The Dust: Book Three - Sanctum

by Sharp, David H

  ***

  Roger looked at the farmhouse. He was glad to be leaving, to continue in their quest to find Old Mill Cottage, but it had been a good safe haven for the few nights they had stayed. The building itself would have been ideal for them to set up a permanent base. Land wouldn’t have been an issue as the fields were ready to use.

  The main problem was the location. It was far too open; there was no natural shelter whatsoever. You could see the farm from miles around. Plus there had been some sort of unidentified activity. Roger had kept this to himself, so as not to pile even more concern onto a group on the brink of collapse.

  Three pigs had been slaughtered and half eaten. He had cleaned that up without anyone knowing. One of the smaller barns had been broken into and trashed. Roger had left this as it was; there was nothing of any value inside. The others had been nowhere near that part of the farm, so it wasn’t an issue.

  Was it the infected? Was it a pack of wild dogs? Was it both?

  He didn’t know, but he was glad to be moving on. If Jake thought his uncle’s cottage was the ideal place to make home then who was he to argue. Jake had never let him down.

  ‘Lou Pepper can ride with me.’ Angel walked over and gave Roger another saddle bag for his horse. ‘You’ll be fine; I told you you’re a natural.’ She could see how wary he was about riding.

  ‘We’ll see.’ Roger replied. He loaded the bag onto the back of the horse. He had decided not to name it; as far as he was concerned it was just an animal.

  ‘Can I give Tulip some more food?’ Lou was clutching a bunch of freshly torn grass. ‘She looks hungry.’

  ‘No honey, she’s had enough for now.’ Angel had let Lou name their horse, and Tulip had been christened. The filly had been the firm favourite of the little girl’s affections.

  ‘What about your horse, Roger?’ Lou walked over to the bigger and darker stallion. ‘Would he like something to eat?’

  ‘Help yourself.’

  ‘What’s he called?’ Lou shoved the grass under the horse’s nose.

  ‘It hasn’t got a name.’ Before Lou could come up with one Roger quickly added. ‘And it doesn’t want one either.’

  ‘How do you know?’ Lou asked a little put out that he had been so abrupt.

  ‘It told me yesterday.’

  ‘Stop calling him it.’ Lou stroked the stallions face. ‘You wouldn’t like to be called it.’

  Roger half smiled; Lou Pepper was good company, and reminded him of his own little girls. He thought he might struggle to talk with Lou after the untimely death of his own children, but he found her comforting. It was a nice reminder to him, not a haunting one.

  ‘That’s the last.’ Naomi brought out the final bag of supplies.

  ‘Not much is it?’ Angel looked at the small bundles of tinned fruit and dry pasta.

  ‘It’s only going to get worse.’ Roger added.

  ‘Alright.’ Angel looked at him angrily. Roger had this awful knack of voicing his opinions in front of the younger ones. Angel was far more guarded in what she spoke about. Why worry them?

  ‘Well, supplies are getting less.’ Roger was fed up with Angels over protectiveness of the girls. They all needed to toughen up to survive. Face the reality that they would need to start again, to farm the land.

  ‘Are we going to starve?’ Lou asked Angel.

  ‘No honey.’ She patted her head. She looked back up to Roger, her voice more harsh. ‘Of course we’re not.’

  Roger looked at Lou. ‘We will be fine.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Naomi pointed to a small dust cloud on the track that led to the farm.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Roger looked concerned. Purebloods, the Infected?

  ‘Girls, let’s get back inside.’ Angel took Lou’s hand.

  ‘Hang on.’ Naomi had run towards the incoming figure to get a better look. ‘I think its Harry.’

  Angel looked over at Roger. He shrugged.

  ‘Are you sure?’ He asked.

  ‘He’s on some sort of wagon.’ Naomi turned to face the others. ‘It’s definitely him.’

  Lou jumped up and down. ‘Hooray, it’s Harry James.’

  Angel wasn’t so enthused. She had thought she had seen the last of him. Even though at first she was pissed off with his disappearance, she thought it better for the group; a blessing in disguise.

  Roger smiled; maybe his faith in humanity might be restored after all.

