“That’s what makes us all love you, but you’re also the one who stresses us the most as well. You have become the one who has the ideas and the one who leads us. You brought us together and made us into this family, we need you to try and not take too many risks please.”
“Ok, but I am still not going to let others do things that I would do myself, ok?”
“That’s all we ask. Now kiss me, because I have to go make food with Becky for all these extra mouths you brought home last night.”
I gave her the kiss she wanted (I did want to give her more, but!), she put her clothes on and went out the door. I went to our bed and fell on to it, it was still warm and I just wanted to fall back to sleep.
When the door opened and Rees stuck his head in “Oi, Walker you left yer combats in the Land Rover last night.” And a pair of combat trousers flew through the air followed by boots which just missed my head.
“Morning Rees and how are you this morning?” I said smiling.
“The only way you ever call me Rees first thing is if you got laid the night before, jammy fucker.”
“What we got planned for this morning?” I asked, as I got myself ready.
“Well, I would like to get the new lads and Marc, started on how to shoot the Brownings. Then when they get used to using them, we get them started on the rifles. To be honest, we also need to make another run at the TA Centre the problem we have is I am sure we left left some Reapers in there.”
“How about we do this get them started on the pistols today and work our way up to the rifles with them. Then we choose the two best shots and they can come with us when we go back. That way we have the extra firepower, that we might need.”
“That’s my skinny little mate is why you are in charge and I am an advisor.”
“You my friend are slowly becoming a pain the arse this morning.”
“Is that what Maddie was saying last night?” He said laughing.
I shook my head and stood up “Come on lard arse let’s go see if any of this lot can shoot. ‘Pain in the arse’ funny, very funny.” (I am scared of sweet corn you can figure that out cause I am not going to tell you.)
We walked down the hallway and through the pantry and outside. It was overcast and the sky was that gray color you get before a downpour. We walked down through the garden and went through the fence. We walked out about fifty yards and marked off the area with some long sticks stuck in the ground. We were going to set up a sort of range. When we had gotten some of the fencing that was left from making the paddock for the horses. We roughly had the area marked out and decided that as long as the range pointed away from the cottage and into the trees it would be ok safety wise. Of course we would have to tell people that when we were firing that no one was to be walking down here.
Turning to go back and get the materials to make the range, we saw Mary coming down the garden path toward us. She stopped at the gate and we met her there.
“Hey Mary, how are you this morning?” I asked.
“I want to learn to shoot as well.” She replied.
“Well, good morning to you. I was planning on having everyone who could handle a rifle trained. What made you think we were not going to train you?”
“I heard that one..” and she pointed at Rees “say that you should get your brother and the lads to see who could shoot. So I thought you were only going to train the men.”
“You misunderstood me Mary, when I said lads, I was meaning in the military sense.” Said Rees.
She turned a lovely rose color when she had realized that she had cocked up.
“We noticed that women can sometimes be as good a shot as men if not better. What we are going to do first though is to get you all trained up on the handguns, then we will move on to the rifles. But the main task or today is to get a range set up and then have some of you shoot some rounds without help, then go through some pointers to get you better. We will also go through how to strip and clean them.” Said Rees.
We walked back to the cottage and went round to the shed to get the materials we needed to set up the firing range. Marc and Dave came over to give us a hand, Jamie was at the paddock watching the horses. Jane and Amanda came outside to hang some clothes on the washing line. Whilst carrying all the stuff for the firing range, I couldn’t believe how much the new people had seemed to settle here.
I asked Mary that and she said that the last few days at the apartments seemed to be a constant battle with food, water and the Reapers, and the fact they had arrived here and everything was as close to normal as it used to be. I gave her a quick run down on what had happened since the beginning, and that we had been very lucky in that we hadn’t been found or attacked by any Reapers. Hopefully with the extra people we had now things would be easier for us all and with us all working together, then I couldn’t see a reason why we wouldn’t be safe. With that, we continued to carry the fence rails and lumber to the firing range. Marc and Dave seemed to be getting on quite well, I could hear the odd laugh here and there. When we had enough fence rails and lumber, Rees started to set up where we were going to set up the backstop.
Rees and Mary started to place the posts, after we had got about a rough fifteen foot stretch done, this fence was going to be covered with the lumber and then behind was going to be a large mound of dirt, that was going to be the backstop.
Before we got round to starting the rest of the backstop Maddie came out the cottage and shouted that breakfast was ready. So it was down tools and we all trooped back into the house, by now I was a bit sweaty and I went to the bathroom to clean up. I took my jacket and shirt off looking at my bandaged side for the first time in a few days I noticed no fresh blood. So being careful not to pull anything I slowly pulled the bandage free. The first thought that crossed my mind when I looked at the long gash on my side was ‘Oh! Fuck’. The stitching was well done and the redness along the edges had gone down, but the thing that had me more concerned was the gray skin that seemed to leak from the edge of the gash.
