The Fight for Life

by S G Read

  The two moved along until they came to open ground, they were still moving across the line which they should have been going to reach the sea near the boat.

  ‘Wait here while I scout around.’ Barry ordered.

  ‘I won’t run off anywhere.’ Jericho declared.

  Jericho waited patiently while Barry was gone trying to make his legs work better than they were with some success.

  ‘We need to run across the next bit.’ Barry said when he came back.

  ‘I might manage a stumble but never a run.’ Jericho replied.

  ‘Wait here.’ Barry ordered again and disappeared again like a ghost.

  Five minutes later he was back wheeling a wheel barrow.

  ‘Transport is here.’ He affirmed and they were off again.

  Barry wheeled the wheelbarrow across the open ground but did not stop when they were on the other side; instead he kept going with his heavy burden.

  ‘A good job it isn’t squeaking.’ Jericho said quietly as they travelled.

  ‘What do you think took so long, I had to find some oil for the wheel!’ Barry declared. ‘We need to reach the boat before daybreak or soon after.’

  Barry kept on walking until they could hear the sea. He stopped and helped Jericho out of the wheelbarrow. He stood up shakily and walked about.

  ‘Getting better.’ He said cheerfully. ‘They say it is easier in water.’

  ‘I think we need a float of some kind in case they have taken the boat.’ Barry answered.

  ‘I know wait here.’ Jericho exclaimed before Barry could. ‘I’ll get some more feeling back if I walk about a bit, carefully.’

  Barry smiled and was soon out of sight, Jericho walked about to improve his circulation after his ride in the wheelbarrow but made sure that no one saw him if there was anyone about. Barry returned with two floats, they were small but buoyant enough to keep them afloat when they were resting.

  ‘Where these come from?’ Jericho asked.

  ‘I found a lifeguard shack with them in; just the job as long as they don’t drag too much.’

  They walked into the water and swam away from the shore in a straight line until Barry signalled for Jericho to turn and head for where he thought the boat should be.

  The water was very cold and they both knew they needed not only to find the boat soon but make sure no one was t’home when they found it. There was the first light of dawn bathing the sea now although the land was still quite dark. They swam on and the boat came into sight, it looked deserted but Barry signalled Jericho to take his float and slipped under the water. Jericho approached the boat from the landward side with his two floats but stopped short to listen. The coldness of the water made him want to get into the boat but he was wary of a trap and swam to the prow for a look inside. He lifted himself up to look inside and came face to face with one of the opposition. They were both as surprised as each other, Jericho dropped back down out of sight and the other man jumped back away from him. As the man returned to peer over the prow of the boat Barry struck and the other man in the boat slumped to the bottom of the boat with a knife in him. The man who was looking over the prow looked back to see what was happening and it was a mistake. Jericho rose out of the water and grabbed him, pulling him over the side and into the water where he held him upside down.

  ‘Keep him alive for now.’ Barry said from inside the boat. ‘And I should get on board before you get frostbite.’

  Jericho let the man surface and Barry grabbed him round the neck while Jericho climbed into the boat.

  ‘I want to know what happened to the man and woman who landed on the island and the two men who followed them.’ Barry asked the man he held.

  ‘You’ll kill me if I tell you.’ The man replied.

  ‘No you have my word I won’t kill you if you are honest.’ Barry answered.

  ‘How can I trust you?’

  ‘I never break my word.’ Barry answered honestly. ‘It is my code for living fairly.’

  ‘We ate the man but the woman was pretty so she was kept for breeding.’ The man answered.

  ‘Where is the woman being kept?’ Barry asked.

  ‘In Shanklin, in the big hotel in the main street.’

  ‘Good. Now I hope you can swim well because it is a long way to shore.’

  ‘I can swim okay.’ The man answered.

  Barry let him go and he swam away. Jericho shot him in the head when it appeared.

  ‘I didn’t promise.’ He called after the man as he slipped below the waves. ‘What now?’

