Light At The End | Book 2 | Light To Dark
Page 27
Jay-Dee said, “Hey, Bill, it looks like you’ve got some competition concerning campfire building.” He nodded to the two women stoking the fire and adjusting the heat surprisingly well.
“Fortunately,” Bill said, “I haven’t taught them everything I know.”
Sideways glances came from both of the duty cooks, and then they made whispered comments about the men before lifting out some more food to serve with the baked potatoes.
While they organised the meal, Victoria and Cherry quietly discussed how pleasant it was to be treated as equals in such circumstances. At no time since leaving Auchcarn had either of the men suggested doing something that the women were incapable of. They’d never treated the women differently when it came to physical ability or the challenges which they were tackling.
Cherry said, “When I suggested to my mother that I wanted to be a mechanical or electrical engineer, she said I was born at the right time in history.” She grinned. “My grandmother used to tell me stories about race and religion and gender, making a difference between somebody getting a job or not, which has always seemed ridiculous to me.”
“I must admit I was astounded by some of the things I read about in history,” Victoria said. “I don’t mean all that far back, maybe late in the twentieth century. How the hell can a person’s colour, nationality or gender affect how well they could perform in a role?”
“I was lucky I suppose,” Cherry said. “My dad let me tinker with his car engine, and when he saw how much I enjoyed fixing things, he was behind me all the way. In the end, I’d have felt guilty if I’d failed.” She laughed.
“I think I was born to be a botanist—my mother was a florist, and my dad managed a huge garden centre.” She slowly shook her head. “Apparently when I was young I used to go to my parents with a single leaf to see who was first to guess which flower or plant it had come from.”
A short distance away, the two men sat on the kerbstones close to the roadway.
“Bill,” Jay-Dee whispered, “was that Kingussie we could see traces of as we crossed the bridge?”
“Yes, mate, and it breaks my heart every time I look at something like that—such a bloody waste of human life.”
Jay-Dee nodded, appreciative of the concept of a waste of life. When he’d first trained as a nurse, he’d gone back to India with his parents on holiday—his first time to their homeland. While there, they visited Delhi on a day when a group of extremists had placed bombs in several areas popular with tourists. It was natural for Jay-Dee and his parents to offer help, and all three waded through the carnage to save as many lives as possible.
It was the day that Jay-Dee was pleased he’d chosen to go into nursing as a profession. It was also a day which came back clearly to mind when he saw a large number of fatalities.
For six years, these four people had known each other in this new life. An intimate conversation was something usually pushed back in favour of discussing the next project or problem facing an individual or the community as a whole.
“Hey, you two,” Cherry said, “grub’s up.”
The four friends tucked into their strange yet familiar hot and cold meal, every one of them enjoying the food and the camaraderie. For a short while, the only sounds were birds singing nearby and the four people chomping food in their roadside lay-by.
“I suppose I’d better attempt a special brew on a campfire,” Jay-Dee said as he pulled out the two tins kept to boil water.
Victoria placed her mug next to Jay-Dee. “Make sure the girls and boys get equal shares now.”
Bill produced a mug from his pack. He grinned as he set it beside Victoria’s.
Once again, they sat quietly in the light breeze in their partially-sheltered location, sharing a brew and thinking personal thoughts.
It was a happy group which commenced walking up the long and winding route of the A9.
“Twelve more miles to Aviemore,” Bill said, “but if my calculations are accurate, our sub-station is a couple of miles before we reach the town.”
An effort was needed on the steep gradients, so they all settled into a steady pace, saying little and conserving their energy for the next hilly section.
At a high point where the road swept out to the left, a massive area of water could be seen to the right, almost as if it had pushed the road away to make room for water.
“Which loch is that, Bill?” Cherry said.
“Loch Alvie, and it probably won’t surprise you to know that it’s now three times the size it shows on this map. This is another area where the River Spey has adopted a loch to increase its hold on the land.”
“Hold on,” Jay-Dee said. “Where has the railway gone—it’s been on our right side for miles?”
“Look ahead,” Victoria said, “and you’ll see where it reappears out of the water.”
Bill said, “It’s sobering to think that two miles of railway built on higher ground has disappeared underwater.” He lifted his binoculars. “I’ll let you have a look to confirm, Cherry, but I think we’ve nearly reached your next opportunity to play with a power supply.”
Cherry accepted the binoculars and adjusted the focus. “Yes, you’re right—how far do you think?”
“Two miles at the most.”
Knowing how close they were to their ultimate goal made the next two miles easy to handle, and when the team arrived at the fenced-in sub-station, it was with joy and not relief.
When Bill had dealt with the gate lock and then the door, he stepped back to give Cherry enough space to work.
“It’s good news, guys,” Cherry said from the doorway. “We’ve got another Mark 4 installation, so if one of you would like to fix up a brew, I’ll get to work.” She went back inside.
Victoria and Jay-Dee found a suitable spot to build a fire.
Bill walked along a few metres and sat on a grassy embankment gazing through his binoculars at Aviemore in the middle distance. For several minutes he panned left and right focusing on as much detail as possible. The small but once very popular tourist and ski-resort still looked picturesque. Something caught Bill’s gaze, and he muttered an obscenity as he put down the binoculars and reached for the map.
