After it Happened Boxset: 1-6 Omnibus Edition, page 40
Leah and Rich sat at the table looking over the new weapons picked up from their attackers. They were arguing kind-heartedly over which gun had injured Pete.
Rich was adamant that it was the ancient and very illegal Uzi automatic pistol with filed-off serial numbers. That thing had probably changed hands numerous times over the last thirty years as it made its rounds through the criminal underworld, being held sideways and pointed out of car windows.
“Right calibre, two wounds close together. High rate of fire. It was this,” Rich said, resting his finger on the dull and uncared-for weapon.
“OK, maybe you’re right,” Leah admitted.
“You two gun geeks have any other hobbies?” Dan asked them.
“No. Not really,” Leah said, deadly serious.
Dan sighed. He knew she would never have the end of her childhood as she deserved, but the fact that she seemed to enjoy it so much concerned him sometimes.
“Fine. I’ve got a search-and-rescue mission for you instead. Solo. Can you do it?” he asked seriously.
“Yes. Details?” she said, jumping up.
“Ops. Missing bottle of single malt. Not been seen for two days. Should be in company with a glass. Go.”
Leah knew when she’d been played, and walked off to fetch what she was sent for. Dan opened one of the large windows and sat on the floor with his head resting on the sill. He lit a cigarette and answered the dog’s grumbling with, “Shut it, tobacco Nazi.” Ash put his head down with a grumble and didn’t press the issue.
Leah returned with the bottle and glass, taking her leave before she was sent. Dan had already primed Marie to intercept her.
“Do your teeth before bed,” he called after her.
“Yes, Dad,” came the sarcastic reply.
Some dad, he thought.
Both Leah and Rich knew what the shakedown was for, and she knew she would be sent away so Dan could do his “after-action” report. He poured himself a measure and suddenly realised how thoughtless he was being. He started to apologise to Rich, who stopped him.
“It’s fine. I can choose to drink or not. Today isn’t really a celebration day for me, so I won’t be having one. But thanks.”
Dan raised his glass to him anyway and took a sip.
“I wanted to ask you something,” Dan started.
“I’m fine. I went into a bit of autopilot and I was scared. Really scared, actually,” Rich said, fiddling with the extended magazine from the Uzi.
“I was actually going to ask what made you leave the post you were given,” Dan said quietly.
Rich stopped fiddling and looked at him coldly.
“That came out wrong,” Dan said, backtracking. “What I meant was, how did you know to reinforce the rear?”
Rich calmed down immediately, having momentarily thought he had been accused of desertion because Dan had not been careful with his words.
“Two civvies out back, three trained out front. Judgement call,” he said, almost grudgingly.
Dan took a sip of his drink. “You did bloody well. You saved lives, possibly all of ours. I need you to understand that this isn’t the military; there’s no chain of command with orders to obey, not really. I don’t have the monopoly on good ideas, and I appreciate having people around me who can think independently. What matters to me is that you got the job done. You saw a leak and you plugged it. Not only that, you dropped four people who looked like they hadn’t even seen you.”
“They hadn’t,” Rich said, smiling wickedly out of the scarred corner of his mouth.
Dan raised the glass to him again. “What about our resident child assassin? Did you hear what she did in the back of my truck?”
He hadn’t. Dan filled him in on the details. Rich laughed heartily as he imagined Leah going “full ninja”, as he put it.
“I honestly don’t know what to make of her sometimes,” Rich said. “She doesn’t show any signs I’d recognise as anything being wrong. Maybe she’s just adapted to it?”
Dan took another drink, draining the glass. “Maybe,” he answered. “I just sometimes wish she’d refuse to get out of bed or something. You know, be a normal teenager?”
“You can’t expect her to be normal,” explained Rich. “We don’t live in a normal world anymore.”
“True,” said Dan. “Anyway, I’m officially bloody impressed with your work. Are you looking to get out and about?” He was offering him a shot at being a Ranger, and Rich surprised him.
“Not yet, no,” Rich said. “I’ve honestly spent enough of my life creeping along waiting to get shot at. I’d like to stay as quartermaster and look at the defences for this place if I can?”
Dan was happy with that. “What about special occasions? Can we dust you off for the odd one?”
He laughed. “Dawn raid, guest starring me?”
“Yeah,” said Dan.
Rich nodded his agreement, and offered him his congratulations on a successful day. Dan shook his maimed hand as he left.
Dan looked for Leah and found her walking with Marie to her office, each carrying a hot chocolate from a large batch made up by Nina. Dan went back to Ops and poured himself another drink as Ash whined nervously at Satan’s reincarnation. The cat had been dislodged from its normal perch as Rich had sorted out the ammunition properly, so it now chose to lounge on a shelf with its legs hanging down. It avoided the shopping basket bed and preferred the height advantage from which to tease the dogs.
Steve sat reading a book with his feet up by the window, which looked along the drive. The CB set to his right was silent and the coffee to his left looked cold.
The pilot looked up from his book long enough to give a friendly nod. Dan liked that about Steve: he could do comfortable silences.
