Humanity: After It Happened Book 2 (11 page)

MORE ENEMIES THAN FRIENDS

Lexi brought two men back with her who carried nothing with them. Concerned, he asked if she had run into any trouble as she introduced them.

"No, but you'll want to hear what these two have to say" she said, explaining briefly.

James was young and slim where the other man was big, like Kev's size. They were taken away for induction with the women and Dan told Lexi what had happened to Joe.  She was shocked, and asked him if Joe was ok.

"He will be. I've sent him to see Marie which is standard practice following a contact now. As of twenty minutes ago anyway" he added subtly.

Lexi didn't argue with that, having spent valuable time talking through her first killing to better come to terms with it.

He told her of the farmer he had found, who should be joining them tomorrow.

"I still want a guard posted for when he gets here though" he said, voicing his constant worries that they are an attractive target for others.

He stowed his gear in his room, putting a bowl of food down for Ash, then went into the house.

With James and Ed were four stressed looking women. He was given their names but it was done so quickly that he had no time to set them in his mind before they were breezed away for a tour.

They went into Ops to speak to Steve and Leah; Dan wanted a plan before one was requested of him.  He filled them in, and as he spoke Leah got out a large scale map of the area which had their location marked and numerous little coloured dots.

Joe's trip into Wales had a simple enough answer; avoid the place. He assumed that the 'kingdom' he spoke of would no doubt expand in the future, so he drew on a map of the area making the limit of their journeys west about twenty miles short of the border. There was no pressing need to encroach on another large group’s territory in this case.

Let this lunatic take over the country for now, it would be years before it came to war of the cattle raids that tell the back-story of the neighbouring countries.

Lexi's trip concerned far more; if people grouped together and pooled supplies for a common good, then he thought that was great. They could even trade with them in the future. If, however, people in that group were being threatened and exploited by other using force then Dan swore to himself that it would be stopped. Slavery still had no place in the world in his opinion, even if the laws on murder and torture were slightly more relaxed nowadays.

He needed to get the two from there in to be thoroughly debriefed, but gently so as not to make them feel that they swapped one dictatorship for another.

Lexi showed them the place on the map where she picked them up, an industrial area on an estuary near to a large docks and a sprawling city.

"Leah" he said, surprising the girl whose thoughts had wandered off. "Fire up that laptop and bring up the maps, I want a better look at this place"

She was excited, as she had not yet had a reason to use something that had been scavenged from a library. It was a CD version of a world atlas, archived from a time before technology gave everyone a detailed map of the world courtesy of smartphones and the internet.  A couple of years out of date maybe, but in the absence of Google Earth it gave a much better picture with roads overlaid on the satellite imagery.

"Kings and Militant Dictatorships" Dan muttered to nobody in particular "this country just turned into tribal Africa overnight"

HUMAN RESOURCES

Penny had done her normal evening routine of welcoming the new survivors to the group, only this newest lot seemed more traumatised than previous arrivals. Maybe it was spending the winter alone and barely surviving that made them seem less excited, or the other survivors they have met who weren't so kind to them.

Penny called the council heads to stay, and invited Karen to give another run down of the skills and capabilities as she had before. This time, there was no sense of hierarchy with the woman; she was just happy doing her job.

The four women brought back by Joe were discussed first. Laura, a bank clerk in her early thirties, had seemingly held the group together and led them through winter by keeping them ahead of more unfriendly survivors. She was tough, a leader, but had no skill set to bring really.  Thoughts were invited from the group as to who wanted her.

Jimmy cleared his throat "Is she the type for a bit of manual labour? I'm still one down since Kyle, um, left. If she's switched on and capable I'll take her to head up another logistics crew?" It was agreed to make the offer to her.

Karen moved on. "Melissa. Eighteen, should have finished A-levels last year.  Grew up in the country. She has expressed interest in the animals"

"Sold" said Chris straight away. They all knew he had more work than helping hands and the spring would only pile more on him.

Karen nodded, "In that case maybe you'll like that her close friend is almost inseparable from her" she checked her notes again.

"Kerry is twenty two, and was a biology student in her final year after a 'break' where she travelled to South America. She has knowledge of genetics and wants to stay with Melissa if you would like her too?" She looked at Chris.

