by Jason Ayres
Aimee began to cry.
“Shut up!” snarled Dan. “I’m not going to shoot you. But you have to be punished. It’s for the good of the community. If I don’t show people that they have to abide by the rules, where would we be, eh? Back to where we were before, that’s where, out in the cold, fighting to survive. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to make an example of one of you.”
“Please don’t punish her, captain,” said the boy. “It was my idea, I’ll take the blame.”
“As you so wish,” replied Dan. “You see, I’m not all bad.” As an afterthought he added, “Are you two an item?”
“No – we’re just friends,” Jack replied.
“What are you, gay or something?” asked Dan. “She’s hot.”
The boy looked incredibly nervous and didn’t answer. “Well, are you?” asked Dan.
“Yes, sir,” came the reply.
By 2029, Britain had become a rich, diverse culture. Men and women were on an equal footing, and old prejudices over race, sexuality and class had more or less been eradicated. Sadly, some small pockets of bigotry remained, and there was nothing now to stop Dan from letting his true homophobic colours show.
“Well, I don’t like gays, and I don’t want them in this camp,” he said.
Ryan was standing behind Dan, so Dan was unable to see the uncomfortable look on his face. Ryan had never had a girlfriend, and Dan had never questioned why. He just assumed that it was because he was too ugly and stupid for any woman to fancy him.
In fact, Ryan’s adoration for Dan went beyond mere hero worship, but he’d never let on. After what Dan had just said, he probably never would.
“Please don’t hurt him,” pleaded the girl. “I’ll do anything.”
“That’s an interesting suggestion. Wait here,” said Dan. “Ryan, come with me. Bring him with you.”
They left the office, locking the girl inside, and went out into the mess hall. Most of the other residents were there, eating their evening meal. When Dan entered the room, they stood up. This was another rule he had instigated to make himself feel powerful.
“Can I have your attention, please?” he announced. “I regret to announce that this person has been caught stealing from the stores. Now, you all know the rules of this community: you signed up to them when you arrived and I will not tolerate them being broken.
As you well know, a state of martial law has been declared, which gives me the power to carry out any sentence I see fit.” He paused briefly and surveyed the room. Things had gone very quiet.
Only one person in the room had the courage to say anything, an old man sitting at the front table, born shortly after the Second World War. His father had survived a Japanese POW camp and told him all about his experiences. “You’re not going to kill him, are you?” he said.
“No, I am not going to kill him,” replied Dan. “But there is no place for him in this community. Jack Taylor – you have been found guilty of stealing from the community. Under the emergency powers granted to me by the British Government, I sentence you to banishment from this community. The sentence is to be carried out immediately.”
“Aren’t you even going to have a trial?” asked the old man.
“He was caught red-handed, wasn’t he, Ryan?” Ryan nodded.
“That was his trial. Take him outside.”
“You can’t put him outside at this time of night,” said the old man. “It’s dark and it’s snowing.”
“Do you want to go with him?” asked Dan. He walked right up to him and barked in his face: “Do you?” The old man didn’t reply. “Right, well, shut up, then.”
The man shut up.
Ryan escorted Jack to the main gate. He didn’t agree with what Dan was doing, but he had no choice but to obey. Before he opened the gate, Jack turned to Ryan.
“What he’s doing here is wrong, you know that, don’t you?” he said.
“He is the law,” replied Ryan. “And we have to abide by what he says.”
“I don’t think he even is the law,” said Jack. “I’ve seen him around town in the past, and he was never in Army uniform then.”
“Look, whether or not I agree with what he’s doing, I’ve no wish to see you freeze to death. Here, take this. There are a couple of bars of chocolate in the pockets.”
Ryan removed his heavy overcoat and handed it to Jack. “Good luck,” he said.
“You, too, mate,” said Jack. “You’re going to need it.”
Ryan opened the gate, and Jack headed out to try and find some shelter for the night.
Dan had returned to his office where the girl was still waiting for him.
“What have you done to him?” she asked. “You haven’t hurt him, have you?”
“No – I’ve spared him, just like you asked. You see I’m not all bad. And now, as I’ve done something for you, it’s time for you to do something for me.”
He began to unbutton his trousers.
Chapter Twenty-One
Over a week had passed since the gas had been cut off, and Lauren was getting desperate.
She had tried cooking over the open fire in the bar, with varying degrees of success. But now she was having trouble getting more wood in. Although there was plenty of it left in the car park, it was covered in several inches of snow which had impacted into solid ice. It was very hard to dig it out.
She looked out through the front windows of the pub. The streets were deserted. She hadn’t seen anyone for days. It had got to the point where she was going to have to go out to look for some food. She couldn’t survive on what she had any longer.
Wrapping herself up in as many layers of Debbie’s clothes as she could put on, she opened the front door, ready to go out. She had to almost climb out of the door as the snow was piled so high, well above knee height.
Slowly she trudged her way up the road, heading for the supermarket in the hope that she’d find something there.
