The Fight for Life

by S G Read

  ‘Miriam King who used to be Miriam Benson.’ Ray answered and the all watched the screen as Brian worked.

  Miriam Benson popped up on the screen and they followed the family tree but she was not a Benson she had been adopted.

  ‘She started life as Miriam Gray.’ Brian announced.

  ‘Well that is no good I am a McArdle.’ Rebecca declared.

  ‘I wonder?’ Ray answered. ‘Look up Rebecca McArdle.’

  Brian changed the name on the screen to Rebecca McArdle and waited. When the answer arrived it did not surprise either Rebecca or Ray.

  ‘So I was Rebecca Gray, Miriam’s sister.’

  ‘Twin sister.’ Brian pointed out. ‘Look at the birth dates!’

  ‘So I was a quarter of an hour younger the Miriam.’ Rebecca declared. ‘It certainly explains a lot!’

  ‘That it does.’ Ray answered. ‘Do you still want to wed?’

  ‘More than anything in the world; I will be the settlement leader’s wife!’ She saw Ray look at her. ‘And I love you.’ She added. ‘Or I wouldn’t marry you but no comparing me with her in bed; I am younger than she was.’

  ‘Are we finished here?’ Brian asked.

  ‘For now but I think I will leave the generator here just in case I’ll just go and stop it.’ Ray answered.

  Just was an understatement as he had to don a scuba tank and mask to go down into the fumes to stop it.

  ‘We may not need to, I downloaded all I could on to these two portable hard drives.’ Brian answered. ‘I will be able to access most information from them.’

  ‘I don’t actually want to carry it back up the stairs so I will turn it off and leave it. If we need to do anything in London we will know where to find a generator. We should stop in and see Portia and her friends while we are up here just to let them know what is going on in their area.’

  ‘I have some things for them anyway.’ Brian declared.

  After Ray had stopped the generator and made it back up the stairs safely they drove round to the hotel Portia was using as a base. On their way there they passed signs telling people to go to the very hotel they were heading for if they needed help.

  They found Portia sitting in the hotel lobby amongst a lot of flowering plants. The front of the hotel had flowers on it as if to say we are alive in here.

  ‘I see you like flowers.’ Ray said when they walked in.

  ‘It shows them where we are. Some of them are on their way out as it is late in the year but in here they are still flowering.’

  ‘Did you grow them yourself?’

  ‘No I am not a flower person really but Candice does like the odd flower and I did not argue when she wanted to do it. She keeps them watered and I just look at the results. She also has a garden on the roof as out the back is not very safe. Did you see any dogs?’

  ‘Not one come to think of it.’

  ‘They hide during the day and only scavenge at night.’

  ‘That means the lion is still about!’ Ray answered.

  ‘We have a pack now, if you do have lion packs.’

  ‘They are prides.’ Brian corrected.

  ‘Well I don’t intend to be close enough to one to call it a pride; I was going to ask you to send someone up to sort them but Mac left me a shooter and the pride is down to six now. He is out after them now and any dogs he finds, they all have to go.’

  ‘Is there anything else you need?’ Ray asked.

  ‘No we gave Ralphy an order for things the other day.’

  ‘They’re in the boot.’ Brian announced.

  They unloaded the goods from the boot and put them in the kitchen where they would be needed. They could hear the generator going out the back.

  ‘That reminds me you need to go round and pull the main fuses out of all the places in London which you don’t want power to.’ Ray added.

  ‘All of them?’ Portia asked.

  ‘Yes Will thinks he can give you electricity from the wind farm we are going to get ours from so you won’t need the generator anymore!’

  Portia jumped out of her reclining chair. ‘Now that is good news I will get the lads on to it when they come back.’

  ‘Lads?’ Ray asked.

  ‘Yes we have a few who decided to stay around and help out, we have a few girls as well but the discos are hard work using our little generator, so they will jump at the chance of mains power again.’

  ‘Let us know when you have done all the local places and I’ll talk to Will about it, I don’t know how big an area you will have to cover but we don’t want to waste power unnecessarily.’

  ‘We will do as many place as we can in the area but we will do it to a plan and use one of the A to Zs we found. We can mark off which ones we pull the plug on and those we choose to keep connected. Now we will feed you.’

  Soon after they had eaten they were on their way back.

  ‘Welcome back.’ Mac greeted as Ray walked into the dining room. ‘We talked it over and Dai elected to do the dastardly deed.’

  ‘What: Did you toss a coin?’

  ‘Too many of us for that, he drew the short straw!’

  Ray laughed. ‘I promise I won’t prompt him, I can hardly remember it all myself!’

  Rebecca gasped.

  ‘What is it?’ Ray asked.

  ‘I meant to get a dress while I was up in London.’

  ‘There is a place in Mayfield.’ Bill said looking up from his book.

  ‘We’ll take her there.’ Clem declared from the doorway. ‘It’s bad luck to see the bride in her wedding gown before the wedding.’

  Ray had no say in the matter, he was left to work.

  ‘So what are we doing now?’ He asked Jethro when they had gone.

