Starting the car and pulling away we moved to the southern slip road and I drove up and on to the east coast road. Looking over the side we could see the coach, but we never saw any Reapers again, they seemed to have disappeared from sight. We moved up the slip road and on to the overpass and headed north, the southbound lane seemed to be less congested than the northbound. We were making good time moving in and out of the stalled and abandoned traffic. It was about two in the afternoon when I pulled into a service station. The fuel gauge on the Land Rover was hovering at about a quarter tank.
“We’re going to need to get some fuel soon or we won’t be able to get any further. I also think we could do with some food and rest, apart from the killing of the Reapers we’ve been on the go since first thing.” I said as I turned the engine off.
“I’ll take Marc and see if we can get some fuel from one of the cars or trucks in the car park.” Said Rees.
“Ok, I’ll get on top of the Land Rover and provide over watch. The girls can get some food in themselves and some shut eye. We can eat when you get back from the fuel run.” I said.
Chapter Twelve
Getting out and taking my rifle with me, I climbed on the bonnet, then up on top of the Land Rover. It gave me a good clear field of fire around the car park. Marc climbed out the back and Rees had got out of the front.
Leaning over the side slightly I waved Marc over “Dude, take these…” I passed him the browning and a couple of extra mags. “Rees will show you how to fire it. Don’t worry about going for a kill shot, as long as you slow them down should be alright.”
“Are you sure? I was a crap shot with the shotguns.” He replied.
“Look, Rees will give you a quick run through on how to stand and fire. The rest we will try and go through when we get somewhere safe. To tell you the truth in the world we live in now, we all need to be able to use guns.”
He just walked over to Rees and they started to walk away, I could see Rees talking to Marc and miming how to hold the pistol, then he pointed to the safety and the magazine release. They then went behind a blue van of some sort and I started to scan the area around the Land Rover. Looking through my scope at the doors to the service station I could see dark smears on the glass and what looked like a leg sticking out through the doors. I saw no movement in there, that’s not to say we were not being watched from somewhere.
One of the doors closed and I looked down to see Mary coming round the Land Rover. I held out my hand a helped pull her up onto the roof, her grip was quite firm and she didn’t leave go until she was stable on her feet. I continued looking round, I was sure if I left her long enough, she would say what she came out to ask. She sank down so that she was sitting with her legs crossed on the roof.
She sat there for about five minutes before she asked “Jay, do you think that this will end?”
“Sorry, Mary I don’t think so. Hear me out before you go find sharp knife to end it all. (yeah, I can be a twat sometimes.) Even if there was some way of going back to the way things were, there would be too few of us to do that. Why do you ask?” I said
“Just I don’t know what is going to happen to me. I mean you and Maddie are the height of happiness. Marc and Becky seem to be like the old couple everyone wants to be. Rees is the ultimate warrior and is capable of anything…” (I was tempted to say that I thought Rees was slightly smitten with her, but they have to get to that point on their own without help.) “And then there is me, the last few weeks have been like a roller coaster for me. I haven’t got the survival skills that you all have.”
That’s when I laughed and when she looked shocked I held up my hand “First things, first. Marc has about as much survival skills as you do and Becky is a farmer’s daughter so she has been brought up to be tough. Maddie if you haven’t noticed, has such a soft nature and I think she would be the first to say survival skills would be the last thing she has. That leaves me and Rees, I left the Army awhile ago, but he is a twenty five year man and probably has better survival skills than I do. Yes, a couple of us have been lucky in finding each other in the mess, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t. Did the girls ever tell you about Lisa and how I got injured?”
She shook her head, so I told her the tale of Lisa the Bitch and Mr Blobby the Reaper. Half way through my tale I heard a single shot, but nothing else, so I just continued telling the tale. By the end of it, she was wiping the tears from her eyes because she had been laughing so hard at me for trying to go all ninja on Mr Blobby the Reaper.
Out the corner of my eye I saw Rees and Marc heading back carrying some green fuel cans, where the hell had they got them?
Marc was walking over, smiling his head off, Rees had a bemused look on his face, as he got closer he saw Mary sat on the roof and he grinned. Now I am not sure if Mary had noticed, but she did ask if he could help her down. (oh, the wicked wiles of women.)
“Ok butt wad, why are you smiling like you had sexy for the first time. Which the way you and Becky were going at it that night at her dads it was.” I said, laughing as I climbed down.
“Hah hah, funny fucker. I killed a Reaper with one shot. Whoot.” He said.
Looking at Rees he just shrugged his shoulders and said “Walker, I couldn’t believe it. The Reaper was about ten meters away and coming at us. I was getting some fuel out of a car and Marc says ‘Any chance I can have a go?’. I said for him to knock himself out, but being on the safe side I brought my rifle round. I told him how to stand, you know the weaver stance. Well, he squeezed off the one round and I couldn’t fucking believe it right in between the fuckers eyes.”
Turning to look at Marc I said “Where were you aiming?”
“I thought seeing as it was so close, I would try for a head shot and boom down it went.” Marc said smiling like a kid at Christmas.