  ‘Yes it’s him.’ Naomi walked out to meet him. ‘He has something with him.’

  Harry James rode up the track, the leather reins held tightly in his chaffed hands. He smiled as he could see Naomi had walked out to meet him. He was hoping the others would also be happy with his fruitful return.

  ‘Whoa!’ He shouted as he slowed his horse down.

  ‘Where the hell have you been?’ Naomi asked, her hand shielding the sun form her eyes.

  ‘I thought we could do with something for us to sit on.’ He looked behind at the small wooden wagon the horse was pulling. ‘And some more leg power.’ Tethered to the wagon was another horse.

  ‘Where did you get all this?’

  ‘It’s farm country. I took two horses this morning, knowing there would be something out there.’ He jumped off the wagon and pulled back a large canvas sheet that was lying over the back. ‘And I found all this too.’

  Naomi gazed in wonder at the bounty Harry James had brought back. ‘It’s like a supermarket.’

  Harry James picked up a chocolate bar and passed it to her. ‘Go on. I’ve had three.’ He grinned.

  Naomi ripped off the wrapper and bit into the dark chocolate. It was divine.

  ‘Where have you been, stranger?’ Roger and the others now joined them.

  ‘Thought we could do with some transport and a bit more food.’ He passed Roger an apple.

  ‘Where did you get all that?’ Angel pointed to the tins and packets of food stacked up on the back of the wagon.

  ‘There is a big farmhouse over there.’ He pointed to the hill in the distance. ‘It’s down in a dip; blink and you would miss it. When I got there it was empty, untouched and empty.’

  Roger patted the youngster on the back. ‘You have done well, my boy.’

  Harry James felt as proud as punch. All he wanted to do was to contribute to the group, to gain their trust. ‘I think it’s the perfect place to set up a permanent base.’

  Angel pushed past him to take a closer look. She picked up a chocolate bar and handed it to Lou. ‘Well that’s not going to happen. We have a better place in mind.’ The boy had done well but she wasn’t going to show it.

  She still didn’t trust him, and she still couldn’t forget his past. As far as she was concerned he was still Lonny Gold’s lap dog, and that made her feel uneasy. ‘If you want to go and live there though, don’t let me stop you.’

  Harry James looked across at Roger, who had turned his head away and was looking at the ground. He felt as though the rug had been pulled from under his feet. He was now certain that Angel just didn’t like him; she hated every bone in his body.

  ‘Let’s waste no time.’ She turned and walked back to the other horses. ‘There is a cottage out there to find. Those who want to come then follow me.’

  Chapter Ten

  Emma Davis picked her rifle up off the passenger seat and flung it over her shoulder. She looked up at the big complex at Taunton. She was hoping the Doyen would show that aggravating doctor who was the boss of this place.

  ‘Come on Davis, this is important.’ Willoughby ushered her along with everyone else. ‘The Doyen was here early to meet the Doc. Now he wants to see us.’

  ‘He was here early?’ Davis hadn’t realised this.

  ‘Yes, Doctor Robert has some urgent news.’

  Davis nodded to herself. Most probably run out of medical supplies. He was too busy trying to save every lame duck that was brought into the complex. Idiot.

  ‘Davis.’ The deep voice was instantly recognisable. ‘Let
’s talk.’

  ‘Waters, keep your mind on the job please.’ Davis winked and barged past him to walk at the front with Willoughby.

  Since the skirmish in the Cotswolds, Waters had tried a few times to repeat the rooftop action which had occurred. She wasn’t having any of it. She wasn’t saying it was completely off the table, but it would be on her terms and not his. If she was completely honest, she was getting off on the whole woman in charge role she had created for herself. Waters wasn’t the only suitor that had been pestering her.

  Whether there was a whole evolution of biology thing going on she didn’t know, but sex was rife amongst the survivors. It was almost a calling, as if nature was trying to increase a depleted population. Davis had remembered reading about this before. How, in times of turmoil and destruction, the survivors or returning crusaders found an almighty urge to copulate and fertilize.

