by Hatchett
Isaac and Zak scanned the roof area; it was now looking like something from the old M*A*S*H series they had seen a few times on TV; there were tents all over the place, obviously welded into place to prevent them being blown away. There were trestle tables set up and piled high with weapons, food, and other equipment. There were also a few barbeques on the go and the smell of roasting meat made them feel hungry again.
Zak spotted the Judge through the opening of the largest tent in the middle of the roof and started making his way across, closely followed by Isaac. As the boys approached, the Judge spotted them and shouted, “Come in boys and sit down.” They did as they were told.
The Judge looked them over before saying, “I’ve been watchin’ you two closely and I’ve been impressed by what I’ve seen and heard. My lieutenants have been equally impressed, especially Mamba, and he’s never impressed with anythin’.”
“Thank ya Judge,” Isaac muttered to accompanying nods from Zak. “Mamba said ya have a job for us?”
“That’s what I like, straight to business. I want you two to get yourselves some binoculars and a rifle each – I’ve been told you are both good shots – and go and park yourself on the Western wall. I want you looking out for anythin’ unusual, and if you do, I want you to let me know quickly. If you have to take a shot, then do it, there won’t be anyone around to care. Help yourselves to drinks, food and get goin’.”
“Thank ya Judge,” the boys said at the same time before quickly getting to their feet and exiting the tent.
Isaac and Zak headed over towards the tables, helped themselves to some water, put some chocolate bars in their pockets, selected bolt-action rifles, ammunition, and binoculars before wandering over to the Western side of the building, the left-hand side of the horseshoe. The roof area had a small wall around the edge, around four feet high, and had regular outlets to allow accumulated rainwater to run away. The concrete floor was covered with bitumen membranes which were in turn covered with small stone chippings. There were other spotters situated on all sides of the roof so between them they had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree coverage of the surrounding streets and buildings. The Green Park Estate was one of the tallest buildings in the nearby area so there was little to block their view and despite a few taller buildings in the distance, they could pretty much see all the way to Central London.
The roof was used on a regular basis by the Judge’s people; the gang had stolen various climbing equipment in the past and had put it to good use. There were numerous zip wires going from their roof to the roofs of various surrounding buildings; these buildings in turn had other zips going to other buildings. The gang effectively had their own transport system in the sky and it covered a fairly large area. The wires blended in and were effectively invisible unless you knew what you were looking for; rarely did anyone on the ground look upwards, and if they did, they would just assume the wires were just utility cables such as phone or power lines. The gang had been careful not to advertise their secret and very few within the larger group even knew about them; until now, no one was allowed to use the wires without express agreement from the Judge or Jury and the wires could never be used in daylight; the last thing they wanted was the general public reporting sightings of Superman and the local newspapers or plod taking an interest. This method of travel had enabled the gang to carry out many night-time robberies and escape unnoticed; even the local police could not understand how some of the burglaries had been carried out with no clues to the perpetrators. Of course, they suspected it was the 39 Stepz, but had no proof to go on.
Zak unwrapped one of his chocolate bars and demolished it within a few seconds. He took a drink of water then picked up his pair of binoculars and started scouring the local roads and buildings.
“What the fuck?” Zak asked as he moved the binoculars left and right. “What makes the Judge think we’re good shots? We’ve never even held a gun.”
“It’s that fuckin’ Mamba,” Isaac replied. “He’s tryin’ to stitch us up.”
“But why?”
“So he’s got a clear shot at our Mum.”
“Nah, that can’t be it. I think he’s only tryin’ ta wind us up on that. He’s got a bird, or more than one actually.”
“Maybe. Maybe he told the Judge that we’re the best two at ‘Call of Duty’,” Isaac suggested with a laugh.
The boys pondered the question for a little while before Zak announced, “Well, we’ve got the nod, so we betta make a fuckin’ good job of it or we’re dead.”
5
Day 1 – 14:15
Green Park Estate, Stepney, East London
Isaac was sitting with his back to the wall. He and Zak were taking it in turns to scan the surrounding area. He was beginning to get cold with the wind whipping around the top of the building but thankfully the rain had held off.
“Bro, you betta take a look at this,” Zak said quickly.
Isaac quickly picked up his binoculars and dragged himself to his feet. He saw the direction Zak was looking, towards Stepney Way, a fairly straight East / West road which passed the Royal London Hospital Museum on the way towards the city centre. He couldn’t see anything unusual so raised his own glasses to take a closer look. He still couldn’t see what Zak was referring to.
“What we lookin’ at Bro?”
“See the shop on the corner of Jamaica Road?”
Isaac moved his glasses to the spot and it appeared there were a couple of piss heads having a fight on the pavement. “Not unusual Bro,” he commented.
“Look closer.”
Isaac zoomed in on the fight. One of the men had blood all down his front and was attacking another man who was trying to defend himself by pushing his attacker away. Suddenly, another figure entered the scene and joined the bloodied man in attacking the defender. Within seconds, the defender had been knocked to the floor and the two attackers pounced on him and started biting and clawing him apart. They were joined by other bodies until there was a mound of bodies, not unlike a ruck in rugby.