“Ok, next time I want to watch what you did.” I couldn’t believe he had done it. I mean, I would have thought that Marc couldn’t hit the side of a barn even if he was standing in it at the time.
Marc walked round the back of the Land Rover and opened the door Mary climbed in then he did and closed it behind him. I took one of the fuel cans and poured it into the tank. Rees poured the remaining two cans in as well, by the time we had finished, it was getting on again and we needed to find somewhere to bed down for the night. We pulled out of the services and continued north to Holy Island. I had hoped we might have been there by the time it got dark. With the way the roads were and constantly looking out for the Reapers, I didn’t think we were going to get there till probably the following day. Then we would have to hope that the tide was out so we could make it across the causeway.
As we came to the outskirts of a small village we came across a small industrial estate. I pulled off the main road and followed the single lane road round the outside of the estate. I saw a single storey building with a large rolling shutter that was up. It had small windows set high up near the roof line, there was a single door beside the roller door. It had an iron gate over it that was locked with a padlock at the top and one at the bottom. So that would be secure for the night, and if we could lock the roller shutter from the inside, we could all get a good night’s sleep. That and we could also bring the Land Rover inside if there was enough room. I pointed it out to Rees and I pulled up outside with the headlights shining inside.
From the safety of the Land Rover I couldn’t see any movement inside and there didn’t seem to be any indication of violence nearby. Getting out, I lifted out my rifle and placed the sling over my shoulder. Rees stepped out and lifted his rifle and we slowly walked toward the dark opening. With the light from the headlights behind us, we cast shadows inside. I went in on the right hand side and Rees on the left. On his side the wall ran with shelving all the way to the back of the unit. My side had no wall, but travelled to a wall just on the other side of the door which again seemed to have shelving all along it. In the far right corner was a small office, we both came to the office door from opposite directio
ns. Looking in through the open door all I could see was a desk with a computer monitor, keyboard, mouse and a telephone. Behind that was a shelving unit with folders from top to bottom stacked neatly. I went inside and cleared the room there was nothing to show anything had happened here, perhaps the owner had gotten a call and just left to be with his or her family, who knew.
I told Rees to go pull the Land Rover inside and we would see if we could lock the roller shutter from the inside. He pulled the car inside, it fit with enough space around it that some of us would be able to spread out in our sleeping bags. The rest would sleep inside the car, the good thing we found was that in the opposite corner of the unit was a small toilet. Rees turned off the engine and we waited a small while before trying to close the shutter, the last thing we would want is to keel over from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The shutter came down fine and it did lock on the inside which was good news. It meant that for the first time since we left the cottage we could all get some uninterrupted sleep. Before we even managed to sort out where people were going to sleep there was a light tapping at the shutter. (we had just fucking closed that.) I walked over and listened to the tapping, I then noticed a quiet voice “Hello, erm the people in there. Have you any spare food please.”
I indicated to Marc to help me open the shutter whilst Rees covered us with his rifle. We pushed up the shutter and outside shadowed by the setting sun was a skinny looking man with glasses. He looked to be in his late thirties, early forties, he was shivering against the cold breeze.
“Come on inside out that cold air mate, you look like you are freezing. Rees I think you can lower your rifle. What’s your name?” I said.
“Derek, sorry to ask again, but do you have any spare food. I wouldn’t come and ask, but my family and myself had only water for the last two days.” He said.
“Yeah, I think we can give you something. My name is Jay by the way. How many of you are there?”
“There’s just me, my wife and our two little girls. We are hiding out in the unit two down from this one. We saw the lights from your car and I watched you pull into this one.”
“Maddie, Becky can you sort out some food for these people and will you come down with me to see how they are?” I asked.
“Yeah, of course, give us a few minutes to get the food together.” Said Becky.
“Thank you so much.” He said.
“It’s ok, we help where we can. Have you seen any Reapers round here?”
“Reapers?” he said, looking puzzled.
“The creatures that have been running round.”
“Oh them. Yeah, but not as many as there were. I have been going into the village nearly every day to try and get food, but it seems to be going quickly. I haven’t been able to find anything in the last couple of days and I was getting worried until I saw you pull in today.” He said, with tears falling down his face when he saw the girls coming toward him with two large shopping bags with food inside.
“Come on, let’s go feed your wife and two girls.” I turned back as we were leaving. “Rees whilst we are away, get everyone else fed and set up for the night. I don’t think we are going to be long. I’ll knock when we get back and just cause I am being a tit, myself and Maddie are having the office lol.”
We turned and walked into the twilight towards the unit where Derek and his family were hiding out. We walked down between the units as the light began to fade even more. By the time we reached Derek’s unit it was nearly pitch black, we could just see where we were going because it was a cloudless night and a half moon.
Derek knocked on the door into his unit and we went inside to find a couple of coleman lamps lighting the inside. His unit must have sold furniture because there were a few beds along one wall and couch’s against the other. Derek’s two girls were huddled on one of the beds and his wife who had let us in stepped into the glow of the coleman lamps. She was a tall thin lady with a pinched face and shoulder length dark hair, again roughly the same age as Derek. His two girls that I could just make out seemed to have the same sort of look, except one had ginger hair and the other a light brown.