  Well, she was enjoying the copulating side of it, but she was sure as hell not going to be fertilized. The supplies of the pill were plentiful, and she had a sack full to keep her feet covered. Barefoot and pregnant she definitely wasn’t going to find herself.

  ‘Davis, I’m glad you could join us today.’ Willoughby smiled. ‘You are rising through those ranks at a rapid rate, and I know the main base in Worcester cannot run without you. You have made yourself indispensable.’

  ‘Thank you sir. Your words are very kind.’ Emma wasn’t stupid enough to believe them though. No one was indispensable. This week’s headlines are next week’s fish and chip wrappers.

  ‘Hopefully the problems that have occurred here in Taunton have been ironed out.’ She quickly changed the subject as the small group marched through the main gate, and into the grounds of the large medical unit.

  ‘Don’t be so sure of that.’ Willoughby gruffly replied.

  Davis slowed her walk down. ‘Why? What have you heard?’

  Willoughby coughed to clear his throat. ‘I don’t have the facts, but I think our Doctor has pulled the rabbit out of the hat.’

  Davis’s good mood was darkening as she glared at her boss. ‘You mean he isn’t going to be removed from his position?’

  Willoughby laughed. ‘Good god no. If anything his status will be elevated.’

  Davis ground her teeth together. She had purposely made her excuses to get a day away from her base at Worcester, to see the fall of Doctor Robert. Now she was being told they were there to see some sort of crowning glory.

  Willoughby wasn’t stupid. He knew Davis didn’t like the Doctor. They were both very different people. The doctor was a man of medicine, a healer. And, like many doctors, he was a bit of a maverick. It was his way or no way.

  Davis, on the other hand, was a doer. She had thrived in the Pureblood set up, and was becoming a real visionary. She was ruthless and didn’t suffer fools. Someone like Doctor Robert was an irritant, a rogue operator who did his own thing. She didn’t like that; it slowed down the whole machine.

  ‘You have to just let Robert get on with it, Emma.’

  She was a little surprised that he had used her first name. ‘But sir, he doesn’t listen, he doesn’t follow orders and worse still he gets away with it.’

  ‘Pick your battles.’ He stopped the group from walking any further and they found themselves stood in a large reception area. He lowered his tone to a whisper. ‘This is a fight you won’t win, and it’s unnecessary. Your paths need not cross. Just let this one go.’

  Davis breathed out through her nostrils, releasing the built up anger in her body. ‘Of course I will take your advice on board. You are correct. For now I can let it pass.’

  Willoughby smiled to himself. He knew if Davis was ever left alone with Robert in a room, only one person would ever leave. He also knew it wouldn’t be the doctor.

  ***

  ‘Don’t let them come over here.’ Roger looked at Harry James, who couldn’t stop staring at the half eaten bodies.

  Yesterday was their first day on the road and it had been an uneventful one, just how Roger liked it. Today however had been different, straight from the off. The morning mist hung low across the fields, distant howls and screams had echoed across the hills for the first two hours of riding. The two younger girls, in particular, had been spooked by the sounds cutting their way through the eerie morning haze.

  After the sun had burnt most of the mist away, figures could be seen on the hills opposite to where they were riding. Naked or clothed they couldn’t tell, but Angel and the others were keen to avoid any contact. It was only after they had stopped for lunch that they had stumbled upon this old stone chapel in the middle of the small woods.

  Roger looked over his shoulder. Harry James was now marching back to the girls, to tell them to stay put. He looked up at the trees and then the small steeple on top of the church; it was serene. He imagined a summers day, with a wedding or a christening taking place. The smiling faces stood near the church gate, taking photographs of the happy occasion.

  He looked at the graveyard. The juxtaposition of this new world was hard to swallow. Five of the fresh graves had been dug up, and the corpses dragged from their coffins and torn apart. Some older graves had also been disturbed, but the skeletal remains were largely left untouched.

  Had the infected done this to eat the bodies, or had the bodies been eaten by wild animals?

  Roger couldn’t tell. Just like the pigs back at the farm there weren’t any clear answers, one thing was for certain though; no animal could dig deep into the earth to retrieve a coffin. That was definitely a human intervention. What had taken place after that was guess work.