“Fuck me!” Isaac whispered. “I guess we betta raise the alarm.”
Before he could do so, the pair of spotters at the end of their side of the horseshoe started shouting and waving their arms. Not wanting to be outdone, Isaac did the same. Immediately, a couple of lieutenants came running across, closely followed by other gang members who wanted to see what was going on.
One of the lieutenants ran towards Isaac, the other towards the second group of spotters.
“What you got?” the lieutenant, a man known as Skelly asked. Skelly was the skinniest person you were ever likely to meet, hence his nickname, short for skeleton. His jeans were always bunched up around his waist and even the shortest belt needed extra holes added. You could see all his bones and his face looked hollow. In fact, he looked just like one of the malnourished victims you often saw on the news when there was a famine in Africa. He seemed fine but didn’t look well and it didn’t help that he was only five feet four inches tall and looked about twelve years old. His eyes told another story.
“Looks like zombies feedin’ on some poor bloke,” Isaac replied casually as if it was an everyday occurrence as he handed Skelly the glasses.
Skelly raised the glasses to take a look, following the directions given to him by Isaac. “Fuck me!” he exclaimed after a few seconds and quickly handed back the glasses to Isaac and groped for the walkie-talkie he had on his belt. He wrestled it free, clicked the button and stated in a firm voice, “Zombies spotted, five hundred yards away. Get everyone in and close up now.”
The second lieutenant at the end of the horseshoe added, “They’re comin’ quickly down Aylward Street, you’ve gotta get that gate shut now!”
“Got it,” came the response from Mamba who was still at the gate.
Zak felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see the Judge and Jury standing in front of him, the Judge holding his hand out. Zak handed over his set of glasses and the Judge raised them to his eyes to take a l
ook. Skelly handed his pair to the Jury and she stepped closer to the wall before taking a look herself.
“So, it begins,” the Judge advised, as more and more zombies came into his field of vision.
6
Day 1 – 14:30
Green Park Estate, Stepney, East London
Mamba lowered his walkie-talkie and moved a few paces to a nearby pile of equipment, selected a loud-hailer and climbed onto the scaffolding. He looked down Aylward Street but could see nothing yet. He raised the loud-hailer to his mouth and shouted “Everyone in. Twenty seconds!”
He watched as those outside the gate started running to get back inside. A couple carrying heavy items just dropped their cargo and sprinted for the gate. Mamba could see others further away; he didn’t think they were going to make it in time. He looked back down Aylward Street just in time to see zombies appearing, obviously attracted by the noise. He watched them closely as they made a beeline for the running people. He waited a few seconds before looking down to some of the crew manning the gate and nodded. The crew pushed the gate closed and locked it. Mamba looked back up and raised his loud-hailer to his mouth again. “Gate is closed. Run and lock yourselves in buildin’s.”
Mamba watched in silence as the people outside the gate turned and started running off in other directions. A couple of people had fallen over and by the time they managed to get to their feet they were pounced upon by zombies. The air around them was soon turned into a fine mist of blood which was blown away by the wind. Mamba turned his head and could see more zombies moving into the area. A dozen or so had headed in his direction, attracted by the noise from his loudhailer. He reached into his pocket to retrieve his iPhone. He set it to ‘record’ and pointed it in the direction of the zombies. He would study the footage later and hopefully learn something useful. The leading zombie came shambling towards him and as it got closer he began to hear grunting and the gnashing of teeth. The zombie didn’t pause or stop but walked straight onto one of the spikes sticking out of the barrier. The spike pierced the zombie’s chest and exited at the back. This stopped the zombie dead in its tracks, but it continued to snap and snarl in Mamba’s direction. Mamba looked at the creature for a few seconds before looking down behind him. “Get me one of them fuckin’ javelins,” he ordered.
He was passed one of the javelins as other gang members climbed up onto the scaffolding platform to take a look for themselves. Mamba passed one of the gang members his phone and told him to keep recording. He saw that there were now a dozen or more zombies stuck on spikes, all of them still trying to get to the humans on the other side of the barrier. Mamba took his javelin and pointed it towards one of the zombies and stabbed it in the chest. The zombie continued to move and try to break free. Mamba stabbed it again in the arm and the leg, but there was still no reaction. He then lined up the javelin with the zombies crotch and thrust forward, hearing a few gang members wincing and drawing in breath as he did so. Again, there was no reaction. Mamba then raised the javelin higher and stabbed it straight through the eye socket and into its brain. The zombie ceased moving and crumpled over, the spike keeping it from falling to the floor. Mamba extracted the javelin and the zombie’s head fell forward onto its bloody chest.
“Looks like the reports were right,” Mamba noted as he exchanged his phone for the javelin and turned off the recording. “Kill the fuckin’ lot,” he ordered, before jumping down off the scaffolding. As he grabbed his walkie-talkie, the remaining javelins were being passed up to gang members on the platform.
“This is Mamba. The gates are closed, the buildin’ is secure. The news was right; you need to smash their heads to kill them.” He clicked off and looked towards the roof. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were lined up on the open-air balcony walkways, watching what was happening. He thought he spotted Samata, but he could’ve been wrong. He looked higher and saw the Judge looking back down at him with his thumb up. He returned the gesture before moving off to find himself a stiff drink.
