SAFE HAVEN: REALM OF THE RAIDERS

by Christopher Artinian

  NO UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL.

  DANGER: M.O.D. TRAINING GROUND.

  LIVE AMMUNITION IN USE.

  Barnes jumped down from the Jackal and used a pair of industrial bolt cutters to break through the two thick padlocks holding the chains around the gates. He swung them wide open and got back into his vehicle. They all followed. The second Jackal pulled up at the other side of the gates, and a soldier got out, closed them and fitted two new padlocks to the chains. He pulled the gates back and forth to make sure they were firmly closed then he climbed back in and they headed off. The majority of the vehicles came to a halt in front of the barracks. Thomson drove the ambulance around the administration building and on to the infirmary. Shaw got out and walked up to the locked door. He began walking around the building and saw a window left slightly ajar so the place could breathe. He levered it open and climbed in. It smelt musty inside. He walked back down to the entrance and unlocked the door. Thomson got out of the ambulance and opened up the back, then he and Shaw removed the gurney with Hughes still unconscious. Shaw began wheeling it into the infirmary while Thomson manhandled Lucy to her feet and marched her in behind them.

  Once in, Thomson pushed her into a chair and tore the duct tape from her mouth. It hurt, but she denied him the satisfaction of showing it.

  “Give us a hand to get Hughes onto a bed, Tommo,” said Shaw.

  Thomson looked across at him then roughly pulled Lucy to her feet. “Not that I don’t trust you darling...” he said, marching her across to the beds. He pushed her down and together Shaw and Thomson cautiously lifted Hughes onto the bed.

  “How come he’s been unconscious for so long?” demanded Thomson.

  Lucy looked at him with contempt then turned her head away.

  “Oi, I’m fucking talking to you.” He marched across and grabbed her chin firmly. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m like some of ’em, sweetheart. I haven’t got a fucking problem hittin’ a woman if she gives me some fuckin’ grief.”

  “Gee, your mom must be so proud.” The lanky private raised his other hand to slap her.

  “That’s enough, Tommo,” ordered Shaw.

  “I’m not having some bitch think she’s better than me just because she’s got some fuckin’ letters after her name,” he snapped back.

  “Seriously, you believe I think I’m better than you because of the letters after my name. The letters after my name aren’t even in the top one thousand reasons why I’m better than you.” No sooner had she spoken than Thomson slapped her hard with the back of his hand and her head shot to the side with the force. A bruise began to form. Lucy slowly and defiantly turned her head back round to face him. She could taste blood in her mouth from where her teeth had cut her inner cheek. She swilled it round and then spat it out on the floor next to Thomson’s boot. He raised his hand again, but this time Shaw grabbed him.

  “I said, that’s enough,” he said sternly. “Go get the detention cells open.” Thomson looked at Shaw and then back at Lucy before storming out.

  “Nice pet you’ve got there, Shaw. Has he had his jabs?” she asked, loudly enough for Thomson to hear before leaving the infirmary.

  “Jesus Christ, Doctor, please show a bit of sense,” he said, sitting down next to Hughes and opposite Lucy. “Tommo’s alright, but he’s got a real temper. I can’t be around 24/7 to look out for you. Don’t antagonise him, please.”

  “I tell you what, you undo my restraints, and I’ll look after myself. I’m not scared of a piece of shit like that.” Shaw stared at Lucy for a moment then shook his head. “Why were you talking about detention cells?”

  “During the day, in here, there’s always going to be a guard with you. At night, the easiest thing to do is just lock you down.”

  “So I’m either under armed guard or in a cell, is that what you’re telling me?” she asked, half laughing.

  “For the time being, Doctor. I’m hoping that when you realise Mike isn’t coming for you we might be able to trust you a little more, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Now, would you mind telling me why Hughes has been out of it for so long?”

  Lucy let out a deflated sigh and looked across at Hughes. “I’ve got him on morphine, a lot of it. I’ll start weaning him off it in the next day or so, but right now it’s what he needs to manage the pain and stop his body going into shock. I like Private Hughes, I’m not going to do anything to hurt him. You bring that other piece of shit in to me though, and I might just accidentally put hydrochloric acid into his IV,” she said, without a hint of a smile.

