“Fun’s over, lad,” said Fry.
“Fuck off and find your own,” said the man, without even turning around.
“I said, you’re fuckin’ done,” replied Fry.
This time the man recognised the voice and fell over as he sprang to his feet. He grabbed his clothes and held them up in front of his exposed groin. “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realise it was you,” the man said, his voice shaking.
“Fuck off,” said Fry, nudging his head in the direction of the door. The naked figure sprinted away.
The black woman sat up on the bed, her naked body supple and toned, her straight collar-length hair carefully styled. This woman knew how to look after herself and how to look good.
“Can you cook?” asked Fry, examining her face to try and get a better reading on her.
“I can cook, I can sing, I can play the piano, run the hundred in twelve flat and do your taxes with one hand tied behind my back,” she smiled brazenly.
Fry liked her immediately, but he didn’t let anything show on his face. The grunts and cries of ecstasy and pain carried on around them while he surveyed the woman further.
“When did you come in?” he asked.
“Two days ago. Got a fag?” she asked. Fry walked up to her and held out a packet. She took one and put it in the corner of her mouth. “Got a light?”
“Do you want me to fucking smoke it for you as well?” he asked, striking a match for her. She leant forward, looking not at the flame but up into his eyes. She lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply, then gently exhaled the smoke into Fry’s face. This time he smiled widely. “What’s your name?”
“Juliet,” she replied, taking another puff on her cigarette.
“Well, put your clothes on and pack your bag, Juliet, you’re coming with me.” Juliet put the cigarette in her mouth, pulled on her panties, jeans and trainers and held her head to the ceiling while she put on a sports bra and T-shirt, careful not to catch her cigarette. She bent down and pulled a small holdall from underneath the creaky bed.
“You’re very different to the rest of them, girl,” said Fry, motioning to the other cubicles.
“I don’t believe in being a victim. You can either fall to pieces or adapt and thrive. I prefer the latter.”
“And how exactly do you thrive in a situation like this?” he asked, intrigued.
“You just spend a little bit of time figuring out the lay of the board, fucking a pawn here and there. Then when the king comes along, you sink your claws in before the poor bastard knows what’s hit him.” She smiled broadly, revealing perfect white teeth. Fry let out a small laugh, then another, then another, until his raucous guffaws made some of the men lean out of their cubicles to find out what was going on.
*
“I still think we would be better taking the smaller roads,” suggested Raj as the snow plough hurtled along the M65.
“RAMs will be concentrated around population centres. I don’t think we’re going to see too many of them on a motorway in the middle of the night,” replied Mike, checking the mirror to make sure the rest of the convoy was still in formation, while trying to allay the fears of his nervous passenger.
The pair sat in silence for a few more miles. The powerful lights of the snow plough illuminated the empty road ahead and both began to get weary with the hypnotic repetition of the white lines zipping past them. Mike turned on the cold air blower and both of them shivered, upright and alert.
“What is the plan to rescue Lucy?” asked Raj.
“Plan? You want me to have a plan?” Mike turned his head towards Raj and smiled.
“I don’t think you’re someone who does anything without having a plan, Mike,” replied Raj seriously.
Mike’s smile faded and he turned his head back to the road. He didn’t say anything for a moment and then sighed. “Well, assuming we get your boat and make it up the coast, me and Em will take a dinghy, head ashore, go cross-country to the base, which I reckon is about two miles, and then wait for nightfall. Then we’ll cut through the fence, find Lucy and head back.” He was not even convincing himself that it was a good plan.
Raj let out a small laugh, believing Mike was having another joke with him. “No, seriously, Mike, what is the plan?”
“I don’t have anything more than that, Raj. All I know is I need to get Lucy back from a group of well-armed, well-trained soldiers who are desperate to survive. I don’t doubt for a second that they are more skilled than me in surveillance and combat. They’ve been in horrifying situations out in Afghanistan, so guarding a well-fortified base will be like a kid’s game to them. The single thing I have going for me is that I am prepared to go to any lengths to save her.”