With not a soul in sight, abandoned cars everywhere, smashed in shop windows and snow blanketing everything, it looked like a scene from some sort of apocalyptic movie. As far as Lauren was concerned, at that moment she could have been the last person left alive in the world.
She rounded the corner that led to the front of the supermarket to see that the windows had been smashed in all along the front of the store. As she grew closer, she saw a large notice had been crudely hand-painted on the wall, next to the doors. “LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT”, it read.
She couldn’t let that put her off. She needed food. She walked through one of the empty window frames into the abandoned store to see what she could find.
Her heart sank as she walked around. All of the food shelves had been stripped bare. There was plenty of toothpaste and kitchen roll and other household items, but what good were those to her?
Finally by one of the tills she found a dented tin of peaches that someone must have dropped. It had a ring pull lid, which was fortunate as she didn’t have a tin opener with her, but when she got it open it was to discover that the contents were frozen solid.
She decided to head out to the back of the store and see what was in the stockroom. This looked a little more promising. There were quite a few cases on pallets that looked like they might contain food.
She was just in the process of trying to get the wrapping off one of them when she heard a noise behind her and a voice.
“Hold it right there.”
She spun round to see two men in Army uniforms, both holding guns. It was Colin and Neil, but she didn’t recognise them. She didn’t visit the store that often, having lived on a diet of takeaways most of the last couple of years.
“Didn’t you see the notice outside?” asked Colin. “It says no looters.”
“What are you going to do then, shoot me?” asked Lauren, sarcastically. “Come on then, get it over with.”
Colin and Neil said nothing. “No, I thought not,” she said.
“We’re not going to shoot you,” said Colin, �
�but I think our boss is going to be very interested in you. You’re coming back to our base.”
“Am I fuck!” exclaimed Lauren.
Neil pointed his gun at a pallet of toilet paper and fired. The gun made a huge noise in the enclosed space and ripped a large hole in the packaging. He then pointed it directly at Lauren. “I think you are,” he said.
The unexpected shot had unsettled Lauren and she didn’t want to risk calling his bluff. Suitably chastened, she had no choice but to comply. They led her out the back of the store, bundled her into the back of their Land Rover, and drove her back to the base.
Ryan was on guard duty at the gate when the Land Rover drove up. Colin wound down the window to speak to him.
“We’ve got a special delivery for the captain,” he said.
Ryan looked in the back of the truck, and instantly recognised Lauren. “Well, well,” he said. “This is going to be a nice surprise for him.”
“What are you doing!” she shouted, eyes ablaze with anger. “Playing toy soldiers? You’ve got no right to kidnap me like this.”
“Take over the gate,” he said. “I’ll take her in myself.” Colin got out of the driver’s seat and Ryan got in. It was only a couple of hundred yards back to the main complex. He parked directly outside Dan’s office, went round to the back of the truck and opened the back door.
“Help me in with her,” he said to Neil, and they grabbed hold of her on both sides.
“Let go of me,” she protested. “I can walk there by myself, thank-you.”
Dan was busy in his office, sticking pins into a large map of the local area. He was marking where all the petrol stations were, planning to send teams out to drain them dry. The door opened behind him, and Ryan shoved Lauren into the room. Dan was delighted when he saw who Ryan had brought him.
“Well, look what we’ve got here,” remarked Dan. “Ryan, you can go. Shut the door behind you. Lauren and I are going to have a little chat.”
After Ryan had gone, Dan locked the door and pocketed the key.
“What the hell are you doing, here, Dan? You’re not in the Army.”
“But the people out there don’t know that,” he said. “Law and order has broken down. People need someone to protect them, feed them, and keep them warm. That’s where I come in.”
“You, look after other people?” asked Lauren, incredulously. “You’ve never given a toss about anyone but yourself.”
“But that’s where you’re wrong, darling. I am their benefactor, their saviour. I’m the man who allows them to go on living, under my gentle guidance.”
“You sound like you’re trying to paint yourself as some kind of saint. Don’t think for a moment I believe you’re doing all this for the good of other people.”
“Well, it’s true, being in charge does give me certain benefits,” he said. “In return for my generosity, they give me total loyalty. I only have to ask and I can have whatever I want. Or whoever, come to that.” He looked directly into her eyes, leaving her in no doubt as to what he meant.
“Well, you’re not having me,” she said.
“Are you sure about that?” he asked. “Do you remember what you said to me a few months ago? That you’d never sleep with me? And I said, you never know what the future might hold? Well, guess what, sweetheart, the future just arrived.”
He moved closer to her, and attempted to lean towards her and kiss her. She could smell his rank breath from yards away and, as he tried to get closer to her, it became overpowering.
“Get the fuck off me,” she yelled. “Or I’ll scream the place down.”
“Scream all you like,” he said. “It’ll make no difference. I’ve got total power here. No one will dare to question me.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked, as she backed away towards the corner, suddenly beginning to feel very afraid. “Rape me? That’s just about your style, isn’t it, because you can’t get a woman any other way? Will that make you feel like a man?” she taunted.
