SAFE HAVEN: REALM OF THE RAIDERS

by Christopher Artinian

  Fry snapped out of his trance, looked down at The Don, and then at the chair. He sat and The Don pulled his own chair closer and poured them both a goblet of wine. “Now, tell me. What happened and what are we going to do about it?”

  Fry glugged the entire goblet dry and then poured himself another. “What happened, Kenny, is we got fucked over well and truly, by a fucking kid no less.” Fry was the only man alive who was on first name terms with The Don, and as acrimonious as the relationship could be, they were old friends. “I’ll give you a blow by blow account later if you want, but right now I think we should talk about what to do next. Before I left I unleashed a small flock of RAMs into the village.” A smile crept back onto his face. “Now, I want to go back down there tomorrow with a thousand men. I don’t want to take any fucking chances. Whatever we come up against, villagers, soldiers or RAMs, with a thousand men I can clean the village.”

  “Jesus, Fry, is this place really worth the effort?” asked The Don, taking another puff of his cigar.

  “Aye, and I’ll tell you why. First, we need to send a message that nobody messes with us. Second, I saw enough booze and supplies in that hotel alone to make it worth the journey. Third, they’ve got two Jackal 2 armoured cars, and the soldiers didn’t look like they were going to run out of ammo any time soon. And fourth, we need to get back the vehicles we left there. The fuel in those will run to hundreds of gallons. Kenny, we’d be stupid not to make the trip.” Fry took another drink from his goblet.

  The Don put the cigar in his mouth, reached for a candle and relit it. He inhaled deeply and blew skilful smoke circles over the table. “Okay, but I’m coming with you.” Fry looked irritated. “Calm down, Fry, it’s not because I don’t trust you. Listen,” he said, signalling for Fry to join him in a huddle, “we need to expand.” He looked at Fry’s face and saw only a blank expression. “We’re getting more recruits by the day, Fry. I can guarantee you there will be no-one else in the country as organised or as successful as we are, and it’s just like when we were running things in the old days. We need to keep expanding. Now, this Candleton, it’s obviously defendable, and it could be the perfect place for us to set up a new camp. We need to keep growing, Fry, because if we don’t somebody else will and they’ll take away everything I’ve worked for, we’ve worked for.”

  Fry nodded and sat back. He liked the idea of different bases. He would have more autonomy, more opportunity to plot and connive. He combed his hand through his straggly ginger-grey hair and pinched his nostrils with his thick fingers. He leaned back, cracking the bones in his back as he did. “So, we’ll set off at daybreak?” said Fry, looking at The Don for confirmation. The Don poured two more drinks and signalled the women back over.

  “It’s not like this place is going anywhere, Fry, and I think it’s going to be a late night.” He smiled as a young peroxide blonde in a mini-skirt and boob tube sat down on his knee while another woman began massaging his shoulders.

  Fry smiled and nodded, his thoughts not betrayed by his outer facade. It won’t be too long now, old man. Make the most of it while you can.

  *

  Jenny, Lucy, Emma and Talikha held lanterns as Mike and Raj carried the covered bodies to the open holes and gently lowered them in. As Keith and her niece were placed into the graves, Jenny began to cry. Lucy and Emma each placed their free arm around her but it was of little consolation; she had lost everyone she held dear. A small white bundle was respectfully positioned next to Jenny’s niece and all the women instinctively averted their gaze. There could be few sights more gut-wrenching. Mike lovingly carried the final body out to the graves himself. The dimly lit dining room was virtually empty. All the villagers had gone up to the conference room where the children had been hiding earlier in the day. Two soldiers stood watch at the main entrance, but the burial party were left to grieve in peace.

  As he carried the body out into the cold wet darkness, he gently kissed Samantha’s covered head. “I’m so sorry, Samantha, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. Jenny was too emotional to speak, so Raj stepped forward and gave an emotional and respectful tribute. Jenny clutched his hand tightly with gratitude when he returned to her side. Lucy managed a few heartfelt sentences before tears overcame her, and Mike pulled her close to him for mutual comfort. After a moment’s silence, all but Mike and Raj took one last look at the graves, said their goodbyes and went back inside. The two men then went to work refilling the holes. It was a short affair. Everyone involved would have liked more time to say their goodbyes, but this new age did not allow prolonged mourning.

