“Thanks to you.”
“No, it’s thanks to you. It was a ballsy idea planting yourself like that. All I did was give credit where it’s due,” Carlow replied, taking a last puff on his cigarette before throwing it down to the ground and stubbing it out with his toe.
Josh did the same with his cigarette, and the two of them climbed into the van. “My stomach feels like it’s turning inside out.”
Carlow smiled. “I felt exactly the same when Olsen put me in charge of my first unit. It’s a great responsibility and a great honour. You’ve got lots of people depending on you. The lives of the men are in your hands, although I don’t think we’ve got too much to worry about on this mission, do you? Just remember everything I taught you.”
“Put down anyone who even looks like a threat, and the rest will follow.”
“That’s right. You don’t have to worry; you’ve got eight heavily armed men back there who have all been taught the same and who’ll all be looking for the same thing. This is like herding sheep, and we’re the dogs.”
Josh nodded. “Yeah … okay,” he replied, starting the engine.
Carlow looked at him for a while. The dashboard lights lit up Josh’s face, and he could see that the younger man was still uneasy. “What is it?”
“I … I just hope they don’t try anything.”
“The girl … you liked her?”
“No … not really. She was just—”
“These people aren’t like us, Josh. They don’t share our values, and they don’t share our vision for the future. It’s normal to have doubts, especially when you’ve been up close and personal, but we’re not talking about the next hour, the next day or even the next month. We’re talking about years down the line. We’re talking about building a new society from the ashes. We’ve been given a chance. This is like Noah after the flood, a completely fresh start. This time we’ll get it right, and the only way to do that is by clearing away the detritus first. Do you understand?”
Josh looked at his mentor. He had been on the same oil rig as Carlow for many months. Carlow had taken him under his wing, and Josh had stayed there. But now it was time for Josh to step forward and spread his own wings. “Yes. Yes, I understand.” He pulled off the handbrake, and the truck slowly began to move away.
✽ ✽ ✽
Robyn did not know how long she had been asleep when her eyes flicked open. She tried and tried to drift off once again but to no avail. The moon had risen into the clear sky, and its light provided enough illumination for her to see basic outlines and shadows within the tent. She unzipped her sleeping bag and got up as quietly as she could. If she was being honest with herself, she knew it was worry about her sister that was troubling her.
She carefully climbed out of the tent and cast a glance back. Wolf raised his head for a few seconds before placing it down again, choosing to remain at Wren’s side rather than follow. Robyn walked to the centre of the camp where the fire burned through the night. Chuck and Emmy were sitting side by side on one of the benches staring into the flames.
“Mind if I join you?” Robyn asked.
“You can’t sleep either?” Emmy said, gesturing towards the opposite bench. “We were just having some weak black coffee. Could I interest you in some?”
“Sure. Thank you; that would be nice.”
“You haven’t tasted it yet,” Chuck said, taking the coffee pot from the side of the fire and grabbing one of the freshly rinsed mugs. He poured the steaming liquid into it and handed it over to Robyn. “Cheers,” he said, sitting back down and raising his own drink.
“Yeah, cheers.” Robyn smiled, replicating the gesture.
“So, what’s keeping you up?” Emmy asked.
“Y’know, the usual. Mourning the loss of my grandad, worrying that my sister’s losing her mind, thinking about spending the rest of my life living in a tent in the forest.”
Emmy let out a small laugh. “It’s funny how it’s the little things that stop you from sleeping, isn’t it?”
“I think… Never mind.”
“No, what?”
“I think I feel guilt too.”
“Guilt? Why?”
“I … it’s hard to explain,” Robyn replied, taking a sip of coffee. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my grandad, and I hate the thought of anything happening to him, but Wren seems to be taking it an awful lot harder than me. I feel like there’s something wrong with me.”
Emmy stood up and walked around the fire to sit next to Robyn. “It doesn’t really take much to understand what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“You told us about how you, your sister and your grandad had only reunited the other night after being apart for months. I’m guessing for the longest time you’d come to terms with the fact that he was already dead; whether consciously or subconsciously you’d been mourning him for months. Wren, on the other hand, had spent those months living with him. He had been a major part of her world. She’s bound to feel the loss more. It’s not that you love him any less, it’s that you’d already lost him in your head and he hadn’t been a huge part of your day-to-day life like he had been for your sister.”
Robyn looked at Emmy in the firelight. “Wow! You’re good.”
“Yeah well, I knew my psychology A-level would come in handy one day. People grieve in different ways. When my mum died, I stayed strong for my dad. I wept a little at the funeral, and that was it until about six months later when I turned into a complete basket case. I didn’t leave the house for a month, and most of that time, I stayed in bed.”
“Sounds like I’ve got some great times to look forward to,” Robyn said, taking a sip of coffee.
Emmy smiled. “Everybody handles it differently is all I’m saying. Wren’s a strong girl; she’ll pull through, especially with you around to help her.”
“I hope so because right now she’s sounding like a total loon.”
“How do you mean?”
“She’s talking about fighting back, about guerilla warfare.”
