The Battle Ground Series: Books 1-3

by Rachel Churcher

  *****

  “So where were you, before Camp Bishop?”

  Miller looks up from inspecting his gas mask.

  “Before signing up?”

  “Yeah. What did you do before you were Bracken’s techie genius?”

  “I was at school.”

  Of course the techie genius stayed at school.

  “Don’t tell me. A-levels in all the sciences?”

  “Maths, further maths, physics, chemistry.”

  “You passed?”

  He looks offended.

  “Oh – you did well?”

  He nods.

  “So what are you doing here?”

  “They were advertising for technical roles, so I signed up.”

  “Too cool for uni?”

  “It’s much more interesting to fix things that need fixing. I like working under pressure, and doing things that other people can’t do.”

  I think about my own choices. He’s right – I’d rather be here, learning on my feet and proving myself every day than passing a bunch of exams.

  “I get that.”

  “So what about you?”

  I tell him about the butcher’s shop. Gutting chickens, chopping muscle and gristle and bone, washing floors. He nods, and goes back to playing with his gas mask.

  We sit in silence for a while. I glance around the room, but no one seems to need our advice.

  “Bracken told me he’s looking for a new Lead Recruit.”

  Miller has put down his gas mask. I’m surprised by his comment, and by his sudden focus on me.

  “He did?”

  “Yeah. But I thought that was you.”

  Great. This is what we’re going to talk about?

  I nod. “It was.”

  “So what did you do? Why doesn’t he need you any more?”

  He does, I want to say. He’ll realise it soon enough. I just need to remind him what I’m good at.

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Oh.”

  “I stepped over a line. I did something he didn’t like.”

  Miller says nothing, but stares at me.

  “I upset a couple of the baby recruits.”

  “What did you do?”

  I really don’t want to be thinking about this now, but there’s nothing else to do.

  “I tried to teach someone a lesson. The commander didn’t like how I did it.”

  “But that’s your job.”

  “It was. But it turns out that the commander has rules – rules I didn’t know about. And I broke one of them.”

  “So he dumped you?”

  That was brutal, Miller. Dumped me? Really?

  I shrug, fighting an urge to shout, thump the table, kick something.

  “Yeah. He dumped me.”

  “But you did so many jobs for him.”

  Can’t we leave this alone?

  “Yes, Miller. Yes I did. I did them really well, too.” I hiss at him to avoid shouting. I’m so close to losing my temper.

  Thanks for rubbing it in.

  There’s shout from the other end of the room. Someone wants to ask us a question. I nod to Miller, and let him go this time. I don’t think I can be professional at the moment.

  I stare at the wall and take some deep breaths. I need to be calm if I’m going to make a good impression today. The last thing I need is Miller needling me about the Lead Recruit job.

  He spends a few minutes with the drone operator, then sits back down at the table.

  “What did they want to know?” I tip my head towards the far end of the room.

  “Whether there are any tall structures near one of the drop points.”

  “OK.” That sounds like a question I could answer without shouting.

  Good.

  Miller is looking at me again.

  “So why did you want to be Lead Recruit? It looks like a lot of extra work, just to be in Commander Bracken’s good books.”

  We’re doing this, are we? Dissecting my life choices? Fine.

  I roll my eyes.

  “It’s a way out, Miller. It’s a way up. If I can impress Bracken, maybe he’ll recommend me for promotion. Maybe he’ll take me with him when he gets promoted. Maybe it was my ticket to a job in London.”

  Was.

  “You get a lot more power over the recruits, don’t you?”

  “I get a lot more responsibility, if that’s what you mean. It’s up to me to sort out trouble before it reaches the commander. He trusts … trusted me to find out what was going on at camp, and to keep it under control.”

  “You certainly have more influence than the rest of us. If the kids won’t listen to us, all we have to do is threaten to tell you, and they sort themselves out pretty fast.”

  Do they? Interesting. I didn’t know that my name was being used as a threat.

  I flash Miller a grin.

  “That’s good to know. I’ll bear that in mind.” That electric feeling of power is back, and it feels good. If I can convince Bracken to take me back, I’ll have that power again.

  “So how do you do it? Make them afraid of you?”

  I do things you wouldn’t dare.

  He wants to understand what it takes to scare the recruits. Maybe I can demonstrate it for him. I lean slowly across the table and put my face close to Miller’s. He looks uncomfortable, but he waits for me to answer.

  “I make it personal,” I keep my voice quiet, so he has to stay close and listen. “I remember who they are. I remember what they’ve done, and I follow through with my threats. I never let them forget who’s in charge, and I never pull my punches.”

  He raises his eyebrows, clearly thinking about what I’m saying, but he doesn’t move away.

  “But most of all? I enjoy it. And they know I do. They know they can’t beg me to let them off, because they know I’m not looking for a loophole. I want to punish them. They know they have nowhere to hide.”

  I watch his reaction as I lean back, slowly. He stares at me, a look of horror creeping over his face.

  And now I understand. And I can’t help laughing.