“You are a very brave man, Mike, but what of Emma? If she goes with you, what lengths is she prepared to go to? Will she sacrifice her life? Will you sacrifice yours? What will become of your siblings?”
“That’s where you and Talikha come into it, Raj. Give us twenty-four hours. If we’re not back, set off for my Gran’s place. You know where it is, I’ve pinpointed it on the map.”
“Mike, my friend, are you sure you want to do this?”
“It’s not about wanting to, Raj. I need to.”
Raj dropped into an almost meditative state as they journeyed along, but eventually broke his silence. “Mike, it makes more sense for me to come with you.”
“You’re a good man, Raj, but I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You are not asking, I am offering. Before you say no, let me state my case. Firstly, if something happens to both you and Emma, the children will be lost. You have already said, my friend, that you cannot know whether your grandmother is still alive. If she is gone, Sammy and Jake will have no-one. Secondly, if something goes wrong and we are captured, in all likelihood, they will kill us.” Mike turned to look at him as if to question what his point was. “But if they captured a young woman like Emma,” Raj continued, “do you think they would just kill her?” Mike suddenly felt cold with the realisation of what could happen to his sister. “Thirdly, Emma has your fighting spirit and has proved herself to be quite formidable when the lives of her loved ones depend on her. With Talikha at the helm, I am sure Emma would be more than capable of marshalling the rest of them to safety.” He sat back in his seat. He had made up his mind.
“You could do just the same, Raj, plus, there’d be two people able to drive the boat. And the fact that you’re a vet means you have some knowledge of what to do if someone got injured,” responded Mike.
“This is also true, but there is one other reason why it has to be me who goes with you.” Mike turned to look at him again. “Because if something happened to you and Emma, I would never be able to look at myself in the mirror again without seeing a coward. I do not want to go with you, Mike, I am not a man of action, I am not brave, but if I do not learn to become comfortable with my fears, then I am not worthy to hold my wife or to hold my head high. I want to go with you as much for me and Talikha as for you and your family. There is no honour in cowardice, Mike, and I feel our paths have crossed for a reason. I believe we are meant to help each other.”
*
“Does he really need to travel at this speed? I’m beginning to feel nauseous again,” said Richard, winding down the window. Emma rolled her eyes for the hundredth time.
“Do you think we’ll be stopping soon? I could really use a toilet break,” added David, who was sat at the other window in the back seat of the 4x4.
Emma let out an irritated sigh. “We stop when the convoy stops. Mike will know when it’s safe.” She heard two small tuts from the back seat and looked in the rear-view mirror to see the pair of them looking out of the window like petulant teenagers.
Ruth, sat in the front passenger seat, began fumbling about for something in her handbag. “Oh, bubble and squeak,” she said angrily as whatever it was she was looking for slipped from her hand and into the footwell. She leant forward and began bobbing around, scouring the floor
.
Emma snorted angrily from her nose. Why on earth was she stuck with these geeks? She should be up in front with Mike, and Raj should be back here chauffeuring the nerds. A pungent stench attacked Emma’s nose and she began to cough.
“Oh, bother and dash, the top’s fallen off my perfume,” Ruth said, holding up the lidless bottle. She proceeded to dab a little onto her middle finger and then either side of her neck before bending back over to search for the lid. Emma’s temples began to pulse as irritation compounded irritation.
“Well done, Ruth,” said David. “I think Richard really is going to be sick now.” Richard rolled down his window fully, released his seatbelt and leaned out.
Up ahead, the brake lights lit up on the snow plough and then the van. The convoy rolled to a stop and Emma got out and jogged up to the front. She climbed up on the footplate and opened the driver door of the cab. “Just so you know, I hate you,” she said to her bewildered brother as she stuck her head forward into the cab.
“Why, what have I done?”