“Err … okay. Feelings of wanting revenge are understandable though.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never seen her like this. It didn’t help that Mila was like goading her on and stuff. They were talking about that Olsen woman and how she was some leader of some party of some kind.”
“What?” Chuck said, suddenly paying attention to the conversation.
“She and Mila reckon she was a member of parliament or something.”
“You mean they think this Olsen woman is the leader of the TrueBrit party?”
“That was it. TrueBrit. Yeah, I’m sure that’s what they said.” Chuck and Emmy shared a glance before turning back to Robyn. “So you’ve heard of her too?”
“I thought one of the few bonuses of the apocalypse would be never having to see or hear about that piece of work again,” Emmy said. “She was a monster.”
“She was worse than a monster, and she certainly didn’t care for my kind,” Chuck said.
“Your kind?” Robyn said.
“Gays. She commended Putin for his crackdown on LGBT rights in two thousand and twelve. She said that homosexuality was an affront to decency and the fact that a Christian country like ours has such a liberal attitude towards it is nothing short of blasphemous.”
“Err … I didn’t know you were gay, sorry.”
Chuck smiled. “It’s my fault entirely. My Village People T-shirt is in the wash.”
“Who are the Village People?”
“Oh God! I’m surrounded by infants.”
“So, this woman is a total nutter then?”
“And then some,” Emmy replied.
“I’m glad I came out to sit with you now. I feel much better.”
The three of them fell into a long silence, and drank their coffee, watching the flames flicker, losing themselves in their own thoughts. When a voice spoke from behind them, they all jumped. “Something’s wrong.” It was Wren, and she had hold of Wolf as he tri
ed to struggle free.
“What do you mean wrong?” Robyn asked, placing her mug on the bench and standing up.
“Wolf heard something. He’s on edge.”
“It’s probably just an owl or something. There are all sorts in this forest,” Emmy replied.
“Wolf and I have been out in the wilds plenty of times. Another animal wouldn’t freak him out.”
“Infected?” Robyn asked, starting towards their tent.
“I don’t know.”
Emmy and Chuck shot concerned looks at each other and they went back to their tents too. “Mila, wake up,” Robyn said as she grabbed her bow, quivers and rucksack.
“What? What is it?”
“We’ve got trouble.”
Mila picked up her own rucksack and weapons, and the three of them scurried back to the fire where Emmy and Chuck were now standing. Chuck held a claw hammer while Emmy firmly grasped a crowbar. “Should we wake the others?” Emmy asked.
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet,” Robyn replied. “Spread out. Check the woods. See if you can see anything.”
They each took a side of the fencing. It was far darker on the outskirts of the camp than in the middle, and the moon showed them little more than silhouettes, but it was better than actually heading out into the darkness and facing whatever lurked in the shadows head-on.
A few seconds passed, then a minute. “I don’t see anything, do you?” Wren whispered as she and Wolf crept up behind Robyn.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Sorry. I just—”
“Shit!”
“What is it?”
“Over there.”
At first, Wren couldn’t see anything, but then a dancing light, followed by a second and a third, shone between the trees about a hundred metres away.
“Go get Mila and the others … no, wait. We don’t have time,” Robyn said, heading to the gate and sliding the bolts open as quietly as she could.
“We can’t just leave them, Bobbi,” Wren hissed.
“We’re not leaving anyone,” Robyn replied, slipping out of the gap.
Wren looked towards the shining beams once more, let out a long sigh, and then followed her, pulling the gate to behind.
✽ ✽ ✽
“Robyn? Robyn? Where are you?” Mila asked as she emerged around the corner, looking for her friend. She had walked up and down her side of the fence several times and seen nothing. She was about to call out a little louder when she spotted the open gate in the moonlight then looked beyond it to the approaching beams of light. “Scheisse!”
She glanced back at the tents, then towards the torches once more. Another twenty seconds and they would be shining in her direction. She immediately understood why there was no sign of Wren, Robyn or Wolf. There was only one way to play this. She stepped through the gate and sprinted into the darkness.
✽ ✽ ✽
Josh could tell the rest of the men weren’t taking his command seriously. Yes, he was only twenty, but that didn’t matter. He had been chosen by Olsen herself. They should respect him. They had been boisterous when they first entered the forest, not respecting him, not respecting the mission. He had tried to silence them twice, but it was only when Carlow had stepped up with his threatening tone and carved through their casual approach to the mission at hand that they began to act more professionally.
“It’s up ahead,” Josh said, raising his SA80. The rest of the men followed suit, the three in front still managing to aim their torches. “Hold up a minute,” he ordered as he walked into the shining light and up to the gate. He turned back to Carlow. “It’s been left open.”
Carlow walked up to join him. “Not very security conscious, are they? Makes our job easier anyway,” he said, raising his rifle one more and pushing the gate open with the muzzle. Josh was next; then the rest of them followed one by one. The final soldier bolted the gate and stood guard, making sure no one escaped.