  ‘Well I have men building the power house but we need more room now that the Mayfield lot have decided to move in here so I thought we could extend the wall down to the village there are a lot of houses down there although we might have to put in septic tanks for the ones which are connected to the main sewage.’

  ‘Fencing I can do. Give me a few men and a couple of bodyguards and we’ll start on it.’ Ray replied, glad for something to do. ‘I take it we run down from the left hand wall to the village and come back to the right hand wall.’

  ‘Yes but not a fence. We will erect a wooden frame and fill it with concrete to make an instant wall, then you move the frame down a bit with the digger and start again.’

  ‘Wood work is not my forte by I will give it a go.’

  ‘You want eight by four sheets and plenty of four by two. Oh and a sack of nails!’

  Ray and a few men carried the sheets of wood and made the first side of the frame while Jethro fixed a metal plate to the existing wall to bond the concrete to. Will arrived while they were nailing the next on together and gave Ray a nail gun.

  ‘That will save time Will, how long have you had it?’ Ray asked.

  ‘Since that day at the builder’s merchants.’

  ‘Got more than one?’ Jethro asked.

  ‘Yes they are in the garage; I just thought you didn’t like using them.’

  From then on the hammering stopped and the pop pop of the nail guns took over. The second part of the frame went up quicker than the first had.

  When the first section was completed the team moved on to the second section while another team filled the first section with concrete. Such was the speed of building sections that they had the second section complete before they had filled the first one with concrete and they just carried on filling. They did not start on a third section as it was getting late; instead they helped with the concreting. Each section had metal bars set into it to make a good join with the next section and so that the first section could be taken off and reused as soon as the wall would stay up on its own. With two sections complete they returned to the settlement and Ray had his duty to perform in the form of a marriage with a party after it.

  They days continued like that until it was Ray’s turn to marry Rebecca, each
wedding was in the evening except for a leader and Ray’s was at nine AM. Dai did his duty and the wedding ran its course until he finally declared them man and wife. This time there was a sit down meal in the unfinished canteen, come meeting hall, come theatre in the open air. Those who could not sit inside sat round the canteen at tables hastily found or collected from nearby houses. Ray and Rebecca left the party early to make sure they consummated the marriage.

  Despite being on his honeymoon Ray was up working on the wall in the morning with Rebecca working by his side. If he remembered something about Miriam he would stop and tell her about it and then they would work on, it is not everyday you find out that you had a twin sister!

  With so many people there and all doing what they could toward the new wall it was soon approaching the village from both sides. Jethro built towers where the wall would pass over the road which the other wall had crossed and there was discussion as to whether to move the gates or make new ones. In the end they decided on new gates as there were no cameras round the new wall and no towers, just the odd buttress where Jethro decided one was needed. The thinking was now just to keep out the wild animals and they were not likely to make a ladder, to use to climb over the wall.

  The newcomers from Mayfield had all decided where they were going to live in the village and some had already moved in being used to living where the wild animals roam.

  Will’s team were now working to connect the wind farm to the wire they had run into the power shed on the coast. The wire now ran all the way to the settlement and terminated in the new power shed there although Jethro was still working on the roof.

  Will had worked out how he could do all that was asked of him and supply electricity to those who wanted it. The Nomads could also be connected and the same power taken to the Eden project, although there were nearer wind farms for that. Will considered the idea that if they connect the Eden project, when the Eden project had its own power, they could share it.

  Donna returned triumphant from the northern settlement and reported to Mac to let him know what had gone on and then moved on to the hospital to tell Ralph. Jericho immediately went to look in on Roberta just to see if he had done the trick and to catch more fish for the table. He was hoping his efforts were needed again. Barry decided it was time to look after his wife and declined the trip all though there were the same takers as last time but this time they made sure they turned on the icemaker before the left port to fish.

  And so the settlement started to slip into a routine. The women who were visiting stayed until they were pregnant and then they were ready to go home, the married couples moved into their new homes and Mac, Dai, Charles and the East Anglian contingent found Ray to say goodbye.

  ‘We still have Katrina here, Doctor Ralph has tried to inseminate her but so far it has failed so she is staying until she is pregnant, can I ask you to get her home when she is?’ Mac asked as they parted.

  ‘She will be brought home as soon as we are sure she is on the way.’ Ray declared. ‘How we get her there, we will decide on the day.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  The long line of vehicles drove out the gate with Tom waving to the woman who was now pregnant with his baby, something he thought would never happen again.

  ‘It is going to feel pretty empty now.’ Barry declared.

  ‘Yes we will have to build a place for visitors to stay in when they come.’ Ray answered.

  Jethro groaned he had just finished the extended wall.

  ‘Are we going to have a big do when the power is switched on?’ Will asked.

  ‘Is it immanent?’ Ray asked.

  ‘As soon as the roof is on and London let me know what is going on.’

  ‘Have you connected them up then?’ Ray asked.

  ‘Almost, just need to throw a switch near the wind farm.’

  ‘I think we should but we are low on wines and spirits after all the weddings, so we will have to send parties out to get some more.’