“Sticking me with those moaning, nerdy bastards,” she said angrily, before beginning to do impressions of them in whiney tones. “‘Do you want a sweet, Ruth?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you want a sweet, Emma?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you want a sweet, Richard?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Oh damn, I forgot to pack any. Has anybody got any sweets?’ Then it’s ‘Oh, my feet hurt.’ ‘I think I pulled my back when we were loading the van.’ ‘I feel sick.’ ‘Will we be stopping for a toilet break soon?’” She looked back towards the car as the occupants nervously began to get out. “I swear, if I have to spend five more minutes with them, I’m going to beat them all to death.”
“Okay,” replied Mike, not quite sure what to say for fear of incurring more of his sister’s anger. “We’re going to stop here for the night. There are no towns or villages nearby, the land’s flat in all directions and we’ve got a good view of the road ahead. We’ll grab a few hours’ sleep and then crack on again tomorrow.”
“Fine, but there’s no fucking way I’m getting back into that car,” replied Emma, climbing back down to go and retrieve her younger brother and sister.
*
Sammy and Jake were fast asleep in the back of the van on top of two large boxes of books that had been levelled off with a piece of board. They were snuggled into the same sleeping bag and were blissfully unaware of the world around them. Mike and Emma were in the front seats. They had reclined them as far as they could go, but neither could be called comfortable. They pulled their sleeping bags up to keep out the chill of the night. Their eyes were wide open, checking the mirrors, checking the road ahead, instinctively looking for anything out of the ordinary.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” asked Emma as she looked back into the van at her younger siblings.
“Doing what?”
“Do you think it’s worth the risk? Whether it’s me who goes with you or Raj, there’s a lot on the line. We could just get on the boat and head to Gran’s, it would be a lot safer, we’d be a lot safer.” Emma stared blankly ahead, not wanting to look her brother in the eye.
For a moment Mike sat there dumbfounded. “You can’t be serious, Em. Forget about how I feel about Lucy for a second, she’s one of us now. How many times has she laid her life on the line for the safety of us all?”
“All I’m saying, Mike, is it’s taking a huge gamble with our safety. Not just you and Raj, but the rest of us. What if something happens to you? How safe do you think we’ll be if a gang of raiders attacks us? What happens if something goes wrong with the boat and we have to make the journey by road? Do you honestly think that me, Talikha and the three stooges can get Sammy and Jake up to Gran’s place in safety?” she said, still keeping her eyes averted.
“I can’t believe we’re having this discussion, Em, I really can’t. What if it was you or Sammy?” he asked, his bewilderment turning to anger.
“That would be different. We’re family. You’ve said all along, it’s about keeping the family safe, Mike. I just hope she’s worth it. I hope she’s worth risking your life and Raj’s life and all our lives.” She turned towards her brother. He noticed a tear forming in the corner of her eye. It glistened in the moonlight.
Just as he was about to launch into a tirade he heard movement in the back of the van. He turned to look, and the sleeping bag was moving around violently. He could no longer see the heads of his two siblings. Suddenly the top of Sammy’s head appeared. “Are you alright, Sammy, did you have a nightmare?” Sammy looked up, her face contorted, malevolent. She bared her teeth and Mike could see blood, black in the moonlight, dripping over her lips and down her chin. Then came the familiar low growl as she began crawling towards him. “Oh fuck, no,” cried Mike as he struggled to get out of his sleeping bag.
“What’s wrong, Mike?” asked Emma, her dead grey face turning towards him. “Surely you knew this would happen,” she said calmly, before lunging towards Mike with her ghoulish claw-like fingers extended towards his throat.
“Mike! Mike! Mike, wake up!” He woke with a start. A thin film of perspiration had formed on his head, despite the cold. Emma had shuffled over the gap in the seats to put her arm around him. He looked at her and for a second saw the grey face of the RAM that had been trying to attack him seconds earlier, then he saw the concerned face of his sister. “Mike, it’s okay, you were having a nightmare.” She kept her left arm firmly around him while brushing his hair gently with her right hand, just like their mum had done when they had bad dreams when they were younger. “What were you dreaming?”
“I don’t remember,” he lied.
“Well, try and go back to sleep,” she said, kissing him on the head and returning to her seat.