  ‘Now we go ashore but up from where we left.’ Barry answered.

  ‘Why not land where we set out from?’

  ‘Can you see a boat these two came out on?’ Barry asked as he tipped the man he had killed overboard.

  ‘No I can’t.’

  ‘And they weren’t wet from swimming out here, which means a boat dropped them off. It also means that I am expecting company of the worst type when we get ashore.’

  ‘What about the others?’

  ‘They are keeping watch and should be out of sight so they will know how many and where they are, we will try to glean the same information but it helps knowing that the other three should be watching our backs.’

  ‘But not where we are going to land.’ Jericho pointed out.

  ‘We will go down to where they are overland and hopefully sort out the intruders.’

  They started the engine and headed for the mainland but up the coast from where they set out. It was getting very light now and the kept moving up the coast away from where they had set out from until they found a spot they could land safely. They moored the boat and walked up towards the houses on the mainland. They moved quietly, without talking until they were sure they were alone.

  ‘We came far enough, now we have to get back to the others.’ Barry declared.

  ‘How?’

  ‘A car would be two noisy; we need a couple of bikes.’

  ‘Life is never dull with you around Barry. I’d prefer my Harley.’

  They searched from house to house and found a tandem.

  ‘You have to be kidding me.’ Jericho declared when Barry wheeled the tandem out of the shed it was in. ‘Well I am going on the back just to make sure you are pedalling!’

  The two men pedalled the tandem along streets and then down roads until they neared the village where their car was, expecting a reception committee. They dumped the tandem, quite willingly and moved forward on foot; slowly, making sure they did not walk into a trap. Barry moved forward, watched for a few minutes and then Jericho moved past him. They did this until they saw a man crouched behind a car in the road next to the jetty they had left from. Barry signalled one with his index finger and they stopped there to spot the others. The rest were well hidden but they looked slowly from place to place until they had counted six.

  Jericho signalled two for Barry and one for the rest of them and Barry smiled. Obviously Jericho was assuming the other men from the Nomads were there somewhere. He slipped out of sight and Jericho waited until he saw him again, not far from the first man. He moved in and killed him quietly then signalled Jericho to join him.

  ‘One each now.’ He whispered when Jericho arrived.

  ‘What if they killed the others?’

  ‘Three each for us then.’ Barry answered.

  Jericho shrugged his shoulders. ‘I can take three.’

  Barry signalled Jericho to take out one man and he moved to take out another, Barry’s was quiet and quick but Jericho ended up fighting with his. The other three men stood up, ready to fire at Jericho, when they had a shot but three shots rang out and they fell dead. Barry walked over to where Jericho was still fighting with his man.

  ‘He’s still got some teeth left.’ He said and sat on a wall to watch.

  The others walked up to watch as well.

  ‘Had problems did we?’ Paul asked.

  ‘Nothing we couldn’t handle and we knew you were here to help us.’ Barr
y answered.

  ‘Shall we intervene?’ Paul asked.

  ‘No, Jericho will win.’ Barry answered as he cleaned his knife.

  The fight went on for another two minutes and Jericho started to gain the upper hand but he did not let up. He kept hitting the other man until he was a bloody mess on the floor, long past fighting back.

  ‘I think you won.’ Barry pointed out when Jericho was still hitting him.

  Jericho stopped in mid punch.

  ‘You think so?’ He asked.

  Barry tilted his head to look at the man on the ground. ‘I think so,’ he answered nodding as he spoke, ‘but then I wasn’t on the receiving end of a taser.’

  ‘There is that.’ Jericho agreed and hit him twice more. ‘He’s not even grunting now.’ He complained and walked up to where Barry sat stretching his frame.

  Kevin from the 303 contingent walked down to the fallen man.

  ‘Do we need him Paul?’ He asked.

  Paul looked at Barry.

  ‘Hell no Paul, we have all the intelligence we need.’ Barry answered.