Great just fucking great, I had just got a woman I was actually happy with, I had my brother safe and my best mate here, and now I was probably going to have to give it all up. If I was infected then why had I not changed? Anyone that had been infected up till now had changed within a matter of hours or at the most a day. I got injured weeks ago and I don’t feel any different, I can’t keep this from the group, but I’ll tell my lot first then see what happens.
Putting my shirt on and jacket I went downstairs to the dining room, to find all the chairs taken and that twat John sat in my seat. I was a little preoccupied and went into the sitting room and sat on one of the couches. Leaning back and resting my head on the back I closed my eyes. Marc came in and put a cup of tea and a bowl of porridge on the coffee table.
“Bud, you okay? You didn’t give that John any mouth about sitting in your chair.” He said.
“I have something on my mind dude. Something that is probably going to change stuff round here.” I replied.
He looked puzzled and I lifted the side of my jacket and shirt to show him my injured side.
“Ah fuck mate, what’s happening there?”
I let my shirt and jacket drop.
“I don’t know bud, it’s not hurting anymore and it looks like it is getting better, but his gray shit has me worried.” I said.
“I don’t think you should worry too much bud. If you think about it you would have turned by now. Nearly all them things turned within a day.”
“Yeah, I know I am just worried about what the rest of the group will say. We had just sorted out some stuff and I hate the idea of having to leave, especially with that dick John here now.”
“Did you think I would kick you out bud, not a fucking chance, there might be a small risk of you changing, but it has to be tiny. I’ll tell you what how about we get Bet, Mary, Rees, Becky and Maddie in here and have a little chat?” He replied.
I just nodded and started to drink my tea and then ate my porrid
ge, whilst waiting for them to all turn up. After about ten minutes people started to come into the sitting room. When the last person came in. Rees turned to stand with his back to the door, so Marc had already had a word with him then.
“Right, guys before we start this little meeting, whatever is decided by the majority then we are to honor that. The last thing I would like is for someone to think I or others are in charge simply because we have been here longer.” I let that sink in for a little while before going on.
“I found out something this morning that might change the way things are going to happen here from now on.”
I stood up and turned to the side so that everyone could see my injured side and lifted my shirt and jacket to show them the gash. There was a few gasps and quite a few shakes of the head. Maddie was across the room like a shot and had her arms around me crying. Holding her, I slowly started to sit on the couch with her in my arms.
Chapter Eight
“Right, before anyone jumps to any conclusions, Jay got that injury weeks ago and as you can see he hasn’t changed into one of those things.” Said Marc.
“I don’t have any problem with you being here Jay, and I agree with Marc if you were going to change you would have already.” Becky answered.
“Mate, I don’t give a fuck what’s said today, you’ve been my mate for a long time and if you have to leave then I am going with you.” Said Rees from his position in front of the door.
“Okay, but I think we should take more note of what the new people would like, we brought them here before we knew what had happened with me, so they have more to say in this than we do in my eyes.” I said.
Bet stood went to walk to one of the windows and looked outside. Mary crossed her arms and looked straight at me and said “Look you brought us to a safe place and you have promised to teach us to defend ourselves. Plus, if it is true and you got the injury a while ago then I am happy with what your friends have said.”
Bet turned and looked at the room “I have been reunited with my grandson and I had thought that I would never see any of my family again, so for that I can only say thank you. But and it is a but, if you’re infected, you could put us all in danger. Now if it is true and you got the injury a few weeks ago, then the infection might be so minor it might go away. But we have to also think that it may get worse. So what I propose is that Jay get checked every day for a month and if it doesn’t get worse then ok, but if it gets worse then we have to ask him to leave.”
Before people started to get upset, I raised my hand and said “We have heard from everyone but Maddie, so can we wait until she has her say before we have a free for all?”
Maddie lifted her head from my shoulder and simply said “I feel exactly like Rees, if you go I go.” Then buried her head back into my shoulder.
Then everyone started to talk at once and nearly all of it was directed at Bet. I did feel sorry for her, but saying that more than half of the people in the room were friends that had been with me from before the beginning or shortly after. I sat with Maddie buried into my side and watched everyone talk at once apart from Rees, who was just standing at the door watching. Slowly coming to the realization that I or someone else had to make the decision, I stood up slowly and everyone started to quieten down. Looking into the faces of everyone in the room, I saw some that felt sorry for me, one that looked like I couldn’t be trusted and the rest were on the fence.
“Look, I agree with some of you, but I also agree with Bet. Now I don’t know how long after I got this injury that the infection started to show, I haven’t been exactly looking for it. Becky did it look like the infection was there when you dad patched me up?” I said.
“Erm…we couldn’t see it at the time because there was a lot of bruising, blood and pus. That and dad had to cut some of the flesh away, that might explain why it hasn’t spread fast. We hit you with a lot of antibiotics at the time, but saying that we don’t know what it is or if the medicine did anything.” She replied.
