Reapers Isle: TheParaplegic/Chronic Gamer Returns for the Second Book in his Reaper Series

by Gowland, Justin

  I just nodded and continued to the door and tried to open it. It was not locked or barred and open easily, with no squeaks or groans. We went with the left, right approach at the entry to the fort itself. The only difference was that Rees went first, then Marc, myself and Becky went in after. The entrance hall was a large open space with a central staircase leading up to a balcony, there were large stain glass windows set high up that cast colored patterns on the floor. Along the walls were tapestries and flags hanging from posts set into the walls. To the left was an opening into another room, but on the only one opening on the right and that seemed to go down.

  Rees and Marc started up the stairs and after a short period they disappeared into the hallway at the top of the stairs.

  I went to the opening and carefully looked round and into a long room with a large dark wood table and twelve high backed chairs round it. Against the inside wall of the room was a large fireplace that had sculpted dragons holding the mantel up. On each side of the fireplace was a couple of oil paintings of men in armor or dressed in high necked coats with ruffles and large cuffs. We each took a side of the room and moved slowly, our feet echoing on the flagstone floor.

  At the far end of the room was a large wooden door, we got to the door and got ready to open it. I stood waiting for the echo’s of our footsteps to fade before moving. I wanted to be able to hear if there was any movement on the other side of the door before opening it. The room was finally quiet and I was able to listen to the door. I couldn’t hear anything, so we opened the door and I moved inside.

  This next area was a short corridor between rooms. The next door was wide open and we walked inside, the next room seemed to be a two story library. The high stain glass windows scattered colored light on all the books, there was three small tables with bench’s on either side in the center of the room. On each table sat a candle, and at the last table was a high backed chair. Behind that was a smaller, but no less grand fireplace, off to the left hand side of the fireplace was a curved stone staircase. And on the right side was a small wooden door about half the height of the others and that was saying something because the other doors must have been close to eleven feet tall.

  Again, this door was closed and I waited for our echo’s to fade before listening for movement. There was a slight scratching sound from the other side and I immediately pointed to my ear and then to the door to let Becky know that I had heard something. She nodded and stood behind me with her back to the wall. I took hold of the iron hoop handle and pulled the door open. As it came open I went to one knee and swung round the corner to aim my rifle into the room. The scratching sound had come from tapestry being blown by a breeze from an open window. The room was a small chapel that had a vaulted roof. The Long room had a few low pews and at the end a large wooden cross mounted on the wall above the altar. Running along each wall were stained glass windows showing different scenes from the Crucifixion of Christ.

  That was the last of what we had classed as the ground floor rooms. With not finding anything and not finding any more doors, we headed back to the main hall and the staircase. Walking into the main hall, Marc and Rees hadn’t returned yet so Becky went to sit on the bottom steps of the stairs. I walked over to the where we had seen the opening with steps leading down. I wasn’t going to go down there yet, it was dark and creepy, so I walked back to Becky and waited for the others to turn up.

  After about fifteen minutes we heard footsteps at the top of the stairs and I lifted my rifle to my shoulder. Marc appeared first, followed by Rees, and they slowly came down the stairs. Marc smiled when he saw that Becky was safe, and she turned to look up at him and smiled. Rees came to stand next to me and said "We checked out all the rooms that we could find. We never came across anyone or anything up there, so whatever we saw when we arrived, was either not there or we were mistaken."

  “Ok, we check downstairs and then we move everyone inside.” I said.

  “Walker there's another building out the back that we could see from the upstairs windows. It looks like there is a set of steps coming from somewhere downstairs up to a green courtyard area that has the building behind it.” He said.

  “Ok, we take our time and clear the downstairs area. How many rooms were upstairs?” I said.

  “There are eight rooms, but there are no bathrooms which might be a problem.” Marc said.

  “Ok, come on lets get the rest done and out the way.”

  We moved to the opening and I said “I'll take point guys, Rees you take the rear, Marc and Becky stay in the center. If there is room to spread out when we get down there. Then we will split into the groups we were in before and clear the whole area. After that we'll have to find the exit to the courtyard, then we will have to clear the building at the back.” I said and started down the steps.

  When I got to the bottom, it opened out into a large kitchen area. The only problem with that was it happened to be an eighteenth century kitchen, with no modern appliances. There were three exits out of the kitchen, we could see just by entering that the kitchen was clear.

  “Think that door on the right takes us out to the courtyard, but we still have two other doors to check out. Rees and Marc if you take the door on the left. Becky and I will check the one at the opposite us.” I said.

  We moved into position and opened the doors at nearly the same time. Nothing rushed out from either doorways, Rees, then Marc went through their door. I went through our doorway and Becky followed, I walked into a store room with a curved roof, the only items inside were some wooden barrels that were empty and a stack of hessian bags that only had straw inside. There were no more doors or openings anywhere in the storeroom so we went back into the kitchen.

  I went to the door that Rees and Marc had gone through and saw that it was another set of steps going down.

  I shouted down “Marc, Rees you guys ok down there?”