"Definitely. She can work out breeding programs and track our herd growth"

"Lovely" said Karen, who found animals quite disgusting. Dan saw the look on her face and reminded himself to scare her with his 'monstrosity' of a dog that she liked so much when he next got the opportunity.

"Nina ran a small catering franchise, and has a desire to stay in that line of work"

"I could do with some help" said Cara quickly, still slightly nervous at having a senior role to play.

"Moving on, neither James nor Ed have asked for placements. James worked in a call centre, but did grow up shooting and fishing."

Dan looked to Chris, as he was the one who spoke to Pete most "apprentice gamekeeper?" He suggested. Chris was happy with the idea, as were the others.

"I’ll take the big guy" Dan said.

Karen opened her mouth to speak, but Penny interjected. "It seems we have recruited our first true pacifist" she said with a soft smile. "The only thing he wants no part of is violence, and it seems that his captors had wanted to recruit him into their enforcement ranks. He was beaten for refusing, even though it would have meant more food and better conditions. He refuses to hurt people on principle"

Dan was shocked. It was the kind of justification he had heard from six stone women who don't eat cheese as the milk was stolen from cows. He knew it wasn't the same thing, and he felt a little understanding for the man.

"Ok then!" he said, lost for more words.

Pig yapped at Chris, conveying boredom at being stuck inside, but it stirred him enough to ask if he would join the gardens. "We've got a need for a heavy lifter, and work will pick up there soon as things need planting"

Dan told them of the farmer he had met, and warned them all about his unique appearance. Chris stirred again, "Welshman?" He asked.

"Yeah. You know him?" Dan said.

"I think so, from young farmers years ago. Hard to think there'd be two who look like him!" He was happy for another experienced man on the farm, and said he would see how he goes with a view to making him a foreman.

Penny nodded to Karen, who took it as a polite dismissal. She would go and speak to the new ones about their work.

Penny started in again after she had left.

"There are concerns about where these people came from. Clearly the women were hiding from a self-styled King of Wales, but I'm assured they will not be able to follow them here" she looked at Dan who nodded.

"Joe took care of that. He's a bit tender about it and needs to let it sink in but he did very well. The others are more of a worry"

Everyone listened in more carefully.

"I want to question James and his mate in detail, as it seems they were basically slaves in a large group where they employ enforcers to make them scavenge for them. God knows whatever is going on there, but I don't like it. Not one bit"

Frowns and head shakes rippled around the table. He went on.

"Based on what they say, I may feel the need to visit their 'leader' and explain why slavery was abolished."

The threat hung heavy in the air as they all went away to their own thoughts.

BUNKER BUSTER

They had stepped out into the world for the first time in months to find a wasteland. Rubbish swirled around the streets, cars lay on flat wheels covered in winter grime. Their plan to get a vehicle failed as none were well enough preserved, resulting in a convoy of traipsing people heaving for a nearby army barracks. Some of the group simply walked off alone; desperate hopes of finding loved ones running through their heads.

Most of the group eventually reached the barracks where the now delirious Colonel yelled at the long dead Ministry of Defence police barrier guard to open the gates. Some of them broke in and found the place partly ransacked, with no way of opening the weapons lockers without power they took what they found lying around. They set themselves up in the mess area where people found what food was still edible.

There was no cohesion, no leadership, and no purpose.

She felt forlorn, uncomfortable in her clothes and scared. She tried to call them to order to hear her carefully planned speech, which had actually been written by her as they walked and not by one of her staff as she had been used to for years now.

Without a speaker to call the assembled people to order, she was ignored. One of the remaining police officers even shouted at her and called her an 'interfering bitch'.  She knew to expect such vulgarity from them; she would have wiped them all away to replace them with private companies working to government policy if she still had the power.

Only now she had nothing, and the realisation crushed her.

She lay on the comfortable seats and rested. She coughed, the force of it getting away from her and ended up doubling her over in a coughing fit. When he finally caught her breath and wiped the tears from her eyes she saw them all looking at her in horrified silence. Those near her didn't even have the tact to slide away slowly; they just got up and moved quickly giving her a stare.

