by S G Read
‘Wilbur answering Ralphy, nice to hear your voice again I thought you were dead as well!’
‘Nearly but still playing chess. Do you know anything about what happened?’
‘Some Ralphy. Have you got time to listen?’
Ralphy looked at Ray who nodded as did all the other people in the room.
‘Sure I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Well we didn’t know anything about it living where we do in the middle of nowhere. That is what kept us alive I guess. Dad tried to raise someone on his radio to get parts for his tractor but couldn’t raise anyone. He drove into the nearest place where they might have it, a long drive and he kept his dust mask on to save his lungs. As he drove into Alice he saw a man hanging on a tree. You know like a lynching! Well he saw two other dead people so he kept the mask on. The mask was well clogged with dust by now but he could still just breathe. He poked around and found everyone dead, one had shot himself, the rest killed by whatever it was going round. He found reports in the police station which lead him to believe the man hanged was the carrier of some sort of plague. They had found syringes in his room, one with traces of the deadly virus which was killing everyone and one, labelled antidote in his native language but it was a placebo, whatever that was.’
‘That’s a sugar pill to make someone think they are having something to help.’ Ralphy replied.
‘Oh.’ In the background they heard voices. ‘Yeah, it means the man was meant to die from it anyway. Anyway my dad poked around, got the bits for the tractor and anything else which we could use. No one was there to argue with him. He drove back throwing the mask away on the way but stopped halfway back and waited a week, just in case he got sick. When he didn’t get sick, he came home and fixed the tractor. No phones were working but he did find out other places were suffering the same, so I called up everyone. I got through to some but they all stopped after a while except Carter in the US but he can only go on air when no one else needs the power, they only have a little generator. He’s on at three in the morning, his time if you want to talk to him.’
‘That’s seven AM my time.’ Ralphy noted.
‘I’ve been told I have to get some sleep now, it was nice talking you again. Call me tomorrow Ralphy?’
‘You bet Wilbur, thanks for the update!’ Ralphy replied.
From now everyone called him Ralphy to save mistakes. He turned the radio off.
‘So it was some sort of terrorist plot to kill everyone?’ Will asked.
‘Seems like it.’ Ralph answered. ‘Only those with the right antibodies survived it.’
‘Ralphy try all the frequencies, not just the ones you know about. See if you can find others in this country who are still alive and will talk to you.’ Ray ordered. ‘We will need help if we are going to get Trudi back and release all the other captive women from the clan. They might have suffered at the clan’s hands, if they are near enough and they might be considering what to do!’
‘There were a lot of ifs and buts there.’ Donna noted.
‘I know. It may be nothing but any straw is better than none.’ Ray retorted. ‘Now what do we do with the captive?’
‘We ought to have some sort of trial.’ Will answered.
‘Sounds right.’ Clem agreed.
‘How did you know when he was lying?’ Will asked.
‘The man James came over and killed was going to kill me so I got him to talk, as I was going to die like!’ Clem answered.
‘So I could have killed the other one anyway?’ James asked.
‘No I didn’t know all the other man told us, just enough to know when he was lying. Clem explained.’
‘How come you still had your clothes on?’ James asked. ‘He might have said more if you had got him going?’
‘I could have pranced about naked in front of him and it wouldn’t have saved me.’
‘Why?’ James asked.
‘It probably means he would have preferred you naked!’ Will answered.
‘Oh!’ James said and stopped talking.
‘So tomorrow we have a trial. We will conduct it over the hole where his is being kept, so that he can hear and take part if he wants to. And remember, the majority rules.’ Ray declared. He turned to Ralphy who was trying each frequency and waiting patiently for an answer. ‘I am sorry Ralphy but it will have to be a grown ups decision, I know you probably have ideas on it but for now you are a child.’
‘He helped them take my mum and it was him who shot my dad in the foot!’ Ralphy answered. ‘So surely I have to be called as a witness?’
‘That you do Ralphy: that you do. Did Peter see anything?’ Ray asked.
‘He was there but I don’t know if he will remember much.’ Ralphy answered.
‘Everyone should have their say.’ Will declared. ‘That way we will know all we can and decide accordingly.’
‘All in favour of that, err request?’ Ray asked.
All hands went up, including Ralphy’s. He knew it did not count but he thought he should let them know that he agreed anyway.
Donna and Ralph left to check on Evlyn and for Donna to redo Ralph’s dressing. Ralph checked the stitches in Evlyn’s neck and took her pulse while Donna took her temperature.
‘It’s a good job we have the antibiotics.’ Ralph noted. ‘Without them she would die.’
Donna re-bandaged his foot after he had looked it over with the help of a mirror.
‘I will start using it properly in two days.’ He declared. ‘But only light work. No digging the garden.’
‘Any excuse not to dig in the garden eh?’ Donna retorted.
‘I hope they will use a plough, there is a lot of land to dig over inside the wall!’ Ralph replied.
One by one they went to bed with the exception of Ralphy who was halfway through the frequencies. When Ralph came to try to get him into bed he refused, politely. Ray offered to see him into bed when he had finished, or decided to give up. Ralph did not argue, the sooner they could get help, the sooner they could bring Trudi home.