Dan wandered out to find Cedric and thank him for saving his life. He also planned to ask him if he would kindly not mention to Marie how close he had been to getting his head blown off.
THE LAIR
Dan did not entirely trust Ash’s friend that the whole group had come in force to take over their home. He planned to make sure.
Leah and Rich were left as guard, and he took the three Rangers to work in pairs. They went in two vehicles, Dan in his Discovery with Joe and Ash, and Steve behind in his Defender with Lexi.
He knew the stadium, as it was the only one within a fifty-mile radius at least. The main reason they had never come across this group was that there were no real main roads that connected their areas, and to find them would have made for an illogical and ponderous journey. If one of them had panicked and fled blindly across country for over ten miles, they might have found the place eventually.
As they approached, they saw a supermarket on the opposite side of the road. That was why they weren’t struggling for supplies or having to go out anywhere. Kyle dropping in must have been something of a surprise for them.
Across the front of the supermarket were the painted words “CLAIMED: LOOTERS WILL BE KILLED”. Friendly people.
They had stopped the cars short of the building and made the last half mile on foot, working in two pairs covering and moving in silence.
They found the place abandoned, with evidence of where the occupants had slept and a cache of bags ready to be collected after they had established themselves in their new home. It had been well planned, but by amateurs. They deserved their fate. They had made no attempt to plan for the future, either through inability or a lack of imagination. Did they really expect to survive forever like this?
Lexi emptied all the bags looking for anything useful and found nothing. They had put all their eggs in one basket and had had it knocked from their hands as they deserved.
Dan cleared the upper level with Ash as the others did the same downstairs. Nobody home. Either there were others and they had fled after the rest didn’t come home, or Dan had extracted the truth before he shot the only survivor in the head. They returned to the vehicles and poured coffee, deciding what to do with the rest of the day. Steve laid out a road map on the bonnet of the Discovery as Dan wondered aloud if there were any groups of survivors left who weren’t arseholes.
Lexi knew the towns of a nearby county, having grown up there. Steve, not being from the area originally, went with Joe in his own Defender towards the countryside in the direction they were pointing. Lexi went with Dan and Ash, as that way, both crews had a sniper option if needed.
They wished each other luck and planned to be back home by nightfall. Dan called up home on the CB and got Rich straight away.
“Go ahead, boss,” Rich said.
“Nothing here. Intel must have been good. Splitting into two teams for recce further afield. Back by nightfall,” Dan replied.
“Roger. Happy hunting, and stay safe,” Rich came back.
The weather was blowing cold and wet as Dan drove along endless fifty-mile-an-hour roads, thinking that the commute along here would have been dull. They reached a small town that didn’t even have a full supermarket and saw that the windows had been broken long ago, probably before the winter.
They pressed on, going from small town to village as they went. Each settlement showed aged signs of having been systematically emptied of supplies. They were probably two hours from home when Lexi pointed out a vehicle that didn’t look right.
Dan rolled to a stop and killed the engine. They watched from a distance, waiting for anyone to return to the small truck which was obviously still in use; no vehicle which had been left idle for over half a year would be in such good condition. Everywhere, the cars were covered in old dead leaves and a green film of neglect, but this one had fresh windscreen wiper marks showing clear glass.
“Play it nice, or play it careful?” he asked the car out loud. Ash stopped panting to give a small grumble and nuzzle his face. Lexi suggested that they play it nice.
Dan started the car and drove slowly forwards. As they neared the car, he stopped and went to get out. Lexi followed suit.
“No,” he said, “wait here. If they aren’t friendly, then let Ash out and you follow.”
She nodded and let go of her door handle.
Dan slipped out, walking slowly and keeping the barrel of his gun pointing towards the floor. He got his familiar feeling of being watched and hoped it wasn’t through the sights of anything which went bang. He stopped by the car, looking around.
“Hello?” he called out, and waited. He looked around, fighting the urge to raise the weapon and use the scope for better detail. He knew Lexi would be itching to get out, but they had to give off the vibe of being friendly.
“Hello?” he tried again, louder.
A noise behind him made him turn to see a man dressed in camouflage clothing in a doorway. He held a large rifle, the same size as their own battle rifles but this one was older with a wooden stock.
“Hello,” he said back, keeping his own gun pointed at the floor.
Dan took his hands away from his weapon to make a point of it. “Friendly,” he said. “We’ve met plenty who weren’t, but I’m hoping you are.”
The man regarded him closely. He was older than Dan, older than Steve too. He carried himself well and had the look of a professional man at one point before he grew his hair and beard long and wild. He kept the gun where it was. “What about your friend in the car?” he asked.
“She means no harm either. We’ve taken to travelling in pairs because there has been some trouble. You experienced any?” he asked.
“We’ve had our share,” he said carefully.
We, thought Dan. “How many is we?” he asked, hopeful.
“Not sure I should say just yet. No offence,” the man replied.
“There are about seventy of us, mostly farming and growing crops. Only the explorers like me go around dressed like this,” Dan said with a smile, hoping to reassure the man that he wasn’t from a military camp.