She felt like a leper; her head spun as her body temperature started to rise. One by one the rest of the group started to cough.

ENTER THE DRAGON

Ewan arrived just after breakfast, driving a big continental tractor - the kind that can do normal road speeds - and towing a large trailer. Chris met him, and the two recognised each other immediately.  Ewan was offered the tour, but refused saying that he had set off before dawn and needed help bringing back machinery that they would need. All available people were tasked to go back and bring what they could. Steve drove their old minibus with a view to dumping it there and driving something more useful back.

Ewan saw the scaffolding at the front of the house and asked if they were conned by some fascia salesman.

The solar panel work was explained to him, and Chris admitted that it was slow progress as the panels had to be carefully lifted one at a time.

"Bollocks, man!" Said Ewan. "Get that Manitou” the big telescopic forklift on the farm was called a Manitou apparently “up here and lift the whole pallet!"

How that had escaped the entire engineering team was a mystery to Dan, but it seemed like the strange looking and slightly obnoxious Welshman was going to be helpful.

He smiled at the small man giving a loud explanation of what he would do if he was building it, and walked inside.

Leah was in Ops, having got hold of a nervous looking James and Ed as she was asked to. Dan sat down with them and gathered a notepad and pen close as Leah worked the map on the laptop.

"Thanks for coming in gents" he started in a friendly tone "I know this sounds silly, but you aren't in any trouble" both relaxed slightly.

"You've got jobs now I hear?" He asked, to warm them up a little.

James spoke first "I've got to work with Pete and learn more about gamekeeping" he said. He was happy about that. "I'm going to be a gardener and grow vegetables" said Ed as happily as he could, still quite suspicious of Dan.

"Good stuff. If it doesn't work out, or you want to learn something new instead just ask Chris" he said, ending the ice breaking.

"Now, I need to know more about where you came from and I'll be completely up front about it; if people are keeping slaves to work for them then I intend to put a stop to it if I can".

Ed studied the man in front of him. For all his smiles he still looked dangerous. Ed was taller and probably had four stone on him in weight, but he was scared of him. He had a vicious scar down the left side of his face which Ed doubted was a shaving accident.

Without doubt, this Dan was a fighter.  As much as fighting upset and offended him, he wanted the others to be free too.

James began telling him all about who was in charge and how many thugs he had with him.  He told him about the shipping containers they lived in, and that they couldn't get out unless the crane lifted them. They were fed and let out to work.  In the winter they had metal barrels for fires and kept warm, but they were still prisoners.  He would not think about what punishment the others had received after they didn't come back.

Dan asked questions about the layout, the guards and their shifts, what weapons they carried. He wanted the guns described in detail, and asked insignificant questions like, "How do the leader and the guards talk to each other? Do they use any jargon or code words? Do they have radios?"

This went on for over an hour as Dan wrote pages of notes. The kid, who was dressed like one of the soldiers, was working on a laptop and found the shipping yard. He studied the pictures as she gave James a big piece of blank paper and asked him to draw the place where the shipping containers were. She asked questions as Dan looked over the map, checking against a paper one as he went.

The girl got James to mark where the guards stayed, where they walked and lots of other drips of information.

Their questioning finally came to an end, but before they left Dan asked "One last thing boys; if I go and set your friends free, I'll need you to come and convince them they are going to be safe.”

For maybe the fourth time during the questions, Ed spoke. "I'll come to see those people safe, but I'll not take part in anything that comes before. Ok?"

"Understood, Ed. Loud and clear." He replied.

Dan and Leah were left alone. He went over his notes and let out a sigh. Leah looked at him and he summarised.

"Thirty plus survivors kept as slaves. Up to twenty guards with a range of weapons including at least five shotguns, a rifle and two semi-automatic pistols.  High ground approach, but to a dead end."

He stopped and rubbed his face, scratching the stiff scar down his left eye.

"This isn't going to be easy, kid" he said.

"You'll figure it out, you always do" she said helpfully "I'll make a model of their camp" she declared as she skipped off to find Marie who was teaching her how to draw in their sessions.

"Oh, if I had your faith in me" he said to himself, as Boris jumped onto his notes and hissed at him.