  ‘I’m only saying what Roger asked me to relay back to you.’ Harry James tried to stop Angel advancing any further.

  ‘If you don’t stand aside I will force you to move.’ Angel snarled.

  ‘Okay. Okay.’ Harry James stepped back to let her pass.

  ‘You two stay here.’ She ordered Naomi and Lou Pepper.

  Harry James looked sheepishly at the two girls. ‘She’s not going to like it.’

  Roger was crouching down, inspecting the freshly dug earth, when he could hear the footsteps approaching from behind.

  ‘Oh Jesus Christ.’

  He instantly recognised the voice. He stood up to see a shocked Angel looking out over the graveyard.

  ‘Is nothing sacred?’ She held her hand up close to her mouth.

  ‘I told Harry to keep you all away.’ Roger looked over Angel’s shoulder to check the girls weren’t on their way.

  ‘It’s my fault.’ She couldn’t stop staring at the grizzly scene. ‘I wish I had listened now.’

  ‘It’s pretty grim isn’t it?’ Roger stood next to her as they both surveyed the horror of the exhumed graves. ‘It’s the work of the Infected, of that I’m sure.’

  ‘Have they eaten the dead?’ Angel could see what she thought was the dead body of an old man, with his eyes missing and the side of his face ripped to the skull.

  ‘It could be them, it could be animals.’

  ‘Why?’

  Roger shrugged. ‘Does anything have meaning anymore?’

  ‘But they have nothing, they’re just corpses.’ Angel turned her back on the dead.

  ‘I don’t like it around here.’ Roger too turned away, and started to walk slowly with Angel back to the group. ‘I think we should change direction.’

  ‘I thought we were going to stick close to the coast, and then head south directly above Newton Abbot?’

  ‘There is too much activity here. Call it a hunch, or a feeling in my bones, but I just don’t like it. We need to move inland.’ He stopped walking. ‘The Purebloods allegedly cleaned up the South west, but I don’t think they scratched the surface.’

  ‘You think there are lots of infected still out there?’ Angel shivered at the thought.

  ‘I think the Purebloods might have swept up through the middle of the country, pushing the savages closer to the coast.’

  Angel twigged. ‘Okay, let’s go inland.
I agree with that.’

  ‘The next main town is Taunton, so let’s head towards there and see what it’s like.’ Roger started to walk once more.

  Angel nodded. She looked back up through the trees to the church. She could just see the tips of the grave stones that were still standing. ‘Let’s get out of this place.’

  ***

  Doctor Robert pulled out the chair for Sharon Gough to sit down. She looked across the table to the faces staring at the Doyen as he sat next to the Doctor. Sharon recognised the woman, Doctor Robert had called her Leila K, and she also recognised a few of the henchmen.

  Jeremiah Rosser sat beside Sharon and poured them both a glass of mineral water. The chitter chatter that was murmuring its way around the conference room was suddenly silenced, as someone tapped a pen against a glass tumbler.

  ‘Okay, let’s have a bit of peace and quiet.’ It was Willoughby who had stood up to regain some order. ‘The quicker we all understand exactly what we need to do, the quicker we can all return to our duties.’

  The Doyen thanked Willoughby and stood up to address the small gathering. As he rose to his feet the room spontaneously erupted into applause.

  Jeremiah Rosser looked at Sharon out of the corner of his eye; they were the only two not clapping. Gazing across the table he could feel a pair of eyes burning into the side of his face. It was Leila K who had seen that the two newcomers were failing to applaud their leader.

  He slowly started to clap, and in doing so he gently nudged Sharon to do the same. Reluctantly she joined in, albeit very slowly.

  ‘Thank you, thank you.’ He waved his hands lowering them to subdue the applause. ‘If it’s anyone we should be thanking, it’s my very good friend the doctor.’

  Doctor Robert smiled; a humble and modest man, he was slightly embarrassed with all the attention.

  ‘I think we have found a way of ridding this land of the scourge that is the infected.’ The Doyen patted the doctor on the back. ‘I think I shall let him tell you what he has found.’ He then sat down and started to clap as the doctor rose to his feet. The rest of the conference room joined their leader in the applause.