  Kevin shot the man in the head.

  ‘Let us go back and let Charles know what we found out.’ Barry declared and headed for their car.

  ‘We’ll have to take another one, they found our car and gave it the once over.’ Paul called after him causing Barry to stop. ‘What did you find out about our people?’

  ‘They ate the three men.’ Jericho answered walking after Barry who had now changed direction. ‘The woman is in Shanklin for breeding purposes.’

  ‘Are we going back to kick their arses and get Linda back?’ Kevin asked.

  ‘We are,’ Jericho answered, ‘but we need a few more men to do it though.’

  They found a car with enough petrol in it and drove out of the village, Jericho sat in the back looking in the direction of the island wondering what drove them to turn to cannibalism. They stopped long enough for one of the men to collect the boat and take it back to where they had hidden the boats. He could drive back in his car, which was by the boat shed in a bay some distance away. Once he was on his way, they drove up to the farm the 303 were using as a headquarters. Charles was waiting for them with Ralph when they came back to the farm.

  ‘So what happened?’ Charles asked not expecting the answer he was about to get.

  ‘Jericho was nearly eaten.’ Barry answered.

  ‘Eaten!’ A man behind them gasped.

  ‘Explain nearly eaten.’ Ralph asked, he was back with his blood sample and wanting to get back to his lab and start on the serum.

  ‘Just that.’ Barry replied. ‘It seems that the Isle of Wight or some factions on the Isle of Wight have turned to cannibalism as a way of life. They caught Jericho and they were about to drain his blood by the time I got there to persuade them otherwise.’

  ‘Surely you would have put up a fight?’ Ralph asked.

  ‘If I was awake.’ Jericho answered. ‘They used a bloody taser on me and I was spark out; by the time I woke up I would have been dead!’

  ‘No!’ Charles cried, not wanting to believe it. ‘So the four who went on to see what was going on have been eaten?’

  ‘Three of them.’ Barry answered. ‘They kept the woman for breeding purposes.’

  ‘So we will get her off the island then.’ Charles declared.

  ‘Yes but we need more men, more weapons and a plan.’ Barry answered. ‘We need to talk to the Welsh, the East Anglia mob, I know there aren’t too many of them but the four are good with scuba outfits and they can teach us how to do it, as mine is very rusty. Once we have an army and a plan we can go in and kick arse. What we don’t want to do is send over a lot of food for them in an ill conceived attempt to save a woman who is in no real danger of dying. Being humped is one thing but it doesn’t usually kill you!’

  ‘So what is the plan?’ Charles asked.

  ‘We will drive back to the settlement with Ralph so that he can work on the serum from Mafanwi’s blood and we will talk with Ray about the island.’ Barry answered. ‘But keep any hotheads off the island or they will end up on the table. We only just got away, who ever is in charge has a good little set up and it is not going to be easy to pull it down.’

  They stopped to eat before they drove back to the settlement.

  Ray had just finished his stint of pumping cement when he was called to the house. Brian, who had been on the gate had let in some newcomers sent from London and Ray had to go back and check them out. He drove back tiredly and hauled himself out of the car. One car had parked behind the others and he watched the driver pull out a wheelchair then pull himself into it. Others watched as well and Ray knew some would be against someone who could not pull his weight, he thought about that as he walked up to the new group.

  ‘I’m Ray the leader of this settlement and we have plenty of room for all those that can pull their weight.’

  The man in the wheelchair wheeled himself up to the group.

  ‘And you are?’ Ray asked turning to him.

  ‘Tom Thumb.’ The man answered.

  ‘Well Tom I have an important job for you but it will be lonely at times.’ Ray explained. ‘You see the wall round the place?’

  Tom looked up at the wall round the house.

  ‘Not that wall but the one round the settlement.’ Ray added, indicating the other wall.

  ‘I saw it when I drove in.’ Tom answered.