Josh took the lead again, making his way to the fire in the centre of the camp. It was still crackling away, illuminating the surrounding tents. The three torches clicked off, and the men slowly spread out before looking towards Josh and Carlow for their next instructions. Josh was about to order them to start rousing the inhabitants of the camp from their tents when Chuck and Emmy appeared, immediately freezing like rabbits caught in headlights. They had convinced themselves that Wren’s alarm had been nothing more than an overactive imagination fuelled by the day’s traumatic events, but now, as nine rifles all pointed in their direction, they realised they were wrong.
Emmy stifled the urge to scream. She dropped her crowbar and threw her hands into the air like a villain in a seventies cop show. Chuck was not so quick to let go of his claw hammer. He looked down at it for several seconds then back at the pointing guns.
“Don’t be stupid, Chuck. There’s a way everybody gets out of this alive,” Josh said, taking a step forward.
“Please, Chuck. Be sensible,” Emmy pleaded.
Chuck let out a defeated breath and dropped the hammer to the ground.
“Good. That’s good. Now, come on, we’re going to wake everyone else up.” He turned back to his men. “You five, go with him,” he said, pointing to five of the men then gesturing towards Chuck. “The rest of you with me.” He turned to Emmy and Chuck. “No tricks and nobody gets hurt. Either of you tries anything, and it will be a bloodbath. Do you understand me?”
“I understand,” Emmy replied shakily.
“You?” Josh said, pointing his rifle at Chuck.
“Aye. I understand alright.”
“Good, now let’s go.”
✽ ✽ ✽
“What are we going to do, Bobbi?” Wren said as they observed the camp from their crouched position behind some bushes twenty metres back from the east fence.
“We’re going to watch.”
Wolf let out a little whine. “Okay. After we’ve watched, what then?”
“Then we’re going to watch some more.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Just keep quiet a while.”
One by one, they saw people emerging from the tents. Some let out small screams and fearful protestations, others appeared in a state of shocked silence, not believing it was real. “Oh God! Tommy’s going to freak out. Bobbi, we can’t just stand by and let—”
“Look, we’re not standing by and doing nothing. I was thinking about what you said, and you’re right. Living a life and not being able to do anything is like not living a life at all. It’s like being in shackles. Before all this happened, I wouldn’t have understood, but now I do, and I’m not bowing to anyone, and I’m not letting you either.”
Despite everything else that was going on, Wren suddenly felt uplifted by her sister’s words. “So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that we’re not going to go without a fight, and I’m saying that fight starts now.”
CHAPTER 21
The nasal scream that was the hallmark of situations of extreme stress for Tommy was in full flow. Emmy, Chuck and the others watched in fear for him as his nervous tics went into overdrive. The fingers on both his hands were frantically playing scales in midair, and his face was contorting rapidly and wildly as the nine soldiers spread around their captives in a semicircle with their weapons raised.
Josh could feel the attitude of the men shifting as he gradually became more authoritative. He was starting to win their respect, and he wasn’t about to do anything to risk losing it now.
He marched forward a few paces and aimed his rifle directly at Tommy, whose face was pointing upwards and away from the unfolding scene of terror. “Shut that retard up now, or I’m going to shut him up permanently,” he ordered.
A fearful sob left Ruby’s mouth. She began to rub her brother’s back gently. “It’s alright, Tommy. It’s alright. You have to calm down. Don’t get yourself all upset. You have to calm down.” Her words had little effect, and the high-pitc
hed sound continued.
Josh took a step further and brought the muzzle of his SA80 up towards Tommy’s head. “I said shut him up now.”
“Please. Just give me a minute. Please.”
“I’ll give you ten seconds, and then we’re decorating this place in a subtle shade of retard brain.” There was a small ripple of laughter from behind Josh. I’m winning them over. One by one, I’m winning them over.
“Why don’t you lay off him and pick on someone your own size?” Emmy protested.
Josh swung around with his rifle still raised. Even in the glow of the fire he could see the silver streaks on her face. She was scared, they were all scared. That had been his intention all along. Establish obedience through fear. He remembered those words from his training. Obedience. Fear. He swivelled his rifle around and smashed the butt of it into her face. She let out a muffled scream of pain and fell backwards. Larry immediately fell to his knees to comfort her, but Chuck edged forward. There was rage in his eyes, and his fingers curled almost as if he could visualise them around Josh’s neck.
Josh swung the rifle back around and brought it up to point at the big man. “There are two ways out for you people, and if you take another step, or give me another dirty look, yours is going to be the hard way.”
Despite all his impulses, Chuck stopped. He let out a long breath and lowered his eyes to the fire. Hate welled inside him, but he knew that if he acted, like so many times before, it would not just be him who was made to pay for his actions. “You bastard,” Larry said, kneeling by his daughter’s side, cradling her as she held her mouth and struggled to climb back to her feet.
Half a smile crept onto Josh’s face. “You’re not in one of your plays now, old man. If you think you can talk to me like that and still have a happy ending, you’re wrong.”
“I—” Larry’s nostrils flared, and he wanted to continue more than anything, but the truth was he wasn’t a brave man. He wasn’t a fighter, and he knew it. Instead, he helped his daughter back to her feet, and Josh took a couple of paces back, sweeping the rifle around as all eyes remained fixed on him.
The End of Everything | Book 9 | The End of Everything Page 16