sound to me,” Keith replied.

  “This stays between us, gentlemen. I’ll inform my men personally. None of this goes out over the airwaves. If one of the villagers finds out they’ll be shoving pitchforks into anyone who’s got a runny nose. I’ll go and get my father now. Hughes, you stay here and help Mr Martin with the preparations.” Darren marched away, reeling off a list of orders through the walkie-talkie as he went.

  Mike looked across to the bar area where Tracey was watching Sammy and Jake along with Annie and John, Beth’s younger sister and brother. All of them were completely oblivious to the storm that was about to rain down on them. He walked into the hospital wing in search of Emma or Lucy. He found them both talking quietly outside one of the rooms.

  “I don’t know what happened to this girl you found, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good,” Lucy said as Mike walked up to them. She saw the grim look on his face and her lungs involuntarily deflated. “What is it now?”

  Mike proceeded to relay everything he knew to the two women. When he was done, all three slumped back against the walls of the corridor and slid to the floor, silent.

  *

  When the creature awoke, it had no recollection of who it was. The cold rain that pelted against its sodden pyjamas and bare skin brought it no chilling discomfort. The tall yellow grass conjured no memories of a former life working in fields on a farm. In short, Joseph Masters was no more. This beast was a newborn, and like any newborn, its needs were simple. It raised itself off the wet ground and immediately detected movement and sound. Two people, who once had been family but were now just ripe fruit for the taking, walked along the track at the opposite side of the field. Their search for Joseph had not been thorough, the sheer spread of the land made that impossible, and the RAM had remained undetected. The pair were oblivious to the impending attack on the village by the army of marauders, and equally blind to the fact they were now being watched as they walked towards the steel gate.

  “What I’m going to do, Alice, is organise a proper search party. We’ll get back to the schoolhouse, get out the map, divide it up and get the whole village looking. I promise you, we’ll have found him by lunchtime.” Daniel Masters put a comforting arm around his sister-in-law. Alice sniffed solemnly into a handkerchief.

  The beast watched the figures moving away, getting smaller, and then instinct kicked in. A low guttural growl began in the back of the grey creature’s throat and one foot moved forward, then another, then faster, then faster still, until the RAM was bolting towards the escaping prey.

  By the time Daniel and Alice reached the gate, the creature was just thirty metres back. Daniel fumbled with the rusty bolt, but finally managed to drag it across, while Alice just watched on with her handkerchief gripped firmly in her hand.

  “Ladies first,” the always polite brother-in-law said, smiling and pulling open the gate. A streak of movement caught his attention and he turned. Just a few metres in front of him, lurching towards the spot where he was standing, was his brother. Only it wasn’t his brother. This was how so many had been consumed by the infection. It wasn’t the bite that had killed them, it was the confusion, the surprise, the time it had taken for the brain to process the information. Joseph would never harm Daniel, or Alice, so why would there be any need to fear him? Even when Joseph was up close, his eyes no longer hazel, but a dull lifeless grey with jagged black pupils that could belong to nothing human, Daniel and Alice could not convince themselves to flee. It was only when the beast’s teeth plunged into Daniel’s neck and the pain shot through his body like boiling oil injected into his veins that he realised what was happening. Alice began to back away, but the creature was up and on her before she could make any ground. He leapt towards the short round woman and she wobbled backwards. Instinctively, Alice put her hands around her neck to protect it, but the beast sank its blood-stained teeth into her cheek instead. She howled with agony as the RAM brought its head back victoriously with bloody flesh hanging from its lips. It chewed the spongy meat then swallowed. The poor woman screamed as she moved her hands up to her face, trying to convince herself this horror had not happened. But when she tried to feel her cheek, all she could touch were teeth and gums. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was a grey figure that looked a lot like her brother-in-law slowly standing up, just behind Joseph.