Becky and Maddie walked over to Derek’s wife and showed her the food that they had brought with them in the bags. Her whole face seemed to change from a pinched and gaunt face to one of warmth, her eye’s like Derek started to stream with tears.
“This is my wife Christine and my two girls the one with the ginger hair is Sam and the light brown is Toni. Jay this is very good of you to do this for us.” He said nearly crying again.
“It’s ok Derek, we survivors have to help look after each other. How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Well, we came here about a week after it started. The idea was to get away from the busy cities, to the less crowded coast and find somewhere to hide.”
“Where did you come from?”
Chapter Thirteen
“We came from Manchester, I used to live up here with my parents. I came up here last year and there was not many people here even back then, so when it all happened, I instantly thought of here as a safe place to come. What bout you and your group?”
I gave him a rough telling of our story, not telling him about my injury, but I did tell him about the Hillbillies. He just shook his head and turned to see Becky and Maddie are getting large hugs from the two girls and their mother. I just smiled it was nice for us to meet some nice people for once, but saying that we thought the Hillbillies were nice till they turned on us. For some reason, though, I couldn’t see Derek and his family having a nasty bone in their bodies.
Becky walked over and stood with me whilst we watched Maddie talking with Christine and the two girls. Christine cast a glance over at me and mouthed ‘Thank you’, I just nodded back to her.
“Maddie, we need to head back babe, we have to get some rest for tomorrow.” I called.
She waved and finished off talking with Christine and came over to us. We walked to the door and Derek let us out and we headed back up to the unit we had set up as our camp for the night. We were about half way to the unit when Maddie said something that I knew was coming.
“Jay, do you think that if we could find another vehicle we could bring them with us?” she asked.
(see what did I fucking tell you. Bloody hormonal women.)
“After what happened the last time do you think it is a good idea?” I said still walking.
I heard the scrapping of feet and I knew before I even turned round both of them had stopped. Turning I could see Becky and Maddie just looking at me.
“What?”
“Those people back there are nothing like those scum that took our home from us.” Said Becky
“I agree with Becky, Chris and her two girls are lovely. They even asked did we have enough food for ourselves and if we wanted any back then we just had to ask.”
(great I just love pissed off women in my life. So much fun.)
I stood looking at them and I could see that there was no way I was going to win this battle in any way what so ever.
“Fine if you want to ask them if they want to come go ahead, but they will need to be ready in the morning to find a vehicle. Becky here take my Browning and both of you go ask, I am heading for the unit.” With that I gave Becky the Browning and walked off to the unit. (yeah, I think you might have guessed, I was a little bit fucked off with the girls.)
I got to the unit and knocked on the shutter, from inside I heard “Is that you Walker?”
“No, it’s the fucking tooth fairy. Yes, its me Rees open the shutter mate.” I replied.
The shutter went up slowly and when it was open enough for me to get through if I bent over, I went inside and I got greeted straight away with a question from Rees “Where are Becky and Maddie mate?”
“They are asking if the family, we have just met if they want to come with us. Also that if they did, we would help find them some transport in the morning.” I said, as I walked to the office at the back of the unit
.
“They’re asking them what?” said Marc.
“They are coming back soon so just ask them!”
“You left them out there with no weapons?” Marc said getting angry.
I turned and looked at him. I was getting pissed off by now and I think Rees saw my change of mood.
“Marc, your brother would never leave the girls without some kind of weapon, right Walker?” Rees said.
“They have my Pistol. They are only a couple of units down and there was no sign of Reapers anywhere near here. Plus Derek and his family didn’t look like they could fight their way out of a paper bag. Now if you don’t mind I need some sleep.” I turned and went into the office and closed the door behind me.
On the desk was my sleeping bag, so I laid it out behind the desk after moving the chair in the corner, I climbed inside it turned on my side and closed my eyes. Some time later I heard the door and opened my eyes, I knew who it was but I was still a little pissed off.
“Jay, you awake?” Maddie asked quietly.
I didn’t know what to do, I was angry, but I could understand what Becky and Maddie did. I was still feeling a bit pissed with myself because the last time we invited people into our group it turned and bit us on the ass.
I took a deep breath and said “No, I am still awake.”
I heard her putting her sleeping bag next to mine and then she lay down next to me.
“I am sorry we upset you.” She said.
“It’s just that the last time I made a decision like this it turned out bad for us. And when you and Becky decided to ask them without the rest of us, it sort of pissed me off.” I replied.
“But you and Rees didn’t ask us about the Hillbillies!”
“Yeah, I know and I think that’s where we went wrong, we should have made that decision as a group not just me and Rees.”
“Ok, I understand that, but they are nice people. Me and Becky had a long talk with them and they really want to come with us. The two girls have been eating as little as possible because they wanted their mam and dad to be ok, they are two strong willed girls. Christine has been trying to hold them all together since this all started and Derek for a little man has done well to get them this far from what the girls told me.”
Reapers Isle: TheParaplegic/Chronic Gamer Returns for the Second Book in his Reaper Series Page 8