  “You want the job, don’t you, Miller? You want to be Lead Recruit?”

  “I … maybe …”

  “What did Bracken offer you? Did he say he would consider you for the promotion?”

  I can’t keep the laughter out of my voice. Miller looks at the floor and his face flushes red with embarrassment.

  “He said I was in the running,” he says, quietly.

  I should stop. I should leave him alone, but this is too easy.

  “He did? Okay. What did he think that you … you … could bring to the role?”

  Miller stays quiet, shaking his head.

  “Let me think. Did he promise you power and respect? Extra authority to use against the kids?”

  Miller sits very still, eyes downcast. I lean towards him again.

  “Here’s the thing, Miller. Bracken can’t give you that authority. He can’t decide who the kids respect. You have to earn that. If you can’t crush them with a word, they’ll eat you alive. They know when you’re weak, and they know what they can get away with. If you want to control them, you need to give them a reason to do what you tell them. You need them to be properly afraid of you.

  “Can you do that, Miller? Can you make them afraid? Because if you can’t, you’re not the Lead Recruit, whatever Bracken says.”

  Miller shakes his head, slowly.

  “I can’t believe it’s that cruel,” he says, so quietly I have to strain to hear him over the noise of the computers and operators behind me.

  “You think you can run Camp Bishop with hugs and campfire songs? You think you can get the kids to push themselves and throw themselves at the assault course and the morning run day after day with kind words? We’re not a holiday camp. We’re not a babysitting service. We have soldiers to train and send out onto the streets, and we have an insanely short time to get them ready.

  “We can’t just scare them occas
ionally. We have to make sure they internalise the fear. They have to want to push themselves, because if they don’t, they have to deal with me.

  “If I don’t scare them enough to train themselves, and push themselves, and keep themselves ahead of the pack, I’m not doing my job. They’ll be scared enough when they get out in public. If all they’ve had from us is encouragement, they won’t stand a chance against the terrorists.”

  Plus the role is no fun if you try to be everyone’s mother. Let Ellman do that job. See where it gets her.

  There’s a shout from behind us. Someone else needs our local knowledge. I leave Miller to think about what I’ve said, and walk over to help the drone operator.

  Internalise some fear of your own, Miller. Understand that you can’t replace me. You don’t have the backbone.

  Drones

  We spend the next few hours going from operator to operator, guiding their placement of the drones and explaining the conditions on the ground at each of their target sites. The weapons need to be on hard, level surfaces, and this isn’t always possible at the pre-determined sites, so we are asked to find suitable locations nearby.

  One of the aims of the test is to see how local people react to the weapons. The town isn’t too busy, but there are people on the streets, and there are witnesses to the drone placements.

  “Why aren’t they freaking out?” I ask the woman I’m helping. “How come they’re just watching?”

  “They’ve been told there’s a test today. They just haven’t been told what it is. This way we can see how disruptive the deployment is, without having to worry about people calling it in as an attack.”

  I watch the people under the drone, staring up, shopping bags in their hands, as the weapon drops slowly to the ground in front of them. They watch, and point at it, and when it lands they walk round it and keep walking, as if this happens every day. The operator places the weapon on the ground, and disconnects it from the drone. She sends her drone back into the air, the view pulling out until we’re over the rooftops, and we can see other streets and other drones and other weapons.

  *****

  By three o’clock the weapons have all been placed. Anderson congratulates the drone operators, and explains that their role is now one of monitoring and filming the next stage of the test. The images will be seen in the command trailer, so they need to stay in the air over the town and follow what happens next.

  “Remember. Everything you see here is classified, and everything we do today is done with permission.”

  His radio crackles, and Commander Holden’s voice commands everyone on site to put their gas masks on.

  “You heard the commander. Gas masks on!” There’s a rustling, as everyone in the trailer follows the command. I pick my mask up and pull it down over my head, adjusting my ponytail to make sure it fits. Miller and I look at each other, and he shrugs. There’s not much talking to be done with our voices blocked by the gas filters. We sit in silence and watch the screens.

  *****

  Nothing happens to begin with. The drone operators station their drones over the town, and we watch as people walk past the weapons, as cars drive along the roads, as people go about their Sunday lives.

  Then there’s some action on one of the screens at the edge of town. An army truck driving along a road into town suddenly pulls what looks like a U-turn, and parks itself across both lanes. Six, seven soldiers jump out, and block the road completely, guns trained on the oncoming traffic. No one is allowed in, and no one is allowed to leave. The cars start to build up behind the truck, and the soldiers turn them back, one at a time.

  I check the other screens, and this is happening on all the roads in and out of town. Trucks pull up, block the road, and soldiers in armour jump out. Within minutes, all the roads are blocked. Cars heading out of town are being sent back in, and cars heading in are being sent away.

  Twenty minutes later, we’re watching the screens and suddenly buildings start to crumble. Trees wobble until they fall. Streetlamps draw white lines across pavements and roads. Cars run into each other.

  I’m trying to be professional, but I can’t help raising an eyebrow under my gas mask.