  “Fair enough.”

  *

  “Forgive me for asking, Mike, but why are we parking behind the Skelton public library?” enquired Raj as he pulled on the handbrake. He checked the rear-view mirror and Emma pulled up behind. Almost as soon as they came to a standstill, four grey figures appeared from around the side of the building and began to sprint towards the noise of the engines. Raj pushed off the handbrake ready to speed away again, but Mike just reached into his bag and pulled out the two machetes Lucy had given him back at the farm. He calmly opened the door and got out.

  He looked back at Raj before closing it. “There are a couple of books I need to borrow,” he said and then walked towards the advancing creatures. He could hear the screams from Sammy and Jake as the beasts neared him, but he was almost grateful for their arrival. The seething fury that was pulsing through him was nearly crippling, and having a reason to unleash some of his pent-up emotion could only help.

  The distance between the first pair and the second was less than two feet. Mike stood with his arms extended, the machetes firmly in his grip. With lightning speed his arms criss-crossed, cutting halfway through the heads of the first pair and taking the heads clean off the necks of the second. The four beasts fell to the ground almost simultaneously, his actions flowing faster than their blood. Their grey eyes registered no emotion, but the shattered pupils became tiny speckled dots as they fell. An empty carrier bag for a supermarket long since gone caught on a small breeze and drifted towards him. At the same instant, another figure appeared at the end of the alleyway and began to sprint in his direction. Mike dropped his machetes, picked up the bag, put his hand into it and wrapped the plastic around his fingers and knuckles several times. The beast pounced and Mike responded with a mighty upper cut, knocking the creature back off its feet and causing it to thud heavily onto the tarmac. He climbed on top of it, pinning its arms down with his knees and looked at its face. It tried to lurch towards him, but to no avail. Its yellow teeth and ghoulish flesh repulsed Mike, but the eyes, the strange opaqueness and the jagged black pupils, they intrigued him. How could something so broken, so distorted still see? It was a question he didn’t need to ponder for long as he brought his sheathed fist down like a hammer. The crack of the cartilage as his victim’s nose smashed echoed off the walls of the narrow alley. Thick, gooey blood filled the beast’s eyes, blinding it to its fate. Mike raised his fist and repeated the blow, again and again. The cheekbones eventually caved in as well, and before long, Mike’s fist disappeared into the RAM’s head up to its wrist. Movement from the creature had long since ceased. Mike stared down, breathing heavily, not thinking about what he had just done, but thinking about what he was going to do when he found the men who had taken Lucy.

  He stood up, carefully peeled the bloody plastic from his hand, collected his machetes, cleaned off his blades and strolled back to the van. He threw the machetes into his rucksack and hitched it onto his shoulder. “Wait here a minute,” he said to Raj as he climbed onto the van seat and then out onto the roof. He leaned back over. “You see any more, just honk the horn,” he said before swinging the door shut.

  Raj heard some heavy steps on the roof of the van and then felt the springs lift as Mike’s weight was transferred to the roof of the library. He was concerned that Mike might finally have gone mad.

  Mike went across to the skylight he had broken just a couple of days before. The occupants
of the library had clearly attempted to perform some kind of repair using parcel tape and string, but he levered it up with no effort.

  “Ruth, David, Richard?” he shouted to the three librarians as he poked his head through the large square hole.

  A female voice called out. “Mike, is that you?” He swung his legs in and lowered himself down before dropping the final few feet.

  As he dropped, three familiar figures emerged from the shadows. It was the strangest thing, but Mike warmed inside as he saw the oddball librarians who had helped him get back to his family just a few days earlier. “What are you doing here?” asked Ruth, the head librarian.

  “I need your help, but first things first, I’ve got my family and some friends with me,” he said urgently. “Can we get them in?”