“Ok, so we don’t know if it was there at the time of injury and hasn’t progressed because of the antibiotics or that is has only now started to show it’s self. So the only course of action at the minute is that I stay for the time being and if it becomes clear that the infection is starting to spread, I leave whether it be on my own or with ours. For the time being I will limit myself to helping train people with the weapons we have, are people ok with that?”
I received nods and a few ok’s.
“The other thing I would suggest is that I be taken out of the decision making process. Until we know which way this arse of a body is taking me. There are a couple of people would like to fill that position, but think one from each group would keep everyone happy. Becky, I would like you to be the old group’s person and I think Bet should be the new group’s person. Are you both ok with that and as long as the rest of you are ok with that as well.”
Again with the nods and ok’s.
I sat back down and Maddie leaned in to give me a large hug. Watching them talk amongst themselves, I felt small and left out, but it was the right decision to make considering things. Maddie looked up from my shoulder to look at me and I lifted my hand to stroke the side of her face. I sort of lost myself in her eyes when I realized that the talking in the room had stopped. I looked round and everyone was looking at me as though waiting for an answer.
“Sorry, pardon?” I said.
“I said you do understand that I will be coming to you for help and the minute that we decide that you’re not getting worse, I will be handing the reins back to you!” Becky answered.
“I think that I can say the exact same thing from my end. As far as I can see you have not only brought us all together, but you have also put the safety of others ahead of your own.” Said Bet.
Looking at Rees and then Marc they both smiled and I knew I was doing the right thing by everyone.
“Right then I will be outside helping Rees sort out the firing range.” I gave Maddie a kiss and stood up, picking up my rifle I went through the dining room, with John throwing evil looks at me as I walked outside. I was halfway across the garden when Rees jogged up beside me.
“You do know that if you had the infection you would have turned by now.” He said.
“Yeah, I know, but I have to let them feel safe.”
He grunted and we went through the fence to the firing range. We carried on setting up the posts and then the rest of the boarding at the target end of the range. By the time Marc and Dave arrived, we had got most of the boarding done, so we had them finish it. Rees and I started to dig and pile the soil that we wanted to use as the backstop. By dinnertime we had all built up a sweat and to tell you the truth didn’t want to go back in the house after what happened this morning. So I just sat down with my back against the backstop and closed my eyes. I felt something nudging my foot and I opened my eyes to see Maddie stood above me with something on a covered plate and a couple of cans of coke. Smiling up at her, she smiled back down at me.
“You mind if I sit with you?” she said.
“Babe you can do anything with me and after last night I think you did.” I said smiling. (well, maybe not everything I don’t like anything to do with backdoor antics.)
She went a lovely shade of red and sat down next to me on the grass. Offering me the plate, I took it off her and lifted the lid to see a cheese and pickle sandwich and a boiled egg. Eating the sandwich and drinking a coke, Maddie sat looking at the clouds and every now and then casting a sidelong glance at me.
“Maddie if you don’t say what you’re wanting to, you are going to burst.” I said.
“If you want to leave I will understand.” She said.
“What the hell makes you think I want to leave?”
“Well, you and Rees have been talking, he’s Army and your Ex Army. You could both leave here and be ok if you wanted to.”
“Listen, I have my brother, his girlfriend, you and my dog here. I am not about to leave any of you
here, unless you don’t want to stay here.”
“I just thought with everything going on with your side and the new people, well would just understand that’s all.”
I leaned over a placed a soft kiss on her cheek and looked her in the eyes, “Babe if I was going to be doing anything it would be a repeat of last night lol.”
A small smile came on her face and I knew she was feeling a little better.
“How do you feel? Your side, I mean!” She asked.
“I am fine, it still hurts and I have this bloody itch because of the stitches, but apart from that I feel fine. No sudden urges to eat anyone, so that’s a bonus. I think that if I was to transform into a Reaper I would done so already.” I replied, picking up the boiled egg and slowly taking the shell off.
Rees poked his head over the backstop and looked at us sitting watching the clouds.
“Walker, you might want to get up to the cottage that John is kicking up a fuss and guess what it’s about you.” He said.
“What the hell is that dick going on about now?” I said, and stood up, I bent and helped Maddie to stand up.
“Well to be honest, I don’t know how he found out, but he is saying that we need to kick you out and that he should be put in charge so that we can have a well run group. When Becky said why should he be in charge he said it only made sense because he was an elected official.” He replied as we walked back to the cottage.
I was slowly getting a little more pissed every time that dick opened his mouth. We crossed into the garden and headed for the door to the pantry when Dave came outside carrying one of the rifles and he didn’t look like was happy to see me.
“Rees you and the girl can go inside, but that thing can’t.” He said pointing the rifle at me.
Rees started forward and I could see by the look on his face that Dave was going to have some broken bones in his future. I put my hand on his arm and shook my head, he looked at me and relaxed. What I didn’t account for was Maddie, she was flying across the space between me and Dave, like a missile.
Reapers Isle: TheParaplegic/Chronic Gamer Returns for the Second Book in his Reaper Series Page 5