*
“I miss my hotel,” said Jenny as she sat on the bottom bunk with Lucy, eating a plate of cold beans and cream crackers.
“Not exactly haute cuisine, is it?” said Lucy.
A surly soldier whose name Lucy couldn’t remember walked up to the bars and peered into the cell. “Ten minutes and then I’ve been told to take you to the infirmary, so make sure you’re ready.”
“Charming, wasn’t he?” quipped Jenny as the soldier’s footsteps faded out of range. “I’ve got all day, you’d better have the sink first,” she said, nodding towards the small basin in the corner. The villager who had brought in their breakfast had also provided a large jug of cold water which was for drinking as well as washing.
“No, it’s fine, I’ll get cleaned up across at the infirmary. The amenities are a little better over there,” she said sourly.
“I don’t suppose there’s anything to read over there is there? I’ve got about three chapters left of this book and then that’s it,” said Jenny, realising a very long boring day awaited her.
“I’ll see if there is something lying around, but I wouldn’t build your hopes up.”
“My dear Lucy, the days of me building my hopes up are long gone, I’m afraid,” replied Jenny with a sigh.
A few minutes later the guard arrived as promised and Lucy was handcuffed and escorted across the courtyard from the detention cells to the infirmary. The soldier made no effort to speak to her and she had no interest in striking up a conversation with him. When they arrived at the infirmary she was grateful to see that it was Tuttle on duty and he was at Hughes’s bedside.
“Turtle, better get back to your post, you don’t want Tommo to catch you pissin’ about,” said the surly soldier. He undid the handcuffs and pushed Lucy in the direction of her patient.
“Was there really any need for that?” she asked, turning around indignantly.
“Fuck off,” replied the soldier, marching back out of the infirmary.
Lucy thought about shouting something derogatory after him, but then realised her life was hard enough already. Why make it worse? She composed herself and walked across to Hughes, passing Tuttle on the way. “So, how’s my patient this morning?”
*
“Where is this place
?” asked Hooper as the three soldiers walked past the second barracks and up a grassy embankment into the woods.
“According to the map, it’s about half a click east of here,” said Thomson, checking the compass as they walked.
“Do you think it might have a radio so we can see if anyone else is out there?” asked Defreitas.
“It could have all sorts of useful shit if they didn’t take it all when they shut the place down,” replied Thomson.
The three men carried on walking, occasionally looking towards the sky when there was a break in the canopy. After several days of wet, grey weather, the sun had broken through the morning clouds. The air was still damp, but the sight of the sun gave them renewed vigour. Thomson stopped and walked over to a large tree. He bent down and examined something towards the base of the trunk. The other two just looked at each other, puzzled.
“See these,” he said, touching some fungus protruding from the bark. “Oyster mushrooms,” he said, nodding happily to himself.
“Fuck me! Tommo’s turned into my grandad. Going to build yourself an allotment, are you?” scoffed Hooper.
“I’ll be the one who’s laughing when I’ve got fresh mushrooms on my plate and you’re eating another tin of mushy peas,” he responded.
“Look like toadstools to me,” said Defreitas, backing his friend up.
“Yeah, well, shows what you fuckin’ know, doesn’t it?” replied Thomson. Hooper and Defreitas looked at each other like they were about to laugh but then thought better of it.
The trio carried on in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. The peace was shattered as the sound of a chainsaw roared from the camp. Thomson had left instructions to rig up an outdoor cooking facility; the kitchens and their ovens and hobs were redundant without the necessary fuel. As far as everyone at the camp was concerned, it couldn’t happen quickly enough. Eating food cold out of cans was a demoralising experience and many of the villagers favoured hunger over cold beans after the relative luxury that Candleton had provided. The distant sound of the saw could still be made out as the three soldiers came across a manmade bank of earth. It lay at a forty-five degree angle and stretched forty metres in width. They followed the bank until a small concrete ramp became visible. The ramp led down a few metres into a narrow passageway. At the end of the passageway was a blast door, with a large wheel in its centre.
SAFE HAVEN: REALM OF THE RAIDERS Page 20