  What exactly do you have permission to do here, Holden?

  And there are soldiers, in armour. More soldiers than I’ve ever seen in one place, running from building to building and vehicle to vehicle, rounding people up and evacuating them. The people seem happy to follow them, running along, keeping away from buildings that are tumbling into the streets, or collapsing into their own footprints.

  People stumble, but the soldiers help them to their feet, and keep them moving. I’m watching several screens, and the drones are showing lines and crowds of people being led away by the soldiers. From where I’m sitting, I can’t see where they go.

  So we’re testing an evacuation. Useful to know how long it takes to clear a town.

  I focus on the screen closest to our table. It shows the industrial estate where we take the recruits every day on their run. The buildings are caving in, and the trees are lying on the floor. I can see two of the weapons, in the car parks of the buildings. I can’t see any more people, or any more soldiers.

  The outline of the closest weapon starts to look hazy. Before long, a plume of smoke is blowing from the weapon across the car park and the buildings. The same thing happens to the second weapon, and the smoke begins to spread.

  Testing the chemical delivery system. Good idea.

  I wonder what they’re using to simulate the toxic gas. Something we can see clearly on the screens.

  As we watch, a blanket of smoke drifts across the buildings. Within ten minutes, all the screens I can see from my seat show a blanket of fog. Zero visibility.

  It takes nearly an hour for the smoke to clear. The view slowly returns, and we’re looking once again at broken buildings and fallen trees. The room is quiet.

  Anderson’s radio crackles again.

  “Congratulations, everyone. That’s a successful test. Drone operators, please return your drones to HQ. Drone technicians, please be ready to receive them. Maintain NBC protocols – suits and gas masks on – until I give the all-clear.”

  “You heard Holden!” Shouts Anderson through his mask. “Bring the drones home.”

  The view on the screens I can see starts to draw back, as the drones move away from their monitoring locations and make their way across the town and the fields towards us.

  After that, there’s nothing for us to do but sit and wait. We can’t take our masks off, so we can’t talk. We can’t go outside. The drone cameras are switched off one by one as they arrive back in the field outside. Miller plays with the Velcro seal of his suit.

  I don’t know how long we sit there. It seems like hours, sweating in our masks and suits. Eventually Holden sounds the all-clear, and I pull my mask off and take deep gulps of the stale air in the trailer. I stand up and peel off my suit, along with everyone else, and almost forget to remove the radio from the waistband.

  It’s dark outside when Anderson finally has permission to open the door. Holden bounds up the steps and into the drone control room, shaking hands with all the drone operators and thanking them for their hard work. He shakes our hands last, and thanks us as well.

  Anderson joins us at the table.

  “Thank you for your help today. You solved some sticky problems for us, and it looks as if everything worked fine.

  “Are you hungry? We’ve got a meal arriving in ten minutes. Come and join us, and we’ll drive you back afterwards.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  We follow the drone operators out of the trailer, and across the field to the equipment tent. We drop our suits, masks, and radios in crates outside, and when we walk in the space has been transformed into dining area for everyone on site. One of the drone operators we worked with waves us over to a table, and we sit with the drone team as another lorry and trailer pulls up outside, and we’re sent out in groups to collect boxes
of packaged hot meals and bottles of water.

  “Takeaway service to a tent in a field? This might be the most impressive thing I’ve seen all day!”

  The drone operators laugh, and agree with me. The food is good, and hot, and everyone seems happy with the day’s work. We talk about life at Camp Bishop, and the training we’re giving to the new recruits.

  After dinner, as we’re leaving the tent, Brigadier Lee walks over to us and shakes our hands, Commander Holden at his side.

  “Thank you for your work today, recruits. It’s good to have local knowledge for an operation like this.”

  Holden waves a hand at the two of us. “These are Bracken’s candidates for Lead Recruit. The best of his senior team.” Miller can’t help smiling at that.

  So we’re both in the running, are we? I’ll keep that in mind.

  The brigadier nods. “I’ve been hoping to meet Commander Bracken’s people. If your work today is anything to judge by, you both have bright futures ahead of you.” He looks at me. “I hope we can work together again.” He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. It’s not comfortable, being on the receiving end of that smile.

  Holden thanks us again, and sends us back to camp with our driver. The roadblock is still in place on the bypass, but the driver shows the soldiers his badge, and they pull back and let him through.

  We’re back before the tiny fighters, but the lights are on in the medical building and the kitchen, although the kitchen staff don’t seem to be having their usual evening party. Maybe they only do that when they’ve spent all day with the kids. I know how they feel.

  Miller and I make our way to the senior dorm, and I head straight to grab a shower and a change of clothes. It is a relief to wash off the sweat from the suits and the masks.

  I think about our conversation today. Miller might not be Lead Recruit material, but I can’t afford to ignore what he told me. If Holden thinks Bracken is considering him for the job, I need to make a move. I need to convince the commander to promote me again. I just need an excuse to show him how much he needs my help.

  *****

  “So! How was Birmingham? Did you give them hell?”