7
Day 1 – 15:00
Green Park Estate, Stepney, East London
The Judge sat in his chair in the main tent on the roof, the Jury sitting next to him as usual. He had called for all his lieutenants to join him and they were now gathered before him. Those next in line under the gang’s hierarchy were providing cover for the lieutenants and they were all eager to impress and would not fail in their duties; to do so would mean certain death. Isaac, Zak, and the other spotters hadn’t been given any further instructions, so they stood towards the back of the tent and listened in. Zombies now surrounded the whole building, with more and more appearing from the City centre.
“Good job,” said the Judge, “we’re safe for now and have plenty of provisions for the time bein’. Set up guard stations for the key parts of the buildin’. I want people there around the clock. I’ve cleared a coupla of rooms next to the stairs on the tenth floor. I want all spare weapons stashed in those rooms. I will decide the next steps overnight, so we’ll meet again in the mornin’.”
With that, the Judge and Jury stood and left the tent, walking in the direction of the stairs and another room they had commandeered for themselves. As they descended the stairs to the tenth floor, they were closely followed by their shadows, the Chuckle Brothers.
“Night off girls,” Mamba addressed the spotters. Neither Isaac nor Zak had seen him approach, their attention and gaze drawn to the departure of the Judge and Jury.
“Thanks Mamba,” Zak replied. “Why’d you put in a good word for us with the Judge? Not that we don’t appreciate it.”
“Wanted to see if you girls could shoot for real,” Mamba replied with another sly smile.
“Not tried yet,” Zak noted.
“There’s plenty of time boy, plenty of time,” Mamba muttered as he moved away.
Isaac and Zak quickly left the tent and headed downstairs towards their flat on the ninth floor. Once they had reached the tenth floor, the stairway and walkways became packed with people – people who moved quickly out of the way as Isaac and Zak approached. They were obviously part of the hierarchy now and were beginning to enjoy it. Either that, or it was the rifles that they still held in their hands. They made it to their flat and entered the open doorway.
Samata spotted them and pushed through a crowd of relatives to give them a hug.
“Where’ve you been? I’ve been so worried!”
“Doing some work for the Judge,” Isaac replied with a sense of pride.
“Thank God!” Samata exclaimed, crossing herself. “That explains why we’ve not had to share our flat.”
“What do you mean?” Zak asked.
“All flats have to be shared. A lot of people have left their own homes in the surroundin’ area to come here and they need somewhere to sleep. So, all the residents are sharin’ their homes as best they can. We’re obviously off limits as no one has asked to come in, but as you can see, we’ve enough family to house in any case.”
Isaac and Zak looked around at all the faces; uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, friends.
“It looks like most’ll be on the floor,” Isaac remarked before he spotted a large crash mat in the middle of the lounge, “or maybe not,” he added with a smile as Nelson moved towards him from the group.
“Told you it’d be useful,” Nelson said with a toothy smile.
Isaac smiled back before seeing a face over Nelson’s shoulder and said, “talk later.” He moved past Nelson towards Grace, who was now standing at the edge of the lounge, her smile brightening the room.
“Nice girl,” he heard Samata commenting to Nelson and Zak.
8
Day 2 – 9:30
Green Park Estate, Stepney, East London
“Civilisation, as we know it, is no longer,” the Judge advised his Lieutenants.
Isaac, Zak, and the other spotters were at the back of the main tent on the roof just like the previous day. Both of them were expecting to be told to guard something or be sent on some
stupid errand but it hadn’t happened. After breakfast, they had left the flat and come back to the roof to find out what was going on. Well, now they were hearing it from the horse’s mouth.
“There is no authority apart from mine. There is no law apart from mine. There is no one to stop us doin’ exactly what I want.”
“What do you want Judge?” one of the lieutenants at the front enquired.
“Jury and I want a castle,” the Judge responded. There was a moment of confused silence with the lieutenants looking at one another to see if it was supposed to be a joke. No one was laughing.
“A castle Judge?” queried the same lieutenant.
“Yeah, a castle,” the Judge responded, “somewhere we can be truly safe.”
There were some murmurings amongst the lieutenants before another asked, “where we gonna find a castle, Judge? And, how are we supposed to get there?”
The Judge smiled and turned to the Jury. She sat forward, eyes alight. “We’re goin’ to take the Tower of London.”
The lieutenants again started muttering amongst themselves before their faces broke out in smiles.
“How do we do it?” asked another lieutenant.
“To start, we’re goin’ to send a scoutin’ party to see what’s what and prepare the way.” There were nods all around, everyone enthralled by what the Judge was saying and desperate to hear how it was going to be achieved. “Who here has used the zips?” he enquired, referring to the zip wires. Several hands were raised. “And, who’s actually put any up?” A few of the raised hands were lowered, leaving three hands in the air. “Mamba, my man, what a surprise!” said the Judge as Mamba sat there with his hand in the air. “You fancy it?” asked the Judge.
“Yeah,” Mamba replied.