  The four of them rushed towards the fire door. Mike took up guard outside while bedding, food, weapons and the occupants of the vehicles were all hurried inside. They dumped everything by the doors and made their way into the library. Raj and Talikha had spent considerable time at the library and although they didn’t know the librarians by name, they were on polite terms with them. But then again, they were on polite terms with everyone.

  Mike instructed Sammy and Jake to explore, comfortable that the library was totally secure. He sat down in the reading area and told the whole story to the former library employees. The bits he missed out, Emma, Raj and Talikha filled in.

  When they had finished, the three librarians sat there in shock. “That’s horrible,” said Ruth, staggered that such betrayal could exist. “You said you needed our help, Mike. What would you like us to do?”

  “Firstly, I’d appreciate it if we could crash here for the night. My skull is pounding and I need to get back on my game.” Raj remembered how just a few minutes ago Mike had eviscerated five RAMs in a heartbeat. If that was him off his game, it was chilling to contemplate what he would be like on it. “Secondly, I need maps. They’ve taken Lucy to a decommissioned MOD site somewhere just north of Morecambe. I know that there is a big lake with four streams leading into it and I know it’s surrounded by a huge area of woodland. Between us, we should be able to figure out where it is.”

  Mike looked at Raj and Talikha. He knew that had been the question on their mind. Was Mike really insane enough to launch an assault on a heavily armed Ministry of Defence encampment?

  Then he looked across at his sister. She had known all along. “Finally,” Mike said, looking back towards the three librarians, I need your knowledge and expertise. When I’ve got Lucy back we’re heading north to my Gran’s place. Now, I honestly don’t know what we’re going to find there. Right now, I don’t know if she’s alive, dead or worse, but I do know that’s where we’re going and that’s where we’re going to start afresh. If you guys were transported somewhere rich in resources, but with no knowledge of how to build new life, a new society, what books would you need? What books would tell you how to grow crops, farm, forage for wild fruit and berries, be self-sufficient? What books would tell you how to make clothes, soap, all the things we take for granted? And don’t forget weapons. Right now, we’ve got guns and ammo, but when the bullets run out we’re going to be back to using bows and arrows. What books could tell us how to make those things?” Mike sat back. Now Raj was smiling. This was the kind of thinking he had hoped Mike was capable of. This was what could give them a future.

  “Of course you’re welcome to stay here, Mike, and we’d be happy to search out the very best material for starting again in Scotland. But are you really sure you want to go head to head with these men?” asked Ruth tentatively.

  “I don’t want to, Ruth. I have to.”

  “Lucy’s family now,” said Emma. “She’d do the same and more for any one of us. This is the very least we can do for her.” Mike looked towards his sister. His throat constricted and tears welled in his eyes. Not saying a word, he stood up and walked away. Emma followed him. When they were out of the library and in a narrow corridor leading to the staff room, Emma pulled him round to face her. His eyes were red with stinging tears. His sister gently took his head and bent his neck so he could quietly weep on her shoulder. She held him for a minute, and then brushed away his tears. “Let’s sit down a minute, just you and me,” she said, taking his hand and pulling him down to the floor. They both sat with their backs against the wall.

  “I’m so lucky to have you as a sister, Em,” he said, trying to sponge his eyes. “I can’t remember the last time I cried as much as I have in the past twenty-four hours. I think I’m losing it, I can’t seem to focus.”

  “You could have fooled me. I think they were all stirred by what you said in there. Listen, I know you better than anyone, Mike, I always have, and I know what’s causing this.” He turned to look at her. “You are the biggest control freak I have ever met in my life.” She took hold of his hand and squeezed it tightly. “Don’t get me wrong, your need to take control is what has kept us alive. But there are some things you’re not going to be able to control.” She kissed his hand and placed her other hand around it too. “Lucy told me you went to pieces when you found Samantha. She told me the fear of finding me the same way almost crippled you. Things are going to happen that we can’t predict. They’re going to have outcomes that we can’t control. You can’t take responsibility for a group of maniacs firing mortars at the hotel. You can’t take responsibility for the soldiers kidnapping Lucy. The only thing you can take responsibility for is what you do about it, and you know what, Mike? You don’t have to take full responsibility for that either, because I’m here to share the burden with you. Both of us together are going to figure out how to find her. Then we’re going to get her back.”