Ray sat listening while Ralphy tried each frequency. He was halfway through, so it was going to be a long night.
He kept trying with no luck then suddenly he heard a voice but it turned out to be Carter in America. His story was the same as theirs, a lot of people dying with a few survivors. When Carter had to go Ralphy turned to Ray.
‘They might all be in bed.’
‘Where we should be.’ Ray answered. ‘Start again in the morning.’
‘Okay. I’ll start after the trial and go right through it again just to make sure.’
Ray saw Ralphy into bed and went to bed himself.
After breakfast they gathered round the hole where the prisoner was sitting, his hands still tied. Peter did not want to go near the man, which meant that it was left to Ralphy to tell what he knew.
‘He was the one who shot my dad. If it wasn’t for my mum, my dad would be dead! She kicked him and made him miss. They both took my mum away then came back to finish the job but Peter and I dragged our dad away and kept him quiet.
‘Thank you Ralph you may go now.’ Ray said politely.
‘So what do we do with him?’ Will asked. ‘Do we top him or what?’
They ignored the pleas coming from the prisoner, saying he would help them fight against the clan.
‘Could we trust him to be on our side? That is what you must consider when you decide what to do with him.’ Ray continued. ‘We have no prison and we do not have the facilities or man power to look after a prisoner. Present company apologised to, it is just a way of putting it. So what we will vote on is; do we take him on as one of us or kill him?’
He handed out a sheet of paper and a pen to each.
‘Write down either death or member. The majority wins.’
The prisoner was still complaining and begging, as, one by one, they wrote down their answers. Ray shuffled up the replies and read them one at a time.
‘Death, death, death, death, deat
h, hang the bastard!’ He took the time to look at Will sternly. ‘So he has been sentenced to death. Now who will do it?’
‘I’ll do it gladly.’ Ralph answered. ‘Just give me a gun!’
Ray gave him his own pistol and the rest walked away. Ralph fired once and walked back with them.
‘I was going to shoot him in the foot and let him suffer but I decided to get it over with quickly!’ He said when he gave ray his pistol back.
‘You should be armed.’ Ray replied. ‘Come with me and choose your weapon.’
Ralph sorted through the guns and chose a pistol. ‘This will do, I don’t intend to make a habit of killing people but I will when I have to, despite my oath.’
‘Can I have one?’ Ralphy asked from behind them.
‘You do need to protect your brother Ralphy but guns are dangerous.’ Ray answered before Ralph could. ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do. See this?’
‘Yes it is a crossbow.’
‘Well you learn to use this and I will leave one here, with the bow set for firing. All you have to do is to put the bolt in.’ He levered the string back and placed the bolt in as it should be. ‘Point it and fire but remember it is a killer, only do it if you mean it!’
‘Can I fire it?’ Ralphy asked.
‘Not in here. We will go outside and put up a target but this is only reusable if we recover the bolt from where it goes, so make sure you do that and we will always have a means of defence!’
‘Okay Ray.’
‘It looks like you don’t need any practice with a pistol,’ Ray noted turning to Ralph, ‘and we can’t afford to waste bullets.’
‘I will watch Ralph shoot the crossbow, I might even have a go myself. Silent but deadly.’ Ralph answered and they all walked out into the sunshine, steering away from the concrete. Bunker, with its one dead occupant.
Ray rigged up a target on the side of one of the supermarket trolleys and fired at it. The bolt landed with a thud where he aimed. When Ralphy fired he missed and the bolt landed up the garden, a long way away.
‘Wow it goes a long way.’ Ralphy cried.
‘Not if you hit where you are aiming.’ Ray pointed out.
The second bolt passed the first bolt but the third thudded into the edge of the target. Ralphy danced around as though he had won the Olympics.
‘Let us celebrate when you hit the target in the middle, you might have hit a hand then but they would still have another hand.’ Ray admonished.
It took ten shots before Ralphy hit the target near to where ray had hit it. It took his father eleven, although he did not have to walk up the garden to retrieve any of his bolts! Ray left the two of them firing alternately, improving as they fired.
The four other children were watching cartoons on the television so Ray and Will removed the body and disposed of it.
It was still light when the alarm sounded and one of the cameras sprang into life. Everyone moved to see if it was a pack of dogs but saw four people, two men and two women apparently arguing as to which way to go.
‘Do you think Matilda sent them?’ James asked.
‘Let’s go and find out.’ Ray answered and walked out.
A glance behind him made him change direction toward the people carrier, apart from Donna and the four watching television, Ralphy on his short wave radio and Evelyn who was asleep upstairs, they were all coming.
He let James drive and together they drove down to the turn off. The four were still there and looked up when they saw the car coming. One of the men drew a pistol.
James pulled next to the four people and Ray opened his window.
‘No need for a pistol if you are friendly.’ Ray assured him.
‘Sorry we were warned about the clan.’ One of the woman replied.
‘Who sent you?’
‘Matilda did.’ The man answered.
‘Then you are welcome, how is she and Elvis?’ Ray asked.
‘She and Otis are fine.’ The man answered with a smile.
‘Climb in and we’ll take you back to the house.’