  ‘I have men pulling fuses locally so that we can connect a lot of houses by putting the fuse back in if there is a need, I have traced the power line which feeds here and it will all be live, with the fuse available by the carrier, just in case someone gets stranded. As long as they have a radio they can get help.’

  ‘Sounds like a good idea, the same will apply in London I assume?’

  Will nodded.

  The gates closed and there were back to the normal, or what was now the normal amount of members in the settlement. Ray drove back to the house and was immediately pounced on by Ralphy.

  ‘Can you tell her?’ He wailed.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Justine! All she does is talk to a boy in Scotland all day!’

  Ray sighed. ‘I think I will go to a higher authority.’

  ‘Is there a higher authority than you?’ Ralphy asked.

  ‘Yes her dad.’

  Wilhelmina was next to complain. ‘If you want another party with food then we have to get more food in. Unless we just eat fish at the party!’

  ‘That low are we?’

  ‘We are, we have had a few extra mouths to feed just lately.’

  ‘I’ll take Clem and James out in the van and collect a few things from an area we haven’t emptied yet.’ Ray assured her and headed for Clem’s room.

  ‘We need to get a few things for the hospital as well.’ Ralph called from the bottom of the stairs.

  ‘Make out a list, or better still come with us!’ Ray answered.

  In the end a motorcade of lorries left the settlement. Some going north, some going south, some going west and the others going east. The plan was to search houses and any shops they came to for food. Each party had two sharpshooters to keep them safe and they had a lorry or two big vans. Jeremy had instructed them to look in all the gardens to see what was growing in them and to make notes about vegetables and fruit trees. If there were vegetables or fruit which was still usable they were to collect it. Wilhelmina watched them go with satisfaction; it would certainly help the food stocks.

  One team went straight to a hospital, to let Ralph collect what he wanted then they moved on to the next one and a few chemists, he was building up stocks for the winter.

  With more space to keep animals inside and safe they were also told to look out for anything on more than two legs, unless it had wings. As taking animals back to the settlement was important there was another team waiting to go out and get them. Jeremy was in that team. When a lorry or van was full it was driven back and unloaded so that it could go back out and get more but apart from going back to the gardens there would be no more food from every place they visited and they made a list for future reference.

  The team with Ralph returned and unloaded twice before the night started to close in. When they returned the third time they did not go out again and Ralph started to sort through what they had collected.

  ‘Ray.’ He called when he walked into the big house.

  ‘He is in the television room with Rebecca.’ Brian answered.

  He walked in and found them sorting through the videos and DVDs.

  ‘I need a bigger hospital.’ He declared.

  ‘Thought you would sooner or later.’ Ray answered without pausing his rummaging.

  ‘And?’

  ‘That house is not the best place or in the best location for a hospital.’ Ray answered.

  ‘No, that’s true. So where do we go?’

  ‘Well it is not pressing at the moment so I suggest you decide where you want your new hospital built and design it just how you want it, then as soon as the dance hall come canteen is built, we will start on your hospital.’

  ‘I can live with that.’ Ralph replied. ‘Are you looking for anything particular?’

  ‘No, we are just going through the things here and Rebecca is telling me which ones she likes and I am telling her which ones Miriam liked but so far we have twenty for twenty in the like or not like stakes.’

  ‘Twins are like that.’ R
alph explained and left them to it.

  With all the teams back and unloaded the food shortage was put on hold for a little longer. Jeremy and his workers had erected several large greenhouses which he kept heated with electric heaters trying to force some foods to grow despite the lateness of the season. As he said, ‘it will be food but it may not taste the best’.

  The day to the switch on the power from the wind farm loomed near and everyone grew impatient. Finally the hour arrived and Will stood in the power house next to the wind farm with his hand poised to switch it on.

  Ray made a short speech and then using the radio he told Will to turn it on. Nothing happened where they were but Barry reported from the power house near the settlement that they had power.

  ‘Turn off the generator.’ Ray called and it was relayed back to the main house.

  The man there turned the generator off and disconnected it.

  ‘Okay Barry let her rip.’ Ray ordered.

  Barry turned it on and the lights which had been alight when the generator stopped, came back on again.

  ‘We have power Will.’ Ray informed him.

  ‘Good I will try London now but I don’t know if they have turned off all the fuses they should have.’ Will answered and turned on the feed to London.

  ‘We have power.’ Portia cried. ‘We also have street lights, should they be on?’

  ‘The clocks need resetting unless they are supposed to turn on automatically when it gets dark.’ Will answered.

  ‘Well it certainly isn’t dark.’ Portia replied.

  ‘I’ll come up and have a look at it tomorrow.’ Will declared.

  Ten minutes later Portia called again. ‘The street lights have just gone off.’

  ‘Do you still have power there?’ Will asked ready to drive away from the power house.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then they have reset and should come on tonight when it gets dark.’ Will answered. ‘Let us go home Jericho, did you have to go out and get more fish, they stink.’

  ‘I was under Wilhelmina’s orders.’ Jericho answered.

  Will waved his hand for them to move off. ‘Is Roberta pregnant yet?’

  ‘I think so but we made sure anyway.’