  After what seemed like minutes I heard Rees's voice “Yeah, we're fine. There are some really big tubs down here that look like they should have fire's under them.”

  “I know what they are!” shouted Becky from beside me.

  “You, fill them with water and then light the fires to warm the water. They are baths, have a look for a water supply in there it might be a well or a spring.” She said.

  We could hear their footsteps and then Marc shouted up, “Yeah, there is a sort of well in the corner, its got a wooden cover over the top.”

  “Ok, that’s our baths sort out is there anything else down there?” She asked.

  “Yeah, there's some poop holes lol. That’s what Marc calls them.” Says Rees.

  “Rees, shut the fuck up!” Marc cries out.

  All you could hear was the rumbling laugh coming from Rees.

  Becky is giggling, then says “That’s the toilet sorted as well, you use the water from the well to flush out the waste when you've finished, it gets flushed outside the walls. The same happens with the bath water, there should be a way to drain the water and it goes out the same way.”

  “How the fuck do you know all this crap?” I asked.

  She actually blushed before saying, “I did a degree in history, and my dissertation was on British Castles. I didn't do this one, but the bathing area sounds as if they are the same as some of the others I wrote about.”

  “That’s cool, we can use the baths and stuff if they still work and there seems to be enough bedrooms for everyone. Let’s check out this courtyard and the other building and then get everyone up here with the gear. It’s going to be nice to have them walls around us.” I said.

  Marc and Rees came up the stone steps and we got ready to go outside and check the rest of the castle. Rees pulled the door open and I went out first and up the stone steps and into the courtyard. It was surrounded on three sides by walls with the castle behind us being the four wall. There was grass in the center, but nothing else just a flat lawn.

  Opposite there was another door into what looked like the internal wall of the castl
e, but must have been the other building. It had a four low ground floor windows, two on each side of the door and four larger windows set on what would be classed as the second floor. There were stone steps to the right which went up to the parapet round the top of the walls.

  We spread out across the courtyard, which must have easily been about hundred to hundred and fifty meter’s across. Crossing slowly we converged on the door, stacking up this time Rees was going in first. I had my hand on the door and pulled it open. We went into what looked like the gift shop, it was shelved around the walls there was a desk with a checkout near to the door. In the center of the room were a couple of free standing units that had everything from, sweets to honey mead. There was a large opening on the left that took us into what looked like a café.

  We went into the café and there was a several hot plates and serving counters on the right. With a door in the top right corner. There were about twelve tables, each with four chairs, in two rows of six. At the top end of the café was a roped off stairs. Rees and Marc moved to the doorway in the corner and Becky and I went to the stairs. Rees and Marc went through the door and we went up the stairs. As I got to the top there was a small landing and facing us were two doors. The one on the right was open and looked to lead to an office area of some sort, but the other door was closed.

  I pointed to Becky and then to the office area, then I pointed to myself and the closed door. She nodded and moved past me and entered the office area. I tried the door handle and found it unlocked and pushed it open with my foot. Then moved in with my rifle in my shoulder. It was a small sitting room with a single chair and a two seat couch, it had a small bookshelf and a small flat screen TV mounted to the wall, the room curved round the right. I followed the wall and came to a small kitchen with one door off it. I opened the door and it was a small bedroom with a double bed neatly made and a wardrobe. In one corner was a small room that had a shower stall, small hand basin and toilet there was no door. (it must have been bad if you had the trots and stunk lol.)

  I came out the small apartment and found Becky looking out the window over the courtyard.

  “Penny for your thoughts.” I said.

  “I am thinking about my little garden back at the cottage.” She answered.

  “You could always plant out there in the courtyard, looks like enough space.”

  “That’s what got me started thinking of my old garden, the year is getting on and if I don’t get planting soon. We won’t have any fresh veg or anything. We will end up living on canned crap for a year or more.”

  “Come on lets check on Rees and Marc. Then we can get everyone in and settled for the night and start looking at everything we need to do tomorrow.” I said.

  We went down the stairs to find Rees and Marc sat having coffee with their feet up on the chairs.

  “Er….What the fuck guys?” Becky said.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “There’s a kitchen, male and female toilets through there, the kitchen has gas and it still works. There is a generator that powers this place in another room that looks like it is set in the outer wall. So we have electric and a way of cooking here, so that’s fucking great. I think this was the gift shop and cafe. ” Marc replied, smiling.

  “Oh! One other thing there is a cup of tea and coffee on the bench there for you.” Said Rees.

  I turned and there on the bench was my holy grail a cup of tea with those little UHT milk pots. (to say I almost cried, is to say that Bambi is a horror flick.)

  I hugged Rees and then Marc, went and finished making the cup of tea the lads had made and sat on one of the chairs. I sat there holding my cup of tea with a sort of dreamy smile on my face. Then Becky spoke with a sort of laugh in her voice, “You think we should tell the others to start coming up with the gear. I can go and help them you guys can chill for a bit. Don’t think Jay could move even if we wanted to move him. Lol.” And she took the radio form my belt and pressed the talk button, “Maddie you there?” she asked.