Even for the people carrier it was a tight squeeze but they all managed to get in and James drove back to the house over the rough patch which still needed covering.
The gate opened and James drove in, they had their guns ready as the gates closed but they saw no dogs.
‘Maybe we got them all?’ Clem exclaimed.
‘No Clem, I saw at least four run away while I was shooting, might have hit one more. Once they are full they are no threat, it is when they are hungry they are dangerous.’ Will replied.
‘We met a few while we were coming up here.’ The man with the pistol declared.
‘Why were you walking?’ Clem asked.
‘The car we borrowed ran out of petrol, we were just deciding which way to go to find another one!’ One of the women answered. ‘I wanted to go where you came from!’ She added with a smug ‘I was right’ look.
With the light failing they walked into the house. Ray led the way to the television room. When they were all in and settled he turned the volume down on the television and made the introductions.
‘These four little ones are Billy, Joe, Rachel and Peter. The one slaving over the shortwave is Ralphy!’ He pointed to each in turn. ‘That there is William Butler, Will to us. She is Clemantine Baker, Clem to us. He is James Hancock, She is Donna Wilcox and he is Ralph- What is your other name?’
It was directed at Ralph but he did not have a chance to answer.
‘Brandon-Pocock.’ Ralphy answered, looking up from the short wave set.
‘He is Ralph then.’ Ray finished not adding to it. ‘We have another girl upstairs by name of Evelyn, she was attacked by dogs but she is recovering, thanks to Ralph? He’s a doctor.’
‘I am John Lacey, this is my wife Lulu, he is my brother Jethro and that is his wife Carrie.’ One man said taking the lead. ‘I see you have electricity.’
‘We have food and electricity and security in the shape of the brick wall. The minuses are the clan and their attempts to get the women and take them up to their hide out. When we have enough fighters, we are going up to their hide out to rescue Trudi, Ralph’s wife.’
‘We heard about that.’ John replied. ‘They are out of order and our wives could be next so we will do what is necessary to make sure that doesn’t happen!’
‘Good to have you on board! Clem will you show them to the empty rooms? They have no beds but we can get mattresses up there from down here. Tomorrow we will go out to get beds and furniture to your liking.’
Suddenly the room fell silent but for the television and the answer Ralphy was getting on the short wave radio.
‘Tell me that isn’t Wilbur!’ Ray exclaimed looking at the clock, he knew it would not be Carter.
‘It isn’t Wilbur.’ Ralphy answered.
They turned the television off and everyone listened to the voice on the other end.
‘This is Roger calling from the Anglia settlement, who are you?’
‘I am Ralphy from the Kent settlement, how are you?’
‘We are fine, we are the survivors of a plague. Can you help us? Another group have taken some of our women as slaves.’
Ralphy looked up. Ray pointed to himself and moved closer.
‘This is our leader, his name is Ray.’
‘We are also survivors of the plague, it is world wide. It was an attack from terrorists trying to kill everyone, so they can dominate the world. We have lost women to the same group, they call themselves the clan. We know of their headquarters and we are going to go and get our women back when we have enough fighters. Maybe we can help each other?’
‘How many fighters have you?’
‘Nine at the moment but we are slowly growing in numbers.’ Ray replied, counting the women as fighters.
‘Well the men who lost their wives will come and help, that’s for sure and maybe a few others. I will call a meeting tomorrow Ray and get back to you!’
‘I’ll’ awai
t your call.’
‘Can I stop looking now?’ Ralphy asked.
‘Note the frequency they were on and start from that in the morning. We need to know if there are any more groups out there who might help!’ Ray answered.
‘Yes!’ Ralphy cried and jumped in front of the television and turned it back on.
Clem showed the four newcomers to the spare rooms and they chose the rooms they wanted. Donna appeared in the doorway of Johns’ room.
‘I have prepared a meal for you and there is tea, coffee or wine to go with it!’
It had been sometime since they had eaten a proper meal and it showed, they preferred coffee and tea to wine but later that evening as they all sat in the television room, after the children had been put to bed, they celebrated. They sat and talked about their life before the attack, which was what they now knew it to be and worked out who could do what to help them survive. It was a happy group who went to bed that night.
The next day they went out foraging for more beds, not only for the newcomers but for the hospital room. For that they collected as many single beds as they could, put up what they wanted and stored the rest. The big house was starting to fill up! When the beds and furniture had been collected and installed, Clem, James and the newcomers went off to clothes shop in the people carrier and Ray started to think of how they could make more rooms available. He also thought about the possibility of a showdown with the clan.
‘I’ve got another one!’ Ralphy announced when Ray did not react to the voice on his radio.
Ray looked up: it was only then that he heard the voice.
‘Where are they?’ He asked.
‘Where are you Mr. Evans?’ He asked politely.
‘We are in Aberystwyth!’ The man answered, assuming the person on the other end knew where Aberystwyth was!
‘They are in Wales.’ Ralphy reported.
‘A bit far away to help but it is still more survivors!’ Ray replied. He walked over and took the microphone. ‘This is Ray King from Kent, how are you doing?’
‘Getting by boyo: We have power of sorts from the wind generator, but it keeps coming and going.’