  ‘Well we are going to put a track round it for you to drive round on in one of those electric wheelchairs or something similar. From the wall you can keep an eye out for visitors and tell us if you see anything we should know about.’

  ‘They only go about four miles an hour and the batteries don’t last too long.’ Tom declared not asking how he would get up there.

  ‘There are places to charge it up there and you can have a spare one, we can probably soup it up for you if anyone knows how to do it!’ Ray answered.

  ‘That I could live with as long as I don’t go over the edge.’ Tom answered. ‘Do I get any help?’

  ‘Oh yes, there are two gates to cover and cameras will pick up anything going on round the wall for you or someone from the main control room to go and investigate.’ Ray answered.

  ‘I understand the lonely aspect of the job,’ Tom replied, ‘but then in my condition I am just glad to help.’

  ‘I’ll get someone to find some form of transport for you and a safety rail or something like it installed. I will also have to get Jethro to put a ramp up the back door so you can get in and out.’

  Tom looked at the steps going into the house. ‘Either that or I stay outside.’ He replied.

  They lifted the wheelchair into the house and they all went inside for a dink, something to eat and to find out where the new visitors hailed from, although some were easier to place because of their accents.

  Later Jethro walked in: The wall was now complete and he was ready to carry on with the canteen but not tonight.

  ‘Just the man I wanted to see.’ Ray said when he saw him. ‘Meet Tom Thumb, he is going to be in charge of surveillance on the wall and the gates but he needs the top of the wall to be wheelchair friendly, and for something which goes faster than four miles an hour.’

  ‘A souped up jobby eh.’ Jethro replied and walked over to where Tom sat. ‘Nice to meet you. Tell me what you need and I will get it done, money is not a factor any more.’

  ‘I won’t know till I get up there.’ Tom answered.

  ‘No problem I’ll get Clem to hoist us up at various points round the wall so that you can get some idea. It is actually wide enough for a wheelchair so when we have finished filling the middle of it for more strength it won’t take a lot of preparation.’

  The gong rang to tell the newcomers that food was ready and they all filed into the dining room, it was a tight squeeze, with only half the members there but they all found a place to perch.

  ‘Seems like we need the canteen as well.’ Jethro commented, as he sat where he co
uld to eat.

  Will was still flying with Justine and noting where the pylons ran, he was getting ready to run the power via the pylons but any time he or Justine saw animals they called it in and a party went out to collect them. He was forward thinking and worked out how he could send the power to London or to the 303 group, or even to East Anglia. Although there was only about twenty of them left out there after the clan had struck but as the four had returned there to help them resettle he thought they could have some help. With his plans finalized he asked Justine to over fly the area round the settlement to see where it would be easiest to put a power control building.

  When he had figured out all the details, they landed and then he took a party to go and get what equipment they would need. It meant climbing up pylons and disconnecting wires then adding links to send the power in a different direction to get it near the settlement, then they had to run an underground feed into the settlement and join it into the existing main cable after they had disconnected all other places they did not want to waste electricity on. It was a big job but the benefits were worth the work. It meant that they would no longer waste diesel to run the generator and when they did have full power they could use the electricity to heat the houses as well and have plenty left over. Will had also plans to add in solar panels where ever he could to give them even more power.

  Barry drove back to the settlement and stopped at the gate. The gate sprang into life and opened to let them inside and they drove through, waiting until it had fully closed before they drove on. Ray stepped out to meet them when they drove up to the house.

  ‘Hi there. I here you had a little trip with some of the 303 mob.’ He greeted as they walked up to the house.

  ‘We did.’ Barry answered. ‘For some it was more interesting than for others.’ He looked sideways at Jericho. ‘Did they tell you what went on?’

  ‘No, Charles just told me he had borrowed you and sent Ralph on with three of his men. Where is Ralph anyway?’

  ‘We dropped him at the hospital.’ Barry answered. ‘One of the Welsh women is very due and he wants to make the serum before she gives birth. He doesn’t want to lose any more babies.’