  By the time the two of them returned to the dining room, the soldiers on duty at the front door had been replaced by reservists. Mike knew that his family and the rest of the villagers would be up in the conference room and the troops would be having their meeting about what to do next. He walked across to the bar, took down two shot glasses and poured vodka into each. Raj picked his up apprehensively. Mike knocked his back immediately and refilled his glass with another shot.

  *

  “Okay, so if we don’t go to Scotland, where do we go?” asked Shaw, who was chairing the discussion.

  A soldier in his late twenties took a drink from a bottle of lager, belched and then began speaking. “Me and Masters went on a training exercise a few years back. There’s an MOD place just north of Morecambe. Christ, it’s so well hidden, you can only see the buildings from the air. There’s miles of woodland, all surrounded by sturdy fencing. Now, I know it was decommissioned about eighteen months back, but it’s still MOD land. I reckon it will be a hell of a lot safer than anything that’s waiting for us up in Scotland, and it’s a hell of a lot bloody closer as well.”

  “Yeah, they sent me there for some training too,” said Private Grainger. “I’d almost forgotten about it, but Tommo’s right, that place would be perfect.”

  “Does anybody else have any other suggestions?” asked Shaw. He scanned the faces of the other men for a response. Most shook their heads silently. “Okay, all in favour of moving to the MOD base raise your hand.” All ten men raised their right hands. “I’m sure if Hughesy was here he’d vote yes as well. Which brings us to another issue.” The soldiers looked towards Shaw attentively. “We have to convince Mike and his group that this is a better option. Although it would be good to have Mike along, ’cos that lad is fucking unstoppable,” he said, returning the knowing smiles of the other soldiers who had seen him in action, “it is essential the doctor comes with us. And I don’t just mean for Hughesy. The villagers need a doctor, there are some old people who’ll need care, plus, if we get into scrapes, and I can guarantee we will, having a doctor will be the difference between winning and losing, living and dying.”

  “What if they won’t come?” asked Barnes.

  “We’ll just have to convince them to come,” replied Shaw.

  “Yeah, but what if they won’t?”

  “Look, let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we. Tommo, go get Mike. Let’s see if we can convince him.”

  Private Thomson disappeared and returned a few minutes later with Mike. Shaw didn’t waste any time.

  “Mike, we’ve had a long chat and decided two things. Number one is that we’ve decided not to go to Scotland with you. Number two is that we really want you to join us because we think we’ll have a much better chance if we all stick together.”

  Mike looked around at the faces staring back at him. Shaw could see a thousand questions running through Mike’s mind so before he had chance to ask them, Shaw decided to volunteer the information.

  “Look, Mike, travelling to the north-west coast of Scotland is suicide. Christ knows who or what we’ll run into. We’ve got old people, kids and a lot of people who are just completely out of their depth with everything that’s going on. We’ve lost eighteen of our lads and trekking another three hundred and fifty miles would be madness. We know of an MOD base just north of Morecambe. I’ll let Tommo tell you about it.” Shaw stepped back and
nodded towards Private Thomson who took the floor.

  “This place is well off the beaten track, Mike. It’s an expanse of heavily fenced woodland and you’ve got to travel along a well-hidden track for about five miles before you even get to the gate. The buildings can only be seen from the air, there’s a large lake and about four streams feeding into it, and if we set off tomorrow morning, we could be there in two or three hours tops. It would be a lot safer for you and your family than trying to trek up to Scotland, Mike, a lot safer.” The soldier stopped talking and looked back towards Shaw.

  “So, Mike, what do you think?”

  Mike just stood there. He hadn’t anticipated that there would be another option. “Let me talk it over with my family.”