  “Yeah, we’re here. Everything ok?” she said.

  “If you call Jay sat with a dreamy face on! Then yeah, we are all ok, you guys can start coming up with the gear. The place is clear and we have cooking facilities and a place to bathe.”

  Maddie laughed into the radio “Let me guess he has a cup of tea with milk of some kind?”

  “Yeah, Marc and Rees found it for him. I will come and give you a hand with the gear.” She answered.

  I looked up smiling and then my face dropped, I said “Becky before you go there is something we need to talk about. There is a small apartment upstairs that is big enough for one couple or a single person. We need to discuss who will get it.”

  The others looked at each other and then Rees spoke “Well to tell you the truth, before you mentioned the apartment I had chosen a room in the other part, and to tell you the truth I would still like the room in the other part. I might as well get used to living old style.”

  “Well, I think you and Maddie should have it. I have a reason behind it and it is that Maddie does the most cooking and is good at being able to make enough for everyone and she hardly ever wastes food. We are more than likely going to be cooking and eating here, so her being close is best for everyone. The other thing is I think me and Marc will take the office next door after we manage to empty it out and get furniture, so we will be close to you and Maddie. With us doing that it frees up another room in the castle for anybody new that we get.” Said Becky

  “Woman, when you want to say something you really like to talk a person's ear off lol.” Marc said.

  Becky stood up and slapped Marc on the back of the head “Get up, you lazy git and come help me bring the gear up.” She said.

  Marc got to his feet and walked out the café and gift shop with Becky. (ha whipped.) Rees and I watched as they crossed the courtyard, I smiled and drank my tea.

  “I think we might be good here.” I said thinking aloud.

  “I’ll tell you one thing Walker, I will not be giving this place up anytime soon. Anyway, I have to bugger off and claim my room before the rest do. It's acutely quite a regal room, nice big bed and shit. Anyway I’ll catch you later.” Said Rees standing and clapping his hand on my shoulder.

  “Ok, I’ll come by and check on everyone later.”

  He nodded as he left the building and I closed my eyes and finished my cup of tea. It was when had my eyes that I remembered the main gate, opening them, I grabbed my radio and pushed the talk button.

  “Maddie, Becky, anyone there to answer?” I asked.

  “Yeah, bud it’s Marc, what’s up? You haven’t found any ghosts like Scooby Doo have you?” he said.

  “You know you could get a job as a comedian if it wasn’t for the fact all your audience would be Reapers with no humor. Anyway, just a call to say once you have all the gear and everyone inside. I want that main gate closed and bar put in place until we get settled in. I don’t want any uninvited guests crashing our place. You ok with that?” I said.

  “Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. Becky had the same sort of idea. On another note, I hope you don’t mind me and Becky living so close? Becky and Maddie have got closer over the last few weeks and that they're more like sisters now than friends.” He asked.

  “Listen have no problem with your being close by. In fact, I like the idea of us sharing this building. I wish there was enough room for Rees as well, but he says that the room he has in the castle itself is regal and he says he likes the idea of that.” I said feeling better having Marc and Becky close at hand.

  “Ok, I will let the others know about the gate. I will see you soon.” He said and signed off.

  I walked outside and went to the steps that went up to the parapet and I climbed them to have a look over the side. Reaching the top I looked over the side and it was a straight twenty to thirty foot drop straight down. I could see well into the streets of the village and I could see most of the rest of the island, but it was nearly all high sand dunes. I c
ouldn’t see the causeway because of the high sand dunes. (that might end up being a pain in the arse.) I walked round the parapet to the other side, the one that faced the sea. There was a small amount of land, between the castle and the sea, say about six hundred meters then it was the sea.

  The waves were gray and rolling like sheet that had been tossed, the edges foamed with white like the ruffles on the oil paintings that were hanging in the castle. I saw no boats or ships out there, not that I expected any but that would have been the best way to get out of this mess. I stood looking out there and my mind started to wander.

  Could we survive this living nightmare that had become our lives. It had taken nearly the end of the world for some of us to find people we loved and trusted. During the time before this nightmare, very few people in life trusted anyone. I mean I hardly left my flat, I worked, came home, made food, watched the TV and went to bed. The next day was a rinse and repeat of the day before. I had very little to do with anyone else apart from Marc, and even then my routine hardly changed. It took all this madness to find Maddie and that I also realized lately that I loved her and would do anything to keep her safe. I had found that my life had become worth something more as well now. I was not just a guardian, but as a leader and friend.

  I hoped I would never turn down anyone that required help. I would continue to support my friends and listen to their suggestions and advice. There were people in this group that I loved and there were people that I admired, but there were also people that I would have to learn to trust. This was the life we had now and we all had to fit into now some way. (bloody hell I am getting morbid, I need some sex.)

  It was whilst I was having these thoughts a warm hand slipped into mine and I turned to see Maddie standing beside me with a smile on her face.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” She said.

  I looked at her and said “Just thinking on our lives and how we came to be here.”