A short while later, Victoria approached. “Bill, I’ve just been asked by Cherry to let you know that she’s activated power locally. That means that Des or Tracey will see that we’ve made it and they can tell the others?”
“That’s great news, thank you.” He continued to study the map.
“You don’t sound too excited,” Victoria said. “Are you okay, Bill?”
“Yes, I’m sorry, I’m fine, and I’m pleased—really. I was concentrating on something.”
“What are you adding to the map?”
“I’m not adding to it, I’m tracing the water features to see if they’re continuous.”
“I don’t follow you—continuous between which two points?”
“From our start point to where we are now, we know that water levels have risen on a huge scale. Instead of large lochs and wide rivers, many of the waterways have amalgamated. On our trek, there were only two areas without water features between Auchcarn and here. I’m trying to work out if by some chance there might be a way to navigate by boat from Loch Awe near our mountain home to get as far north as here.”
“Even if we could do it, I imagine it would take a while to sail or row the distance. It’s taken us a week to walk it.” Victoria laughed. “We’ve worked hard for a week, but Auchcarn to Aviemore by boat would take some serious effort and considerable knowledge of the region’s waterways.”
“I was thinking the same thing, Victoria. It occurred to me that if somebody were determined enough, they might not be able to row here inside one week, but they might do it in two weeks with a few stops.”
“I don’t know how you come to that conclusion, but you’re probably right, as usual—what are you looking at now?”
Bill turned and handed Victoria the binoculars. “Aviemore is only a coup
le of miles away. Take a look through these and tell me if you see anything unusual.”
Victoria raised the binoculars to her eyes and focused for a moment before she turned slightly to the left and then right and back again. “Most of the buildings look okay, but there is one big ruin right in the middle of the town and … wait a minute, there is smoke coming from ….” She lowered the binoculars and then raised them again, swallowing deeply as she did. “There’s smoke, Bill—I see smoke, like smoke from a chimney.”
“Thank you, Victoria,” Bill said. “I needed to know that someone else could see it too.” Bill used the binoculars again to focus on the area on the outskirts of town where there were only a few buildings. He then turned slightly right to check if there were any small craft on the River Spey nearby. “Just because I don’t see one doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.”
“You’ve lost me again, Bill … just because you don’t see one what?”
“A boat, Victoria.” Bill lowered the binoculars. “Before we walk the last couple of miles to reach Aviemore, I’d like to go ahead alone to assess any possible risks.”
***To be continued***
About the Author
Tom Benson was born in
Glasgow, Scotland in 1952.
He joined the British Army at 17, serving 23 years, from 1969 – 1992.
Tom worked at trade with a wide variety of radios in England, Northern Ireland
and throughout Germany.
He served 2 years in West Berlin while the infamous wall was in place. He spent 2 years as a military training instructor.
Tom saw active service on the streets of Northern Ireland in 1973 and in the desert during the Gulf War in 1991.
A career in retail spanning 25 years followed service life. Tom retired in 2017.
He has been a creative writer since 2007
and is married with a grown son.
A Word from the Author
I hope you enjoyed this second part of the tale.
While this story is fictional, the railway tunnel, including its purpose is based on fact.
*Auchcarn Power Station represents an installation which is located within a mountain in Scotland.
The towns, cities, villages and road structure are real and intended to create a strong geographical foundation.
All characters and events depicted are fictional and any similarity to actual people is purely coincidental.
*Auchcarn is an anagram of Cruachan,
the actual facility.
Also by the Author
All titles are available in digital format.
*These titles are available in paperback.
Novels
*Amsterdam Calling
*Ten Days in Panama
Beyond The Law: Formation
Beyond The Law: Retribution
Beyond The Law: Consequences
Codename: Nightshade
A Taste of Honey
Light at The End: Book 1
Light at The End: Book 3 (Oct ’20)
Give & Take: A Tale of Erotica
Curious and Camping: An Erotic Journey
Being a Good Girl: An Erotic Novel
Sharing: An Erotic Novel
A Class Act: A Tale of Erotica
Woman to Woman:
Give & Take; The Prequel
A Life of Choice - Part One
A Life of Choice - Part Two
A Life of Choice - Part Three
A Life of Choice - Part Four
A Life of Choice - Part Five
.
Short Story Collections
Smoke & Mirrors
Temptation
The Welcome
A Time for Courage
One Man, Two Missions
Coming Around (Erotica)
Quiet Night Inn (Erotica)
.
Novellas (Erotica)
Highland games - 1
Highland games - 2
Highland games - 3
Highland games - 4
Highland games - 5
.
Poetry Collections
Humour: Poetry Vol 1
Love and Romance: Poetry Vol 2
Natural History: Poetry Vol 3
Military Matters: Poetry Vol 4
Thrills and Chills: Poetry Vol 5
Rhyme & Reason: 200 poems
Tongue in Cheek (Erotica)
**This trilogy
is only available in paperback:
A Life of Choice: The Trilogy Edition
Part One
A Life of Choice: The Trilogy Edition
Part Two
A Life of Choice: The Trilogy Edition
Part Three
This is the same story as the eBook
five-part series,
but reduced to three paperbacks for those who
for whatever reason do not use digital reading devices.
www.tombensonauthor.com