  “Fair enough, but I really think it would be better for you and better for us if we all stuck together.” The pair exchanged respectful nods and Mike left the room.

  Mike entered the large conference room. There were eighty-eight people in there, all that remained of the village, barring the two reservists at the front door. Sammy and Jake were holding Jenny’s hands and Raj and Talikha were next to them. He searched the faces for Lucy and Emma and found them in a corner consoling Beth. Tracey was by her side, as were John and Annie, Beth’s siblings. In the RAM attacks that had come after the battle, Beth had lost the remainder of her family. The only thing that had kept Beth, Annie and John alive was that they did not freeze in terror when they saw a RAM, they ran and hid. The short time they had spent on the road had saved their lives. Emma quietly pulled Mike to one side and explained the situation.

  “Bloody hell, she’s really been through it, hasn’t she?”

  “If she only knew the half of it,” replied Emma.

  “Listen,” said Mike, bringing his attention back to his sister. “I need to talk to you and Lucy before Shaw speaks to everybody.

  “What about?”

  “I’ll tell you both at the same time.” Emma went across to Lucy and the pair followed Mike out into the quiet hallway. He recounted the entire discussion between himself and the soldiers, careful not to leave out a single detail. “So, what do you think?” Mike was convinced both women would opt for the military base over heading up to Scotland, and who was he to argue? He could make all the promises he liked about keeping them safe, but with Samantha already in the ground, he knew the promises would be empty.

  The two women were silent for a moment, each weighing up the pros and cons. “I say we head to your gran’s place,” said Lucy eventually.

  “Me too, we should go to Gran’s,” agreed Emma.

  Mike was visibly shocked. “Seriously?”

  Lucy smiled a little at his reaction. “We don’t know anything about this place. What’s to say someone else hasn’t taken it over? What’s to say it’s not overrun with RAMs?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know that Gran’s place is going to be safe.”

  “I’d feel safer trying to fight RAMs in a tiny Scottish village than trying to fight half the population of Morecambe,” replied Emma. “You wanted to head to Gran’s from the start, but we all convinced you to stay here, and look how that turned out. If we’d have listened to you in the first place, Mike, Samantha would still be with us.”

  “We don’t know that, Em. I mean, we could be heading into all kinds of hell out there.”

  Emma pulled Mike’s face towards her. “Listen to me. You weren’t responsible for what happened to Samantha. If it wasn’t for you, there would be nobody left in this village.”

  “She’s right,” continued Lucy. “If you honestly think in your heart of hearts that heading to this MOD base is the right move, then I’ll follow you. But if you want to go there because you’re scared of the responsibility involved in getting us up to Scotland safely, then damn you, Mike. I know you didn’t ask for this, I know it’s not fair that everyone expect you to make these decisions, but there’s a reason people look to you. There’s a reason people are safe with you. Now tell me, what are we doing?”

  Lucy and Emma held their breath while they waited for Mike to speak. His mouth opened briefly then closed again. It opened a second time and this time he spoke. “We’re going to Scotland.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Early the next morning, the clattering of vehicles being loaded woke them up. They had all slept in the same hotel room. Emma had shared the double bed with Sammy and Jake, while Mike and Lucy had created a makeshift bed out of sofa cushions and pillows. They had remained fully dressed, just in case. Mike opened his eyes and felt Lucy’s warm arm draped over his chest. Her eyes were already open, watching him. He gently kissed her forehead and then pulled back the quilt. Emma and the kids stirred on the bed as Mike got up and went to the window. A number of vehicles were parked in front, some already fully loaded and ready to go. Villagers were loading the box van that they had brought from the farm with supplies from the hotel. There was going to be nothing of any use left in this village once they had finished. Raj had raided his pharmacy at the vets. Quite a few of the medicines could be used for human consumption as well. Every medicine cabinet in the whole village had been emptied, every larder, every coal cellar. Anything that could help to keep people alive had a value. The vehicles that would not be making the journey were siphoned of fuel.