He lashed out with the back of his hand and caught her clean across the face. He was at least twice her weight and the blow made her fall backwards into the corner. Now he had her where he wanted her.
“You always were a little prick tease, even at school,” he said. “Did it give you a kick all these years, putting me down while you were opening your legs for every other bloke in town? Well, it’s my turn now. It’s payback time.”
He reached down to where she was sitting on the floor and tried to grab her, but she had one last defence up her sleeve. She lifted her leg and kicked him squarely in the bollocks. He screamed in pain and doubled up in agony.
“Over my dead body”, she cried, and jumped up, heading for the door, forgetting that he’d locked it.
“You bitch,” he shouted as he staggered to his feet. She rattled the handle and banged on the door, but there was no response. Then she saw the gun on the desk. He was coming towards her once more. She reached for the gun, but he was too quick and grabbed hold of her once more. Again he tried to force his lips onto hers, but, in one last act of defiance, she spat in his face and tried to wriggle free.
As she did so she lost her footing and crashed backwards, hitting her head with a sickening thump on the desk, sliding slowly to the floor.
Still reeling from the fight and the pain in his nether regions, fat and unfit Dan was panting for breath. He sat down on the floor and looked at her. She seemed to have passed out, and was motionless next to the desk where she had fallen.
He crawled across the floor towards her, and rolled her over. A small puddle of blood was forming beneath her head on the cold stone floor and he could see she wasn’t breathing. With a shock, he realised she was dead.
He sat in shock, trembling with fear and guilt. “Over my dead body,” he could hear her voice saying over and over again in his head. He’d never meant to kill her. He’d never meant to kill anyone.
He was a coward, a bully and a failure. Everything he’d done up until now, playing at soldiers, enjoying his power trip, none of it was real, it had just been a big game. Now he had a dead girl in front him and suddenly it had become very real.
He hated himself for what he had become, and sat on the floor, weeping over her body.
It was deathly quiet in the room, and he couldn’t hear any noise from outside. Nobody had come to see what had happened. Hopefully that meant nobody had heard the struggle.
No one from the base had heard the struggle, but somebody else had seen it. Dan looked up and thought he saw someone at the window, the vaguely familiar face of a middle-aged man whom he couldn’t quite place. He blinked and it was gone.
He rushed over to the window and looked out, but there was nobody there. Was he imagining things now?
This was no good. He had to pull himself together. He couldn’t let the others know what had happened. This was a step too far. But he still had Ryan. Devoted loyal, Ryan: yes, he would help him. In fact, he would help him more than he would realise. Dan wasn’t taking the blame for any of this.
His brief feelings of remorse and guilt faded away, as a new plan began to form in his mind.
He looked at the gun on the desk, and wiped it down thoroughly with a cloth. Holding it with a tea towel, he placed it gently back down on the desk.
He could see through the small window of the room that darkness had fallen outside. He pressed a button on the telephone on his desk. Although there were no external telephone lines, they had managed to get the internal phone system operating.
“Send Ryan in, would you?” he said into the receiver. A few seconds later there was a knock at the door. Dan opened it cautiously. “Are you alone?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s just me,” replied Ryan.
“Come in, and shut the door behind you.” He let him into the room, and Ryan immediately saw Lauren’s body slumped on the floor.
“Oh my God, what have you done?” he asked, horrified. “Is she dead?”
“It was an accident,�
� replied Dan. “She slipped and hit her head.”
Ryan wasn’t quite as stupid as Dan took him for. He could see from the state of the room that this was no accident. But he couldn’t bring himself to question his leader. After what had happened with Jack, he was afraid of Dan, and he had no desire to end up lying dead on the floor next to the dead girl.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
“It’s more what we are going to do,” remarked Dan. “Now, no one else saw her come in here, did they?”
“Only Neil and he’s gone over to the mess hut.”
“Right, well, here is what we are going to do. We are going to leave this room now, go over and join the others, and eat our evening meal as normal. I will lock the door behind us. Later tonight, when everyone is asleep, we will come back, load her body in the truck and take it out into the woods and dump it. Who’s on guard duty on the gate tonight?”
“Colin, I think,” replied Ryan.
“Well, that’s fine. We’ll just tell him we are going out on an errand and off we’ll go. He won’t ask why. No one would dare question me.”
So just before midnight, they brought the Land Rover round to the front of the building ready for the grisly task of lifting her body out to the car.
“Hang on a minute,” said Dan, just as they were about to lift her body. “Have you got your gun?”
“Not on me,” said Ryan.
“Better take mine,” said Dan. “Pick it up for me, and put it in the truck, will you? – just in case we run into any nosey parkers.”
Ryan took the gun and put it in the Land Rover, and then between them they carried Lauren’s body out. Neither of them had ever seen a dead body before, let alone touched one. Both felt queasy. It was one thing blasting people to death playing computer games, but this was something else altogether.
They covered the body with a sheet and eased out towards the gate. Dan wanted to get as far away as possible, but outside the base the roads were not easy, even with the snow tracks on.