  Mike leaned across, pulled Emma’s head towards him and kissed her gently. “I still can’t believe that they took her. I thought we were on the same side.”

  “I love you, Mike, but you’ve got a distorted view of what life is like. You only ever see things in black and white. There are so many shades of grey. When the pressure is on, good people sometimes do bad things to survive.”

  “Surely, by definition, they then become bad people,” replied Mike.

  “I rest my case, Mike, black and white.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “Whatever we have to. If it was Sammy they’d taken, you’d crucify every last one of them. This is no different. We do what we have to do to get her back.”

  The pair sat for a moment in silence looking at the painted white breeze-block wall. The skylight above let in enough daylight for them to notice the odd black smudge, the odd chip from a lifetime ago when trolleys of books would have been carted from the loading area through this hall. The hurried activity before the doors opened at nine o’clock. Finally their thoughts came back round to the problem at hand.

  “I told her I was falling in love with her,” Mike admitted guiltily.

  Emma quietly giggled to herself. She looked down at his hand that was still firmly clutched between hers and shook her head. “And what did she say?”

  “She didn’t say anything,” he replied with a slight twitch.

  “Oh, Mike, Mike, Mike. You’re a lot of things, Mike. You’re sweet, loving and intelligent, but you have absolutely no fucking idea about relationships and women. Jake has a better grasp than you do.”

  “Thanks, sis,” he replied, regretting telling her.

  She let go of his hand, took a deep breath and dragged her knees up to her chest. It was lecture time. “You’ve only known Lucy a few days. Love is a very big word after just a few days.”

  “I’ve never felt like this before, Em. It’s like an electricity, a kind of magnetic field that’s pulling me towards her. I know the difference between really liking somebody and this. This is something I’ve never felt before. This is scary.”

  “You’ve got to remember that Lucy’s got a lot more to lose than you have. You’re young and you’re a guy. People take it for granted that you’ll be a bit dim-witted when it comes to
feelings. Lucy is older, Mike, and she’s been hurt before. She’s a doctor, she’s got respect and standing. For her to have a relationship with someone so much younger than her could be seen as a really bad error of judgement if things don’t work out. She could lose a lot of respect, she could be really humiliated. You’ve got to understand that she has to be sure before she says those words to you.” She looked across at her brother. His eyes were fixed on the wall, not giving anything away.

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen the way she looks at you. There is definitely something going on between the two of you, something bigger than just a fling. And she told me about Charlotte’s Web.” Mike smiled as he remembered just a couple of days before he had managed to replace Lucy’s one lost keepsake from her life before. Charlotte’s Web had been her daughter’s favourite book. When her daughter had died, Lucy had kept that book with her, but she lost it when she fled the city. When the group’s convoy got trapped in Skelton, Mike had nearly sacrificed his own life to save them. Separated from his family and trapped in a town surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters, he had found refuge in this very library, and he had found a copy of Charlotte’s Web for Lucy.

  “That’s the kind of thing they write songs about. That was something beyond romantic, that was...” Emma choked a little bit, wondering whether she would ever find anyone to do something like that for her. “It was beautiful, Mike.” She paused for a moment to try and remember the point she was trying to make. “Anyway, long story short. Lucy is crazy about you, but it just might take her a little longer to say it.”

  Mike smiled. He had been scared that he had messed everything up with Lucy, but hearing his sister lifted a huge weight from his shoulders. He let out a deep satisfying breath. “Thanks, sis.”

  “There is one thing though, Mike.”

  “What?” he asked turning to look at her.

  “You saved us from getting attacked by the RAMs. You ran around town evading them. You got trapped in a loft, made a terrifying escape by the skin of your teeth, then eventually found your way here. You were separated from your family, alone and scared, and yet you still managed to take the time to find that book for Lucy. What I want to know is this...”