“Seventy?” he asked, straightening slightly. “That’s good going.” He seemed to consider his situation for a little longer, then relaxed a bit and allowed the gun to rest on its sling, which he put over a shoulder. “Name’s Gregory,” he said, “you?”
“Dan,” he said, pointing his thumb at himself before turning over to his left side. “Lexi’s in the car with my dog.”
“Truce?” Gregory suggested.
“We mean no harm; I swear it,” Dan replied.
Gregory walked from the building and came out, still keeping clear of this armed and armoured man who had walked into his world.
“Shall we talk?” asked Dan.
“Not here. Follow me,” replied Gregory, climbing into his car.
NEIGHBOURS
They followed Gregory away from the main road onto a playing field. It was overgrown but well-trodden in places where Gregory had driven in before. He turned his car around to face them and stopped.
Gregory emerged slowly, the rifle held low in one hand. Dan unclipped the carbine and left it on his seat, and he walked towards the man carrying only his suppressed Walther and the brute of a shotgun on his back. Lexi emerged similarly disarmed but with a sidearm visible in the holster on her chest.
Dan brought one extra item with him: his flask of coffee, which he raised to Gregory as they neared.
He nodded. “I’ve got biscuits,” he said without a hint of humour.
After a bit of standoffish acceptance, they finally relaxed in each other’s company sufficiently to talk.
“I found some folks about a week after. I’d loaded up all my stuff to go and find out what was happening but realised it was everywhere and I wouldn’t know where to start. They already live a bit like this, you know, all environmental and that,” he explained. “I don’t stay there all the time when the weather’s good. I drive around looking for people and things.”
Dan reciprocated with their own story, leaving out some details such as raiding other camps and killing everyone or having their own home attacked and killing all of them, too. He worried it might give the wrong impression of them. The words “I can explain” never really help, he thought.
“We managed to get holed up well before winter, and now we have a farm and a commercial garden with greenhouses.” Dan went on to say about their solar power and hot water, which made Gregory’s eyes open wider.
“Will you take us to your group?” Lexi asked.
Gregory swallowed his drink as he thought. “Follow me. It’ll take about twenty minutes.”
They all talked as they drove, running through options. Could they recruit these survivors to come back with them? Would they want to? How did they generate power? Fresh water?
They followed Gregory down a farm track and saw curious-looking buildings. There were signs by the entrance making bold statements about geothermal heating and emission-free homes. They had found some kind of hippy camp, Dan thought, and he tried to practise his nonjudgemental face.
He would be fine as long as they didn’t try to get him to meditate with them or give him an earth name or something else ridiculous.
As it was, their minds were blown by the peace of the place. They were well situated in a valley with low, rolling hills either side. They had a well and were in the process of building a timber-framed house with straw walls. They explained how they would put timber boards over the frame and pack the whole thing with mud and other things to make it weather-tight. Everyone seemed happy and smiled at them as they walked around, feeling totally alien with their black clothes and guns. It was like these people had come from a different world and not the same violent dystopia that his own group had escaped.
They had a small working farm, complete with another well, and when Dan talked about the breeding problems on their own farm, someone mentioned that they had a bull, and two cockerels which had to be permanently separated to stop them from killing each other.
As they toured the place, the word commune sprang to Dan’s head. He had thoughts emerging that they could trade with these people if they had things that each other wanted.
They were invited into the main building, which was formerly the visitors’ centre, where a person could pay just under five pounds for a homemade tea bag made up of wild berries and other spices or over six for a small bottle of pear and elderflower cider. They probably both tasted like toilet water, Dan decided, vowing to stick to coffee and Scotch.
They sat, and the apparent leader of the group sat down to speak with them. She was a thin old woman, permanently smiling in a serene manner. Dan would have probably found her very annoying a year ago, but then he wouldn’t have been sitting here dressed as he was a year ago.
They were offered refreshments, and both Lexi and Dan chose water.
“My name is Scarlet,” she said, and they introduced themselves to her in turn. She didn’t look like a Scarlet; she was at least sixty and had white hair which hung thinly to her shoulders.
“As you have seen, we have been blessed here,” she said. It turned out that most of the people here had come in the first week. They were either workers or regular visitors to the site, and they all agreed that their little corner of peace was the best place to rebuild.
“We have saved over forty people from the harshness of the outside,” she said mystically, “and we are nearly all of us happy here.”
Interesting, he thought. “Nearly?” he asked.
“Some of those brought here do not like our way of life. They long for the things they have lost, you see?” she explained. The slow way she spoke was starting to get on his nerves. “We have two of the younger ones who express a wish to leave, but they have not because it is not safe,” she finished.
“What about Gregory? Why don’t they go with him?” Lexi asked.
“Gregory is happy in his own company and will not take them with him. He visits occasionally, bringing those he finds in need of help, but his wish is to live alone.”
In the current company, Dan thought he could understand why. He got to the point. “The way I see it, we can be of use to each other. We can swap the stud animals for the farm to ensure the breeds live on. We grow our own vegetables and will be adding salads to the list as soon as the weather gets better. I’m offering to establish trade,” he said.