  *

  Darren Masters brought the army Land Rover to a sudden halt. He depressed the loud horn twice and then jumped out. It would be asking a lot of his father to try and forget about the search for his brother in order to rally the villagers and help organise the defences, but they were the Masters, and they were strong. Darren’s preoccupation with the coming battle dulled his senses to the fact that nobody who lived in the country left gates open, no matter what. Could his dad’s arthritis be so bad that it had stopped him moving the stiff bolt back into position? He allowed himself a small smile as he walked into the muddy field. He squinted into the distance to see if he could find the distinctive figures of his tall father and small plump aunty.

  *

  The three beasts were striding down the lane towards the north bridge when their attention was caught by the sound of a loud horn behind them. The creatures turned and ran back towards the sound. When they arrived at the parked 4x4, the engine was still running. This was the first time any of them had seen a motor vehicle. They had no understanding of what it was or why it rumbled that way, but their primal impulses told them it was nothing of significance to them.

  “Dad, Aunty Alice?” The corporal shouted loudly through cupped hands across the open field in the hope his voice would carry through the falling rain. He covered his brow with his hand to stop the rain dripping into his eyes and scanned the horizon.

  Unbeknown to Darren, he would never see his father and Alice again. A sound from behind attracted his attention, and he turned to see what looked for a split second like his dad, his aunt and his lost uncle, but it was a lie. An instant later, when his military training kicked in and he tried to draw his sidearm, his mind struggled to process the reality. He had killed dozens of RAMs in the previous months, it had become second nature. But they were all strangers. They were all someone else’s fathers, aunties and uncles. Now the time came to put these creatures down, the adrenalin that should be coursing through his blood had been replaced by grief, slowing his reaction time and dulling his will. His gun hadn’t even been removed from the holster by the time the beasts were upon him, tearing his clothing, gouging his flesh. His radio crackled into life as his dying body thudded against the earth. In the distance, the sound of heavy machine-gun fire and sporadic bursts from SA80s echoed. The war had begun, but the corporal would not be going into battle. Not this time.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The hotel quickly began to fill up with terrified villagers as the word spread that they were about to be attacked. There was a wide cross section of people, ranging from farmers and families who had lived in the country all their lives to lawyers, accountants and other professionals who liked that their money could get a house out here in the sticks three times the size of one they could afford in the city. Jenny had left her nursing duties in order t
o help her husband organise the large influx of people. Keith had arranged for the nursery and school staff to take all the children to a function room on the second floor and keep them occupied.

  Keith looked towards his wife, who was busy directing staff to fetch blankets and pillows for some of the older people. She had always been his rock, even during the past few months when terror had taken up residence in their hearts and minds. But now he looked at her face and saw vulnerability. It was the first time he had ever seen her scared. He went across, took her hand in his and gently kissed it. “Don’t worry, Jenny. We’ve got through the past few months, we can get through this as well.”

  *

  Mike, Emma and Lucy were still sat on the floor of the corridor.

  “Just for the record, up until yesterday I didn’t want to stay here,” Mike said, trying to break the solemn mood.

  “How many men did you say this army had?” Lucy asked.

  “I thought it was about three hundred. Bruiser said closer to four.” Mike took Lucy’s and then Emma’s hands in his. “How are things going with the mother-to-be?”

  “To be honest, it’s nothing that Samantha couldn’t handle by herself. She trained as a midwife. It just made me feel good to think that I was going to help bring new life into the world, but that’s all been shot to shit.”

  “Come on. Let’s go see what’s going on in there.” Mike got to his feet and pulled his sister and Lucy up from the floor.

  *

  The hotel had never been busier. Sadly, none of the guests were paying ones. Rather than relocating to a back room, Keith had spread out the map of the village on a large table in front of the bar. A squad of armed reservists were positioned around the entrance and foyer to give the locals some reassurance. Hughes and another private had positioned themselves outside of the hotel. All the troops in Candleton had spent time in Afghanistan, all had faced a committed enemy, but all of them had possessed a hope that one day the fighting would stop. In this new world, there was no such hope. For in this new world, hope and hopelessness, bravery and fear all lived as bedfellows.