  Lucy went across to the chest of drawers where a bowl of cold water waited for her. There was a bit of a difference between that and the steaming bowl that had been delivered to her room the day before, but it was nonetheless revitalising as she splashed it on her face. “I’m just going to go down and see how the patient is,” she said as she left the family to rouse. As soon as she was out of sight, she downed a pill from her stash. She knew this couldn’t carry on. She knew she’d have to give up. But at this moment, she needed help from her little friends.

  Emma was not a morning person, so Mike ushered Sammy and Jake off the bed and prompted them to get dressed. He lay down next to her, leaning his head on his hand. He stared at the cuts on her forehead and the bruise on her cheek. He could so easily have lost her. She begrudgingly opened her eyes and saw him lying there with a loving smile on his face.

  “What?” she asked grumpily.

  “Nothing,” he replied, kissing her forehead and climbing out of bed. “We’ve got to get up. It looks like half the village are already out there.”

  *

  Hughes had been carried in on a stretcher the night before. They had put him in the office behind reception where the off-duty sentries napped until it was their turn to take guard duty. Lucy had checked in on him just before she went to bed. He had slept most of the day and most of the night.

  “How is he?” asked Shaw as she examined the unconscious soldier.

  “In an ideal world, he could do with a blood transfusion, but I’ve got him on a drip that will speed the process up.”

  “Is there no way I can convince you to come with us?” asked Shaw.

  Lucy shook her head. “Look, Shaw, I thought we were all going to be heading up to Scotland together, in which case it wouldn’t have been an issue, but Private Hughes could really do with continued treatment. I mean, I could show you what to do and hope for the best, but he’d really be better off coming with us, so I can keep my eyes on him.”

  “Let me think it over,” he replied and left the doctor with her patient.

  *

  Mike headed out of the hotel towards Raj and Talikha, who were busy loading up a transit van with food, a small box of medical supplies and some weapons and ammunition as well as bedding and camping equipment. “I didn’t get chance to speak to you last night, but I’m guessing you’re going to be heading off with the soldiers now they’ve got a plan?”

  Raj smiled and placed the box he was carrying down on the floor of the van. “No, Mike. Talikha and I have spoken and we think our destination is less important than the people we go with. The choices we make now will have consequences stretching the rest of our lives and I feel it would be a miscalculation on our part to betray ou
r initial inclination.” He paused for a second and looked at Mike, who seemed lost for words. “That is, if you will still permit us to join you.”

  Mike smiled. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing has changed since the conversation we had yesterday.”

  “Excellent, then,” he replied. “Shaw and the other soldiers have been most generous with the supplies they have given us, as you can see.” Raj gestured to the inside of the vehicle.

  “This is all for us?” Mike asked, shocked.

  “Indeed it is.” Mike pulled an army green holdall towards him and unzipped it. Inside there were three SA80 rifles, four handguns, three pump-action shotguns and several clips with extra boxes of ammunition. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  Several of the vehicles being loaded were almost full. The time for the mass exodus from Candleton was not far off. “I’d better go get the rest of the gang ready.”

  Up on the first floor of the hotel, it was a hive of activity as the villagers emptied the rooms of linen, towels, toiletries and anything else they could get their hands on. Mike was heading towards his family’s room when he was stopped by Beth. “I didn’t really get chance to talk to you yesterday, Beth. I’m so sorry about your family, your mum, your dad, your aunty and uncle.” She just nodded glumly.

  “Thanks, Mike. I just wanted to wish you luck. I’m taking Annie and John and we’re going with the soldiers. I think that will be for the best, but I wanted to thank you. You did everything you could to get us here and I appreciate it.”

  Mike just nodded appreciatively. “Good luck, Beth, I hope things work out for you.” The pair hugged uncomfortably before heading off in opposite directions.

  Back in the hotel room, Emma, Sammy and Jake had packed their belongings and were ready to leave. Mike picked up his rucksack and his holdall and noticed Lucy’s was already gone.

  “One of the soldiers took it down for her,” Emma said, noticing Mike’s confused expression.